Bloody Masquerade [private]

[cat.]

Kamijo took her outside on the balcony where she requested, helping her to get outside as she said. Poor girl, having to go through all of those events without any warning. He remained calm, since he found there was no reason for him to start freaking out. He has already experienced things like this in the past, so it did not phase him. The scent of vampire blood did not bother him as much as it used to, since he used to hate the smell of it. Now he could smell it without it bothering him.

As he brought her outside, he breathed in the fresh scent and still breathed in her smell. At least it wasn't as potent as it was in that closed space. Now it was just a smell that he could endure, like a small scent of a perfume. However, his eyes looked at the scratch that was on her neck. The sight of it made him remember that he was the one who let that happen to her when he was getting the vampire away from her, the vampire managed to scratch her neck. At least it wasn't deep.

"I am sincerely sorry that you had to go through all of this," he told her as he stepped towards her. He gently placed his finger under her chin, gently lifting it up to see the cut that was on her neck. At least she wasn't bleeding as much anymore. "I am sure that you are terrified of us now after seeing us kill those newborns without a second thought." It was just their instinct to defend themselves, that is why they sprang into action so quickly. He also had Alice to defend, he acted on his instincts to defend his guest as well.

He had ripped the bottom piece of his shirt that was clean and not soiled in blood, and he pressed it against her neck gently. His shirt was ruined anyway, so he did not care that he just tore it. Blood was a hard stain to get out of clothing, especially if it was vampire blood. "I do not mean to frighten you, but you are going to be involved with us now," he spoke to her, "They know your scent now, and they will do anything to have you. For safe measures, you should stay with one of us at all times."

 

[redblood]

She should indeed be terrified of them. But for some reason she wasn't. While the scene of human.. or vampire pieces flying all over the place did frighten her greatly, the people involved did not. At least not the ones that hadn't tried to eat her. The vampires outside of the council was a different topic. They made her understand her fathers hate towards their sort a little bit more. But Kamijo had only protected himself and his kin. Their ways were unnecessarily brutal, but not even Alice could have thought of any way of solving that situation without some of them dying. She couldn't blame them.

With the fresh air sipping into her lungs, she felt her body relax slightly. Now it was only her hands that shook a little bit. For now the worst shock seemed to be over as she had left the brutal scene. But she figured she might just fall back into an even worse state once everything sank in completely. She was in the calm before the storm so to speak.

"You defended yourselves. It couldn't be helped." Alice said, not confirming nor denying if she were afraid of them now. She didn't want to say anything about it before her brain had actually processed the events completely. People often went numb and didn't know what to feel during those kind of traumatic experiences. She might become incredibly fearful in a few weeks. Or maybe she would forget about it in a few days. Who knew. Everyone reacted differently to these kind of events.

"I don't think that idea will work in the long run though." She told him. "My father isn't the biggest fan of vampires. If he knew that vampires had to protect me because of what happened tonight, he would..." She stopped herself. Kamijo still didn't know that her father was a vampire hunter. He even hated the council. He would definitely try to kill them if he ever knew that his daughter had gotten into danger because of their recklessness. She wasn't too frightened for Kamijo's safety, but for her fathers. "It would turn out bad." She ended, knowing she couldn't just end on a cliffhanger.

 

[cat.]

This woman was full of surprises. It seemed like that she didn't fear him, but rather feared the others. Each vampire was different. They were either on the council's side, or they were against them. Being against the council wasn't the smartest of ideas, however, there were those vampires that had matched strength to those in the council. Luckily they weren't there this evening. This was only the beginning of the many attacks that were going to happen. They had to prepare themselves for a war.

Alice spoke about her father, and Kamijo listened to her words. Of course her father did not like vampires, he understood why he wouldn't like them. Vampires were evil creatures, at least some of them were. Kamijo and the rest of the council were not evil, to say. They weren't heroes either. It was government. They did what was right in both parties, but most mortals and vampires did not see that. Vampires wanted to feed on humans, that was their nature. Humans wanted to kill off vampires because they didn't belong in this world. It has been going for centuries.

"Even then, it is not safe to go home," Kamijo mentioned, and he knew that he was right. Her blood slightly showed up on the cloth that he held against her neck, indicating that it wasn't bleeding as much anymore. Removing the cloth, he let out a small sigh. "Vampires will follow you, and I wouldn't want that to happen. Your family will be at risk, unless they know how to defend themselves against my kind." Was she actually going to risk going home and possibly end up harming her family?

He did not know any other way to explain himself, so he was just going to let her decide on her own. Alice was a smart woman, he never underestimated her. "My dear, I just don't want anything bad to possibly happen to you," he said, looking down at her, just being concerned for her overall safety.

 

[redblood]

Only her father could actually defend himself against vampires, and he wouldn't even be home for a few weeks. Their home was pretty much vampire safe though. The outside on the other hand wasn't. One step outside while it was dark could be devastating. Her family usually had the rule of not going out in the dark because of her father's paranoia, but it did happen that her mother wanted to smoke, and she refused to do it inside. Alice often lost track of time after school ended and got home just a few minutes before the dark came, sometimes even a few minutes after. Those minutes could be devastating.

If she told her parents about what happened, then they could probably hide pretty well during the night. But not only could something happen, like an accident that made it impossible for them to get back to the house in time. If the vampires were patient enough then they might realize that they could threaten her with someone outside of her family whom weren't stuck in a vampire safe house.

The more she thought about it, the worse answer she got. She and the people she knew wouldn't be safe no matter what she did if she went back home. At least for the night. Even if Kamijo followed her all the way back, someone might spy on them and realize where she lived and then get to know more and more until they found a weakness. How could her innocent curiosity have brought her into such a horrible situation?

"Dad has vampire secured the house though. Non can get in or out. We've had a rule not to go out in the dark so as long as we stick to that, nothing should be able to happen." Alice said, wanting to believe it so badly, but couldn't completely make it.

"If I walk home during the day, then they shouldn't be able to stalk me there, right? As long as I stay inside during the dark hours they won't know where I am, right?" It was almost as if she begged for a positive reaction. But of course they would find her there. They might not be able to get in, but there was always other ways to get someone out of a house. A trace didn't disappear for days, and as long as they picked up on it the night after they might find her rather quickly. And she would lead them to the most important thing in the world to the young girl. Her family. Even she realized that before the older vampire had even answered her. If she wanted to keep them safe she should stay as far away as possible until the vampires that knows her scent was gone or had given up the chase.

 

[cat.]

Alice was trying to make herself feel better, Kamijo could tell. All of the scenarios she spoke of seemed like they could work, but she forgot who she was going against. Vampires picked up trails quickly. Scents didn't leave them until they had their target where they wanted it. If only there was an easier way to get her home, but there wasn't. Her trail was going to be easy to find. Any vampire could find a scent strong as hers. If they smelled her once, they could easily find her again. It wasn't hard.

"You are safer here," Kamijo told her, wanting to be completely honest with her. There was no point of lying to the woman and reassuring her that everything will be okay when she got home. The only way she would be safe was if his council were to guard her home, and they wouldn't do that. Everyone had themselves to worry about, they had their own battles rather than being bodyguards to a mortal woman. "Your family will be safe if you disappear for awhile."

It pained him that she had to go through all of this. He did not know what it was like to be connected to family like she was. The closest to family he had was the council, but even then, they weren't his own blood. His parents were killed during a vampire war years ago, and he had no brothers nor sisters. He didn't have any other family, so he was alone. Of course he managed, he was better off not having a family to worry about. Other vampires may have families, but not many of them did. Vampires did not need companionship to survive.

"Alice, you may choose to do whatever you wish, I cannot force you to stay here," he said to her, "Just know that I cannot protect you any further if you do leave." He couldn't drop his duties as the leader of the council to just defend only her. No one would allow that. If she left, she could always come back, but he wasn't allowed to linger at her home.

"Kamijo, Tuskin is in the foyer, he wishes to speak with you," Elena spoke from the door, not wanting to step further in to intrude in their conversation. She had already known what they were speaking about, but she wasn't going to say anything.

Kamijo placed his hand gently on Alice's shoulder, and excused himself with a slight bow before walking away from her to head past Elena. The female vampire stayed outside with Alice, making sure that she was alright. At the moment, the human girl shouldn't be alone. Just in case anything else were to happen.

 

[redblood]

Alice knew he was right. But it was hard to take in. Everything was happening so fast. It felt as if the rest of the world suddenly went on a highway while she was driving slowly on the countryside. She had to catch up to it by making a decision, but how was she supposed to do that when everything drove passed her so fast?

She leaned on the wall behind her, barely able to stand on her own legs any longer. Both she and her family would be safer if she stayed where she were. But if she did, her family and friend's would be devastated. If they didn't get to know where Alice were, then they would try to find her. If they didn't then they would be horrified. If they did, then there were a thousand things that could go wrong. If she told them, then they, especially her father, wouldn't accept it and force her back home. They would just hope that they could protect their daughter by themselves. That was just how they were. And then they might get killed for it.

No matter how she turned and twisted on the situation, she couldn't find a good solution. Why couldn't she just dig a hole and hide herself in it until the problem solved itself somehow? She was a teenager. These things didn't happen in real life. It was stuff that came from crappy vampire romance books. The female protagonist had incredibly smelling blood and then needed protection from a creepy vampire guy when all kinds of beings wanted to eat her. That had only been reused a few times. Sometimes they changed vampire to werewolf or fae, or fairy. But in the end it was all the same. Well, at the very least Kamijo probably wouldn't make a hobby out of watching her sleep.... She hoped.

But whose fault was this? Was it truly the vampires that attacked them? Kamijo had said that they had expected this for quite some time... They expected an ambush and still they invited an outsider during such a critical time. She might have gotten angry about it if she hadn't been in such a shocked state still. Instead of an angry rage, she found herself laughing uncontrollably. Sinking down on the ground, she held her stomach tightly as it started to hurt a bit from her laughing attack. Everything was insane. Nothing truly made sense. Especially not her behavior. But maybe to a psychologist it would. If not, then her sanity must be completely screwed by now.

"Did everyone make it alright?" The question slipped out after a few moments of silence once her laughter had stopped. Of course she meant the council members. Humans and vampires. She just wanted to distract herself for a moment. She did hope for some good news. That would certainly help as a distraction.

 

[cat.]

Elena had been watching her, curious as to what the human girl was thinking. Poor woman was probably going through a lot, especially that she had to witness those murders. Also, the fact that Kamijo told her that she should stay with him. That was the best option that she had, if she were to leave, bad things would happen to her. The council would get a bad reputation if something were to happen to her, they housed a young mortal and brought her into the meeting. No one should know about it, but news about the attack will happen. Those newborns will start spreading rumors. Something was bound to happen.

Then she heard laughing, and Elena knew where it was coming from. Alice was probably undergoing some stress, and that was how she was dealing with it. It seemed like she was slowly losing her sanity. The vampire understood, since it did happen to people when they weren't used to seeing events happen like they did. Human brains worked differently than a vampire's. Humans were used to being so happy and carefree, while vampires were always prepared for the worst.

At the question, Elena gave a nod of her head. "Yes, everyone made it out safe," she told her, not knowing if Alice knew that Kamijo had stepped away for a brief moment to speak with someone. "One of them is going to suffer a concussion, but he will make it out alive."

Before she said anything else, she looked up to see Kamijo walking out with the one that was in the foyer before. As they stepped out, Elena went back inside to give the three privacy to speak. They were going to ask for her to leave anyway, she had a hunch. Kamijo had looked at Alice, seeing that she was slumped down to the ground. A brow rose in question, but the man next to him started to speak.

"Unusual, Kamijo, bringing a young girl into a setting like this," the man spoke, his voice was slightly deep and strong. "Poor girl is probably suffering insanity right now. The stench of vampire is wrecked in your home, and that is a horrible scent. Sometimes I wish I didn't have inhuman senses."

Kamijo disregarded the sentence, keeping his eyes on Alice. "Will you be alright, Alice?" He questioned, crouching down to her level to look at her.

Spoiler

 

[redblood]

No one was dead. That was good. Too bad with the man whom got hurt though. Hopefully he would get better soon. Alice wondered if he would come back to the council after that. They did know the risks, sure, but usually people didn't care about the risks before something like this happened. Because everyone always thought, 'what's the odds of that ever happening to me?'.

An unfamiliar voice broke her thoughts. A man. If he hadn't mentioned Kamijo's name she would probably have jumped out of her skin. The young human girl did not want to be too close to nonhuman strangers at the moment. For pretty good reasons. Him mentioning his inhuman senses just made her think vampire. But if he were with Kamijo, then he shouldn't be bad. At least not on the same level as those others.

Couldn't the sun go up already? That way she could be alone without being in danger. She could think things through without getting disturbed. The older vampire kneeled down beside her. The question did take her by surprise. Most people asked, are you alright? Not will you be alright? It didn't feel like she would though. It wouldn't even surprise her if she went completely crazy during the night and hanged herself before they woke up the next night. Oh how her mind liked to exaggerate everything. Of course she wouldn't kill herself. She would probably just look at whatever she would use as rope and be scared half to death, then skip the idea. She didn't have the willpower to do such a thing.

"I don't know..." She answered, because she didn't. Maybe she would be fine in the morning, maybe in a week, or a year, or never. It was hard to know such things. A new noise made her jump, then she realized that it was her phone. Taking it up she saw a text message from her mother. She believed Alice was at a friend's house and would be back home later. 'Having fun?' It asked, and then she went on saying that Alice's uncle would come over tomorrow for dinner, so she asked for advice what to serve. What was she supposed to answer to that? She might even not be able to be home then. Rephrase that. She most likely wouldn't be able to be home then.

"You do realize that if I disappear, they will sooner or later send out police to find me." Alice commented, still looking at the telephone screen. "What do you think will happen if they find me here?" It was a curious question, as the police would get involved at some point. With today's technology they could find people whom disappeared pretty fast. Her friend even knew that she had been going to the vampire masquerade party, thus they would most likely check it out. If they actually realized that the young girl was there, be it a kidnapping or a runaway case, it would look bad for the council. Hiding a runaway person would give them bad publicity, but they could also assume that she had been brainwashed like in the stories and actually were kidnapped, which would be even worse publicity. What would happen to the vampire-human treaty if that happened?

 

[cat.]

The noise of the phone made Kamijo look in question. The vampire was not used to the technology of today even if he have lived for so long and experienced new things during every century. Vampires did not have a use for phones, but newborns were in tune with the technology. The elders kept with sending letters, it was harder to trace when they did send them out, and they had a mental connection when something was wrong. Their way of communication had been a lot safer than with the use of phones, and other things like computers. Kamijo was stuck in the 1700s, since he was a couple of centuries years old. He knew how cell phones worked, but he chose not to have one.

"Don't sweat that, sugar pea, I am part of the police force myself," Tuskin said in response of her family filing a police report saying that she was missing. He had hid hands in his jacket pockets, looking down at her with a slight grin. Since he was part of the police department, he knew how to run things at the station. It didn't make him a crooked cop, it just made him lenient. "They won't have the ability to search this place unless they have a warrant, which can take awhile to obtain. Also if they do come to look, there are secret rooms you can hide in. It's not hard to escape them."

"No, I have a better idea than that," Kamijo spoke, standing to his feet and wondering if his idea was actually going to work. To not risk police flooding the place and disturbing peace, and not making her family worry, he just came up with the idea. "Tuskin, you should escort her home tonight. You scent will mislead the newborns. They will just assume that she remains here, and they will plan to break in here again."

"Oh yes, blame the shapeshifter for having a strong smell," the other male replied, shaking his head as he thought of the idea. It could work. They would be searching for a sweet smell, not a musky sweet. The only problem was would she even trust this random stranger to escort her. "And my apologies, my name is Tuskin. How rude of me not to introduce myself."

 

[redblood]

A vampire working with the police? She had never heard of such a thing. Especially since the police sometimes had to check on dead bodies. They would have to be very tolerant towards blood to be able to make it through such a scene. But maybe she was wrong. Maybe he weren't a vampire. But what else could he be? Well... A human with strange abilities weren't completely unheard of. It might not be official that people with different kinds of supernatural abilities exists, but many people have come out saying that they can use stuff like telekinesis. Maybe his strong sense of smell is something like that. It's not weirder than the existence of vampires.

"Don't call me sugar pea." Alice mumbled as the stranger stopped talking and just before Kamijo started to speak. Apparently he had another idea. And it did more than confuse the already confused and shocked girl. He wanted her to go home? But literally minutes ago he told her to stay because it was too dangerous for her family. She looked up at the two men as if they were both crazy, almost missing Tuskin's words of being a shifter.

"Wait, what?" It wasn't the best explanation to what it was she didn't understand, but so much was flying around in her head she didn't know where to start.

"What smell are you talking about?" She didn't smell anything from neither of them. "What's a shifter?" The only fact she had on shifters were from a horrible vampire romance book, and they seemed more werewolfish. "And how is that a good plan? Even if they don't notice me in another place tonight doesn't mean they won't tomorrow night. My room probably stinks of me." That was something she just realized. The places she visited often which other people rarely were in should be drowned partly in her stench. Had she left the window open? Please don't say she had. Even if they couldn't get in that didn't meant they couldn't wait until she returned or get her mom when she were outside.

"I'll probably break apart as fast as my mom says welcome home. And then she'll know where I've been, she'll call dad, he'll come home. O God. He'll probably try to kill someone. Sure, it is he's job, but this can't be something he'll be able to handle." She had now entered a panicked ramble, and didn't think at all about what left her mouth. Not even when she practically told them that her dad was a vampire killed did she notice. Or she practically told them that he were a killer, which might have been even worse as a police man was there.

 

[cat.]

The two males looked at one another as the woman started to panic before her. Poor thing was probably just lost in the conversation, and they knew that she was going to be. They were all on different mind tracks, so everything must have seemed like a jumbled mess. The vampire was calm about everything, letting the woman speak her mind before he started to say anything. However, the other gentleman was going to jump ahead and try to stop her from rambling on and on about something. That is where the two of them were different, Kamijo was the calm and gentle one. As to Tuskin, he was more blunt and straightforward.

"Calm down there, don't give yourself a heart attack," Tuskin told her, placing his hand on her shoulder gently as he looked at her. "Let me try to explain what is going on. Since you are a human, you can't smell the things we can. My smell is overbearing to vampires since I am a shapeshifter, so I have a stronger wolf scent that throws their senses off completely." He paused for a moment, letting that register in her mind for a brief second. It was certainly a lot to take in. "As for a shapeshifter, I am kind of like a werewolf, but I don't need the full moon to change forms, which is lucky."

Hopefully that would clear her head on those questions, but he had a feeling that she would still be confused. He would have been as well if he were in her position. It was just really unfortunate that she was dragged into all of this. Though, it was Kamijo's fault that he allowed her into the council meeting in the first place.

Then Alice started to speak about her father, and both of the males looked at her curiously. Did they here her right? Her father's job was to kill people? That made Kamijo feel a little uneasy. Perhaps he was either a hired assassin, or he was a vampire hunter. Those could be the possibilities. Tuskin shook his head, letting out a small sigh. "This is such a mess, things can escalate way too fast, and you know that Kamijo," he said, looking at the vampire.

"Yes, I know," Kamijo replied, and then looked at Alice. "Your life is never going to be the same since you stepped into our world. I apologize that you have to go through all of this."

"Either you stay here, or you go home," Tuskin stated, looking at the woman. "If you stay, you get to be around all of these vampires you don't know, but they will protect you here. Or, you can go home to your loving family with me escorting you from place to place, and I am a stranger as well. The choice is yours."

 

[redblood]

Even though the shifters answer should help her clear some things up, it only left her with more questions, which all were pretty pointless for the situation. It wasn't an easy choice to decide while the mind was still on overdrive. It didn't seem fair to let a shifter protect, or escorting her when he had nothing to do with the situation to begin with. On top of that she had no idea how she would react when she saw her parents. She might freak out and tell them all about the council, which would be bad. She'd rather remember that there were vampires out after her than forgetting everything that had happened because her mom smiled to brightly for her to lie when she were such mess.

But if she disappeared, she would hurt her family. They would wonder if she were dead or alive, waiting endlessly without getting any answer. Who knew how long it would take for every vampire that knew her smell to be taken care of.

Why couldn't she have gotten an easy choice like apples or oranges? Instead she got electrocution or gas chamber. Non were appealing, but a choice had to be made or else someone else might make it for you. Luckily she weren't on death row. But she felt as unsafe with whatever way she chose.

Alice was silent for quite a while. Even though they told her it could be safe for her and her family if Tuskin would be close by to her, there was still that slight chance that something would happen eventually. Just because they were young vampires didn't mean they had to be stupid. One of them might think instead of act on impulse. She couldn't risk her mothers safety.

"I can't go back home." She said. There was far too many factors that could go wrong with that decision. She did not know Tuskin, or what he was capable of. Even if one vampire were able to see through their trick, he might not be able to do anything about it. "I can't put such a risk on mom."

 

[cat.]

Everything wasn't the same. No one was expecting Alice to be part of this war, but she was pulled into it without a choice. There were no shortcuts to get her to safety, and there had been no easy way. The only way she would be safe was if her blood was tainted by a vampire biting her and taking her blood. Kamijo wasn't going to allow that, and she would probably not be willing to offer her blood so easily like that. Besides, it was too dangerous for anyone to take blood from her. No one would try to stop themselves from taking her life. Every choice was risky, but for now, it was better if she were to stay.

"Then it is decided that you stay," Kamijo spoke, nodding his head. He would do anything in his power to keep her safe. The others did have a choice if they wanted to protect her, but they didn't have to. Zayn wouldn't bother with it, the vampire was too selfish to protect someone that he wasn't close to. Elena was someone who would see if Alice was alright, but only would protect her if need be. Kamijo was the only one who seemed to be the nicest out of the lot of vampires, taking in a mortal woman when he could have just erased her memories and walked away from the situation.

Tuskin looked at the two of them, shrugging his shoulders. There were risks for this decision, but he wasn't going to say anything. His opinion never mattered when it came to talking to these vampires since they were the higher beings, so to speak. At least they had shapeshifters as their allies, but werewolves, not so much. "Are you going to call your mother or anything? I am sure that she deserves a right to know that you aren't going to be home for a long while," he told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

 

[redblood]

This wasn't really how she thought her freshman year in college would end. If this mess ever resolved she would have to redo the whole year just because she had to disappear for the last few months. That would probably be something that would irritate her a lot once she got to that point.

Now there was a more urgent topic to think about though. If she called her mother now, what would she say? She was certain that the sound of her mothers voice would make her cry. That would be reassuring for her parents. Getting a call where your teenage daughter cried on the phone and couldn't talk properly. If she called she would have to do it when she actually were certain that she would be able to form a sentence. Now was not that time. Maybe a letter would be better. Or a text message. If she called around midnight she would just get the voice recorder, and then could leave a message instead. They still hadn't recorded their own message into it, so she wouldn't have to hear her parents voice. That would definitely help.

But what should she say? I'm running away? Well, if she said that, then at the very least they would search after a runaway and not after a dead body or a kidnapped girl. Then the council wouldn't be suspected.

"Maybe later..." Alice replied to Tuskins question. She weren't going to lie. If she were able to find the right words, then she would call. If not, then it would only make the situation worse, and it would be better to let it be. Maybe was probably the worst and best answer in the world. It was so unclear and vague it could be both a yes or a no. It was irritating to get the word when you wanted an answer, but also such a relief that you could use it when you needed to. It was an unfair escape.

"H... How.." She stopped herself for a second. She knew what she wanted to ask, but it was just hard to talk while another storm wanted to get out of her throat. She wondered when she would start crying. It must happen at some point. "How many... got away?" She finally were able to get out. Alice didn't even know how many had been in the room, and she hadn't kept an eye on the ones running. The more of them that were out there, the worse. If they only were a couple, then it should only be to wait for one or two attacks and then they should be done for. Well... If everything went in a good way. It was hard to believe that the one being pro-give them a chance, was now thinking it was better to get rid of it. Well, things changed when ones family was in serious danger.

 

[cat.]

Tuskin gave a nod of his head when she told him later. That he could understand, if she were to call now, who knew what she would say? It was better off if she did call at a later time, maybe in the morning when her mind was a little calmer than it was now. That was how he felt when he ran away from home all those years ago after turning into a shapeshifter. He didn't inherit his trait from family, he actually wanted to become one to not live a normal live. He would rather be this than a vampire, he still wanted the ability to eat normal food and be close to people without wanting to kill them.

At the question of how many were there left, Kamijo had thought about it. There were only a few of them that they killed, and it seemed like a handful of them got away. Their leader had been one of those who got away, which was completely unfortunate. "About ten of them got away," he concluded, glancing at her for a moment. "They are going to recruit more newborns since their numbers had dwindled down some. We never know when they are going to attack again, but we must prepare ourselves."

That could take them up to a few days to a few weeks. They could take the time to learn abilities that can aid them. Now there were different things to worry about. They could even recruit those from neighboring cities, from far off places. The council had their own allies, but they were spread out, making sure that vampires did not act out in different cities. They could be possibly be targeted as well, which wasn't good. No where was safe that had vampires living in their cities.

A cell phone started to ring, and then Tuskin took his phone out of his pocket to answer. The phone call was quick, because it was merely seconds that he hung up. "Duty calls," he stated, glancing at the both of them as he put his phone back in my pocket. Giving his attention to Alice, he gave a slight smile to her. "I will bring back food for ya when I come back in the morning, vampires don't exactly cook even if they have a kitchen. Plus, I will give you company if Kamijo decides to sleep during the day."

He said his farewell, and then left the two on the balcony to head back to work, even if it was late. Cases still had to be solved no matter what time it was in the day. Kamijo watched as he left before looking at Alice. "It is getting rather late, would you like me to show you to room so you can relax awhile?" He would rather not leave her alone, but he would give her space if needed. A lot had happened tonight, so he would understand if she needed to be alone.

 

[redblood]

Ten... That was more than she had thought. The situation didn't become better by them recruiting more vampires. Why couldn't she just have been the boring normal kind of person? The kind that didn't get involved in vampire business. The kind that didn't become curious over things that barely affected her own life. The kind that didn't smell like a gourmet dinner for vampires. If only one of those things had been taken away from her personality, or in the last case scent, then she wouldn't have been where she were this evening.

Then a phone rang. Alice barely even noticed before Tuskin told them that he would be leaving. It wasn't really him leaving that caught her attention. It was more him saying, 'if Kamijo decided to sleep during the day'. If? Didn't vampire have to sleep during the day? Most people would probably never have thought about that little word. But Alice needed something, anything, to distract herself.

Alice watched as the man left, not saying a word of goodbye or see you later. She weren't sure what she thought about him yet. And she didn't want to get any opinions about people when her mind was so distressed. That might not be something she chose, but at the very least she could ignore the in the moment opinions she got of them until she could get to know them better, and when she weren't an emotional wreck.

The young teen nodded in reply to Kamijo's question. If she could then she wanted to fall asleep, and if possible just stay asleep for a few years. She was sure that neither would be so easily accomplished, but one of them had a slight possibility of actually becoming reality, even though it might take a while. "I would like that." She added to her nod.

As she rose from the ground she did feel slightly light headed, but at least she could walk this time. They hadn't gotten far before she asked, "what did he mean if you decide to sleep? Don't you have to when the suns up?" She was certainly influenced from both old and new vampire stories. There was one though which completely ignored everything the original vampires were. If she got to know that Kamijo sparkled she might just get another unstoppable laughter attack.

 

[cat.]

Kamijo nodded his head, relieved that she actually wanted to get some rest. When she was occupied in her room, he would have to talk to the vampires of the council to iron out things about the newborns. They had to be ready for another attack, and they would have to keep the human members of the council away to keep them from getting injured. People had families to go home to, they couldn't have injuries or people would start asking. Stories would have to be made up at that point.

With her question, he gave a small sigh. "When matters are important like this, I do not sleep," he told her. "You will find it will be hard to tell that the sun is up in the mansion in the morning. Every window has a thick curtain to block out the sound, and if you open the curtains, the windows are tinted for safe measure. We just need to make sure that we are not in direct sunlight." They were night walkers for a reason, the sun was their enemy from the start. That one novel, Twilight, fantasized vampires way too much. Glittery vampires, how absurd.

"Come, I will show you to a room," he mentioned, giving her a slight smile and walked her back inside of the mansion. He led her from the balcony to head up the stairs to the east wing of the home. "If you wish to allow some notice of sunlight in the morning, just keep your curtains open. The windows are tinted enough to see if it is daylight or not, and it is tinted enough to allow us to walk around still.'

The vampire opened the door to a guest bedroom, and stepped inside to head to the bedside table since it was dark in the room. He turned on the lamp, allowing the light to engulf the room. It was decorated with Victorian styled furniture, with colors of red and gold. It had a bed near the window, with a dresser in the corner. There was also a recliner with a small love seat in one of the corners of the room with a small shelf of books located against the wall. The room was kept nice and spotless.

"If you need anything, my room is the last one down the hall," he told her, then he pointed to a closed door. "That's a bathroom located behind that door. I can have Elena bring you some clothes if you wish to change, since you both have similar body types." At least he knew how to be a good host.

 

[redblood]

So vampires didn't have to sleep during the day like in the old classics. But there were still the problem with the sun. It must be awful to be allergic to half the day. Especially during summer when the sun was up far more hours. Vampires far up in the northern countries couldn't get much fresh air in the summer, as they would have sun almost twenty four seven for a few weeks during that time. It was a good thing to be human, Alice thought. She could choose freely to be nocturnal or not, and could go outside at any time she felt like it. Well, except for the fact that she wasn't allowed to go out at any time she chose, neither when she lived at home nor now when vampires will be chasing her during the nights.

The girl followed the much older vampire upstairs as he showed her to her room. It was pitch black until Kamijo located the lamp. The room was decorated in a historical fashion, she couldn't pin point the era though. History wasn't her strongest subject. Somewhere after the medieval time period and somewhere before the middle of the 19th century. There was quite the big gap in between those two, but she really couldn't get more specific than that.

Alice gave the vampire a thankful smile. It probably didn't hide any of her feelings. Confusion, sadness, some anger, shock. But it did still convey that she was happy he was there to help her. "I don't think clothes will be a problem for another two days." She told him. She had changed clothes that very day, so changing again seemed slightly ridiculous. But then she remembered that her shirt was slightly ripped. Though that could be fixed in other ways. "I could need scissors though. Just to cut off the neck of the shirt. It can wait til tomorrow though. I don't feel up to bothering about it tonight. I'm just going to try to get some sleep for now. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Or night. Or whenever we're both awake." She might have entered a rambling zone, but she forced herself out of it. For a few moments she stayed silence before breaking it again.

"By the way. Thanks, for saving me back there." Since she didn't know when and if she would go back into a shock like state again, she felt that she needed to get that out while her mind was somewhat clear.

 

[cat.]

Kamijo gave out a small sigh, knowing well that the girl before him wasn't going to be well. It was sad to him how she was pulled into such mess. He was full of regret for allowing her to come to the meeting to be surrounded by danger. Perhaps it was the scent of her that made his mind clouded and lose his common sense. What done was done, there was no turning back. Alice was part of vampire world now, there was no turning back from this point. All they could do was hope for the best outcome and everything will be okay. If only that were simple. Who knows what would happen next?

At the mention of her shirt, he took a mental note for what she needed in the morning. Then he gave her a small smile as she thanked him, she didn't have to. "You're quite welcome, Alice," he responded, then took a step back from her. "Please try to get some rest, and like I said, I will be down the hall if you need anything. Good night." That was all he said before he bowed, then made his way out of the room. It was strange having guests in his home, especially a guest that was a human. Normally he had vampires hanging around late at night, but he was quite used to that. Having a mortal woman in a room was bizarre to him, he never thought that it would happen.

The vampire went down the hall that was decorated with different art hanging on the walls. His home was filled with elegant things, it reminded him of his favorite era. After all, this was the mansion that he bought in the old era, since he needed a decent home. Vampires weren't much of flashy beings, but he showed his status in the vampire world. If he didn't have a castle, this would do. Castles belonged to the great vampires of the past, such as Dracula since he was of high nobility.

He opened his door at the end of the hallway, and stepped inside of his room, closing it behind him. It was dark, but he did not mind. He would rather have it dark in his room, it was comforting. There was a light, of course, but he hardly used it unless he was reading. A sigh came from him as he took a seat in his chair, his hand going to cover his face. So much had went on tonight, he didn't know what to think.

 

[redblood]

She nodded. Surely she would remember where his room were. "Goodnight." She whispered after he had left, even though she knew no human would be able to hear her. But could a vampire? She doubted it. the door was closed, she had been whispering, and he was walking. His footsteps probably sounded louder than her words. There was no chance he could have heard her.

Alice let herself fall down on the bed and hugged a pillow. It wasn't the same thing as hugging your mother or best friend when you felt depressed, but it did help a little bit. The lamp was never turned off as she figured that it only would lead to nightmares before she even fell asleep if it was dark all around her. The girl wondered what she would be dreaming of that night. Dead bodies lying all around her, or vampires trying to kill her.

Neither of them came into her mind that night. It was very rare that people started to dream of an event on the same day it had happened. The dream she had instead wasn't a very pleasant one, but compared to reality she couldn't even consider it a nightmare once she woke up. It was the usual kind, running from something scary, while barely being able to move the legs, but then somehow still getting away just to end up in a worse situation. This time it was a sinking ship. Even though she had been running on dry land, somehow she had ended up on a sinking ship. And not even on the bridge, but deep inside a maze of hotel rooms on the ship. She weren't even sure if she had survived or not, as she woke up far before it had ended. Like one usually did during dreams.

When she woke up she pulled away the curtains. Even though the glass did make it hard to see out, at the very least she saw that it was a sunny day. That was the place she knew she could be safe. Outside in the sun. Well, at least until a shapeshifter or a human decided that her blood smelled delicious enough for them to kill her.

The girl was drawn out of her thoughts when her stomach suddenly started to protest. "Oh, shut up." She mumbled to her grumbling stomach. While the rest of her body still felt a bit of weight from the situation, her stomach only seemed to think about one thing.