“He sounds like a good man,” said Miikio. “Thank you for telling me about him.”
“You seem like a good person too…if I ignore the part about you stabbing Kenshin.”
“I would have never let him die.”
“I realize that now, after seeing you today.”
“If you think I’m good, what would be wrong with making more of my kind?”
I reached for his hand, but he withheld it. “Nothing, if it happened naturally between two people who loved each other. What’s wrong is the idea of breeding slaves.”
“But this Division is dying. Breeding slaves might be the only way to save it.”
“Something evil cannot create something good. Who says what this world needs is more Kami? Maybe the world needs fewer Kami. Less magical interference. The Kami aren’t supposed to be separate from nature, but of nature. Maybe if the Kami heal themselves, the Division will heal as well.”
“That’s a very big if,” said Miikio, resuming our march to the dungeon.
“And the idea of mixed Kami and vampire children saving us all isn’t?”
His eyes squinted and his posture faltered as he ground to a halt and turned to face me again.
He stared into my eyes. Drilled into them.
I stared into his.
And then he grabbed my arm roughly and yanked me down the hall to my cell. No further words were spoken.
Chapter 24
When I arrived back at the dungeons, I found Midori hugging Kol as if she might never release him. Except every few seconds she did let him go, in order to scan him top-to-bottom, checking for injuries. Midori repeated the same routine at least three times in the moments it took Miikio to unlock the door and usher me inside. I was surprised to find Kenshin in the same cell with us…but also thankful. With Midori taking care of Kol, I rushed over to Kenshin to give him my own once-over. Without worrying about decorum, I yanked up Kenshin’s shirt and checked for wounds. His body was completely healed, with no scars from the sword wound delivered by Miikio or the gunshot. His rippled stomach was as beautiful as it had always been. “It’s dangerous to be around you, V,” laughed Kenshin. “That’s twice now I’ve almost died. And I don’t even have any cool scars to keep for my trouble.”
“Well, you’re recovering faster from Miikio’s healing this time, so maybe you weren’t as close to dying as we all thought.”
“Yeah. Maybe I was hours from dying instead of seconds. You certainly took your time coming up with a plan to get us out of there.”
I was about to object when Midori butted into our conversation. “Who is he, and why are you sharing glances as if you’re in love?” she asked. I stifled a grimace and glared back at her. She shrugged in reply, oblivious to the embarrassment her words caused. “What? I call them like I see them.” She pointed at Kenshin. “Who is this guy?”
“Firstly, I’ve known this guy for a total of four days. I am not in love. And secondly, his name is Kenshin, and he’s been helping me look for you.” I went on to explain how Kol and I had asked the Yakuza for help and ended up where Amaterasu wanted me to turn her son into a vampire. I whispered the part about stalling with knowledge of the location for the spellbinder’s second volume.
“What’s your plan to fix this? Is the book real?” asked Midori, hugging Kol tight enough that he struggled against her embrace.
“You might want to let your son breathe,” I noted.
Midori seemed puzzled for a second, but then she lessened her grip, still not letting him go. “Is the book real?” she repeated, notes of desperation in each word.
“There’s a real book,” I replied, avoiding her eyes.
“So the answer is no.”
“Well, it might be the book they’re looking for. Doubtful since it’s blank, but it’s old and leather and looks very similar.”
Midori’s whole demeanor deflated as she pulled Kol down to the ground with her. “It’s blank?”
“Maybe the writing is hidden for all but the magically inclined,” I offered with a shrug. Didn’t Midori realize how close to disaster we’d come? I’d bought us time.
“It’s definitely blank,” said Kenshin. “If it’s the one I flipped through in your room.”
I shot him a look. “You’re not helping.”
Kenshin cocked his head and shot me his own look. “We need all the information we can get. I’m magically inclined, and I’m telling you the book contains no writing.”
I sighed, long and loud. “The book doesn’t matter. Getting out of here matters. The book is only a means to an end.”
“We need a plan,” said Kenshin, brows furrowing.
“We know that,” said Midori and I in unison.
“Jeez. Okay. I was just thinking out loud.” Kenshin frowned. “Clearly the best escape option for V is when they take her to get the book. Her odds of escape improve dramatically if I’m along as well. Now, if we can somehow figure out a way for that to happen…”
“That shouldn’t be too hard. I can pretend to be manic with worry about handing over the spellbinder, and you can deploy your magic hands to calm me down. They’re afraid of me. They’ll want to take you along to ensure their safety. We need a plan to get past the Kami and their priests once we’re off the Mount though. I have some throwing knives stashed in my room. I wish I knew how many of the Kami would accompany us. If it’s only Miikio, we have a real chance, but if Amaterasu comes, our odds fall drastically. I could barely hold my own with her today, and Miikio hadn’t even healed her.”
Kenshin nodded and kept on nodding as though some great plan was forming.
“What is it?” I asked.
His eyes caught mine and zeroed in. “I have an idea.”
“Yes?” I asked, a storm of butterflies taking up residence in my stomach.
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Yes?” I asked again, that storm of butterflies turning to a hurricane as I caught on to his line of thinking. I’d only known Kenshin for a few days, but I knew him. Unfortunately.
“It’s pretty much our only option.”
I backpedaled away from Kenshin. “No. Not happening.”
“Yes,” he said, reaching out and snagging my hand.
“But we don’t know what will happen. Amaterasu said no.”
Kenshin smiled wide, displaying a roguish side I’d yet to witness. “And that’s why I say yes. She’s bad, so the opposite of what she wants must be good, right?”
“Your logic is appalling,” I replied, trying not to roll my eyes. This was serious business and Kenshin’s attitude was flippant at best.
“It’s worth the risk. Our odds suck, but they improve exponentially if I’m a vampire witch.” He paused to tap a finger upon his lips. “A vitch…vatch…vampitch. Yes. Vampitch. I like it.”
“That sounds like a fungus,” said Kol. “What about a witchpire?”
“I’ll take it under advisement,” said Kenshin, flashing Kol a wink.
While they were making jokes and coming up with pithy name blends, I broke out in a cold sweat. I’d barely avoided turning Kol into a vampire and now Kenshin wanted to be one. I hadn’t chosen to be a vampire, but that didn’t mean I hated my kind. Sure, I’d only met one vampire, but Juro was an exceptional man and easily handled the thirst that came with vampirism. He’d made good use of his extended lifespan by helping others. Apart from his questionable sense of humor, I knew Kenshin to be a good man too. That wouldn’t change if he was a vampire, but I wasn’t convinced he understood what he was giving up. “Immortality and youth may sound like a blessing, but it’s not. You’ll watch all of your family die,” I said, trying to make him understand. “And you may not be able to have children. Juro could have been an anomaly. And if you don’t get turned into a breeding slave, you’ll spend your life hiding what you are.”
“I know the risks, and maybe if our backs weren’t up against a brick wall, I would take more time to think this through, but I want to help you…hel
p us…and this is the best option.” With great effort, Kenshin pulled himself from the wall where he was sitting propped up and crawled over to me, taking my hand. “I think you are amazing. It would be an honor to become like you.”
His touch was a calming salve to my worry but couldn’t negate it completely. “I know we share something now—but us, you and me—may not last. I’m really messed up. I’ll push you away.”
Kenshin’s lips settled on mine in the lightest of kisses. My body tremored in response, unknown parts of me coming alive. My mind whirled at how something so small, so brief, could stir me. “I am well aware this world holds no certainty,” he whispered, the heat of his breath sending shivers down my spine. “I’m willing to play the hand we were dealt. I’m all in. Are you?”
Chapter 25
I was stiff as a board as I sat next to Kenshin, preparing to do something I would have sworn only days before that I would never do. Midori and Kol stared at us wide-eyed from across the room. I shot Midori a look. “You can’t possibly expect me to do this with both of you watching?”
Midori gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth. “Of course. What was I thinking. Kol, honey, let’s turn around. Close your eyes.”
“Why do I need to close my eyes if I’m turned around, moaned Kol?”
“Because I said so,” said Midori, biffing him upside the head.
The duo no longer facing us, I relaxed. A little bit. Kenshin squeezed my hand, offering up one of his dazzling, self-assured smiles. “I want this. I want to help us,” he said. His hand found my cheek and I leaned into his touch, savoring its warmth. A warmth that would disappear when Kenshin became a vampire. His touch felt good to me. Calming. Peaceful. It made me feel that we fit together. Like I belonged somewhere. Like I belonged with Kenshin. What if becoming a vampire destroyed his magic? What if it destroyed us? As if reading my mind, Kenshin said, “If we are to have a chance at a future, we need this. We have to live through the next couple of days, and this will improve our odds.”
He was right. My worries didn’t matter. We had far more pressing concerns. I sucked in a breath trying to envision what was to come. This would be the closest I would ever be to becoming a mother. I tried to embrace the idea. I could and would do this. It would be fine. Totally fine. Maybe nice, even.
“You’re crying,” said Kenshin, wiping at my cheeks. “Don’t cry.”
I hadn’t realized.
“Are you done yet?” asked Kol from his corner of the room.
Kenshin grinned at me and laughed. His laugh tugging my own free. “Not yet,” I said with a chuckle.
“Quiet,” ordered Midori.
Still laughing, Kenshin leaned close, his lips meeting mine. The kiss was chaste, at first, as if Kenshin was holding himself back. But then he let out a low moan and swept his arms around me, lifting me onto his lap. “I want this. I want you,” he whispered, playfully nibbling at my ear, his hot breath sending shivers racing down my spine. My body felt alight, thousands of pins pricking me awake in a most pleasurable way. Kenshin’s manhood hardened under me. I froze for a heartbeat, remembering the woods and those men, but then that memory passed. My heart rate calmed, and I was back in the present with Kenshin. A good man. An honorable man. I melted into his body and the kisses he offered. I opened myself to Kenshin and let my defenses fall, becoming vulnerable. And it felt good. It was freeing somehow.
“Let’s keep this PG-13, please,” said Midori. “We may not be watching you, but we can still hear you.”
“Mom, that tickles. Don’t cover my ears. I’m not a little kid.”
And boom, I was sucked back into the real world. I burst into laughter as did Kenshin. “Sorry,” said Kenshin. “It’s easy to lose myself with Valaria.” Finding my eyes, “She’s just so damn…”
I didn’t hear the end of what he was saying because the smell of blood suddenly perfumed the room. I tore my eyes from Kenshin’s to find his fingernails digging into his wrist, causing four tiny wells of claret to rise.
“To help you,” he whispered. “I’m not afraid, and I don’t want you to be either.”
Something about Kenshin’s touch kept me present in the room, even as the smell of his blood grew stronger. Yes, I wanted to taste him, but that hunger didn’t drive me. It was a need I could control. It almost made what I was about to do feel okay because there was no desperation behind it. I slid my hand in under Kenshin’s bleeding wrist and slowly brought it to my mouth. I licked the blood clear and Kenshin shivered, not in fear, but desire. “I know it’s ridiculous since I hardly know you, but I think I might be falling in love with you,” whispered Kenshin.
“I feel the same,” I answered back, my fangs drawing down.
I kissed the tip of each of Kenshin’s fingers, lingering at each, fortifying my resolve.
I kissed his palm.
I kissed the wrist that would soon feed me.
And then I pierced his skin with my fangs.
As before, the visions came immediately. I didn’t resist and let myself be carried into Juro’s world. These would be the last visions we shared. Once Kenshin became a vampire, if what happened with Miikio was any indication, we would not be able to feed from each other.
I saw Kenshin playing Janken, the Japanese version of rock, paper, scissors with his mother. I witnessed games of tag with Yuki. I was there at his mother’s funeral and felt his tiny heart break at her absence. I sweated through hours and hours of martial arts training alongside Kenshin. I became strong. Nearly invincible. Then came a day that started like any other but would end very differently. First there was a breakfast of rice, miso, and salmon, followed by an hour to read before calisthenics and sparring. Kenshin ended his fourth and final sparring match with a hard-earned victory and was thinking of food when his day took an unexpected turn. Kenshin’s father appeared accompanied by a red-haired girl and a young boy at the training room door. Kenshin’s pulse quickened and his manhood thickened at the sight of me. His desire for me was immediate and only increased when the charms he often relied on had no effect. I was an enigma he hoped to unravel. And unravel he did.
I knew Kenshin was slightly anemic as I fed. It was no wonder as he’d been wounded twice in two days and had lost a lot of blood. I pulled myself away at the earliest possible moment when his heartbeat became irregular—the cue enough blood had been drained. By the time I closed his wounds with a lick, Kenshin was pale and disoriented. I knew when I would pull away, but he didn’t, and was ripped from whatever vision he was having. I hoped it was better than the last. I’d seen Kenshin as a young child and wished he got to visit me in America and meet my first family. What a fantastical world pre-Rift America must seem.
“Return to me,” I said, cradling Kenshin’s face with both my hands. At first his eyes flitted about the room…but slowly they met and held my own for longer and longer until he was back with me.
“I saw a giant mouse and a huge duck and a castle with princesses,” he said, breathless. “And you locked into a little seat plummeting down giant mountains, smiling and screaming with your hands aloft. You were terrified, but you loved it. How can that be?”
I giggled, running a finger along his razor-sharp cheekbones. He was beautiful. “That was Disneyworld. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
“It looked magical.”
“It was the most magical place on earth…or at least I thought it was until I learned witches and vampires were real.”
“Thank you for letting me see it.”
“Are you ready for what comes next?” I asked.
Kenshin cocked an eyebrow. “What exactly happens now?”
“I fed from you. Now you feed from me. Then voilà, you are a vampire.”
Kenshin nodded, his eyes fading in and out. He was losing consciousness. I swept myself behind Kenshin and laid him in my lap. Breaking the skin at my wrist, I set it between his lips. “Drink deep. Feed and become strong.”
The visions came again but these were different. I did
n’t see Kenshin’s life. To my shock, I saw Kenshin and I walking the streets of Tokyo hand-in-hand. We were at the shore feeding peas to the gulls. I felt a frisky bird nip my finger. The next scene was a picnic under the sakura trees, a pink petal landing in my tea. We were in bed, waking to rumpled sheets and the early warmth of the sun’s rays. Kenshin gave me an Eskimo kiss before finding my lips for something far more intimate. Each part of these images was peace and happiness. Was this my future? Could I be this lucky? An eternity of happiness with a good, noble, sexy-as-hell man. Vignettes continued to role, our own movie.
Continuing to feed, Kenshin reached for my other hand. I gave it willingly and bowed my head to his. I’d never experienced something so…so…sensuous. This was more than a kiss. It was more than I believed sex could possibly be. It was a making, a binding, a sharing of something so sacred I couldn’t fully comprehend what was happening until more images flooded my mind. Different images. Dark images. I saw myself cradling Midori as she died, Kol already dead some distance away. In what might have been hallucination more than vision, I screamed as Amaterasu ripped Kenshin’s head from his body. Heat radiated from Amaterasu’s searing glare as I stood before her, among a sea of bloodied bodies, holding a stake to my heart. “You cannot have me,” I screamed, before plunging the stick into my own chest.
Tokyo's Last Vampire: Division 12: The Berkhano Vampire Collection Page 12