Betrayal

A story using my OCs to express a tragedy between a duty and love. Enjoy~

            The sun shone brightly in the cloudless blue sky, starting off another beautiful day in the City of Altar. Altar was a metropolis of technological advancements. Many of the world’s newest creations were developed in the lab right in the very heart of the metropolis’s bustling highways. It was also filled with much prestige, home to some of the most famous and richest people in the world. But not just the celebrities were famous. Superstitions saturated the city, toying with the minds of many of Altar’s members. Much of those tall tales revolved around the famous landmarks within the metropolis, which included an old, crumbling coliseum where an immortal gladiator was said to have fought; a famous cathedral that was said to have been home to an underground system of helping slaves once escape their captivity; and last but certainly not least was the Castle of Brennenburg, which had hosted the late king and queen that once ruled over the city when it had been a young village. Ghosts of the soldiers, guards, and even the king and queen themselves were said to haunt the castle. No one knew if these rumors were true, but, even so, it was still a known rule amongst Altar’s people that no one traveled there at night.

One landmark within the city held the positive superstition of producing well-educated prodigies, and that was Oakwood University. The campus was split up into five buildings; four of the five surrounded the large main building to create a diamond if seen from a bird’s-eye view.

Late spring was upon the campus, blooming flowers and budding trees showering the school in an array of vivid colors and sweet aromas. At this time of season, the seniors of the school would be graduating soon. Among those seniors were the three currently seated at a library table on the top floor of the main building: Chyou Xian, her sister Jo Xian, and their friend Chad Wu. Both standing at five foot five, Chyou and Jo were identical twins, and were of a thin build with emerald-green eyes and short, spiked, violet hair. The only difference between the two was not found in their looks, but in their personalities. Chyou was confident and dominant while Jo was a bit more shy and submissive. Chyou was dressed in a black tank top with a graphic of the head of a closed-eyed red fox stamped on the front, and simple blue jeans. Jo had a similar shirt on, though it held no graphic, and rather than jeans, she sported a red plaid skirt with a red headband to match.

Chad Wu was an intelligent Chinese youth standing at about five foot ten. Like the sisters, he too was slim in stature. He was arrayed in a finely-tailored, jet-black suit, beneath which was a white button-up shirt and a ruby silk power tie. His straight black hair was about long enough to shadow his rich, midnight-brown eyes, and his thin mustache combined all of his features to display a man who was both serious and approachable, yet, was also quite the flirt.

            And flirt he did, but not with just any girl in the college. Chyou was the only one for him, he was convinced. He had first understood his feelings toward her while in a Speech class for a general credit during freshman year. On that day, the class had been giving presentations for the most important speech of the year, and when it was time for Chyou to give hers, she spoke with such confidence and elegance that, even though the topic was quite lackluster in almost everyone’s opinion, the entire class, himself very much included, was intrigued and spellbound by her use of words. He had never noticed Chyou in his class until after that speech. After that, he had made the unconscious decision to draw closer to Chyou and make her his. Over those next few months, though he tried his best to impress Chyou with his charisma and intelligence, she merely brushed him off like an irritating fly. This had stunned him, for no girl had turned down his charm before. Chyou was different, he had observed, and this only fed his passion to be with her.

Because of Chyou’s hard-to-get personality, Chad continued to chase aimlessly after her"the only girl he had ever fallen so head-over-heels for. Day after day, he would comment on her beauty, grasp her hand in his in hopes that she wouldn’t pull back, try to trick her into embracing him… But, over the years, all his attempts had been rendered superfluous. To add insult to injury, his usually unfailing charm had, ironically, attracted Jo, the twin that he wasn’t nearly as smitten with. When she was fawning over him like a love-sick puppy dog, he would play dumb and pretend not to notice. After all, his amorous gestures were meant for Chyou and Chyou alone…even though she wasn’t taken by them… He tried to console himself by staying positive and reminding himself that through his flirting he and Chyou had become strange and bickering friends, but friends nonetheless, and through this friendship he would continue to charm Chyou until they were the pair he had always dreamed of. Just as his middle name, Jun-yi, suggested, he was persevering and handsome. She couldn’t escape him forever…

            “Chyou,” he addressed her now with his smooth voice as he looked up at her from the book he was reading. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jo perk up at the sound of his utterance, but he ignored her and kept his alluring, umber gaze on Chyou. “I’m planning on dining at a restaurant tonight.” The left half of his thin mustache rose just a bit higher than the right as his lips widened in a charming smile. “I could use some company. I would be profoundly honored if you wouldn’t mind joining me?”

            Chyou didn’t even bat an eye. With nonchalance that had been perfected over the years by Chad’s constant flirting, she kept her focus on her book and casually answered, “I think you know the answer to that question.”

            Jo, however, quickly jumped on the chance to have a night out with Chad.

            “Take me, Chad!” she said excitedly, volunteering herself by waving her hand around in the air, her purple wristband shaking erratically to her movement. “I need some time away from homework, anyway. It’ll be a perfect night…just the two of us…”

            Chyou looked up from her book, a good-natured spark shining in her green eyes, a smirk tugging impishly at her lips.

            “Yeah, Chad, why don’t you take Jo along? I’m kind of tied up with important things…,” she waved a flippant, uncaring hand in the air, “like going on dates with real men…”

            A bit perturbed by the response, Chad closed his eyes, one of his eyebrows furrowed in irritation, and his fingers bit into the cover of his book as his crafty smile withered slightly. But he wasn’t about to be defeated. Loosening up, he leaned over the table and opened his eyes, their dark depths sparkling with renewed playful mischief, then grasped one of Chyou’s hands from off of her book, taking her fingers gently in his.

            “It’s a restaurant I’ve known for quite some time,” he continued on while he watched half-lidded into her eyes. “The wine there is delectable. We could dine together, just you and I, and share sweet secrets with one another that we’ve never told anyone else…”

            Once again, Jo waved her hand around in the air eagerly, leaning to the side in her chair to attract Chad’s attention.

            “I would love to dine with you, Chad!” she said almost pleadingly. “I have so many secrets to share with you… We could take turns!”

            Chyou quickly flipped her wrist around, snapping it from Chad’s grasp, and smacked his hand away with the back of hers. She regarded him with a look that seemed to say, Not a chance in Heaven or Hell.

“The only secret I’d be sharing with you is that I don’t have any interest in you, which,”"she gave him a pointed look"“even after all these years, seems to be something that keeps escaping you…”

            Chad laughed softly, a sound that combined a hum of satisfaction and a snigger of impish delight, and replaced his hand on his own book. He watched her over top of the pages, a sly glint reflecting in his eye.

            “Oh, I’m fully aware of how oblivious you are to my charm, Chyou.” He winked at her ardently. “You’re missing out, and I know if you’d just give me one chance, you’d be begging for more…”

            Chyou’s nose wrinkled and her lips pulled in a grimace as if she were about to be sick. She stuck her forefinger partway into her mouth, pretending to gag, while Jo tittered nervously and shifted her gaze down, her cheeks about glowing red.

            The table soon fell silent again, the three seniors working on homework that was due before the final tests, and before they knew it, the evening hours were already upon them. They finished up their work and began to pack their materials, then walked outside into the noise of the city until they came to a crossroads sidewalk, ready to head for their respective homes.

            “Well, Chyou,” Chad began slyly as they faced each other, their shadows stretching out onto the loud and busy street like deformed black doppelgangers as a warm mixture of orange-pink light from the setting sun set fire to their clothing and skin. “It seems our ways must part for the night.”

            “Thank God…,” Chyou muttered under her breath. Jo was so smitten with Chad and the way the sun seemed to ignite his black suit that she could only watch him with a child-like longing.

            “But,” Chad continued as he bent down until he stood eye-to-eye with Chyou and clasped her chin loosely, teasingly between his bent forefinger and thumb, the back of his other hand placed on his hip, “if you ever grow lonely"and I know you will without my company"feel free to come visit me at that restaurant I mentioned earlier.”

            Chyou watched him with a withered glare and wrapped her fingers around his wrist in a grip so tight her nails would have left indents in his skin had the strap of his black, luxury wristwatch not been there to protect the flesh.

            “I’d rather call an ex-boyfriend to spend time with than go on a date with you…,” she muttered derisively as she pulled his hand away from her chin and squeezed his wrist with enough pressure to send a message not to touch her ever again, though she knew he would never learn to heed the warning.

            Ignoring her scathing remark, Chad quickly lashed his hand out and playfully flicked Chyou under the chin with his forefinger. He chuckled as he watched her flinch in surprise and step back, her head turned to the side, her eyes squeezed in a wince of disgust. He withdrew his hand, scrunching up the bottom of his suit jacket as he slipped his fingers into his pants pocket, finished with his fun for now, and straightened to his full height. While turning his back to the twins, he looked over his shoulder and gave Chyou one last amorous wink, which she responded to by sticking out her tongue at him, then, as he began down the road, he snickered in amusement when he heard Chyou mutter, “Come on, Jo. Let’s get out of here before Lover Boy attempts to ‘seduce’ me any further…” With that, the echoes of the sisters’ shoes rapping on the sidewalk mixed with the clack of his polished black Oxfords and grew more and more distant until he could no longer hear the soft thud of their footfalls. He was smirking proudly to himself as he played over and over in his mind how he had irritated the practically immoveable Chyou Xian.

            However, as Chad drew farther and farther away from his friends, his charming stature began to disappear. His smile melted as his lips pulled taut in a grave frown, his deep-brown eyes lost their crafty shimmer, and he seemed almost as if he was deflating as his back hunched over slightly. He stored his hands in his charcoal pants pockets, his thumbs hooked on the edges of the fabric, and his stride began to look almost guilt-filled, as if he was ruminating on a murder he had just committed. All the fun of the evening"all of his teasing, joking, and laughter with Chyou"melted away from his mind, and though the city was filled with the rushing of vehicles, conversations from nearby pedestrians carrying on the slight spring breeze, and the occasional honking of a horn, the only noise he could hear was the lonely reverberation of the soles of his Oxfords clicking against the dark sidewalk surface.

Chad lifted his chin and gazed out into the multicolored horizon. The sun threw splashes of orange, purple, and pink on the sky’s normally blue canvas, and though the sun was still about half an hour from setting, Chad spotted the nearly full moon sailing in the darker blue portion of the heavens, it’s usually bright surface still slightly obscured, as the day was not yet over. Scarlet-stained clouds began to roll back away from the moon, almost as if to mock him. He shifted his eyes to look off in the distance, glimpsing the famous Brennenburg Castle that sat atop a grassy precipice. The castle was made up of three, dark-gray cobblestone turrets, each one taller than the last, and the roofs of the turrets were each ringed with a parapet made up of rectangular merlons and crenellations. The castle had once housed the king and queen that had ruled over these lands many years ago, but now, after a plague had wiped them and their remaining subjects from the earth, the stone fortress was abandoned…

            …Or so the rumors had it. Chad knew full well that Brennenburg Castle was not completely deserted. Behind its cold, stony walls and beneath its chilling, rocky floors, a vampire, one that no mere human could see, lived in the depths of the castle dungeons. Only Chad himself could perceive the vampire’s presence. They had been connected through a very interesting fate.

            A memory flashed back to Chad of the night he had first met the vampire. So vibrant was the vision that not only could he smell the rancid stench of death return to him, but he could also sense the familiar pang of hopelessness and despair travel through every fiber in his body, filling him with the sorrow that had marked that very night. Thinking about it now sent shivers down his spine, making his skin crawl with goose bumps.

He had been young, about ten years old, when he was struck ill with a sickness of which had neither name nor cure. While in the hospital, he was encouraged by the doctors and nurses, along with his parents and sister that he would make it through. But, while days passed and he continued to lie in the stiff, colorless hospital bed with a transparent oxygen mask placed over his nose and mouth, surrounded by the pasty-white floor, ceiling, walls, and various beeping machinery, something in the back of his head told him this was all for naught. He was going to die, he knew that much.

            After months of research, medication after medication, treatment after treatment, Chad still had not improved. Rather, his illness had become worse. His limbs had grown stiff until he could no longer move them, his skin had turned a sickly ashen, and his once lively umber eyes had lost their glimmer of hope, their depths now the color of decaying tree bark. The doctors had finally given up on him, and this was the night they were going to pull him off of life support. He remembered very vividly the moment they had told him.

The door to his hospital room opened very slowly, the slight squeak it always had now more pronounced, and a pang shot from his chest to the pit of his stomach. That’s when he knew…that’s when he could feel something was wrong. The doctor, Dr. Stiles, came into his room, a hand on the shoulders of his parents as he showed them and his sister Sophie to his bedside. He looked up at his family, his brow knit as he wondered why his father was shielding his eyes with his hand and why his mother and sister were shaking with tears trailing their cheeks.

“Chad,” Dr. Stiles said, his voice soft and filled with sympathy. “This is going to be hard for you to understand…,”

In that moment, Chad’s heartbeat spiked, the interval of the ECG machine’s blips shortening, and he began to piece together the doctor’s words with his parents’ and sibling’s emotions.

No…, he thought in denial as his brow creased even more, the dark circles under his weak eyes pronounced as his cheeks lifted slightly in an expression of distress.

“We’ve been working for a long time on your illness…,”

No…,

“And we never intended to give up…,”

No, please!

“But we’re just not making any headway with our research. Even after all of our hard work, all the time spent looking, we couldn’t find a cure. I know you don’t understand, I know you’re frightened, but we’ve decided to take you off of life support.”

At these words, his mother began sobbing uncontrollably, wailing in agony, and his father turned his back to him, his shoulders quivering. Sophie knelt at his bed, pushing her face into the white covers, her small body shaking, and she reached out, intertwining her warm fingers with his cold ones.

“It’s in your best interest, Chad,” Dr. Stiles continued, Chad looking to him in urgent worry, his teeth clenching tight. “We don’t wish for you to suffer anymore.”

He watched as the doctor stepped over to the machine that had been providing him with oxygen for these past few months, about to shut it down. He looked into the doctor’s gentle hazel eyes, pleading tacitly to keep his life. When the soundless message wasn’t heeded, Chad shifted his eyes to look over at his parents and sibling. His mother was now knelt next to his sister and both were weeping into the white sheets that covered his young body. His father still stood a few feet away, and Chad could see tears trailing his cheeks from underneath the hand still held up to his eyes, dripping from his chin onto the white carpet below. Tears of his own began to form and spill down his face as he turned his attention back to the doctor about to take his life away.

            But as Chad looked back, he spotted an unfamiliar man now standing next to Dr. Stiles. He squinted at the stranger through his tears, trying to make out who it could be. The man stood about six feet tall and wore a simple tight black t-shirt that outlined his fit chest and stomach underneath. He also had on black jeans adorned with a leather, spike-studded belt. Sharp amber eyes pierced through the shadow cast by his long black hair, and his skin was ashen, as if his blood had been drained completely from his body. He definitely wasn’t a relative…

            “Who…are you…?” Chad whispered weakly, his voice merely a rasp. He continued to watch the figure in bewilderment, unsure if this was still reality.

            The only response he received, however, was a smile as the man brought a forefinger to his lips, ordering him to stay silent. Chad, whose curiosity about this stranger caused him to forget momentarily of his situation, watched in shock as he suddenly spotted fangs poking out over the man’s bottom lip. Was he hallucinating? Was his fear in the unknown of death causing him to see images that were not there?

“Hello there, human,” the man spoke in a clear, charismatic voice, convincing Chad that he was, in fact, not imagining things. “I am Mercurio, to answer your question, and I know that you are Chad Jun-yi Wu. You’re quite unwell, aren’t you?”

Chad nodded slightly. He wished to ask how this man named Mercurio possibly knew him because he certainly didn’t recognize him… He kept silent, however, obeying the stranger’s instructions.

“You desire to be healthy again, correct?” Mercurio queried. A sly, almost knowing smile tugged at his lips, revealing his sharp fangs once again.

Chad nodded a second time.

“Then I’ve come at the right moment.”

Mercurio took a step forward from Dr. Stiles and came to stand next to Chad’s hospital bed, looming over him like an overseer. Chad analyzed him as closely as his momentarily weak eyes would allow. Mercurio seemed to be watching him keenly as if he had found something he had been pursuing for a very long time…

Suddenly, as his heart picked up speed from staring at Mercurio’s intimidating, fanged grin, the quickened beeping of the ECG machine began to cut through his focus on the stranger and, remembering where he was, Chad inhaled sharply and shot his eyes over to the doctor. He expected to see Dr. Stiles shutting his life support down and his death to be upon him. However, relief flooded his insides when he saw that the doctor’s hand remained on the machine and the switch was secure. As Chad looked up into Dr. Stiles’ eyes, trying to read when the man would finally take his life, he noticed the doctor’s sights were trained on him. Strange… Mercurio was right in the doctor’s line of vision. Why wouldn’t he be staring wide-eyed at Mercurio as he had been?

“The doctor,” Mercurio spoke, Chad looking back at him in surprise, feeling as though his thoughts had been read, “he is not allowed to see me. I have only revealed my presence to you.” Chad watched as the stranger’s lips were touched once again by that same knowing smile.

Curiosity heightened, Chad wished to know what Mercurio was and why he was here.

“Are you an…angel…?” he croaked softly. Even as the words left his mouth, he knew this couldn’t possibly be true. He was staring right at the sharp fangs jutting over Mercurio’s lip. But the man couldn’t be a vampire…now, could he? They had died out long ago…

Suddenly, Mercurio began to lean down to him and the ECG responded with shrill beeps as every nerve within Chad’s small body came alive with a panic that shot from his chest and traveled through his entire nervous system in pulsating waves. His breaths came in short, terrified gasps and he squeaked in fear as Mercurio’s face drew closer and closer to his neck.

“I suppose you could call me that,” Mercurio answered Chad’s naïve question as his shrewd smile reappeared one last time. “I am giving you another chance at life, after all, which I suppose an angel could do. However, my acts of service require some…payment, if you will.”

More questions tried to form in Chad’s head, but his panic flushed them from his mind. Mercurio was near enough now that Chad was eclipsed in the stranger’s shadow. He closed his eyes in a panicked wince, his breaths choppy and erratic, and when he felt Mercurio’s cold lips on his neck, he began to shake in terror. At this point, he would rather Dr. Stiles steal his life away by taking him off of life support than letting this strange man murder him…

Suddenly, the sharp fangs Chad had been staring at since Mercurio had appeared entered his thin throat with a sound like that of the puncturing of juicy meat. Chad’s face contorted in an expression of sheer excruciation. With eyes screwed up in a painful grimace and brow furrowed upward, his lips parted in what would have been a piercing scream had his illness not stripped his vocals nearly clean. His short nails gripped at his white sheets, clawing at them as if they could somehow save him from his pain.

After a few rapid heartbeats, Chad managed to open his eyes, the umber depths filled with alarm, and he looked to his parents and sister in panic, willing them with his mind to lift their heads and save him from this situation. When they didn’t sense his urgent tacit message, he shifted his frantic gaze to Dr. Stiles, but at this point he had lost so much blood that his vision was beginning to blur, obscuring his view of the medic. The room around Chad soon became a swirling haze of whites, grays, and blacks as the walls, ceiling, and floor melded into the figures of his parents, sister, Mercurio, and the doctor. His chest began to rise and fall in sporadic timing as he breathed heavily, his head swimming, black spots forming at the edge of his vision, threatening to swallow him into oblivion. With the energy he had left, he tried one last time to cry out, but it was all in vain. He was too weak to even part his jaws.

And that’s when it hit Chad: he truly was going to die. During the first week of his stay in the hospital, he had believed his life would end here just to ease himself into the prospect of death, but now, it was real. He knew not of how a vampire had entered his hospital room, he hadn’t even known vampires still existed, but this would be the end to his young and unaccomplished life…

Chad was fading away quickly now, the ECG machine’s beeping growing more and more distant, as if he was drifting away from it, and his sight had been almost completely obscured, the darkness about to engulf him…

However, before Chad was completely plunged into Death’s void, he began to feel…better. Slowly, the aching in his body disappeared, starting at his stiff neck and traveling to his shoulders, arms, and midsection all the way down his legs and to his toes. Both intrigued and confused, Chad opened his eyes, blinking a few times. When they adjusted to the light, he found that his sight had become clear again, the shadow that had stolen over his vision now completely gone. He looked around him to see nothing but white, but when he shifted his gaze out the hospital room window, the blues of the sky and the greens of the grass seemed much more vibrant and beautiful after months without seeing such colors. As he turned his attention back to his own body, he lifted an arm out from under his sheets and raised it to eye level, examining it in awe. He watched as, right before his eyes, his pallid skin flooded with its normal, healthy golden-peach color. As life continued to return to him, he found he could breathe on his own after months of using a machine. Excited to test his lungs once again, he removed the oxygen mask from his nose and mouth, then inhaled deeply. He didn’t care that his first breath after such a long time held the aroma of the nothingness of a sterile hospital room. Soon, everything that he used to be able to smell"nature, meals, his mother’s perfume, his father’s cologne"would be reintroduced to him. A smile played at the corners of his lips and widened to a grin. It felt good to smile again… He had nearly forgotten how.

“Look,” he said, his voice clear and filled with childish joy and wonder. His mother and sister lifted their heads from off his sheets, their cheeks wet with tears. His father turned back around to face him, withdrawing his hand from his eyes. Dr. Stiles, who was still stationed next to the life support machine, turned his attention to him. Their eyes were wide with surprise as they viewed this boy that had been pale-faced and unable to speak, move, or even breathe on his own just seconds ago. Chad beamed at them, his umber eyes shimmering in elation. “I’m well again!”

The next thing he knew, he was being suffocated by his parents and sister. His mother was kissing him on his cheek, over and over again, his father and sister embracing him tight enough to send him back into the hospital for broken ribs. He himself was laughing like he had never laughed before, unable to contain the happiness that overflowed within him. He was so thankful to be healthy"to be alive"once again! An image of the man"Mercurio"that had been drinking his blood moments ago crossed his mind and he looked over to his right side where the stranger had been standing, about to thank him for whatever he had done.

But Mercurio was no longer there, and no matter where Chad looked in the white room, he could not locate him.

Even when Chad had been released from the hospital that night, the doctors, though puzzled, declaring him cured, he hadn’t seen Mercurio again…

            …Until much later in his life…

            Chad let the memory leave his mind as he came back to reality, and he looked around him to calculate how much longer it would take for him to arrive at Brennenburg Castle. The sun had now fully set, though splashes of orange light could be seen off in the west, brightening just the horizon. The rest of the sky was a midnight blue, dusted with only traces of stars as the lights from the city obscured most of the twinkling bodies. The nearly full moon, however, shined brilliantly"almost vainly"in the dark heavens. Silver rays doused his jet-black suit, turning it a pearl-white, and lit his face, making it appear almost as pallid as the night he had almost died.

As he paced through the dew-sprinkled grass, Chad turned his eyes from the moon and looked off to Brennenburg Castle. Under his feet he felt the incline of the precipice that led up to the castle’s portcullis. It wasn’t far now. As he continued his journey, he let his thoughts take him back in time once again, reminding him why he was traveling to Brennenburg Castle in the first place.

For many years after his release from the hospital, he had assumed Mercurio had been some angel that had granted him one last chance to live. Maybe this was a sign, he would ponder to himself at night before sleep would enfold him. Maybe it was an indication that he had a great destiny ahead of him.

It wasn’t until about five years after his illness had been cured that he had met Mercurio again…and he was no angel, nor had he come to grant Chad great fortune of any sort…

            “You’re quite a lot older now, aren’t you, Chad Wu?” Mercurio had spoken behind Chad on this particular full moon night nearly seven years ago. He had been walking home from the city library where he worked, and though the journey wasn’t far, he still wished to this day that he had been driving so he would have never met the man"the vampire"that had saved his life.

            Surprised by the voice behind him, Chad jumped internally, his insides pumping with adrenaline, his heart suddenly hammering against his ribs, but he kept his outside appearance calm and collected, his lips a taut line, his expression filled with a nonchalant confidence. His city was filled with murderers, rapists, drug dealers…the list could go on and on. He wasn’t about to let whoever was behind him see fear or weakness in his eyes.

            “Who are you?” he demanded as he turned to face the stranger. As he eyed the man, a sense of familiarity came to him. He had long black hair, scrutinizing amber eyes…ashen skin. He must have been mistaken. There was no way he could possibly know someone with such a pale, almost unearthly complexion…

            The stranger’s lips pulled in a lopsided simper. He slipped his hands into his black jeans pockets and realigned his posture so that he stood in a way that exuded authority. Amused with Chad’s words, he chuckled as if Chad had told a joke.

“That’s amusing,” he said as he watched into Chad’s midnight-brown eyes with his piercing stare. “You asked the very same thing the night I saved your life five years ago.”

            Insides still alert with uncertainty, Chad stood like a statue, holding Mercurio’s gaze in his own. He racked his brain, sifting through the faces of many relatives, trying to remember the man that stood before him.

About to give up, Chad’s eyes wavered from Mercurio’s…and then he saw them. Sharp white fangs poked out over the top of his bottom lip. The memories began to flood back from that horrid night: the smell of the overly clean hospital room, the sharp beeps of the ECG, the panic that had caused his heart to flutter as the doctor in white threatened to take away his life…then, Mercurio standing to the right of the doctor, stepping up to his bed, leaning over him, the pop of his skin puncturing as those same fangs pierced his throat, the sound of swallowing as Mercurio imbibed his blood…

            “You’re…,” he started, his now wide eyes searching Mercurio’s face, taking in his features once again. Now that he was beginning to remember Mercurio, he realized that everything about his appearance seemed the same, as if he hadn’t changed a day since saving him.

            “That’s right, Chad Wu,” he confirmed, then placed a hand on his chest, reintroducing himself. “I am Mercurio, the very same man who saved you from death.” He took a step toward Chad.

Standing his ground, Chad did not withdraw from Mercurio, but his body sent him a warning signal to flee through a tingle that shot from the base of his neck to the small of his back.

“But I’m no ordinary man,” Mercurio continued, his smile pulling into one that Chad recognized immediately. It was that same knowing, satisfied smile Mercurio had portrayed the night of his near death. “I’m a vampire, dear boy, and I’ve revealed myself to you for a special reason.”

            Suddenly, Chad’s adrenaline spiked, his blood running ice-cold in his veins. That word “vampire” and the fact that Mercurio claimed he was one… That didn’t sit well with him. Such creatures should have died out long ago, back when the king and queen of Brennenburg Castle had perished as well… But, unless Mercurio had somehow attached his fangs with an adhesive and colored his skin that unnatural pallid color, it was hard to deny his words…

“The reason I came to you that night, Chad, was to grant you a new life.” Mercurio carried on, watching Chad with that shrewd, fanged grin and analyzing ocher eyes. “You were dying, so I revived you by giving you a piece of my own life. There is a catch, however.” The vampire chuckled, the sound sending another chill down Chad’s spine as uncertainty pulled at his insides. “Along with my life, I’ve also given you my cravings for blood.”

            Hearing this, Chad’s vision faltered for a split second, causing Mercurio to fade in and out before his eyes, and he grit his teeth tight. It was then that he took a step away from Mercurio, his uncertainty mutating into disbelief.

“You’ve turned me into a vampire?!” he queried, his voice shaking with both anger and fear.

            Mercurio’s shoulders quivered as he chuckled in amusement, his fangs revealed in an almost child-like grin.

“Don’t be silly, dear boy,” he said as he waved a hand flippantly at him. “I know you’re smart. You know that a vampire can’t turn a mere human into another vampire, no matter what those trivial tales say about us.”

            “‘Us?’” Chad echoed in question, still watching Mercurio with tentative eyes. “There’s more than one of you even still in this modern age?”

            “There used to be,” Mercurio answered as he watched Chad closely, a roguish smile playing with the corners of his lips. “I am all that is left of my race now. You see, dear boy, there’s something special about us vampires. I’ll have you know that we’re not all bad. Sometimes we try to help humans, for instance, by giving up our own lives for them. Were you taught about the Red Plague of 1789? You should have been, since this was how the king and queen of this land, and all of their noble subjects were wiped from this earth. During that plague, my race tried to save yours by continuously halving our lives to protect you humans from those silly diseases you’re so prone to. While we were rescuing humans, we were slowly dying out. Mercurio now bent his elbow and shifted his sharp-nailed hand to chest-level, splaying his fingers in such a way, he appeared as if he were having a normal, every-day conversation with Chad.

“Here’s something else to add to your memory banks, dear boy. When a vampire shares his life with a human by drinking his blood, that vampire gives away his bloodlust to that human, and the human becomes a servant to that vampire. However, even when we tried to save your race, even when we gave up our bloodlust"our very source of life"you humans failed us with your fragile bodies. Essentially, the humans that were supposed to have been salvaged died out from that plague, which, in turn, killed off nearly my entire race. Eventually, time carried on and you humans repopulated the earth, but we vampires weren’t doing so well. There were only three of us left. Slowly, my remaining brothers perished from old age"yes, even we vampires become too old for this earth"and I soon became the only remaining vampire. Now, Chad, we’ve already revealed how smart you are. Certainly you’ve picked up on what I was clueing you into with this tale? I drank your blood when you were a child to give you life. You are now my servant.”

            This revelation traveled through Chad in a pain not unlike a punch to the gut. He stood there for a moment as if he had been frozen in time. His eyes still lined up with Mercurio’s, but his gaze passed through the vampire as though he were transparent.

            “So then…,” Chad barely uttered as he let this new knowledge slowly sink in, “you’re saying…I am in charge of drinking blood for you now?”

            Mercurio chuckled, his child-like grin returning. “I knew you were a smart boy! Yes,” he brought his hands together in one single, satisfied clap, Chad recoiling at the sudden sound, “that’s precisely what I am saying. I had to wait for you to grow a bit older. Though I didn’t turn you into a vampire, my cravings are still governed by the rules of the vampire. We must be near manhood before the full moon affects us.”

            Chad clenched his fists tight as he lowered his chin. He shook his head slowly in disbelief, his eyes staring sidelong into the dew-speckled grass that embraced the shadowed sidewalk beneath him.

            “Drink blood…,” he whispered in a shaking breath. “Me…drinking blood…” He looked up at Mercurio once again, his eyes shimmering with a tacit pleading. “I…I can’t do this… I am very grateful to you for saving my life, but I will not allow myself to drink human blood!”

            Mercurio’s fangs flashed as a smirk pulled at the left corner of his lips, his amber eyes watching down upon Chad.

            “Is that so, Chad Wu?” His leer suddenly melted and the same desperation that was still shimmering in Chad’s eyes now reflected in his own. “Well, you wouldn’t wish for me"your savior"to parish before my time, would you?”

            Chad looked up at Mercurio again, his brow furrowing to create an expression of guilt.

“What…do you mean?”

            “Because I drank your blood to heal you, I’ve been forced to automatically give you my appetite, therefore, you must satisfy it for me,” the vampire answered, still watching Chad with that child-like imploring. Behind the piteous shimmer in his eye, however, was a poisonous, malicious glint. “If you don’t drink blood in my place, I will be starved of the blood I need and I’ll die. And I don’t believe you wish to kill your childhood savior, now do you? I’m only asking for a small favor in return for saving your life, Chad…”

            The two stood there as Chad processed everything he had learned in just those few minutes, the only sound between them that of the occasional rush of vehicles driving by on the deadened street. He, Chad Wu, had essentially just become a vampire, one the most looked down upon creatures in all of history. So many long term goals, so many childhood dreams…all dashed to bits within those few seconds. He had been planning to go off to college, then to law school to become an attorney at law, following in his father’s footsteps. And somewhere in that time, he had been intending to settle down with someone, maybe start a family…

But he couldn’t possibly turn his back on his new responsibilities to drink blood… Just as Mercurio had said, if he refused, he would kill the man who had been gracious enough to grant him a new life. And after working so hard to keep his life, Chad didn’t wish to lose the one that had bestowed such a blessing, not when he was so grateful to have so many things to look forward to in a future he would have never had, had Mercurio not stepped in…

           “What does this entail?” he asked slowly. The words sounded hollow and mechanical as they escaped his lips. He suddenly felt lost, as if he was standing on a whole different planet. The burden of how this new craving would affect his life weighed down upon him so intensely, his shoulders sagged and his back hunched over slightly.

            Mercurio’s smirk reappeared and his amber eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the disheartened Chad. He knew he had chosen the right boy to give his cravings to.

            “Oh, don’t worry, dear boy,” he reassured. “Your life won’t change that dramatically.” He lifted a long-, sharp-nailed hand in the air and waved it dismissively, surveying Chad with a smug, sardonic gaze. “I know how you humans like your statuses and ranks in society and whatnot. You’ll still be able to continue your education, get a job, make a difference in life, maybe even find a wife someday. But now, every month, on the night just before the moon is full, you will need to report to me in Brennenburg Castle over there.” He pointed off in the distance to the old castle sitting alone on top of the grassy precipice. The fortress would have been swallowed in darkness had it not been for the full moon’s silver rays bleaching the gray cobblestone walls. “When you visit me, I will reveal to you whose blood I am craving. It is then your responsibility to locate that person and drink their blood within a certain time limit. The night the moon wanes until it has disappeared in the earth’s shadow, you’re time will be up. But I know I can count on you to get the job done, right, Chad?” Mercurio folded his arms over his chest and looked down upon Chad with his piercing, amber gaze. “I’m even giving you those few extra nights to fulfill the bloodlust. I know murder isn’t the easiest of tasks for you humans to carry out, so I suggest you use that additional time to your advantage and warm up to killing the people you will crave.”

            “‘K"Killing?’” Chad sputtered, his voice wavering as adrenaline shot through his veins once again.

           Mercurio’s child-like smile of amusement returned when he saw Chad’s expression of dumbfounded surprise.

“Yes, ‘killing.’ You must drink your victims of every last drop of blood in their bodies. I know you humans assume we vampires drink only a certain amount of blood and allow our victims to go on living, but what can you expect from the species that also made up the rumor about us sparkling in the sunlight?” He chuckled at his own joke.

            “That can’t be true!” Chad fought back, desperation shining in his wide eyes as he took a step toward Mercurio, trying to reason with him. “You said you drank the blood of our race during the Red Plague to help us! And you drank my blood in order to save me! There must be some way"!”

            Mercurio chuckled at Chad’s pitiful display, cutting him off as he lifted a forefinger to the boy’s lips.

            “Are you trying to tell me"a vampire"that I am wrong about my own cravings? Silly boy. Though it is true my race helped you during that plague, and though I did save you, that was during the time when the moon was not full"when the bloodlust was not active. Our ability to drink blood cures humans if we drink when the moon is waxing, but when it’s full and our bloodlust is triggered, we must feast on our human target until they have died of exsanguination.”

            Slowly, Chad’s anger and fear melted into an expression of sorrow, his brow furrowing upward, his eyes shimmering with tears he didn’t wish to release, the corners of his lips quivering. He took a step back from Mercurio and his tensed muscles began to loosen as the realization hit him that he could not fight or escape this new fate bestowed upon him. He couldn’t back out of drinking blood for Mercurio. The vampire had let him keep his life as a child, and not only that, but he had made him healthy again. Mercurio had saved him from death, and what did he ask in return? For Chad to use the bloodlust he was forced to give away to keep him from dying. There was no way he could simply ignore this obligation. He wasn’t one to back out of any debt that needed paying, and this one was immense, so immense, the amount of time it would take to repay it would probably take him up to his death of old age"which, to him, would then be the proper time to die.

So, on that very night, weighed down with the decision he had made to go against the very morals of his own humanity, Chad had accepted Mercurio’s task to drink the blood of any victim the vampire’s bloodlust targeted.

            As the years carried on and Chad grew from an older teen into a young adult, he managed to live a fairly normal life…at least, that was the way it was seen through the eyes of his friends, family, teachers, and employers. He had succeeded in keeping his bloodlust concealed from those close to him. Even when he stole out of the house to visit Mercurio in Brennenburg Castle on the nights before the moon was full to acquire his victim, for a time, his parents and sister never learned what he was up to. Part of him wished they would have caught him leaving. Maybe they could have put a stop to all the deaths he would soon cause…including their own…

When he had first started drinking blood, every nerve, every fiber of his being had been against it. The very first night he had visited Mercurio in the castle was still a vague shadow in his mind because of how frightened and anxious he had been. Over time, he slowly grew accustom to the murders, but he still certainly did not enjoy them. In fact, each and every victim, no matter how old or young, he regretted killing, their deaths another hole in his heart. Though he had gotten used to the murders, he was still just as human as when this madness had begun. Each victim he located, his conscience would constantly nag him about how he was killing someone with a family that had raised them, friends that had loved them, and a life story that was not meant to be ended by his hand. But what was he to do? He was both loyal to the debts he owed and tenderhearted to the murdering of his victims.

Unfortunately, like two ethical laws that conflicted, he couldn’t have it both ways.

Before he killed his victim, he always found himself silently sending up a word of prayer that they had lived their lives to their full potential, though he knew for a fact many of them had not. The blood that poured down his throat as he drank always held the memories of that particular person, and he wept after every killing as he recalled his victims walk to their parents as toddlers, start school for the first time as young children, graduate as teenagers, and for some, get married as young adults.

After he was finished with his meal, he would leave the dead body right where he had encountered them. That way their family could find them and mourn over them properly. He wasn’t afraid of the police finding out about his murders. Many search parties had been placed over the years to locate a killer that sucked every ounce of blood from his victim’s necks, but they were all for naught. When Chad had accepted his loyalty to his vampire master, Mercurio’s powers had wiped his fingerprints from his digits and had affected his DNA so that it could never be traced. Similar to how he wished his parents would catch him sneaking out of the house, part of him wanted the police to catch him for what he was doing.

But, alas, they never did, and so he carried on with his bloodlust murders, serving the vampire whom he had promised to follow until the life he had granted him had ended.

            As these thoughts slowly faded away from Chad’s mind, leaving him even more hollow inside than when he had left Chyou and Jo for the evening, he looked around him to see that he had already entered Brennenburg Castle. It seemed he had been so caught up in thoughts that he couldn’t even remember entering through the portcullis and opening the castle’s double doors. He was on the very first floor, which opened up to the Great Hall"a vast dining room that stretched on for many meters. Long wooden tables adorned the cobblestone floor, hundreds of silver-plated chairs lining the many wooden slabs pulled out from underneath as if on this very night the castle was expecting dukes and duchesses from far off lands to join the late king and queen in a feast. If he let his mind wander again, Chad could almost see the thousands of nobility seated at the tables, garbed in their shimmering black tailcoats, pleated, white dresses, and powdered wigs; almost hear the clanking of silverware, china plates, and glass cups as the aristocrats dined on the finest meals the rulers of their land could provide. Old ornate chandeliers hung from the high ceiling at set intervals, but their lights had died out long ago and many arachnids had made the candle tubes where flames had once flickered into nests for unsuspecting insects. Only the nearly full moon illuminated the dark, damp cobblestone fortress now, its silver rays glimmering off of the cracked, gray walls.

Chad continued to walk onward for Mercurio, the images of the lively dining room leaving his mind as he entered a short, circular downward stairwell. The clacking of his black Oxfords echoed off the walls of the staircase that lead to the late king and queen’s throne room, the sound resounding all around him in a lonely reverberation that reminded him once again of the void in his heart. He took a deep breath, longing to fill that void with something, to distract himself from the emptiness within him with anything, even if it was just the rise of his chest as his lungs filled with oxygen. However, his feeling of forlornness only grew as the dank, musty scent of the ancient castle tickled his senses, reminding him of the first few times he had ever entered the fortress. Back then, the smell had been new to him, but over time his brain had learned to ignore the odor, just as his heart had learned to ignore his murdering.

Before long, Chad arrived at the stair’s landing. He turned a corner and carried onward down a lengthy hallway that was carpeted with a crimson and gold embroidered rug. The carpet had once been ornate, but rats, moths, and time had eaten away at it, its once elaborate designs now filled with holes and grime. Medieval standing suits of tarnished metal armor and various hanging weapons lined the cracked and crumbling walls, their discolored surfaces lit in the silver rays of the moon that filtered in through the long, grubby glass windows. Chad kept his dark, solemn gaze straight ahead, focusing on the throne room that would soon come into view. At one point in his life"when he had first accepted his debt to Mercurio"he would have been staring in bewilderment at every piece of mail and weapon that he passed by. But there was no need for him to look around now. He knew the dank hallway like he knew the faces of every single victim that had fallen to his bloodlust.

Soon, Chad entered the vast throne room at the end of the hall, the king’s throne"or what was now Mercurio’s throne"coming into view. The vampire was seated impatiently in the grimy, bejeweled chair, one leg crossed over the other, his elbow placed on the moth-eaten armrest, his chin resting in his palm. He heard Chad’s Oxfords clack on the cobblestone floor before he saw the boy, but when his servant turned up, his amber eyes followed him crossly, the corners of his mouth pulling in an irritated frown.

            “There you are, dear boy,” he said in an exasperated tone, uncrossing his legs and straightening in his seat. He bent over slightly, surveying Chad sullenly with his piercing gaze. “I was getting worried. Usually you’re more punctual than this.”

            Chad halted at the short set of stairs that lead up to the throne and shrugged slightly, his dark eyes watching up at the irritated Mercurio indifferently. He had learned over years of service to the vampire that he was easily annoyed, such as by a late appearance. But his bad tempers didn’t last long, especially on the nights when a victim was to be chosen…

“Forgive me,” he apologized solemnly. “The school year is about over, so final tests and papers will be due soon. I stayed after to focus on my assignments.”

Mercurio continued to watch Chad for a moment longer with his vexed expression, but the look soon disappeared from his face and was replaced with delight, his fangs showing in a daunting grin.

“Ahh, school,” he hummed in nostalgia as he leaned back in his throne, his eyes now holding a far off glint in their depths.

This comment surprised Chad, making him blink numerous times in wonder, and he asked, “You once attended school?”

Hearing this, the vampire’s lips widened in a childish grin and he shifted his amused gaze down to Chad.

“Don’t be silly, dear boy,” he said, his voice enunciated with laughter as he waved a flippant hand at his servant. “Of course I didn’t attend school. I did, however, visit a few during the full moon.” His smile suddenly turned sinister, the left half of his lips rising slightly higher than the right. “The blood of apprehensive students has a bit more of a"how shall I say it?"succulent flavor.” He lifted his chin and began to laugh heartily while Chad shifted his gaze to the floor and cleared his throat. “So, Chad,” Mercurio began. His laughter had faded, though his excitement had not. “Are you ready to hear who your victim is this month?”

Chad nodded, his mouth set in a straight line, his eyes focusing gravely on Mercurio. He was about to receive an assignment to drink yet another person’s blood and he knew he needed to act neither excited nor dismayed. Though he was still absolutely against murder and hated that he had to commit it at least once every month, he had learned that he needed to at least pretend to accept his duty, though he knew he would regret it when he finished with his bloody meal. He kept encouraging himself, telling himself that it wouldn’t do to be upset about something he had decided to carry through with in order to repay an incalculable debt. Besides, no murder he committed now could ever compare to the assignment he had received a few years ago to drink the blood of what had been an entire family. And this family hadn’t been just any family, no. This had been his family, his very own mother, father, and sister. For years he had evaded their eyes as he snuck out of the house, but on this particular night, they had found out in a very direct way just what he had been up to behind their backs. The flashbacks of that night now forced their way into his mind like unwanted guests, his beloved ones’ screams of agony and panic echoing in his eardrums.

“Chad, why would you…betray your family…?” he recalled his father whispering weakly in his ear as he drained the blood from his neck. He had been the strongest man in his life and Chad had revered him greatly, but he would soon be reduced to a limp, ashen body on the kitchen tiles.

While the memories continued to drag through his brain, Chad’s eyes lit with fear and his brow furrowed upward, his teeth gritting against each other. He subconsciously fiddled with a button on the bottom of his"or rather, what had been his father’s"suit jacket, his shaking fingers slipping on the polished fastening as sweat coated is palms.

“How could you…hurt us like this…Chad…?” he remembered his mother inquiring feebly when he had stepped back away from her dying body after emptying it of blood. His throat had grown too tight to answer as she fell to the floor, the spark of life leaving her dark-brown eyes.

“Chad…I trusted you…as my big brother…to care for me…not harm me…” he heard Sophie’s utterance once again. As her pallid body collapsed to her bedroom floor, he could not stand to watch her die.

And so, with tears dousing his cheeks, he ran from the house where his family lay still forevermore, never to return again.

The flashbacks soon released Chad from their chilling hold on his mind, leaving him shaken. His indifferent demeanor had been dashed to pieces by the tragic recollections and his breaths came in short, hiccupping gasps as they reopened the wounds he had so carefully mended over the years. As he came back to reality, he could feel the clammy sweat slipping down the sides of his face and dousing his palms. Realizing what a wreck he probably looked like, he quickly recomposed himself, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. He withdrew the emotion from his face, the tears in his eyes disappearing, the crinkle in his forehead from his furrowed brow smoothing, and his lips realigning into that perfect façade of indifference he had refined over his time as a murderer. Now that his emotions were hidden, he patiently, obediently continued to wait upon the next victim Mercurio would soon assign him, constantly telling himself in the back of his head that drinking blood was just another responsibility, just another task that needed tending to, trying his best to keep up his nonchalant attitude that acted as a shield against emotions that he would not"could not"allow to enter his heart.

“All right, Chad,” Mercurio about sang in elation as he lifted a hand to chest-level, an eager grin on his face. He closed his eyes and swirled his fingers around as if searching through a container to pull out a name. Within a few seconds, a small piece of folded paper outlined in a glowing scarlet appeared out of thin air and glided into the vampire’s hand. He opened his eyes and a smile of delight lit his face as he unfolded and read the slip. “We’re in luck, dear boy. Your victim is from your college. That stress from finals week will make her blood especially delectable.”

A crack developed in the barrier around Chad’s heart when he heard that the next person he was to drink the blood of was from his very own university, and a bit of emotion began to pull at his insides. He had many friends in college and he was unsure whether he would have the gall to kill someone with whom he had a connection. Hadn’t his family already been enough…?

Stay strong, he thought to himself as he continued to watch Mercurio with his feigned apathy. You can’t let your emotions sway you. You drank Mother, Father, and Sophie’s blood. You can surely drink the blood of anyone from university. “Please reveal to me the name of my victim,” he requested casually.

“Oh, it’s very unique,” Mercurio said, his gaze filled with intrigue as he read off the unfolded slip. “Her name is Chyou Xian.”

A sound halfway between a gasp and a hiccup escaped Chad as the name entered his ears, and his eyes widened in horror, his brow knit together in an expression of alarm.

“I"I’m sorry…?” he uttered shakily, watching Mercurio intensely as if his stare could somehow change the name he already knew would come out of the vampire’s mouth.

Mercurio shifted his gaze from the piece of paper down to Chad. “Chyou Xian, dear boy,” he repeated, then returned his attention back to the slip, oblivious to his servant’s distress.

Chad clenched his teeth tight in a grimace as if he was about to be sick and all the muscles in his body stiffened as Chyou’s name echoed in his mind like a broken record. He knew it had been her. His initial denial hadn’t let him believe it, but it was true… The barrier around his heart began to fall to pieces, leaving him completely vulnerable to his emotions.

“No…,” he whispered, his voice wavering, his eyes aligned with Mercurio, though his gaze passed right through the vampire. “That can’t be right…”

“Chad,” Mercurio began in innocent question, his focus still on the piece of paper, “is she Chinese like you?” When a few moments passed and he didn’t receive an answer, Mercurio looked from the slip once again to Chad. He noticed his servant seemed a bit shaken… The boy’s eyes were wide, his posture stiff, and Mercurio’s incredible vampiric eyesight could make out the sheen of sweat beading Chad’s forehead and the infinitesimal shakes encasing his body. It was almost as if this girl was someone he knew… “Oh, I see,” he cooed as he lifted his chin to stare down upon Chad. He crossed one leg over the other, shaking his foot back and forth in a pleased manner, a smile of impish amusement pulling at his lips. “She’s a friend of yours, isn’t she, dear boy?”

Chad felt as though his feet had been physically frozen to the floor, as if time itself had stopped. The words Mercurio had spoken after repeating Chyou’s name had entered his ears, but his brain could not possibly process them. The fact that Chyou was the one he would need to drink the blood of"to kill"had caused his mind to pause as it worked out the very horror of the situation. When he was finally able to pull himself together for a mere moment, he responded to Mercurio’s last question, though his voice was a rasping whisper, barely audible.

“She’s more than a friend…,” he murmured, his gaze still watching through Mercurio. “She’s the girl…I’m in love with…”

The smile on Mercurio’s lips widened into a grin filled with wicked intrigue, his amber eyes glistening with malice.

“‘In love with!’” he reiterated excitedly. “Oh, Chad…,” he tsked impishly, wagging a playfully chiding forefinger at his servant. “You never told me you were in love! Those emotions will add to the flavor of her blood. Her stress from finals week and your feelings for her will make your taste buds absolutely sing!”

These words only served to alarm Chad more. He clenched his fists until his short nails dug into the meat of his palms and he lowered his chin, a shadow drawing over his face to obscure the tears that welled in his eyes. From his throne, Mercurio watched Chad with wicked amusement.

“Oh, Chad, I’m so sorry,” he apologized with mock sympathy in his voice. “That’s just how it is. You’ll get over her death eventually, just like you did your parents’ and sister’s. And who knows? Maybe this is just a sign that Chyou isn’t the right one for you. Some other girl will replace her eventually.”

But Chad was unwilling to accept this answer. The shadow slid away from his face as he looked up at Mercurio, his dark eyes filled with desperation, his lips quivering.

“Isn’t there something we can do?” he queried, his breaths coming in choppy, erratic hiccups. “Can’t we substitute someone in place of Chyou? I’ll drink anyone else’s blood…I’ll even drink the blood of an entire family…just not Chyou’s!” He took a step forward, holding his arms out at chest-level, trying to reason with Mercurio as he watched the vampire in despondence. “I implore you!”

Mercurio’s nose wrinkled with an impatient look, one of his eyebrows furrowing, his bottom lip pouting slightly, and he flipped his wrist over, searching his long, sharp nails as if they were more important than Chad’s dilemma.

“I’m afraid not, Chad,” he responded tartly. “Chyou’s blood is what I’m craving and there’s no way to change that.”

Chad clenched his fists tighter, his knuckles turning white, his shoulders tensed, and the bridled tears in his eyes now began to overflow, trickling onto his cheeks. He lowered his chin again, his teeth clenched as he struggled with choosing between satisfying the debt he owed his master and killing the one he loved.

“I won’t drink Chyou’s blood!” he suddenly blurted, shaking his head as he made up his mind. A few tears dropped from where they had met at the tip of his nose, speckling the cobblestones below. “I can’t!”

Hearing this, Mercurio glanced over top of his nails down to Chad, his irritated expression turning critical.

“Hmm?” he drawled softly, his amber eyes holding in them a glint not unlike the spark of a fire. He clamped his fingers into a fist and cracked his knuckles individually. “Are you backing out of your responsibilities?” he demanded, his voice chillingly grave. “You know what will happen if you don’t drink the blood I’m craving. You will kill me. And I don’t believe you wish to murder me"your savior"now, do you, Chad?” For emphasis, Mercurio snapped his last knuckle after he had finished speaking, hoping the foreboding sound would help Chad make a quick decision about cooperating with him.

For a moment, a dead silence settled on the throne room when Chad didn’t answer. The only thing he could do was shake before the vampire, his teeth still clenched, his muscles strained, blood roaring in his ears. Certainly, he was grateful to Mercurio for saving his life, that’s why he had gone through such dire measures to serve the vampire. He was very loyal…maybe to a fault…

You can’t retreat now! a voice in the back of his head argued. You’ve gone through much worse, have you not? Wasn’t killing Mother, Father, and Sophie the most unpleasant murders you could have ever committed? So what is Chyou compared to them? Surely the death of some university friend who barely acknowledges your existence wouldn’t come close to equaling the deaths of your family members!

But Chyou does acknowledge me! he fought back. We’re friends, and maybe someday we could even be wed… She’s the one with which I wish to replace my late family… She could help me start over! That’s why…that’s why I cannot kill her!

“I"I want to continue to assist you,” Chad shakily replied to Mercurio, his voice barely audible. He lifted his chin to look back up at the vampire, his eyes holding a defeated glimmer in their depths. “I want to serve you for the rest of my life, and I have been doing well so far. I killed my own parents for your craving!” His eyes shifted to the cobblestone floor, his gaze biting into the cracked surface in shame. “But this…this task…I cannot carry through with…”

Mercurio’s annoyance only increased after hearing such disobedience from his servant. He clenched his own teeth now, the corners of his lips pulling downward in a furious scowl, and he raised and crossed a hand over his chest as he bent over in his throne, planning to backhand his servant for his insolence.

But as soon as the irritation had come, it quickly vanished. That was it. Chad was his servant. And although he may not have control over Chad himself, he did have control over the bloodlust that he had placed within the boy. A wicked smile now pulled at Mercurio’s lips. Usually Chad never acted out like this, but it seemed this time his servant was going to need a little push in the right direction. With this in mind, Mercurio uncrossed the hand he had been about to punish Chad with and held it straight out in front of him. He placed his thumb on his middle finger, then snapped, the sound echoing around the castle walls, shattering the silence.

As soon as the sound of the snap faded, Chad began to feel an immense pain shoot through his body as if glass shards had been forced down his throat into his stomach. He screwed up his eyes in an agonizing cringe and opened his mouth to scream, but his vocals allowed no sound to escape. His back began to arch of its own accord and his fingers tremulously clenched themselves into tight fists. Abruptly, he doubled up, now wrapping his arms around his stomach as if he was about to retch. He clenched his teeth tight, his eyebrows furrowing in agony, and he clutched the sides of his black suit jacket with trembling fingers. For a few rapid heartbeats, he stood before Mercurio, encased in shakes and grunting in anguish. His grip tightened, further creasing the black fabric of his jacket…and that’s when the transformation began to take place. His nails grew into long, sharp points, resembling Mercurio’s. His lips pulled in a grimace, now revealing abnormally long fangs.

And as soon as the pain had come, it quickly washed over Chad like a retreating ocean wave. He unlatched his sharp nails from his jacket, then began to straighten from his hunched over position. His grimace faded and his lips drew in a sadistic grin, his newly extended fangs flashing in the light of the moon’s silver rays. As he returned to his full height, he clasped his hands behind his back, his posture now exuding tremendous authority. He looked up at his master with wicked delight, his irises no longer midnight-brown, but stained a vivid crimson as if they were glowing pools of blood.

“How about now, dear boy?” Mercurio asked Chad as his own lips formed into a pleased smile. He set his elbow on the moth-eaten armrest of his throne and rested his chin in his palm, his ocher eyes narrowing as he watched his wicked plans unfold. “What do you think of drinking Chyou’s blood now?”

Chad chuckled impishly and swept his tongue over his lips.

“That would be absolutely delectable.”

 

♥    ♥    ♥

 

            The next evening at Oakwood University, Chad, Chyou, and Jo were seated at their usual table in the library, their classes about at an end for the day. Chyou and Jo were in high spirits, having finished a few of their assignments before finals started next week, and were diligently reviewing past study guides and reading over long forgotten articles from the beginning of the year, refreshing their minds with the materials that would appear on the quickly approaching tests.

Chad, unlike the twins, was not so jovial. Rather, he was quite nervous and fearful, his dreadful thoughts constantly reminding him of what he was soon required to do to his beloved friend who was seated just feet in front of him. He was a bit disheveled today, his complexion pallid, his eyes ringed with dark circles. Even his father’s suit, which he usually kept spotless and free of creases at all times, was marked with the wrinkles that had come from all of his struggling with Mercurio last night. A shiver stirred the hairs on his neck as he glanced up from the book he was reading and looked to Chyou. The normally mischievous and alluring shimmer in his umber eyes was lost to a sorrowful glint that shadowed their depths. He was no longer the sadistic man Mercurio had turned him into the evening before, but that didn’t stop his bloodlust from gnawing at his stomach with hunger for Chyou’s blood.

Chad quickly averted his eyes back to his book. He was making his best effort to study, but he had more trying matters on his mind than a failing grade on a final exam…

Last night, Mercurio had only controlled his bloodlust for a mere minute, but to Chad, that minute had felt like hours of torture. He was accustomed to the wicked personality by now, for along with his façade of indifference the sadistic alter ego had been getting him through his murders each month, protecting his heart from any despondence that might occur while he was in the process of drinking. But the way the alter ego had agreed so quickly"so eagerly"to drinking Chyou’s blood made his stomach lurch with nausea.

After toying with Chad’s indecision, Mercurio had freed him from the bloodlust’s hold, but afterward, he hadn’t been so quick to let him depart from the castle.

“So, tell me, dear boy,” the vampire’s sneering voice returned within Chad’s head now, “What are you going to do for me within the time I’ve given you to drink Chyou’s blood?” His lips pulled in a sardonic smirk. “I’ll give you a hint: the answer was in the question I just asked you.”

Chad was positioned on the ground, his palms and knees flat on the floor, his breaths coming in labored gasps, sweat dripping from his forehead and chin, speckling the cobblestones beneath him. His dark gaze bit into the cracked stones as his mind reeled with decision after decision. He knew if he didn’t answer his master, the vampire would force his alter ego to take hold of him again, and he didn’t think he could bear hearing once more his own voice agree to drink Chyou’s blood…not with such enthusiasm and delight. Slowly, he looked up at Mercurio, the moonlight filtering into the castle bleaching his already pale face a stark white, pronouncing the dark rings that had formed under his eyes.

“I’ll…I’ll drink Chyou’s blood…,” he uttered, a sinking feeling entering his heart as the final decision was made.

Satisfied, Mercurio grinned until his fangs were showing.

“That’s a good boy. You are dismissed, then. When you return to me, I expect your belly filled with blood and Chyou to be dead.”

Shaken, depressed, and suddenly feeling very cold and alone, Chad could do nothing else but nod weakly in obedience.

After Chad had departed from his master and began traveling for his bedroom within the castle, a multitude of feelings washed over him as the various forms of grief raged within him. Denial teased him, constantly deceiving him and telling him that this couldn’t be true. Maybe he had heard Chyou’s name, but his victim was really someone else within his college… When his denial finished with its pleasure in misleading him, anger began to boil in his chest, filling him with what felt like a furious and insatiable fire. It was unfair! he would yell within his mind. At one point, he had slammed his fists into the cracked cobblestone wall near his bed and let himself drop to his knees, bowing his head as he gnashed his teeth. Why Chyou?! There were billions of other people in the world! He would have rather received an assignment to drink the blood of someone from his old hometown in China! He would have gladly embarked on the sixteen hour flight back! Just so long as he could spare the friend he loved… As the anger slowly faded and the fire within him died, various bargaining strategies formed in his mind. The tactics typically involved him asking his master for another chance, a different person, anything…as long as it wasn’t Chyou… When his brain grew tired of sifting through thoughts of negotiating that he knew he could never carry out, he sank to an unparalleled low and depression wormed its way into his heart. He didn’t feel like doing anything. He couldn’t focus on homework because he couldn’t find a reason to study. He didn’t satiate his gnawing hunger or quench his growing thirst because he had lost his will to live. Everything seemed superfluous. Even sleep seemed useless as he sat on the edge of his bed, his face buried in his hands.

There was one final stage in the grieving process that he knew as acceptance, but this stage escaped Chad. He had been drinking blood for almost a decade, and once or twice, the terrifying thought had occurred to him that Chyou might become his victim at some point, but he had reasoned this away over the years by reassuring himself that there were so many people in the world, the chances of Mercurio’s bloodlust targeting Chyou before he was freed from drinking blood through his death was almost impossible. However, his calculations had been wrong and because he was so desperate to cling to them and their logic, he could never allow himself to accept that he was to kill Chyou.

Because of this, throughout the night his cycle of grief continued, its emotions controlling him like a ragdoll puppet in a play, constantly throwing him about in whatever way they pleased.

Due to these emotions, when Chad had finally dragged himself to bed, feeling very exhausted, clammy, and empty, a restful sleep had eluded him. As he tossed and turned under his sheets, his dreams mutated into nightmares and he was forced to watch himself skulk up to an unsuspecting Chyou and tackle her to the ground, then sink his vicious fangs into her neck as her screams of agony and terror echoed in his ears. He continuously watched Chyou fall in a battered heap at his feet, her blood staining his lips and hands, and his piercing crimson eyes would survey her from where he stood over her, a twisted, scarlet-stained smile revealing his elongated cuspids. These alarming, merciless visions would rouse him back awake every hour, causing him to bolt up from his pillow, his lips parting in what would have been a scream had his vocals been working in his sleep. Normally, nightmares didn’t affect him so easily, but these nightmares…these were different. Unlike nightly visions of monsters, falling, or even failure, these terrifying visions would soon become a very troubling reality with no escape.

“Chad,” Chad blinked, his thoughts of last night fading from his mind as he was brought back to his harsh reality, and he looked up at Jo, who had addressed him in a nervous, but concerned tone. “You seem to be acting unlike yourself today,” she observed. Her eyebrows were knit in a sympathetic expression, her hands clasped together, held up to her chest. “Is something wrong?”

This made Chad’s heart flutter in his chest like a caged bird. As he thought back to how he had been acting throughout the day, he probably hadn’t seemed like himself. He was usually a lot more talkative and he would have bantered with Chyou at least five or six times by now, depending on how irritated he wished to make her. Though he knew"and hated the prospect that"at some point he would need to kill Chyou, he was still trying his best to act as normal as possible. The twins didn’t need to know about his bloodlust so soon… However, keeping the alter ego under control was proving to be quite difficult. He could no longer joke with Chyou as he usually did and he could barely even speak to her. Just looking at her caused his bloodlust to stir within him. If he let the malicious personality take full control of him, he would become eager, willing, excited to drink Chyou’s blood… Thinking about those feelings of keenness made his stomach churn in revulsion.

“I’m merely feeling under the weather today…,” he shrugged lightly as he told Jo a white lie to satisfy her curiosity. It wasn’t completely untrue…

Jo perked up at this, smiling in compassion, her emerald eyes sparkling at the chance to care for Chad.

“I hope you feel better soon!” she encouraged as she leaned in and grasped one of his hands gently in both of hers.

A spark shot from Chad’s stomach and faded away as it entered his chest. Usually, he would ignore Jo when she fawned over him. This time, however, he did not pull away. He welcomed the compassion and looked up at Jo with a warm and sincere smile.

“Thank you, Jo,” he about whispered. He could tell she was quite taken by his acknowledgement as she withdrew her hand from his and clasped it in her lap while averting her gaze from him, a small smile pronouncing her blushing cheeks. His smile, however, disappeared as he thought back to Chyou. How much affection would Jo have for him once her sister was dead and he was forced by his conscience to explain to her what happened…?

“I hope your sickness kills you…”

Eyebrows raised in surprise, Chad and Jo both looked to Chyou, who was watching Chad with a playful smirk.

Upon seeing the lighthearted expression on Chyou’s face, Chad’s lips involuntarily curled in an amorous grin as a comeback formed on his tongue.

However, before Chad could make any flirtatious retort, his bloodlust began to pull at his appetite, making his mouth water and his stomach seethe as if he hadn’t eaten for days, and he looked away from Chyou quickly, his leer melting as he clenched his teeth in a worried grimace. He stared down at the book clasped in his now quivering fingers, his eyes watching the pages, though his focus was far from processing the words. He knew if he had taken even a split second longer to look away, his irises would have shifted into glowing blood-red pools and he was unsure whether he would have been able to stop himself from lunging for Chyou’s throat.

While watching Chad, Chyou blinked in shock. Her sister was right; he really wasn’t acting like himself today… He was usually too stubborn to let her comment go so easily. As she observed him a bit closer she noticed that his eyebrows were knit upward and the corners of his mouth were pulling in what looked like a worried frown; and as she shifted her eyes to his book, she watched as his hands trembled with infinitesimal shivers. Chyou brought her attention back to her own book, but her focus was still on Chad. Had she gone too far with her sarcasm this time? Throughout the years that she had known him, she couldn’t remember a single time when he had been upset by her snide jokes, and she had said some fairly harsh things in the past to get him to stop flirting with her… Could something have happened at home that was causing him distress, and had she added to that distress by making such a quip? She knew his parents and sister had been killed, for he had had a heart-to-heart with her one evening when Jo had been home sick and it was just the two of them at the library table alone. Maybe this was the anniversary of their deaths…? She hated to admit it, but, just in case, maybe an apology was in order…

A silence settled on the table as all three of the students attempted to continue studying for the looming finals. However, try as they might, they were all preoccupied with something on their minds. Jo was still engrossed in nervous bliss from Chad’s appreciation for her caring attitude; Chyou still felt ashamed of her sarcastic joke; but the most vexing of the three was Chad, whose mind was filled with despair as thoughts of Chyou’s slowly approaching doom continued to haunt him. He could feel his bloodlust’s craving burning in his guts and he quickly removed a hand from his book and wrapped it around his stomach, making certain it wouldn’t growl and upset the silence. Now that the moon was full and Mercurio had assigned him a victim to drink the blood of, his senses had been heightened so that he could seek out his target more easily. With each passing moment, Chad felt these enhanced senses detecting Chyou’s blood. He hadn’t really realized it until now, but with every breath he took, he was beginning to smell"and nearly taste"the very faint, though strong scent of Chyou’s blood, which he could only describe as the equivalent to drinking in the aroma of a sizzling steak on a grill. And now that he was aware of such an aroma, it only grew stronger and more tantalizing with each intake of oxygen…

You want it, don’t you? a voice whispered enticingly in his mind. You want Chyou’s blood…

No… he fought back, gritting his teeth against each other. Not now… Not yet!

Chad could barely breathe now without the odor of blood teasing his senses and nearly triggering his bloodlust. He clenched the covers of his book tight as if the pressure on his fingertips could somehow stop his bloodlust from tempting him.

Go on, the voice of his alter ego continued to persuade him. She’s nearly in our grasp…

I won’t kill her yet! Not until the moon has waned completely…

Do it now and finish her off. Wouldn’t that be better than torturing yourself? When you allow her to live, you’re only stalling her fate…

I won’t… A bead of sweat slipped down the side of Chad’s face as the aroma grew more intense. He clenched his eyes shut in a resistant wince. I can’t…

Let me control you, then. Unlike you, I shall take much pleasure in drinking such deliciously scented blood…

Suddenly, Chad’s hunger increase until his stomach was tying itself in knots. He could feel the movement of his fangs elongating from his gums, his nails sharpening, his eyes staining with crimson…

Chad’s book slapped against the table as he stood sharply from his chair. His shaking hands were placed on the surface on either side of his book, his fingers curled at the knuckle to hide his partially elongated nails. His now slightly crimson eyes stared at the cover of his text, beads of sweat forming on his creased brow, and quick, panicked breaths flowed choppily through his nose as he kept his mouth shut so his fangs wouldn’t show. The confused stares from Chyou and Jo nearly pierced his flesh as they looked to him in surprise.

“I"I’m going to head outside, get some fresh air…,” he said, his voice slightly muffled as he brought a hand to his mouth to conceal his transformation as best as he could.

Jo smiled up at him in compassion once again.

“I hope you feel better soon, Chad,” she said with a lilting sympathy Chad normally recognized as the tone she used to impress him. He was not scrutinizing her diction this time, however. He could barely focus as the scent of Chyou’s blood became absolutely overwhelming… He took his leave quickly, pushing in his chair and striding away from the twin sisters as fast as he could. He certainly hoped they wrote off his actions as a part of his “illness”…

Chyou watched after Chad even after he was out of her line of sight. Her gaze wasn’t filled with near the same urgency her twin’s was, but a tugging worry still pulled at her heart. It wasn’t so much for whatever was making Chad feel ill, but more for the fact that she still needed to apologize.

Maybe I’ll study a bit longer and give Chad some time to clear his head, she thought to herself. Then I’ll take a quick break and search for him. Hopefully he doesn’t leave before I explain myself to him…

Leaving it at this, Chyou shifted her gaze back to her book to continue studying for the upcoming tests.

The steel double doors of the university’s entrance parted in a sharp creak as Chad rushed from them and began pacing for the back of the school. While walking, he inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet and fresh fragrance of blooming flowers and budding tree leaves, trying to rid his nostrils of the scent of Chyou’s blood. As the fresh air overcame the saline aroma, the symptoms of his bloodlust disappeared, his nails retreating, his fangs withdrawing into his gums, his eyes returning to their rich umber. Thankfully, his alter ego had finished with its torture…for now.

Chad continued to tread until a single tree that stood amongst many newly blossomed flowers in the small university rock garden came into view. He slowed his hasty walk and halted under the flowering branches. As he stared into the cobalt sky, the setting sun splashing him and the rock garden in a pleasant auburn light, he simply stood there, letting the soft sounds of rustling grass and the feeling of the spring’s gentle breeze against the sun’s tender warmth on his skin calm his racing thoughts. It was so strange… The beauty and tranquility of the nature that enfolded him contrasted greatly with the turmoil that raged within him, creating a sharp nostalgia that began to pierce his heart like a pulsating blade. Recollections of his first time noticing Chyou stole into his mind like thieves, and with them came more memories of his slow, but definitely growing friendship with her. For the first time since Mercurio had confirmed that his victim was indeed the friend he had fallen head over heels for, he felt peace as the placid scenery that embraced him drew his attention away from the agony and sorrow that had entrapped him.

It didn’t take much time, however, until the now ingrained scent of Chyou’s blood teased his olfactory senses once again, and with the alluring hint came images of Chyou’s murder, which dashed his serene memories like a golden scepter to a clay pot and made him whimper in revulsion. His nightmares from earlier that morning flooded his mind now, filling him with a sickening apprehension as he watched his alter ego look down upon his beloved with satisfaction, sadism gleaming in his fiery crimson eyes as he licked the last of Chyou’s blood from his fingers.

As the malicious thoughts began to fade, Chad was left feeling despondent and cold, his body trembling, his hands shaking. The burden of his situation began to crash down upon him like a weight, making his trembling legs buckle, and gravity dropped him onto his knees with defeat. Shoulders sagging, hands limp in the grass, Chad’s eyes watched helplessly into the heavens as if a sign or miracle would appear in the clouds. He had been strong up until this point, but he could no longer shoulder the agony as his heart writhed within his chest, begging him to release his caged emotions. His brow furrowed and he clenched his teeth, trying to stop his lips from quivering, and as he shielded his eyes with a hand, he hunched over, letting his emotions overflow.

For the next few moments, Chad could do nothing but sob silently, his tears dripping from his chin onto the fabric of his pants. He knew that no matter how hard he cried, no matter how many times he tried to ignore the shame and sorrow, his tears would not free him from his duty to kill Chyou. With this thought, he attempted to ignore his feelings, end his tears, and carry on throughout the rest of the day as he had been doing. Nevertheless, he could not disregard the thoughts of Chyou’s remaining time left before her death and this only served to upset him further.

After his emotions finally settled, as Chad had predicted, he did not feel any better. His tears may have put a stop to his sorrow, but in place of his grief was what felt like a hole in his heart where every emotion had been drained. Slowly, he regained as much composure as he could gather with the concern of Chyou’s life on his mind and he slid his hand away from his face, rubbing his eyes with his pointer and middle fingers to remove any lingering tears. As he lifted his chin to look up into the sky once again, the setting sun reflecting off of his dark, lustrous eyes, he searched the multicolored canvas for the full moon. Though he couldn’t locate it quite yet, he knew it was always in the heavens somewhere, and at the moment he could certainly feel its mysterious powers pulling at his bloodlust like a hook adorned with bait to a hungry fish. Suddenly, a gurgling growl issued from his stomach and he quickly wrapped his arms around his squelching guts, his cheeks coloring in shame. He sighed heavily as he huddled against the tree trunk, his brow knit with guilt. It was absolutely sickening how fervently he desired to imbibe Chyou’s blood… Part of him"the part that held his alter ego"wished to dig his fangs into her carotid artery and drink until every last drop of blood was encased in his rumbling stomach. But another part of him"the sane part, the part that wanted his loyalty to Mercurio to be over"desired Chyou’s safety and would substitute anyone"anything"in her place if only he could.

There was no escaping his fate, however. Killing Chyou through exsanguination was the only way he could satisfy Mercurio, and in turn, repay his debt to his master. He searched the slowly-darkening sky with his defeated gaze and found himself hoping a storm would quickly develop and a bolt of lightning would strike him dead.

Don’t think in such a manner… he chided himself, ashamed of such a sudden and discourteous thought. Mercurio revived you in order to help you live this life to the fullest. He’s not at fault for giving away his cravings in the process.

Chad’s stomach burbled once more, this time as if to agree with him, and he tightened his hold around his midsection. As he shifted his eyes to the sky once again, he noticed the full moon was now vaguely appearing and was rising high in the heavens as the sun bowed below on the horizon much like a subject genuflecting before his ruler.

Amusing… he thought humorlessly. Even the sun knows to show respect to such a powerful object.

As he watched the obscure moon sailing in the clouds like a conceited god, he found solace (though it was quite infinitesimal) in the fact that Chyou would not fall to his alter ego until the moon was hidden by the earth’s shadow. He knew it would be challenging with his bloodlust’s cravings, but, in that very moment he made a promise to himself that he would use his time wisely. He would invite Chyou to various activities and spend time"actual time"with her. Ever since he had met Chyou and had learned of her stubborn personality, he had taken much pleasure in teasing her by setting up artificial dates to restaurants around their city, knowing his coy nature would rouse her. Now that she was his victim and her life would be ending very soon, however, he would need to revise his attitude. Starting tomorrow, he really would ask her to dine with him in the finest restaurant he could find. He didn’t care how much the bill cost at the end, just as long as he could put a smile on Chyou’s face before the expression became a permanent, lifeless frown. After tomorrow night, he would ask her out again. They could walk around local parks and beaches, attend swing dancing lessons, watch movies together, huddled under a warm blanket…

And on that night when the moon’s light was overcome by the earth, he would take Chyou in a romantic fashion"maybe invite her to one final dance"and confess how he felt about her. When he had made it absolutely clear that he loved her and only her, he would allow his alter ego to take over and drink her blood"kill her. At least this way, she would know she had been wanted by someone and that he would never forget her and never stop missing her until his own death when he would greet her in Heaven where he would be free from the shackles of his bloodlust and loyalty to his master.

“Hey,” the unexpected voice that had spoken behind him just then made Chad start in surprise. He twisted around to see who had addressed him and gasped when his eyes landed on Chyou standing next to the tree he was still huddled against.

“Ch"Chyou!” he stammered in alarm, his heart suddenly hammering behind his ribs. He couldn’t stop himself as his wide eyes automatically shifted from her face to the carotid artery that his heightened eyesight could see throbbing very faintly against the thin flesh of her neck. His bloodlust activated slightly, tempting him to drink Chyou’s blood, and his hunger suddenly spiked. Luckily, his arms still encircled his midsection and he squeezed them close to muffle another low rumble. As he forced himself to bring his attention back to Chyou’s face, his lips tugged in an involuntary warm smile that hid his distress. “Y"You scared me…”

Shifting her eyes to the side awkwardly, Chyou bent her knee and dug the toe of her shoe into the grass as she stored her hands in her jeans pockets.

“S"Sorry…,” she murmured. Chad really was ill… Usually he was like a rock: nothing startled him! Now she had to apologize twice…

“So, what brings you out here?” Chad asked a bit hastily while averting his own eyes to the ground. Though he didn’t want to come off as discourteous, he hoped his tone hinted to her that he wished to be alone at the moment. It really was for her safety… Even with the slight breeze flowing gently against them, his enhanced olfactory senses easily traced the saline aroma of her blood. He dug his short nails into the grass and clenched his teeth as the scent grew stronger with each passing moment.

Chyou took a moment to answer Chad, her gaze still uneasily watching sidelong into one of the oddly-shaped rocks that encircled the small garden.

“I"I just came out here to say…,” she muttered uneasily, removing a hand from her pocket and lifting it to scratch self-consciously under her eye. “Well, you see…you know in the library…? Remember when I said…‘I hope your sickness kills you?’ You see…I was just joking… So…I’m sorry…if I offended you…” She dared to glance back at Chad for a moment. He wasn’t looking at her, but she shifted her eyes away from him anyway, just to be safe.

The tempting odor of Chyou’s blood faded from Chad’s mind for a moment as he thought back to about fifteen minutes ago when he had been studying at the library table with the twin sisters and recalled Chyou’s sarcastic wisecrack. He found it incredibly bemusing that she was apologizing for such a jest. Did she really believe something like that had affronted him? Normally, they would tease each other in that manner nearly every hour… However, he supposed today wasn’t exactly normal…and he probably hadn’t been acting like himself all day, even though he had been trying so hard to obscure any strange behaviors that might have come up because of his bloodlust… He thought back to Chyou’s antic again and remembered how he had lowered his gaze to the table without retorting in his usual flirtatious style. It had been necessary to look away or else his bloodlust would have taken hold of him, but Chyou had probably seen the lack of comeback troubling.

Chad began to gather up every ounce of self-control in his body until he could practically feel the willpower resonating in his fingertips, then lifted his chin, looked to Chyou, and smiled up at her again. The fleeting pulse in her neck tried to lure his eyes like a tantalizing cut of a rare meat, its alluring promise of blood and brackish scent making his stomach squelch ravenously, but he made an effort to focus solely into her emerald-green eyes.

“That’s certainly not something you should be concerned about,” he reassured her, then quickly added, “Why don’t you return to the library and finish your homework? There’s no need to stay here.”

However, rather than taking his advice, Chyou stepped up next to him and sat down in the cool grass, and the willpower he had gather was suddenly shattered by the panic that returned to him at full force. He shifted his eyes away again, looking to the sky, the ground, the trees…anything that wasn’t Chyou…

“I already finished everything,” Chyou answered him, her eyes still averted from Chad. A sudden impulse in her chest caused her to glance to him quickly and a twinge of admiration crept into her heart. Since they had met, all they had done was tease and mock one another. Besides the time Chad had told her about his parents’ and sister’s deaths, she had never really taken the time to have a real conversation with him like she was right now… As she looked him over, taking in his long black hair, dark eyes, sharp attire, even his thin mustache that he thought was so virile, her eyebrows furrowed in longing and her cheeks flushed a soft scarlet. He really wasn’t bad looking… Maybe they could become…something…?

However, Chyou’s expression quickly disappeared, her nose wrinkling and her lips pouting impatiently as she thought about what she had just admitted to herself. She immediately looked away from Chad as if he had affronted her in some way.

Nevertheless, her cheeks did not lose their color.

“E"Everything…?” Chad echoed Chyou’s words shakily. His alarm was practically tangible as it flowed off of him in waves and his heart pounded so fervently in his chest that he was afraid Chyou could hear it. He had been hoping she would obey him and return to school… Every moment that passed as the two sat together, more and more of his heightened senses were alerted to her blood. Not only could he smell the dual-aroma of tangy iron and sweet life that flowed through her veins or see her carotid artery pulsing so enticingly in her neck, but he could now hear the crimson liquid rushing throughout her body as well. To him, her heartbeat sounded like a drum in his ear as the ventricles and atriums opened and closed in time. As Chad helplessly listened in on the beats, he noticed that they were a bit pronounced, her blood rushing slightly faster than usual. He wondered about this, but when his stomach squelched in hunger, he realized he was only allowing his bloodlust to tempt him and he forced himself not to think about it. “You can’t possibly be done with everything…,” he said with a nervous laugh, trying once again to get her to head back. “The final exams are almost here. You really should be studying.”

“Well, I…,” Chyou started awkwardly as she set a hand on the ground and twirled a few strands of grass between her pointer and middle fingers, “I was going to study…but I felt guilty for my sarcasm earlier…so I came out here to apologize…” Abruptly, Chyou lifted her gaze to look to Brennenburg Castle off in the distance and hastily changed the subject to spare her dignity. “So, you decided the castle would make a nice scene to watch while you cleared your head, huh?”

Chad blinked in surprise as he ruminated on the reason Chyou had given to visit him out here. She had been quite fervent on apologizing… Usually she never admitted to him when she was wrong. A sharp, sorrowful pang spread in his heart, regret glimmering in his eyes. If only she didn’t have to lose her life"by his hand, no less"he would have teased her to no end about becoming soft. The playful thought almost brought a tear to his eye. When she was dead, there would be no more jokes, no more teasing, no more laughter…

“Chad?” Chyou asked when he hadn’t responded.

Chad looked up at her in realization that he hadn’t answered her, then quickly drew his eyes away again when the throbbing pulse in her neck attempted to lure out his alter ego.

“S"Sorry,” he apologized softly. “Yes, the castle…” He shifted his gaze to look out at the fortress atop the distant precipice. The now much darker sky swallowed the castle in shadow, creating the illusion that all three turrets had melded into one deformed structure. “It holds quite the mystery, doesn’t it?” He said this with a tone of wonder, though, unfortunately, he knew very well what the mystery was behind the walls of that castle…

“Sure does,” Chyou agreed as she looked out at it with him, her eyes shimmering with awe. “There’s a rumor that says on the night of a full moon, you can hear the symphony of a violin playing from the castle.”

Chad didn’t respond to this, but silently pondered on Chyou’s words as he continued to survey the darkened fortress. That was not a rumor, but an actual fact. For many years, he himself had been the one orchestrating the symphonies from the very parapet of one of the three towers. The tragic night he had learned of his new responsibility to drink blood was when he had started such a tradition. At first, playing his violin on the castle’s roof had been to express his despair, depression, anger, and fear through music what screams and cries of agony could not. Over time, he had grown used to channeling his emotions through the instrument and when he desperately needed to, he would ascend the ancient cobblestone stairs to the circular roof and play until his feelings were drained and he felt hollow inside. It filled him with such satisfaction to carve his bow across the firm strings, like a sharpened knife blade severing the bonds of his rage and sorrow, and produce a mournful, wailing tune like what he fervently wished to release through his vocals.

However, just as Mercurio had stolen his dreams, happiness, and dignity, his master eventually took his violin from him, too.

“Chad, come hear the news I wish to share with you,” Mercurio’s pleased voice echoed in Chad’s head as he recalled the day his precious instrument was altered into something wicked. Chad entered the throne room and stood before his master, a dull, almost mechanical look inhabiting his nearly lifeless eyes. The altering of his violin had taken place when he was still new to murdering the victims he received each month, and because of this, he was so depressed that he was nearly unresponsive. “I’ve happened upon quite an idea, dear boy,” Mercurio continued excitedly as he leaned forward in the grubby throne and grinned at his servant. “You’ve been traveling around quite a bit to drink the blood of my victims, and I very much appreciate it, but you humans are so slow… The vampire now straightened up and flippantly waved a hand in the air while surveying Chad out of the corner of his eye with conceited annoyance. “It took you days to fly out to Japan and find your most recent victim… Because you don’t have wings and aren’t as efficient as us vampires when we hunted humans I have a much better solution in mind for you than simply traveling by human means.”

“What is it you would like me to do for you, Master?” he asked in a monotone voice, watching Mercurio with his emotionless eyes.

“Your instrument, dear boy, your violin. I was thinking, if I use some of my power on it, you could play it and lure out victims from far away cities. You see, it will still perform the music you wish, but when I’ve revealed to you the human I’m craving, its songs will carry to and ensnare them. Your target will then leave their area and travel to us, eliminating the trouble of you searching for them. When they arrive at the castle, you may feast to your heart’s desire! He lifted his arms in the air in a whimsical display of cheerfulness, then lowered them back onto his hole-covered armrests as he looked to Chad, his childish grin melting to a sinister, wicked smirk. Well…to my heart’s desire, rather.” With this, he lifted his chin and laughed heartily.

Because of Chad’s all-encompassing despair, he didn’t protest against his master, but a flickering flame of hope that hadn’t been completely snuffed out yet burned for him to fight against the vampire. Mercurio had already stolen away some of the most important things in his life, why let him have anything more? That violin was immeasurably special to him! He had learned how to play at a young age through his mother’s teaching, and he had received many ribbons and trophies for his skill. Why should he give up such dreams and memories?!

But, as Chad reminded himself of his position as a servant to Mercurio, who had been gracious enough to sacrifice his bloodlust so that he could live, he proceeded to hand Mercurio his violin like an obedient slave, and the vampire had infused the instrument with a curse that would entice his victims from afar forevermore.

“You know,” Chad began to Chyou now as the memory faded from his mind, “there are vampires in that castle.” He had said it in a serious tone, curious as to what Chyou would say. She still believed the lie that vampires didn’t exist, just as he had before becoming the servant to one.

“Vampires…?” Chyou inquired in a withered tone, looking to him with a sardonic smirk. “You must be feeling better. I haven’t heard a joke so ridiculous all day.”

Chad chuckled, though the sound was toneless as despair filled his insides. If only it was a joke… To tease Chyou again without this constant and debilitating trepidation of her upcoming death at his hands would have been wonderful…

“Getting back to the violin,” Chyou spoke up as she looked to the ever-darkening castle, “I checked my calendar this morning and it looks like there’s supposed to be a full moon.” She returned her attention to Chad and regarded him with a determined smile. “I’m going to see if those rumors about the violin are true. I’m going to visit Brennenburg Castle tonight.”

Hearing this, Chad’s eyes widened and he grunted in surprise, his heartbeat stumbling as it sharply picked up speed. It wasn’t that he was afraid of Chyou visiting the castle. In fact, tours of the fortress took place each week during the day and Chyou had gone on a few already. He knew this because, not only had he joined her on multiple tours, but he also lived in the castle. After he had been forced to murder his own parents, he could not possibly stay in his own house. The memories and regrets alike would have crushed his heart under their emotional pressure, and so he had moved into the fortress with nothing more than his father’s suit on his back. On a few occasions, he had seen Chyou come through on a tour, probably searching for the violinist he had just now found out she was so eager to investigate. In all honesty, he wouldn’t have minded one bit if she went on another tour, especially if he tagged along again. In fact, it was a tempting idea to add the tour to his growing list of things to do with her before her untimely death… But if he was in fact going to be able to do anything with her before he took her life, he couldn’t possibly have her skulking around the castle at night when he would be there sleeping. It was already arduous enough to control his bloodlust during the day. Even now, he could barely keep the scent of her blood out of his nose, the beating of her heart out of his ears, the throbbing of her pulse out of his mind… If he saw Chyou in the evening when the full moon was positioned right over their heads like a malicious overseer, he would without a doubt lose control of his bloodlust and he would kill Chyou right then and there.

“I would advise you not to carry through with that plan, Chyou,” he began, his lips set in a taut, serious line. Though he kept his gaze averted from her, his voice held much authority in it.

Chyou didn’t much care for Chad’s chiding tone. Who did he think he was? Her father…? She turned her nose up at him, glaring.

“And why exactly do you advise me not to go to the castle?” she queried impatiently. As she picked herself up from the ground, she stepped in front of him, hands on her hips, and watched him with a frustrated gaze. “Are you a victim of fear from those silly superstitions, too? Is that why you don’t want me to go?”

Chad glanced up at her and opened his mouth to protest, but clenched his teeth tight and quickly looked away again when he felt his eyes shifting to her carotid artery. He knew the superstitions she was speaking of. The tours of the castle only took place during the day for a reason. Since the death of the king and queen, rumors had spread about cold drafts appearing in the throne room and other areas of the castle, and when he had begun playing his violin, the rumors had increased. The explanation that the city people came up with for such events pointed to ghosts and specters. Of course, Chad did not believe in such entities, and he had good reason not to. The cold drafts were created by Mercurio. Because vampires were void of blood, they also lacked any body heat. Instead, their bodies exuded currents of icy waves. He supposed he couldn’t really blame the city people for not understanding this. After all, they couldn’t see Mercurio. It was really something to be envious about…

He wasn’t superstitious, not in the least, but he couldn’t very well let Chyou know the fortress was his home…not until that dreaded night when it came time for him to take her life.

“I highly advise you not to go to Brennenburg Castle, Chyou…,” he warned again, ignoring her question altogether. His serious gaze still bit into the grass, but he knew if he was going to persuade her he would need to do everything in his power. That meant using one-hundred and twenty percent control over his bloodlust and that included looking her in the eye.

With this in mind, Chad leaned forward, drawing his back off of the tree trunk, and rose to his full height. Though he only stood just a few inches taller than Chyou, he still emanated much authority with the way he squared his shoulders and held himself. He mustered up every ounce of self-control in his body once again, forcing from his mind the sound of Chyou’s heartbeat and the saline aroma of her blood, then shifted his serious and commanding stare to pierce into hers. Even as he did his best to focus on her emerald-green irises, it still proved difficult not to shift his gaze to her throat. Out of his peripheral vision he could see the artery pulsing, tempting his eyes to look, enticing his bloodlust to come forth, but he wanted her to receive every part of his message, both verbal and tacit, so he forced himself to watch into her eyes.

“The superstitions surrounding Brennenburg Castle are certainly not the reason why I’m warning you, Chyou,” he declared. “I just don’t want you going out after dark. You know that we live in a city filled with crime and you also know what happens at night here. The risk of someone hurting you while you travel to that castle is very high. Who knows what perverted man would try to rape you, kidnap you, kill you?” For a split second after uttering the word “kill,” Chad’s eyes grew wide and he averted them from Chyou’s, a sharp guilt sweeping his insides. Like the temptation of his bloodlust, though, he ignored the feeling and continued on with his excuses. He wouldn’t let his shame in the inevitable deter him from protecting Chyou for as long as possible. “I won’t give you a choice in this matter. You will stay home, and you will not travel to the castle, do you understand?” Though his actual intention was different from the reasons he had told her, it wasn’t as if his alternate cautions were inaccurate. Chyou really could be in danger while traveling at night in this city. The castle was quite a distance away. If anyone sadistic enough saw her and had a weapon already in the slight of his hand, she was as good as dead…or worse. She would soon lose her life to his alter ego, he knew, but he would rather her death occur after he had confessed his feelings of love to her than have a murderer stab her to death without a second thought.

To add emphasis to his warning, Chad lifted his hands and set them firmly on Chyou’s shoulders, still watching her with his intense gaze. “Please, Chyou. I don’t ever want to hear you’ve gone missing or been murdered, especially when such tragic incidents could have been avoided. Stay home.”

Chyou stood there for a moment, watching unblinking into Chad’s umber eyes, stunned by his forceful tone. Within that commanding tenor there had also been a voice of protection, and that shocked her the most. The only Chad she knew was the one she communicated with in jokes and half-sentences, the one that flirted with her like she was just another girl on his “hit list.” This was a side to him she had never seen. Without thinking, she began looking him over again, the feeling of attraction flirting with her heart once more. She was close enough to see the hint of brown in his nearly black irises, feel his body heat mix with the warm spring air that glanced off of her skin, smell the rugged and alluring cologne that wafted from his dapper clothing, teasing her senses. As she came out of her ogling trance, she suddenly became very aware of the pressure on her shoulders from his strong, yet tender hold. Realizing that she was unable to watch into his rich eyes, she averted her gaze hastily, her cheeks suddenly exuding an unnatural warmth.

“You’re just afraid of the vampires!” she teased him snidely, attempting to regain her confidence. She wriggled free from his grip and stepped away from him, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked sidelong into the grass.

While lowering his arms back to his sides, Chad finally diverted his eyes from Chyou and breathed an internal sigh of relief. However, his battle for control wasn’t over yet. A good portion of the sweet, flower-tinged air was filled with the mouth-watering briny scent of blood, and her heart was still pounding incessantly in his eardrums. For some reason, her heartbeat had picked up speed again…and it certainly wasn’t making it any easier to keep a hold on his bloodlust. For a moment, his eyebrows furrowed, his mouth aligned in a humiliated frown, and he quickly glanced to her in shame.

Unfortunately, he thought despondently, it is you who should be afraid of vampires… Now, Chad gathered up what was left of his willpower, his solemnity returning, and he looked back at Chyou with authoritative eyes.

“I’m serious, Chyou. Don’t go to Brennenburg Castle at night. I don’t want you to get hurt…”

Not by someone else, at least… he thought as he and Chyou began to leave the rock garden and head back to school. Not by someone who doesn’t love you like I do…

 

♥    ♥    ♥

 

            Once Chyou and Chad had returned from the rock garden, it was time to depart for evening classes. After gathering up their materials, Chyou and Jo began to leave for their respective rooms, but Chad lagged behind, unsure whether he should attend his lectures or not. Unfortunately for him, they were with Chyou. Throughout his years in college, he had been so grateful that he and Chyou had chosen the same major, criminal justice, but at this moment, with his bloodlust so impatient, he would have rather chosen anything else, even if it was the dreaded math major that he despised so fervently.

As he walked slowly down the hall, the sisters just a few feet ahead of him, he considered skipping the last two lectures of the night in order to keep Chyou safe. He could use his earlier excuse of being ill and no one would be any the wiser… But then he happened upon a very crucial idea: He could use the classes to his advantage…at least, a temporary advantage… While in the same room as Chyou, he would need to force himself to control his bloodlust. This would help strengthen his willpower so that when they were watching movies close together or holding hands as they strode the campus grounds, he could more easily put the scent, sound, and look of her blood out of his mind. Not to mention, this would also aid him when he kissed her one final time. He wouldn’t want his bloodlust overpowering him before he had a chance to express to her how much he loved her.

And so, with this thought in mind, Chad walked into the lecture hall with Chyou, mustering up every last iota of self-control within him.

 

 

For some students, the night passed on slowly because of boredom and exhaustion, but for Chad, the clock seemed to mock him as each abrupt tick slowly counted the hours by. Chyou’s blood harshly tempted three out of his five senses like a feast that a starved individual had not been given permission to partake in, and when he was finally allowed to leave Oakwood University, he snatched up his backpack and paced down the hall before anyone else even had a chance to shut their notebooks.

Once outside of the main building, Chad began to pick up speed, running for Brenneburg Castle, but he couldn’t help glancing over his shoulder at his university in shame. It had been tradition since he had introduced himself in a spectacularly flirtatious manner to Chyou for him to leave with the twin sisters until they came to the crossroads where their paths parted each night. He felt terrible for abandoning the two this evening, but he couldn’t very well stay. The full moon was now shimmering brilliantly in the night sky and it would be incredibly idiotic of him to even dare to walk with Chyou while the gaudy orb mercilessly stirred his bloodlust to life. He would rather she be suspicious of his hasty departure. Besides, he could easily write it off as feeling “ill” again…

            Once he had traveled the distance to the castle, Chad entered the fortress through the opened portcullis and ancient double doors, and made his way to a chamber above the Great Hall. This chamber, called the Lords Chamber, had once been the special quarters of the lord and the noble family of the castle, and, like the rest of the fortress, had been ornate during its prime. Now, however, the room was less than elegant. Cobwebs hung in white, wispy ropes in the corners of the ceiling and on the single, tarnished chandelier that had once lit the room with warm flickering flames. The featherbed had long since lost its shape and was more of a lump of goldenrod-colored material under the yellowing linen sheets. A grimy, navy-blue canopy enfolded the featherbed, combining all of the features of the structure to display something that had been used for the rich and royal, but was now corrupt, dirty, and blemished. It suited him well, he supposed. Like the bed, he, too, was soiled and ruined.

A warped and discolored wooden wardrobe stood adjacent to the bed. Within the medieval closet, Chad kept the small amount of clothing he had brought to the castle from his home the night before he had killed his parents. On top of the wardrobe was where he kept the only pictures of his parents and sister that he had brought on the same night. The photo of his mother and father had been taken on their wedding day. His father was arrayed in a dapper tuxedo while his mother was adorned in a beautiful pleated white dress. Both were smiling joyfully. The photo of his sister was from her most recent picture day at school. She had been a senior in high school and an incalculable regret always flooded his insides when he thought about how she had been merely days away from graduating.

Because of the tours that went through the castle once a week, to conceal that he was living here, Chad had used some of the second-hand vampiric powers that he had received from Mercurio to seal the room off from searching eyes and flashing cameras. Only his victims were allowed to see the room. There was no need to conceal something from the eyes of someone who was about to die.

As Chad walked into the Lords Chamber, he switched out his textbook-filled messenger bag for the black violin case lying on top of his bed, then headed around the corner for the stairwell that led to the roof of the turret. He ascended the stairs until he came to a cracked wooden hatch in the ceiling. When he had first begun playing the violin on the roof the small door had been coated with spider webs and the shells of digested insects, but these had quickly disappeared when his trips to the top of the tower became much more frequent. Opening the ancient timber door, he climbed the rest of the way up through the opening and stepped out onto the tower’s circular roof.

Instantly, the night air flooded Chad’s nostrils and replaced the musty scent of the room beneath him. It was tinged with the smells of the city"grilled meals from various restaurants, the acrid scent of motor oil, alcohol and smoke"but Chad couldn’t be more grateful in that moment for such odors. It was better than the enticing aroma of Chyou’s blood, that much was absolutely true.

As Chad strode up to the tower’s crenellated parapet, violin case in hand, he watched out into the night, viewing the very faint white dusting of stars against the umber sky. Even as far away as he was, the light pollution from the city still obscured much of the heavenly bodies…all but the full moon, which sailed radiantly in the heavens like a flamboyant coin. He could feel its silver rays rousing his hunger for Chyou’s blood, and this intolerant craving only fueled his desire to play his violin. Fortunately for him, the curse Mercurio had placed on his instrument’s music was powered by his heart’s desire. If he wished to finish the job quickly and drink his victim’s blood immediately, then his songs would reach to that person and entrance them. Because he desired to drink Chyou’s life away much later"when he had spent valuable time with her"his music would be simply that: music. Not a luring tool, not a curse; just the sound of the emotions of his heart’s music sheet.

And so, with every scrap of agony, rage, sorrow, and fear held within him, Chad took the polished violin in his right hand and the bow in his left, then began to play the tune of a regret-filled waltz, like the song he wished to dance with Chyou to on the night he would take her life. He poured every fiber of his soul, every ounce of feeling into the melody, and let it carry unbridled into the City of Altar below.

 

♥    ♥    ♥

 

Somewhere else within the City of Altar, far from Chad’s location at Brennenburg Castle, Chyou and Jo had just arrived at their apartment. As she shut the door behind her, Chyou followed after her sister to their bedroom, her mind flooded with thoughts of her conversation with Chad earlier that evening. She recalled feeling discomfort when she had left the school to search for Chad. What would he say when he saw that she had followed him? But then relief replaced her anxiety when he hadn’t questioned her or teased her for apologizing. And then…what was this? She remembered her nervousness when she had sat down next to him and when he had grabbed her shoulders in that protective grip.

Nervousness… she scoffed to herself as her lips curled in a sneer. That sort of thing is what Jo feels around Chad, not me…

“What are you thinking about?” Jo’s voice chimed in front of her just then.

Chyou’s eyes widened, feeling as though her sister had read her thoughts (they were twins, after all) and she subconsciously gripped her backpack straps tight.

“N"Nothing…,” she stuttered, looking to the carpeted floor. As Jo unlocked their door and they entered the room, Chyou decided to change the subject. “Remember when we heard that violin playing from Brennenburg Castle many years ago?” Jo nodded while she removed her shoes alongside Chyou in the entryway. “Do you also remember that I told you it plays when the moon is full?” Jo nodded again as they both strode for their beds. “Well, tonight is a full moon night. You know what that means, right?”

Jo looked to her sister as she set her backpack near her bed and sat down on top of her covers.

“That the violin is probably playing right now?” she answered, then, as she retrieved a book from her backpack, she quickly added, “You’re still stuck on that rumor? You know, finals are coming up soon, and you really don’t seem to be focused on them…”

            Chyou let herself fall backward onto the covers of her own bed, her arms splayed out above her head, and she glared up at the ceiling, her brow furrowed in a determined look.

            “How can I focus on finals when I know the symphony of that violin is currently encircling that castle?” As she said this, her thoughts were instantly whisked back to when she had been talking to Chad in the rock garden. So maybe he had given her many good reasons why not to go to the castle at night…but did he really think he could stop her…?

            “How do you know it’s playing?” Jo asked while she lay down on her stomach, her focus on the book she had just opened. “It’s only a rumor!”

            “I just know it, Jo,” Chyou said with confidence. “And I want to know who’s up on that castle roof performing!”

            “Don’t get any ideas, Chyou!” Jo warned, tearing her gaze from her book to look to her sister, a protective anger in her emerald eyes. “Who knows? It could be the ghosts of the king and queen’s band members just waiting for some unsuspecting human to waltz into the castle. You know the superstitions! That’s why the tours only take place during the day!”

            “I don’t believe in ghosts…,” Chyou said, closing her eyes impatiently and waving a dismissive hand in the air. “And I know those superstitions aren’t true. There has to be someone there"someone human, mind you"that made the conscious decision to play a violin at the castle! You realize there’s a story to be told, here?” Chyou smiled in determination at her sister. “A big story!”

            “Didn’t you tell me earlier that Chad told you not to go out there?” Jo asked, giving Chyou a pointed look. “You should heed that warning and stay away!”

            “The only reason you’re suggesting that is because Chad said it!” Chyou countered, smirking triumphantly at her twin as Jo blushed furiously. She began to sit up, tossing her legs over the side of her bed, then looked to the door, a somewhat hesitant frown now tugging at her lips. “Chad did have some good reasons why I shouldn’t go. I know we live in a city full of danger, and I know I could get hurt, but the violin only plays tonight! I would have to wait another month, and I’ve been patient for years!” Chyou stood, making up her mind. “I’m not waiting anymore. What Chad doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” An excited smile replaced her frown and her emerald eyes glimmered with excitement. “I’m leaving for that castle to discover who plays that violin!”

            Hearing this, Jo set her book down, hopped off her bed, and stationed herself in front of the door, spreading her arms out wide.

            “I’m not letting you leave this apartment this late, Chyou!” she snapped. She never usually yelled at her twin, but if her sister was going to put herself in danger, she had no other choice but to stop her.

“If you’re so worried about me, you should come with!” Chyou suggested, taking a challenging step forward. “After all, you’re normally the one that loves adventures! What happened to you?”

            The only answer Jo gave her sister was a fervent shake of her head.

            “Jo…,” Chyou said shortly. “Don’t make me wrestle you… You know you won’t stand a chance.”

            “If you try to wrestle me, I’m going to tell Mom!” the younger twin argued.

            Chyou gave her sister a funny look.

“And what’s she going to do to stop her two twenty-three-year-old daughters? Even if she did drive all the way out here, I’d probably have pinned you to the floor and left for the castle by the time she arrived!”

            Jo’s warning gaze faltered for a moment as her brow crinkled and she thought about this…

            …And, taking this to her advantage, Chyou bound forward and forcefully pushed her sister out of the way of the door. Jo landed awkwardly on her bed, and by the time she scrambled back to her feet, Chyou had already slammed the door shut behind her and was well on her way out of the building.

As Chyou burst through the apartment’s double glass doors, she heard Jo call out to her from their bedroom window.

“Chyou!” she yelled angrily. “You’d better come back here this instant!”

But Chyou ignored her sister’s warnings and continued bolting in the direction of Brennenburg Castle. For a moment, a twinge of shame pricked at her heart. She knew she would worry Jo while she went on this little adventure of hers, and when her twin called their mother and father to tattle, they would probably worry, as well. But this was now or never. She would be graduating in a few weeks and the university she would be attending for law school was not in Altar. Besides, she was a young adult, living life on her own. If she really did come across any trouble, she had her cell phone on hand and an aggressive attitude to protect her from any perverted, drug-dealing street rats. She could handle herself!

With this in mind to help her ignore her guilt for leaving Jo behind, Chyou raced through the city streets, staying in the light of the streetlamps and avoiding any shadowed alleyways.

 

 

About fifteen minutes later, Chyou entered the castle’s yard and slowed her jog to a walk. She was tired and her breath came in heavy gasps as she regained the energy she had spent on running, but she didn’t let her guard down in her exhausted state. Walking up to the raised steel portcullis, she looked around to make sure no one else would be joining her as she entered the castle. As she set her hand on the cold, tarnished golden knocker clenched in the jaws of an equally tarnished gold lion, that’s when she heard the distant, but crisp melody of the violin on the cool night air, and that’s when she knew the argument with her sister, the running, the years of curiosity and planning, had all been worth it. Finally, she had proven that the violin and its beautiful melody were in fact very real.

            Okay, a cautious voice in the back of her head suddenly piped up, you’ve satisfied your curiosity, now you should get back to the apartment. You know Jo’s upset, and she’s probably already called Mom to chew you out!

            “I’m not going anywhere,” she countered her conscience in a whisper as she stared up to the parapet of one of the towers in determination, her emerald eyes shimmering in the full moon’s light. “I’ve proven that the violin exists, now I need to know who’s playing it and why, and I’m not going to make a second trip the next full moon to find out. It’s now or never!”

            Though her whisper had been filled with confidence, as she looked to her hand on the knocker, realizing she was about to carry out the plan of running through an old, abandoned castle to meet a violinist she did not know, Chyou felt a slight tingle run from the base of her neck to the small of her back. She swallowed hard as a lump of fear formed in her throat.

            What if all those rumors are true? she found herself pondering in worry. What if the person playing that violin is actually a headless ghost, and when he sees me, he’ll chase after me for my own head?!

            Quickly, Chyou dismissed the thought, closing her eyes and taking in a few deep breaths.

            “Get a hold of yourself!” she whispered harshly as she sharply opened her eyes, glaring at the ground. “The next thing you know, you’ll start believing that silly lie Chad told about the vampires in this place!” With this last retort to herself, Chyou squared her shoulders, clasped the second knocker in her other hand…and pushed.

The double doors swept ajar in a strange grace, barely making a sound as they opened up to a large, dusky room. Chyou’s eyes widened as she watched into the darkness. She was able to make out the outline of a table and some chairs by the dim light of the full moon filtering into the area through a dusty, old window. She knew this part of the castle was the Great Hall based on what she had observed on the many tours she had gone on, but in the dark, the Hall seemed very different. It wasn’t as inviting when warm sunlight wasn’t reflecting off of the discolored silver chairs and ancient, cracked table and floor with brilliant strips of orange and gold…

She wasn’t about to let her fear get to her, however. With her brow furrowed in confidence, she nodded to herself, then walked into Brennenburg Castle.

The immense size of the castle and the amount of darkness that nearly swallowed her whole as she shut the ancient double doors was quite intimidating, but Chyou closed her eyes and let the familiar scent of musty basement fill her lungs and comfort her anxious heart. The odor always brought her back to her parents’ house, which had a basement that exuded the same smell.

While she focused on the stale scent for a moment, she began to hear the very distant melody of the violin again. She opened her eyes and looked to where she was detecting the sound. Her gaze landed on a spiral staircase that she knew lead up to the Lords Chambers of the castle. This prospect made her heart jump in her chest and set her mind racing. Could the violinist possibly be of noble birth? She doubted it highly, but the thought replaced her remaining fear with excitement, so she let herself believe it for the time being. Taking another deep breath, she smiled, her sights set on the ascending stairs, and she began to journey forward.

            However, before Chyou could reach the steps, a voice entered her ears and she instantly froze, her foot in mid-step, her arms tense and motionless at her sides, fingers bent as if she were gripping an imaginary weapon to defend herself with. Fear began to bolt through her veins with every rapid heartbeat that hammered against her ribs.

            “That’s right, Your Majesty,” came the voice again.

Chyou finally blinked and cautiously shifted her eyes to look around her. The voice was muffed as if it was coming from behind a wall. This helped her to relax a bit. At least whoever was talking wasn’t in the same vicinity as her… She straightened from her frozen position and looked to the wall that separated the Great Hall and the room adjacent to it. Carefully, quietly, she made her way over and poked her head ever so slightly around a doorway that had long since lost the door that connected the two chambers. She couldn’t spot anyone in the dark room, but she ignored this as she strained her hearing to eavesdrop on the voice as it continued.

“Yes, Your Majesty. The boy has agreed to drink her blood.”

            “My dear Mercurio,” a new tenor"rumbling like the grating of boulders"now spoke. “You’ve aided me well.”

            Hearing this conversation, Chyou’s curiosity only increased. Drinking blood? What human would do such a thing? And what unsuspecting girl were they drinking the blood of…? And…what kind of name was Mercurio anyway…? It sounded to her like some geeky teenagers had broken into the castle during the full moon as well and were using it for their nerdy hideout… Chyou shook her head, smiling to herself. These must have been the “vampires” Chad had mentioned earlier…

“It’s just a bunch of kids…,” she murmured humorously to herself. The fact that others her age or younger were in here with her made much of her fear melt away and she quickly disregarded them as she began her adventure once again, moving quietly away from the wall and slinking for the stairs where the violin’s soft melody continued to call her name.

            Little did Chyou know, however, that these “kids” were, in fact, vampires after all, and one of them, Mercurio, had been looking right at her just then. She hadn’t spotted him because he had used some of his powers to keep his appearance hidden, but his voice he had let her detect. He was seated at a desk of one of the late nobles of the castle, his legs crossed, his chin set in his palm as his malicious ocher eyes watched the doorway where Chyou had been standing. A mirror was placed on the dusty desk in front of him that held a figure made up of ever-shifting shadows"the spirit of the Vampire King"in its depths. A sinister smile pulled at his poisonous lips when his heightened eyesight could no longer detect Chyou as she bounded softly up the spiral staircase that would lead her closer to her very doom.

            “Poor girl,” he cooed with a mocking pitiful tone. “Death’s presence looms over her tonight and she won’t even know until the moment before her life is taken. Quite unfortunate, really…” He chuckled to himself. “Unfortunate for her, at least…” As he straightened, he turned his attention back to the mirror and looked to his master with wicked excitement. “It shouldn’t be long now, Your Majesty. The blood of this girl"Chad’s beloved"should be enough to resurrect you.”

            “You’ve done well, my servant,” the gruff voice of the shadowy Vampire King spoke again, something like malicious exhilaration in his reverberating tone. “When I return, I shall deem you my prince, and when I have regained my full power, we shall recreate this earth anew! The humans will soon know the true power of the vampires they looked down upon for so long!”

            As the spirit of his king cackled wickedly, Mercurio’s lips widened in a grin that revealed his sharp fangs. He shifted his amber eyes to look back at the stairwell Chyou had hastily climbed.

            You won’t stand a chance against the full moon’s pull on your bloodlust, dear boy, he thought with insidious delight. I hope you’re prepared to kill your beloved. It’s only a matter of time now.

The steps that lead up to the top floor of the castle soon ended in a cracked cobblestone landing and Chyou took two last quiet bounds to reach it. Once at her destination, she hunched over, setting her hands on her knees, and took in a few deep breaths. She wasn’t really the exercising type, so running to and around this castle had become quite the work out for her. She couldn’t waste time, though, she knew. She might miss the violinist if she dillydallied too long. Wiping her brow, she straightened and looked to the wall before her that was pockmarked with open rooms. This was the Lords Chambers, filled with enough rooms to house the lords of the castle. But…what was this? Right in front of her was a lodging that was a part of the Chamber, but it was out of place. Even after all of the tours she had been on, she could say without a doubt that she didn’t remember there being a room right here… Had they opened it to the public just now? It seemed quite farfetched, but this was the only explanation she could think of for the time being.

Besides, she thought, it didn’t matter why this room existed. What was important was finding that violinist!

Chyou’s hope and excitement heightened as she stepped closer to the very first chamber and heard the violin’s song grow louder and clearer. She was so close. Her heart pounded quickly, her anticipation carrying her onward. Cautiously, she poked her head around the corner to make sure no nerdy “vampires” inhabited this room as well, and when she saw that her way was clear, she quietly slunk in like a nimble cat.

The first thing she noticed in this new room was that it smelled slightly less musty than the rest of the castle. In fact, as Chyou took a few whiffs of the air, she could smell a hint of some fragrance…a fragrance that was slightly familiar. It almost smelled like the cologne that rolled off of Chad in waves… Curiosity heightened, Chyou took a few more slow steps around the area. The ancient featherbed was made, the yellowed linen sheets free of creases. Like the room itself, there was something off about the bed, as well. A lot of the castle was covered in dust, but, save for the discoloration, these sheets looked as though they had been cleaned recently.

Even more puzzled, Chyou turned to face the wardrobe now. She raised a hand and opened one of the creaking wooden doors, and her eyes widened when she spotted clothing lying in the old dresser.

“Clothing?” she thought in disbelief. “Does someone live here…?” Her brow furrowed when a thought came to mind. “Does the violinist…does he, in fact, live here…?”

She continued to think about this as she shut the wardrobe doors, but with the impact, something on top of the dresser began to rock slightly. The motion caught Chyou’s eye, and she glanced up to see what had been shaking. That’s when she spotted two framed photographs that made her brow crinkle in even more bewilderment and she began to scrutinize the pictures in awe. She certainly had been right about this violinist having a story to tell… The first photograph held a young couple, the women garbed in a white dress, the man in a black tuxedo. The second held a young smiling girl. As she put some of the pieces of this convoluted mystery together, Chyou guessed this was the violinist’s family. Assuming the violin player was a man, she figured he was the one in the first picture and the woman was his wife. Maybe the second picture was of their daughter. But…why were they living in Brennenburg Castle? Were they poor? As she surveyed them closer, she detected a few features of the couple that looked a lot like Chad. They were definitely of an Asian background… There sure were a lot of elements of him showing up in this castle…

Chyou began to refocus her attention on the melody of the violin still calling to her. When she finally met up with this violinist, there was no way she was leaving until he explained to her exactly who he was. She had found a scoop so interesting, newspaper reporters would be jealous for years to come!

As Chyou looked past the canopied featherbed, she saw another stairwell where the violin music was emanating from. She made her way over to the steps and began to ascend hastily, eager to unravel this complex mystery.

About to the top of the steps, Chyou spotted an open hatch in the ceiling and she immediately knew it led to the roof, not because she had learned this on a tour, but rather because the violin’s melody was directly above her now. Her skin tingled with excitement. This act of running around at night to find a musically-talented man she had never met before filled her with a rush of feelings: deviousness, delight, and carefree exhilaration, all mixed into one liquid pumping through her. It was almost as if she had snuck out of her apartment to meet a lover.

            Slowly, Chyou stepped up a few more stairs and popped her head out of the open hatch. The song of the violin filled her ears now that it was unimpeded by walls and ceilings, and within the crisp, clear sound, Chyou could make out a sorrowful and forlorn melody. For a moment, she was lost in the symphony and she closed her eyes, letting the sounds permeate her very being. The song seemed to tell a story"one filled with loneliness and betrayal. Chyou could practically feel within her own heart the very emotions the violinist was expressing. So profound was his playing that her heart felt as though it was going to break in the same way his was.

As Chyou began to open her eyes, she glanced up at the violinist, realizing that she hadn’t even taken a good look at him yet. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched him, trying to make out any features in the dark. The full moon’s light helped a bit, revealing that the violinist had his back turned to her. His long black hair was practically bleached white in the light, and the charcoal-colored suit that clung to his thin figure had turned silver from the moon’s rays. His head was tilted to the side, his chin resting on his well-polished, wooden violin. His left arm moved in a fluid motion as he guided the bow over the strings in an expert fashion, and his body swayed slightly with the music he created.

Without thinking, Chyou moved up the last few stairs and stepped out onto the roof, standing on the same level as the violinist now. Her heart hammered as exhilaration filled her body. She was so close to him, close enough to smell the charming aroma of cologne that wafted around her on a slight spring breeze. Unsurprisingly, it was the same aroma she had smelled in the room below. She took another step forward, then leaned to the side a bit to get a better look of his front side.

            As she viewed the violinist’s face"the strong jawline, the smooth skin, the high cheekbones and…was that a thin mustache just barely outlined in the moon’s light?"her eyes grew wide with disbelief as she realized that all of the hints pointing to Chad that she had run across within the castle hadn’t been simple subconscious messages. The violinist that was playing in front of her at this very moment"the same one that had been playing all these years"was Chad. Questions began to infiltrate her brain like phantom thieves now. That meant, then, that the pictures she had seen below were not of him with a wife and daughter…but…were they of his late mother, father, and sister…? And…the clothing in the wardrobe…? Did Chad live in this castle? He couldn’t possibly be so poor that he hadn’t been able to find a real house! He was intelligent, and his scholarships alone paid for half of his four-year tuition… Not to mention, his parents had been quite wealthy when they had been alive, so surely the money he had received through their wills was enough to help him make a living on his own…?

Putting aside thoughts of Chad’s home life, Chyou began to question his violin-playing. When had he taken up the instrument? She had never seen him practicing at school… And…why hadn’t he told her he played at the castle when she had informed him that she was going to travel here? She chuckled lightheartedly to herself. If he had really wanted her to stay away, he could have just informed her he would be there, then she wouldn’t have wanted to come at all!

Chyou began to step toward Chad, her lips forming into an excited smile. It really didn’t matter who the violinist was. Chad had some explaining to do!

            “Chad?” she called gently, trying to get his attention without frightening him. Her smile soon pulled into a grin as she drew nearer to him. “You should have just told me that it was you playing the violin here this entire time! Your music is beautiful!”

            The lonely tune of the waltz Chad had been performing was abruptly cut short as he froze when he heard someone speaking behind him. For a moment, all he could do was stand perfectly still, his left arm stationed with the bow on the last note he had played, his eyes now open wide and unblinking, his breath caught in his chest. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple quivering in his throat. It was strange that someone was investigating his melodies now when he had been performing for years… Taking a deep breath, he filled his lungs with the cool night air, trying to calm himself. He supposed it had only been a matter of time before someone wondered who was up here with an instrument. Might as well face them and see what they wanted. He mustered up the courage to move again, lowering his hands to his sides, bending to set his violin and bow down inside the case under the parapet. He would settle this maturely and quickly, then return to playing. With this in mind, he straightened back to his full height, turned around…

            …And his serious expression immediately melted to sheer alarm when he saw Chyou standing just yards away from him.

            “Ch"Chyou!” he stammered as he stepped back, his eyes wide, his mouth parted slightly as his lips pulled in a fearful grimace.

            Chyou laughed in good nature when she saw the shock on Chad’s face.

“I bet you weren’t expecting to find me here, were you?” she asked, lilting laughter in her tone. “But, hey, now we’re even. I wasn’t expecting to find you here, either!”

            Chad’s body seized with small quivers and his heart pounded against his ribs as if trying to break free. As he watched Chyou in terrified disbelief, the teasing memory of her saline blood quietly enticed his olfactory senses…then the real scent came on a slight breeze to torture him like the smell of a homemade feast he was forbidden to eat. Slowly, his alter ego detected more and more of Chyou’s vital signs…and it was becoming impatient. The beating of her heart had started soft in his ears, but the beating quickly grew into pounding, and the pounding into nearly deafening drumming. His eyes shifted automatically to her carotid artery as it throbbed against her flesh. To his horror, the full moon was influencing his bloodlust so much that he could now see the thick liquid coursing in crimson streams through the arteries of her neck. He didn’t have much time… If he was going to save Chyou’s life and his plans to announce his love to her, he had to do something now.

           “Chyou…,” he breathed again. He tried to compose himself"squaring his shoulders, regulating his breathing, forcing his eyes to watch into hers"but it was all so fruitless. He could feel the seething of his stomach acid as his bloodlust grew nearly intolerant. “What are you doing here…?” he questioned through clenched teeth. “I thought I told you not to come to this castle at night!”

            Chyou’s smile melted to a withered frown and she placed her hands on her hips, giving Chad a pointed look.

            “Who made you the boss of me?” she queried tartly. “It’s not like I promised you I would stay home, you know? Now I’ve got even more questions than what I started with! Why do you live in this castle? Why didn’t you tell me? And when did you start playing the violin? Your skill is amazing! Maybe you should consider putting that talent to good use, like attending concerts, rather than keeping it hidden from people!”

            Chad couldn’t speak another word. His brain and body alike were absolutely flooded with adrenaline. Should he flee from Chyou and use his earlier excuse of feeling ill? There was still a chance that he could keep his bloodlust hidden until the new moon arrived… But if he did that, would she chase after him? He wouldn’t get too far…not with his bloodlust so persistent…

What am I going to do…? he asked himself desperately, his eyes searching the cobblestone roof as if it would spell out an answer within the cracks. What am I going to do…?!

“What’s the matter?” Chyou asked when she saw he was struggling for words. She began to take a step toward him, but Chad abruptly held up a hand to halt her as he shot his other hand up to his forehead.

The bloodlust…, he thought frantically, it’s practically overwhelming! With each second, the craving grew stronger and stronger. He could see her blood, hear it…practically taste it as its aroma surrounded him, choking him of fresh air. If I don’t leave soon, I’m not going to be able to stop my alter ego! It’s too soon yet!

“Is something wrong, Chad?” Chyou asked, her exhilaration falling to concern. Not wishing to show Chad that she was worried, she kept a withered puzzled look on her face. “Are you still feeling sick? You know, if I help you back into your room below, you owe me… You’re going to have to answer every single question I have about finding you up here. And you better be ready, because the ones I mentioned earlier aren’t even half of them…”

“Chyou…,” Chad whispered shakily. He kept his fingers pressed to his forehead, his palm covering his eye so that she wouldn’t see his transformation. It always began in his eyes… “You must depart. Now.”

“Why?” Chyou took a step back, her face suddenly contorting in fear. “You’re not going to heave, are you? You know I can’t handle"”

“Leave… Now!” Chad snapped as he looked to her critically, his umber eyes shimmering in anguish. Then, just as the command left his lips, he winced and crumpled to his knees, groaning in pain.

“Chad…?” Chyou breathed as she watched him crash to the roof. She had never seen him in so much pain before… She wished to help him, but…why was he commanding her to go away?

He is quite prideful, she thought as she looked to the side with an impatient glare. Maybe he doesn’t want a girl to come to his aid…

But something told Chyou that she was absolutely wrong when Chad looked up at her with an intense concern hot enough to sear metal and growled, “Go… LEAVE!”

Chyou took a few hesitant steps back, still unsure whether she really should abandon him or not. Her indecision only increased when Chad suddenly removed his hand from his eye, lifted his chin, and screamed in agony. He hunched over, his body parallel with the roof, his knees and palms flat on the surface, and he began to suck each shaking breath through his teeth, his back rising and falling in staggered time. He dipped his sweat-doused brow, half whimpering, half yelling in pain as he fought back against his alter ego.

Chyou’s eyes frantically flitted over Chad, her brow furrowed in apprehension. She searched for a way to lift him up to his feet and help him into his bed, however, she stopped in her tracks when her eyes suddenly caught something quite unusual. As Chad continued to suck in shaky breaths, she saw that his cuspids seemed to be growing longer, sharper… And when she shifted her eyes to his hands still placed on the ground, his nails had become much like his teeth: extended and pointed at the tips. It was then that Chyou felt the prominent, resounding message jolt through her brain: Run. She tried to move her feet, but what she was witnessing was too terrifying, too surreal for her to accept and she was frozen in place by the terror that overruled her practicality.

“Chyou…,” Chad uttered shakily. His entire body was quivering and sweat slipped down his face in small rivulets, meeting at his chin and dropping to the cobblestones below. His eyes were clenched tight in agony, but, as he lifted and turned his head to look at her, he opened them and Chyou’s heart skipped several beats, ice suddenly flooding her bloodstream. Chad’s rich brown irises were altered to a glowing crimson the color of blood. “Leave…while you still…can…” he breathed one last time.

Finally, as Chyou’s brain began to accept her situation as real"very real, indeed"she was allowed to move. She kept her eyes firmly on the struggling Chad as she began to step away from him slowly at first, afraid to turn her back on him for fear he might attack her. What was he…? she wondered in terror. What had he become…? There was no time to question. She knew she had to heed Chad’s words and escape from this castle. Something was wrong"very wrong"with him… She could sense a devastating power"a tremendous malevolence"emanating off of him in waves… She began to take another step backward, about to turn and make a dash for the stairwell…

…But before she could, the back of her leg slammed into one of the crenellations of the parapet and she felt her body sway between the merlons.

For a moment, Chyou watched as time itself slowed to a near stop. The rectangular merlons slipped past her like choppy scenes from a broken film, then the outside of the castle came into view. Her arm shot out, reaching desperately for anyone"anything"to grab onto, but her nails scraped in vain on the stone tower wall and her death became a reality as her whole world tilted upside-down and she plummeted to the ground below. Squeezing her eyes shut, her lips parted in what would have been a scream…

…Except her fear was suddenly quelled, her cry dying in her throat, when she felt a strong hand grip her wrist, immediately halting her descent. An arm wrapped itself securely around her waist, and she began to open her eyes to see what was happening. When she caught sight of Chad leaning over the parapet as he held onto her protectively, her lips about pulled in a grin…

…Until she saw those glowing crimson eyes…and those sharp fangs revealed in a sadistic leer.

“You should be more careful, my love,” Chad cooed softly to her. As he pulled her back onto the roof of the turret, he clasped her fingers gently in one hand and slipped the other into his pants pocket. “I wish to drink your blood while you’re alive, not while you’re lying in a messy heap on the ground.”

Chyou felt her stomach lurch and her heart about stop at these words.

“Drink…blood…?” she stammered, watching Chad with a terrified stare. “You’re not… You can’t be a…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word “vampire.” It couldn’t be true…it just couldn’t be!

Suddenly, a memory flashed through Chyou’s mind.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the voice of one of the people she had heard speaking on the bottom floor echoed in her mind. “The boy has agreed to drink her blood.”

Had that man…really been a vampire…? Had he been talking to another vampire as well? And…had the girl and boy they had spoken of been her and Chad…?

Chyou’s vision faltered for a moment as she looked to Chad’s chilling grin. His fangs blurred, then came back into focus. This happened a second time when she looked into his crimson eyes, and a third when she shifted her gaze far above them to the full moon sailing in the sky like a brilliant coin in a wishing well that she wanted so fervently to wish upon so she could end this hellish nightmare. Was this how she would perish…? As she dropped her gaze to look back at Chad’s face, her mouth grew dry as if she was about to be sick. Vampires to her were like werewolves: fictitious, monstrous. Chad did not look like a monster. He looked very normal, save for his eyes, teeth, and nails. For a moment, she was expecting Chad to laugh playfully at her terror. Surely this was some prank he was pulling just to rouse her…?

Unfortunately, however, something certain in the back of her head told her that this was reality. Chad was a vampire…and he was going to drink her blood…

“Forgive me,” Chad’s smooth voice resonated softly"almost soothingly"in her ears now, and she gasped as he bent down to her eye-level, leaning in about a foot from her face. She could feel his body heat mix with the spring atmosphere, nearly taste his strong, rugged cologne as it melded into the air she breathed. She tried not to look into his crimson eyes, but they were so frighteningly unnatural that it was difficult not to. “Where are my manners? I never told you about my…condition, did I?” Chad chuckled teasingly. He withdrew his hand from his pocket, raised it, and tapped Chyou’s lips with the tip of his forefinger. “You about guessed it earlier. I’m certain you know, but I’m sure you’re wondering why and how?”

Chyou didn’t answer Chad. She was still too stunned to even speak. Her breaths came in short, choppy gasps through her nose and her lips quivered at his touch. As Chad narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing her maliciously, he raised his hand from her mouth to her cheek and began to caress her skin lightly with the knuckle of his forefinger. He carried on.

“It all started back when I was just a young boy. I was struck ill by a sickness that not even the best of doctors could cure. For months I was treated with various medicines and vaccines, but none of these worked however, and they soon gave up on me. On the night they were going to take me off of life support, a vampire named Mercurio entered my hospital room and offered me my health back. At the time, I hadn’t known he was a vampire, and so, I agreed to his offer.” Hearing this story, Chyou’s brow furrowed in surprise and her hiccupping breaths grew more erratic. So the men below had in fact been vampires… She remembered the name Mercurio very vividly… They had been talking about her right as she was standing there, and she was sure they had been waiting eagerly for her to fall into their trap on the castle roof. She didn’t wish to give them the satisfaction but…here she was… “It wasn’t until many years later”"Chad continued"“that Mercurio returned to me to tell me about my condition and the pact that I had unknowingly made with him the night I had been about to die. Now that I was older, he had informed me, the full moon would begin to affect my appetite. I would soon crave the blood of certain people"certain people that Mercurio also craved.” He smiled insidiously at Chyou, the left half of his thin mustache rising just a bit higher than the right. “You see, Chyou, Mercurio was the last of his kind, and when he saved me, his cravings were transferred to me. Our relationship is very symbiotic. He gave me my life back so now, in return, I drink blood to keep him alive.”

Chyou swallowed back the bile caused by terror that was rising in her throat. Her body was encased in shakes as Chad continued to caress her cheek softly, almost lovingly, and he squeezed her hand playfully. Chyou’s sickness rose as she felt his cold, sharp nails bite into her fingers.

“Why…,” she began, her voice cracking. “Why do you…have to drink blood…? Why can’t you tell Mercurio that you want to break that pact…? You say…he’s the last of his kind… Isn’t it about time all vampires died out…?”

Chad snickered, the noise combining a sigh of satisfaction and a malicious chortle. He set a palm on the merlon behind Chyou and crossed his left leg over his right, his shadow engulfing her as he leaned over her in dominance. He shifted his other hand from her cheek to her chin, cupping it tight in his palm, curling his fingers into her jawline. Now, rather than her fingers, Chyou could feel Chad’s jagged nails prick into her cheek like pins as he forced her chin upward and she clenched her teeth as her panic pulsated ice cold through her body. Normally she was able to escape any amorous gestures he made on her, but this was different. This wasn’t his normal flirting. This was forceful. And if she tried to flee from him, there was no telling what he would do to her in this state of his.

“Who said I have any desire to break the pact?” Chad asked her softly, mockingly. Without warning, he suddenly shot his face inches from her neck and opened his jaws in unison, his sharp fangs flashing in the moonlight.

Chyou yelped and flinched, instinctively bringing her hands up to her chest as if to protect herself, but when she heard Chad’s muffled, high-pitched laughter issue seconds later as he straightened back up, she knew he was just toying with her. As she closed her eyes and breathed in quick, whimpering gasps, she almost wished he would have started drinking her blood just then and ended her life. This fear was nearly intolerable…

Chad’s insidious laughter faded, but his wicked smile did not as he stared down upon Chyou with sneering derision.

“You see, Chyou,” he continued, “if I tell my master to release me from my duty to imbibe blood, assuming he would allow me to carry out such an absurd request, I’ll practically lose my ability to enjoy eating altogether. Think about it this way: What if someone or something took away your ability to taste? I’m guessing you’d be a bit upset, wouldn’t you? I would feel much the same if I couldn’t drink blood anymore. Food that comes from boxes and cans, even fresh food that we can harvest from trees and bushes tastes absolutely dull compared to the sweet life that flows in the veins of a living human being! It’s no wonder why vampires have such a fervent desire to sink their teeth into our flesh!” Chad chuckled to himself as he watched into Chyou’s eyes. He could see that behind the sheer terror shimmering in their depths was a look of judgment, of agitation at his selfishness. “Oh, please don’t view me like I’m some slovenly glutton, my love,” he requested with mock timidity. “I’ve already informed you of my more altruistic reasons why I won’t end my obligation to drink blood. I’ll just assume your fear has clouded your reasoning, and so I’ll repeat those altruistic reasons in more detail.” Chad’s voice grew quiet, almost intimate. “In fact, I almost nearly forgot. There’s something I must confess to you, Chyou. Remember when I informed you about my parents?” He waited for Chyou to answer him. She took the cue and nodded obediently, afraid to defy him. “I may have told you how they were killed, but that was all a lie to hide this condition of mine. Now that you know I am a vampire’s servant, however, I might as well let you know the truth of what took place. You see, my love, I was the one that took their lives.” Chyou’s eyes widened in horror, her brow knitting together at this shocking news. How hard had it been for the real"the sane"Chad to keep this locked up inside himself…? “I killed them out of obedience to Mercurio,” Chad resumed. “One of his cravings on a full moon night was their blood…and I obeyed. Do you understand, my love? I drank the blood of the ones that raised me, cared for me, loved me. That is how serious I am about this pact that I have made with Mercurio. It’s not something I expect you to understand, but when you’re about to die after months of fighting for life and someone"a stranger, no less"sacrifices something important to them to save you at the last minute, you feel indebted to them for the rest of your time on earth.”

Chyou’s face contorted as if she was about to cry, her eyes shining as tears welled up, her lips pulling at the corners in a deep frown.

“Chad, you’ve always been like that!” she whimpered hoarsely, trying her best to reason with this malicious personality. “You feel like you have to pay everyone back for every little task they do for you. But sometimes people should just do things out of kindness! Tell Mercurio that you appreciate him saving your life, but don’t go through all this pain to make it up to him! Break that pact and go back to the way you were…” The tears in Chyou’s eyes overflowed and trailed down her cheeks, dropping onto Chad’s palm, which was still cupped under her chin in a tight, painfully stinging grip. “I just want the real you back, Chad… I’d even let you flirt with me like you usually do, but, please,” Chad’s vindictive crimson eyes reflected her face as she looked up at him desperately, “don’t kill me.”

Chad laughed in wicked amusement, relishing Chyou’s fear.

“It seems you still don’t understand, my love.” He narrowed his eyes, the crimson in their depths darkening ominously. “You will never understand…” Chad closed his eyes, lifted his chin, and inhaled deeply through his nostrils. As the aroma of Chyou’s saline blood rushed through his senses, he removed his hand from the merlon, straightening, and set his splayed fingers on his thin stomach as it issued a deep, drawn out growl. “It’s in your best interest to cooperate with me, Chyou,” he said as he reopened his hellish eyes and looked down upon her. His lips drew in a grin and Chyou couldn’t help but look to his sinister fangs once again. “I’m rather famished, you see…”

Chyou grunted in fear as Chad removed his hand from his stomach and set a sharp nail on her neck. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth tight, her eyebrows furrowed, her complexion pallid, her breaths coming in hiccups through her nose. Chad’s single fingernail was cold and sharp against her flesh, like the blade of a steel knife. She could feel her own pulse hammering against the digit and she wondered if this was how Chad would end her life…

Suddenly, she recoiled with a squeal as a sharp pain traveled from her throat through her entire body. She felt warm blood trickle from the laceration, sliding down her neck and staining the collar of her shirt, but it hadn’t even been enough to make her feel faint. Of course he wouldn’t kill her this way, she chided herself in angry desperation. He was just toying with her again…

As Chyou opened her teary eyes and looked up at Chad like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding semi, she watched with clenched teeth as he lifted his now blood-stained forefinger to his lips. His scarlet eyes shifted to hers and he watched her seductively, his mouth set in a wicked sensual frown as he drew his tongue over the digit. Just as she thought, Chad was mocking her powerlessness against him, playing with her emotions, manipulating her fear so that her blood would rush faster and faster through her veins. Unfortunately, he was doing a good job of it…

Once Chad finished his sample of Chyou’s blood, he licked his lips then wrapped his fingers around her chin once more and forced her to look up at him.

“Why do you appear to be so alarmed, my love?” he asked in hushed derision. His twisted smile returned to his lips as he watched her closely. “I promise your death will be swift…,” his smile grew into a terrifying grin, “and quite delicious, based off of that small appetizer…”

As Chad chortled sadistically, Chyou grit her teeth against each other and squeezed her eyes shut, more tears spilling over and retracing the wet paths on her cheeks.

“You can’t do this!” she cried as she looked back up at him, her emerald eyes glistening in the full moon’s silver rays. “I told Jo I would come back home safely! You know how she worries!” She took in a few shaking breaths. “You wouldn’t want to worry her, now would you…?”

The corners of Chad’s mouth pulled in a lopsided leer and he swept his tongue over his lips as he savored the terror that surged from Chyou in waves.

“Oh, I wouldn’t let Jo worry about you, my love,” he said, his voice lilting with mock reassurance. “In fact, I’ll drink her blood, too.” Now Chad slowly leaned into Chyou, his grin melting to another sensual frown, and Chyou swallowed hard when she felt his soft lips graze her ear. “She’s always fawning over me like a puppy,” he whispered. “She’ll be such easy prey…”

“No…” Chyou whispered urgently. She hadn’t really thought about it before, but when she was killed, Jo would be next…and she really would be such an easy target because of her attraction to Chad…

“Come now, Chyou,” Chad breathed. “Certainly her blood won’t be as delectable as yours, but you mustn’t be so selfish… After all, Jo’s so smitten with me, I can only imagine how thrilled she’ll be when I start to lean in for her throat…” Chyou shivered when she felt Chad move down from her ear until his coarse hair brushed her shoulders. “And then I’ll begin to lick her neck…” Chyou’s heartbeat sped up when she felt Chad’s tongue slip ever so slightly on her own neck. “And then,” Chad began with a soft lilt in his voice, “I’ll bite.” At this, Chad brought his teeth together, and though the click that had issued from the action had been soft, Chyou still recoiled as if Chad had sunk his fangs into her flesh. Seeing this, Chad straightened and lifted his chin as he cackled in sadistic amusement.

While Chad’s laughter echoed in her ears, Chyou whimpered helplessly, her body quivering like a brittle autumn leaf. She couldn’t stand this torture anymore! Her heart felt as though it was about to bust out of her chest… In her hopeless, desperate state, she turned her head as much as Chad’s numbing grip would allow and shifted her eyes to look over the crenellations to see the black castle grounds far below. For a moment, she wished she had fallen off the castle’s turret earlier. Her death would have been quick and she could have potentially saved them all; herself from Chad’s bloodlust, Chad from having to fight against the wicked personality to drink her blood, and her precious twin sister from Chad when he couldn’t fulfill his bloodlust.

But, slowly, Chyou was beginning to realize that the possibility of suicide could still become a reality… Chad may have a hold on her, but his grasp was loose as he took pleasure in her terror. Gradually, while keeping her determined and anxious gaze on the yard below, Chyou tilted a foot back, the toe of her shoe easily slipping between the merlons and over the edge of the tower. She could already feel peace enfold her as she imagined her limp, lifeless body lying beside the castle wall…

“What do you think you’re doing, my love?” Chad sneered softly at Chyou’s futile attempt to escape him. Suddenly, Chyou watched as the edge of the tower"her only hope"disappeared to a blur of rushing cobblestone, and when her body was halted seconds later, she turned her panicked gaze back to Chad and noticed her back was arched, Chad leaning over her, his arms held at intervals on her back as if they were dancing. He grinned impishly, his fangs glaring unnervingly in the moon’s light. “If you kill yourself, I won’t be able to drink your blood. We can’t have that, now can we?”

On a frantic impulse that shot through her body like a jolt of lightning, Chyou launched her hands out in front of her, slamming her palms into Chad’s chest. The impact unleashed her from Chad’s hold and she fell to the roof on her back, releasing a sharp cry as the oxygen was knocked from her lungs.

For a moment, Chyou was dazed as she stared up at Chad. He had a dumbfounded look on his face, his fangs poking out just barely over his slightly parted lips, his crimson eyes staring at her in surprise. Chyou didn’t take much time to analyze his expression any longer. When her senses came back to her, telling her that she had escaped Chad and that she needed to run, her body flooded with adrenaline, each pounding heartbeat transporting the energy to every muscle and organ within her. She twisted around onto her hands and knees faster than she ever thought possible and began to scramble away from Chad like a wild animal fleeing from a cage. As she built up speed, she gasped for air, her adrenaline causing her heart to hammer fervently in her chest, and she stumbled upright onto her feet and bolted for the crenellations on the opposite side of the turret.

Chyou’s mind was focused on only one thing: escape, and that one action became so prominent, so clear in her brain that everything else"safety, reasoning, judgment"fell away.

Which was why she didn’t notice Chad dashing for her at blinding speeds.

A smile of desperate relief began to form on Chyou’s lips as the crenellations drew ever closer. She could almost feel the rush of wind enfold her, the flood of peace embrace her when she jumped from the castle’s parapet…

But her hope was dashed to pieces and her smile disappeared to a wince of pain as her world spun upside-down and she crashed to the turret’s roof. Clenching her teeth, Chyou lifted her head and shot a terrified look over her shoulder. There, she spotted Chad with her left ankle in a tight grip and a wicked grin on his face.

“Oh, I do apologize, my love,” he said as his grin melted to a mocking sympathetic frown. For a moment, he looked so innocent, so much like his real, sane self… “I’ve been unfair. I never told you that when my bloodlust is activated I gain enhanced attributes, like faster speed and powerful eyesight.” He whipped his other hand onto her leg and yanked, making Chyou yelp out in fear as she was dragged closer to him. “I also have more strength…,” he pulled on her leg again, dragging her closer, “and enhanced hearing…,” he heaved one last time, Chyou’s leg up to her knee now in his grasp. He brought her leg near to his face and rolled up her jeans to expose her skin. “I also have improved taste…”

Chyou grimaced as she felt Chad’s tongue glide along her bare skin and she whimpered as she set her head down on her forearms. Her hopes of jumping from the castle roof and ending this nightmare for everyone had been crushed within seconds… Chad was too quick… He was too persistent…

No… Chyou thought as her blazing flame of persistence began to return to her. I can’t give up! This is for me, Jo, Chad…everyone that he’ll eventually crave in the future if I allow him to continue to serve Mercurio… It’s true that the vampire saved him, but I guess he’ll have to learn the hard way that some debts are better left unpaid!

Chyou let her impulse to escape leap through her like a spark setting aflame a parched forest. With a fearful grunt, she lifted her head from her forearms and lashed a hand out for the cobblestones in front of her, digging her nails into the roof of the turret. She bent her free knee up to her stomach, grit her teeth tight, strained her muscles, and, using every ounce of strength her adrenaline could provide, tried to pull herself from Chad’s grasp.

But when she was pulled back once more, her fear grew into full-fledged panic. She shot a crazed look at Chad and began to kick her captive leg, her breaths becoming cries of frenzied terror.

“Let go, Chad!” she shouted, her voice high and shrill. “Let go of me!”

“Keep it up, my love,” Chad said in a sinister tone, grinning viciously down at her as he held her leg tight. “I like my meals lively. Keeps the blood flowing nice and swift!”

Chyou cried out in panic and frustration, gripping the cobblestones with her nails as she forced herself to thrust her leg harder. She tried to kick her other leg at him, but he easily removed one hand from her left leg and grabbed her right in his tight grasp. Now he had both of her legs in his clutches and Chyou realized she had made a big mistake. Her panic rose, and she tried to wriggle out of his hold, but it was no use. Chad was too strong, and she was running out of energy as she breathed hard. Her thrusting kicks grew into exhausted jabs, and tears began to spill from her eyes again when she realized the weight of her failure.

“What do you say, my love?” Chad asked her when he saw that she was tiring out. “How about we end this little charade and get started, shall we?”

Chyou looked back at Chad and noticed that his grip on her legs had loosened as he began to step toward her, getting ready to drink her blood. An impulse burst through her like a firecracker and she took this opportunity to kick out one last time. Laying her head on her forearms, she clenched her teeth and mustered up all of her strength, then thrust out with her foot.

Chyou couldn’t see what happened, but she knew she had finally broken out of Chad’s grip when she felt his hold immediately loosen and her leg flailing freely about, her other dropping to the roof. She had hit something with her foot, and with that impact, that’s when Chad had let her go.

Quickly moving her liberated legs underneath her, Chyou spun herself onto her back and scrambled away from Chad on her hands and feet, her breaths coming in relief-filled whimpers. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Chad was staggering around, and as she looked up at him, her movement paused when she saw he was shielding his face with his hands. What on earth had she done to him to cause him to be in such pain…?

Suddenly, Chyou’s eyes widened in shock when she noticed drops of dark red blood dribbling from Chad’s hands, falling to the cobblestones below and dotting them with speckles of crimson.

“Oh, my love,” Chad murmured in an ominous whisper.

That’s when Chyou knew she was in more trouble than she had been in that entire night. Frozen on her backside in horror, she watched as Chad slowly slid one of his hands away from his face, revealing one of his menacing, glowing eyes, then lashed it sharply downward, spraying a spatter of scarlet from his fingertips onto the castle roof. His other hand he held balled into a fist up to his nose, and he stared down over top of his knuckles at her forebodingly, his ruby eyes hardened in anger.

As she pieced together what she was seeing with how she had escaped Chad, it was then that she realized she had kicked Chad in the face, giving him a bloody nose. If she didn’t make a run for it now, she knew without a moment’s doubt that a very furious Chad would not let his guard down again and there would be near to no chance of escape.

“Oh, my love,” Chad repeated in the same threatening whisper. He began to stalk toward her, a fire burning in his crimson eyes, his lips drawn in a scowl more frightening than any wicked grin he had expressed that night.

Chyou’s fear spiked through her again, pricking every vein, every artery, every nerve in her body, and she began to backpedal furiously, trying to get up on her feet again.

But Chad was too quick. He leapt at Chyou and wrapped his free, bloodied hand into the collar of her shirt. He then pulled his fist back, taking Chyou with it, and slammed her hard into the parapet.

“You’ve shed the blood of a vampire’s servant, my love,” Chad breathed softly, leaning into Chyou while she watched him with wide, fear-filled eyes, shaking in his tight grip. Chad removed his fist from underneath his nose, the blood having dried, and wrapped his fingers around her chin once again, forcing her to look up at him as he watched her with burning rage. “Now there’s no reason why you shouldn’t allow me to drink your blood. You must atone for your transgression…”

Chad leaned down to Chyou’s neck, Chyou breathing hard in panic. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, but Chad made it clear she wouldn’t escape him again when he pulled on her shirt collar and slammed her into the parapet once again, driving the air hard from her lungs.

“Now then…,” he breathed in a hoarse, evil tone as he watched her blood pump furiously through her carotid artery. He licked his lips slowly, cherishing the moment, then leaned in and ran his tongue along her throat, relishing the sample before he dived into the full course.

Chyou watched Chad faintly, her fear causing her vision to swim. She closed her eyes for a moment, tears slipping onto her cheeks once again, and clenched her teeth tight as she felt his tongue slip across the laceration, making it sting slightly. She knew he was ready. No more toying with her, no more trying to woo her. He was going to drink her blood"kill her.

But, just when Chyou was about to accept her fate, accept her failure, she heard a sudden grunt of pain issue from Chad. She opened her eyes and looked down at him. He had moved away from her slightly, his crimson eyes closed in a wince, his grip now loose on her collar, and his other hand was held up to his eyes.

As Chyou continued to watch in a mix of fear and awe, Chad’s wicked personality began to disappear before her. His nails shrunk and his cuspids retreated back into his gums, and when he opened his eyes, Chyou felt an ocean of relief flood her entire being when she saw the usual rich umber.

“Chyou…,” Chad whispered softly, his eyebrows furrowed in concern as his eyes flitted over her face. When he saw that she was still alive, his expression turned to joyful reprieve, his lips pulling in a sad smile, his eyes welling with tears of his own. He removed his hand from her collar, then wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug, setting his cheek on the top of her head as tears trailed into her violet hair. “I thought I had…I thought I had already…” His voice trailed off, not willing to speak about what he had been about to do. In that moment, he didn’t care that he could hear Chyou’s heartbeat or smell her blood; all he could do was embrace her closer and tighter as if she would disappear if he didn’t.

“Chad…,” Chyou spoke gently, her breathing slightly strained from Chad’s powerful hold around her. This moment seemed fake, surreal. For a second, she thought she had already died, or was in the process of dying, and she believed she was hallucinating in her last minutes that Chad was hugging her.

But when Chyou lifted her arms and returned the embrace weakly, she realized this instant was as real as any other that had happened that night…

…Which meant that Chad would soon revert back into the monstrosity he had been moments ago.

In a panic, Chyou clenched her teeth as she wriggled in his arms, then slammed her hands into his chest to push him away.

“How much time?” she queried as she watched him fearfully, her relief falling to trepidation once again. When he didn’t answer her out of bewilderment with what she was asking, she shouted back desperately, “How much time do we have, Chad?!”

Now that he understood what she was requesting, Chad’s gaze drifted off to the side, his expression somber and filled with hurt.

“Not long…” His voice shook. “I was able to fight back the bloodlust for just a moment.” He looked up at her with pain swimming in the depths of his dark eyes. “Oh, Chyou… How could such a fate befall us…?”

Chyou watched Chad in sorrow.

“I’m so sorry, Chad…,” she whispered as she watched into his rich eyes. “I should have listened to you… I shouldn’t have come out here…” She could feel sorrow flood her being, which made her wonder for a moment. She knew her heart had been willing, but she hadn’t allowed herself to be attracted to him. All the times he had flirted with her, asked her out on absurd dates, tried to get her to hold his hand when she wasn’t paying attention… She thought those had all been tricks, that she was just another girl on his hit list…another mark for his ego…

But she was beginning to realize at this moment that, when she looked back at all of those times, they had only been for her. He had never flirted with any other girl, never tried to rouse anyone else with a silly date, never tried to hold anyone else’s hand. He truly had affection for her…and only her.

Which was why he was hurting emotionally right now. If she had been just another girl to him, he could have easily killed her off by drinking her blood without a second thought. But he had fought back against his bloodlust to try and tell her the truth: that he had always loved her.

Chyou was realizing that she had feelings for him, too. If it weren’t for his wicked alter ego, she would have finally accepted one of his many invitations to go out with him and they would have finally become boyfriend and girlfriend.

“What are we going to do…?” she asked him softly. She found she couldn’t look at him as her heart beat fervently in her chest, her cheeks coloring a slight scarlet.

Chad watched her in agony. In truth, there was nothing they could do. He would still need to drink her blood in order for him to satisfy Mercurio’s bloodlust. Naturally, Chyou wasn’t going to allow herself to be killed, and he certainly didn’t blame her. She had too much to live for: a dream to become an attorney, a sister to care for, a family to love, a husband to marry… But if he refused to carry out his duty, Mercurio"his childhood savior"would die… Even if he refused outright to drink Chyou’s life away, Mercurio wouldn’t go down without a fight, anyway. His master would only control his bloodlust again. There was no way Chyou could escape her fate…

In that moment, Chad realized what he had to do, and his heart bifurcated in deep mourning.

As Chyou glanced up at Chad, she noticed his hand was pointing to where he had left his violin and bow. He raised them a few feet from their case, then snapped his fingers, and Chyou watched in awe as the violin obeyed his command and the bow began to glide across the strings, playing the same sorrowful waltz that had lead her here.

“Chyou,” Chad said softly over the heart wrenching chords. He gave her a small, sad smile, holding out his hand for her to take. “Before I am forced to kill you, please take my hand and allow me to lead you in a slow dance.”

Chyou looked up at him, her cheeks still blushing. The offer was so tempting, but she still wasn’t prepared to die… There had to be some other way!

“Chad, you know I can’t allow that…,” she said gently. “Please…I’ll do anything with you, only after you break that pact with Mercurio. I’m not ready for my life to"”

Chyou was cut short as she gasped in horror. Her feet…they were moving toward Chad. And her hand…it was reaching out for his… She tried to stop herself, but her movements were no longer her own now, and she slowly drew closer and closer. Chyou looked up at him, alarm and disbelief shimmering in her emerald eyes as her hand soon took his. Chad wrapped his arm around to her back as she was forced by some hidden influence to set her other hand on his shoulder.

“What…have you…done…?” she whispered harshly through clenched teeth. She could feel her senses leaving her, dark spots forming at the edge of her vision…

Chad’s sad smile melted to a sorrowful frown as he locked his rich, brown eyes with her emerald ones.

“Please forgive me, Chyou…,” he whispered shakily as he raised their clasped hands in the air. “There was no other way… If I let you go, either my bloodlust will find you or Mercurio will hunt you down. But please…before you leave me completely…please know this…I love you, Chyou Xian. I have always loved you and will always love you… And I will miss you fervently until my time on earth comes to an end…”

Chyou watched Chad in fear as her vision began to fade, making his face swim, and her hearing weaken, causing the mournful melody of the violin to sound far off, distant. Chyou realized that Chad had used some of the power Mercurio had given him to influence the music of his violin to put her under some controlling spell. She felt the impulse to scream, to panic, to fight back against the man who had betrayed her to serve a vampire for some silly debt.

But then, as Chad began to lead them in time to the mournful waltz that filled the crisp night air, she realized that she wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Chad had loved her for a long time, and his intentions had never been to harm her. And maybe…maybe she had always loved him as well… She was practical, she listened to her brain, and her brain had told her that Chad had been flirting with her just to get her in bed with him. But this time, her heart had been right, and she should have listened before it had come to this… She smiled softly as she looked into his tearful eyes. Fortunately for her, she could love him in these last few moments before he carried out his responsibilities and drank her blood.

Before the rest of her senses left her as a mindless vegetable, Chyou used the last of her thoughts to calm herself and imagined what her wedding with Chad would have been like. Her parents would have been there, attending to all the details. Jo was good with specifics, she could have decorated the church and sent out the invitations. Her mother loved hairdressing, and she had quite the talent for it, too. She could have styled her hair into something beautiful, something she had never thought possible to impress her new husband. And her father, well…he could be the protector, the one that watched Chad like a famished hawk to make certain he didn’t treat her wrong. He was always good at intimidating…

When it came time for her to walk out to the altar, she would have been arrayed in a pure white pleated dress, violet earrings and necklace sparkling in the light, diamond ring glittering brilliantly as she walked arm-in-arm with her father…

And there was Chad, sharply dressed as always in a jet black tuxedo and ruby silk bowtie. She would leave her father and step up to the altar, and Chad would flirt with her playfully, reminding them of all the times his coy attitude had been shot down so viciously by her indifference. They would say their vows. They would kiss…

And then, they would live happily ever after.

And with this last thought, Chyou’s small smile melted to an unresponsive frown, and her vision, along with her senses, her thoughts, and her memories, were swallowed in shadow.

Chad swayed slowly, leading Chyou to the melody of his despondent music. He looked into her eyes to see they had become dull, no longer hosting the spark of exuberant life they had once held. It was like dancing with an open-eyed corpse. In mind, his Chyou was gone. Never again would he hear her laughter, her jokes, her voice. And soon, her body would join that vegetable state…

As he danced with the limp Chyou over to a merlon, he felt his bloodlust returning to him, his stomach seething as his heightened senses detected her blood. He knew his control was slipping quickly, so he halted his dancing, though his symphony played on, and set Chyou gently against the parapet. Just as Chyou’s back lined up with the merlon, Chad felt his grip on his alter ego weaken, and in an effort to keep himself upright as sharp pins of agony coursed through his body, he placed his shaking palms on either side of Chyou, flat on the parapet, his face just inches from hers, his sights set on her faintly. His breaths came in panicked gasps as his eyes shifted, the scarlet worming out of his pupils until the luminous, bloody dye overcame their rich umber. Wincing and baring his teeth in a grimace, his gums loosened around his cuspids as they elongated into fangs, and the skin around his cuticles slackened for a moment as his nails grew into long and sharp claws. He lowered his chin as beads of sweat formed on his brow and cried out in a desperate attempt to keep a hold on his sanity.

Then, Chad’s struggling abruptly ceased and his forehead dropped next to Chyou’s face against the rocky parapet.

In the next instant, Chad’s eyes reopened, their glowing crimson nearly encompassing the entirety of his irises as his pupils narrowed to pinpricks. His lips formed into a vicious grin. He was in control once again…

“Now, where were we?” he breathed maliciously to Chyou. He licked his lips as he drew his forehead off of the merlon and leaned in close enough to her neck to feel the body heat that would soon disappear. His lips parted, his fangs glaring in the moonlight, and finally, after a night of struggling with Chyou and his “other” personality, he buried his teeth into her flesh…

Blood began to spurt into Chad’s mouth and down his throat, slowly at first, but as he dug his fangs in harder and deeper, the liquid became a swift and steady river. It was unlike anything he had ever tasted before, nearly overwhelming to his heightened senses. To him, blood was, of course, always delectable, but when Mercurio had said that his taste buds would positively sing when he drank the blood of the one he loved, he hadn’t been jesting. There was something in the flavor that was so immensely succulent, so exceedingly delicious that he never wanted the flow to end. Like an overly addictive drug, Chad felt as though he had become dependent on the scrumptious flavor in order to feel contentment. This was epitome of happiness. All else that had given him pleasure beforehand seemed like scandalous, corrupt lies in comparison. The only problem with this feast, however, was that it wasn’t surging down his gullet quite like he had hoped. That had been his mistake, though, for allowing his “other” personality to take control and put Chyou into a mindless state.

You fool, he thought to his alter ego mockingly. It was your own fault for loving her. You knew you couldn’t stop this from happening. However…I suppose I shouldn’t be complaining. His lips formed in a grin around Chyou’s bloodied neck. This is the finest blood I’ve ever had the honor to drink!

For five minutes, Chad quaffed without ceasing. The ebb in Chyou’s blood supply was approaching fast, but he found it difficult to stop, and even after the stream had finally run dry and Chyou lay cold and dead in his arms, he could not remove his fangs from her flesh. He had become wild and animal-like, biting into her throat harder and harder, like a canine clamping down on the neck of its prey. Though he knew full well that Chyou’s blood would not return, he couldn’t stop the instinctual and automatic clenching of his jaws as the tremendous taste continued to entice him.

After fighting with his impulses for a moment, Chad was finally able to remove his fangs, but his physiological addiction held him in a tight, unrelenting grip, like a spoiled child demanding more sweets. He let Chyou drop to the ground without a second thought as he brought his shaking, bloodied fingers to his lips and began to lick them fervently, slovenly, his breathing coming in panicked gasps. Once the blood had been completely cleaned from his digits, he drew his tongue over his scarlet-stained lips, relishing every bit of flavor he could find. In order to calm himself, he took a few staggering steps back away from Chyou, but he couldn’t stop himself as he dropped to his knees and bent to lick the infinitesimal drops of blood off of the cobblestone roof that had dropped from his chin as he had been drinking.

But, before he allowed himself to stoop to such uncouth behavior, Chad consciously clenched his teeth together, glaring at the drops of dried blood, and forced himself to straighten up. He looked to Chyou just a few feet away as he took in a few last hiccupping breaths, an exhausted smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Ahh, my love…,” he breathed shakily as he made his way back over to her body. “You had me under your spell for a moment…” As he unbuttoned his suit jacket to allow room for his gut replete with blood, he crouched down next to Chyou’s body and draped a hand over his legs as if he were having a friendly conversation with her. “I wish I could thank you for the meal.” He mockingly took her cold and pallid hand in his, raised it above her head, then let it drop. It hit the cobblestone roof with a soft, dull thud. “But you seem to be a bit unresponsive at the moment.” Reaching into his suit jacket now, he withdrew a fully bloomed, immaculate ruby rose and laid it on her very still chest. “So, rather than words, I’ll leave you with this. My alter ego had plans to give one to you the night the moon was new, but I was a bit early, so I’ve produced one for you.” Chad now set his palms on his knees and grunted as he struggled to get to his feet with all the liquid encased in his bulging stomach. Once at his full height, he turned his back on Chyou while he stored one hand in his charcoal pants pocket, the other he brought to his mouth as he stifled a soft belch, then he looked over his shoulder down at the body of his once lively friend. “Well, my love, I believe it’s time for me to take my leave. It’s been a pleasure.” He laughed softly to himself, then smiled down at the corpse viciously. “Much pleasure, indeed.” And with this, he began to walk away.

But as Chad clacked in satisfied triumph to his violin and bow still playing their mournful tune, he halted in his tracks, his pleased grin disappearing to a grimace, and he winced in pain as his “other” began to come forth once again. He shifted a hand to his eye when he felt the glowing crimson retreating back into his pupils, and as he wrapped an arm around his bulging gut, he dropped to his knees once again as his body grew weaker and weaker with each passing second. In moments, he could feel his fangs retreating back into his gums and his nails withdrawing under his skin, and as he hunched over and placed a quivering palm flat on the castle roof, he let a trembling, sinister smile play with the corners of his lips.

You’re too late! he thought to his alter ego maliciously as the personality drew closer and closer to resurfacing. Chyou is dead and her blood was…well, should I even say it? It was to die for, Chad! I figured you didn’t wish to taste it, so I drank it all in your place. Then, just as Chad’s true personality began to reappear, his bloodlust whispered in the back of his mind: Until next time, Chad… and the wicked laughter that followed slowly faded away as Chad came to.

Chad gasped and his eyes fluttered open as if he was waking up from a bad nightmare. He blinked a few times, looking around him to recollect his bearings, and when he saw that he was on the roof of Brennenburg Castle, the fight between him and his bloodlust returned to him like a punch in the gut and he began to panic when he thought about what had happened to Chyou. When he turned his alarmed gaze over his shoulder, he spotted her lying limp on the cobblestones, and a despondent expression replaced his countenance of alarm, his eyebrows knit together, his frown deepening into a grimace of sorrow.

“N"No…” he whispered, his voice cracking under the despair that flooded his body. “This…this can’t be…”

Even as Chad wrapped an arm around his uncomfortably full stomach, even when he knew in the back of his head that he had drunk her blood, he denied that Chyou was dead. He couldn’t accept it… How had his plans to prove to her that he loved her backfired so horribly…? As he jogged lightly up to Chyou, he halted at her side and his eyes flitted over her painfully motionless body. She was lying on her back, her skin a sickly ashen, her chest still, her eyes forever closed. He couldn’t believe he had done it… He could see the rose"like the one he had been planning to hand Chyou the night he took her life"and even that wasn’t enough to convince him as anxious doubt flood his being. Any second now, she would jump up at him, try to frighten him like she used to when she hadn’t known how solid his nerves were.

When Chyou didn’t respond like how the desperate Chad was hoping, Chad’s knees grew weak, and he dropped onto them one final time that evening, his eyes constantly watching Chyou for any sign of movement. For a moment, he could do nothing more but kneel there, his teeth clenched tight so his lips wouldn’t tremble. When he eventually allowed himself to move, he leaned over her body, lifting a shaking palm, and set it delicately on the side of her face, watching her with hopeful eyes.

His incredulity in her death, however, was finally dashed to pieces when he felt of her ice cold skin, and tears began to well in his umber eyes, his lips pulling in a desperate, quivering frown.

At least she wasn’t allowed to experience any pain, he thought, trying his best to console himself. She would have had I not deadened her mind…

This thought gave Chad a slight amount of solace, but that infinitesimal peace melted away as his brain was suddenly inundated with Chyou’s memories.

They were late, he thought hopelessly. Usually the recollections of his victims’ past came early on in the drinking process. He guessed it was because he had put Chyou’s mind in a comatose state that he was just now seeing hers, and he cursed his very existence over and over in his mind, his tears overflowing onto his cheeks as the memories mercilessly raked his brains like icy claws, filling him with despair.

The recollections began with a video of what Chad could only assume was Chyou’s father and mother, coaxing her to walk toward them. Afterward, her memories were saturated with thoughts of her parents and sister. They had been a close family, he was learning. They had loved each other, supported each other, cared for one another… It reminded him of his own, late family, which only increased the hollow feeling in his bifurcating heart.

For the next for moments, Chad watched as memories of elementary school, recreational activities, family reunions, camping and vacations with her sister and parents, high school, and college blurred through his mind. The memories acted like films that had been programmed to run in fast forward…until the day she met him…

Chad blinked as Chyou’s thoughts now slowed until they were played at a regular speed. Though they were still quite hazy, this normal tempo indicated that these memories had been a bit more special to Chyou…and this surprised him the most. Chad could now see himself through Chyou’s eyes, grasping her hand, smiling slyly at her, winking at her romantically…and then came a recollection that was a tad clearer… It showed him sitting in the school rock garden, and Chad realized that this had been just earlier that day… Chyou was looking to him…and was that…affection he felt stirring in the memories…?

Chad blinked in awe again, a few tears escaping and dropping from his chin onto Chyou’s still corpse. The memories grew clearer and clearer as more and more passed through his mind. The thought he was watching now showed Chyou running through Brennenburg Castle, excitement emanating in waves within the memory because of Chyou’s interest to learn of the mysterious violinist.

Then…what was this…? It sounded like voices within the memory… This had been extremely important to her if he could voices…

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Chad grunted in surprise. Was that…Mercurio’s voice…? “The boy had agreed to drink the girl’s blood.”

What’s this…? Chad thought in bewilderment as the recollections slipped on, now showing Chyou running up a stairwell to where she would soon meet him. Mercurio had been talking to someone about me…drinking Chyou’s blood…? He addressed that person as if they were royalty… ‘Your Majesty…’ What could that mean…?

But there was no time to question as the memories continued to invade his heart and mind alike. A new reminiscence showed Chyou climbing through the hatch in the ceiling and the exhilaration that radiated off of this memory was so powerful, it even replaced Chad’s bitter hopelessness with excitement. Chad saw his own back turned as he swayed in time with the music he produced from the violin, which melded with the same waltz that continued to play even now.

But the elation that had filled these recollections was suddenly shattered, Chad’s hopelessness returning, when his bloodlust took control and tortured Chyou until her blood was pumping furiously through her veins. Chad brought a hand to his mouth as he watched the terror that formed in Chyou’s once emerald-green irises and his tears increased when he saw what his alter ego had done to her.

When Chad didn’t think the torment he put his beloved through would ever stop, finally, he watched through Chyou’s teary eyes as he took control of himself again…

…And that’s where the thoughts became so vivid that Chad felt as though he himself had experienced them. As he watched himself embrace Chyou, the aroma of his own cologne tickled his senses and he felt his breathing somewhat restrict as he wrapped his arms tightly around his late friend. Soon, he saw as his own face contorted in worry when he knew his bloodlust would return, and then he witnessed himself snapping his fingers for his violin to begin playing. As the music Chyou had been so faithfully searching for entranced her, Chad could feel her trepidation, rage, and sorrow toward him roll off of her like emotional rivers that flooded his being as well. She was so upset with him for betraying her…

But there was another emotion that soon overtook them all, and that had been love.

Chad’s eyebrows furrowed and he clenched his teeth tight as this revelation became apparent to him. Chyou"the one woman he felt he could never impress"had loved him in the end… He continued to watch the vivid memory ardently, eager to understand what he had never thought possible.

Within the memory, Chyou had realized that Chad only loved her and that if she was going to die, she would rather die this way than in the arms of any other man. One last memory appeared that made Chad squeeze his fingers tight against his cheek and his tears flow unbidden over his knuckles. She had used the thought to help calm herself, and it had been of their wedding. There was Jo decorating the church, and Chyou’s mother styling her hair, and Chyou’s father watching him cautiously to make sure he didn’t hurt his daughter. There she was, walking up to the altar in her beautiful, pleated dress. And as she shifted her mind’s eye up, he came into view, arrayed in a dapper black tuxedo. He flirted with her lightly, Chyou knocking his hand away playfully, reenacting the many times she had put up with him. The vows were said, a passionate, loving kiss was exchanged, and just before Chyou’s mind was swallowed in darkness forevermore, her last thought showed them living happily ever after.

As the recollections faded away to black, Chad clenched his eyes shut as he hunched over, his tears overflowing, his hand muffling the gasping sobs that escaped him. Slowly, shakily, he slid his hands under Chyou’s cold, limp body and took her gently in his arms, placing his cheek on the top of her head.

And his tears only grew more persistent as the thoughts of their wedding continued to haunt him. The marriage would never occur, their joining together would never take place. He had killed his one and only beloved to satisfy his master’s bloodlust, and he wondered to himself now, if he had never met Mercurio again after the vampire had saved his life, how many lives could he have avoided taking? Moreover, where would he and Chyou be today, tomorrow, in a few years? Would they have truly been wed? He would never know now…and to think that Chyou had finally loved him at the moment of her death filled him with inconsolable grief.

As Chad held Chyou’s cold body close, he rocked slightly from side to side as if he could console himself.

And as Chad’s self-playing violin continued to mourn into the night, he sobbed uncontrollably over his lost lover, his tears dropping from his chin and onto Chyou’s pallid face, melding with the tears she had shed moments ago before he had stolen her life away.

Author's Note

I'd really enjoy it if someone could review this work for me :) It's one of my better works that I put a lot of time into and I'm wondering if it would be worth publishing some day.