Kindred Part 1

Before meeting Brice, I was a very safe person. I never took any risks, I was always a "good girl". Got good grades. Did what I was told. And I never had any problems.

Brice wasn't bad per se, he just called it like he saw it. If he thought something was incorrect he said so, even if it wasn't a popular theory. I was impressed the first time I saw him, passionately defending science in a creation vs. evolution debate the science department had staged at my school. He was a senior who had transferred from a another university, I was just getting into my Philosophy major as a junior. He was just the type of guy I had never been attracted to, charismatic, pale, and tall, with a thick head of hair sharply spiked, but there was something about him that made me wait for an hour after everyone else had gone to ask him about his personal views on his debate.

We ended up getting coffee, and the next day we went out on a date. The date turned into a six-month relationship, but nothing ever came of it.

Brice disappeared after earning his B.S. degree in Mathematics and Computer Sciences. After floating through the summertime in a depressive funk, my friends invited me out to a movie druing the start of the fall semester.

"Come on, Brice's probably holed up with some girl at NASA or something. This doesn't mean your life is over." said Denny one day when were hanging out at the library. He was the sensitive one, always aware when one of the group was in pain. As a Health major, he seemed to have an intuition for helping people, always looking for problems with those big brown eyes of his.

"I haven't seen you smile in the past three months, Kani. My fucking God, girl! You need to get out!" Alice chimed in, using her favorite expression. She rolled her eyes, popping her gum. As a fellow philosophy major, she felt that the easiest thing to disprove was God's existence. Lots of guys found it hard to disagree her at debates, even if they had strong arguments. One look at the statuesque redhead, and they lost all their focus.

"There's a full moon tonight. Maybe I'll finally lose it and turn into a werewolf! AH-OOO!" howled Berry. Berry was sort of the odd one in the group, always the prankster, and hardly ever serious. He was a psych major, of all thngs, but it remained to be seen how he was going to use his degree when he needed his head examind himself. I thought he would be more gifted in a comedy club as a nerdy stand-up comedian, with his small blue eyes that peered out from thick glasses. Looks were decieving, though. The one thing he did take serious was working out. Underneath the nerdy clothes was a decent physique.

The rest of us hit him. "Stop it! You're gonna get us kicked out!" I told him.

"Lighten up! We're students. They can't keep us away forever. Besides, it's almost ten o'clock. If we hustle we can catch the 10:05 shuttle and make it to Mind Raiders without having to sit through those damn credits." Berry told me.

"I have a test to study for..." I started.

"That isn't going to work! We all have tests every day." Alice hauled me up. "There's no talking your way out of this!"

So they forced me to sit through a crappy movie. It was fun though. I smiled for the first time in months as my friends threw popcorn at the screen and made fun of the bad acting. When it was over, we stumbled out of the theater on half-asleep legs and started for the bus stop.

"That's the last time I see a movie starring a has-been." said Alice. "I think I would have had more fun watching a Matrix sequel."

"Ooo! Harsh! I thought you liked Jason Prestley Jr." I told her.

"Yeah. When he was hot. And I was like ten years old. Now he's all old and creepy." she shuddered.

"Remind me not to marry you." Denny stated. "Since you'll just throw me away at thirty-five!"

"She'd throw you away long before then. It's what she does!" laughed Berry.

"Ha ha ha. That was so funny I forgot to call that the lamest joke ever." Alice zipped up her jacket, and blew a frosty breath. "Fucking God! I wish there was a quicker way home. The last shuttle will take forever!"

"Ask and you shall recieve." I said, waking away from the group and past some trees next to a historic building. I squeezed through the gate.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Denny asked.

"It's a shortcut. Come on! It's a fifteen minute walk." They followed me to the back of an old historic house that was in the process of being restored, and out into another backyard. Around the side of this house was an old dirt road, with more old houses and buildings on either side.

"How did you find this place?" Denny asked.

"I know a guy who's working on a restoration project in the area. This used to be the old downtown. A few college students used to stay here as boarders before the dorms were built, so it isn't that far from the college." I told them.

"Woo-hoo! Kani's got a new boyfriend!" said Alice, cheering for me.

"Hardly." I said, starting for the back of another house. I would have never thought of trespassing, even in such a deserted spot at night, but Brice had had that effect on me.

"Me and Kani have been dating on the down low." Berry joked. That made the rest of us laugh. "Why is that so hard to believe? I've got the muscle to make any woman scream." He flexed. "Oh yeah!"

"Oh no!" Alice and me said spontaneously. I stopped laughing when I saw a pair of feet in geta, Japanese platform sandals. My eyes traveled up a long, red and black silk kimono emblazoned with Asian flowers. It was a woman dressed in traditional Japanese dress. She even had the facepaint, painted upper lip and elaborate hairstyle. The woman could have just stepped out of a tourist photo.

Flanking her were two African American men. One looked behind the times, with his t-shirt under a Thriller jacket, jheri-curl hair, tight stone washed jeans, and addidas without shoelaces. The other one was a straight thug, from his tatoos, wife beater, and doo-rag, to his low slung jeans and Nikes.

Alice screamed when she saw them. Immediately the eighties reject ran at her. Her scream quickly turned into a loud gurgle. Then I heard sucking sounds, like a clam being sucked out of it's shell. I was so scared I was paralyzed. I couldn't help Alice. I just stood there, staring at the Japanese woman. She and the other man hadn't moved at all since I first noticed them. I heard Denny and Berry yell, and then the the thug ran up to them. I heard several loud cracks, and then the sucking. The Japanese woman hadn't even reacted. For all I knew she could have been stone.

After the sucking sounds stopped, I felt the men at my back. "Rick, Darian." said the woman quietly, without breaking eye contact with me, "Stop. The human wants to play a game." she laughed darkly, exposing sharp white fangs that glinted in the moonlight. "Let's see how well she does."

Vampires. I thought. I led my friends into an ambush. I didn't have time to cry. As long as I stared at the woman, I knew they would let me live. I had to blink eventualy though, and when I did, the woman had her arms around me.

"I won't eat you here." she whispered in my ear, tilting my neck to the side and running her fangs over my carotid artery. It was like someone was holding two daggers to my throat, ready to rip it to shreds as they fit. "I don't want to ruin my dress with your delicious blood." She ran her tounge across the side of my face to my throat. She growled when I showed no reaction, and pushed me away. I could tell she was disappointed by my lack of emotion. I just felt numb all over, like I was wrapped up in a blanket too tightly and couldn't move.

"Home?" asked the eighties reject, wiping blood from his mouth.

"Yes." Was all the Japanese woman said. I wasn't stupid enough to run. I had no doubt they would beat running. And I had no idea if the old flying legend was true. They led me-or rather, pushed me-through a maze of old houses and buildings until I knew there was no way I'd find my way back to the dorms even if I did escape them. Finally, they stopped at an old wherehouse and pushed in several bricks. I heard a loud click, and then the brick wall swung outward, revealing an elevator. They dragged me in, and the eighties guy pushed the button for a lower level.

We went down to an underground floor, and the elevator opened up. The vampires pushed me out, and I only had seconds to take in the bricked off sections on either side of the hallway before I was shoved into an apartment. The living room contained leather furniture, Japanese bamboo prints, and murals of various warriors throughout history, from Ramses II to Shaka Zulu. The people looked so real, I could have sworn they were photographs, but when I touched them, I found it was glossy paint.

"Rick is very talented." said the Japanese vamp, curling her lip over one of her fangs. "If circumstances had allowed it, I have no doubt he would have created a new Realism movement." She pushed me onto a sofa. "Relax. Enjoy what remains of your life." She wagged her finger at Rick and Darian. "No tasting. The both of you! You know I have yet to drink anything."

Darien the thug folded his arms. "Really, Oyoko. Treating us like children? You may be older, but I am still an adult."

Oyoko bowed. "I apologize." She trailed her index finger over my cheek. "I hope you are not a disappointing meal." She turned and gracefully walked into a pitch black hallway.

Rick and Darian sat down on each side of me on the couch, no doubt insuring I would not escape. Now that I had a chance to catch my breath, I felt horrible about taking my friends straight into vampire territory. I whimpered into my hands.

"Don't be too concerned about your little life. Oyoko is exceptional in what she does. Me and Darian have the reputation of being quick and brutal." said Rick, arms folded across his patened leather jacket.

I turned to him, tears starting to flow. "I don't give a damn about my life!"

Rick and Darian looked at each other and laughed. "I was unaware you were one of those goth people who enjoys dying! They have a tendency to scream the loudest!" said Darian.

"If I knew that, I would have taken my time with the redhead. Give her a taste of the dark side." added Rick. The two of them laughed like they had said something funny. As if she was-had been-nothing.

"How can you joke like that? My friends didn't do anything! You didn't even give them a chance, you fucking cowards!" I screamed at them.

Darian casually backhanded me, with such force that my head banged against the wall. "You got some mouth on you." he growled, his vernacular changing with his mood. "Maybe I should rip it out!"

"Control yourself. She's Oyoko's birthday drink." said Darian. He looked at me, without any emotion. "She's just her type too. Won't last long."

I covered my face in my hands, letting the tears spill over my fingers. A lot of things were racing through my mind. I kept thinking about Brice and how I was never going to know what happened to him. That all my friends were tossed aside like rotten meat in the street somewhere. That I was going to die a virgin. Something else bugged me about Oyoko, but I decided to just come out and ask the other vamps.

"Is Oyoko...you know, a lesbian?" I asked Rick and Darian.

Rick burst out laughing, and Darian joined him. "Is that what's concerning your final thoughts? The fact that Oyoko might violate you before she does you in?!" Darian choked out, trying to catch his breath. "I drank from your muscular friend. Does that make me gay?" They continued to laugh at me.

If I wasn't dark-skinned, I'd probably be blushing from embarressment. I just covered my head with my hands. "I wish this was a dream." I muttered. "I get laughed at by the bloodsuckers who are going to eat me."

"Sorry. Granting wishes is not one of our magical powers." said Oyoko, emerging from the hallway wearing a pair of blue jeans, and an off-the-shoulder t-shirt. She was still very pretty without the makeup, with a heart-shaped face with a dark brown freckle on her left cheek, and another on her right temple. Her small lips were painted with clear glittery lip gloss, and she had dramatic red eyeshadow and red eyeliner. "Are you ready? I hope you don't try to run away or fight back, because then I'll have to break your legs. I'd hate to do that to someone so pretty." she said trailing her fingers along my throat.

"Damn it! You are a lesbian!" I told her, pulling away. I heard the flute music then. A little known piece, something you'd never hear unless you were a fan of the video game series Brutal Beat-Down which, strangely enough, had an original classical score. The song was 'Ivory's Theme' something that Brice would always play on his flute. He used to joke that it was the only thing he had taken the time to memorize, even though he had over ten years of classical training. No one else could possibly be playing it. "Brice?!" I tried to run into to the hallway, to see where the music was coming from, but the trio of vampires held me back.

"How do you know Brice? I don't remember seeing you at a Blood Club." said Oyoko, grabbing me by the throat. "Usually herders keep their little piggies on a tighter leash."

"Brice! Help me!" What the hell was she talking about? The question was, how did Brice know a couple of vampires? Then it dawned on me: Brice was one of them.

Oyoko tightened her grip on me. "I don't know what's going on between the two of you, but I do know I am very, very thristy, and your heart is beating very, very fast. And you are about to be very, very-"

"Let her go, Oyoko." Suddenly, Brice was there, holding her wrist. It was obvious from his bared fangs that he was, like the other three, a vampire. Just as I had assumed a moment ago.

"Shimatta, Brice-san! It's my birthday! Why did you let me confuse one of the club's mules with someone I could enjoy?" said Oyoko, dropping me like a sack of potatoes. I thought it was strange how she could pick me up like that without breaking a sweat. She couldn't have been more than 5'3, and 120 lbs. dripping wet. I was at least two inches talller, and thirty pounds heavier. I guessed that was one of the magical powers she had joked about earlier.

"She isn't a mule. I know her." he told Oyoko. "What are you doing here?" he asked me.

"I was taking a short cut that Fred showed me. Me and my friends were just walking through it when these three showed up. They killed my friends and brought me here." I ran to him and hugged him like my life depended on it, which it did. "Where have you been? I thought..." My vice just trailed off. I couldn't be angry with him, even in this situation. I was just so happy I had found him.

"Oyoko, you can't have her." he told her, holding me close.

"Brice-san Ore no shitta kota ja nai! I am turning eighty years old! Namen nayo!"

"Urusai gaki! I don't have to bear your insults! Find another one." He made me step behind him so that he was in her face.

"Ketsunoana! I was lucky to find her! I'll have to get dressed back up and go back out again!" Oyoko whined.

"Oray no shieta koto jenai! It won't kill you to go one night without drinking, anata baka chibi ike ike!" He screamed, shaking his finger.

Rick and Darian rolled their eyes and disapeared into the hallway. "Bukkorosu!" she yelled at him, following the two others and slamming a door.

"I'd like to see you try that, ikuji nasi!" Brice called after her. "Sixty years together, and still she throws tantrums." he muttered under his breath.

"Then what were you doing with me, if you had her?" I accused him. It suddenly became very clear to me why he disapeared.

"Come with me." He told me, taking my hand. He led me to the very end of the hallway and opened a door to a lavish bedroom, with a four-poster bed, high old-fashioned drawers, and pictures of birds everywhere. Brice had always liked birds. We sat down on the bed. "To be honest, I thought you would forget about me. Move on to a friend of yours."

"I thought something bad had happened to you! Maybe someone had knocked you over the head and killed you." I looked at him. He didn't seem too emotional over seeing me again. He didn't have any expression on his face, which seemed to be carved from alabaster. "I guess I wasn't far off."

"I was like this before I met you. And I'm not dead. That's pretty ignorant of you to say that."

I folded my arms. "You've got fangs, you drink blood, and I just saw your friends-or whatever the hell they are-out at night hunting people. What the hell does that make you? A psycho or a vampire? Pick one!"

"Yelling at me won't help your situation." he said coldly. "If I don't drink you, Oyoko will."

My eyes opened wide, like a deer in the headlights. He wasn't doing anything obvious to make me think he was actually going to attack me, but his words were said without any kind of human inflection. I believed him. "Why?"

"Because your kind is number two on the food chain. And I haven't drunk anything since yesterday." he said it calmly and rationally, like he had just ordered take-out.

"What was I to you?" I asked him. That got some reaction from him, his dark eyes shifting away and then back on me again. "Was I ever anything more than a lamb being led to the slaughter?"

"When I met you, I wasn't myself. That's all you need to know." he told me. When he told me that, human inflection crept into his voice, and he was almost-almost-the Brice I had known.

I started crying again. "That's all I need to know, huh? After worrying about you and crying over you day and night for the past six months, that's all I get? And you're telling me you're about to drink my blood until I die?"

"Yeah. That's what I'm saying." Again, that chilly inhuman tone was back in his voice.

"Then you really are dead, because the Brice that I know would never do anything like this!" I searched his face in vain for any sign of humanity. Angry now, I slapped Brice.

Or attempted to. He grabbed my hand. "You know, I find it really offensive when people call me dead." He twisted my hand painfully. I screamed. "I could just give you back to Oyoko. Let her have fun with you."

"No! Please! I'm not like that." I begged. I really didn't know what Oyoko was into, but I had a pretty vivid imagination.

"Then you'll let me do what needs to be done, you won't ask me anything else, and you won't try to fight me?"

"Yes! I will! Just don't give me too her!"

Brice raised the corner of his lip slightly and let my hand go. "Come here." He opened his arms to me.

I embraced him. "Please don't do this!" He ignored me, pulled my hair to one side, running his fingers over my neck. Once he found my pulse, he replaced his fingers with his tounge, gently licking the spot.

"Don't make this harder on yourself, Kani." he told me, kissing my neck. "Just let go." I felt his fangs on me then. And I knew I had to say it with my last breath.

"I loved you!" I screamed. Brice staggered away from me then, looking shaken, unsteady. He backed all the way into one of the antique dressers. He shook his head quickly, then he bared his teeth at me, with a strange, firey expression in his eyes. Whether it was pain or anger, I didn't know. He shoved me up against the door, covered my mouth with his hand, and sank his fangs into my neck. I screamed as I felt my life's blood being drunk out of me, powerless to do anything. And even if I could have fought him, I wouldn't have. I can't be without you. If you had let me go, I would have come back here. You know that.

I began to feel light-headed, and soon my legs couldn't support me. I slid down to the floor, but still Brice continued to drain me. I almost wanted to thank him. He was freeing me-in a way- from him. Soon my vision clouded over, and I couldn't see any more. Then I lost conciousness.

Read the next sucking installment in the series "Kindred Part 2"  and find out if Kani lives or dies. If you can even call it that!