Blood. The blood stretches out to the horizon, and probably runs on into infinity.
I'm floating face up in what looks like an immense river, and the current is carrying me somewhere I have no real interest in reaching. The liquid is warm, thick, and gives off a thin vapor that curls up into the air.
Above me there's more red, though a different red from the river. A sky with no stars, no sun, no moon, only a crimson that makes me think of the underworld.
Even so, I feel good.
Maybe because every time I sleep deeply, I always end up in this place?
Anyone dragged along by a river of blood should at least be disgusted. But I feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be, enjoying it the way I'd enjoy a good vacation in my free time.
I lift my hand a little and look at it. Blood slides down my fingers, leaving threads that fall back into the river with small ripples.
Whose blood is all of this? Is it mine? Is it from the things I killed? I don't know. Does it matter?
"Heh."
I smile, close my eyes, and let the current carry me.
And then something hits me in the stomach.
"Ugh!"
The blow is so abrupt that the air leaves my lungs in one gust. My eyes snap open and the river of blood disappears along with the red sky and the vapor. In its place I see two eyes looking at me from very close.
They're two eyes with intense red irises, the color of fresh blood, and the sclera painted black, as if someone had dipped a brush in ink and run it over the white part of the eye until it was covered.
They're genuinely beautiful eyes, in my opinion.
Well, I have the terrible habit of finding attractive the things that should scare me, so I spend a couple of seconds just looking at them.
Then I realize those eyes belong to someone, and that someone is sitting on my stomach.
Long hair falls over my face, blue in color. The tips brush my nose, which gives me an annoying tickle warning that a sneeze is on its way.
The girl on top of me notices my expression and her eyes go wide with panic.
"D-don't, don't, don't sneeze in my face!"
She grabs my nose between her thumb and index finger and squeezes hard, cutting off the air that way.
"Goob mornig, Touka."
My voice came out completely deformed, like a duck with a cold trying to talk.
"Dib you sleeb well?"
I watch this girl try with everything she has to keep a serious expression, but the corner of her mouth trembles uncontrollably, and for a second I think a laugh is going to escape her. It didn't, unfortunately.
Pressing her lips together, she huffs in irritation and lets go of my nose.
"Bah. With you sleeping in my room, and a pervy vampire to boot, I hardly got a wink of sleep last night".
I rub my nose a couple of times, then look up at her and raise an eyebrow.
"Mmm. Pervy vampire? You and Saya have gotten pretty close, haven't you? You're picking up her way of talking. But let's see, Touka, let me get the situation straight. I'm the one underneath, right? And you're the one sitting on top of me, right? So the pervert isn't me, it's..."
"Shut up!"
Her hand covers my mouth before I can finish the sentence. Touka, with her cheeks slightly pink even though the rest of her face stays blank, glares at me with blue eyes.
Somewhere between waking me up and now, she put the kakugan away.
Since she has her hand over my mouth, I take the chance to look at her properly.
She's wearing a loose white shirt, several sizes bigger than her normal clothes, and from the way it opens at the collar I recognize it as one of mine. The shirt hangs off her shoulders, leaving her collarbone exposed, while riding up enough to show her slim white stomach. Below that she has pink shorts that don't even reach halfway down her thigh. The fabric looks soft and comfortable, but it's elastic enough to hug her thighs and show off their shape.
Heh.
Cute.
I decide not to say that last part out loud because I know Touka, and I know that going from "pervy vampire" to "dead vampire" is a very short distance where she's concerned.
Touka huffs again and takes her hand off my mouth.
"I'm hungry."
"That's fine."
I sit up without warning.
Whether it was intentional or not, the fact is that sitting up all at once means her face, which had been level with mine while she leaned over me, is now level with my chest. She has to tilt her head back to meet my eyes again.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"
She lets out a small yelp while looking for something to hold onto.
I put an arm around her waist and keep her where she is, straddling me. She struggles a couple of times while hitting my shoulder with an open palm. Of course, her hits and her attempts to get away are very weak compared to her actual strength.
"Touka."
"What?"
"You can drink."
The instant I say that, her struggling vanishes from one second to the next. She goes still on top of me, hesitating for a second or two before reaching some internal conclusion. Closing her eyes, she buries her face in my neck and I feel her teeth go through my skin.
Touka isn't a vampire, and ghouls don't normally feed on blood. But she and Rize had developed a kind of private exception in my case. Both of them feed exclusively on my blood, and that's enough for them to not need human flesh at all.
A single meal of my blood should be enough to keep them full for over two weeks. I confirmed that a while back when I found out my blood has a ridiculous nutritional value thanks to the RC Cells that never stop increasing.
But these two shameless girls drink from me every single day without fail. Sometimes they get even more shameless, like when we're alone at school or in the park, whether it's Touka or Rize, and they tell me:
"I'm hungry." "I need a little." "Just one sip."
Of course, I know the real reason isn't hunger. It's that my blood is extremely addictive to them. Once they taste it, they can't stop drinking it, which makes it impossible for them to live without me. Neither of them would admit that out loud, especially Touka, who is a light-type tsundere.
And me, being the good friend that I am, decided to pretend I believe their excuses so I don't embarrass them too much.
Though every time I think about it, it makes me want to laugh.
While all of that goes through my head, I hear the small sounds Touka makes against my neck.
"Mnh~"
Satisfied sounds that somehow come out like purring.
As she keeps drinking, I see drops of sweat sliding down her neck, running down her nape and disappearing under her clothes. Soon the floral smell of the shampoo in her hair and the sweet smell of her soap on her skin intensify from the sweat.
I lower my head a little and look at her neck. A white, slender neck with soft skin, partly covered by strands of her straight blue hair.
I swallow.
'These girls are really shameless, aren't they?'
Well, in that case...
I lift my free hand and carefully move the hair away from her neck. Touka, busy with what she's doing, doesn't notice what's happening.
I bring my mouth to her neck, part my lips, and sink my fangs in.
Touka's body freezes instantly, and I notice every part of her tense at the same time. She stops drinking my blood, and from her throat escapes a low sound, very close to a moan of pleasure that she clearly didn't mean to let out.
"W-what do you think you're doing, idiot?!"
Without answering her shaky insult, I keep drinking.
And the funniest part is that despite protesting, she doesn't pull away, and she doesn't go back to drinking from me either.
"Ngh~"
She covers her mouth by pressing it against my shoulder to suppress the sound. Shivering slightly every time I draw a little more, I can feel her body getting warmer.
The emotional frequency leaking off her is a tangle of excitement, embarrassment and fear.
"W-wait... hey..."
She wraps her arm around my waist and squeezes gently.
"...A-am I going to turn into a vampire now?"
×××
If you liked this, throw me your Power Stones!
At 100 Power Stones, I'll drop a bonus chapter.
You can read advanced chapters on my P@treon
[email protected]/OlwinMoriarty