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Life was different from then on. I viewed and went through it much more lethargically. Since I was a vampire, why should I go through it quickly? I had plenty of time to live. I did not have to worry about a thing-so I thought. Before discovering what I was, I had fretted over everything, and was always in a hurry. Now I was the complete opposite.
Spike grew to be one of my closest friends, since I got to see him quite often, as Syti was taking care of him and was also Tai’s sister.
“Hey, Spike,” I said one day, “have you ever leapt onto the top of-...”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” I demanded, more curiously than fiercely. Were some vampires able to do things that others could not?
“I’m not a vampire. I’m human.” My jaw dropped as I stared at Spike. I thought a moment, and my heart fell.
“You’re going to die one day,” I stated. It is surprising how such a simple statement could hurt me so immensely. Spike only nodded, dismissing the conversation that that statement could bring. But I persisted. I had no idea where this conversation was headed, but Spike did. “You’re going to die, an’ I’m not going to,” I moaned.
“Yeah. C’mon, lets-...”
“Spike, how can you dismiss-... Spike-...” I whined.
“ Mysiri, it’s okay,” he smiled. “I don’t plan on dying any time soon.” Spike looked at me worriedly. “C’mon, Mysiri, it’s okay. I won’t-...”
“That’s the thing, Spike. You promise me now; ‘I won’t die on you, I’m not dying anytime soon,’ but you don’t know. That’s the thing; death just pops up when you least expect it and takes you away. Spike, I don’t want you to leave me.”
“It’ll be fine, Mysiri. Really, it will. I won’t die until you’re ready. I promise.” Spike’s soft grey eyes looked so sincere-I wanted to believe him so terribly-but I could not. Something inside would not let me. Oh, it hurt horribly to know that one day-and sometime soon, I felt-Spike would leave me.
A few weeks after that, Tai had another party for me. The difference of this one was that it was a slumber party with people that were generally just around my age. Tai wanted me to befriend people other than Spike.
Most of the people were vampires, but had sworn to Tai that they would sleep. A vampire did not need to sleep, but would if humans were present, just to keep their identity a secret.
We were gathered in the basement that night, everyone’s blankets and whatnot laid out. We watched a movie or two, but I made no attempt at befriending anyone. I needed no friends other than Spike. Even when he was surrounded by every girl there, vampire and human alike, I did not twitch in my opinion. The guys at the party ignored and shunned Spike; they did not like him, they were intimidated by him.
Every so often, one of the girls would talk to me and I had some fine conversations, but I doubted I left much of an impression on any of them. The guys were another story. They kind of ignored me. Rather, they were not going to come to me. If I wanted their friendship I could go to them.
I could not sleep. I was so used to staying awake at all time and not being tired. I climbed the basement steps and went out onto a balcony.
It was a beautiful night. There were clouds, but they were so faint that the stars could be seen through them. I sighed and sat on a bench. Someone cleared their throat and I turned to look at who it was.
“Oh, hello. I didn’t see you there.”
“I did not expect you would, Mysiri.” I frowned as he said that, but decided to not ask what he meant by that.
“I’m sorry; I didn’t catch your name earlier?”
“That’s all right. I’m Kyoto.”
“Is that Japanese? You don’t look Asian.”
“My parents had been in Japan a bit before I was born. I guess they were inspired.” I refrained from asking if he was all human or part vampire because I could sense that human in him, and if he was completely human that would have been a big mistake. Rule one of the vampires is to never let humans know what you are unless you are in the middle of killing them.
“So, why are you awake now?” I inquired.
“Insomnia,” he replied stiffly. I nodded as if I understood.
“Sucks, huh?” I murmured sympathetically.
“Yeah.” Kyoto glanced at the moon. “Damn, that’s beautiful. Full moon, stars so bright that they make the clouds translucent. A bit cold, but-... yikes! Mysiri, you must be freezing!” he said suddenly, noticing that I was in shorts and a tank top for the first time.
“No, I’m okay,” I replied quickly. Vampires do not feel cold. Cold means nothing to us. Of course, Kyoto did not know this, and he took his jacket off and put it around me. “Thanks-but now you’re probably cold.”
“No-it’s fine. I’m fine.” He seemed like he wanted to say something more, but was hesitating on whether or not he should. I kept watching him, my eyes gently willing him to say what he wanted to say. He resisted the urge and looked again at the moon. I looked at it with him.
“So you were adopted by Tai, huh?” he asked, struggling for conversation. I suddenly felt overwhelmed and nodded.
“Yeah-here,” I gave him his jacket back. “I’ve gotta... well-... sleep-...” I hurried inside and returned to the basement. I saw one of the female vampires sharing a blanket with Spike and felt suddenly sick. I hurried back to the balcony.
“Kyoto,” I said quickly. He turned and stared at me, his eyes showing pain, impatience and anger all at once. I went over to him, stood on the tips of my toes and kissed him swiftly on the cheek. He turned bright red in return.
“What was that for?” he murmured, pleased but curious.
I did not answer, only because I did not know how to answer. I knew he had wanted to kiss me, but I also felt that kissing him was my revenge for Spike sleeping with that vampire. Why was I jealous, anyway? Spike should be able to do whatever he pleases with whomever he pleases. Why did I feel so ill thinking about Spike with someone else?
Kyoto did not need an answer; he felt he knew the answer. He thought I felt for him the way he did for me. He smiled warmly at me, but made no further move. He did not want to anger or offend me. I saw right through him.
I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and I had to sit down at once. Why did he have to feel this way for me? ‘Well, I might as well make the most of it before he dies,’ I thought to myself, somehow knowing that he would die sometime incredibly soon. He watched me with worry as I hunched over myself from the pain in my chest. I looked up at him and beckoned for him to sit beside me. He did at once and gently put one hand on my back as he used the other to get me to sit upright. There was a shot of pain and I sucked in a breath, but once I let the breath out, the pain dulled, then was gone. I looked at Kyoto, my eyes shining gratefully. I embraced him at once and said in a hushed whisper, directly into his ear:
“You eased my pain with just one simple touch. That must mean something,” but I said it more to myself than him. He gasped softly, but managed to stifle the gasp enough that it sounded like a yawn-to the human ear, anyway. So I had to act as if I thought it was a yawn-to keep my vampirism a secret. “Oh, are you tired? We could-...”
“No, I am fine...” he paused. I waited for him to continue, but he did not. I heard a sound just inside the door that led out to the balcony, and knew that it was Spike. I kissed Kyoto again, but longer this time, and on the lips, not the cheek. I heard Spike’s footsteps leave the balcony door and fade as he got further away. It took Kyoto a second to realize what was going on, but when he did, he pulled away.
“Why’re you-...” he demanded, confused. I looked down demurely.
“Because...” I murmured, “because I’ve never known anyone like you and...” I shrugged. “I’m sorry if I offended you. I didn’t know-...”
“Never known someone like me. You just met me. People usually don’t have intense feelings for one another after a few minutes of small talk.”
“I thought you-...”
“Yeah, so did I,” Kyoto chuckled. “I’m sorry, really. Let’s go back in-if you can’t get back to sleep, maybe we can watch a movie or something until everyone else wakes up.”
“I’d like that,” I replied, beaming. Kyoto and I went into the den and popped a video into the VCR. We pretty much ignored the flashing pictures on the screen and talked instead of watching the movie. I used my mind to will him to go to sleep and he was soon laying on the couch, his head on my lap, his body rising and falling with each breath. I heard Spike’s footsteps nearing and heard him pause by the entrance. The door was open, and I felt his gaze on me; I felt the frown on his face. I softly set Kyoto’s head on the couch, got up and faced Spike. His face was red in fury.
“What?” I asked, my tone snappy.
“What! ‘What,’ you ask-as if you did nothing wrong!”
“What did I do wrong?” I burst out, and then shook my head. “Let’s go into another room- Kyoto needs his rest.”
“Oh, he’s real tired from what, huh, Mysiri?!”
“From having insomnia. Geez-come on, Spike.” I went to the library and Spike followed. I shut the library door and stared at Spike. “Okay. What did I do wrong?”
“You-... you-...!” Spike’s face was still bright red. I did not know whether it was in fury or in embarrassment that he could not think of what I did wrong. He lowered his voice. “Do you even care about Kyoto?” I did not answer him with words, I just stared blankly. “Then why did you kiss him?” I shrugged my shoulders uncomfortably. Spike turned even brighter in embarrassment and looked down. “You saw us, didn’t you,. Mysiri?” he murmured. I also looked down in embarrassment as I slowly nodded. “She just climbed in when I was asleep-the moment I noticed, I got up and left... then... I saw you and Kyoto-...”
“And you got upset...” I sighed, then grinned slyly at Spike. “Why’d it upset you so much, huh?” I winked. Spike groaned and shook his head.
“Why do you think?” he snapped, trying to make it so he would not have to say it straight out. I just grinned wider.
“Say it! C’mon, say it!” I coerced. I blocked the door so he could not leave. He glared at me.
“Damn it, Mysiri-...” he began. He sighed, shaking his head. “Fine... I... like... you.”
I let my grin fade. “Well, I like you, too, Spike,” I said somberly. Spike chuckled when he saw my serious face.
“So you were jealous of that vampire, huh?” he teased. I tried to keep a straight face but ended up cracking up.
“Yeah, yeah, I was dumb,” I chortled. Spike’s smile softened.
“Well, I’m one to talk, huh?” His face got suddenly serious. “But, seriously... did you like it?”
“What, kissing Kyoto? It was nothing special. No fireworks or anything. It was just... just a kiss, I guess.” Spike’s somber face made me start laughing all over again, and this time I laughed so hard that tears fell from my eyes. When I stopped, I wiped the tears away and saw Spike was standing right in front of me. His grey eyes were staring at me so sincerely. I saw his facial expression and just stared right back with a blank face. Spike suddenly kissed me and at once I knew... I knew why I had gotten furious seeing that other vampire with him and why I had gotten so ill and so lonely. I knew that I did not really care at all for Kyoto, and I knew-...
I started to cry silently; just tears falling from my eyes and when Spike pulled gently away from me and saw, his own eyes filled with tears that refused to fall.
“Mysiri-...?”
“You’re going to die eventually,” I shuddered. “You’re going to leave me one day. I can’t take that.” Spike sighed and took me into his arms.
“It’s okay, Mysiri...” he murmured gently. Suddenly, the door slammed open and Kyoto stood there.
“I should have known you would-...! I told you if you did it again, Spike, I’d make sure you’d never do it again! Must you get every girl to love you?” Kyoto leapt at Spike with a knife in his hand. Spike grabbed Kyoto’s wrist at once and turned the knife so that it was facing Kyoto’s own self. Kyoto twisted himself free and shoved Spike down, pinning him with his knees. I was watching, thinking that my presence was all in vain; forgetting momentarily of my powers. Kyoto shoved the knife into Spike’s stomach. Spike roared in pain and threw Kyoto off of him. Kyoto was flung back into the wall. In one last feat of strength, Spike leapt up and ran at Kyoto, the knife still in his stomach. Spike swung his fists at Kyoto and beat Kyoto’s face into an unrecognizable pulp. Then, he twisted the knife out of his own stomach and shoved it into Kyoto’s throat. Kyoto’s eyes bulged and blood trickled out of his mouth and then he fell forward. I ran to Spike and pulled him out from underneath Kyoto.
The moment I saw Spike’s face and inspected his wound, I knew he did not have long to live. I broke down into tears. Spike reached a hand up and touched my face gently.
“Be strong, Mysiri. It’s gonna be all right.”
Just then, an idea came to my mind. I grasped Spike’s hands and stared straight into his sad eyes. “I can make you a vampire. Would you-...?” Spike’s eyes widened and he shrugged.
“Whatever makes you happy.”
At once I set to the extremely slow and mind rending process of opening both mine and Spike’s wrists and exchanging a pint of blood with him, being careful in making sure neither of us lost too much blood. When I was done, I sighed, muttering, “there’s gotta be an easier way to do this.” Spike had passed out during the transferal and was still sleeping, probably trying to regain his strength. Looking at Kyoto got me worried and I hurried to Tai’s room to ask what should be done.
Tai listened patiently as I told him all of the night’s occurrences. It felt weird telling him about Spike and the vampire and how that made me feel and what I did afterwards and why I did it. Tai did not make a big deal out of any of it, almost as if he expected it. He raised his eyebrows when I told him that I had made Spike into a vampire. To my surprise, I did not feel emotionally overwhelmed once as I spoke to Tai. I said the happenings steadily, without faltering once. Tai followed me back to the library. He looked at Kyoto and sighed.
“We’ll have to hide all evidence of this. I’m going to have Spike do it so he learns from this. Now, what we’re going to do about his parents-...” Tai shook his head. “You know what? I’m gonna leave this all to you and Spike. You can face the consequences if you’re figured out.”
At that time, I thought that it was cruel of Tai to “abandon” me, but eventually I realized that it was so I could learn that I was not going to be led through life. I had to take my own hand and find out all of this on my own.
Tai left me alone with Spike in the library. Spike stirred after an hour and he stared at me. His eyes were wide as he got up with such ease after having felt so weak before.
“Mysiri-...?”
“Tai says you’ve gotta figure out what you’re gonna do about Kyoto-he says he’s not gonna help us; he wants us to learn from this.”
“Learn from this. Learn to not do this?”
“No... more like learn how to correctly dispose of bodies to cover our identities-for further reference.”
“Further reference!” Spike exploded. “We’re going to do this on a normal basis?!”
“Hopefully not,” I murmured. “But, Spike, what’re we gonna do?”
“We? It’s just me. You don’t have to get involved-...”
“No, Spike, I’m already in this. I’m the whole reason-...”
“That’s conceited,” he muttered.
“God, Spike-...! I just wanted to help you out.” I turned away from him, and started leaving the library. Kyoto’s body disappeared into thin air, and that caught my eye so I turned and stared at Spike in awe. “What’d you-...?”
“Simple. Threw his body into another world. I dunno which. Where his soul is no doubt.” Spike thought a moment. “His parents-I dunno what we’re gonna do about them. Could always kill em, too, and hide the evidence.”
“Spike!” I cried out in disgust. He shrugged.
“What else is there to do? Pretend nothing’s wrong? No way, cuz they know he was here last, and we’d be immediate suspects. Could tell ‘em that he left in the middle of the night and we didn’t notice until we got up and saw he was gone. Then we’d have to fake looking for him, though... and that would suck. And what if they wanted to talk to Tai? What if he ratted us-...”
“He wouldn’t!” I exclaimed.
“He might. We don’t know if-...”
“I know Tai. He wants just as much to keep our identities a secret. He wouldn’t rat us out. He’d not say anything to our defense, or to make them suspect us any more, either.”
“Hmm,” was all Spike said. I left the library and retreated to my room. Antonio saw me, and knew not to talk to me. He wanted to, I saw that he did, but he knew I wanted to be alone and respected that. I shut my door and laid on my bed, stuffing my face into my pillow. The tears fell freely, as they always do from my eyes. I did not know why in the world I was crying, but I suppose it was the overwhelming emotions that had come over me.
Eventually, there was a knock on my door and I got up and wiped the tears from my face. My eyes were puffy and red, but I frankly did not care. I opened my bedroom door, and Spike stood there with two adult humans I did not know, but I assumed they were Kyoto’s parents.
“Hello,” the woman said kindly. “We’re Kyoto’s parents. We were wondering if you can recall last nights occurrences? Spike told us that Kyoto left during the middle of the night and no one knew where he went since you were all asleep.”
“Yeah... well, I couldn’t get to sleep, but I remember seeing Kyoto get up and leave the basement, but I assumed that he was going to the bathroom and would be back in a few minutes. When he didn’t come back, I started to worry and woke Spike up. He told me not to worry, that Kyoto would probably be back by the time morning came and to go to sleep... so I did, but when I awoke, Kyoto was still not back.”
“Was there an adult here?” the woman asked.
“Yes. Tai.”
“Why didn’t you get Tai?” Again, the woman was asking.
“I assumed Tai would say the same thing Spike did.”
“Is Tai here now?” the woman inquired.
“Yes.”
“Will you take us to him?” the man asked. His voice surprised me, because I had not heard him speak a word yet. I shrugged.
“I suppose. But he was upstairs during the whole party, he won’t know much about the goings-on.” I started towards Tai’s room, and Spike walked beside me, his grey eyes looking quite spooked, but his emotions were actually quite concealed to any normal person. Kyoto’s parents followed us and we came to Tai’s door, which was closed. I knocked on it and in a moment, Tai opened the door. Kyoto’s mother introduced herself and Kyoto’s father.
“Hello. What can I do for you?” Tai asked politely.
“Spike told us that Kyoto left in the middle of the night. Were you aware of this?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes. I saw him and asked where he was going. He said that he was an insomniac and that he was going to go to the den to watch some TV. After a bit, I went into the den to see if he was there but he wasn’t. I don’t know where he went...”
“Hmm,” Kyoto’s dad was not buying it, but he did the polite thing and said, “thank you.”
“You can come by any time if you have any more questions. I’m sure Spike and Mysiri would be glad to help you out. Unfortunately, I don’t know much more than what I just told you. Good luck in your search. I’m sure he’ll turn up some place.”
The way Tai lied surprised me so immensely. I never thought he would lie about it; I thought he would just give short one word answers. His face was so sincere-but he was lying. It was so shocking to see him lying with such ease, and looking so honest. Spike led Kyoto’s parents back downstairs, and I retreated back to my room.
Antonio was waiting for me there. I was not surprised to see him there; I knew he had wanted to speak with me. He sat in the chair by my desk and had it facing the doorway. I walked in and sat on my bed. He turned to face me.
“What do you want?” I asked, somewhat snappily.
“To talk. No need to get defensive, Mysiri.” I nodded. In some ways, I liked Antonio better than Tai. I felt more at ease with Antonio, I guess. “You made Spike into a vampire. That is a fact. Now, the method you used...” Antonio chuckled, “it’s almost as old as I! There are better, not as risky, modern ways you can use-...”
“I don’t think I’m gonna need to make anyone else a vampire.”
“Need. You needed to change Spike?”
“He was my only friend. I’ve never felt for anyone else the way I-...”
“The way Tai was so patient with having to find your mother’s soul over and over-...”
“Antonio-...”
“Well, never mind. I didn’t come to lecture you, but warn you.”
“Warn me?”
“As the years go by, a vampire grows to hate whoever made them the way they are. They feel immense pain and boredom the longer they live and for quite a long time, have a deep rancor for whoever created them.”
“Spike and I are different. That isn’t gonna happen with us,” I insisted.
“Maybe so,” was all Antonio said, and his eyes got suddenly distant. After a minute or so of silence, he shook his head. “Good day, Mysiri,” he nodded to me and left.
What he had said got me thinking. Was Spike upset with my decision to make him a vampire? I hoped not. I hoped that he and I would eventually live happily ever after with one another.
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