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“I want to die… Kill me.”
What an interesting creature… Humans were so frail, so stupid, so easy to twist around his finger. Yet this one had defied all his expectations. This strange creature had him dead to rights for the murder he’d committed not a few days before.
And, even with powers and as a vampire, he was careful. There had been no evidence. The ‘Visonaries' were a thorn in his side he didn’t need and they had yet to track him down here. How this lone human had managed to do so was rather remarkable.
And to think, even drunk off his ass on his saliva, the young policeman still had enough sense in him to do what few managed – he begged. And he begged for all the wrong things.
That made him all the more intriguing.
“Don’t you want to live?” He purred in his ears, red blood thick and dripping down that pale throat where the man lay already half dead. He had not been kind. It wasn’t nice to tail a vampire, and even less nice to accuse one of murder. If the man had any thoughts about what he was getting into, he would have picked a more public environment. Just a few people on the street were nothing. They all looked the other way.
After all, all he had to do was force his way over to him, take a little nibble, and the accusing words from the detective, with hair the color of a dying rose, turned to whispers. It was no fun to command him to do much more than shut the hell up. Now, it looked like a lover’s quarrel, something easy to walk away from and nothing anyone would call in more police over. It was a joke.
Interested in what his food had to say and not hungry after taking his fill, he backed off, holding the young man’s face in his hand and trying to see how focused he was while ‘drugged’. Not much by the looks of it. He slapped him hard. “I asked you a question. It’s not nice to ignore me. Don’t you want to keep living? Anyone in your place would be begging for their life.”
There. That woke the man out of his state of blood loss and delusions, at least enough he could answer. This wasn’t a history test so there was no demand for more. “You’re a vampire… or a psychopath. Whichever it is… I’m not begging for my life. Kill me.”
What a smart man. Too smart to let die here. And the irony of forcing the life he didn’t want on him was just too good to pass up. Of his only living family members who still remained to walk the other, neither of them had made the decision to change another. This would be his gift to this pathetic human.
“Fine, little police detective, I’ll kill you – slowly until you’ve had everything good about you stripped away. Then I’ll be back. Until then, don’t die and don’t get caught by anyone other than me. If I find you unsatisfactory, I’ll end you myself.”
He doubted that the man heard him. The cloudy look was back in his eyes as if he were unconscious with them open. Oh well. Being intimidating was hard work and he wasn’t going to try a second time.
“Welcome to vampire life. I hope you live to regret being good at your job.”
…
…
Heizou woke up, noises a jumbled mess of indiscernible sounds. His thoughts were in no better shape. Where was he? What had he been doing? Ah, something hurt.
Placing his hand to his collarbone, the feel of blood came to him only seconds before the smell registered, freezing him in place.
Had he been stabbed and left in the alleyway?
...
...
Waiting and anticipating pain to follow that didn’t, slowly he took in a few shallow breaths before searching the wound once more.
Only there was no wound. While he was soaked in what appeared to be his own blood that trailed from a spot near his throat, there was no injury there and he felt no discomfort.
Slowly he arose to a sitting position before using the wall to help him stand, feeling dizzy. It was impossible to have lost blood and feel like he had without a wound to tell of it, the much more troubling fact then pointing to the conclusion that it had to be someone else’s blood.
Heizou didn’t like it but it didn’t appear he’d been robbed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone, dialing one of the half dozen numbers he had programmed in. All his other contacts were always called through the phone at the police station. A long time ago, Heizou discovered that people having access to his number was a terrible idea.
“What the hell?! Where are you?! Do you have any idea how long you’ve been out of contact with us?!”
Heizou didn’t bother looking at his watch. His voice sounded dry when he spoke. “Inspector… help.”
What sounded like it was going to be a long berating of his work ethic on the other line came to a standstill. The silence only lasted a few seconds. “Shikanoin, where are you?”
Heizou didn’t know. He’d been following… up on a crime. Someone had been killed… Yes, he remembered that, though his thoughts on last night were foggy. Had he been drugged? That would account for the memory loss and the dizzy spell. All the more reason to get someone to pick him up. He didn’t know where his vehicle was and he had no idea who’s blood he was covered in. If it was the victim’s, or if there were more injured…
“Shikanoin, stay with me. Landmarks. Where are you? Give me street names. I’ll send a patrol out there or do you need emergency services?”
Good question. If he was drugged, emergency services would be best. If someone was dying or dead already, the police would be an equally good choice. Perhaps both. Or maybe he was worrying too much. If he could just think clearly for a few moments, the choice should be obvious.
Mind remaining in a fog, Heizou leaned against the wall, the cool surface feeling nice against where his skin was exposed. The summer sun hadn’t reached the stone to heat it and the air felt warm and sticky, like the blood on him. All he knew for sure was he wanted a shower and somewhere to sleep.
“Shikanoin! Location!”
Heizou jumped, started by the voice he’d forgotten was in his ear. “Just you, please Inspector.” He didn’t want everyone on the force talking about him and this screw up. Heizou knew the scene would have to be investigated, as would the blood, his presence, finger prints, everything. A team would have to come in. The Inspector could handle all that. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Get somewhere safe and give me your location.”
How accommodating and unlike her. Heizou wanted to look into why she sounded like that but was too out of it to focus. Like a puppet pulled by invisible strings, he made his way out of the shadows and towards the nearest street corner, reciting the names to her and trying to think if they meant anything to him. Frowning and his mind supplying him with nothing, Heizou went back to the alley to wait out his savior’s arrival, trying to be as inconspicuously obvious as he could be.
Inspector Kujou sped to his rescue in a black, six cylinder horse-powered, speeding machine that broke several traffic laws within his sight alone. He smiled while she rushed out of the car, kneeling down beside him.
“What the hell? Why are you covered in blood? Are you hurt?” Not waiting for an answer, she pulled at his clothes, finding as he did that there was no wound. “Where did this come from? Where have you been? What happened?”
“Slow down, please.” Heizou's voice was small and quiet by comparison. Normally he could match her level of excitement but not right now. “The answer to all your questions is ‘I don’t know’, or some form of it. I woke up like this. I can’t remember what I was doing. I might have been drugged.”
“You idiot.” Not many superiors would treat their underlings like the Inspector did, but they were more than just a junior officer and his boss. Heizou had proved his worth time and again on cases where talent and intellect were required. Being an Inspector was too much work for him – both the hours and the all but bared cell that would keep him locked behind a desk. Giving her the credit for them had created a rather unique, if not strained, partnership.
“I must have been careless,” he agreed. There was no fighting that something terrible had happened here and he’d been in the center of it all. “Until there’s a body or a victim found, I’m not a suspect in any crime, so I’d like to look into this…” Heizou pinched between his eyes. “After I sleep off whatever they got me with.”
Inspector Kujou let out a long breath before dragging him to his feet. “Alright. I should be taking you to the hospital to be sure you’re alright. You don’t seem to be hurt and you’ve been out of contact since yesterday afternoon. I’m guessing you ran into trouble last night if your memory is that bad. This is against protocol but I can’t force you to seek treatment either. Rest and if things get worse, call me or get your ass to a hospital.”
“I will.” Heizou didn’t plan on dying alone at his place. He didn’t even have a pet to mourn him if that happened. “Thank you.”
“Thank me when this is over. What the hell have you gotten yourself into now?”
…
…
Heizou was starving. The first thing he did when he got home before going to bed was eat. The strange thing was, even after cooking a small meal of eggs and noodles, the hunger didn’t go away.
It must be the drugs. It was a logical thought. Going to sleep and waiting for them to wear off was another rational choice. He hated feeling hungry and lightheaded.
A shower.
It had almost been a second too late before he realized what a bad idea it would be to get into his bed with his clothes still caked with blood. The summer heat was enough to melt the wax off a candle. It wouldn’t surprise him if his sheets were more red than white in the morning if he slipped under them now.
Couch. Always the couch when he was like this. One day he’d break it in. Until then, it was kind of nice to have the firm material there to help support him as he collapsed on it, closing his eyes while the sun was still out and letting himself get some rest.
…
Heizou woke several times, each time recalling some vivid nightmares of shadows and a person in those shadows with him.
Who was it?
They weren’t detailed enough to make out past the point that the person was someone Heizou knew he had never met before and the nightmares left behind a fear that never fully subsided before he fell asleep again.
In his last break into the realm of consciousness, finding he had fallen onto the floor, he was awake enough to notice the sleep hadn’t done much for him.
While he didn’t feel hurt from whatever it was that had happened, he still felt tired, dizzy, and for some reason unbelievably hungry.
It took a lot more effort than it should have to make himself a simple sandwich which smelled and tasted fine, but did little to ease the pressure in his stomach.
Maybe he would have to go to the hospital after all.
The phone still in his back pocket started ringing. The tone playing across his house was ominous, letting him know it was the Inspector. She was the only one in his contacts that he’d designated their own ringtone to.
As he answered he saw the display, declaring he’d already missed three calls from her.
“Hello Inspector, I’m sorr–”
“Shikanoin, I know you’re recovering. This has nothing to do with that case I’ve been looking into with your attacker. I hope you’re well enough to be on your feet and joining me.” Heizou didn’t need to be in the car with her to know she was breaking several more traffic laws by the sound of burning rubber alone. It wasn’t the impressive sensitivity of the phone, it was how reckless she was driving that allowed the sound to travel. They’d had similar calls. “I don’t know where this bastard went and he has a hostage.”
Heizou was already going to get his car keys. He was glad to have left his car here last night, everything considered. His mind was so out of sort there was a chance he might not have remembered where he parked it. “Details. Who are we after and why? Who’s the hostage and where did you lose them will have to be the first information you give me. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”
It wasn’t his imagination. Inspector Kujou sighed with relief. “Good, you sound fine. Here’s what I know…”
Twenty minutes later Heizou was out of his car and combing the streets.
This person wasn’t clever, wasn’t trying to be, but there was a very high chance that they were dangerous. The ‘hostage’ that the inspector spoke of was a clerk from a nearby department store that the man had no reason to keep alive, much less as a witness. They were dealing with a drug addict, just chasing their next high. While movements were easy to predict with people like this, actions weren’t always as simple.
Heizou had been wrong in the past and that ate him inside. It was why he carried a gun with him now on cases he knew involved them. People weren’t going to die on his watch anymore if he could stop it.
With several city blocks to cover and plenty of hiding spots, it was more of a waiting game than chance to come across their suspect. The inspector and he were just two people, they could lose him, but Heizou doubted it when the man’s only weapon was a small knife and his hostage wasn’t that much smaller than him. There’d be a fight at least – assuming he was still alive and Heizou wasn’t already too late.
It should have been visual clues that led him onward but it wasn’t. There was a scent in the air that beckoned him, almost comically. While he had his wits enough to remain hidden, an unknown aroma told him ‘come this way’, leading him further and further towards his right. It was still on the path he had marked out as a possible hiding location. At least, he thought so.
It was hard to think. The smell was so… attractive.
Heart slamming hard into his chest, Heizou was face to face with the subject as they both turned the same corner.
“Police!”
It wasn’t a shout for help but a declaration that he’d been spotted for what he was. This was why Heizou hated wearing a uniform if he could help it. His clothes had been dirty and the inspector insisted so frequently…
Swiftly turning, the man sprinted off at a run.
And he smelled so damn good, like all the best food he’d ever eaten laid out before him.
Heizou didn’t know where that thought came from, stumbling to chase after him. Details. There were details.
The suspect was injured. Blood stained the ground in small droplets and (how was he seeing something so small while running?) his nose was bent at a strange angle, oozing some of the viscous liquid. If the other injuries were serious, Heizou couldn’t spot them under layers of clothing. He could see blood and there was no sign of a hostage. Had they been killed? Possible. The possibility of them being alive somewhere was there but the chances were low.
“Stop! Surrender now and don’t add to your crimes!”
The man ignored his words, heavy breaths and manic laughter on the wind as he rushed for the more crowded evening streets.
Not happening.
Heizou was fast. He’d always been one of the fastest in his department, both because of his training and natural talent. The blur of the world and the ground in which he took in to tackle the man was considerable, impossible even.
A part of his mind told him this. Heizou wanted to care, wanted to focus on it.
All he could think as he forced a flailing arm behind the man’s back – smelling the terror on him, feeling how much stronger he was compared to the man beneath him – was of how yummy he smelled.
Panting and leaning forward, Heizou went near his throat, licking him.
“What– what the hell?! Get off of me! That’s harassment! Haha! If you think you can touch me, you’re wrong!”
“Shut up.”
The man quieted down, his fighting slowly coming to a stop. Good. Heizou was starting to get annoyed at all the ruckus he was making.
Leaning forward once more, because licking did nothing for him, only letting him taste things on the skin that weren’t pleasant to him, Heizou found a soft spot near his throat that wasn’t hidden by clothing and bit down hard.
Blood. That’s what he was tasting. He was sure it was filling his mouth as he drew back in fear of what he had done.
The victim… victim? Was he a victim now…? Didn’t have qualms about the action, laying there in a daze with a calm smile on his face.
Heizou didn’t know what was happening. Why had he just bit somebody?! What was…
Why did it matter? It tasted heavenly and all he’d done was let it coat his mouth. He wanted more. He wanted to drink it all up, to swallow every drop that he was letting go to waste right now while he was pondering questions that didn’t need answers.
Leaning forward, Heizou held the man to him, letting him fall bonelessly to the side to give him the best access to his throat. He lapped up the blood in the area that had fallen before biting him again. The man groaned slightly but made no protest as Heizou chewed on him, each new removal of his teeth dripping more and more of the red, delicious, fluid into his mouth and down his throat.
Nothing mattered. Nothing but him and his food.
Heizou sat there for a while, gnawing on the man like a new chew toy, before he realized it was getting harder and harder for more blood to flow. So he bit down more.
Eventually it ran out.
It was then his mind and senses returned to him slowly, like waking from a dream that was still tugging at him. Heizou blinked, sure he had to be seeing things or on his couch still.
The tang of copper was obvious in his mouth and he could feel the sticky wetness of it adhering his lips closed every time he pressed his lips together. Licking them experimentally as he slowly lowered the man he’d been pursuing, he checked for a pulse, finding none.
Alright, no panicking. Panicking would be bad. This was no time to have an attack. There had to be a logical explanation for what happened here.
Heizou wiped his mouth, getting up, allowing himself to fantasize in part that this was not real and he had to go back home to break this curse of a dream. So that was what he did. He left the body where he lay, retraced his steps, and got back in his car to return home.
It wasn’t until he was in the safety of his house and locked behind the thick wooden door and window curtains that he allowed the edges of hysteria to eat at him.
“What’s going on…?” Heizou pulled at his hair, walking to the bathroom. He had to clean up. Who knew how much blood he had on him that he hadn’t meant to wipe off.
Rinsing his face, Heizou clutched the sink hard, staring into his reflection.
And the man who stared back scared him.
“The hell…? Man alive, someone is playing some sort of trick on me… right?” Reaching up, brushing the mole below one of his eyes, Heizou let his fingers rest, watching his reflection do the same. The only difference was that the person in the mirror couldn’t be him. He’d always had strange, olive-like colored eyes.
The person in the mirror’s eyes were a burning, stark red.
“I’m dreaming. I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming…” Heizou walked away from the reflection, not wanting to see it. He didn’t look like that. He hadn’t just bitten someone, drunk their blood, killed them. No… no he hadn’t. He couldn’t– he wouldn’t!
Slamming his head into the wall hurt, breaking skin, his fist making a dent alongside it. The plaster fell as he collapsed onto the floor, trying to get his thoughts together and remember how to breathe correctly.
I’m having a panic attack, aren’t I?
Heizou would have liked to question it, because that was honestly a safer thing to question than the impossibilities before him, but he was faced with another before he had a chance.
The pain he had felt a moment ago was slowly starting to fade. He frowned, realizing that his forehead didn’t hurt as much as it should have. Reaching up…
There was no wound left.
Alright, dealing with the thought he was having a panic attack took priority. It was hard to keep his breathing under control after that revelation and the world was blending in and out of vivid focus, his chest constricting so painfully he was afraid he was having a heart attack instead.
Tingling sensation? Was that happening? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure of anything and, for once, he didn’t want to be sure. He wanted something to numb his thought processes so that he could stop thinking about everything that was happening and that had happened around him.
If only his mind worked that way.
Trapped in a vicious cycle that wouldn’t let him escape just how real everything was, Heizou found himself hurting himself. There were things around his house that weren’t meant to be pressed up against skin like he did, seeing how far he could bruise himself, how much he could hurt, how much he could bleed.
There were stains and the vivid color of red painted across his vision as he saw only enough to find something to try and control his very uncontrollable urge to end this illusion with. Pain wasn’t doing it. At one point Heizou was sure he had knocked himself out, during another, he was certain he should have bled to death with the amount of liquid that was escaping him from the wounds on his arm that he hadn’t meant to be that deep – that fear drove that deep and fear kept inspiring new and greater lengths from him.
“Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop.”
Eventually things settled down. The noises stopped. The panting stopped. The spastic want to make everyting stop… stopped.
Heizou was too tired to continue, feeling numb and, finally, in some slight pain as he lay on the floor in the… kitchen? When had he gotten there? During some part of his manic attack on all things insane he must have made his way and broken a few of the dishes that had been on his counter. There were ceramic shards around him, a few glass ones near his feet.
The floor was covered in smears of blood, though his body showed no signs of any injury.
“This is terrifying…” he spoke to himself, trying to keep himself from another spastic bout. Taking a few deep breaths, he let himself lay there, breathing in the smell of the tiled floor, old water, and his stale copper.
…
It was a long time before Heizou decided he was well enough to pick himself up off the floor. Whatever time or day it was, no one had broken down his door yet and that… was a good thing.
There was evidence here he had to hide, if he didn’t want to become someone’s test subject.
“Right. Let’s think about this logically… as logically as I can. I have to change the carpet and clean up the kitchen. These bloodstains won’t come out easily and, even if they do, there’s a chance with my occupation that my house can become a crime scene so it’s better that I redecorate. It’s not as if that’s a suspicious thing to do.” There were some videos he’d have to look up on how to remove and install his own carpet, but he could do that.
“Alright… No One. I have this.” Talking to himself calmed him, even if there was no one to speak to.
To make everything about this situation worse, he was hungry again. The problem was, what was he hungry for?
“I’m going insane. I’m going insane! That’s it! Whatever happened to me has driven me insane!” Heizou laughed, the empty house around him echoing the sound back at him. “I think I’m a vampire or something, can you believe it? I must be even more high than I thought. I’m hallucinating so badly I don’t know that I’m doing it. Or I’m dreaming. Maybe I’m unconscious and can’t tell or can so vividly feel pain and the world around me that it feels as if it’s all real and… and…”
Heizou fell to his knees, shifting until he was sitting. He leaned against the nearest wall, finding it hard not to cry – so he didn’t stop himself. What the hell happened? He couldn’t recall. If there was a way to find out, the inspector was looking into it. If there wasn’t… then something was wrong with him.
Vampires weren’t real. Whatever he was, whatever was going on, it had to be in his mind… right? That’s what made the most sense. But there was no trigger, no inclination towards his actions and he had never had any predatory sense like that before.
“Why can’t I make sense of this?” he whispered into the darkened room… wait. The room should be dark. Heizou blinked, realizing he could pick out every piece of furniture, though no lights were on and it appeared the sun had set a long time ago. Even assuming his night vision had kicked in during his fit, the detail he could see…
That was undeniable proof, and much easier to assess than anything else. He watched the darkness, reading things, picking out every small object and things that his normal eyesight couldn’t catch even with the lights on. It was rather remarkable, as if he’d been blind his whole life and only now realized he’d needed glasses and was wearing just the right prescription.
“... I’m a vampire…” Heizou finally admitted to himself, letting the tears fall as they wished, slowly and spread out as he relaxed, unsure what to do. What… was there to do? What were vampires? Weren’t they just something out of a legend?
All he was really certain of was they were the bad guys. Heizou hated that. He’d killed someone, there was no denying that, but he’d done so accidentally and the man was nothing but a kidnapper, likely a killer himself, high on who-knew-what at the time.
Was that enough to justify what he’d done? For now… For now it was enough.
The hunger pains were persistent.
Heizou looked down at himself, at all the bloodstains on his clothing from the wounds he’d inflicted on his body that had long since healed. There were a few, he realized, that were slower, scars, faded lines that hadn’t vanished yet as if they’d never been there that marred his arms in a network of indecipherable hashmarks.
“Oh… I see. Healing has its limitations.” Something before him to look into, that made some sort of sense, that he could focus his mind on. Standing up, he went back to his kitchen, being careful not to slip on the slick floor, and retrieved the fallen knife.
Leaning over on the countertop, he was far more precise as he took the blade and slit his arm open with it, watching the deep cut form as he dug in as deep as it would go, forcing his eyes open past the pain so that he could watch.
Morbid curiosity and half in shock still, having never seen the inside of his own muscle before, Heizou stared at the wound as blood oozed out of the flesh, like all flesh, pink and… and Heizou found himself growing ill looking at it.
Detective or not, it wasn’t often he came across open injuries like this, even less so his own – and an even smaller percentage ones he had caused. It was disturbing.
Still, he turned back to see the muscle and sinew start to reconnect, knitting itself back together until all that was left was a thin white line that spoke of his attempt to both prove to himself he had this new ability… and his completely failed attempt to take his own life.
“Interesting… Ah!” Heizou grimaced, sudden pain racing through his body, his head and stomach aching as clutched at one, pulling at his hair and steading himself with the counter. The flash passed in moments but the pain lingered, hunger in him growing.
“... shit.” Bad idea. This was a bad idea. Injuring himself was making the pain worse. The logical part of his brain understood what was occurring even as he didn’t want to think about it.
If I’m a vampire and I’m losing blood, I’m growing hungry for it, like I was earlier.
Not again. Not again, Not again. Not again. Not again! Not again!
Heizou didn’t want to kill someone again! That wasn’t going to happen!
Screaming at his treacherous mind and new body, he looked out into the darkness, thinking hard. Alright…. Alright there had to be a solution here…
Well, there were a few unsolved cases he was dealing with. He knew a few locations when it came to the drug dealers, smugglers, and those whose crimes were covert enough it was hard to pin them down.
Was that reason enough to kill them? They still had cases against them, even if some were cold and others were almost impossible to build.
The pain in his stomach hurt. Heizou claws his hands, trying hard not to whine at the sensation.
Until he figured this out… Until he wasn’t about to hurt some poor soul who had done nothing wrong in their life, who was out there, raising a family or even just living as he had been… he’d rather strike those that were harming society over those that weren’t – if there was a choice to be made.
It wasn’t his best decision, maybe not even a good one, but Heizou couldn’t see another path.
Maybe, just maybe, he’d be killed doing something so dangerous. If he was… maybe he deserved it.
He was as much in the wrong as they were – a killer now, avoiding the laws and feeding on other killers.
What the hell happened to him?
…
…
…
<9 Months Later>
“You’re an idiot.”
Heizou was tired. He’d been shot a few times and already lost a lot of blood to what he’d had to do to save this girl’s life. Hearing those words shot at him was neither a surprise nor a lie, but it was a shock coming from someone who hadn’t been speaking to him for the last hour.
“Feeling better?”
The woman was younger than him, that was all Heizou was sure of. Her hair was a mess and her eyes, now blood red after her transformation into the life of a vampire, were more focused than they had been. He had thought she was high on something but, judging from the fact that the dark marks hadn’t vanished, perhaps not. Maybe she was just exhausted. That made two of them.
“Shut up. You sound even more like an idiot when you speak.”
Heizou followed her orders, shutting up, eyes out of focus and the world going with it. He was hungry and tired. There was more than a small part of him that wondered if his actions tonight were the correct ones. He had just saved someone, but he’d altered the life like his had been – permanently locking them into this same hell that he was trapped in.
Though he had several bullet wounds he was keeping from those he had taken on this mission with, lacking the ability to fully heal them with tonight’s actions, he was still alive.
“Give me this.”
Heizou wasn’t ready when she moved faster than he could, pulling off the hair band he wore and using it to tie up her own hair.
Letting out a breath and scratching at his slightly wild hair, he let her. He wasn’t going to fight over the tie.
“You killed me.”
“I almost killed you!” Heizou corrected. If her heart had stopped he doubted even he could have saved her life. While most things about this ‘vampire life’ were shrouded in mystery if he wasn’t able to test them, raising the dead sounded beyond impossible. He’d try, now that she put the idea there, but he knew better than to think much of it. If he killed people, having any control of them after their minds were gone and their bodies stopped functioning was–
“Hey, idiot… what do I do now?”
Good question.
“Can I ask you a few questions first?” Heizou had her out back, the warehouse long since quiet while the police had left. The operation had been a block over at another facility and there was no need for sirens any longer. People were already either dead or had fled. Heizou was going to find the man who had escaped him, one way or another.
No one got away with kidnapping, drug dealing, murder, and almost killing him, and lived to tell about it. If he could catch him, that would be one thing, but if he was forced to show his powers to do so there’d be no choice.
“I don’t feel like talking to someone who just tried to kill me.”
Heizou shrugged, both hands out. That was a fair point and one he wouldn’t fight her on. He had messed up so bad that his guilt had fueled his actions. He’d changed her life because of his own guilty conscience.
“Very well, then listen. You’re a vampire now. As long as you feed regularly, you won’t have to kill. While well-fed, you have the ability to alter the minds of humans with your voice. It takes a little practice to get the right intonations but it’s not difficult after. Don’t overuse it or it stops working. I’m not sure why so don’t ask. Just a few sentences will do in most cases. I believe it’s like a type of hypnotism. Try not to kill and try not to be obvious. The sun doesn’t hurt you but holy objects will. The rest you’ll have to learn on your own.” Heizou lifted a hand and waved over his shoulder as he walked off. “Good luck… and I’m sorry, truly. I hope you have some sort of happy life ahead of you.”
Heizou took his car to get here, one that wasn’t police issue and was parked off to the side. He had been called in and had wanted to keep the car safe.
It wasn’t hard to spot the woman following after him, even with a weak body and dull senses.
Heizou waited until he got to the car before leaning on top of it and facing her. The woman did nothing to hide from him. “Did you want something?”
“Your name.” Red eyes glared into his, black, goth clothing containing a snarky attitude and far more confident nature then her initial demeanor portrayed. “I’d like to know the name of the man who almost killed me – even as short, insignificant, and weak as they appear to me now.”
A laugh was forced out of him as he ran a hand through his hair once more. “Heizou. Shikanoin Heizou. I’d like to know yours if you’re willing to give it to me.”
The woman debated it for a full minute before speaking. “Shinobu. You don’t get my family name.”
“Alright, Shinobu. I have room at my place if you want somewhere to stay.”
“I’m not looking for a lover, thank you. Go find another poor soul off the street, if that’s your thing.”
That most certainly wasn’t his intention in the offer but Heizou wasn’t up for arguing with her. He was hungry and tired, having been focused on too many cases at once. Rubbing his eye he ignored the jib. “Alright, do you have somewhere to go?”
Shinobu didn’t answer.
Heizou went into his wallet and dug out some money, placing it on the roof of the car and sliding it over, so the vehicle was always between them. It looked as if she preferred the space. “Here. I don’t keep enough cash on me for an extended stay but this should cover a room for the night. Anything more than then and I’m afraid you’re going to have to go to a friend or find some other accommodations. Were you here because you had nowhere to go?”
Shinobu refused to answer him, though she did walk forward and take the money.
Heizou shrugged, seeing at least some progress in their conversation. “Do you have a phone?”
Shinobu casually pulled one out and gave him a look that said ‘Who doesn’t have a phone? If I didn’t think you were an idiot before I certainly do now’.
“Man alive… Alright, here’s my phone number and address if you want me for any reason, even if it’s to kill me for hurting you, you should take it down.” Heizou waited while she pulled up her contacts, giving her his information. “I work most days but I’ll be home most nights.” His eyes were drooping, calling him to both sleep and feed. “I should get going unless you want anything?”
“I want to reiterate that you’re an idiot. Why would you give someone who said they think you’re an idiot and clearly dislikes you all this help and information?” Shinobu raised an eyebrow. “I’m new to this, and it’s a lot, and maybe I don’t believe half this vampire shit you say – but I do believe the other half. I can’t deny what I’m feeling and seeing and what just went on. I also know what I saw when you were with me in that room. You aren’t wearing a bulletproof vest.”
“I try to when I remember. I hate the questions when there’s too many people involved.” Heizou yawned. “But no, not today. Wish I had.”
“So I ask again, why give me all this information?” She waved her phone at him, the screen off. “I could kill you while you sleep. You look ready to fall over as it is.”
Hmm. Good question.
Maybe he deserved it? He had almost killed her, as she said. He’d been after a terrible person and she’d been caught in the crossfire while they’d raided the hideout and been capturing those involved. Heizou had been the one to shoot her. He hated guns. He hadn’t noticed who she was or why she was there. It was his fault – his mistake.
So why not give her his information? If she used it for a good reason, got herself help if she needed it from him, it would only serve her well. If she used it for an equally good reason, if not in another direction, and tried to kill him (maybe succeeded where he had failed), then… it was justice, in a way. He had endangered her, ruined her life. What was so wrong about that?
“You can come to your own conclusions.” Heizou decided that was the best way to answer before getting into the car and driving off, leaving the newly made vampire woman to her own devices.
He hated to do it, but that was what she wanted.
Somehow, even with someone like him now in the world, he still ended up alone.
…
…
“Heizou, you’re an idiot.”
Shinobu was getting lunch with him a few months later. She was handling vampire life much better than he had… was. It was a pleasure to see. He had been worried he had marred her beyond repair with his actions, but she looked better than she ever had.
There was new life in her, a different kind. A spark.
Heizou envied the way she was able to pick herself back up.
“So you say.” Munching on the fried fish, Heizou debated if this was friendship. They had just hunted together, a rarity between them. Typically their interactions were limited to disposing of dead bodies when either of them messed up and fed too freely. Today was a rare exception.
Today was his birthday, and somehow, Shinobu found out about it and invited him to a meal after work. It was a kind gesture a friend would normally offer, not a casual acquaintance (or an enemy. With Shinobu, he was never sure where they stood).
“I only say because it’s true. You hide your true intentions, you act like you don’t care about anything so that no one can get close to you, and then you do this.” She waved a hand up and down at him.
Heizou kept eating, enjoying his food and only halfway interested in the conversation. “Eating fried food won’t kill me. If it’s a turn off to others, then I’d rather not know them.”
“That’s not what I mean. We’re in public so I’d rather not broadcast how you act, Master.”
Heizou’s hands clenched. Shinobu had recently taken to calling him that and he found he hated it. Which was a problem because the more he reacted to the name, the more she called him by it. “There’s nothing wrong with how I act.”
“How many more birthdays will you see, going through life like this?”
Dark thoughts to ask someone on any day of the year. Heizou took a second to grace her with his attention. The food could wait a few moments. “How many would you like to spend, living like this?”
“There. That attitude.” Shinobu pointed at him. “No one’s ever going to like you with you acting like that. You’re an idiot, you know.”
“Who says I wish for someone to like me?” Heizou went back to his food, letting her have this frivolous conversation with herself.
“Someday, Master.” Shinobu sighed. “Someday someone is going to make you see things differently. I’m glad it’s not me because you’re too much. I hope they show up soon because you give me migraines.”
Heizou rolled his eyes, finishing what was on his plate, happy with one thing today – Shinobu had picked a great fried food place.
Maybe the desserts would be just as good.