It took all of Luka's self-control to not slam the door behind her. Thirst was bubbling in her veins, the memory of the taste of Miku's blood sharp and present on her tongue. Luka shook her head, trying to clear it. She had to take things slow, she recognized, but what did Miku want? Why did she ask her that? Was she scared of Luka randomly taking her blood? Did she really trust Luka so little that she thought she would do that? Not that Luka could blame her; earlier, when her feelings for Miku were confused, she had been...irresponsible, with how she demanded blood.
Luka clenched her hands into fists, hard, trying to distract herself with the pain. She wouldn't do that anymore, though; they were friends, and Luka cared too much about Miku to essentially bully her into letting her drink her blood. It hurt, but at the same time, she wanted, so badly. She hadn't really fed on any blood since the Manticore of Legion, as the beast's blood was so powerful that it was able to keep Luka running for a while, but even that had limits. Time was running out. She would have to feed again soon, somehow.
But there was nothing she could do about it now. Luka exhaled and walked faster, diverting her pent-up energy into something more productive. She was rounding the corner when she heard Gumi call her, and Luka glanced over at her. The green-haired girl was smiling, leaning against the wall. Luka went over to her.
"Did you get Lily's blood?" she asked.
Gumi nodded. "Of course."
Luka hesitated. "You didn't...bite her, did you?"
Gumi laughed. "Come on. Who do you think I am? Funny though, that dhampir thought I was about to bite her right up until I pricked her with the needle. Anyways," Gumi's face grew serious, "when do you think the wendigo will come?"
"I don't know, but Yukari has the service rope if anything..." Luka trailed off, eyes wide as a realization made its way into her mind.
"If anything?" Gumi asked. "What's the problem?"
"The wendigo only appears when she's asleep."
"Yeah...so?"
"So?" Luka could hardly believe her ears, as well as their own stupidity. "She wouldn't even be able to pull the service rope because she's sleeping!"
Gumi stared at her, but it was only for a split second before the two of them turned and started running for Yukari's room.
-o-o-o-
They burst in fearing the worst. However, what they saw instead was a wide-awake Yukari, who, upon hearing Gumi and Luka practically break open the door, gave a start and stared at them, eyes wide. In her hands was a phone - she had apparently been playing some kind of puzzle game.
"Wh-what is it?" she stammered.
Luka heaved a sigh of relief and walked over to the window. The city outside was vast and dark, a labyrinth of streets and alleys. "The wendigo only appears when you're asleep."
"Yeah..." Yukari said, slowly. "What about that?"
"What she means is that the service rope we gave you might as well not exist for all the good it's going to do you," Gumi sighed. "Nothing for it, then. We'll have to keep watch over you."
Yukari blinked. "Oh. Okay. That's fine," she smiled. "Luka protected me last night, so I trust her." She put the phone on the bedside table. "Good night, then."
Gumi looked at Luka with a raised eyebrow. "Really, Luka? Glad to hear. Night, Yukari."
"Night," Luka said, scanning the outside for any sign of the wendigo. For a while, no one spoke, but then Gumi crossed over and flicked off the light, plunging the room in darkness. With the light of the city still visible, the moon a yellow scratch in the sky, the room was illuminated in a soft blue.
"I think she's sleeping," said Gumi.
Luka could tell that herself by the rhythmic rise and fall of Yukari's breathing. "I think so too."
"So, what, how long will it take for it to get here?"
"Not long," said Luka. "It arrived in fifteen minutes or so last night."
"You're pretty on the ball for a fledgling, aren't you?" asked Gumi. "Most fledglings are out of control the first few years. Can't control their bloodlust or their powers."
Luka didn't turn around. "Yeah, I was, um, brought up in a strict family when I was young. My father was in the military." It was true, although it was so long ago that Luka barely remembered anything at all. Her years as a human were so few in comparison to how long she spent as a vampire that it was easy to forget that she had ever been human at all.
Gumi sighed. "That doesn't explain anything. You're a very interesting fledgling...making friends with so many humans without giving in to drinking all of their blood? You don't even drink that much blood in general. Most fledglings are completely insatiable. You don't have their appetite..."
Luka turned. Gumi's eyes were slightly narrowed, and the green haired girl paused a bit before continuing. "You have the appetite of a much older vampire. You're pretty mature for your age, aren't you?"
Luka forced a laugh. "Yeah, my friends back when I was human used to say I was pretty mature."
Gumi didn't smile, only staring at Luka so intently that for a moment Luka thought, absurdly, that Gumi could see right through her, could tell who she actually was. but then Gumi broke the silence with a slow "I see".
"Yeah," said Luka. "I..." She trailed off once she saw how Gumi's eyes had gone wide, and quickly Luka whirled around only to stare right at the eternally grinning face of the wendigo.
"Shit!" Luka stumbled back, hands instinctively searching for weapons before she realized that whatever weapons she would have would be useless, anyways - silver was anathema to vampires too, and there was little Luka could do but to try to grab the creature's cold, cold heart.
The wendigo pushed into the room, skeletal body melting through the slick glass of the window. When it was fully in the room, its spirit trails lit the room in an eerie white light. Crouching, it surveyed the room, head half-lifted, as if scenting out prey, though its nose was little more than a hole. A skeletal hand covered its heart.
"Keep it away from Yukari," Gumi ordered.
Easier said than done, Luka thought as the wendigo shifted its bulk over to the sleeping human. Perhaps it was hungrier today, for while its main body seemed smaller, the wisps of spirit trails it emitted were larger, wriggling towards Yukari as though she was some kind of magnet. Luka ran over to it and tackled it again. The wendigo swayed, fell onto the floor. Once again, Luka thrust her hand into the beast's ribcage, shivered at the sudden decrease in temperature before the wendigo writhed and grabbed onto her wrist with an icy, skeletal hand. The temperature around its heart decreased even more.
The wendigo was, Luka realized, trying to freeze Luka's hand inside its chest. Quickly Luka tried to pull her hand out, but the wendigo was holding onto her wrist too tightly for her to move. Ice began to cover her fingers. The wendigo staggered back up. Luka's feet hung in the air, suspended, before she found footing on the wendigo's pelvic bone. Gumi leapt onto the bed and Luka felt Gumi grab her by the ankles. The vampire pulled, a single strong yank that shattered the ice that kept Luka tethered to the wendigo, that pulled both Luka and the wendigo, which was still holding onto Luka's wrist, forward. The three of them landed on the floor, Luka's face smashed up against the wendigo's ribs. Waves of chill and cold washed over her.
"That went well," Gumi mumbled from under Luka.
Luka said nothing. She grabbed the wendigo by its shoulders and pushed it off of her. The wendigo reeled back against the wall, and Luka rolled off of Gumi and leapt back onto her feet. Her eyes flicked over to Yukari. Still safe. Once the wendigo was here, there was little chance of Yukari waking up - one of its powers was suppression of consciousness in its victims.
"Pin back its arms and I'll grab the heart," Luka ordered.
Gumi stared at her for a moment, questions clearly evident in her eyes, before she dismissed them and ran forward. The wendigo, apparently anticipating her movements, ducked its head and swept its antlers in an attempt to trip Gumi up. The vampire anticipated it, leapt over them, grabbed onto it for leverage before vaulting herself up to the creature's back. Hooking her feet in the back of its ribcage, Gumi grabbed the beast's arms. The wendigo growled and tried to move its arms, but Gumi held fast.
"Hurry up," Gumi grunted, and Luka nodded and sprinted over towards the wendigo. She practically threw her arm into the frozen cavity of the wendigo's chest. Her hand closed around its heart, so cold she could hardly feel anything, and pulled. The heart stuck fast. The wendigo's brute strength was prevailing over Gumi's. Luka squeezed her eyes shut, reached deep inside herself for that well of power, before she realized, with a stomach-churning jolt, that she hadn't fed on anything in a long time. The Manticore of Legion's blood alone had been enough to sustain her for months, and she had underestimated the amount of strength that fighting the wendigo would require.
"What's the problem?" Gumi shouted. "Hurry up and take it out!"
Luka gathered up her remaining strength and pulled. The heart loosened from the wendigo's chest with a sickening and disturbingly organic crunch. Luka fell backwards with the force of it, narrowly avoiding the wendigo's arms as it freed itself from Gumi's grasp to grab at her. Luka landed on the ground with an 'oof' that rushed all the strength from her body, and stars flooded her vision. The energy required to pull the heart out was too much. She was so thirsty...it was as bad as the time she first met Miku.
The wendigo let out a roar, a subhuman screech, and flung Gumi off of itself before charging towards Luka. Luka scrambled to her feet, clutching the heart close to herself. It was too hard to smash, she sensed - even if she dropped it from the fifty-sixth floor, the heart would remain intact. Luka threw herself to the side, dodging the wendigo's antlers. It had solidified itself and smashed through the wall. When it drew its head back, there was a torn painting of a boat hanging from one of its antlers.
"Oh shit, property damage," Gumi groaned, sitting up from where the wendigo had thrown her.
"The hell happened?" Lily had (unnecessarily) opened the door and was staring at the hole in the wall. She coughed into her arm.
"The wendigo," Luka said. She grabbed Lily and pushed her aside as the wendigo made another charge. The frozen heart was beginning to ice over Luka's left arm. "We need to heat up its heart."
Lily stared at its heart and reached out a hand, but Luka batted it away. "Too cold for you, you'll get your arm frozen off. Let's go."
With that, she turned and ran down the narrow corridor towards one of the living rooms, the wendigo howling after her, smashing into walls, paintings, scratching long grooves on the walls with its antlers. Luka's strength was beginning to run out; even the oldest vampires required blood to function effectively. For a moment, she thought of Miku - she was so close, Luka could practically smell her from here, tempting and sweet, though she pushed the thought from her mind. Panting, Luka skidded into the living room. Her eyes lit onto the fireplace.
It was unlit. Luka cursed and whirled around. The wendigo was squeezing through the doorway, its bulk crumpling the wood around it. Splinters stuck onto the ragged strips of skin that still hung to it, wood dust coating its bones. That was the only exit. Luka's eyes darted around. Folly of the vampires; there were no windows, so as to prevent sunlight, nothing save for some armchairs, tables, and bookshelves.
The cold was seeping into her body now. Haphazardly, Luka grabbed newspaper, balled it up, threw it into the fireplace, swept kindling on top in as close an approximation of a grid as possible, and grabbed the lighter that lay by the grate. She flicked it on.
Nothing happened.
Luka stared at it in disbelief, her thumb flicking the lighter on over and over, but it still remained unlit. Then, it hit her - the frozen heart in her arms was giving off so much cold that the lighter wouldn't work.
Luka dropped the lighter and turned around. The wendigo was closer now, having successfully struggled its way through the door frame, was advancing on her with slow, measured movements. Luka strafed around it, then she ran over towards the exit.
"Gumi!" she shouted, but Gumi was there already, wincing at Luka's volume.
"I just got here, calm down," Gumi said, panting slightly, green eyes flicking over to the wendigo before her gaze stopped at Luka. Her eyes widened. "Luka, you're covered in ice. Can you even move your arm?"
Luka waved her right arm around. "This one, yes. I need to melt this. Start a fire."
Gumi frowned, glancing over at the wendigo. Luka, reading her hesitation, snapped, "I already set up everything, you just need to light it."
With a nod, Gumi ran into the room, ducked under the wendigo's swipe, flicked on the lighter and lit the fire. Flames flickered to life.
"It's gonna take a while for it to catch!" Gumi shouted over to Luka.
Luka slumped against the wall, the ice chilling through her bones. "Fine," she said. She could feel the cold creeping up to her shoulder now. In the distance, she heard some violent coughing and sure enough, Lily caught up, her nose red, sniffling, looking for all the world like someone who should be resting in bed.
"What are you doing up?" Luka hissed. "Go back to bed. You're sick!"
Lily coughed and stared at the heart. "How're you going to get rid of that? You can't use silver."
Luka jerked her head in the direction of the fire. "Gonna dump it in there."
Lily barked out a laugh. "You kidding me? That heart is so cold, it'll take ages for the fire to melt it."
Luka's nerves, frayed from hunger, exhaustion, and frustration, were at their limit. "What else are we supposed to do?"
Lily's eyes flicked down to the heart. "Silver. It just breaks apart at silver." She laughed again, one that was tinged with fever. "Silver works for everything. That's what Miku said."
Luka stared at her. "Well, silver works, but in case you haven't noticed, we're vampires."
"The fire's ready!" Gumi barreled out of the room. "Incoming wendigo!"
Luka ducked down, dodging a sweep of antlers, pulling Lily down with her. The dazed dhampir fell onto the ground with another cough. Luka felt a flush of irritation in her chest. What was Lily even doing here? She was too sick to help.
"You, go back to your room," Luka snapped. "We'll take care of this." She got up to her feet, her limbs weighed by tiredness. Bloodlust was gnawing away at the back of her mind. Luka pushed it away. Not now. She couldn't lose control of herself now.
Lily stared at her. "Your eyes..."
Luka didn't stick around to listen to the rest of the sentence. She ran forward towards the fire. With her other hand, she grabbed the heart, now thoroughly encased in a shard of ice that almost completely enclosed Luka's left arm, and with a grunt ripped it out. The ice shattered with a crack that sounded like a breaking bone. Luka didn't stop to dwell on the pain. She pitched the heart into the roaring fire.
The wendigo screamed behind her, falling onto the ground, writhing. Luka, panting, continued to stare at the heart. It was beginning to melt, shrinking slightly in the fire. However...Luka's tired eyes fixated themselves on the size of the heart. The fire was shrinking too. As Lily had said...the coldness of the heart was too much; it would take too long for the heart to melt.
"Shit," Luka breathed. The hunger, ever-present, gnawed at her once more. There was Miku, so close by in her room. It wouldn't hurt if Luka took a little blood from her again. It was only a fair price, her mind giggled, for providing protection for her friend Yukari.
"Shut up," Luka told herself. Things were...things were different back then. She couldn't just do that now. She had to...she had to...
She had to what? Luka couldn't remember. After all, what was so wrong about drinking Miku's blood? It was only a little bit, and Luka was so hungry. What was stopping her, then? Besides, didn't Miku want her to, before? Her heart was beating so fast, her blood fresh and sweet. It was a victimless crime; in fact, it wasn't a crime at all. What was wrong with it?
Luka, eyes glassed, staggered up to her feet. Now that she thought about it, it all made logical sense. She was Elluka, one of the great ancestors of vampirism; blood was her birthright. Nothing stopped her from taking blood from whoever she wanted before. What was the problem now? Absolutely nothing. There was no problem at all. Besides, it was a small price to pay to prevent Miku's precious friend from becoming a wendigo herself.
She walked over to the exit of the room, Gumi and Lily staring at her. The wendigo barely phased into her consciousness. On her way out, Gumi grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Hold it, Luka," she said, "where are you going?"
"Your eyes are completely red," Lily broke in.
"I'm just going to get some blood," said Luka.
Gumi stared at her before shaking her head. "Are you crazy? Do you really think that this is the time for that?"
"The fire is going out," Lily said. "We have to do something."
Gumi shook her head, again. "What are you going to do?"
Lily glared at her. "I came prepared." She started running, an unbalanced, feverish dash, down the corridor.
Gumi groaned. "Shit. This just isn't my day. Where are you going to get blood?"
"I can just take Miku's," Luka said.
Gumi laughed, though she stopped once she saw Luka's expression. "You're...not kidding. Are you shitting me? You can't just do that."
Luka growled. "Why not-" She stopped abruptly once she smelled it, the tantalizingly sweet scent of Miku. Her eyes widened. At this distance she could practically hear Miku's heartbeat.
"Lily?" Gumi's voice was thick with disbelief. "Are you insane? You can't just bring Miku here! Luka's under bloodlust!"
Lily coughed. "She's the only one here who's not sick and who can wield silver."
Luka felt a violent revulsion in her gut, a churning sensation at the sight of the silver dagger Miku held in her hand. Miku was staring at Luka for some reason, her teal eyes wide.
"Luka," Miku stammered, "are...are you okay?"
"She's very hungry, don't come near her," said Gumi, grabbing Luka and holding her back.
Miku stared down at the dagger in her hands, and then she looked over at the wendigo, hunched over the fire. "What do I do?"
"That wendigo is in the way," Lily said. "What's it doing?"
"Waiting for the fire to go out so that it can get its heart back," said Gumi.
Miku's brow furrowed. Her heartbeat was fast; Luka could sense uneasiness, fear. Her hair was down, a teal strand escaped from behind her ear. Luka wanted it. "Okay..."
Gumi cursed. "I need someone to hold back Luka, and someone needs to distract the wendigo."
"I can distract it," said Lily.
"No," said Gumi. "You're sick. Slow. It'll break you in half."
"I can regenerate, it's fine," Lily said. "My father had been trying to kill me for years."
Gumi's grip loosened slightly in surprise, and Luka saw her chance. Without a word she ripped herself from Gumi's grasp and practically tackled Miku. The girl went down with a gasp, air rushing out of her body.
Stop! a part of Luka shouted, and Luka hesitated, her rational mind returning to her for a moment. What was she doing? She was suddenly intensely aware of what she was about to do, and caught between instinct and thought, Luka swallowed and began to pull herself back if it wasn't for the fact that Gumi yanked her off of Miku before she had a chance to do anything.
"Luka, calm down," Gumi said.
"I...I'm sorry," Luka mumbled, her head dazed. Lily was helping Miku to her feet, Miku's eyes fixed on Luka's. A rush of shame filled Luka's soul. She tore her eyes away from Miku.
"No, you are not," said Gumi. "You need to stay put. Lily, go in and distract it. Miku..." Gumi hesitated. "Be careful. It can sense the silver in that dagger."
Miku nodded. "I'll be careful."
Lily coughed and wiped her nose before running in, Miku following after her. Lily grabbed the wendigo by its arm, pulling it backwards away from the fire. The wendigo, startled, swung around, one arm grabbing at Lily, giving Miku the opportunity to slip under and run over towards the fire. Lily staggered backwards, wincing as an antler opened a gash on her cheek. Miku didn't look back. She ran over to the fire where the heart was melting, dagger at the ready.
The monster, perhaps sensing this, immediately abandoned its pursuit of Lily. With a violent lurch it pulled itself out of Lily's grasp and lumbered over to Miku. Luka's eyes widened. No matter what Lily did, the wendigo had its priorities straight - it was making a beeline for Miku, ignoring Lily as though she was nothing more than an annoying gnat.
"Miku," Luka gasped, and she pulled herself out of Gumi's grasp. Gumi immediately grabbed her again.
"Don't," she said, voice warning.
"I'm not going to bite her, that wendigo's going for her," Luka growled, and with that she violently pulled herself away from Gumi and ran over to the wendigo. Too close, it was too close - if it reached out an arm, a hand, it could easily grab Miku - Luka ran to the side and hurled herself at the wendigo. It staggered from the unexpected weight, a second - enough time for Miku to reach the fire and plunge the dagger into the wendigo's heart.
The wendigo stopped. Then, with a howl, it dissolved under Luka's feet, and Luka fell onto the floor with a thump that knocked the air out of her. Dazed, she stared up at the ceiling, soon replaced by Miku's face.
"Luka? Are you okay?" she asked.
"Miku!" Lily immediately ran over. "Don't go near her!"
Miku glanced up, hesitation evident in her face. "But..she looks fine now. Her eyes are normal."
Luka sat up. "You should still be careful. I'm...hungry."
Miku shook her head. "No. It's okay. You wouldn't hurt me." She smiled at Luka. That alone was enough to make guilt churn in Luka's heart, and she stared down at her hands. What had she been thinking? She was old enough to control herself, she wasn't some kind of bloodcrazed fledgling. From this distance, Miku was intoxicating, Luka feeling a constant pull towards her, but even under such stressful situations like the wendigo, Luka should still have been able to control herself...
"Amazing trust you have there," said Lily, "but safety is safety."
"Where did you get a silver dagger from, anyways?" Gumi asked. "Weird accessory for a high schooler to carry around."
"An Ishim gave it to me," said Lily, "after she helped me with...something."
Gumi raised an eyebrow and sighed, putting her hands on her hips and surveying the room. "Well, it's gone now. Good work, team. Now we just have to pay for all these repairs..."
Lily snorted. "You guys are rich enough anyways."
"Um..." said a voice from behind them, and everyone turned. There was Yukari, sleepily rubbing her eyes and peering inside the room. "Something happen?"
-o-o-o-
Lily escorted Miku and Yukari back to their rooms by Gumi's request. As for Luka, Gumi led her over to a non-wrecked room and tossed her a bloodpack. Luka held it in her hands, turning it over. Gumi had gotten the ice off of Luka's arm, although it felt sluggish and slow, as if the ice had made its way inside. Still, there was nothing Luka could do about that for now save trust her regenerative abilities to take care of that.
"Don't be picky," said Gumi, plopping herself down on the chair across from Luka. "It's not Miku's, but it'll do."
"Yeah, I know," Luka said. She popped off the cap and started drinking. The blood was thin and watery, but, as Gumi said, it would do. Most likely from a vamp freak or a blood whore. The hunger abated anyways, the veil of bloodlust dropping from her mind.
"So," said Gumi, "good job."
"Thanks," said Luka, and finished off the bloodpack. She exhaled and closed her eyes, leaning back against the chair, feeling the blood sluggishly make its way through her system. "Sorry about, um, losing control. And thanks for the blood."
"No problem, I'd say you earned it," Gumi grinned. "Fighting off a wendigo's enough to prove yourself. Now I just have to clear things with Sonika and you'll be fully in."
"Where is Sonika and everyone, by the way?"
Gumi shrugged. "Some territory dispute with a pack of werewolves that just moved in the city."
"Was that what the meeting yesterday was about too?"
"Yup," Gumi leaned forward. "I personally don't think it's too big of a deal, since usually packs just kind of back off. We could have let it slide for a bit, but a wendigo? Fighting off one was bad enough, so think about what would happened if it spread. Well, whatever. Took care of both in one night."
Luka nodded. "Okay."
Gumi glanced down at her watch and with a sigh got up. "Alright, I'm going to head out. Sonika wanted me to be there at three in the morning."
"That's late...pretty close to morning, isn't it?"
Gumi laughed. "Shouldn't take too long. I'm just doing cleanup."
Cleanup? Luka decided not to press. "I see."
Gumi nodded. "Yup, it's a pain. And by the way," Gumi leaned forward, face by Luka's ear, voice a whisper, "you're not really a fledgling, are you?" Before Luka could answer, Gumi straightened up, smiling as though she hadn't said anything at all. "Well then, I'll see you later, Luka Megurine."
-o-o-o-
Miku sighed as she sat on the bed. Lily had told her to keep the silver dagger for now, and it laid on the bedside table. She rubbed her eyes - she was rather sleepy. When Luka had left her, Miku couldn't quite go to sleep; after all, knowing that one's friend was in imminent danger of being attacked by a wendigo ruined one's chances for rest, to say the least, and the faint crashing and shouting sounds that Miku heard didn't help either. When Lily burst in, panicked and blabbering, thrusting a silver dagger into Miku's hands, Miku was as unsurprised as she could be under the circumstances.
What surprised Miku was seeing Luka's eyes completely red, and when Luka tackled her, it immediately brought a flood of memories from when they first met, back when Miku was an ordinary high school student and when Luka was a mysterious vampire she barely knew. Except, the difference was that this time, Luka stopped.
Although, Miku thought, it wasn't as though she knew Luka especially well nowadays, either. The vampire's hobbies, likes, dislikes, and dreams were still a mystery. Even after all this time, Miku didn't feel as though she knew Luka very well at all, despite being friends with her.
Except, were they even friends? Miku recalled the unpleasant drop in her gut when she first received Luka's text saying how she was just there at her school to check up on Yukari, a fact that wasn't helped by how familiar and friendly the two of them were with each other later on, a drop that transformed into a churning when Miku realized that in the time between Lily's problems and Yukari's, Luka had probably drank other people's blood...not that that should even matter, Luka was a vampire and it was stupid to get preoccupied with what was very likely only a source of food for her, but the thought of Luka giving others the same feeling she gave Miku was...was...
Miku shook her head. Either way, she was pretty sure that normal friends didn't feel that way. Unless things were different for vampires, but somehow, Miku doubted that.
With a groan, she flopped herself down on Luka's bed. It was too late to think about all this. Dully, Miku wondered why she wasn't more preoccupied about the wendigo. Maybe she had been too desensitized to supernatural occurrences - they were certainly happening more and more often to her, and Yukari looked perfectly fine. The cut on Lily's cheek from the antlers was already healed as well, thanks to her regenerative abilities. Another case solved, though Miku doubted that was the end of everything.
There came a knocking on the door before it swung open and Luka stepped in, cautiously. She paused once she saw that Miku was awake. Her eyes were back to their original blue shade, the bloodlust lifted.
"Did you..." Miku began.
"Yes," Luka said. "Don't worry. I won't be attacking you like I did earlier. I'm...sorry."
"No, it's...it's fine," Miku said. "I said I trust you. You've saved my life before."
Luka said nothing for a while, standing by the doorway as if thinking. Then, she made her way over to the bed and sat down next to Miku. Miku tried to ignore how her heartbeat instantly accelerated.
When Luka began to speak, her words were slow, each considered and weighed before being spoken. "I did that, but back then, I couldn't control myself. I was so hungry. All I thought about was blood. It was just like the first time I met you."
"But you stopped," said Miku.
Luka's expression darkened. "Not the first time."
"But back then, you didn't know me-" Miku protested, but Luka cut her off with a wave of her arm.
"That doesn't matter," she said. "The point is, I still attacked you. You could've, should've just reported me to the Seraphim."
Miku forced a laugh. "How could I? You looked so guilty! Anyways...it's fine now, isn't it? You've helped me, us, so much. We're..." Miku hesitated, searched her mind for the right word, but she couldn't think of any, other than the obvious and inadequate. "We're...friends."
Luka was studying her in the darkness, her blue eyes unreadable. "Right," she said, softly. "We're friends."
Perhaps due to how intently Luka was looking at her, Miku began to feel a little self-conscious, and her mind seized on the first topic that went through her head. "Y-yeah. So...so...we haven't really...hung out. Even though we said we would."
Luka blinked. "Hung out?"
"You don't remember?" Miku frowned. "You said you wanted to, you know, spend more time with me."
Luka's eyes widened. "Oh."
"Geez, you're awful," Miku mock-huffed, crossing her arms. "You forgot?"
"I'm sorry." Luka looked genuinely worried. "Where do you want to...hang out?" She said the words as though it belonged in a foreign language.
"You can't really go out in daytime, so it'll have to be something at night..." Miku thought. The obvious thing to do would be to watch a movie. That, or going to the arcade, or bowling, or ice skating, and really, there were a lot of things they could do. Just taking a walk around the city would be nice. "Can vampires eat? Or drink anything other than blood?"
Luka shook her head. "No, we can't digest it."
Miku frowned. "That sounds boring."
"Well, there are a lot of different humans out there, and each person's blood is unique, so it's different enough," said Luka.
Miku tried to imagine it. "Does that mean that you'll get tired of drinking the same person's blood over and over?"
"No!" Luka said, so suddenly Miku was taken by surprise and sat there, staring. Luka seemed to have realized something though, for just as quickly she began to speak again. "That is...I haven't really stuck to drinking only one human's blood, but..." Luka looked away from Miku, "I don't think that I would ever get tired of drinking..."
The atmosphere had changed again, an awkward cloud hanging between the two. Luka had trailed off, her face turned away from Miku, her pink hair hiding everything. Miku waited until the silence became unbearable. "Tired of drinking what?"
Another silence. "...your blood," Luka mumbled.
At that, Miku's eyes widened, blood rushing to her face. Dizzied, she stared at Luka. "What?"
Luka said nothing, though she turned to look at Miku. Miku tried not to fixate on her lips. She also tried to not focus on the fact that her neck had started to itch again. Then, Luka dropped her gaze. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"N-no," Miku stuttered, "it's...it's fine. It's okay."
"Really?"
Miku nodded. "Really. It's fine. I'm not, um," her face heated up, "freaked, or anything. It's okay."
"That's...good." Luka looked as though she didn't know what to think. "But earlier, you asked if I wasn't going to take your blood anymore. I thought that you didn't want me to."
Miku hesitated. Now they were getting into unfamiliar territory. She bit her lip and looked down. The room suddenly seemed unbearably hot. Miku wondered if the heater was turned up too high. "Um, n-no, I just asked because I, I just..."
"I just what?"
"I was curious, I mean," Miku was pretty sure that she could die of embarrassment right now and not be any worse for wear, "it's not like I mind. Well, n-no, I do mind, but it's not, I'm not..."
Luka stared at Miku, one eyebrow raised in confusion. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."
Why did this have to be so hard? Miku, face burning, shook her head. "N-nevermind."
"No, Miku," Luka put a hand over Miku's, her touch cool and electrifying; Miku gave a small start when she felt it. "Tell me. I need to know. I don't get what you mean."
Miku laughed nervously. "I don't know what I mean either. You're the vampire. Shouldn't you know?"
Luka frowned. "I'll just ask you a question, then." She drew her face closer to Miku's. Her next words were spoken in a low murmur, though despite her confident manner, her eyes were somewhat doubtful, uncertain, maybe even, Miku thought, a little frightened, though of what she didn't know. "If I was to take your blood right now, what would you do? Would you stop me?"
Luka's eyes were so deep, it felt as though Miku could drown in them. Miku's breaths were quick, her heart a fast staccato beat. She couldn't lie to her. She couldn't say anything but the absolute truth. "I wouldn't...but," Miku struggled to regain her mind, "didn't you just...feed?"
Luka smiled, her expression softening, most of the uncertainty leaving her face. "When you're a vampire, you're always hungry."
"Oh," Miku mumbled. "Okay." Her heart was thumping so loud she could hear it in her ears. A silence stretched on, long and unbearable. Then, Luka drew back, moving her hand away.
"It's been a long night," she said, her voice suddenly conversational. "You should get to sleep."
Miku blinked, taken off-guard by the sudden change in topic, by Luka's change in mood. "Huh?"
"After tomorrow, you get school off for the rest of the weekend, right?" Luka asked. "We can hang out when you're done."
"Oh, okay..." Miku nodded, before it fully hit her. "Wait, tomorrow? Th-that's so soon!"
Luka blinked. "Do you need to do anything special to prepare?"
"Yes! Well...no!" Miku didn't know whether to nod her head or shake it. Why would she need to do anything special to prepare? She was just hanging out with Luka, friends did that all the time. It wasn't as though they were going out on a date. Unless...Miku recalled the tension of a few scant minutes earlier. Unless they were more than friends. But did Luka see it that way? Miku hurriedly dismissed the possibility from her mind. There was no way. Luka said it herself, she was just always hungry. Besides, how could a vampire as powerful as Luka ever fall for an ordinary human? Right, it was impossible. Miku had merely read too many vampire romance novels. Stuff like this didn't happen in real life. Then again, wendigos possessing one's friends and one's friend turning out to be a dhampir didn't exactly happen normally either.
"Uh, so, which is it?" Luka looked confused.
"I mean," Miku couldn't quite bring herself to look at Luka in the eyes, "um, tomorrow is...fine."
"Alright then," said Luka, smiling. "We can hash out the details tomorrow. Anyways, you should get to sleep." Her smile grew into a grin. "You don't want to be tired for our date tomorrow."
"Alright," said Miku with a nod. "Night, Luka...wait," Miku's eyes shot wide open. "Did you say date?"
But Luka had already closed the door behind her. There was little else for Miku to do other than gape blankly at it before falling back on the bed. She didn't even know where to start thinking. Was she dreaming? She pinched herself. Nothing happened.
Great, Miku thought. Now it'd be even harder for her to get to sleep.
I'll be honest, originally, I was going to split this chapter up into two. And then I thought, why make you guys wait? XD So here's a nice, long chapter. The longest yet, actually! Now some other news. School is starting for me, so I'll be busier. Updates will probably come slower than they did before, which is why I tried to get this one out quicker. Nonetheless, I'll try not to keep you guys waiting for too long! :D