Yuu held my hand as we carefully walked out of the house. He had his eyes set out straight but something with the way his cold fingers tensed told me that he had his mind elsewhere – everywhere. He seemed to be looking – trying to find something I couldn’t see.
That could easily be explained by some pragmatic rationalist you see every day at TV. Maybe he crunched a few blocks of ice before he came here, or maybe he’s just clinically insane – or, the more possible explanation - that I had gone clinically insane. Maybe somewhere between the pages of the books I’ve read, I managed to let my sanity slip by somehow.
Something scared me to think that I’ll just wake up the next moment and find out that this was all a product of my harebrained imagination…In truth, I never want it to end.
“What do you feel?” he murmured as if to himself. Yuu carefully faced me back, removing the specs that hid half of his face away from the world.
“Feel?” I blinked. I don’t know…like melting ice maybe?
We zipped past the main road where the arcades are and then the long line of commercial buildings and boutiques. The part that was eerily almost thrilling about it was that we had somehow passed all of it with no time at all…or maybe it was just me imagining things again.
“About knowing” he mumbled, still locking my fingers around his.
“Knowing? O you mean about me dying – dead, I mean.”
The hushed sound of cars and wheeling trolleys passed us by. There was the vague sound of people talking and walking but at the same time there seemed to be only the two of us now.
“Pretty creepy” I shrugged. “Right now it’s all too creepy for me to assimilate just yet”
He stopped midway. We were about to cross the intersection towards the old narrow road. From there, there was only the coveted part of the former main highway of the city that’s now covered in tree and moss.
“Yuu…?”
I was afraid to ask, so afraid that he’ll turn into fog and just disappear. I was pretty sure that I had gone clinically insane and that I was walking around town with a banner saying the end is near for everyone to read.
“I made a promise I should have never kept” he said, stepping back into time and space.
From a single moment there was only the two of us…and then his hand began to let go and I could hear what the people in the streets were actually talking about, the loud honks and the angry tire screeches across the highway. It was like being plunged back into reality – a reality full of nothing but cold water.
I stood there for a couple more minutes until my mind snapped back to adapt once more to my reality and saw his figure steadily walk away towards the hidden narrow road.
“Hey wait!” I called out, my feet automatically running after those hands. But when I was finally a few steps near him again, I began to pace slower – still scared that those same hands will reject my stupid ones.
“I’ll let you see this city for what it truly is” he said out loud, this time meaning for me to hear his words.
“The city?” I blinked again, not following.
“Yes” he nodded. “This entire city will be your best evidence”
He then led me further up the narrow path, never once looking back if I was still around. But then again maybe he already knew I would follow him anywhere in the world.
“You must resist temptation” he muttered, gripping his fingers together into a tight knot.
“Huh?” I blinked.
“It’s a feature” he said, pacing forward again. “We tend to be more alluring at the coming of night to ensure our prey won’t run away from us”
This time it was my heart that stopped midway. An array of vampiric attacks and those freakin’ Hollywood movies swarmed in making me feel dizzy. At once I noticed how it had gone from gray to perpetual dark. A cold breeze made me look up and saw the pale full moon.
Of all the eerie –
“Don’t be too afraid. You’ll attract others with that loud thumping” he said slowing his pace a bit. “Ah here’s one” He stopped holding his hand high. I stepped into place behind him.
“What is it?” I asked peeking through above his arm.
I realized that we had actually walked all the way into the city park. From the cover of the old roads into the cobble stones arranged in circles around the clock tower, there were park benches.
“Sshh” he signaled, pointing at the couples that were positioned all throughout the park. “See those two over there? They’re different.” He said, focusing on a particular couple seated in the shadow.
“What about them?” I asked. Looking closer I had finally found what he meant. That particular couple were noticeably luminescent when lights from the passing cars would flash by them. “Kojic acid?” I shrugged.
“Not just yet” he cautioned, motioning towards another couple walking into the shadow. This time only the woman was partly luminescent. Once she had him seated next to her, she had her jacket nimbly wrap around his face. The wailing made me look away afterwards.
Pretty soon it wasn’t only the ones in the shadows anymore. Once we got back into the main street, it seemed that one out of ten people had been almost too different, but I just never noticed before. There were some with deep-set eyes that seemed too dark or too pale to be human. One in black turtle neck came close. I clung to Yuuzel’s wrist when I now recognized what it was. He left with a low growl when he saw him.
And then we went to the arcade shops. I recognized a teller I’ve talked to several times before. He saw Yuuzel, their eyes met and pretty soon he was looking at others inside the shop meaningfully. I kind of got what that silent conversation meant.
The weirdest part was passing by one of the local churches and Yuuzel nodding towards an old priest, who nodded back, looking at me with concern in his eyes.
“W-were there always…” I trailed off, rubbing my hands together to fight the chills.
“There had been always many of us” he said.
“All this time you…how come nobody found out?”
“Nobody bothers to look anymore” he replied. “Nobody sees. And in the long time I was asleep, it never mattered to any of us – until now”
“Now?” I blinked, forcing the itch down my throat.
“Now…I must be the harbinger of danger to you. Now…you must know it all once again”
YOU ARE READING
Blood Ink (The Archives Book I): Editing
Vampire"Two deaths that happened in the distant past were revealed to me. Now there was a recent murder within the school that I had to witness for myself. And when I fled to a new found friend (though I wanted to be more than that) for comfort, he tells m...
