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The night air struck cold against Ena’s face as she chased the trail of tracks left behind by her prey. Compared to the many difficult vampires she had attempted to unsuccessfully track in the past, this particular target had been suspiciously simple to follow. This prey provided a prime opportunity to silence her haughty father with her first successful vampire slaying.
Tracks of mud faded into the cracked stone tile of the desolate, abandoned crossroads as Ena lost the trail of her mark. The chase had been miraculously smooth thus far. At the very least the vampire was making an effort to hide it’s trail. Unfortunately, dried leaves cracked on the pavement below betrayed the floundering concealment as Ena once again found the path to her target.
It was becoming abundantly clear from the sloppy attempts at shaking it’s pursuant that this was an extremely inexperienced, possibly even juvenile, vampire. The possibility had been scratching at the edges of Ena’s mind for some time now. The absence of any signs of older vampires nearby made the possibility extremely unlikely though. It was unheard of for vampires who had not reached full maturity to end up alone.
If that really was the case, fate had finally favored Ena. Failure had followed her for years since she had begun her mission to prove her father wrong. It was a miracle that she was even alive after so many failed hunts, but that wasn’t enough for him. It was never enough. Until she was finally a proper vampire slayer like him, nothing would be enough. This was finally the chance she needed to earn her badge.
Ena snickered to herself as a smaller than normal print in the mud-crusted marketplace confirmed any suspicions. This truly was a stranded juvenile vampire wandering the abandoned village all alone. It was a pity how simple her first kill would be, but this was not the time to be having pity for herself.
The obvious track pointed towards a dark alleyway, one which Ena already knew from many hunts before had no outlet. Either this young vampire was a fool who had no regard for their life, or they were laying a trap for the hunter they knew was following them. For her own safety, it was best to assume the latter; even a young vampire could kill a human with ease.
Caution carrying her forward, Ena turned the corner. Her musket, loaded with a silver bullet, lead the way, trigger ready for even the slightest approach from the prey. Moonlight that had shone the way since evaded the alleyway, making for a dark and dangerous approach through the unknown.
As her eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light within the alleyway, Ena’s finger tensed at her trigger. There was a shadowy figure against the wall near the end, clearly her target. Roughly the same size as her, the figure was very obviously a young vampire, separated from the elder vampire who had been tasked with watching over it.
With no hint of aggression apparent, Ena approached closer to get a better shot with her precious few silver bullets. As the distance between the two shortened, she noticed the vampire was not only not aggressive, it was actively fearful. The poor creature was desperately trying to climb past the stone dead-end that had blocked it’s escape path, but to no avail. Ena had successfully cornered her helpless prey.
The sound of soft sobbing shot through Ena’s strict concentration. The desperate clawing at the wall slowed with the sobs as the cornered prey slumped to the ground. Complete and utter surrender without a word or a bite. The pitiful sight was difficult to behold when expecting a fight for it’s life.
Unable to keep her composure as a cold killer at such an unexpected display, Ena lowered her musket slightly. Father was right, she was such a weak fool for having pity for such a brutal, murderous creature, but she needed to at least have a name for her first successful hunt. Shooting it down without even that was unacceptable to her.
“Foul beast, what is your name?”
Ena’s voice echoed through the alleyway. The silhouette of the helpless vampire, still too distant to make out any details, tensed at the words. It did not move from it’s slumped position on the floor.
“Kill me.” The vampire answered between suppressed sobs. Her voice was deep and dark, yet still distinctly feminine. “I don’t belong in this world...”
At the words, Ena clenched her off-hand tightly around the stock of her musket. This was no way to earn her vampire slayer badge. If her father caught wind of the embarrassing fact that there was no fight involved in her first kill and that it was a mere stroke of fate, he would have deemed her not worthy of the title to begin with, even if she was officially recognized.
No, she didn’t want to stumble into her badge by chance like this. She wanted to earn it with her own skill and merit as a vampire hunter.
With a scowl, Ena lowered her musket below eye level. Her words came out harshly, “Why should I?”
“I’m a failure. I’m not worthy of living in this world. I’ve been a burden to my family my entire life, so I left them.” The young vampire then raised her voice beyond her tears as she pleaded to her would-be killer, “Kill me! You’ve already chased me down and cornered me! Finish the job! Please!!”
Ena’s blood began to boil as the mere mention of failing one’s family crashed into her nerves. Every self-depreciating sentence that followed felt like another heated lump of coal added to the already intense heat as her anger. The boiling vat that was her angered mood eventually reached it’s blistering crescendo.
“You’re not even worth killing!” Ena screamed at the top of her lungs as she threw her musket to the ground, fully exposing herself in front of the dangerous vampire she had hunted down moments ago.
What was she doing.
This was finally her chance.
And she was just going to throw it all away?
Hesitate as she might, she did not have time to reconsider her reckless decision as the vampire saw her chance to strike and fiercely lunged at the now defenseless Ena. Claws fully bared, prepared to kill, the purple flash of a desperate vampire, still clinging to a life she no longer wished to participate in, flew in Ena’s direction at breakneck speed.
As if the boiling blood pumping within her gave her the adrenaline needed to react in time, Ena was able to deftly dodge to the side to avoid the unexpected attack. Breathing rapidly as she narrowly avoided certain death, she backed into her grounded musket and tripped as the vampire also collapsed into the ground on the over-dive of her desperate assault.
The vampire was once again sobbing uncontrollably on the floor after the failed last stand, this time much closer and far more audibly than before. Having just lunged past her hunter, the vampire now had a clear path out of the alleyway, but she did not get up to retreat. Nor did she get up to continue her advantageous position by further pushing Ena into the corner she now inadvertently occupied. The creature had well and truly given up after her final failed lunge.
Taking the time she needed to catch her breathe after nearly losing her life, Ena couldn’t help but notice just how beautiful the vampire was as the two sat in close proximity for the first time. At least based on appearance, she looked to be about the same age as her, and her face was beautifully constructed with all the soft angle’s she wished she had herself. Her hair, messy and laden with mud as it was after all the strenuous activity it had suffered through, was an eye-catching, extravagant shade of purple unlike any she’d ever seen before. If not for the fact that the creature was naturally inclined to hunt down her fellow humans, she would have thought her to be quite striking.
“Again, what is your name?” Ena asked through still heavy breathes. Though her musket was at her side, she did not reach for it still.
The distraught vampire did not answer the question immediately. As if the question were a difficult one, she curled her hands into the muddied wet puddle she had collapsed into slowly and repeatedly. Finally, she answered.
“My name is Mafuyu... of the Asahina bloodline...”
Ena could feel the pain in Mafuyu’s voice as she slowly uttered the last bit of her sentence. The shame that seeped off those words soaked all preconceptions she held about the vampire. Though the vampire hunter-in-training was still learning of all the intricacies of vampire society, she understood one thing more than anything about their society: The Asahina bloodline was the most powerful of all the vampire families.
Mafuyu was likely still a very powerful vampire, even if she was juvenile. If not for her clearly shattered mental state because of whatever was happening with her family, Ena very likely could have died just now. A shudder ran down Ena’s spine as she realize the lunge the vampire had tried just now must have not even been a true attempt on her life. Even still, she didn’t want to be donated her first official vampire slaying by a poor, suffering girl, even if she was a natural-borne enemy.
“Well then... Mafuyu,” Ena said, slowly pushing herself up off the ground to stand. “As you can probably see, I’m a bit of a failure myself.”
Mafuyu stayed silent at the words of her hunter, not saying a word as she continued to lay in the muddy puddle. She only stared from down below with a now silent pout at Ena, eyes as dead and uncaring as that of a fish left out of water for too long.
Ena continued, a hint of the frustration from earlier bubbling up once more, “But even if I’m a failure, I keep going! I’ve been hunting and failing hunts for years, trying so hard and failing to get my first kill, but I keep going anyways!”
The way she was just staring was starting to get on her nerves now, too.
“And you should keep going too!” Ena added, trying to get any reaction at all from Mafuyu, but without success. The Asahina vampire continued to sniffle without much discussion.
“I could have finally gotten my badge, today, so maybe I’m an even bigger failure for that, but none of this feels right! I want to earn it!” Ena shouted at the vampire girl that may as well have been a brick wall. “I don’t know what you’re going through, but you need to beat it! And you can’t beat it if you don’t live!”
There was still no verbal response from the vampire lounging in mud on the floor, only a sparsely-blinking, unreadable stare that somehow managed to press all of Ena’s buttons. In her frustration, she nearly pointed her musket to finally illicit a response, but instead she opted for a less dangerous method. Leaning forward, she harshly nudged Mafuyu squarely in the rear with her foot. “Now shoo! Go! Get out of here!”
The physical touch must have been enough to snap Mafuyu out of her silent stupor, as she started to move immediately afterwards. She mumbled something as she sniffled and stood up, but, instead of running away from Ena, she turned towards her hunter. Her face was as stony as ever, but it somehow felt different now. More jagged and less polished, as though it was still possible to read emotions on the stones. And Ena could read anger.
As the vampire stood up and faced Ena with a hint of simmering rage beneath the surface, she tensed instinctively. Despite there being signs of embers looking to spark a flame of passion, there were otherwise no real signs of aggression from Mafuyu. The sound of scurrying vermin in the distance was all that could be heard as the two stood silently staring into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity.
Mafuyu was truly a beauty to behold like no other. Violet eyes glimmered against the moonlight, a shade of red tint only serving to enhance the mystifying allure, framed by the harmonizing hue of purple strands of hair strewn every which way. All of Ena’s might was required to resist the natural pull towards Mafuyu, even if she was fully aware and ready for the natural aura of attraction vampires emitted by merely existing. The vampire girl she was staring directly in the eye spoke to a deep desire within, even without the ever-present aura contributing to the messy feelings scrambled about inside of her. It took all of Ena’s mental fortitude to stay vigilant and ready for even the slightest sign of attack.
But no attack came. Instead, Mafuyu glanced down at her mud coated feet and clenched her fist.
“Am I truly not even worth your silver bullet? Can I not even succeed at being a hunting target for vampire hunters?” The tears were beginning to fall once more. “I can’t hunt or be hunted... I truly am a failure of a vampire, just like mother said...”
Mafuyu quickly lifted her teary eyes to look the vampire hunter-in-training directly in the eyes. “I-I don’t even want to be a vampire...!”
Ena couldn’t resist trying to comfort the crying creature in front of her as she reached out to wipe away a falling tear drop from Mafuyu’s face. Even if she didn’t know what to say to her, she knew that this vampire was not an enemy. Even if vampires and humans were doomed to constantly quarrel, this one reluctant vampire was proof that maybe one day the two races could live together in peace.
The deep desire buried within finally came to the surface, taking control. Ena pulled herself up to Mafuyu and kissed the vampire directly on the lips. A powerful jolt shot down through her spine as she felt a powerful wave of positive energy radiate all through her system. She had no idea why she had felt so compelled to kiss Mafuyu, but she greatly enjoyed the feeling that came with it.
Any positive energy that had come with the kiss rapidly faded as Ena pulled away. Strangely, the draining feeling felt like that of how survivors of vampire attacks who had not turned described the feeling of having ones own blood drained. But this was only a kiss? Why did it feel similar?
Ena was only able to hazily leave a few words with Mafuyu before she collapsed onto the ground with all of her energy drained:
“Things can change. Don’t give up.”
...
The next thing Ena knew she was alone in a bed under the familiar roof of her own house, completely alive and okay. Her worrying mother informed her that she had been passed out for the past week ever since her father recovered her from yet another unsuccessful hunt. She was not looking forward to seeing him any time soon, but she did not regret her choice to forego her one chance at becoming a fully-fledged vampire hunter.
After fully recovering, Ena set out once again to hunt vampires, as she always did. However, her reason for doing so had changed. Instead of hunting for any vampire who might one day harm a human, she only had one vampire in mind. She was going to one day find that strange, peaceful vampire who showed a hopeful secret. She was on a mission to confirm her suspicion that vampires and humans could coexist in the future.
She was going to find and kiss Mafuyu again.