The moon managed to shine through the dim hallway windows, further illuminating Ren's predatory golden wolf-like eyes.
A sharp grin revealed the vampire's ravenous fangs.
'Soon. Just a little longer now...'
He was becoming eager.
And it didn't help his patience when Sumire's pace was almost painfully slow.
Especially compared to the way she could run.
Seriously. Even Ren himself almost had a hard time keeping up with her.
She had to have been some sort of runner in high school. Whether it was track or cross country he didn't care. All he knew was that for a girl who possessed her particular looks and stature, he never once would peg her for the athletic type.
It was pretty peculiar to find out he had been wrong.
And also...how could her unorthodox hair color be completely natural?
A rich dark; almost raven tinted violet that shone in the light of the moon's rays.
The long and somewhat disheveled locks flew gently in the air behind her as she walked on in a care free manner.
A woman with a ponytail was something that he was not used to.
Nowadays, a girl her age would naturally wear her hair down in a pathetic attempt to make oneself appear more attractive in the eyes of men.
Not that Ren was against it.
During sex, having something to pull on came in handy whenever there was a struggle. Sometimes the women squirmed too much for his liking.
Although a ponytail was something new he could experient with.
Then again it could end up being a bad idea considering the pain it might cause her.
Such fragility.
But something else about those dark tresses refrained him from causing any harm.
'The hell?' He glowered.
Did her hair really matter?
Why was he even giving this much thought on the matter?
How annoying.
Still... He was curious.
Before Ren knew it, his hand slowly reached in front of him...almost as if it was completely involuntary.
Sumire stopped dead in her tracks when she felt something lightly brush against the back of her head.
It took only an instant for her to calm down when she realized the abnormal gesture came from her new mysterious companion.
"Maaka-kun...?" She whispered.
The girl kept her eyes ahead as he continued, patiently awaiting for an explanation, or possibly his next move.
And unlike any other time, the vampire was surprisingly gentle when he rested his palm atop of her scalp. His fingers glided and swayed as he diligently caressed her beautifully messy hair.
'So soft.' His eyelids lowered.
This was a rare trait indeed.
Previously; when the two were knocked to the floor by Sumire's boss Mr. Tanaka, Ren patted her head in fake reassurance.
He remembered the initial shock he experienced when he first felt how soft her locks really were, but now...
They were positively divine.
Living a normal human's life was complicated to put it simply. Which meant the entire package came with a few draw backs(big surprise).
Like how the quality of a mortal's hair was at it's peak in the first few years of their life.
Over time this "quality" will decelerate due to the aging, causing the look and feel of their hair to become flawed and lose the liveliness it once held in the beginning stage.
'Another imperfection to add the list.' He mentally frowned.
But for some odd reason Sumire had somehow, miraculously, managed to retain that child-like healthiness that should have been lost to it years ago.
Ren's fingers moved over to the hair band that held the unusual tresses up.
Suddenly, a considerably smaller hand stopped his dead in it's tracks.
His golden eyes flashed for a moment at the contact.
"Maaka-kun. Are you curious about the color?" She asked removing both of their hands from her scalp.
Was this girl some sort of mind reader?
"Yeah." He replied simply.
Why deny it? After all he was curious as to what she had to say.
Sumire slowly turned around and threw him a small smile.
"That's a story... To be discussed in private." She winked while playfully setting her free fore-finger over her lips.
Ren couldn't help but grin with interest.
"Is it now?" He asked.
"Mhm." She hummed.
Interesting...
What could she possibly have to tell him about the subject in private that she couldn't right here?
Whatever it was, he wanted to know.
"So I guess maybe we should pick up the pace a little. The last staircase is here and my apartment is the last one on the left." She added pointing.
"After you." He replied.
"Right." She nodded.
Sumire then practically flew up the rest of the stairs with a furious pace, leaving Ren shocked.
"You're pretty light on your feet." He blinked.
"You think so? I think I'm actually losing my edge. I used to be faster in high school." She replied stopping right in front of her apartment and taking out her key.
"Really?" He wondered.
Without looking up she practically ignored the question as her brows furrowed.
"Ah, Maaka-kun would you mind holding these so that I can unlock the door?" She asked innocently.
'Ugh. Does this girl ever stop asking for favors?' Trying hard to fight back his impatience he removed the papers from her hand and threw her jacket over his shoulder.
"Thank you. And again, sorry if it's a little messy. I'll clean up a bit while you get comfortable." She apologized.
"Sure thing."
His voice was almost a whisper when she managed to get in without any problems...
But as soon as he entered the room, his eyes went a little wide.
Sure he wasn't expecting her place to be small or anything. Just an average apartment like the average girl's he fooled around with had.
He certainly wasn't anticipating to walk into a penthouse.
The place was HUGE.
'What the hell?!' Ren almost dropped her work AGAIN after first laying his eyes on the gigantic space.
His jaw gaped a bit.
'Is this girl loaded or something?' He shook his head in disbelief.
"You can just set those on the living room table. And I can put my jacket away myself." She said as if everything were completely normal.
It took the silver haired man a moment to escape his daze before he looked down into her expecting hazel eyes.
"Nice place." He said completely ignoring her instructions.
She looked behind her and glanced around the large place.
"Really? I think It's a little lonely..." She replied.
"Mm?" He grunted not quite hearing her correctly.
Now that he observed her, Ren noticed the expression she wore.
Sumire casted the apartment a sad smile. The look in her eyes sent off disappointment.
That's right... She was living here all by herself wasn't she? Not that he actually cared, but it was somewhat peculiar that a single 19 year old girl lived all alone in a huge penthouse without any family.
Looks like he managed to pinpoint the source of all her stress.
Speaking of which, they were now officially alone, right?
No more people and no more distractions...right?
Finally it was the perfect chance for him to...wait...
The vampire looked down at his side, expecting the stressed out violet haired woman to be standing next to him.
Only she was no longer beside him. And the jacket that he had been holding for her wasn't there either.
His golden eyes frantically swept over her house but felt at a loss when he couldn't find her.
'How... How the hell did she do that?!' He wondered with distraught eyes.
"H-hey?" He called out hoping she would answer and calm his nerves.
When he was met with silence his fists clenched.
'What the?! She was right here just a second ago damn it!' He practically growled in frustration.
Suddenly his ears picked up a soft noise.
"Hm?" He tried to concentrate on the sound to see if he could identify it.
A small buzzing rang through his head, and then the sound of...raining water?
Ren's eyes lowered in agitation when he figured out where the stupid girl went.
"She's taking a shower." He whispered.
Grumbling to himself, the silver haired man decided to just give himself a break.
This woman was so much work that it literally tired him out from having to deal with all of the annoying antics this girl always seemed to take with her at all times.
Hell, he'd only known her for less than 2 hours and she already had him carrying all of her work and doing her favors.
Man he was so whipped...and he never even saw it coming... And by a girl he barely even knew.
In fact Ren suspected that Sumire herself didn't know all of what she was making him do for her.
"So annoying. I should have just kept my original plans with Suzuki. She would at least kiss my ass." He huffed. And after taking a moment to calm down he decided to maybe relax and check out her house until she was done.
There was no helping it anyway.
'Maybe she has something in here that I can snoop around for.' His eyes began to glow as he took a long look around.
Finding secrets about this girl hidden somewhere in her apartment sounded like a fun game to pass the time while she was soaking it up inside of her bathroom.
After all, what else did he have to do?
Besides, she still left his questions about how she was able to to run so fast and her bizarre hair color open.
Not that he was expecting to discover the answers to those mysteries inside of her home. They were probably questions that should be asked personally. Still, he could at least try.
"She was probably just a runner in school. Nothing special." He sighed. The fact that he, a vampire, was giving so much effort to discover such trivial matters about a human, was beyond him.
Suddenly his eyes picked up a glance of something that just may be able to shine a light on things.
He quickly rushed over to the marble counter in front of him and found a small stack of books settled on the edge. But only one of them caught his attention.
"Her yearbook." He said plainly grasping it in his free hand.
"Let's see..."
Flipping it open, the first detail he'd notice were the lack of signatures from the other students in her class.
"That's strange." He wrinkled his nose in response.
'She really was a loner wasn't she?' He'd thought.
There were only 2 signatures altogether.
One being from her cross country teacher(bingo), and that seemed average enough that the instructor wished her the best of luck in all her future affairs...but...
The other signature was from a boy.
Which would have been normal if not for the text written above his name.
"Sumire, I assume that you and I will once again cross paths sometime in the near future. Until then I hope that you can manage to keep our little secret...still a secret. Happy Graduation!
-Kaoru."
'What? That's all? And who the hell is Kaoru?' He was really confused now.
Something about that message was a little... Unnerving. But what did it mean?
He delved deeper inside to look for any clues.
Until he found another detail that fazed him further.
Prior to his first assumption of Sumire being a bit antisocial, he discovered the girl being in almost every picture of the "Best in 'something'" categories.
"Best Dressed: Sumire Tasogarē and Gou Fujimura." He started.
"Most Athletic: Sumire Tasogarē and Jirou Hattori." Continuing.
"Nicest Personality: Ryota Matsu and Sumire Tasogarē." What in the?
"Best Looking: Takumi Isobe and Sumire Tasogarē." How was this all possible?
"Best Hair: Sumire Tasogarē and Yuji Nakahara." Okay not too surprising, even if she still donned a ponytail.
Even after reading it aloud, none of it made any sense whatsoever.
If she generally popular then...
Why was her yearbook devoid of multiple signatures?
After thinking the situation over and over, the young man still stayed stumped at the finish line.
Past all of the nominations and into the Senior class section, her violet hair managed to co-star in an unprecedented amount of photos.
Whether she was by herself standing at her locker, or sitting in the cafeteria with a bunch of people whom Ren assumed were her friends...she was practically EVERYWHERE.
He slammed the book shut.
"Like I should even care." He grumbled returning it back to place.
Deciding it best to block his curiosity he glanced around. "She actually thought that this place was messy?" He asked himself.
Except for the large round table and couch in Sumire's living room being covered head to toe with papers, the rest of her house was spotless.
"Tch... A clean freak..." He'd assume before continuing to discern his surroundings.
The area he currently stood in was of course his most hated of rooms, the kitchen.
Ren's family(minus his stupid younger sister Karen) didn't have any use or frankly any need to have a kitchen inside of their house considering they were all vampires.
Human food was like poison to a vampire... Well more along the lines of tasting like sand... Which was equally just as bad in the long run.
Just remembering the day his vampire blood fully awakened brought him shivers.
That day he made the mistake of trying to eat the food his middle school provided him, only to spit it directly back onto his tray with the worst aftertaste of his entire life left inside his mouth.
He immediately shot his hand over his mouth and shuddered.
"I can't believe I used to eat crap like that." He scoffed.
But now that he was paying attention to his fangs...
They were completely starved. With the pain becoming unbearable.
"This girl sure is taking her sweet ass time." Letting out a deep sigh he suddenly remembered the young woman's request.
He lifted his other hand in front of him.
'Oh yeah her work.' Without a second thought his gaze flickered towards the table hidden underneath an endless mountain of papers.
As he slowly walked over to the huge mess he couldn't help but sneer.
"What does she even write about anyway-?!" His eyes spotted a word that he never expected.
He clamped his mouth shut tightly in shock.
Of all subjects to base a series of light novels on...it just HAD to be about THAT.
"Vampires..." He managed to whisper.
Still having a hard time absorbing the conveniency and utter irony of the subject, Ren almost didn't notice the soft footsteps approaching him.
Heh. Almost.
He quietly set down the papers he had been holding onto the unstable stack of scripts, and pretended not to have heard Sumire walking up to him for risk of scaring her... Or even exposing his secret.
"Ah Maaka-kun, could you be by any chance interested in vampires?" She asked looking up at him with a smile.
He looked over his right shoulder, peeking out from the corner of his eyes.
Her attire was about as concealing as the outfit she previously had on and the glasses she wore were still there. Although her upper half was a bit more exposed.
She wore a pair of long fluffy white pajama pants with small purple polka-dots scattered across them. Instead of a long sleeved shirt she wore a light lavender tank top that showed more of her upper curves, breasts included.
Her smooth toned arms held up a towel that lightly fisted her hair in an attempt to dry the long locks. And this left her neck wide open.
It was a beautiful sight indeed.
His fangs pulsed in anticipation. The slightly sun-kissed skin concealing her veins called out to him.
Ren could practically hear the erratic pumping of her blood even from their current distance...but he refrained himself.
There was still something that he needed to ensure before he could proceed.
Her belief in vampires.
There were two answers.
1. She believed that they exsisted and Ren had to be open to the idea of her luring him over here to either(attempt to) exterminate him or just ask him questions, which would force him to erase her memory early of their encounter.
Or...
2. She didn't believe in them and he had nothing to worry about, meaning he could do as he pleased with her and then just erase her memory of him biting her(but forever leaving her with the memory of losing her virginity to none other than himself).
Now the question was...
Which one of the two was the answer.
"Maaka-kun?" She repeated.
"Sorry Sumire. I just got a bit flustered looking at you. You're so pretty after all." He replied smoothly.
She blushed and averted her eyes.
"S-so do vampires mean something to you?" She stuttered, which Ren smiled in response to.
"Hmm... I'm not so sure... What about you?" He asked plopping down on the messy couch, but not without scooting over the pile to give Sumire a chance to sit.
He patted the space beside him singaling that he wanted to talk about it more thoroughly.
She blushed brighter but made her way over to the couch and shyly sat next to him.
Making sure to keep her distance away from him the timid girl sought to put a sizable gap between the two of them so that she could try to relax.
Something that Ren obviously never missed as his lips curled into an evil smile.
"Are you nervous?" He asked leaning his chin into the palm of his hand and cocking his head to the side.
She jolted slightly before turning her head away.
"N-not really..." She whispered. But the clenching of her fists inside her lap told him otherwise.
Okay this girl was the cutest thing he'd ever seen.
A thrill, and for once a challenge unlike the others he tended to seduce.
Also her appearance seemed more...radiant than before, with the small towel still holding up her damp hair. The exposure of her skin now had a warm afterglow from the hot shower.
Little beads of water managed to occasionally slip away from the towel and slowly run down the crease of her neck and over the outline of her collar bone into that abundant valley of breasts she now barely concealed.
Her eyes shone brightly even through the lens of her glasses thanks to the assistance of the moonlit skyline.
Hazel was a nice compliment to the small woman's personality. They practically screamed "shy" or maybe even "mysterious."
Actually both words described her rather well.
He knew for a fact that she was hiding a secret, but the vast majority of the importance it held was still unknown.
It might be important enough that Ren himself would deathly want to know about it, or so insignificant that he would end up being bored with the answer and it would be a total let down to his pursuits...and his pride.
Still, he was having fun so far. In fact the devilish vampire suddenly thought of another fun idea.
"No? Then why are you sitting all the way over there?" His left arm swung over the couch and rested snugly behind Sumire's head as he scooted closer to her.
He watched as the girl's body visibly stiffened.
'That's right. She's never been alone with a man before.' His eyes wandered over to the mess of work in front of them.
"What do you think about vampires?" He asked again with a glazed look.
Finally hearing his question, Ren almost burst out laughing when she uttered a small "Oh" at the misunderstanding, before falling silent again and giving his question some actual thought.
"..." She lifted a forefinger and thumb up to her chin. Only a brief moment afterwards he noticed her eyes flicker as if she just made a difficult decision.
"I suppose I think they're a bit... Monstrous..." She said bluntly.
A slight disappointed look flooded Ren's eyes.
He knew it.
A human was only human if they thought that his own kind were monsters.
This was one of the reasons why he absolutely despised them.
But why was he so freaking pissed off?
It couldn't have been because this one infuriating girl thought the same exact way as any other person...
No. Definitely not.
'As if.' He scowled.
"But I think that maybe there are some exceptions."
Ren's brows furrowed.
"What did you say?" He asked almost disbelieving.
Sumire looked up at him and blinked a few times.
"I said that maybe there are exceptions." She repeated.
Wait a minute... What could she have meant by that?
"What kind of exceptions?" He asked honestly curious about the answer.
Once again she fell silent thinking it over.
"Hmm... I guess if there are vampire's who don't like using humans as their victims or at least a few try every means necessary to make both races treated as equals then perhaps humanity itself would accept them." She explained.
Equals? Now that WOULD be something.
"Impossible..." Ren muttered.
"Did you say something Maaka-kun?" Sumire asked perking up.
He smirked as he lifted a forefinger finger up and jabbed her forehead harshly.
"Ow, ow! Maaka-kun stop it!" The poor girl cried in pain. After a few more seconds his smile faded and his lips began to form a thin line.
'What an imbecile.'
The very thought made him metally vomit.
There were ZERO chances of THAT happening.
Who did this girl think she was...? Trying to be some sort of imaginative hero that brought world peace or something?
"Tch..." He sneered.
"That was pretty mean of you Maaka." She sniffled touching the single circular red mark embedded on her face.
He eyed her carefully as she sat before him without a single clue as to who or what he was. Completely unaware of the current danger she was in.
"Hey... So what are you trying to say?" He asked, no demanded for the answer, for his patience was at it's limit.
"Huh?" She asked dumbfounded.
Ren resisted the urge to sigh loudly and decided to clarify for her.
"Do you like vampires...or are you afriad of them?" He glowered.
She snapped out of her pain daze with an "ah" while he awaited her explanation.
"Hmm... Well I wouldn't say that I'm afraid of them per say... So I guess I simply dislike them..." She replied looking down at her lap with a stern expression.
Her blunt answer shocked the silver haired man as his eyes widened. But now that he thought about it, just disliking them was weird.
Most people feared them.
Many versions of the stories that have been passed down hundreds and hundreds of generations revealed the Vampire's uncontrollable thirst for human blood. Also their inability to walk into direct sunlight.
But even though the terms were initially true, the humans once again found a way to retract their moment of intelligence with ludicrous assumptions.
Like the ridiculous folklore about how his kind were unable to touch or come in any contact with a Christian cross. Or how they could not swim in holy water.
The only other legend that was merely partially true, was that a vampire couldn't go anywhere near the organic food...garlic.
But unlike the insufficient rumor, it was only because a vampire's sense of smell is higher and more amplified than that of a human's.
Basically, the smell was too strong for them to handle.
So just the mentioning of that repulsive man-made vegetable brought nightmares of past experiences.
'Stupid little sister.' He scowled.
That's right. Karin was a special case... So she was able to walk amongst mortals in the sun and eat the same food they consumed without any issues.
A trait both enviable and intensely detestable.
Still what had Ren's mind reeling was that this girl was unafraid by his kind.
Disliking them was normal of course but being immune to fear...
It looked like he would have to change that.
A cunning smile emerged on the vampire's face.
The arm he that rested behind Sumire's head scooted down and landed softly onto her shoulders causing her to blush and jolt simultaneously.
"Sorry... I thought I'd get a little more conformable. Did I startle you...?" He whispered slyly.
She continued to stare down at her lap, seemingly unable to emit a response.
His grin only grew at the modesty she was eliciting; further feeding his fire.
"Are you scared... Sumire?"
Ren wrapped his arm tighter around her shoulder and pulled her body close to his torso so that now her head was resting against his upper arm and her back was pressed against his chest.
"M-maaka-kun?" She gasped.
"Something the matter?" He teased playfully tilting his head to the side.
"T-this is a little...embarrassing..." Her voice noticeably trailed off at the end.
'That's it. Your stress level is rising nicely.' His golden eyes submitted a serene look meant to send the violet haired girl a message of comfort to help calm her down.
He couldn't have her trying to run away before having his meal, now could he?
But scaring her after revealing his true self sounded right just about now.
After all, he had to teach this human a proper lesson for all her ignorance.
"So you dislike Vampire's huh?"
She looked up at him with a dazed expression.
"Yes... Is that so terrible? I mean, they're monsters who feed on people right?" She questioned with raised eyebrows.
"So you aren't afraid...?" He added pulling her a little closer.
"Ah? No, not really." She replied with pink cheeks at his sudden gesture.
'Hmm. Now's my chance to find out.'
"Do you think they exsist?"
"...What?"
He snuggled his nose into the towel covering the top of her head, inhaling it's sweet scent.
"Silly Sumire... I'm asking if you think vampires really exsist?" He clarified.
She shuddered at the sound of his change in tone.
Ren's voice gave off an intimidating yet seductive feel making the girl feel a little weak in the knees. And it didn't help when he grasped the hand that rested in her lap so gently.
She had to take a moment to regain her composure.
"I don't know..."
His eyes flashed for a moment.
From what his ears picked up, her heart rate was beating at a vast pace, but he was unsure if it was because she was lying, or if she was just nervous about being this close to him.
So as a safety test to see which of the two factors were true; he asked something a bit more risque...
And frankly his pride wanted to hear her say it.
"Are you afraid of me...?" He whispered breathlessly in her ear.
"... No..."
Her heartbeat remained the same.
'So she really isn't scared?'
Odd.
But now he just had to change her view. He wanted her to fear him.
To prove that she was just like every other human who cowered in terror at the mere sight of a vampire's TRUE colors.
"And what if I said that I wanted to ravish you... Then would you be scared?" He asked wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer.
The feeling of her warm skin against his excited him.
And when she didn't respond right away, Ren forcefully pushed her down onto the couch so that she laid on her back staring up at him with flushed cheeks and slightly gaping eyes.
"Ah?! W-wait Maaka-kun! I-I... I'm not...! I've never...! This is...! Um..." She stammered.
"You can't escape me now..." The silver haired man glowered huskily.
Wow. Another chapter finished and ready to roll! I decided to just forget about the time limit I had set for this story. I'm just going to continue it whether it's popular or not.
Hopefully it will get more views as the plot thickens, since I've barely scratched the barrier of it and all. So it only makes sense that I just write more and see where it goes.
If people read it then that's great! If not well...obviously that will kind of suck haha, but oh well.
I just pray that you all will give this a chance for my sake(that probably won't help my situation heh). But I must say as a side note that I'm pretty satisfied with how this chapter came out, and how suspenseful it's becoming.
So please give it a chance to succeed my fellow readers. There has to be SOME Karin fans out there somewhere after all!
Happy readings! And see you later!