“Follow me.” He lifted his hand for me to take, which I did without hesitation. The majority of my fears with this vampire were gone after one dry fuck. He led me outside, and I shivered. He raced away again and was back before my hand dropped to my side with one of my sweaters. I quickly put it on, and we walked in the woods until coming to the mountainside surrounded by trees. We weaved through them while I tried not to trip, then came face to face with a large wooden door.
Chapter Twenty - One
Tatsou
I wanted to keep my distance from Katsumi after realizing I had no place in this world without revenge. Anger and grief pulsed in sync with the remnants of my need for her. She hadn’t seemed to care that I didn’t speak to her, and why should she?
After days of not speaking to each other, I compromised. I wanted to feel that pure light inside her, to consume it entirely. She wouldn’t give in unless I spared her sister, which I wouldn’t do. However, Katsumi’s curiosity was telling. I thought of my time in the temple and remembered their rules against relationships. But I wasn’t ever initiated, I was just like their grumpy friend who helped protect the people. She wanted to know about vampires and about me. I had an inkling she’d give me what we both wanted for that knowledge. I was right. Katsumi would also keep my secrets, even without my threats or being compelled to remain silent. There was no evidence of that thought, but my instincts never lied. They told me Katsumi could be trusted with my truths. Her eyes widened as she took in the large wooden door to my cave shelter. I lifted the door back.
“Go inside.” I nudged her lower back, and she slowly took a step in. Her breaths stayed even and her heart rate calm while she took in all the details.
“Oh God, that’s a skeleton.” She pointed at Botan’s remains and I nodded.
“Did you kill him?” she asked.
Botan would haunt me in the afterlife, if I’d been the one to do the deed. Or come back as an annoying creature to make my life miserable. “No. That is my old friend, Botan. This is the cave I’d slept in until the construction on the mountain woke me.” I nodded toward the altar where I’d put Botan. I’d send his bones off properly once this land was ours again.
“Such a long time to sleep. I bet your joints ached when you woke up.” Katsumi scanned the few pots and statues lining the walls. I chuckled, and she ignored me. I talk about my slumber and the first thing she thinks of is my poor joints.
“It was tight getting up.” I offered the truth. I’d been moving my body as much as possible since waking. While she slept, I often did the old exercises the monks had taught me to keep my chi moving.
“Did you always live here?” She reached out to touch a painting on the wall. It depicted my ninja brothers with ninjato swords.
“No. I was born outside Tamba in the thirteenth century. We were farmers and had a vast garden of wisteria. Lords visited daily to walk the grounds.” I thought back to my home as my eyes rested on the wisteria painting Botan had created for me to give me a piece of my old home inside this cave.
“I’ve seen the wisteria at the Buddist temple in Tamba. Were you near there?” Katsumi stopped her perusing.
“Yes, the temple was built before I was born. I am relieved to hear it has survived this long.” I feared much of history would have been lost like the temple the Sakura family occupied.
“It’s really pretty. You should visit it sometime.”
Would she offer to go with me if her death wasn’t looming over her head?
“I was visiting China with my sister and mother in 1349. My sister was going to marry one of the lords who visited our farm frequently. Despite accepting his hand, she wanted to see a little of the world before she did. We snuck away on a boat to take her to see new sights. We were only supposed to be gone a short time, but the black death consumed the continent.”
Katsumi gasped, her hands flying to her lips as she recognized the history. It was a sad mark on the timeline.
“I got sick, as did my mother. My sister did not, but she risked her life every day to nurse us, caring about our life over hers. They both died, but something about the plague changed me. After the fever, fatigue, and large bumps on my body dissipated, I began to crave the blood pumping in those around me.” Those days were some of the darkest I’d ever known, too consumed with bloodlust in my new vampire body to stop feeding on everything in sight.
“From what myself and the others gathered, something in our blood bonded with the plague. It evolved us, adapted our bodies, and we became vampires. There were about a hundred of us that had contracted the black death and turned. We were strong, fast, and could walk in the sunlight for hours. In the beginning, we were driven mad with the need for blood. Over time, it lost its appeal and we wandered apart. Some experimented with creating more like us. The need for companionship and family drove them.” I remembered when I’d questioned turning others so I wouldn’t feel so alone. I’d stumbled upon Botan and their temple right before I condemned someone to this life. He changed me and gave me a purpose.
Katsumi sat against the wall during my tale, tears brimming her eyes. I didn’t want her pity.
“When an original vampire changes a human, that human becomes as close to a true vampire as possible. If that newly created vampire changes others, the power becomes diluted.” I thought of the vampires in that club. None of them were turned by an original, too weak, barely a step above being mortal.
“So the bonded plague in your blood gets watered down in their blood. Makes sense. It’s kinda like genetics when you have a baby.”
She nodded to herself and grasped the concept well enough. The room filled with silence as memories I despised came back to haunt my mind.
“The original vampires I’d come across tried to become a family and bond over the change. It lasted about fifty years. Vampires began to fight and murder each other’s creations out of spite or jealousy. So much senseless blood was spilled at the time.”
“How do you change a vampire? You said you don’t simply bite a human before.” She wiped away the wetness around her eyes and waited patiently.
I hadn’t discussed this topic in a long time. Botan was the only person I’d confided in about my vampire life. The others knew, but not the specifics. I opened up for Katsumi like she opened herself up to me. I’d be claiming more of that spark of hers soon. Surely, I’d earned another bout with her lips after all this information. I walked closer to Botan’s bones, remembering his shaved head and brown eyes. He had a stare that could make anyone spill their secrets.
“To become a vampire, you must be bitten by the vampire as they release a certain venom within their fangs, then have the vampire’s blood mix with yours. Fairly simple, but it must be more than a drop mingling with a human drop.” There was a village in fourteenth century France that believed a vampire was walking around putting tiny droplets of blood in their drinks. There would be an uncontrolled population of the undead if that were the case.
“I appreciate you opening up to me like this.” She stood and wiped the dirt off her pants. It felt so easy to confess my history to her, almost too easy. I walked over and placed my fingers underneath her chin, tilting her head up to face me. I needed more of her to wash away the bleeding wounds in my soul.
