Sweet Dreams 「a Vampire Knight story」

Part Twenty Six: It All Ends In Darkness

When I awoke from the darkness, well, I was still in darkness. And I was alone in the darkness. But this wasn't how things were when I was conscious beforehand. I sat up, and there was a pool of blood trailing through the cracks in the floor and it lead directly to Ichiru. He lay motionless on the floor, very much dead and quite drained of his blood.

I wondered what had happened, but from the looks of it, it seemed like Zero had consumed his brother. I regained full alertness, and quickly left that dreaded cold cell, unfortunately with Ichiru's body still lying there. I would have to find time to come back and bury him properly. Probably when all this mess was over, assuming we all survived.

I avoided the wild Vampires loose on the grounds by staying hidden in the high trees, hopping from one to the other. I had found myself at the Academy before long, and from above I spotted the group heading to the building. I jumped down, surprising everyone including Rima and Senri which was a rare occurrence.

"Sasaki-san, what happened to you? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Hanabusa. I'm more worried about what's going on around here."

"Well, in news today, Rido Kuran has risen from the grave." Akatsuki told me.

"Oh that's really not good." I said flatly. Even I  knew who that was. He was Juri and Haruka Kuran's brother and then he went very much off the rails, he was also at one point supposed to marry Shizuka. Or so it was said.

"Well we've already found him. He's in there." Rima said, pointing to the building behind us.

We searched throughout the building, finding countless bodies piled on top of each other or in some cases, ashes scattered everywhere.

On the roof though, we knew we had found him. And if the looming atmosphere of a corrupt Pureblood wasn't enough to excite you, then there was also the trail of drained bodies leading up to one healthy, revived Vampire. And wow, let me be the first to say, he really bared some resemblance to Senri.

So that's who everyone's afraid of, I thought to myself.

"Rido stop! I won't let you get away with this!" Yuki made an attempt at activating her Artemis, which didn't really work out. When the others made an effort to attack, they were almost immediately trapped and frozen in their space.

"Do you not realize how foolish you all look? You're all Vampires, you can't touch a Pureblood." Rido said, with confidence, might I add.

"Don't hurt them!" Yuki cried, running towards the Vampires until that is, Rido got a hold of her also. I reached for the Apollo and on activation, it opened into a scythe.

"They may be Vampires, but I'm a Vampire Hunter!" I said. He turned his attention away from Yuki and towards me now, and I won't lie, this is where fear began to build in me.

"And what do you plan to do? Hunt me down?" Well, actually yeah.

He made a move to strike and I defended myself as best I could, but the truth was I was more than likely the weakest ally here. I managed to slice some skin which healed instantly but at the rate of this attacking and blocking, there wasn't much progress developing. I was actually becoming more and more angry at the fact that I just couldn't beat this guy, I mean yeah he's immortal and he regenerates but how strong can he really be?

But then I remembered, the bigger the wound the longer it would take to heal and this weapon was designed to kill Vampires. I managed a strike right through the chest, narrowly missing the heart and I held my weapon inside the wound, pushing him to the ground and wriggling the scythe inside. The wound was large and abrasive, it would heal then re-open again and again.

"You honestly think this will be enough to kill me?" I'm trying here, okay?

He managed to push against my force and reverse our roles with me on the ground this time. "I could make time for one more before consuming Juri." Wait isn't that...?  I could faintly make out the brush of his fangs against my skin, and he dropped suddenly where instead I heard Zero's voice and my heart leapt with hope that we might actually be saved.

"Serrie! Are you okay?" He asked.

"Of course, I'm actually quite fine surprisingly." I replied, standing up but then I just went right back down. I don't remember being injured, but why was it so difficult for me to stand? Rido didn't bite me, did he? He didn't, there was nothing when I brushed my hand against my neck. Oh, but that doesn't mean he couldn't have cut me elsewhere.

"Sasaki-san, are you alright?" It was Hanabusa I think, all above me was a circle of Vampires. "She's bleeding out. I don't know what to do."

"Zero! What's happening?"

"Yuki, help me!"

"Serena you'll be okay, stay awake."

"What's

There was a calamity of conversation, words tossed around and sounds echoing and my vision faded from blurs to shadows to darkness and then nothing.

I'll also show you a sweet dream... Next night.