Don't Fear The Reaper

Part 2

Tsukki tries not to fidget a lot. Which is quite hard: the turtleneck collar feels like it's made out of crushed glass, jeans hug the waist too tightly, the heart is running a marathon, judging by the rate. And his usual was like, what? Thirty beats per minute?

Damn Ran and his plan!

***
"That's our chance to finish him," he told with a manic grin on his face once he stopped laughing.

"Are you out of your mind?!" In his own mind Tsukki was already buying ticket as far as possible from Japan. "I don't wanna be a bait!"

"You should trust me, Tsukki, we'll plan everything properly. You won't go anywhere unprepared," Ran suddenly became very busy, texting someone. His fingers moved so fast, they could get the phone screen burn. And the way he was smirking in the process, didn't make Tsukki 's anxiety shrink away at all.

"What are you doing?" He towered over Ran's shoulder and got the phone shoved in his face.

"See?" There were a web page with a lot of videos. A few of them started to play in the preview mode, showing some fighting. Tsukki thought one of the man looked familiar on the vid and gasped:

"Is this Kentaro?"

"A-ha," hummed Ran.

It certainly was Tsukki's new acquaintance, shoulder-length raven hair tied in ponytail, features sharpened and not a glint of a cheerful smile he was sporting at Tsukki the whole evening. Dressed in wide black pants and slightly loose jacket, resembling the martial arts costume, he moved swiftly through the bunch of people. Only a second later Tsukki realised, that he didn't just walk.

He was killing those around him.

The moves were so smooth, you could think he's dancing around.

With two short blades in his palms, Kyoushi made fast, precise movements, ripping throats and bellies, he left bodies falling behind. There were just a couple of hands that stirred to prevent him.

"W-What is it? Are they vampires? Why don't they do anything? Why don't they fight?" Tsukki felt all of his insides stilled and frozen. He didn't notice how he grabbed Ran's shirt so hard, he heard it's tearing. "Sorry," he mumbled when Ran turned his head.

"They're too weak," he told. "He catched each one of them, got together in his lair and when they spent months without fresh blood, he did this."

Tsukki felt nauseous.

He imagined in instant what would happen to him if he was left without food for longer than a couple of weeks.

At first, it's quite bearable. Especially if you're busy with things, you don't notice the slight gnawing feeling at the pit of the stomach.

You spend a couple of days more not seeking the closest neck to bite and it grows into small stabs, now and then clouding the mind and drying the throat.

That's when most of the vampires don't resist the urge to the lead, find a nice cute tasty person and sink the teeth in. But if a desire to dive into masochism is deeper than old, ancient, dark hunger, bubbling in veins, drawing head up every time when someone's too close, the vampire has to confront with the worst withdrawals.

The "body on fire" seems an understatement. The body is on the thousands burning sticks. You can't stop shivering. The water, processed from the previous meal, going out on huge droplets. Loosing the liquid, the body becomes sack and wobbly, every limb feels like a ton. The only thought is beating inside the skull: blood-blood-blood.

The world shrinks up to single craving. You hear the hearts around beating, smell when someone cuts a finger a quarter away. The skin looks awful, all grey, hanging off the body, off the face, like oversized clothes. You move, but in rushed, hectic motions, each of them are calling for the single goal.