A/N; Happy New Year everyone! A new year, a new chapter. Expect some new characters, a couple more loose ends and a couple more tied up.
Personal replies
@Lolli - Wowzers... am I really that good? Be careful I might get big-headed! Hope you like chapter four as much.
@ShikyoxYaiba - I'll try not to lord the fact that I know exactly what's going to happen over you 
Who knows, it may become clear it may not.
@JFC - Maybe we should get some vampire icons. But then again how much are they gonna be used?
@ringo-hime - You'll find out what happened to Ai soon... but for now I'll keep it mysterious.
@Sancho - Wow, you really know how to read into things! It makes me wish that that was actually part of my plot. Sorry Sancho... it'll remain a theory, but I will explain what it's all about soon.
Anyway, enjoy the newest chapter because this was really difficult for me to write!
JGWhen Eri got back to school, Ai was there too - sporting a broken wrist and the remnants of an ugly bruise on the underside of her chin. But she wouldn't tell anyone what caused it.
"No I wasn't in hospital for very long," is what she said whenever someone asked. "we just had a few issues moving into the new house. That's why I was absent for a few days."
Eri knew she was lying but persuing it seemed like a bad idea and besides, she hadn't exactly breached the topic of meeting Reina. The last thing she wanted to be was a hypocrit. It had been difficult to talk to Ai at all anyway, she just didn't seem to want to get into any conversations - Eri would have put it down to complete avoidance if Ai hadn't been doing it to everyone, and if she hadn't said 'Hello' every morning.
'Something must be wrong.' Was Eri's unsurprising conclusion.
'Something's happened which got Ai hurt and made her worry enough to blank everyone.'And that made Eri worry, because somehow she knew that it would end up involving her in some way, shape or form. Ai, if she even looked over at her, was giving her pensive looks and they were very unsettling for Eri. By the next Friday Eri was almost yearning for some conversation with Ai. She'd been thinking about everything, especially her bizarre, thankfully unrepeated, meetings with Reina and had decided that she needed a lot of answers a.s.a.p.
"Ai!" She exclaimed on that Friday just after leaving the classroom. The girl in question turned around and looked at Eri with absolutely no surprise. "I'm fed up of this. I want you to tell me absolutely everything."
"It..." Ai looked around herself and waited a moment for the hall to clear before continuing her sentence. "It might be too late to get you involved, Eri. It could get dangerous before you're ready for it."
"What?" replied Eri, half-dumb.
'Dangerous?... Reina'Ai sighed and rummaged for her phone in her bag. After a few moments of texting she looked back up at Eri with a semi-satisfied expression.
"I know this is short notice, but would your parents mind if you came to my house for a while. There's a couple of people I'd like you to meet."
Despite everything Eri chuckled to herself. "I'm sure mom'd be thrilled."
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Ai's house was modest. It was really the only way to describe it. It was medium sized and warm but there was barely enough decoration and furniture to give the impression of it being a
home. Eri made to ask Ai where her parents were but immediately thought better of it - she knew so little about the girl.
'
What if I said the wrong thing?'
She expected to be led into the living room, but instead she was led further on and into a room adjacent to the kitchen. The first thing Eri noticed about the room was that it had large, heavy bolts on the door which didn't look like they could be compromised easily. The second thing she noticed was the first aid box that hung on the wall not too far from the door.
"Sit down." offered Ai gently as she did so herself. There were three large leather armchairs in the room that Eri had somehow missed in her initial appraisal of the room. She sat down opposite of Ai and watched as the other vampire nursed her wrist a little before looking up. "I'm sorry I didn't reply to any of your texts, I'm not sure that I can tell you about why just yet. Plus, I want to avoid overloading you with information."
She sat back against the chair and shifted her weight around getting comfortable. Eri wondered if that meant that this would be a long conversation.
"I'll start at the basics. There are two types of vampires, the -"
"The Day Vampires and the Night Vampires."
"Yes." Ai looked at Eri, suspicion beaming from her eyes "I thought you didn't know any of this."
"I-I..."
'There's no point in lying'"Lying about what?"
Eri jumped and bit her lip guiltily. "After you left, I met a girl. Another vampire. She told me some stuff but there was something about her that unsettled me. I don't know what it was but when she was around..."
"Did she tell you her name Eri?"
"I only know her given name - Reina."
"Reina? Oh no, not her again!" Ai completely slumped into her chair and closed her eyes. She massaged her temples and Eri found herself looking at the most stressed person she had ever seen. "Tell me everything she said to you. Everything."
"She... er, said something about the surge the first time I met her -"
"First time?" Ai opened her eyes. "Never mind, go on."
"She said that it was supposed to hurt and that it was sent by her 'leader', or something, but she didn't explain what it was."
Ai nodded and looked at Eri. "A surge is basically a giant power wave, they're telekinetic and telepathic and incredibly difficult to send out. You'd need a lot of vampires, Day and Night, to get one of those going. They're not sent to destroy, but they are made to hurt. What it does is encourage all vampires within a certain power range to get up and run towards whoever's sending it. Unluckily, you must be within that power range and that's why you ran out of class. Does that make sense?"
"Yes," Said Eri, relieved to have finally gotten at least one answer to her ever building repetoire of questions. "I understand."
"What else did Reina say?" Continued Ai, saying the name as if were painful to do so.
"Well, that Day Vampires are more comfortable and powerful in the daytime and vice versa and that special skills come along with that. That a Night Vampire can fade into shadows and can read minds..." Eri swallowed before proceeding with her question. "Ai, are you a Night Vampire?"
"Yes." Ai replied calmly. "Don't worry Eri, being a Night Vampire doesn't mean I'm evil," She laughed. "I just have a different... skill-set if you will. Being Day or Night doesn't affect your morality, it's like speaking different languages. While I don't exactly express myself the same way as you do, it doesn't mean we aren't talking about the same thing."
A large sigh of relief made its way from Eri's chest and Ai laughed loudly, a smile gleaming from her face. It made Eri smile too.
"Did Reina say anything else?"
Uncomfortably, Eri decided to keep the rest to herself. Reina's warnings about Ai were confusing and she wanted to decide how seriously to take them before she placed her faith completely in Takahashi Ai. In the end, it
was her decision. With a little guilt in the pit of her stomach, Eri shook her head to Ai's question.
"Then I suppose I'll continue with what I was going to tell you before. As a Night Vampire I'm not particularly qualified to tell you about being a Day Vampire, but two other vampires live here, Day Vampires, and they'll tell you what you need to know. They should arrive back soon actually." Ai glanced at her watch, which now sat on the opposite wrist to accomodate the cast. "I suppose you've figured out that Reina is not on my side." Eri nodded, very much aware of the fact. "Tanaka Reina made an ill informed and rash decision when she first discovered her powers which led her into the arms of the Nos."
"Nos?"
"As in
Nosferatu. Not very original, and with all the wrong connotations, but you have to give them credit for thinking at least a bit laterally." Eri snorted loudly, which Ai looked very much amused by. "All the Nos want is control. I'll make this very clear Eri, we are not two of few. Not even just in the Tokyo area. There are a huge number of Vampires all over the world and unfortunately that's what gives the Nos their advantage. They're an organisation, while those who resist them do so in their own time and in their own way and don't have to answer to people who are many ranks higher than themselves. Collectively we don't have an identity, and to some extent that's what gives us
our advantage. The Tokyo vampires, me included, call themselves The Others just because we felt that some form of co-ordinated operation was needed. The Nos in this area are planning something big and they have been for a while and we're worried that something might happen soon."
"Do you know what they're doing?"
"Not exactly but it falls within the realms of a coup d’état."
"Ai, what -"
Eri was cut of by the loud opening and slamming closed of the front door. Ai sighed, stood and motioned for Eri to follow her back into the kitchen.
"I hope you didn't break my door again Aika!"
A small figure sped into the room carrying a school bag along with one full of groceries. The girl, whom Eri assumed was Aika, shook her head vehemently and smiled brightly.
"Don't worry Ai," came a sweet voice from the doorway. "everything's still intact."
Ai nodded sternly. "Eri, I'd like you to meet the two Day Vampires I mentioned. Kamei Eri, this is Michishige Sayumi and Mitsui Aika and they share the house with me."
Eri smiled at the girls while yet more questions buzzed around her head.
Topic: Destiny/Fate BEING REWRITTEN (Read 13468 times)