Chapter 14
I woke in a fevered state to find myself covered in mud next to a creek. Rain pelted my skin, and I hurt everywhere. Between the burns and the fatigue caused by my endless escape, I could do nothing but lie still blinking at the dark, grey sky. “Juro, he had your face,” I whispered as the pain of remembered grief bubbled up from somewhere deep within. “He knew my name? How?”
I tried to figure out a reason for that resemblance, for his knowing my name, but I couldn’t. I ached with too much pain, both inside and out. I couldn’t think. My mind was turbulence…a muddy river after a downpour. I fought for purchase but found none.
Juro. Juro. Juro. Juro.
A thousand knives stabbed at me as his last day flooded back in a rush.
“Please,” I begged, my hand clutching his katana. “Don’t leave me. Give me another year. Another decade.”
Tears rushed down Juro’s face as he shook his head. “I can’t. My time has been and gone. I’ve already overstayed.”
My anger swelled at his callousness. “You owe me a year,” I wailed. “You made me into this thing, something everyone hates and fears, and now you want to die?”
Juro reached for me, but I shrugged off his hand. “You’ll understand one day, my daughter. Our minds and souls aren’t meant for eternity. There is nothing unique anymore. Nothing new. The world is grey. I have already seen everything there is to see. Life holds nothing for me here.”
I slammed Juro’s katana into the ground, and he flinched at my disrespect of the blade. “This world is grey for everyone. That doesn’t mean you stop living in it. Don’t be a coward.”
“The world won’t always be this way. It will change and get better, but I’ve served my time. I no longer sense the joy in life. All I see is the cruelty humanity inflicts. That’s how I know it’s my time.” He wiped at his eyes. “Please, let me go.”
“But I’ll be the only one, the last vampire in District 12.”
“You are stronger than you know. Perhaps one day you’ll find someone to love, and you can make another.”
“I would never curse anyone with this hunger,” I growled. Growing desperate, I mentioned a name I hadn’t in years. “We can find Hana. She’s what you need. She made you happy.”
Juro fell to his knees, hands rising to cover his features. “No, V. No. She is not what I need. Only death can bring me the peace I desire. There is nothing left for me in this world.”
My heart, the one barely beating now that I was a vampire, clenched with dread. “Not even me?”
Juro’s body wilted. “Not even you. I am old. I love you, but this is the way of it.”
Tears snaked down my face, becoming a torrent as anger gave way to sadness. “I need you.”
Juro dropped his hands from his face and found my eyes, mining to someplace deep within me. “I am sorry. So very, very sorry. I know I ask of you the one thing I was unable to give, but you are stronger than me. You always have been.”
We stared at each other for one heartbeat…two…three…four…and I remembered the pain of the day I was made a vampire. Juro had found me in the woods after the rape. I was dying. I had hours left to live, if not minutes. Juro cradled me in his arms, begging me to survive. He knew I had only one choice if I was to live. “Will you take the vampire’s kiss?” he asked. “Daughter, please say yes.”
I peered up at him, wanting to please this father who loved and protected me, but no matter how hard I tried to say yes, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be a vampire. Our world was shit, but I wanted the best it could offer. I wanted children. Motherhood was the one blessing on offer to me, and if I couldn’t have it, I would rather have nothing at all. “Let me go,” I murmured, a blackness creeping into my vision.
But Juro didn’t obey. He loved me too much to abide my wishes, and now he asked for the one thing he hadn’t given me. Death.
I pulled his katana from the ground, my body still shaking. Anger and grief hummed like a swarm of bees inside of me. “I love you,” I whispered, voice cracking.
Still on his knees, Juro smiled up at me. “I love you, too.”
I swung the katana in a clear arc towards Juro’s neck.
I didn’t see it—Juro’s head leaving his body. But I felt it.
I would always feel it.
********
I was in and out of consciousness for the next several hours as my body worked to repair itself, preferring unconsciousness when I couldn’t feel the pain or hunger. My body needed fresh blood to properly heal. Without it, I pulled energy for healing from unknown depths in an excruciating fashion. I felt myself age and wither and wished for a death I knew wouldn’t come.
Day turned into night, and the rising cold was bliss on my burned skin. As I faded into another round of unconsciousness, I caught the faint sound of hoof beats approaching. I was strong enough to fight the coming slumber, but I chose not to. Live or die, I didn’t care.
When I awoke, Miikio huddled over me, cradling my hand in his while he studied the photo I’d taken of the beast…the one I must have carried through the fire and into the woods. I’d captured the beast’s savage nature for all to see. Concentrating on the creature’s image seemed to tear at Miikio, as it tore at me. Miikio’s face twisted in dismay.
Seeing me awake, he crumpled the photo and tossed it in the stream. I went to grab for it but missed by a mile. My reflexes were slower than molasses. “Valentin-san, Valentin-san, you must not die.” His voice sounded urgent and needy. “I don’t even know if you can die. I’ve tried to heal you with my magic, but it won’t work.”
“Blood,” I whispered.
Miikio’s eyes went wide. I thought it was with fear, but then he shook his head as if annoyed. “Of course,” he said, offering his wrist.
I was hungry, so damned hungry that I couldn’t bow to my usual need for decorum. I grabbed his wrist and plunged my fangs deep into the vein.
And then I screamed in agony as Miikio’s blood singed my insides to match my outsides. I turned and spit out his blood, then made myself vomit before clawing at my mouth to purge every last drop. I plunged my head into the water nearby and drank, slurping and gulping the fresh liquid. The stream was full of sediment, but I didn’t care.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” asked Miikio hovering over me, his arms and hands searching for a way to help.
I couldn’t answer him for several minutes until the burning sensation within slowly abated. Having drunk enough water for five people, I fell onto my back and heaved for breath…each intake of air, a million tiny daggers.
“Your blood…hot…fire. What…are you?” I finally managed to ask.
“I am Kami,” said Miikio, as if it was too obvious.
I shook my head. “No. No, you’re not. You’re something else. A hybrid. Witch blood doesn’t burn.” I knew this because Juro sometimes fed from Hana. It caused a sharing of visions between the two and increased their bond. I’d never heard of vampires feeding off each other. Maybe what I’d just experienced was why.
Miikio waved away my words. “It doesn’t matter. Fate brought you to Hayakawa. We needed one of your kind, and you magically appeared. It means our mission must be on the sacred path.”
“Fate didn’t bring me to Hayakawa,” I said, voice craggy. “Midori did. The witches took her.”
“I know nothing of this,” said Miikio. “But I’m sure we can find her together if you’ll only agree to leave with me.”
I wanted to laugh. Agree to leave? I wasn’t in any position to protest. Miikio was afraid I would die if he threw me over the side of his horse and rode off. I wouldn’t, though. Beheading, a stake through the heart, and being burned to ash were the only ways I could die. I’d been burned but not to ash. I’d live, unfortunately. “How did you know my name?” I asked.
Miikio dug in his jacket pocket and pulled out the last thing I would have ever expected—a Polaroid photo.
My burned hand still shaking, I reached for it. It was o
ld and faded, resembling those in my bedroom at the library. In it, Juro and Hana hugged, their faces to the camera with wide smiles. “My mother, Hana, talks of you and Juro often. She said you were her first child, and I was her second. She’s missed you terribly. Every year on your birthday, she takes a red rose and says a prayer for you, her crimson beauty.”
“Why do you look like Juro?” I asked, still confused. “Is it magic?”
Miikio laughed, “Isn’t it obvious, Valentin-san. Juro is my father.”
I barked out a half-laugh, pain preventing a display of what I truly felt. I could have laughed for days. Juro, a father—how ridiculous. “Juro was a vampire. We don’t make babies. We make other vampires.”
Miikio put a placating hand on my shoulder. “My existence proves they can. I look like him, no?”
“But you’re a Kami?”
“Yes. One of the few born to another Kami since the Rift.”
“Are you a vampire, too?
Miikio shook his head no, then yes. “I’ve got the physical strength of a vampire, but no need to feed on human blood. I’ve yet to develop vampire senses, but I’m hoping that changes in time, and I have no idea about the immortality factor. I’m pretty sure I can die, but I’ve not wanted to test that. I’ve been aging normally thus far.” When I offered no visible reaction or response to this, Miikio continued. “Magic is dying in Division 12. Few children of low families are born with any magic, and those who are, are weak. The Kami have grown infertile and—”
“That’s a good thing,” I spat. “They have far too much power.”
“It’s not a good thing,” replied Miikio. “Magic and the land are interconnected. As magic dies, so does the land. It’s why crops are failing. The Kami believe the radioactivity bathing God’s Island and the way it alters life’s energies is the cause for their loss of power. Between the radiation and the loss of the vampires, our world is off kilter.”
Had I heard him right? The vampire genocide was a bad thing? Surely not. “So vampires are good now?” I asked, dragging myself to a sitting position, a part of me wanting to be upright, at least partially, for this revelation that vampires were suddenly good. We weren’t oni or demons. We weren’t a mistake. We were valuable members of society who had been unjustly purged. The world needed us for some inexplicable reason.
“They must be,” said Miikio with a shrug that said he wasn’t actually convinced, despite having a vampire father. “A vampire and witch pairing has produced one of only a few powerful Kami in generations. The Kami want to try more pairings with male vampires in the hopes of saving the Division.”
“Oh, I see. You want vampires as breeding studs. My barren womb and I are of no use to you then?” Wanting to leave behind this ridiculousness, I rolled onto my hands and knees. This small action zapped all my energy. My arms quaked with the weight of my body as I fought the need to collapse. Seeing my precarious position, Miikio leapt to his feet, and in one graceful move set me on my feet.
We stood facing each other, him holding me up. He cocked his head and grinned at me as if I were some adorable kitten. “Don’t be silly, Valentin-san. You are of use. You can make us more vampires.”
Chapter 15
I pulled back from Miikio and drew my katana. “Stay away from me. I won’t make another of my kind. Not now. Not ever.” The katana I normally wielded with ease was clumsy in my hands. My balance was off such that I walked backwards until I found a tree to prop me up.
Not the least bit worried by the sword I held, Miikio spread his hands as if opening himself up to me. “But why? Vampires are needed. The Kami have learned their mistake.”
“You don’t understand. A vampire’s thirst is…is…it’s not something you would want to impart on anyone, not even your worst enemy. We…I am dangerous.”
Miikio took a hesitant step forward. “You are an apex predator. That is all. Your thirst is entirely nor—”
A thundering crash stopped Miikio mid-sentence. Barely standing and with all my senses focused inward on the pain from my burns, I wasn’t aware of anything or anyone approaching. That was until Ryuu burst through the trees. The stallion charged for Miikio, sending him flying into a nearby tree. Miikio crumpled. Ryuu rose on his hind legs and reared over the top of him, striking out with his front hooves. I stared, my slow mind trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Ryuu was here, which meant that Kenshin was too? But was he here to help or hurt me? The expression on his face when he’d realized I was a vampire suggested the latter.
I didn’t wait long to find out because Kenshin and his mare came galloping into the fray. With Miikio distracted by Ryuu, Kenshin jerked to a halt and offered his hand to pull me aboard. I didn’t take it, instead peering up at him, looking for a hint of his intentions.
Seeing my fear, Kenshin smiled down at me. “Come on, vampire girl. There’s no time to waste.”
As ridiculous as it sounded, that simple, flippant sentence, like so many before it, made me trust him. He was him, and I was me, and that was how we communicated, certainly how I knew nothing important had changed between us.
Seated atop the mare, we rode away, leaving Miikio and the nonsensical needs of the Kami behind. We rode well into the night, but at some point I must have drifted off because when I awoke, we were inside an old, rundown wreck of a home that had probably been abandoned soon after the Rift. Kenshin dozed nearby in a half-broken chair. “Ryuu?” I asked, wondering about the safety of the stallion. I’d hoped to hear his thundering hooves follow us as we galloped away, but I didn’t and was worried he’d been hurt by the witch.
“That’s who you ask for?” said Kenshin, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I helped save you, too, you know.”
“Yes, but you’re sitting right here. I already know you’re all right. Has Ryuu come back?” I asked again, my voice weak and craggy. I felt like the grunge on the underside of a shoe.
Kenshin nodded as he yawned. “About an hour ago. Damn near bit my arm off when I went to tie him up.” He paused to shake himself awake, the action nearly toppling the faulty chair. Rebalanced, he put a nonchalant foot up on my bed and folded his arms behind his head. “Now that you’ve ascertained Ryuu’s health and safety, you may thank me for my gallant rescue.”
I would have rolled my eyes, but it would have hurt too much. “Gallant people don’t normally need thanks, but thank you. Why did you come?”
“What do you mean why?” he asked, brow furrowing. “My partner fled through burning flames with a Kami on her tail. Of course I came after you. What kind of lout do you think I am?”
“I saw your face after you found out about me. There was disgust and—”
“It wasn’t disgust. It was confusion, and it was momentary. Ten seconds max.” Kenshin shrugged. “So you’re a vampire. You’re also kind, annoying, a book dragon, grumpy and—”
“You mean sassy.”
“No, I mean grumpy.” He paused to tick items off on his fingers, going through the list of my attributes again. “Grumpy, feisty, and…uniquely beautiful. Hmmm, how old are you? That might explain the grumpiness.”
Uniquely beautiful? I had no idea what to say to that. The idea that anyone found my uniqueness beautiful was not something I’d considered. Japanese women were so petite, graceful, and alluring with their shiny black hair and beautiful skin. I felt large and ungainly by comparison. That and really, really conspicuous with my bright red hair. Among a sea of dark-haired people, its garishness stood out. My mind scrambled for a reply to Kenshin. Should I say thank you? It’s what was said when someone offered a compliment, right? Why was this so hard? Why was I so flummoxed?
After an epically long pause, Kenshin waved a hand in front of my face. “Earth to Valaria. How old are you?”
“Fifty-eight,” I mumbled, still trying to think of what to say to the beautiful compliment. Say thanks or ignore it?
Kenshin slapped his thighs in delight, a grin overtaking his face. “Well that explains a lot. You live
d pre-Rift.”
I nodded.
Kenshin nodded.
We both nodded, like we were agreeing on something unsaid, only I didn’t know what. Finally, I made myself stop because I was getting a headache.
Kenshin stood and shook out his body as if preparing for something. “Enough chitchat. We need to talk about something, and if I know you at all, you’re not going to like it.”
I closed my eyes, putting up a mental barricade to protect myself. “What? Was Ryuu hurt?”
Kenshin’s eyes went wide. “No, it’s not the horse, you infuriating woman. It’s the fact your skin is positively crispy, and you need blood. I would have already tried giving you some of mine, but it seemed dangerous with you being unconscious. I worried you might drain me without realizing it.”
Oh God, he wanted to feed me. I did not want this. But now that I was more awake, I could feel my hunger grow with each passing minute. I needed to heal, so I could find Midori. We weren’t any closer to locating her than when we’d started out. Sure, we knew what the Kami were up to, but why they needed Midori was still unknown. And to heal, I needed blood. “We need to tap a vein,” I said, palpating my arm at the bend to demonstrate. “It’s the only safe way.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, we don’t have that kind of equipment lying around here. We’re going to have to do it the old fashion way, with fangs. I will let you know when to stop feeding and you will listen like the good vampire you are. You probably won’t need much.” Kenshin winked. “I’m sure my blood is of premium quality. Is my neck or wrist better?”
I shook my head. “My body needs blood. It might not listen to me, which means I might not listen to you. It takes years for vampires to learn control when drinking from someone.”
“You’re fifty-eight. Surely, you’ve learned by now.”
“Rule number one, I don’t drink from people. I drink from a glass.”
Kenshin laughed, no, giggled. “That’s very prim and proper of you. I must point out, however, that that is not rule number one. Number one is about touching. You’re on rule six or seven, I think.” Kenshin held up his fingers as if to start counting the rules off.
Tokyo's Last Vampire: Division 12: The Berkhano Vampire Collection Page 8