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Hungry... so hungry...
It would never be enough... a sea of animal carcasses trailing behind him, one after the other after the other.
He would see it, a lifeless husk before him, two wounds on its neck the size of his own bite.
And Shigeo would scream, the darkness consuming him once again, his humanity another victim of the monster’s hunger.
But soon enough, birds were not enough. Squirrels and deers and bears would not satisfy it.
Not when the smell of a human's blood wafted his direction.
It was there. In the manor in the distance, one secluded and secret, one a mortal would not easily find on their own.
But Shigeo wasn’t a mortal anymore, was he?
He was a monster, a void shrouded in shadows, one who didn’t care what happened as long as his hunger was satisfied.
And the newly turned vampire was very, very, hungry.
The doors flew open, his large claws lacerating a trail behind the ancient wood, a mark that he was here, that he would soon claim another place for his own.
It did not take long for the vampire to find him, the human that would soon become his next meal.
A man with dirty blond hair. Any other details he couldn’t find in himself to care. Not when he would be dead soon.
The man’s eyes went wide, him looking towards a spirit barely registered by the vampire, before he struck, flying through the front door and—
"Hey!!!”
The vampire stopped, inches from his face.
He dared to say the man looked bored. The spirit next to him did not.
“Cut it out," the man deadpanned. "It's rude to enter without knocking, you know."
Was it? What did it matter? Monsters didn’t need to be polite, didn’t need to be bound by the rules of a society that would cast him out.
Yet still he listened. Shigeo, though buried deep within the void that held him captive, pleaded to the vampire within to listen to him first.
"Reigen! Reigen, we need to leave that's-"
"What? This guy? The one with no manners? I think not. Someone needs to teach them that entering a persons home without their permission is not acceptable. They haven’t even taken off their shoes!”
Shigeo stopped, looking down at his blackened form.
Shoes...?
Oh…
He was wearing Ritsu’s shoes. His dad always scolded him for tracking mud in the house.
How… how had he forgotten?
Large, clawed hands reached down to take them off, booming steps trudging back to the door he had damaged seconds before, placing them by it as gently as a giant could.
"There! That’s better. Gods, you’d think a guy had seen it all, yet here comes an unwelcome guest barging into my house without so much as a ‘hello’.”
The void growled, trudging back to where the human stood by the living room fireplace. He looked over him, watching, waiting, preparing for when he made the next move.
If he didn’t pick right, that next movement would be his last.
“Now that we’ve got that settled, introductions are in order.”
Wide, unblinking white eyes continued to stare, confused.
”What? You’ve never done an introduction before?”
He had once upon a time. He had when he went to his first day of school, a little old wooden building with a chalkboard where he wrote his name as best he could.
”Then let’s start, shall we? Taro Suzuki is the name,” the man said, holding out a hand.
The void shivered as it debated itself. Why should he shake that hand? Why should it do anything that prevented him from devouring his next meal?
“Hello? Earth to the guy standing in my living room?”
My, he was persistent. A hand shrouded in darkness went to cup the man’s outstretched one, gently grasping onto it.
Why he was being gentle, he couldn’t understand himself.
“And your name?”
Name?
What… what was his name?
Shigeo didn’t fit anymore. It hadn’t for a while now, not even when he was at the village, the other kids saying his bored expression made him look like…
”M…Mob.”
”…Mob?”
A nod, the black flames that consumed him wavering with the motion.
”…Oooooookay. That’s a name. I guess. Very, uh, human-sounding."
But before Mob could correct him, Taro continued. “Anyways!”
He didn’t miss the way Taro’s hand flew away from his own, as if he touched a hot stove.
”So Mob! What brings you to my humble abode? Surely you must have had a reason for barging in and clawing up my front door.”
A deep cramp stabbed in his stomach at the reminder, a fate that had been put off long enough as Mob loomed over the man.
Taro hummed and hawed before gasping dramatically, “Well, why didn’t you say so!” and immediately darted to the kitchen, clearly trying to put distance between the two.
The kitchen? There was nothing for him there. Nothing that could sate the hunger that growled threateningly, Mob clutching his stomach as another inhuman whine left him.
“If you were hungry, you could have just said so.”
Mob shook his head. It wasn’t that easy.
“What? If you’re thirsty, you need to ask. Heard of that? Asking? It’s very useful in terms of human interaction, I assure you.”
“I’m… n-noooot…” Mob's dissonant voices clashed together, the man flinching at the sound. “…not… human…”
He wasn't any more, was he? No matter how this man spoke to him, made him remember just enough to grace him with the nostalgia of living, he had lost that part of himself.
Lost his humanity the moment that vampire stole it from him.
He shouldn't be crying now. This was what he was now, for all of eternity. There was no need to curl into himself, try to make himself as small as he once was. The man was going to die to Mob's hunger, and there was nothing he could do about it.
"Hey."
Mob briefly stopped his mourning to take one last look into his eyes. There was pity in them that wasn't there before.
“Just because you’ve got giant hands and shadows spinning all around you doesn't mean you can just barge in and steal from other people without asking.”
The vampire started at him still, void-like eyes widening. “But… I’m… hungry…”
“You think humans don’t get hungry? Don’t have whatever instincts you’re dealing with right now?”
The human brought a knife to his wrist, carefully cutting a non-vital area and letting the blood flow into a waiting cup.
Mob groaned in response, hunger begging him to take that life now, to not wait another second.
Shigeo wouldn't let him.
“Yeah, those instincts. The only difference between a monster and a human is how they act on those instincts. Don’t think you’re special just because you’ve got fangs and claws, vampire-san.”
He took the cup and began walking towards Mob, the vampire's large eyes watching, waiting in anticipation.
“So which will it be? Monster?” he stopped in front of him. “Or human?”
... could he choose such a thing? He knew what he wanted, knew what he needed so badly it made his undead heart ache. Humanity was something every person needed to survive, even a vampire, even a monster who stole humanity from others just to live another day.
The choice seemed obvious.
But was it even possible?
Mob would never be the same. He would never have those big brown eyes filled with wonder and curiosity, spidering reds poisoning the once vibrant irises. He would never be able to bask in the sun on a warm spring day, feeling the wind tickle his skin as the bees buzzed in the flower field.
He would never be able to feel deeply as he once did, every emotion a danger to others, every bit of the human he once was always threatened by darkness, by that hunger for life.
The cup of blood was placed in his hands. Heavy. Precious. Hunger replacing itself with guilt.
"Well, don't let it get cold, now."
It would be rude not to take this gift, even if Mob himself didn't believe he deserved it.
Hands shrouded in darkness brought the cup to black lips, that first taste of iron hitting the very tip of his tongue.
And Shigeo Kageyama breathed in life for the first time since that day. Warm blood filled his being, traveling to his heart in droves, letting it beat full of the humanity he lost.
More he drank, the morsel the stranger offered him a feast compared to how he had lived the past month.
Each gulp made the darkness recede, too large hands shrinking to what they once were, thin, bony fingers out in the open once more.
"Holy hells…" the man murmured, eyes wide, haunted. "You're just a fledgling."
A what? Mob didn't know what that meant, nor was he able to think on the matter any more with how exhausted he was. There was a heaviness possessing him, one that made his eyelids droop, made the pain in his body reignite.
"Woah woah woah hey kid-"
The world tilted, the empty cup falling to the floor as his knees buckled. He never heard it hit the floor, his ears ringing, muffled voices shouting empty words. His vision faded, closing in as a pair of hands tried to catch him, grabbing him, pushing him.
Until he was being cradled in warmth.
The fledgling blinked, the fledgling breathed, and a dying fireplace greeted him.
How... where...?
Mob tried to move, struggling against his soft bindings, whining to whoever would listen to help him wake.
But the blanket that swaddled him kept him safe, coiling around every inch of his body, refusing to let him leave.
He wouldn't be able to anyway, not with exhaustion still clinging tightly to his every limb.
Voices murmured past his weak ears, Mob only awake enough to catch bits and pieces of the conversation.
"Well, you're the one who fed him. Only sires feed fledglings willingly. You're like a really shitty mother goose right now."
"Wow. Thanks. Really helping me out there, Ekubo."
There were... two? The man and... wasn't there a spirit by him too? Mob whined again, yet still the two ignored his cries.
"I guess… we'll ask him more when he wakes."
"When he…?! You're not that stupid, are you?"
"What? He's harmless."
Were they talking about him? Mob hardly thought he was harmless, memories of breaking into this house moments ago floating through his mind.
"The thing that just barged in through your locked door and nearly turned you into its next meal is harmless. Sure. Knock yourself out. I'm not gonna clean up your drained corpse when he inevitably kills you."
"Come on, don't be like that! Think about just how useful it would be to have a vampire on our side!"
... useful? How could anyone think he could be of use?
Mob strained to hear more, weakly wiggling and whining in his place on the couch, but such a feat would not be rewarded, not when his thoughts began to fade into nothing.
The fire was warm, a luxury the fledgling had not been granted in a month's time. All he knew was cold, unending shivering that had wracked his body as he desperately searched for food, for something that would save him from this living hell.
Comfort now beckoned him to finally rest, to succumb to the warmth of the fire, to the softness of the blankets swaddling him.
"Fine. But when I end up being right, don't come crawling back to me."
"Sure. Knock yourself out. But the second I see that kid start to wake, I'm outta here."
No other thoughts drifted past as the voices faded into nothing.
And for the first time in a month, Shigeo Kageyama found rest.