"I see you've gotten your appetite back." Zero commented as I happily shoved a big spoonful of green dessert into my mouth.
We were sitting across from each other in a secluded booth at my favorite ice cream shope. Classes had all been canceled for the day due to an emergency teacher conference, so we had an abundance of free time. I don't know what the big deal was about teaching that teachers needed to meet so suddenly, what the emergency could possibly be. But it gave me time off, and that was all that mattered.
I had gotten Zero to agree to go shopping with me today. We were spending the entire day together, something we haven't done in a long while. It actually didn't take a lot of begging on my part, like it usually does. I just smiled at him and asked nicely. He looked away and said yes almost immediately.
I was currently eating a mint chocolate chip sundae, my absolute favorite ice cream flavor in the entire world, and Zero was just drinking coffee, black. Typical for him. As boring a drink as he was. He tried to convince me that he didn't like sweet things when I tried to get him to order some ice cream, even though I was treating today. I was unconvinced. What sort of person doesn't like ice cream?
"It still surprises me, how much you can eat." he went on to say, trying to embarrass me as I ate up my sundae faster than was probably considered ladylike. I didn't care, though. It tasted really good, and I was feeling really good having it.
I held my spoon up to his mouth, leaning over the table to reach him better, my dress straining against my cleavage. "Wanna bite?" I asked, being super generous, as usual. I wasn't one to share when it came to something as sacred as ice cream.
"Gross." he muttered around his mug, not looking at me.
"Proves what you know!" I leaned back into my seat and put the bite of delicious frozen sweetness into my own mouth before it could drip onto the table, wasting precious dessert. "Who doesn't like ice cream anyway? There must be something really wrong with you...oh that kinda came out bad." I realized he could probably take that the wrong way, but not until after I had already said it out loud. That's usually how it worked with me, unfortunately. I didn't think before I talked. I didn't ever want to hurt Zero's feelings. Not when I finally had him opening up with me. Not after I was beginning to understand what he's been through. We were finally talking like normal siblings, like best friend's.
He just shrugged it off, though, thankfully, changing the subject completely; seeming not at all offended by what I had said. "Did we get everything that the Headmaster wanted?" he asked. "I'm getting tired of being dragged around town by you like a pack mule."
"You didn't have to come." I clarified. "You chose to." I grabbed the shopping list from my purse anyway and skimmed over it quickly, wondering why he was giving me such a hard time all of a sudden, with the sudden mood swing. Maybe I had offended him with my previous comment and he just didn't want to mention it. I should apologize before it sinks in too deep. "Just about." I said, answering him instead of apologizing.
He was being grumpy. Maybe there was a particular reason as to why. No harm in asking, right? There wasn't any distance between us anymore, at least, there wasn't in my eyes. No point in being shy and beating around the bush. "Now that I think about it Zero-and I want you to know that I'm only saying this because I care about you and your wellbeing-it has been quite awhile since you've had my blood." I mentioned, pointing my dessert spoon at him.
He choked on his coffee, spitting some back out onto the table. Some also got on my face and dress.
"Ew!" I dabbed at my front with a napkin, the brown stain already setting into the white fabric. "What the hell?" I muttered under my breath.
Zero looked around the shope nervously, making sure no one had heard what I just said.
"I don't need it." he said simply, focusing back on his coffee.
"What? What's that supposed to mean? You suddenly don't need it all of a sudden?" I rolled my eyes at him. "You sure as hell needed it the other day." I was dead asleep the other night when Zero stumbled into my bedroom and shook me roughly awake before collapsing on top of me, pressing me into the mattress and sinking his fangs deep into the delicate skin at my throat.
Zero set his coffee mug down firmly on the table-making me jump at the sudden loud noise-and stood, gathering up the shopping bags. "Are you done?" he asked, gesturing towards my sundae. He started to walk away, deciding for me.
"Zero?! Wait up!" I called after him, shoving another bite into my mouth and dropping some money on the table for the bill, hurrying after him. "Was it something I said?!" he kept his eyes focused straight ahead, not looking at me, not answering me. Apparently it was something I had said and he was done with the conversation.
I loved days like this. It was so hot out and the sky was so clear, such a lovely, deep shade of blue. The air even smelled good, so clean and fresh. The streets were pretty crowded today, filled with busy noises and people. The roads were lined with street vendors trying to sell their goods; fruits, vegetables, jewelries, clothing, all kinds of things. I even recognized some students from the Academy crowding all around the vendors, taking full advantage of our day off.
I didn't like upsetting Zero. I knew he was having a hard enough time dealing with his current situation. I was just worried about him though. I only wanted him to understand that. I just wanted to help him in anyway that I could. I wanted to be there for him. I wanted him to know that he could rely on me. We had already been out shopping for hours. Maybe Zero was getting tired.
There was a loud, heart wrenching shriek then, cutting through everything else, piercing straight through my ears, echoing across the sky. It reverberated off of the surrounding buildings, the trees, even the people walking down the street. Those who cared enough stopped and looked around, questioning it's whereabouts, who had screamed, and why. What was wrong with them? What was happening to them? This wasn't a bad part of town, what could possibly be wrong with them to have caused such a sound? These people weren't like us, Zero and I. They didn't know about the monsters that creeped around corners, hid in the dark, haunted my very dreams. I barely even knew, not like Zero did.
My heart sank with the sound of that girl's terrified scream.
Zero took off running in the direction the sound had come from, dropping everything he was carrying to the ground without a care. All of our purchases went streaming across the ground as if they were nothing more than trash, open for anyone to just walk by and take whatever they wanted. He didn't even wait for me, to see if I would follow him. I tried to follow after him, to keep up, calling his name. But he didn't seem to hear me. Either that, or he just didn't care. He just ran, hard, leaving me behind. Zero was a lot faster than I was. Maybe he didn't want me to follow him. Soon he was lost from my sight completely and I found myself in an abandoned alley, cut off from the bustling town, cut off from the noise, cut off from the light, from the safely of the bustling streets and crowded market.
The sun was falling low behind the trees by now, casting a dark orange glow on the world below. It would be dark soon. I fought to catch my breath, breathing hard from running. My heart was thundering in my chest, for more reasons than one.
I felt scared, terrified of what could be lurking in the shadows.
Darkness.
Bad things always happened in the dark. It was inevitable I heard about them on television, read about them in the newspaper, in books. People lost, stolen, raped, and murdered. I had never been in town alone when it was dark. I had hardly even been in town alone, period. There had only be those very few times, and those times were only ever fueled by anger. And when I was angry I was blind, blind to my fears, blind to the dangers.
I knew what was really out there.
I could feel eyes on me now, watching, waiting for the opportune moment, the perfect moment to strike, the moment for when my guard was down. They felt like the same eyes from my dream, my nightmare. Goosebumps rose up on my arms and I shivered hard, feeling the hairs on my neck rise.
I held my breath.
I jumped out of the way, purely out of instinct, sensing It before I saw It, before the creature could land on top of me and probably break my neck in the process. I fell on my knees a few feet away from It, my knees scrapping deep against the brick pavement, cutting the flesh there, stinging and burning. I felt the warm blood slowly begin to seep out of my skin. It began to laugh, throwing It's head back, cackling loudly, enjoying my pain losing It's mind in the scent of my blood. I got a good look at It's face, then, seeing It's blood red eyes. My throat went dry at the sight. My blood felt ice cold in my veins. It was like something out of my very nightmares. Only here, I was already awake.
My mind went completely blank.
All those years of training to prepare me for situations such as these fled from me the moment that our eyes met. My limbs froze and I couldn't move. I felt like It was seeing into the very depths of my soul, seeing me as such a very small, very weak and defenseless child, a child that would be easily broken.
I couldn't do anything.
It ran at me, claws extended, fangs drawn, screaming, and I knew It meant to kill me. But I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I could barely see-
-I hope one day you'll be able to forgive me-
I knew that voice from my dream, the one with the crying woman. Why was I hearing it now? What did she want from me?
A gunshot went off just above my head then, sending a gust of pressurized air through my hair, and snapping me out of my trance. The sound bounced off the narrow brick walls of the ally, bouncing back and fourth between them. It was deafening. I covered my ears as they began to ring painfully, so painfully, convinced the drums would burst out of my head, but I couldn't look away from the creature that fell back just a few feet from me-laughing and twitching all the while-as it began to disintegrate and turn to ash at my feet, It's eyes never looking away from mine.
"Are you alright, Yuuki?" Zero asked when it was finally over, putting his gun away.
His voice sounded far away, like I was under water. My ears were still ringing. I couldn't look away from the pile of ashes that lay just before me. The light summer breeze stirred them around the brick walkway, around my knees, soaking into the small pooling of blood there. Even though I knew the threat was gone my whole body was trembling, lingering with the fear that I couldn't shake away. "What was that?" I asked, finally finding my voice, glancing up at Zero.
Zero crouched down to my level, trying to get me to meet his eyes again. "A vampire." he said simply, taking me by the hands and pulling me to my feet. But my legs were too weak to stand. They shook violently when I tried to put weight on them. His hands felt so hot compared to mine.
"I just need a minute." I protested, pushing his hands away, not wanting to be carried. I couldn't face him, not now. I felt ashamed. I should have been able to face that vampire on my own. After all, I had been trained for this exact situation. Watching it crack and turn to ashes-I could still see it in my head, I felt like I could puke.
"We don't have a minute, Yuuki." Zero complained, crouching in front of me so I could get onto his back. "We need to get back to the Academy. It'll be dark soon. We need to tell the Headmaster what happened here."
"What about that girl." I remembered suddenly. "The one that had screamed before. Did you find her?"
"She's dead." it was so easy for him to say to, like it was such an obvious thing that I should have known.
"What?" the girl had been killed. I couldn't get to her in time. I couldn't save her because I was too afraid. If only I didn't freeze up. If only I had brought my weapon with me...she'd probably still be alive.
He turned to look at me. "Why didn't you have your weapon on you, Yuuki?" it was like he read my mind. Maybe it was natural for him, to kill them the way he did, like it was nothing at all. Zero was a Vampire Hunter after all. He was always carrying his gun around with him. He probably slept with the damn thing.
What was I supposed to say. "I...I forgot it." I admitted. I guess I actually never really thought I'd run into something like that in the street.
I knew Zero was scolding me. I could see his mouth moving, see the irritated look on his face. But I couldn't hear him. I felt as though I were under water again, my ears felt clogged, plugged. I was so dizzy, my head was spinning. The world was thrashing faster and faster, moving in waves, twisting and misshaping Zero's face.