Chapter 2

4. Marrs

I have been invited to France by Madame Lister, and today I shall leave Paris for a small frontier town across the sea from London, and then stay overnight there before setting out for the Château de Lister the day after tomorrow.

I don't know why Lady Lister is suddenly interested in the Blood's sacred weapons, she entrusted me with information from the Green Sea that would be conducive to finding them and stressed that she needed them badly. I've never been one to turn down requests from nobles, and this time, even with my misgivings in mind, was no exception.

No more, no less, three years ago, a human girl asked me about the Blood Sacrament, when I was a human who had just taken over as Narrator and had always ignored such questions from other humans. She, on the other hand, was a pestering little creature, asking me questions all day long, and when I paid the slightest attention to her, she was unsettled for three days in a row. Later, I told her plainly, "You are still young and not capable of making the Bloods appreciate you." I know that hurt her, but the upside is that no one has nagged me in the ear since then. I was beginning to forget about her, except that recently when Lady Lister asked me about the whereabouts of the sacred artifact, she was the first person that popped into my head.

My right eyelid has been throbbing a lot lately, and I'm not sure if this bad omen has anything to do with this trip, so I'm always at a loss, always debating whether I should take the next step or not, whether I should get closer to Lister's Castle or not. Yet my feet eventually set off forward without hesitation.

The train was about to enter the station, and I already had to go to that future that my feet had chosen for me.

Or bad or good, who knows?

5. Marrs

On the train to that little frontier town, I enjoyed lunch. The food on the train is always hard to swallow, and this is a constant in both China and France.

I met a girl of pure Chinese heritage on my way to dinner and tried to communicate with her in Chinese. She quickly settled into the conversation. Interestingly enough, she told me she was going on a vampire hunt.

She seemed happy to meet someone who spoke Chinese, so I told her that I was, in fact, three-quarters Chinese. She stared at my face for a full twenty minutes before she said, "It does look kind of Chinese."

After I received my first embrace, my appearance changed drastically, it was the European blood that melted into my blood, I looked more and more like a European, sometimes even I would forget that I was a pure Chinese, and it was even harder for the general public to see through it.

She looked agitated when I said I was interested in vampires as well. I cautioned her that she should call them "Kindred" instead of "vampires" and that the three-word term was a sacrilege to their grace. But the stubborn girl shrugged indifferently and pulled out her backpack of Twilight books to read. I urged her to read more Blood literature in English and to practice her abysmal English in the meantime. "Night Visits to the Vampire, Dracula's Kiss, Van Helsing, you could start with those if used as a pastime." I started recommending them as a salesman. Oh, Satan forgive me! I was so desperate for someone to talk to.

But no matter how I explained it, the girl never understood why she had to read books like Van Helsing, the vampire's enemy, that weren't romantic at all.

Then I simply put down my utensils and said goodbye to her, ending the story she was spouting about her dream vampire boyfriend. I felt much better-keeping silent than having a conversation with her.

"That was a good lunch." I gritted my teeth and left the food truck.

I had been reading "Solomon's Little Key" for half an hour after lunch, and when my eyes grew sore I put it down helplessly and looked up to see the Chinese girl I had met in the dining car again. She was smiling when she saw me as if she wasn't surprised to see me again, in stark contrast to my inner turmoil.

The train was just about to reach its final stop in Le Havre, so there were empty seats around me. She picked the seat across from me and sat down and started her long rant again.

As much as I didn't want to listen, a gentleman's instincts told me I had to listen to what the lady had to say with a smile on my face. Even though she was going to talk to me about when and where and how the vampire hottie would appear and what a love affair of the ages would ensue.

Looking at her face, I wondered if she would die suddenly when she found out that I was the "handsome" Blood she had been longing for. Maybe it would be better if she died suddenly, and the paramedics would carry her away, leaving me with a quiet compartment at least.

Of course, it's more likely that she'll die suddenly of grief simply because I'm not as handsome as she says "Edward" is.

During the rest of the conversation, I gradually learned that this silly girl had not actually even seen the movie version of Bloodsucking for 400 Years, and only even knew that Cain was Adam's son and not who Adam's wife was. I told her how Cain became a Blood, and she was all ears. To the devastation of thousands of Bloods, she didn't even know that there were thirteen Blood clans.

I completely lost interest in this girl and plugged in my headphones to listen to music by myself. After a while, she left angrily, saying something under her breath, and according to her muzzle, I knew she was calling me rude, but I ignored her.

O Satan! Let me remember this moment and be reminded of it!

6. Marrs

In Le Havre, I had a sleepless night. Even though I get very little sleep regularly, it doesn't affect what I'm about to say, I mean, I met a strange woman (or girl).

First, she's from China.

Second, she's looking for the Bloods.

It's devastating the fact that so many Chinese girls have come to France recently in search of blood! But then again, she told me she hunts Bloods.

Her gaze seemed to look into my heart as if adding clarification and telling me on purpose, "But I don't hunt Bloods who follow the commandments."

We met at the bar, and after hearing her say those words, I smiled stiffly and took a sip of my Bloody Mary, but fell back into the ice when I gazed into her eyes, neither the hot pole dancing of the bar girls nor the hotness of the Bloody Mary through my throat could I couldn't ignite myself. My heart was cold to the core.

She was a hunter, not the nymphomaniac I'd met on the train. She was dressed in tight black leather and had a hot body that would make any human male swoon. And for a Blood like me, such beauty would mean destruction.

Her smile blossomed at the corners of her mouth and she stumbled like a drunk. I knew she'd been following me, but I didn't know why.

She stayed in the room next to mine. It was quiet all night, terribly still. I told myself that I hadn't broken the commandments, so I didn't have to worry about the hunters. But what was I really afraid of? Was it the natural feeling between hunter and prey? Like when the wolves approach and the sheep flee? I don't know.

Today I shall go to Lister's Castle, and I have long since hired a taxi. May Satan drive away from this hunter girl, I don't want her to keep following me.