• CHAPTER 14 - WE'RE FRIENDS, SO DON'T TELL

    Some people would think having a supernatural gift would be an exciting thing to have, whether you can use it or not. Some gifts could bring out Hell all around you. And some gifts could attract the worst attention, bringing the ones you love onto the brink of death.

    Pain washed all over Kai's face but he never shouted out in pain. He took it all in silently...it was me who was shouting in pain. It wasn't from my foot; it was the pain I was feeling in my chest over the grief of the possibility of losing Kai at this moment. Kai pulled the knife out of the Werewolf and stabbed the wolf's side. I didn't understand how the Werewolf didn't collapse in pain or even die right away from being stabbed and cut in the throat.

    Kai tried to smirk through the pain, "Stupid wolf. I've already been turned into a Vampire." he twisted the knife in the Werewolve's side, "So you can't turn me into a Werewolf."

    Kai stabbed the Werewolf a few more times and the Werewolf jerked Kai around, still holding a firm grip on Kai's shoulder with his teeth. Kai once again drug the knife across the wolf's throat and the wolf let go. The knife was dropped as Kai grabbed onto his new wound. At the same time, Kai had the look of pain and hesitation. My blood loss was probably provoking him to attack me rather than the Werewolf.

    "Get in the room, you stupid girl!" Kai growled through his teeth.

    I didn't even want to argue anymore. I crawled my way to the bedroom door, opened it, and fell in the room. I slammed the door behind me and leaned against it after shutting the door handle lock and the deadbolt lock. I buried my face in my hands and cried as I heard growling and barking from the wolf. I wanted the dumb animal to go away! I wanted Kai to be okay! I didn't want to be drug into this life!

    The wind was knocked out of me again as the door slammed against my back. On the other side, I heard Kai moan and slide down onto the ground. I was too scared to ask him if he was okay, I was even to scared to ask him in my head. I couldn't speak in any form. If I were able to walk, I'd have done something to help. I hated being human at times like this. I continued to cry, fearing for Kai and loathing myself. My wound continued to bleed and my chest was starting to hurt. I pulled down the collar of my shirt and blood was dripping out of little holes where the wolf's nails dug into me.

    Another slam against the door thrust me forward a little. I turned around and backed up to the foot of the bed and forced myself to stand up, using the pole of the bed as support. I flinched as I heard a crashing window and a loud thud on the ground after a second and it was dead silent. The only noise penetrating the night was the sound of my breathing intervened by short sobs. It felt like an eternity until I heard the doorknob try to turn. I held my breath and tightened my grip on the pole. The turning stopped and after a split second, Kai teleported into the room and stumbled, leaning against the wall for support and breathing unbelievably heavy. It took me a moment to absorb that he was still alive, he was here.

    "Kai?"

    With a burst of crying, I tried my best to leap to Kai, limiting the pressure on my foot. I barrelled into his arms and belted out the tears, "Kai! Kai, you're alive!"

    He continued to catch his breath as he rubbed my back. My tears instantly soaked his shirt as he ruffled my hair around a little. I felt him flinch a few times and he grabbed onto my shoulders. He pushed me backwards slowly and sat me on the ground. He leaned me back so I was leaning against the foot of the bed.

    "Kai, are you okay?"

    He ignored me and quickly started licking my neck over and over again, breathing heavily against it as well. He was gripping my shoulders harder; he was thirsty.

    "No, Kai. Don't."

    He wrapped one arm around my waist and almost bit into me until I pushed him away, "Kai, hang on!"

    Kai glared at me and gripped me tighter, "Your blood is...,"

    "You can't bite my neck, Kai. I'm losing too much as it is."

    He was hesitating unbelievably. He was losing blood as fast as I was, increasing his craving and my blood loss wasn't helping him any. He kept baring his fangs, but kept control of himself. I felt like I was being selfish, not helping Kai. I pushed him back a little farther and stuck my arm out in front of him.

    "Here. Don't bite too deep."

    He grabbed onto my wrist and my forearm and nuzzled my hand, inhaling the aroma and brushing his lips all over my palm. He bore his fangs and pricked the ball of my hand. Biting my hand wouldn't cause me to lose as much blood. He sucked on one puncture hole and then the next, and then started licking my hand as blood came out slowly.

    I was getting even more nauseous; even I could smell the blood overflowing the room, so I couldn't even begin to imagine the struggle Kai was going through to not just eat me alive. It was hard enough for him to control his craving just by looking at me, and here I am with a foot that's been chewed on that wouldn't stop bleeding.

    "Are you almost done?"

    He continued to lick my hand, and then trailed down to my forearm where my blue veins were visible. He glared at me again, "Arisa, you need to leave," his eyes were an incredibly dark red, menacing in the moonlight.

    I swallowed hard, "Why?"

    He squeezed my arm, "I'm...on the verge of killing you right now. Your blood is driving me insane."

    Just as I had thought, but I didn't think he'd give me a warning. I shook my head, "I'm not leaving you, Kai,"

    Kai shoved my arm aside, "Just go! I'm not going to stand hurting you any more!"

    "I'm not afraid of you," I honestly was deep down, but I didn't want him to know. I didn't want him to feel worse about himself.

    "God dammit, Arisa, do you want me to force you out of this room?"

    I exhaled slowly and touched his face with the hand he had bitten. He continued to glare at me but after a moment, his eyes softened up a little. I smiled softly and I could feel tears brim my eyes, "You need to sleep,"

    Confusion zoned across his face, "Why me?"

    "Just do it, please,"

    Kai lightly grabbed onto the hand I placed on his face and held it closer to his cheek and closed his eyes. He inched himself closer to me and nuzzled my cheek and then kissed my neck, "All right...you win,"

    I reached behind me and grabbed one of many pillows that were lying at the foot of the bed and placed it on my lap. Kai lowered himself so that his head was lying between my legs and on the pillow. He sighed deeply, keeping his eyes closed. I played around with his hair and the collar of his shirt. A few stray tears made a landing on Kai's cheek and he opened his eyes. I didn't notice his eyes were open until his hand reached up and brushed off the tears from my eyes. We stared at each other for a long moment.

    "Why are you crying, Arisa? Does it hurt?"

    "I-I'm just...I thought you were going to die,"

    He smirked weakly, "I'm not that easy to kill. Don't cry over me."

    "I will!!" it angered me that he would say such a thing, "Don't tell me not to cry over you! If I wouldn't cry over you, I wouldn't feel about you the way I do, would I?!"

    I looked away from him and allowed the tears to continue down my cheeks. Kai lowered his hand after a moment and sighed, "I guess you wouldn't,"

    My inhaling was uneven and my voice was shaking, "I thought you were going to die,"

    "I'm okay now. I'll be completely healed within two to three hours."

    I paused for a long moment, "How are you feeling?"

    I looked down at my lap and Kai had fallen asleep. His face was like an Angel's yet again, but there was a hint of pain still lingering. His fists were clenched tight, trying to suppress his thirst. I undid a couple of buttons on his shirt and opened it a little. There were gashes all over his chest that were almost healed, only leaving traces of blood behind. I slowly moved the collar of his shirt off of his injured shoulder and the bite marks still looked raw. They hadn't started healing yet, unlike his other wounds. My foot had slowed its bleeding but still hurt unbelieveably. I'm sure that the least amount of damage was a cracked bone. I sighed and let a few more tears fall in silence and I closed my eyes, allowing sleep once more.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    I jerked myself awake as I felt a horrendous pain surge through my whole body starting at my foot. I forced my eyes open and winced. Kai had wrapped his bloody shirt around my foot and ankle and tightened it to finish off the bleeding. I continued to wince and moan.

    "I'm almost done, hang on,"

    I was confused, I thought Kai was sleeping. I must have dozed off myself if I didn't even remember him waking up. He finished wrapping his shirt around my foot and he stared at me. My eyes couldn't leave the form of his torso. He had cleaned up the blood from his wounds and he was...almost glowing in the moonlight. I forgot how to breathe as he inched his way closer to my face.

    "Are you all right?"

    I nodded quickly and caught my breath again. He looked so perfect, even after battle. His eyes were still red from thirst and he still had the look of discomfort on his face. The wolf's bite still wasn't healed yet. He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and another under my legs and slowly and carefully picked me up.

    He walked out of the bedroom swiftly, "I'm going to make you something, okay?"

    "I already ate before that wolf came,"

    "Your stomach was screaming like a banshee; you're eating,"

    I hadn't even noticed my hunger...until he brought it up. I shivered as his thumb unconsciously stroked my shoulder. His chest was as cold as the rest of his body, still, but he was so much colder than normal with how much he's been starving. I sighed again and closed my eyes, keeping me from getting nauseous from motion sickness and the blood. I noted my foot wasn't lingering in so much pain. Oh, I understood. The blood on Kai's shirt was slowly numbing the pain since a Vampire's blood is superior to a human's.

    "You're still thirsty," I didn't even have to ask and he nodded. We both knew it clearly, although he had already bitten my hand, it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy him.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    Kai had taken me downstairs and prepared me potato soup which I guarantee was the best soup that had ever settled in my stomach. I was already starting to feel better right after I ate it. After I had eaten, Kai took me up the stairs and back into the bedroom and gently lounged me on the bed and propped my foot up on pillows. My foot which was now heavily bandaged with gauze and tape and drugged with peroxide which felt like nothing more than water to the wounds. Kai considered me lucky that the Werewolf didn't infect me. We sat on the bed next to each other, both staring into space and holding small talk every now and then.

    "He infected you, didn't he?" I looked over at Kai with concern on my face.

    Kai looked back at me and smiled weakly, "Yeah, he did. He tried to tear off my head too, as a matter of fact."

    I flinched at the head-tearing part. I then remembered that Kai had said the only way to kill a Vampire or a Werewolf was to inflict beyond severe damage to their heads or rip their head off completely, but they're still not immortal. They die off eventually, "How come you're not a Werewolf, then?"

    "I discovered this a while ago, but since I've already been infected and became a Vampire, I can't be infected again by anything else. It'll hurt like Hell, but it won't change what I am."

    I sighed in relief, although I knew Kai wasn't completely happy as a Vampire. Kai looked over at me with curiosity on his face.

    "You'd like me better as a Werewolf, wouldn't you?"

    I gasped and glared at him, "Don't say such frivolous things, Kai! I'd never want you to become a Werewolf! They scare me more than Vampires now!" I slapped his chest, "I fell in love with you as a Vampire, and I'm gonna stay in love with that Vampire!"

    Saying all of that brought a tint of pink into my cheeks, I could feel it. Kai smirked at my confidence and looked away and chuckled. It was almost embarrassing for me to say that whole speech because I knew that he didn't love me...still.

    Kai looked back at me with a serious face, "So you're saying...you'd rather me be a monster?"

    "Kai, the real monster was the Werewolf. There's nothing wrong with you. That Werewolf was born that way. You became what you are by force. I don't mind it."

    I knew I was making him uneasy by telling him I love him as the thing he hates. I slowly glided my hand off of Kai's chest but he stopped my hand short by grabbing it hard.

    "Ow, Kai,"

    "You're saying...,"

    In the next instant, Kai had wrapped his right arm all the way around my waist and rolled me over on the bed so I was on my back and he was right on top of me. He glared at me and let my hand go, "You're saying you want to spend the rest of your life with a monster?"

    I shook my head, "Not a monster,"

    Kai slid his hand up my throat and cupped it under my jaw and firmly gripped my jaw. He stared at me dead in the eyes.

    "Spend the rest of your life...," he leaned in and lightly kissed my chin, "With a Vampire."

    "Yes," the rest of my life...not his.

    He had the look of hesitation again and a little bit of frustration. I sighed, "What are you thinking?"

    "If that's really what you want," he avoided my question.

    I stared at him as he flinched again; he bit his tongue again. He glared at me, but not in a loathing style. Blood started forming at the corners of his mouth and he leaned in. Good God, no!! I shook my head frantically but Kai held it in place firmly.

    "Kai, no!"

    He firmly pressed his lips against mine as I continued to attempt to push him off. I froze when I felt his lips part mine and allow his blood into my mouth. I freaked out even more, This is wrong! It's supposed to be the other way around! I let the blood built up in my mouth; I refused to drink it. Kai opened his eyes and stared at me.

    Drink it, he was speaking to me...through his head?

    I winced and tried to struggle out of his grip but he only held me tighter, Drink it, Arisa, and I was defeated. I squeezed my eyes shut and allowed the blood to slowly trail down my throat. He released the grip around my jaw and moved his hand to the back of my head and pulled me closer to him and I continued to bid on his blood.

    How much longer? I was feeling nauseous beyond belief. I could feel myself sweating up a storm.

    Keep drinking until the blood stops flowing,     until his blood stops flowing?

    He was on the verge of getting carried away as he kissed me harder, doing whatever he could to get his blood into my mouth. I finally opted not to struggle anymore, I knew it would be futile. He gripped my shirt and held me as close as he could and I didn't even notice I was losing my breath. I felt the pain in my foot slowly dissipate and I started to relax, allowing Kai to do what he wanted. After another moment, I could feel blood seep out of my mouth and trail down my cheek. It was when he pulled away that I realized the blood stopped flowing into my mouth. I coughed and attempted to catch my breath. I glared at Kai.

    "What the Hell was that about?!" I still struggled to catch my breath.

    "You will heal faster," I could tell he had to think about that one. I knew that wasn't the only reason he did that.

    "You could have just spread the blood onto my wound!"

    Kai frowned, "I don't want to lick your ankle or your foot,"

    I beamed at him and let it go. I was much too exhausted to argue with him. I wiped the blood off of my cheek, "Why did you do that, Kai?"

    "To help you heal. I told you that." I knew there was something else behind it. Since when do Vampire kiss someone to heal them? It was written all over his face as well.

    "Get to sleep, Arisa," he almost sounded annoyed until he leaned in and kissed my jaw firmly.

    He climbed off of me and pulled the covers over me, up to my shoulders. I continued to glare at him and follow him with my eyes until he shut the lights and left the bedroom.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    I rubbed my eye as I glanced over at the clock on the oven; 10:27 a.m. I'm still usually asleep at this time but I decided to be nice and cook something for Kai. I had no idea why after he did what he did last night. I reached over for a knife and reached the other direction after I grabbed the knife to grab a cutting board. I was still trying to limit the use of my right foot. It was numb...unless I stood on it. I rolled up my sleeves and lay out a fresh carrot I had picked from Matsuda and Orihime's miniature greenhouse garden outside in the back.

    "What are you doing up?" I froze at the annoyed tone in Kai's voice behind me.

    I didn't even bother to look behind me. If I saw him again, I'd probably freak out on him, "I'm cooking,"

    "Get back to bed,"

    "No way, Kai. I already got my stuff out, so I'm going to finish it." I did as I said and started cutting up the carrots.

    "You're too weak,"

    Okay, that was it, "You know what, I'm sick and tired of being the weak one in this house! Why can't I have some sort of supernatural talent?! The only special thing about me is my blood!" I slammed my hand with the knife onto the cutting board, "Why can't I help fight?! You're always making me cower in the corners, watch you all risk your lives for someone like me! Why can't I fight, Kai?!"

    I wasn't even halfway done with my speech when Kai grabbed my right hand with the knife from behind me and spun me around to face him. He held me close to him and wrapped his other arm around my waist and hovered his face right by mine and he smirked.

    "I can't afford you hurting yourself again,"

    "What is that supposed to mean?"

    "You're too fragile. If you were a little stronger, we might consider you to fight. But also, we can't afford to lose your blood to the other creatures."

    Once again, I cursed my self internally for being so frail. I'm sick easily and my body is just completely useless.

    "I wouldn't say your body is completely useless,"

    "Get your hands off of me,"

    Kai nuzzled my cheek and kissed it a couple of times. He kissed my neck and glided his tongue over it. He shoved his face in front of mine again and smirked once more, "You skin tastes as good as your blood,"

    Blood. I glared at Kai, "You need to explain the bloody kiss last night,"

    "Geez, Arisa, let's not get started on that,"

    "I will get started on that! Right here and right now!"

    "I'm not going to tell you,"

    "So there is something behind it besides 'healing',"

    Kai sighed, his sweet breath lingered at my face and I could feel the cold radiating off of his chest underneath is wife-beater tank top. Why did they call them wife-beaters?? Kai twisted my hand lightly so that I would drop the knife, nearly taking off his toes. He held me closer to him and pecked my forehead a few times.

    "Answer me this; how did it taste?"

    I stopped breathing, "What?!"

    "I'm curious. I want to know what a human thinks of a Vampire's blood. And before you yell at me again, just take the time to really think about it. Not the thought of it, but the taste,"

    It was disgusting for Kai to bring it up in such a casual way, but I closed my eyes and thought of it anyways. I replayed the moment from last night, the blood running into my mouth. I winced at the thought and thought harder. It was warm, it was thin, it was, "...Sweet,"

    I felt Kai's lips pull into a smile on my forehead as I opened my eyes. I stared up at him with a puzzled expression, "It was sweet...?"

    "Better than a human's, but not as good as yours,"

    "I don't get it. To humans, all blood should taste the same, right? All blood should taste unpleasant."

    Kai released my hand but grabbed onto my shoulder, "To humans who have never sampled a Vampire's blood,"

    I turned red and looked away from him. It was embarrassing to talk about this, especially to a real Vampire. But now that I thought of it more, it really did taste sweet. I only made it sound disgusting because it's blood. It sounds wrong enough to drink it, so I didn't think of anything else at the time. I looked back up at Kai.

    "Why did you do that?"

    He smirked his crooked smirk and lounged his lips on mine. He spoke without removing his lips, "If we're friends, you won't tell anybody,"