Saber

 It's been a week since this mysterious man who claimed to be a vampire entered my life. At first, I still had my reservations about if what he said was the truth or not, but from what I've seen, I'm finding it harder to doubt him.

 He sleeps during the day and only comes out at night. And the weirdest thing about that is during the day, his perfect napping spot is inside my closet. I asked him once why he did that, and all he told me then was 'Because I like the darkness'.

 For someone who told me that I've become a vampire, he's not the greatest mentor. He hasn't once tried to teach me what it means to be a creature of the night!

 Besides my enhanced senses, I didn't feel much different than I did before. If I was a vampire, I certainly wasn't anything like him.

 Yet, as I looked at myself in the mirror, I might as well have been staring at a stranger.

 My boyish face was more mature now and I had grown taller. My babydoll-like eyes were sharp, and every now and then red would grow from the inner parts of my iris. I inspected my teeth and sure enough, there were two canines.

 A reminder that I wasn't a human anymore.

 "Hey, servant!" Kana shouted while he lay in front of the tv. He held up his empty beer can and shook it. "Go to the store to fetch me more booze, will ya?" he yawned loudly.

 I forced a smile and walked over to grab his trash. "Yes, master," I rolled my eyes. And although I complied, I wanted to do nothing more than take a swing at his big fat head.

 I've been treated like nothing more than his chore monkey and errand boy! Honestly, Kana wasn't much different than the bullies I had at school. Maybe, he was even worse than them. Because they at least sometimes treated me like a person.

 Kana, however, reminded me every day how I was nothing but his property. In his eyes, I was just a servant.

 "Question for you before I go," I put on my hoodie, "How come you can eat and drink human food? I thought vampires could only drink blood."

 Kana chuckled. "Don't believe everything you've heard about vampires. Some facts are true while others are complete hogwash made up by idiotic humans."

 The way he divided a line between humans and vampires was interesting. He hated them and yet he saved me. His past was a mystery since he never talked about himself, so I just stopped trying to ask.

 "If you have any more pointless questions to ask me then go on ahead. But if not, hurry along before my buzz starts to wear off," Kana said with a wave of his hand.

 The vein on my forehead popped, my fists clenched tightly at my sides.

 There was a wall between us, or better yet, I had shackles cuffed around my ankles and wrists and Kana held the keys. Even if I wanted to tell him off, some otherworldly power kept me from giving him a piece of my mind.

 No doubt, it was probably from this blood bond he mentioned to me the first day we met. It kept me from going against my creator.

 "I'll be right back," I left and closed the sliding door behind me.

 But with every movement I made, his piercing gaze was hot against my back. He was watching me, waiting for me to make one wrong move. And if I did, well, I would hate to see what he would do to punish me.

***

 The night air was cold as I made my trip toward the convenience store; my breath frosted in the air like I was a dragon exhaling smoke. But even though it was cold, my body couldn't feel it. And not only that, but I could see extraordinarily well even though it was practically pitch dark outside.

 My family's inn, which was the oldest hot spring in my town, was deep in the countryside. There were no streetlights to illuminate the dark road which I wandered down, but I didn't even need them since to me it was as bright as day.

 Unlike Kana who avoided the sunlight at any cost, I had no problem walking outside during the day, hence why I became his errand boy.

 That's not to say that the sunlight didn't bother me. My skin felt hot underneath it's shine and my eyes would feel like they were boiling in their sockets if I was out for too long. Nothing wearing a hoodie and a pair of glasses couldn't fix though.

 "I don't want to admit it, but maybe he's right," I loathed. "Maybe I really have lost my humanity." My thoughts started to race. If I really am a vampire, does that mean that one day I'll have to hurt someone?

 My body trembled as the thoughts continued to rush throughout my staggard brain. The dream I had right after my transformation, it has haunted me ever since.

 At first, it felt so comfortable drifting around in that unfamiliar warmth, but seeing my monstrous form, I was at a loss for words. Is that really what I'm going to become one day?

 A familiar yet disgusting scent flooded my nostrils. It was the cheap smell of cigarettes I was forced to buy every day for years, yet so much worse than I remembered it.

 Up ahead, the feint light of the only convenience store within walking distance of my home stood the person who nearly brought my life to an end.

 Kaito was there, cigarette pursed between his lips—­his regular possie surrounded him like flies attracted to the smell of rotten fruit.

 I was still a good distance away, but my ears detected every word that came from their mouths as if they were standing right next to me.

 "Do you think he might be dead? Kemmotsu, I mean," said the delinquent who tried to speak up before. "He hasn't been at school for a whole week. I'm starting to really worry that we might have killed him, Kaito!"

 "And like I said before, it doesn't matter if he's dead or not!" Kaito threw his still lit cigarette at his supposed friend.

 It burnt his skin, but he quickly flicked away the burning ambers.

 "I don't think he's dead anyways. If he was, his body would have been found by now," he spat on the ground. "That coward is just too scared to come back to school. He's afraid to run into us again, as he should be."

 Me? A coward? That's so funny it almost makes me want to laugh. I've never been the bravest, but still, the real reason why I hadn't been at school was because of my own messed up situation. If it wasn't for Kana then, yeah, I would be dead no thanks to you!

 Suddenly, that darkness I had been dreading crept into my heart. The more I thought about Kaito and everything he had done to me, the more my blood boiled.

 I approached them without a second thought. Maybe I wanted to surprise them, to show them that I was still alive despite what they had put me through. But I wanted them to see my face.

 Getting even closer, my gaze pointed toward the ground with my hood shadowing my expression.

 Kaito looked at me, and then he smirked.

 "What did I tell you? I told you this loser wasn't dead," he said, cockily. Their calmed heartbeats were almost like a mockery.

 Kaito took a step forward and his smirk widened. "So, what now? You're here to cry about it, Kemmotsu? Gonna beg us to stop picking on you? Or are you here to thank me for toughening you up?"

 His friends snickered, their laughter grating against my ears like nails on a chalkboard.

 I didn't respond right away. I kept my head down, trembling—not with fear, but with rage, sorrow, and everything I'd bottled up inside me for far too long.

 "Say something, loser," Kaito pressed, his voice dripping with derision. "Or are you too weak to even—"

 "Why?" The word burst out of me, raw and unfiltered. My voice cracked, and my body shook uncontrollably. "Why did you do it? What did I ever do to you?"

 Kaito blinked, caught off guard for a moment. Then he laughed. "Why? Because I can. Because you're a loser and that's all you're ever gonna be!"

 His words struck a dark nerve. Something apart of myself I had tried so desperately to ignore. My fists clenched at my sides, and before I could stop myself, tears began to form in my eyes. Yet, they weren't normal tears.

 The sensation of something warm trickled down my cheeks, then the metallic tang hit my tongue. Blood. I was crying blood.

 Kaito and his lackeys froze, their smug expressions twisted into shock and horror. "W-what the hell is wrong with you?" He stammered and stepped back.

I couldn't answer. The pain, the anger, the sadness—it all overwhelmed me. My body moved on its own, and my tears, they began to shimmer and shift.

 They defied gravity, swirling and coalescing in the air in front of me. Before I knew it, they had taken the form of a crimson saber, and its surface gleamed like liquid fire.

 Kaito stumbled backward, his bravado gone. "W-what are you—?"

 I didn't give him time to finish. With a sudden burst of speed, I swung the blood-formed blade in a wide arc. Kaito leaped back just in time, the blade grazing the front of his shirt. He fell hard onto the pavement and scrambled away.

 The saber didn't stop. It followed through, slicing cleanly through the metal lamp post behind him. The post groaned as it toppled, sparks flew as it hit the ground. The three jumped out of the way before they could get crushed.

 Darkness swallowed the area, save for the crimson glow of the weapon in my hand. I stood there, breathing heavily, my vision blurred by the blood that still streamed from my eyes.

 Kaito and his friends scrambled to their feet, their terror palpable. "You're… you're a freak!"

 I took a step toward them, the saber humming in my grip. For the first time, they were the ones who retreated. For the first time, I wasn't the one who ran away.

 This is payback for trying to kill me, you damned bastard! This was so unlike me, this rage inside. I wanted to quell it, but whatever I unleashed wasn't going to calm itself until the cowering man in front of me tasted my blade.

 I swung down, the sleek sharp edge only inches away from his face. In that moment, time seemed to stand still. My heartbeat stopped and there was a ringing in my ears that both deafened and blinded me.

 However, instead of the scream I so desperately wanted to hear, the air was silent aside from the snivels of the people who slunk back.

 My arm wouldn't budge. Once the film of red faded from my eyes, I noticed a slender pale hand wrapped around my wrist, stopping me the moment I would have struck Kaito, who had passed out from the shock.

 "Alright, that's enough out of you, you troublemaker," Kana said nonchalantly. With one hand still wrapped around my wrist, he pulled back his other with his palm flat and plunged it into my stomach.

 The impact sent me flying. I tumbled a few feet away, my body bounced on the ground like a pebble skipping over water. When I skidded to a stop, I gasped for air and clenched my hands around my waist.

 What the hell was that? It only looked like a light tap, but there was so much force to it!

 My saber fell apart and became a mere puddle of blood before it dissolved into red shimmer that drifted away in the wind. The anger within started to settle.

 Kana brought me back to my senses just in time.

 I struggled to look ahead; this time Kana had his back to me and slowly walked toward the other two students who crawled away as he approached.

 "Stay away, monster!" He reached for a rock and threw it at Kana's head. "You're just like that freak over there, aren't you?" His eyes quivered while he stared at the predator before him.

 Kana chuckled as he caught it with ease and crumpled it in his hands as if it were made of sand. "A freak? Well, that's not very nice. From where I'm standing, I could say the same thing about you."

 I couldn't even comprehend his movements. They were so fast that he might as well had teleported. In the blink of an eye, Kana was knelt on the ground in front of my bully whose face was palmed in his hand.

 "Humans are such pitiful creatures. You're only strong when you stick together, and you're so quick to give up your pride and lick the boots of someone else if it meant saving your own skin," Kana retorted. "But me on the other hand," he said with a diabolical smile, "I'm a one-man army."

 His hand glowed in a bright flash of yellow light. My bully screamed but only for a moment then collapsed on the ground.

 "W-wait!" cried out the last one. He tried to stand, but his legs buckled underneath his weight. "Don't do this! I won't say a word about this to anyone, I promise!"

 Kana ignored his pleas and approached him anyways. "I know you won't. I'll make sure of that."

 With the same method, Kana grabbed ahold of the bully's face and his hand glowed again, causing him to scream and then collapse.

 My eyes trembled as I lurched back and fell onto my sweaty palms. I gulped; the words I wanted to say refused to escape past my lips. "Wha—What did you do to them?" I managed to stammer. "Are they… are they—"

 "No, they're not dead. I put them to sleep with a spell and erased their memories of what happened tonight," Kana said and stretched before placing his hands behind his head. "But if I didn't show up when I did, they certainly would be."

 Damn it! I had lost control. It was almost like I was possessed by something. If he didn't come to my rescue, or to be exact, their rescue, I would have made a mistake I'd have regretted for the rest of my life.

 "I can see it all over your face, kid. Don't blame yourself too much." He smiled gently, an expression I hadn't seen since the first day we met.

 "As vampires, it's in our nature to dominate others. We're controlled by our emotions. Lose control of them, and this is the outcome." He stepped aside and I had to face the consequences of my actions.

 Sparks still flew from the broken lamp post and three bodies laid crumpled on the floor. While I was grateful that was all the damage I caused, my stomach churned at the thought of what could have been.

 "I don't know what came over me. I was angry and I really wanted to make them suffer. I wanted them to fear me. And—" I started, trailing off as I stared at my shaking hands, "I was ready to kill them."

 "Now you know what it's like to listen to the temptation of your darker instincts," Kana said as he stared at the moon. "Honestly, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner. Normally, a newborn vampire like you succumbs to their bloodlust much earlier."

 He chuckled and brought his sleeve to his mouth. "You exhibit a lot of restraint. You're full of surprises, aren't you? You fool."

 "Why did you stop me? You clearly don't like humans so what's it to you if I kill them or not?" I'm glad he stopped me, but Kana was still an enigma. He hates humans but this is the second time he's gone out of his way to save one. Why?

 "Believe it or not it was for your own benefit. I think you've noticed it by now, the difference between you and I."

 When he glanced at me, his beautiful yet haunting, glowing red eyes made it hard to look away. "Once you kill a human for the first time, you become like me, a true vampire. Unbound by the laws of man and cursed to forever walk the Earth as a harbinger of death."

 The familiar chime of the bell in his hair was the only comfort to my grieving soul.

 "I have no name for our relationship besides master and servant, but I still feel some sort of responsibility towards you. I did create you after all." He approached me and I was stuck in place.

 Normally I would be afraid of him, but my shackles felt loose, like he was giving me leeway to express what I wanted.

 "What are you trying to say?" I said beneath a whisper.

 "I'm telling you that you should enjoy being a human for a little while longer," he was solemn yet sincere. "You're still young. Grow up a little and understand how the world really works before you have no choice but to turn your back to it."

 For the first time, I looked up to him. We haven't known each other for very long, and my first impressions of him weren't the best. Honestly, he's been nothing but a freeloader. But there were more layers to him than I originally thought. He actually had the capacity to care.

 "So, what should I do now?" I asked, hopelessly.

 "Isn't it obvious? It's time to start your training!" Kana smiled his snake like grin. "After tonight, I'm glad that I turned you. It was worth taking on an apprentice like you, even if you are a fool."