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The night air struck cold against Ena’s face as she chased the trail marked by 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. A hunt such as this one was a prime opportunity to silence her haughty father and successfully slay her first vampire.
Tracks of mud faded into the cracked stone tile of the desolate, abandoned crossroads as Ena finally lost her mark. Miraculously, this had been the first roadblock in an otherwise smooth chase. At the very least, the vampire was conscious of it’s pursuant and making an effort to cover it’s trail. Unfortunately, dried leaves cracked against the pavement below betrayed the floundering concealment as Ena once again recovered the path to her target, just as quickly as she had lost it.
It was becoming abundantly clear from the sloppy attempts that this was an extremely inexperienced, possibly even juvenile, vampire. There weren't many other explanations for such a painfully obvious escape route. The incredibly rare occurrence of a young vampire straying from the rest of it’s pack had been itching at the edges of Ena’s mind since the first signs of a trail.
If such an uncommon occurrence was the reality Ena had found herself in, fate had finally favored her. Failure had followed her for years since she had begun her mission to prove her father wrong. It was a miracle 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 her suspicions. This truly was a stranded, juvenile vampire wandering the abandoned city 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. This was the chance of a lifetime. The chance she needed.
The obvious track pointed directly 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 had been carefully laying a trap for the hunter they knew was tailing them. For her own safety, it was best to assume the latter; even a young vampire could kill an unprepared human with ease.
Caution carrying her forward slowly, Ena edged around the corner. Her musket, loaded with a silver bullet, lead the way ahead; her trigger finger ready for even the slightest approach or sudden movement from her prey. Moonlight that had shone the way since the start of the hunt evaded the alleyway, making for a dark and dangerous approach through the unknown.
As her eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light, Ena’s finger tensed at her trigger and her breathe caught. A shadowy figure stood against the wall at the end of the alley. Her target. The figure was roughly the same size as her, as she had suspected. With no hint of aggression apparent, Ena inched closer for 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, but 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 with very little effort. If not for the prospect of the respect she would earn keeping her focus razor sharp, she would have been disappointed with how simple the entire hunt had been.
The unexpected 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 in defeat. It was a complete and utter surrender, without so much as a word or a bite. The pitiful sight was difficult to behold when expecting a fight. Unable to maintain her composure as a cold killer, Ena lowered her musket slightly.
Father was right. She was a weak, naive fool for having pity for a brutal, murderous creature, but she needed to at least have a name for her first successful hunt. Unceremoniously shooting her prey down, without even that shred of a memory to attach to how her career as a hunter truly began, was unacceptable.
“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 her proclamation without turning. It did not move from it’s slumped position against the wall on the floor.
“Kill me.” The vampire answered between suppressed sobs. Her voice was deep and dark, yet still distinctly feminine.
At the unexpected words, Ena clenched her off-hand tightly around the stock of her musket. The vampire was going to ask to die? 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, or thought it was a mere stroke of fate in any way, he would have deemed her not worthy of the title to begin with. Even if she was officially recognized, he wouldn’t recognize her.
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, not be gifted it by some wild twist of fate in her favor.
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! Now, 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. The boiling vat that was her anger 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. 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 lied in close proximity for the first time. At least based on appearance, she looked to be about the same age as her, but 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, 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 rested at her side, she did not reach for it.
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 with only her continued sobs filling the silence.
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. She had been severely underestimating her prey. 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.
Even if she was juvenille, Mafuyu was likely still a very powerful vampire. If not for her clearly shattered mental state, Ena very likely could have died just now. A shudder ran down Ena’s spine as she recognized the desperate lunge the vampire had tried just now must have not been a true attempt, but a calculated move to provoke her to finish the job. Her dodge had only worked out because the dive wasn’t aimed at her, but near her.
Even still, she didn’t want to be donated her first official vampire slaying by a poor, suffering girl, even if she was a powerful Asahina vampire.
“Well then... Mafuyu,” Ena said, slowly pushing herself up off the ground to stand. “My name is Ena Shinonome, and, as you can probably see from the fact that I haven’t killed you yet, I’m a bit of a failure myself.”
Mafuyu stayed silent at the words of her hunter, not saying a word as she stayed in her 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.
“And you should keep going too!” Ena added, trying to get any reaction at all from Mafuyu without success. The Asahina vampire continued to sniffle silently without much discussion.
“I could have finally gotten my badge, today, so maybe I’m an even bigger failure than you for that stupid move, but none of this feels right! I want to actually earn it!” Ena shouted at the vampire girl that may as well have been a brick wall at this point. “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. Remembering that the vampire had a death wish, she instead opted for a less lethal 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 possible to read emotions on the stones.
Ena could read anger.
As the vampire stood up and faced her hunter with a hint of simmering rage beneath the surface, Ena tensed instinctively, raising her musket slightly. Despite there being signs of embers looking to spark a flame of passion, there were otherwise no real signs of aggression from Mafuyu. Only the sound of scurrying vermin in the distance filled the silence as the two silently bore 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 trained 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.
“Do you realize how much danger you’re in by standing so close to me?” Mafuyu’s frustration was palpable through her clenched teeth. “I could kill you before you could even notice.”
“But you won’t, otherwise you woul—”
Before Ena could even finish her sentence, Mafuyu’s claws were against her face. The sharp tips grazed slightly against Ena’s skin as she flinched into them, drawing a trickle of blood. Reflexively, Ena recoiled away from the pain, but the damage had already been done. Her heart raced as her hand went to her face and came back covered in her own blood. Yet another near death experience.
But she was alive.
Quickly looking back at Mafuyu, Ena was shocked to see the Asahina vampire curling over her reddened claws, clutching them close to her chest. A pained expression painted over her face as she stumbled back to where she had been standing before.
“See? I’m dangerous...” Mafuyu growled, though her shaky breathe betrayed her anger. “That’s why you need to kill me!”
While Mafuyu wanted to incite fear, Ena could see through her lies.
“I won’t kill you!” Ena yelled back. “And you can’t kill me either!”
Before Ena knew it, she was on the floor, her arms pinned beneath an angry vampire. The pain of the fall left her dazed, but she held tightly to her musket in her hand. Mafuyu breathed heavily, her hot breath clearly visible in the cold night air.
“You’re right! I can’t!” Mafuyu shouted in Ena’s face. “And that’s exactly why I’m so worthless!”
Ena’s heart thumped rapidly in her chest as she once again stared death in the face a third time, but she was not scared. Dangerous as the beast in front of her was, it was clear she was a gentle creature.
Sure enough, the burst of anger from Mafuyu was short lived. The cold wetness of tears began to trickle down onto her beautiful face as the dangerous creature was once again unable to contain her bottled up feelings.
“I’m a pathetic failure... I couldn’t even bring myself to draw blood from the ceremonial offering my mother gifted me...”
Mafuyu’s grip weakened with her will, but before Ena could wrest her arms free, Mafuyu released one arm. Then, almost as if she were a caring mother, she gently lifted her hand to brush against Ena’s bleeding cheek.
“You’re the first person I’ve hurt. I’m sorry,” Mafuyu whispered through choked tears. “That’s why I need to die.”
The Asahina vampire slowly slid the barrel of the musket, held only at the trigger in Ena’s freed hand, towards her chest. The vibration of the musket shaking in the vampire’s cradled hands replaced whatever scraps of fear Ena still had with empathy.
Mafuyu didn’t want to die. She wanted was to live her own life, away from whatever expectations weighed on her. Ena gripped the musket tightly. She was no stranger to the burden of expectations.
Angrily, Ena tugged the musket out of Mafuyu’s loose grip with both of her hands and rolled over to her side. “I don’t need this!” Her trigger finger pushed down, releasing the singular silver bullet from it’s chambers, off into the distance.
Mafuyu’s eyes went wide as the sound of the shot echoed off into the distance. Seeing her self-perceived silver savior slide off out of sight, she dejectedly slumped closer to the hunter beneath her. The two were close enough to feel each others warmth.
“Am I truly not even worth your silver bullet? Can I not even succeed at being a hunting target for vampire hunters?” Mafuyu said through intense sobs as her tears dampened Ena’s uniform. “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 pretty face. Even if she couldn’t find the exact words to say to her or comfort her, she knew that this hurt and confused Asahina vampire was not an enemy.
Even if vampires and humans were doomed to constantly quarrel, this one gentle vampire was proof that, maybe one day, the two races could live together in peace and harmony. Wishful as that may have been from Ena, she knew that dream was impossible as long as vampires hunted humans.
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.
Instantly, a jolt of joy shot down her spine as she felt a powerful wave of euphoric energy radiated through her body. The mysterious force which had compelled her to kiss Mafuyu fell to the wayside as overpowering enjoyment filled the space of confusion. Time seemed to stop around Ena as her emotions were enveloped in a blanket of pure bliss.
Any positive energy that had come with the kiss rapidly faded as Ena fell away in her addled state, and, in the place of the joy she had been filled with, she became extremely weak. Tiredness was all she could think of as her core muscles gave in and she collapsed into the pavement below.
Ena was only able to hazily leave Mafuyu the first few words that came to her mind 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 an all too familiar bed under a roof she had seen hundreds of times. The ache of her back from the rock-hard mattress she called her own served as a harsh reminder that she was, indeed, still alive.
Upon stumbling down the stairs as if nothing had happened, her doting mother told her that she had been passed out for an entire week. Her brother and his team of support crew had recovered her from her unsuccessful hunt, finding her in a puddle of her own blood in an alleyway in Hazelvale.
After what felt like an eternity of recovery, Ena once again set out to hunt vampires, not letting her failure discourage her. However, her reason for hunting had moved beyond chasing her father’s approval. Now, she had her own reasons. Becoming an officially recognized hunter was only a step on her path ahead.
Her hunts had turned into an excuse to be out traveling the vampire-infested lands in the hopes that, one day, she might find that singular vampire that had stayed in her mind. Often, her hand would subconsciously rub at the claw-marked scars on her face; her only reminder of the girl who had impacted her life so much.
Maybe, fate would favor her again. Maybe one day, she would be able find that poor distraught Asahina vampire.
Should the two meet again, Ena had so much she wanted to say to her.