The kitchen was buzzing with warm smells and voices. There were only two people in there, but they cooked and multitasked to a point that I couldn't fathom, creating a bustle and noise that mimicked that of a busy restaurant.
I leaned against the white, tiled wall of the kitchen, unnoticed, gritting my teeth until I was sure I wouldn't start crying anymore. Why did Zero have to come here? Of all people, of all places. I couldn't go back outside now. He was probably still there and he knew I was still here. Being a vampire virtually makes you a tracking device on a Hunter's radar.
"You should probably stop harassing her, you know," I heard the voice outside. "She's not this Saki person you're talking about." It was that boy from earlier, the one I accidentally poked in the eye. Was he confronting Zero now?
"Stay out of this," I heard Zero snap, a familiar wariness rising in his voice. "It's none of your business."
"It's not any of yours either," I heard the green-eyed boy reply snarkily.
"You don't know anything," Zero snarled, his low, angry tone within my hearing range.
"I know enough to know that she doesn't want to go with you," the guy said. "She's clearly not interested in you."
You have got to be kidding me.
"I have no interest in her," Zero snapped, his tone incredulous. "This is something you know nothing about!" I could almost imagine Zero pulling out his gun, ready to fire in anger.
Get out of here and get moving, a voice snapped in my head. Seeing as he's only going to track you on his built-in radar, you might as well lead him away.
Good idea, I silently thanked the voice in my head.
Avoiding the notice of the cooks, I headed for the back door of the kitchen.
"Kisa, where are you going?" Connie's sharp voice told me immediately that I was caught. "You should be at the counter."
Darn it, my mind was screaming. Darn it with all the knitting needles on Earth!
Wait, what?
"I'm so sorry, Connie," I turned to face the sharp, grey-eyed woman, a hand lingering over my stomach. "I had a really bad stomachache and I couldn't find you, so I thought I would just go out for some fresh air."
Connie's eyes softened slightly as she took in my weak, stomach-pained figure. She would always seem scary and hawk-eyed on the outside, but on the inside, she would be squealing if a kitten so much as walked past.
"Are you sure you're okay," Connie reached forward to check my forehead. "You don't have a fever at least. If you really don't feel good, you can always leave early. I'll have Mila fill in for you."
"Thank you," I thanked her gratefully, feeling more relief than I'd ever felt over the past two years. "I'll try to come back as soon as I can."
"No worries," Connie patted me on the back comfortingly, turning from the strict cafe manager into a warm, loving mother. "You have a nice rest."
"Thank you," I thanked her again as she turned to leave, no doubt to find Mila and have her fill in her. I'll apologise to Mila later. The most important thing right now was to get as much distance as I could from Zero.
~~~
As I walked back from the cafe, I tried to wrap my mind around why Zero would just happen to be looking for me around this area. Had Kaien told him where I was?
If Kaien had told him - I felt my anger rising. I would kill him.
The streets had died down from their morning bustle, now littered with the shoppers, mothers and other people out wandering in the afternoon. It was peaceful as I walked through them.
Provided that Zero didn't notice I had gone.
A terrified wail jolted me out of my thoughts and suspicions. The smell of blood followed it closely, and an immediate thought came to mind.
Someone's being attacked.
By what, I wonder.
The snide voice at the back of my mind taunted me, trying to pull back the memories of blood, pain and fear. Shoving it aside with a clench of teeth, I began running towards the wail, partly drawn by the blood
Beast.
Skidding to a stop at the entrance of a side alley leading into a dead end, I could only make out a dark figure clutching the small shape of a child.
"Hurry!" I heard the first figure snarl at an unseen companion. Cloth shifted and the boy screamed again as he was thrown through the air, caught with a thump by someone I couldn't see.
"Hey!" I began to run down the alleyway, trying to ignore the particularly bad reek coming from a trash can. The dank, cobbled stones beneath my feet threatened to pull my legs from out beneath me as I approached the unknown person. "What are you doing to that kid?!"
"None of your business." The speaker was a girl, the figure I had seen when arriving at the alleyway. "Get lost." She leapt up onto the wall marking the dead end, her movements fluid like a cat's, before turning to face me, her features hidden in the shadows.
"In your dreams," I retorted, speeding up until I was almost at the wall, prepared to jump. Just as I coiled up to spring towards the girl, something crashed into me from behind, knocking me down and flattening me, painfully reminding me of a pancake. I lay there in defeat, feeling a pair of shoes dig uncomfortably into my shoulder blades as my new attacker stood on me.
Thank you so much.
"Oops," the girl raised her finger to her lips in mock realisation as she smirked down at me. "I forgot to say that we can't have witnesses. Can't as in, in the end, there are no people left who can say they saw us."
My neck hurt from craning up to look at her, unable to stand as I growled from my weakened position. Whoever had just been standing on top of me like I was a welcome mat seemed to decide I was moving around too much for his or her liking, and stepped off.
My shoulders attacked me mercilessly as I struggled to my feet, having being reincarnated from the vampire pancake I just was.
"Stay down," I heard a low rumble snap at me just as a heavy blow struck the side of my head, sending me staggering to the left. Stars glittered in my eyes and I managed to stay on my feet, barely, but my head spun wildly, leaving me teetering like a top. Bile rise in my throat as I tried to blink off the nausea that crawled into my stomach.
"Can't you just put an end to her already," the girl standing on the wall pouted, planting her hands on her hips. "She might squeak."
All she got was a grunt in reply as her bulky (and very heavy) companion moved towards me, into a shaft of light, and giving me a view of his face.
His face was set, like it had been carved into stone. A rough line told me he had a mouth, and his hooked nose barely quivered, despite the lingering smell in the alleyway. As my eyes drifted from his face, I saw the small shape of the kidnapped boy slung over his shoulder. Pale, wispy strands covered part of his unconscious face, but I could see the fresh cut on his cheek, still dripping with blood. That was where the smell had come from.
The sound of the girl's voice broke me from my study of her companions.
"I should have known," the girl stared at me, eyeing me like how a bird eyes a worm. "You're a vampire."
"What does it matter to you?" I wasn't going to let myself be cowed, even though right now, I felt like I just wanted to collapse. Just why did that giant over there have to clobber me so hard?
"You could be useful," the girl made no move, just continuing to scrutinise me, her eyes trailing over my features.
"Quit staring." It was a stupid thing to say, I knew, what with my ears still ringing from the blow I had received. I was in no state to fight.
"She's not very strong," the girl finally concluded, her study of me complete. "Finish her."
The first blow came without warning, only the rush of air accompanying the fist telling me to duck. It didn't have much of an effect, because once I ducked, I was immediately tackled and shoved by my attacker.
His shoulder dug deep into my stomach as he rammed me against the dirty wall of the alley, the shock reverberating throughout my body, stunning me, as I drifted on the edge of consciousness.
"Always so bloody," I thought I heard the girl sigh, darkness creeping into the edges of my field of sight.
Yeah, I found myself agreeing weakly. A knife to the throat would have been much more painless.
Click.
Time froze as everyone in the alley tried to decipher what that sound meant. For me, I knew what it meant.
Definitely not a silver-haired vampire hunter.