Authors: Alexandra Hope
“Will you just come inside so we can get you some clothes,” Alexa said with distaste.
“Gladly. It's cold out there,” replied Erika, stepping into the house.
David's head swung from behind the kitchen wall. “Hey—”
His peach skin turned an embarrassing shade of crimson before he retreated to the kitchen, shouting behind. “I'll just be in the kitchen!”
“Men....” Erika shrugged and followed Alexa to the bathroom.
Troy and David had nearly thawed out, their color slowly returning by the time Erika emerged from the bathroom. Alexa's dress was barely a T-shirt on her leggy, svelte figure so she forced herself into some jeans that came up to her calves and made her look painfully awkward. She slid into the dining room table next to Troy's father and clasped her hands together. “So, what are we having for breakfast?”
Troy cleared his throat. “Dad, this is Erika. She's”
“A
kitsune
, I know.” he sipped his coffee, his eyes never falling on Erika.
She smirked. “I'm curious as to how much your wife told you.”
“I was married to her and chose to stay with her despite it all,” David's voice was calm.
“Despite what? And what is a
kitsune
?” asked Alexa, confused.
“
Kitsune
is just the Japanese term for fox. And my wife was one.”
“An actual fox?” Alexa asked curiously, leaning inward.
“That can take human form at will, yes. Much like a werewolf. You can call it a fox spirit as well though I'm not sure if they are spirit beings.”
Alexa turned to Troy, her eyes bright and wide. “So that makes you a foxling?”
“Barely,” snorted Erika, thumbing to Troy. “This one's powers couldn't begin to match mine or his mother's and it would take him forever to be even a fourth as powerful considering he's only half.”
“You seem to know a lot about my mom,” Troy said through gritted teeth, his arms folded across his chest.
“Why wouldn't I? She was the greatest and most powerful kitsune I had ever come across, able to burn the land of a whole country with just a thought and create manipulations so wild, your tiny human mind could not begin to process it.”
Troy lowered his head and the shadow of his dark blonde hair masked his face. He felt his heart sink into his stomach and knots tightening at his throat, prompting him to swallow hard. Alexa was hesitant to place a soft palm onto his shoulder and his body clenched under her touch. Even Alexa, who wanted nothing more than to be with him forever hadn't known anything about his mother but there it was, the truth he didn't even know, laid out for all to hear. His body relaxed, sinking into the chair as he looked at Erika, his eyes a liquid cerulean and absent of all green.
“What does this have to do with vam—” Alexa was cut short.
“When did you meet my mom?”
“The last time I saw her?” Erika stroked her chin. “About ten years ago, in Atlanta.”
“That's impossible! She's been dead for fourteen years,” Troy's hand pounded against the table. He pushed his chair back and stood up but sank back into it when she replied.
“I'm over three thousand years old so as you can see, it's rather hard to kill a
kitsune.
We're practically impervious to death.” Her voice was a husky whisper. She turned to Alexa, “That's why your mom knew our blood was the key to creating a truly immortal vampire. Put the blood of an immortal creature into someone like your sister and you've created an undead person.”
“So your blood and Troy's blood could bring back any human and make them a vampire?”
“No little one,” chided Erika. “Try that and you will surely create a zombie.” She swatted Alexa's nose with her index finger prompting her to pull back.
“Zombies exist?”
“Not in this world,” she sat back in her chair, “because I'm not stupid enough to create one.”
David remained quiet, taking it all in while Troy continued to look down, Erika's words swirling in his head.
“Listen to me closely.
Kitsune
blood can only create a vampire by bringing back a blood drinking human and in their vampire form, their need for blood, among other things, will be heightened causing that awful bloodlust. They inherit our animal speed and senses—not that they need to—and our fangs,” she opened her mouth and showed them briefly. “If they got the blood of a very powerful and full blood
kitsune
they could manipulate fire but normally, they just inherit our power of mind control and dream manipulation. Oh, and their aversion to sunlight will be heightened, leaving them forever in darkness.”
“What about blood drinkers who go out in the sun?” Alexa asked as she thought of herself.
“Then you would be able to go out in the daylight, but not for long...foxes are nocturnal, eventually the sun would weaken any daywalking vampire.”
“Did your blood turn my sister?”
Erika looked almost amused at her ridiculous question. “I would never make a vampire with my own blood, but considering bag of light bulbs here,” she pointed to Troy, “willing gave his blood up to them, I would assume it was.”
“I didn't know it was run by some cult like organization back then!”
Erika continued to entertain them with answers about vampires and foxes and confirmed Troy's suspicion that she had been Japanese when she revealed her last name to be Nozawa. She was tight lipped on his mother's whereabouts whenever he inquired leaving David more than a little uncomfortable. Eventually she had left and David did the same as night had fallen over them. Alexa couldn't understand why her sister hadn't awakened after almost twenty four hours and as before, Erika proved to be less than helpful when she inquired. She just left a cellphone number to reach her at with any real emergency but otherwise told them not to call her ever and that she would show up when she had something to say.
Olivia had been up for hours sitting in the darkness, silently listening to their words. She locked the door to keep her sister from coming in and raided the closet just because the door was open. She found trophies for almost every sport and achievement, most she had never heard of, and saw that they had all been awarded to Troy Evans. There were crumpled up awards, now ironed out and encased in frames that lay on the metal racks, once again awarded to Troy Evans. Olivia pulled out a woven basket and dug deep under the items that filled it for something that her nose had caught the scent of. Hidden underneath the items was a box, inscriptions carved onto it's wooden body and she put it up to her nose. The scent melted within her as she closed her eyes. No matter what was in the box, the box itself had been truly something to behold for the scent alone. She knew whoever touched it last was not quite human but not a monster either. It was something else and something delicious. Her fangs grew in anticipation.
She heard the wiggle of the door knob and when the person couldn't come in, they pressed their head to the door. “Olivia....” she said softly.
Olivia fought hard to not allow the demon to take hold. She yelled at her sister, her voice raspy. “Go away Alexa.”
Alexa pushed the key into the door handle and when it clicked and she pushed the door open, she was pushed back as it shut in her face. She tried to push on it but Olivia had her back pressed to the door and didn't allow it to budge. She doubled over and gripped her stomach, “I'm thirsty! Go away!”
“I have blood for you! Please let me in.”
She pulled the door in and met Alexa with a barely contained bloodlust looming on the corners of lips. Alexa handed her the tumbler watched her sister down all of it to the last drop. She wiped the excess blood from her lips with the back of her hand. Her eyes then fell on Alexa, dark. She gave no warning but the re-appearance of fangs had been enough warning for Alexa to run. She ran down the hall and slammed her room door. Olivia was out of the room and at Alexa's room door, yanking the doorknob and pushing it open. When she had walked inside, Alexa sprung from the hallway closet and slammed the door on Olivia, locking her inside her room as she hastily put a key through the hole.
She turned and bumped into Troy who was confused by everything but quickly caught on when he saw her shaking her head, barely holding tears back and heard the thrashing in his room. He tried to lead her away but she was adamant about staying. He eventually yelled at her to run as the door was kicked open, shards of wood hitting him and the door crashing down onto him. He shouldered the door, taking the blunt of the attack, the pain shooting down his back before dissipating. He pushed the door back, pressing it onto Olivia and ran behind her. Alexa was already on the first floor and Troy was halfway down the steps when Olivia pulled onto his flailing arm. She yanked him back and slammed him against the wall with all her strength. Her body racing through the house in search of sister was like streams of white flowing throughout and when she found her in the kitchen, she just barely saw the knives in her hands. They weren't her daggers but she figured they would be enough to slow down her sister.
Alexa didn't have a chance against Olivia as she came in so quickly she could barely see her and pulled her head to the side and pierced her skin with her fangs. Still, Alexa managed to stab her in either side of her abdomen, making her stumble back as blood poured out of her.
“I'm sorry Olivia,” she said in a hushed voice then fell to the ground.
It hadn't been enough to pull her out of her bloodlust and as soon as she was healed she went back in and bit down, indulging in the warm blood that filled her until her stomach tightened and it poured back out of her mouth. Standing over her was Troy, his eyes burning with hatred as he shoved the fire poker further into her and twisted it. She put her hand behind her back and struggled to pull it out but he broke the iron rod a centimeter from the entry wound making it impossible for her to grab it. He pushed her aside, leaving her to writhe across the floor as the rod stayed lodged in her. He put pressure on Alexa's neck but couldn't stop the blood from oozing out. He took a bloodied hand to his pocket and pulled out his cellphone, punching numbers then putting the phone to his ears.
“I need your help Erika!” he shouted into the phone.
Finally, Olivia had pulled the poker out of her stomach and the wound began healing itself. Her eyes were back to normal and she looked around in horror at the sight, pushing the bloodlust down as she scooted next to Troy. He didn't notice her presence as he continued to shout.
“Yes she's bleeding! Why don't you just come here and help?” he pleaded. “Her pulse, I can barely feel it!”
She reached her hand to Alexa's face but was slapped away by Troy, sparks coming from his hands. He threw the phone against the wall and slammed his fists onto floor. Flames ignited his fists and crawled up his arms in spirals, a glowing orange veil splaying violently. The rage grew within him and so did the flames, a wall of a fire surrounding his back and intensifying as he lowered his head and hissed. “Get the hell out vampire, before I kill you!”
Sparks sprayed from his wall of fire and grazed Olivia's arm. She retreated as the glow of the tempest fire flashed over her skin, light and shadows dancing on her as she looked on from a distance. She was out of the house before the flames died down. More than two miles away from the house and shrouded in the thick of a forest, leaves falling on her head and crickets chirping over the windy howl, she couldn't ignore the whimper that escaped Troy's mouth as he wept over Alexa's body.
Eight
Olivia found herself back at the beach, having ran several miles to escape the cries that trailed behind her. She ran past some beach goers and fell into the waves, the cold water soaking away the burn from the fire that caught her skin. She was pulled far from the shore, her head bobbing like a lure cast in the ocean but she did not sink. Though, she had to admit, death was the most appealing thing to her at the moment. If only she could just....die.
She swam further out and dipped her head under the water every time tears ran down her face and tumbled under the water to keep from floating to the surface. If she could hide them for herself, maybe she could hide the reality from herself as well. Fighting the force that threatened to push her to the surface, she swam deeper and held onto a rock and opened her mouth, filling herself with salty water. Fish swam around her still body, bubbles fluttering behind their fins. She noticed how much effort a tiny fish put into getting around and how its gills puffed air out of their body almost pathetically. Not a breath, not a single breath did she have to take to stay alive anymore and it hurt her, pained her even, to know that even suspended in frigid ocean she no longer had any power over her own life. Is it selfish, she asked herself, to want to die rather than bear the consequences of my actions? She broke the surface of the water without so much as a draw of breath.
Had she really killed her sister? After having found the person she wanted so desperately to see, had she truly killed her? The thought alone was too much to bear and she really doubted the Vampiric ability to no longer feel or her human ability to not feel for that matter. Her mind was filled with thoughts of her sister of how great it felt to have her near, giving her a temporary spark in her heart and forcing it to beat. And then the thoughts faded as reality set in. Alexa was in fact dead. As she pulled herself onto the rocks, she hoped to leave her sorrow behind but it refused to bury itself in the ocean, a piece of it remaining on her shoulders as she shook the water out of her hair and off of her body.