Guilt is a feeling that people typically have when they do something wrong, accidentally, or intentionally. It is a feeling that had broken many people and even the guilt of the smallest of the crimes makes a person lower his head in shame. But once it takes over you, there is no escaping the fact of your actions. They will weigh on you as long as you are alive.
I felt that guilt yet again and felt the same way as always.
Yuna didn’t have to die, she had done nothing wrong but it was me who did it. I don’t even remember seeing her face when I had done that. I am sure she would have been horrified and would try to run away.
I closed my eyes and felt the warm breeze slap my face as I was calming my mind.
"Now you don’t look so good boy," I heard a voice and my eyes shout open.
Looking around myself, I did not find anything or anyone who would have said those words but I am pretty sure I heard the voice. It was of…
"Ethan, how can you talk to me?" I said out loud in a low voice.
"Well as your blood starts maturing, the bond between our minds gets closer and we can communicate. Also, be careful as time go because even if I don’t intend, I may end up taking over your body," he said as if warning me.
"So what should I do it make sure that doesn’t happen?"
"Just don’t let your emotions get the better of yourselves. I could feel how weak your brain was right now that if I would try, I could have slipped into your consciousness. Now, do you want to share your woman with me?"
"Of course not," I answered immediately and he laughed.
"Hahaha, as I thought so get a hold of yourself kid. You are really lucky to have people around you who are willing to protect you without asking for anything in return. That is something many people don’t get. Some even ask God for such things," Ethan said and I could imagine him nodding his head proudly while saying this.
Hearing his words did help me calm down a little and I clenched my fist.
"Why are you helping me? I mean, you can just take over my body and go reunite with the lord of the night," I asked him curious about the reasons behind his actions.
"Kid, I have lived long. Long enough to know that immortality can get boring. Though life is not boring with your loved ones but when Sarah was asleep, I realized just how much her company meant to me. Even if I return by using your body, I will feel that it is not actually me. I am dead, for good," Ethan said in a slightly sad voice.
"I see, thank you, Ethan. It really helped me," I said honestly grateful about the words of the first.
"Hahaha, don’t worry kid. While in your mind, I might have seen everything about your life and no kid should go through all this. If you ever need someone to talk to then talk to me. Thoughts like these are destructive when bottled up," he said and I chuckled.
So I have the cutest half-vampire, a badass hunter, and even the first on my side to listen to me? Wow, now I feel really lucky. I knew I had such amazing people with me but now that even Ethan said it out loud, I cannot help but feel grateful to them.
With this newfound courage, I stood up and stared at the crescent moon shining in the night sky hiding the stars around it. Finally, I turned my foot and went inside and saw Natsumi-san had eaten her food and Ai was swaying from side to side for some reason.
Natsumi-san’s face was red may be due to alcohol but she does not look like she was too drunk. What was worrying me was Ai so I looked at her face and…it was red and she had this cute childish smile on her face. I looked at Natsumi-san and she averted her face.
Oh, you got to be kidding me.
"Kazu-kyun!" Ai said jumping up and hugging me making me fall down.
She is drunk.
"Kazu-kyun, Kazu-kyun, Kazu-kyun, Kazu-kyun, Kazu-kyun!" Ai said rubbing her cold cheek against mine while giggling. "Hehe, you are so warm. I wuv this warmth."
"Um…Ai, I think you got drunk so can you get off me right now?" I asked her pushing her away but she jolted her face up.
"Does Kazu-kyun hate me?!" she said with tears forming in her eyes along with anger behind it.
"No, there is no way I can hate you but I have something to take care of. So I would really appreciate it if you get off-"
"Never. I will never ever let go of Kazu-kyun," she said tightening the hug pressing her entire body mass on me.
"Natsumi-san, help me." I looked at her and she smirked at me. So this is payback?
Ai kept rubbing her cheek against mine and I will be denying myself saying that I did not enjoy it. On the other hand, I wanted to do it a lot. Her soft and cold skin was on mine in this hot summer and it was really wonderful but right now was not the time for this.
Natsumi-san committed a crime right now and is not even trying to help the victim. Now, this is what you call abuse of power.
"Ai, please let go," I said to her pushing her away.
"Never! I will never let go of Kazu-kun, I will hug him, hold him, kiss him, and wuv him forever," she said childishly.
"Natsumi-san, you are a vampire hunter right?" I asked her and she looked at me.
"You want me to kill your girlfriend?" she asked being surprised.
"No!" I said and wrapped my arms around Ai sitting up and in that position itself, I picked her up and went to sit down on the couch. "I need to ask you things."
"Like this?"
She pointed at Ai who was sitting on my lap cuddling me while I just let her. With some effort, I somehow made her let go and rest her head on my lap. Stroking her head did the trick but thanks to these actions of her, my heart was not in the right position. It was beating so hard and Ai looked so irresistibly cute right now that if it was not for Natsumi-san, I wouldn’t have let her go.
While I stroked her head on my lap, she purred a little like a little cat and her head moved around a little.
"Kazu-kun only belong to me," Ai said and as if getting what I meant, Natsumi-san went and sat down at the couch beside us.
"So, what do you want to ask?" Natsumi-san asked me crossing her legs leaning back.
"About Ai, her being a half-vampire. She said that she is not immortal like vampires so how long do you think she has?" I asked her.
It was one question that lingered in my mind. Half-vampires were someone who was not immortal but had the powers of a vampire. Ai was like any other half-vampire, a special case that worried me. The thing is in this world, whenever there is a special case, there are some problems which made me wonder.
Just how much time does she have?
Thinking about it logically, suppose if a half-vampire were to live for a hundred years or so, will they still look the same? Or will their life be…
"It was confirmed by us some years ago but a half-vampire only has twenty-five years of life for them," Natsumi-san said and my face dropped.
"T-twenty five years?" I asked her and she nodded.
Ai was still fifteen years old meaning she only had ten years more of her life and I doubt that she knows that.
"H-how did you find that out?"
"Well, in our organization, it does not matter if you are a human or a vampire or even a half-vampire. If you are ready to kill the vampires when they ask, they will take you in. So, we had a half-vampire who used to work for the organization and his body got rotten alive right in the middle of a meeting," Natsumi-san said and I started to worry as my eyes fell on Ai. "Turns out it was not the first time this happened. All the half-vampires who survived that far died the same way."
"So even Ai will…"
"She will die when she turns twenty-five," Natsumi-san said looking at her.
Seeing her peaceful face while I stroked her head made me sad for her. Twenty-five is too young to die like this and rotten alive? This is not a way anyone would like to die.
"Okay, so tell me more about vampires and how they are different from the stereotypes we know," I said to Natsumi-san and she started.
"Well, vampires can only walk in the night. That is the truth but the thing about the cross hurting them? That is the biggest bullshit I have ever heard. They say that by the power of God, the evil will be vanished but hate to break it to you, there is no god in this world. If there is then he is just a bastard who loves seeing his creations burn down," Natsumi-san said clenching her fists. "God is nothing but an excuse. If an evil person died then it is the punishment of god and when some commoner dies then it is just fate? I don’t believe such shit."
"I think we are going off-topic here," I interrupted her.
"Oh, yeah. About vampires, they do hate garlic because it has a very strong smell and due to their heightened senses really don’t like that strong smell being multiplied so many times. You would have known that vampires can be killed with a wooden stake to the heart but there is another way…"
For some reason, she paused and went for her pocket. She took out a pen and spun it around her finger and it extended in took the form of a scythe which I saw earlier. It had a shiny metal blade but it was shining more than any other metal I have seen.
"This is made of silver but a special grade of silver which is very hard to find. Chop a vampire up with this bad boy and they won’t be able to get back up," she said and shrunk her scythe back. "Then about entering houses only when invited, that is all a lie because what is even stopping them? Their reflection shows in a mirror which I never got why was said otherwise. If they did not appear in a mirror then you should not be able to even see them."
"Our eye is also the same. Light gets in after reflecting from an opaque body and forms an image in the retina which acts as a mirror," I muttered.
From all this, I got to know a lot more about vampires with a good reason too. A lot more than what Ai told me since she would not say too much and keep me in the dark most of the time. Thinking about it, I get now how Natsumi-san was able to kill those four vampires with her weapon though vampires are not supposed to die like that.
In short, in appearance, there is not much difference between vampires and humans and there is no way of knowing too. That is because the mirror idea does not work any longer. The only time we can know is when a vampire is hungry since pale skin is not uncommon. It can even be of humans due to make medical conditions.
"How can noble vampires use this ability of theirs?" I asked.
"Honestly, we don’t know much about it but the fact that they can use the ability is not a lie. I have fought many nobles alongside Kazuto and have come across with even able to manipulate an elem-"
"Wait, dad was a vampire hunter?" I interrupted her hearing the new piece of information.
"Didn’t you know? Oh, obviously you didn’t because any memories of vampire encounters or about vampire hunters were wiped off your mind. They always wanted you to live a normal life as much as possible."
"So Ai said once that she knew me but I could not recollect anything does that mean…"
"She was not lying."
"I see."
"Okay, that is enough for tonight. I will be taking you to the organization tomorrow and also show you some stuff you need to see. By that time, have some rest you two. I will be going," Natsumi-san said and stood up before walking out. "Thanks for the meal, it was delicious as always."
She closed the door and it locked on its own because of the auto-lock version. My eyes fell on Ai’s face who was peacefully sleeping. My hand moved and pushed her hair off her pretty face. Her eyes twitched by the touch and she held my hand.
Her cold skin was touching mine and I could feel it trembling a little. So, I squeezed her hand and bend down to kiss her cheek.
"I love you Ai," I said to her and picked her up in a princess carry and went to the bedroom.
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Due to everything that happened today, I was really exhausted and I did not bother taking a bath or changing my clothes. The dishes were in the sink and I will wash them today. Right now, I wanted to be close to Ai.
I slid myself under the covers with her and held her close to me tightly as if I was scared of her going away. I won’t let her end the same way as other half-vampires, I swear.
"Kazu-kun, kiss me," she muttered in her sleep but I saw her eyes open lightly.
Looks like she was not asleep completely and I just softly smiled at her. Swiping her bangs over her head, I kissed her forehead and then moved down to her lips. As our lips touched, Ai wrapped her hands around my neck.
She was not pretending to before sleep, I knew that much.
Our lips brushed across each other and I pressed them even more entering my tongue in her mouth moving it around as Ai’s hands trailed on my body.
To me, Ai had become an irreplaceable existence in this little time but I was sure about this fact. I loved Ai and I can no longer think of my life without her. Even if after we get survive my three years. We had more challenges before us and there was no way I would let Ai die so young.
I will do everything it takes. Even if it kills me.
Because I love her so much.
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