Ravenport: Luna's Awakening

by Alistair Jones

  Chapter 12

  Cross Examination

  Luna steps into Miguel’s apartment as soon as it’s open, as someone only a flight above them had gone near their door and seemed to be in the process of opening it. Miguel swings the door back closed just in time as a neighbor leaves theirs, a sigh of relief leaving him. Piggybacking on Luna is a barely there Sakura, her arms draping lazily over the top of the werewolf's shoulders. The pink hoodie Luna wore before wrapped tightly around Sakura's chest. Luna gently lays the vampire down on the couch and looks her over, her face shifting to empathy at Sakura's poor state.

  The bleeding seems to have stopped, though it left a massive splotch on Luna’s hoodie to do so. Luna crouches down next to drowsy Sakura and waves a hand in her face to get her attention.

  Miguel places Sakura’s sword down in the corner and goes to watch, folding up his arms.

  “We’re here now. How are you feeling?”

  Sakura turns towards Luna and smiles weakly. “Not bad...for having a giant hole in my chest. I feel like I’m dying, but other than that…” She coughs raspily. “...No big.”

  Luna rests her hands on Sakura, her ears and tail lowered with concern. “So...we’re safe and everything. What do we need to do to fix you?”

  Sakura looks around the room slowly before returning her gauntly gaze back to the werewolf. “...I need a glass of water.”

  Miguel peers at the vampire questioningly. “Water? I thought you guys drank blood?”

  Sakura returns his look and shakes her head.“Just...trust me. I just need a big glass of water.”

  “On it.” Luna gets up and heads into the kitchen, returning just a few seconds later with the requested item and holding it out towards Sakura’s mouth to drink.

  Sakura shakes her head. “No...reach into my pants pocket...there’s a pill bottle.”

  Luna’s hand is a little large to reach into Sakura’s pocket, but she does feel a small cylindrical container there. She fishes it out with a clawed finger and inspects the bottle. The branding reads ‘Vitae-Up’ with a red cross insignia beneath the name. Luna spins the bottle in her hand, finding no instructions or manufacturing printed on it. Luna scratches the side of her ear quizzically.

  Sakura nods. “Dump it all in the water.”

  Luna pops the cap off of the medicine bottle and finds that it’s pretty much empty, with only four pills left inside of it. She dumps the capsules into the water and gasps when the water shifts to a dark red color. Luna sniffs it curiously and winces as the smell of blood pierces her nasal cavity.

  “Wow, that stuff is strong. Ugh!”

  Sakura chuckles quietly and shakes her head. “Yeah...I wouldn’t if I were you. Give it to me.”

  Luna raises the glass over Sakura’s face and props her head up to a more natural drinking position. It took a concentrated minute or two to get the entire glass’ worth of contents within Sakura, but as soon as they did, the vampire began to look a lot better. Sakura clutches her wound and closes her eyes, concentrating. Her facial features bunch up as she forces the injury to knit itself closed. She exhales deeply when she finishes, opening her eyes and sitting up, patting the previously open wound with a tender hand.

  “God...that feels way, way better now. I hate the way it tastes, but it’s great in a pinch like this.”

  Luna watches Sakura, growing increasingly fascinated. “Do we need to get you some more? I’ve never seen a bottle that looks like this before.”

  Sakura shakes her head, running a hand through her hair. “Well, in a few days maybe. I can’t really drink too much blood this way, it’ll mess you up in a bunch of really unfun ways. Think of this stuff like medicine; when you need it, take it, but don’t rely on it by itself. The best type of blood to drink is from a human, the fresher, the better. But if you are really down on your luck, pig and lamb’s blood can work...but it tastes like complete trash.”

  “And before you ask…” Sakura adds, looking up towards a stone-faced Miguel. “I wouldn’t bite our wolf friend because werewolf blood is...just..a really bad idea in general. And I wouldn’t bite you because you probably don’t have much blood as it is, with that cybernetics in you. And besides that, I like you. I wouldn’t want to do that to ya.” Sakura winks towards the male.

  Miguel rolls his eyes. “I appreciate the concern...miss?”

  “Sakura Vy...well. I guess it’s just Sakura now. I could use my old last name again I guess but...meh. Sakura works. What about you two?”

  Luna’s tail wags happily as she hands the Vitae-Up bottle back to her. “Luna Oswald.”

  Miguel nods slowly. “Miguel Morales. That’s Mr. Morales to you.”

  Sakura shrugs. “Technically I’m old enough to be your great grandma, but it’s your house and your rules so...yeah. You got it, Mr. Morales.”

  “So...are you good now? Why do you still need a few days?” Luna asks, folding her arms underneath her head as she leans on the couch from the floor.

  Miguel goes to get a chair from the kitchen, drawing it into the living room and spinning it around to sit in it backwards. Sakura pats the spot where her previous injury was.

  “Remember when he said that he missed my heart? He may have missed it, but he scratched it up pretty bad. Heart injuries can take a little bit to heal so I gotta take it easy until it’s back to normal. If he had got my heart, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.”

  Luna’s eyes pique with interest. “I see. Uh...this might be kind of a stupid question I guess but...why did Scar say I didn’t belong in the city?”

  Sakura leans back like she was hit in the face. “Uh...because you guys usually hang out in the mountains somewhere?”

  Luna gasps. “There are more people like me?”

  Sakura stares at her blankly. “Uh...yeah. Totally. Have...you not met any other werewolves before? I thought you guys were all like, one big happy family?”

  Luna shakes her head. “Uhm...I guess not? I didn't think that I wasn’t the only one, but I can’t exactly go outside and look around for them, can I? People would flip.”

  Sakura shrugs. “I guess not. But yeah, there’s a place in the mountains or the forest you guys hang out in. I have no idea where it is.”

  Luna nods. “Cool...Super good to know. By the way, can I have my hoodie back now?”

  Sakura looks down at herself and slowly takes off Luna’s sliced up and bloodied hoodie, wincing at its poor condition. “Heh..sorry. I know some of those cuts are mine.”

  Luna looks over the garment and shakes her head, placing it in her lap, careful to angle the bloody bits away from her t-shirt. Her eyes brighten as she thinks of another question. “Could you tell me about your sword? Does it have a name? ”

  Sakura snickers at her enthusiasm. “Not...really? It’s simply an Akai Blade.”

  Luna’s passion withers, her wagging tail slowing to a stop. “...Really? What’s so special about it?”

  Sakura sheepishly scratches her chin. “It’s...just a weapon from the place where I learned how to fight. It’s not the craziest or best name, I know.”

  “Well...it’s okay I guess. So it draws blood right?” Luna said inquisitively.

  Sakura relaxes again, leaning back against the couch. “Yeah. If I start landing good hits and can draw blood, it allows me to use extra abilities.”

  “Like the windy thing?”

  Sakura shakes her head. “No. That’s a Sanguine Art.”

  Luna taps her fingers against the couch as she pauses to think. “A...Sanguine Art?”

  “Yeah. Basically, it’s vampire powers. The once you pass a few age brackets, vampires start to discover new abilities. And the older you get, the stronger they get.”

  “Oh...then how old are you?”

  Sakura taps a finger against her lips, her eyes rolling up into her head in thought. “Let’s see...what year is it this year again?”

  “It is December 30th, 2059.” Luna replies helpfully.

  “Then let’s see...th
at’d make me...seventy-five years old.”

  Luna whistles. “Wow! That’s...ancient. But you look so young...do vampires age at all?”

  Sakura shakes her head. “Not really. We look like how old we were when we turned. I was sixteen when I went through the rite, but they don’t usually do it that young.”

  Miguel speaks up suddenly, gesturing towards Sakura and diverting the friendly conversation. “So how did you start working for Scar?”

  Sakura looks between the two of them, stifling a chuckle. “Good god, what is this, a Q&A session?”

  Miguel shrugs nonchalantly. “You worked with the guy responsible for ruining my life. I think I have a right to get some intel out of you after I saved yours.”

  Sakura sighs and crosses her arms. “Fair, I guess. Ask away.”

  A smile crosses Miguel’s lips. “Glad to see you are cooperating. How long have you been working for Scar?”

  “About six months. I needed the job, and I needed the family after being gone for so long.”

  “Do you know what Rust is?”

  Sakura runs a thumb over her chin for a moment. “Uh...it’s a drug. Illegal, probably. It’s not for vampires though. It’s for humans. I know it messes with your head, but I don’t know anything more than that.”

  Miguel nods. “Interesting. Do you know where he lives?”

  Sakura shakes her head a few times. Miguel presses on afterward, frowning a little bit.

  “Of course. That’d be too easy. Anyway, where were you before this?”

  Sakura shifts uncomfortably. “Asleep. For a very, very long time. Like I said, I needed the job and the family. “

  Miguel leans closer. “What do you mean by family? Can’t you work stuff out on your own?”

  Sakura shakes her head. “You could, but it’s really hard if you are out by yourself. When you become a vampire, you swear your allegiance to the family that’s turning you. Usually, it just ends there, and it comes with some benefits. Families have ways of getting blood to drink easily, and they watch each other’s backs. When you join a family, you get a brand put onto the back of your hand. It’s invisible except to others who know how to force it to show up, kinda like an ID card. If you screw up, a family elder can look at your brand and see who you belong to and go yell at them.”

  Miguel nods understandingly. “So Scar just kicked you out of his. What does that mean?”

  Sakura continues. “Usually the only vampires that don’t have families are either super untrustworthy, or their families are dead. You can prove the last part easily and join another, but nobody is going to want you in their family if you are an asshole. So Scar kicking me out of the family basically means I’m kinless.”

  Sakura grumbles and lowers her eyes. “...Again.”

  Miguel clutches his fingers earnestly on his chair’s backrest. “...Do you know what Scar’s plan is?”

  Sakura frowns at the human, shrugging exaggeratedly. “You heard what he thought about me right? Like, you were listening to him, yeah? Do you think a guy like that would tell a bodyguard what exactly he was doing? The only thing I really know about it is that he’s trying to get someone’s attention. He’s been on the phone with people that...I don’t think come from here. Or at least he was the few times I went in to see him.”

  Luna ponders this, as that could have any number of meanings. The statement simply had too many paths to head down, so she shelved that information for later. In the meantime, Miguel furrows his brows in thought, looking to be in the same mental space as the werewolf. The male speaks a few moments later, nodding to himself.

  “So let’s say...I needed to kill a vampire, how would you do it?”

  Sakura points towards her heart. “Well, I already said I wouldn’t be here if he hit this. You destroy the heart, you destroy the vampire, period, the end. Granted, a single bullet won’t do it. If you shot me with that magnum you had, it would hurt like hell, but I wouldn’t be down. Wood is the best. Like a big stake? Arrows aren’t bad either. If you can manage to land a few magnum shots there, that’d do it too.”

  “What about beheading?”

  Luna winces as Sakura answers bluntly. “Depends. Younger vampires would die for sure. But blood is really important to vampires. It’s how we heal, how we eat, how we use our Sanguine Arts and stuff like that. So if you go about losing a ton of it and you can’t see? That’s done deal. But the older a vampire is, the better control over their blood they have so they might last long enough to find their head and put it back on before blood goes flying everywhere. I’ve only seen that once. It was...kinda gross actually.”

  Miguel nods satisfactorily before pushing up from his chair. “That’s all I really wanted to know off of the top of my head. But ladies, it’s getting late. I’m going to go turn in, but I wanna tell you something real quick.”

  Miguel leans over the back of the couch to look at Sakura plainly.

  “Luna’s the only reason why you are here. If it were up to me, I’d have left you back there. I’m trusting her judgment on you, and I’m willing to give you a shot. Don’t make me regret it.”

  “And I appreciate that Mr. Morales.” Sakura says earnestly. “Trust me, nothing will happen out here.”

  Miguel’s accusing gaze remains on her for minor period of time before he finally looks away. His expression brightens when he shifts over towards Luna, pointing towards her.

  “Fine. Do you need any pillows or blankets or anything?”

  Luna shakes her head. “Mmmm...Maybe a pillow. One of the cool things about being fuzzy is that it feels like I’m wearing a blanket all the time anyway.” She good-naturedly scratches the fur on one of her legs before stopping suddenly.

  “...Oh god, I wonder what summer is going to be like.”

  Miguel smirks as he turns to leave, heading towards a closet in the hallway and tossing a pillow towards Luna, who lets it hit her in the face before pulling it down in her hands.

  “What about you Sakura? Do you need a pillow or something?”

  Sakura leans up to look over the back of the couch. “Oh..yeah. I’ll be going to sleep when the sun rises, so uhm...could you block out the sunlight in here? If it hits me, I’ll be leaving a lot more than just blood on your couch.”

  Miguel shrugs towards that, grabbing a blanket and a pillow and tossing it out towards her. “Oh yeah, I remember seeing about that in the movies. Is it that bad?”

  “Oh yeah. Yeah-yeah-yeah. It is that bad.” Sakura says, putting the pillow beneath her head and spreading out the blanket. Being up in the day is bad enough, but walking outside in the sunlight of day? I’ve probably got about five minutes before it hurts so bad it knocks you out. After that? Well...it isn’t pretty.”

  Miguel takes out a few more blankets from his closet, depleting his stash and heads to the kitchen, digging around in the cabinets for something. He returns with several nails in his mouth, heading over towards the large window and beginning to pin the dark blanket over it.

  Sakura lays back comfortably. “Thanks. I really appreciate you letting me crash here.”

  “Mmmhmmm.” Miguel mumbles, using his metal arm to pound the nails into the wall. When he finishes, the blanket is firmly placed, and he turns to head into the kitchen, doing the same thing. Luna turns over towards the television and reaches to turn it on, handing Sakura the remote.

  “Oh what, you don’t want to watch anything? “

  Luna shakes her head again. “I’m not a huge fan of TV these days. I mean, I’ve been stuck with it for like, little over a week and trust me, I’ve seen everything I want to see.”

  Sakura looks towards the remote and awkwardly hits a few buttons on it, changing the channel. “I remember when I used to come home from school and watch TV every day. It’s been so long, and my life has changed so much that I don’t even think I remember what the channels were anymore.”

  Miguel emerges from the kitchen, waving towards the girls. “All set. Do you only get up at night Sakura?”


  The vampire nods. “Yeah. I probably won’t be awake until at least sunset.”

  Miguel walks over to grab the sword he’d laid against the wall. “Sounds good. Night you two.”

  Luna waves as Miguel heads back into his room down the hall and enters it. A few seconds later, the click of a lock catches Luna’s ear...just like every night. Sakura sighs and turns towards the television, shaking her head.

  “Ugh. I’m not going to go bite him or anything, I wish he’d loosen up.”

  Luna spreads out, laying flat on her stomach on the floor. “If it makes you feel any better, when I woke up here, I was strapped to the bed.”

  Sakura raises her brow. “Wow...seriously?”

  Luna nods. “Yeah. I mean, he saved my life too but he was really wary...as he should have been. I’m not even sure if I’d have saved me. But then I turned on that trademark charm, and I think he likes me alright now. Just give him a little bit of time to let him get used to you. He’s really not that bad.”

  The vampire stretches out, getting comfortable. A quiet moment passes before Sakura looks over towards Luna again, looking a little conflicted. Eventually, she speaks, shrugging to herself.

  “Screw it. Can I ask you a question?”

  Luna nods innocently. “Sure. What’s up?”

  “I don’t mean to be rude...or like disrespectful or anything like that...but what’s wrong with your teeth?”

  Luna self consciously freezes, a torrent of self-doubt pouring into her. “Wh...what do you mean? What’s wrong with my teeth?”