Chapter 17
-"So have you girls heard anything yet?"- Shizuma asked as she made breakfast all the while Chikaru helped her.
-"No, we saw Eve-chan go inside Tamao's room and that's it."- Nagisa replied as she took a seat and drank a bit of tea.
-"Well I'm pretty sure Tamao already forgave her,"- Yaya grinned, -"And probably doing something sexy."-
-"Yaya-chan! Tamao-chan isn't like that!"- Nagisa quickly shot back.
-"So you mean to tell me that Tamao hasn't done it yet?"-
-"I uh… I don't know."-
-"Shame, with someone as hot as Eve—"-
-"Yaya-chan!"- Chikaru snapped her gaze to her and gave her a stern look, -"Can we not talk about things like that!"-
-"fine fine."- She leaned back on the chair with a chuckle and waited patiently.
"I hope I'm not intruding."
They all turned their heads and saw a strange girl walking into the room, -"Who the hell are you!?"- Shizuma looked at her, -"And who let you in!?"-
"Oh excuse me, I really didn't mean too just barge in," She giggled, "But I was just making sure Mari is okay."
-"Who are you?!"- Shizuma asked again, taking a more defensive stance.
"My name is Claudette, at your service." She gave a respectful bow.
They froze, this had to be the same Claudette that Marinel was talking about, -"Were you spying on Evelyn?"-
"Spying? Oh no, by no means at all. As I said, just making sure she's okay."
Yaya only raised an eyebrow but before she could say something Claudette quickly spoke.
"Sorry I can't leave your home, but…" She looked outside, the morning light covering the entire field.
-"So you can't touch the sunlight like Eve-chan?"-
"Nope."
-"Were you talking with Evelyn last night?"-
"Yes, while her girlfriend was asleep we talked and… I guess we got carried away and its funny, we've never talked much till now."
-"Here please,"- Nagisa quickly offered Claudette a seat, maybe it was her innocent mind but she felt no evil intent off her and trusted her.
"Thank you," Claudette eyed her up and down, "Cute." She whispered to no one as she stared at Nagisa.
-"So… you've never talked? Why?"- Momomi asked.
"I think she has a thing out for me," She laughed, "I think she assumes that I'm bad or something…" Granted that while Claudette has done things that make people fear her, she wasn't actually a bad person but most would never approach her for that reason.
-"So… you've been with Evelyn since forever huh?"-
She nodded, "Believe it or not… I've actually watched over her since I first met her and made sure she was alright for the most part. I don't know what it was but ever since I found out she was a Half-Blood she just intrigued me so much, more so when we did exchange words. As little as those words were." She giggled and brushed her red hair back, "But what do you know, the one day I let her be on her own and she gets kidnapped. Just my luck."
-"Could you have actually saved her?"-
"Without a doubt."
Momomi shrugged, -"That's kinda creepy that you stalk her."-
"Stalk? No, don't get me wrong I give Mari her space, and as I said I only make sure she's okay and I go on my way… mostly at night since I can't check up on her during the day."
-"So you're kinda like Eve-chan's big sister huh!"- Nagisa smiled happily at her.
"Oh god you're so cute!" Claudette thought to herself, "I suppose that's one way to put it." she replied.
-"So are you worried people may harm her or something" Yaya asked her to confirm it.
"Of course, being a Half-Blood attracts a lot of unwanted attention and some even try to get rid of them.
-"I see, Eve told us the same thing."-
-"So Evelyn-chan told us you were older then her… how old exactly?"- Chikaru asked, truly curious about it now that she carefully looked at Claudette, she truly looked to be in her twenties.
"More than nine hundred years old maybe even past a thousand, I can't really remember anymore."
-"SUGOI!"- they all shouted, -"I can't believe it, that was so long ago."-
"You'd be surprised."
The girls all quickly sat around Claudette.
-"Can I ask you something… well it's a bit of a downer, we asked Eve this too."-
"Sure thing."
-"Is it hard living as long as you have?"- Shizuma asked her.
Claudette sighed, "Yes, you live for so long and it... gets really freaking boring and what's worse is that you start to forget your past or sometimes even important people… at least that's how it is for me. I can't remember my old life anymore. I can recall every fight I've ever been in, but my old life pfft not a single damn clue."
-"That's terrible,"- Chikaru said, -"How do you cope with it?"- Momomi followed up.
"Exactly what I'm doing now, talking with young people such as yourselves. If there's one thing that always keeps me guessing is how different and amazing humans are. You all keep surprising me, and it really helps keep my head on straight." Claudette explained, "I get so much joy just hanging around with a group of friends such as this, really makes an old woman feel… well I suppose young is the right word."
-"Claudette your not old."- Chikaru replied though Claudette could only laugh, she knew she was just trying to make the old vampire feel better and in a way she did.
"Chikaru, I am an old woman considering how much I've lived for. If I had to place it somewhere, I would say I'm the equivalent of a seventy year old in your years. while Mari on the other hand is still quite young." Claudette laughed, "But thank you, I'm glad you all don't think so."
Nagisa sat next to her, -"It's the truth."-
Claudette almost wanted to cry out with joy seeing Nagisa's cute eyes stare at her, "Thank you and I meant what I said about us being friends."
-"I'm glad you already consider us friends."- Nagisa smiled at her, Claudette just wanted to grab her face, she just found Nagisa too damn cute for her own good.
"Well, if Mari can be friends with all of you then so can I. I can see why she enjoys being around you all just from the short time I've been here with you all."
The girls all began to converse and maybe try to learn a bit more about Claudette and was not as Marinel had described her to be. Claudette was actually a nice person to a fault, but when provoked then you would not want to be caught by her and they also learned she was far deadlier then Marinel which was actually a surprise even though they had yet to see Marinel angry but other than that they all began to enjoy her company. Most of them didn't actually want the moon to rise to the sky so they could spend more time with the much older vampire.
Marinel inhaled deeply, her eyes slowly fluttered open and just as her senses returned to her she then heard—
CLICK
She opened her eyes and saw Tamao with a tape recorder and a grin on her face.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
-"No, nothing is wrong."- she smiled.
Marinel sat up, rubbed her eyes, "Did I actually fall asleep?"
Tamao nodded, -"I was actually surprised when I saw you asleep."- Deep down she felt that it was her lucky day as she glanced at her tape recorder and captured Marinel's soft snores which was not something she was expecting from a vampire like her.
Marinel finally noticed Tamao's smiling face, "So you're not mad at me anymore?"
-"Not entirely, I mean it hurt that you chose revenge over us."-
"Tamao I—"
Tamao raised her hand to hush Marinel, -"But I understand why you did it, everyone was telling me that you had to do it to keep us all safe."-
"That's why I left love."
-"So it's done right?"- Marinel nodded, -"I don't want to hear any of the details, I rather not think about it. I'm just glad I have you back."- Though deep down Tamao wanted to erase everything Marinel probably had done out of her mind as she couldn't imagine Marinel doing anything like that.
Tamao could think of nothing more to do then embrace her, one Marinel returned and they just held each other for what felt like hours.
That was until Marinel glanced at something, "Hey love?"
-"Yes?"-
"What's with the tape recorder?"
-"Oh aaah,"- She quickly began to fumble with it, -"It's nothing!"- She grinned nervously as she scratched her head.
"I see…" Marinel raised an eyebrow but finally moved on, "Well, I'm gonna head downstairs love. I'm sure everyone should be awake by now."
-"I'll be right down."- Tamao watched Marinel leave the room, that's when Tamao gave off a naughty giggle, -"It's a good thing you didn't see this."- She whipped out several pictures that she was sitting on top off, and they were of Marinel sleeping from different angles.
She rushed over to her notebook, opened it up with a crude drawing of Marinel with exaggerated fangs and placed her photos alongside the data she had collected about the young vampire's measurements. After that she then began to get dressed and finally fix up her hair.
The moment she reached the bottom of the stairs, Marinel could smell the coffee in the air and was actually craving some and would be nice to have some. The moment she walked in however, she saw someone she wasn't truly expecting.
"Claudette."
"Oh, hey Mari."
-"Evelyn-chan!"- Chikaru ran up to her and wrapped her arms around her then led her to a seat.
"Wasn't expecting to see you still here."
"Well its not like I can leave," She gestured to the window behind her, seeing the sun fully cover the field outside, "We can't all be day-walkers like you."
"I still burn." She shot back.
"But you don't die in an instant like we do." Claudette merely giggled as she clasped her hands together, "You don't like me much do you."
"What are you talking about? We talked all night."
"for the first time in what, centuries?"
-"Yeah Eve-chan, you should really get to know her… she wasn't as bad as you said."- Nagisa said only for Yaya to immediately cover her mouth.
Claudette didn't look remotely surprised, but Marinel sighed, "It's not that I don't like you Claudette… it's just when I look at you and then at myself, I have no business talking with someone as important as you."
Claudette burst into a full blown laughter, "Oh come on Mari, I never once took you as someone like that. I just merely thought you acted that way towards me because you didn't give a damn about who I was, in fact I approved of it."
"What?" Marinel was truly confused now.
"I hate when people are too timid or shy around me, or act different because of who I am. It's boring, and you never did that, you always acted like you wanted to kick my ass every time we were near one another." Claudette stood up and leaned agaisnt the counter, "It was always refreshing getting that off you."
"We both know you would win in a fight with me."
"That's not the point Mari," She ran her fingers through her red hair, "Point is that I love how different you are around me and I don't want you to ever treat me different, I don't care how old I am or how important I seem to be the clan—"
"You helped start the clan." Marinel interrupted.
"So," She replied with her hands on her hips, "Don't matter to me, I don't want anyone to treat me like I'm some sort of royalty, it gets old real quick."
"Says the grandma." Marinel gave off a huge smirk.
"Heey!" Claudette laughed and gently shoved Marinel as she laughed, "That's what I'm talking about, but you'll see, You'll get there too."
They laughed for a moment till Tamao walked inside the room and immediately embraced Marinel from behind.
-"Tamao-chan!"- Nagisa had a big smile on her face as she saw Tamao finally come down to the room, -"Looks like she's doing better."- Shizuma followed up.
Before anyone else knew it, the moon had risen and night had covered the earth.
"Well I believe I'm off," Claudette opened the door, "It was good hanging out with you all."
-"Please come visit us again."- Nagisa replied with a smile on her face.
Claudette smirked in return as she looked at the cute girl in front of her, then she gently ran her fingers down her smooth skin causing Nagisa to silently gasp and blush, "I most certainly will." She then looked at Marinel, "Be seeing you Mari." She nodded.
She opened the door and in the blink of an eye she disappeared into the night.
-"Well,"- Shizuma turned to look at Momomi, -"I believe we have some things we didn't finish."- She smirk, getting a giggle from Momomi.
-"Perv, but… I agree."- The two rushed back upstairs and would probably not be seen till morning.
-"I'm going to bed, Shion… are you coming with me?"- Chikaru cast a sly look to Shion who only blushed and nodded.
-"Nagisa-chan,"- No response, -"Na-gi-sa-chan."- Tamao stepped in front of her, snapping her back to reality.
-"Eh?"-
Tamao only giggled, -"You should get some sleep."-
-"Yeah…"- She ran up to her room and closed the door behind her and Yaya followed right after to her own room.
"Does she always get like that?" Marinel asked.
-"I believe Claudette has something to do with it."-
"I wouldn't doubt that love." She leaned back on the chair and Tamao sat on her lap, "Claudette might come back for her, her face just screams 'I love you'." She laughed.
-"So true."-
"We'll see how that goes."
There was a small silence.
-"So Eve,"- Tamao looked away, -"I love you, promise me that what we have will never change."-
Marinel looked at her, "I don't know, it's a pretty big commitment to make and you know how I get when you hit all the right switches." She giggled.
-"Baka."- Tamao shared in their small laughter.
"But seriously," Marinel gently gripped Tamao's chin and guided her face so they could lock eyes, "Nothing's gonna change sugar, because I love you just the same." Tamao gave a big smile and the two pressed their lips together.
-"What's going to happen in the future… I'm not going to be here for a long time."- Tamao asked her, and for the first she began to think that she can't be with her forever.
"Well," Marinel pulled her closer, "My offer still stands love, I'd be willing to help you become like me and Claudette can help too."
-"A vampire like you?"-
Marinel nodded, "And no one has to know if you don't want them too." She was silent, "We can do it right now if you'd like."
-"Is it hard… to live forever?"- Tamao asked.
"On your own… yes it is," She replied, "But with someone you love, then it makes time go by without you even noticing it." She smiled, recalling her memories with Lydia and how happy she was to not be alone.
-"I would have to watch the people I care about eventually pass away…"-
Marinel held her tightly, "But you wouldn't be alone love, I'm here… to be there for you." She then chuckled, "I could even offer this gift to all our friends if they'd like."
-"Do you think they would agree?"-
"Well there's only one way to find out, we would have to ask them."
Tamao sighed, -"One step at a time."-
"So for now, come." She led Tamao back to their room, and locked the door behind them.
She sat Tamao down, she took a seat in front of her and watched as her fangs extended down and gently held her, her heart began to beat a million times a minute, her fangs mere centimeters from her neck till.
-"Wait."-
Marinel stopped, "What is it love? Second thoughts?" she asked her.
-"Before I do this… I want to…"- her face went extremely red like a fire truck, -"…I want to make love, I want my first time with you to be like this, before you change me."-
Marinel smiled warmly, she caressed her face, "Are you sure?" The shy bluenette nodded, "Alright then love." She pressed her lips on hers and the two kissed passionately, as Marinel slowly undressed her and herself.
Tamao finally got to stare at Marinel's bare body which the young vampire took notice, "Don't be shy love, they don't bite." She giggled but for Tamao, this was a dream come true.
Then the two were eventually lost to a night of passion, one that Tamao would never forget or Marinel.
A/N: Well, i hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I only have one more chapter to go as I don't want to drag this story more then it has too and will try to wrap up everything in this story so for now, I'll post the final chapter when its ready. have a good one :)