A Rose That Blooms Once Every Ten Years

First Night - A Vampire's Lullaby

How much time had passed? Minutes... Hours, perhaps.

She had lost count the third time the lullaby of the music box had begun to play again.

Such a pure melody... A reminiscence of those days of blessed innocence that had been her childhood.

Almost nothing of that innocence remained anymore...

"Your innocence hides sin."

The icy wind lashed at her silver strands, obstructing the view of her crimson eyes.

She had let her hair grow out again... After years of wearing it in a bob, she had allowed it to return to shoulder length for quite some time now.

When had she started? Ah, yes, of course... Since... that day.

In any case, she no longer liked the previous hairstyle... It reminded her too much of... Soren.
And, by extension... him.

No, she would not speak his name... She still almost trembled at the mere thought of him. It was still too recent, too fresh a wound...

She began walking with extreme slowness along the edge of the rooftop she had climbed onto that night.

It was a less elegant neighborhood than those she had visited during the previous evenings, but for some reason, she felt she had to be there that night.

Of course, she had hesitated as always at the thought of going out yet again, but the oppressive atmosphere of the house had eventually driven her away.

She had left her familiar-a white-furred cat with amaranth-colored eyes-to watch over Ai and Soren because, once again, she...

Had gone to him.

And she would spend the entire night with him, waiting for dawn. Exactly as she had done for the past six months.

A contemptuous sigh and a grimace of irritation crossed her lips at the thought.
She wrapped herself more tightly in her long fur-lined coat... She was well aware that, at that moment, with that posture and attire... she resembled him more than ever.

Nothing remained of his body... This was one of the things she envied most about humans. At least they still had the possibility of visiting the bodies or ashes of their loved ones after death, whereas vampires...
Vanished.

They simply disappeared... Silently, as though they had never existed, and all that remained for those left behind...
Was an unfillable void.

The melody of the music box began once more.

It had been one of her favorite sounds for as long as she could remember. A piece by some great composer from some distant era.

Truth be told, it was not the music itself that attracted her, but the meaning it carried: it was the melody that had accompanied her parents' first official dance.

A lifetime ago now... In every sense.
Ah, she truly ought to thank good old Isaya for making such an event possible...

"Ah... You are Ze-"
"When one wears a mask, etiquette dictates that one's name should remain unknown, doesn't it?"
"You're right, but... then you know how to dance..."

How many times had she asked to hear that story as a child? Probably far too many, yet she could never stop wanting to listen to it.

It was always him who told it, and inevitably, she would not be satisfied until she was granted a special version of that dance... One dance for the two of them alone... Away from everyone else, yet infinitely precious.