• CHAPTER 106 - AI

    Poor child...how do I comfort a torn Vampire child?

    The little girl was sobbing the whole way back home and I was almost too afraid to ask what she was crying over. She could have been crying from the wound on her eye, she could be crying because of that Necromantic Hunter chasing after her, she could be crying from anything. She only continued to hold my sweatshirt up to her eye and cry. It took about half the time to get home and I helped her out of the car, ignoring my bleeding wrist. I unlocked the door quickly and locked it quickly as well.

    "Let's go into the bathroom," I ordered with a partially shaky voice.

    I shut the door to the bathroom right away, smearing my blood on the inside of the door. I hurried to the linen closet to grab more towels and bandages and cleaning supplies as the girl's crying gradually died down to small sobs. As soon as I kneeled down in front of her, ready to fix her eye, she clung to my shirt and buried her face in my shoulder and cried more.

    "Mommyyyyy..." she cried.

    "Hang on," I bit my lip.

    I pried the sweatshirt off of her eye and flinched at the gash that still showed. It wasn't as deep anymore but she still couldn't open her right eye. I pulled a wet wipe out of the container and started wiping the dried blood off of her forehead and her cheek. Her wound was healing fast, but not nearly as fast as Kai would. She was only a young girl; who would do such a thing to her?

    "Do you have a name?" I started out slow, gradually trying to comfort her. "What's your name?"

    "A-Ai," she cried. "I'm six."

    "Where's your mom?" I asked again. "Is your mom around?"

    That was when she burst into tears again, stopping me dead in my tracks. I allowed her to cry as much as she wanted to as I continued to clean her eye. If she wasn't with her mother, something bad must have happened. I finally bandaged her eye and she clung herself to me again, sobbing onto my shoulder.

    "Calm down, calm down," I whispered and held her close to me.

    I picked her up and carried her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. I sat her down on the bed and pat her head, "I'll be right back; stay here."

    Rushing into the bathroom, I subtly started panicking. I still had no clue what to do and I didn't know what was happening to the poor girl. Her name was Ai; that was a start. I quickly cleaned the wound on my wrist and bandaged it, knowing it would heal in only an hour. I made my way back into the bedroom and Ai was curled up in a ball at the center of the bed, still crying.

    "Ai?" I whispered, crawling onto the bed next to her.

    "I-I want mommy," she sobbed.

    "Where is she?" I sat in front of her and cupped her face. "Do you know where she is?"

    "That-that lady," she cried. "That lady killed mommy!"

    My heart stopped for a second, "What lady? The one we ran into?"

    She nodded, "She killed mommy about two hours ago and I ran away," she sobbed. "She and her boyfriend came after me."

    "Boyfriend?" I burrowed my eyebrows together. "I didn't see anybody with her."

    "He went a different way," she sniffed. "The lady's name is Mayura and her boyfriend's name is Hitoshi."

    "Mayura is a Necromantic Hunter, right? What about this Hitoshi guy?"

    "He's different," she took a deep, uneven breath. "He's half Vampire and half Werewolf."

    I paused; a half Vampire half Werewolf? I never thought there was such a thing; they must be as rare as half humans. Ai burst into tears again and I allowed her to cling to me once more. I wanted to comfort her in any way possible.

    "What about your father?" I whispered. "Do you have a father?"

    "I-I haven't seen him in over a year," she sniffed.

    "I'm sorry," I apologized. "You may stay here as long as you're comfortable."

    "I smell another Vampire," she looked around, wiping away her tears. "Is there another one here?"

    "Well...yeah, there is another Vampire; he won't be back until this Sunday."

    She sniffed and wiped away more tears, "Is he nice?"

    I smiled, "Of course he is. Are you hungry?"

    She shook her head, "No,"

    "Is there anything I can do?"

    She buried her face in my chest, "Hide me from that lady,"

    "I can do that, I can do that," I tried to comfort her.

    So I was responsible for a six-year-old Vampire girl's life and Kai wasn't even around; how typical. Kai was hundreds of miles away and I couldn't simply tell him over the phone. I wouldn't want him to panic and come home early; he needed to help Miku and Takeuchi. Maybe once Ai got warmed up, then I'd be able to tell Kai.

    "I'm going to get you something to eat," I picked up Ai. "You're going to eat whether you're hungry or not."

    She didn't speak a word as I left the bedroom and went into the kitchen. I sat her down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar and headed to the refrigerator. The hairs at the back of my neck were standing on end only because I was paranoid about that Mayura girl showing up again. She appeared incredibly threatening and she obviously was; she murdered Ai's mother and was even inhuman enough to come after Ai.

    "Here," I handed her a plate with five onigiris. "It's all I have right now but I could cook if you want me to."

    She still didn't speak and she reached for an onigiri and timidly started nibbling at it. I set the plate down in front of her watched her as she ate more and more. It was surprising me she wasn't crying more; she was probably suffering through a stage of shock after seeing her mother murdered right in front of her. In a way, it reminded me of my parents but I only saw the aftermath. I have, however, seen others murdered.

    "Thank you," Ai mumbled.

    I smiled warmly, "It's no problem,"

    "So what's the Vampire's name?" she asked without looking up. "The other one who lives here?"

    "His name is Kai; he's eighteen." I smiled again. "Trust me, he's very nice."

    "Eighteen? Was he born a Vampire?"

    I shook my head, "No, he was infected so long ago. He's actually a hundred seventy-seven but he was infected when he was eighteen."

    She pushed the empty plate away towards me, "Thank you,"

    I stowed the dish away in the dishwasher and smiled again, "You're welcome; is there anything else I can do? Make yourself comfortable in any way."

    She hesitated for a moment, "Do you have paper? And colored pencils?"

    I thought for a moment, "I think I do; hang on."

    I left the kitchen and headed to the office I hadn't been in. Surely Takeuchi and Kira would leave their colored pencils and crayons for us for some reason. I searched through the drawers of the desk and I was completely right; there was a pencil box stuffed with colored pencils and crayons and markers. I stole paper from the printer and headed out to the living room where Ai had been sitting for the past few seconds. I set the supplies out for her on the coffee table and offered her to sit on a pillow. Inspiration immediately struck her and she started drawing with a pink colored pencil in her little hands. I did a little cleaning in the house as the little artist got to work, coloring her imagination on paper. The more I though of little Ai, the more and more my heart sank for her and her family. Her mother just died and she hadn't seen her father in over a year.

    "Excuse me," she called out to me timidly and I generously sat next to her at the coffee table. "What's your name?"

    "Oh," I realized I forgot to tell her. "My name is Arisa."

    "Aseea," she frowned. "Aria...Asira..."

    I laughed, "If it's too hard for you to pronounce then you can call me whatever you like,"

    She thought for a moment, "Nana," she smiled. "It's simple. And I like that name."

    "Nana?" I smiled. "That's fine."

    The little artist went back to work, halfway covering her paper as most artists do. I managed to get a peek at what she was drawing and my heart sank. On her paper were only two stick figures, one labeled "Mommy" and the other labeled "Me" with a small pink heart floating between them. At that rate, I knew I had to protect Ai all I could even if that meant I couldn't let her out of my sight. I had to at least bring her back to her father...if we could ever find him.

    ***RANDOM QUESTION TIME AGAAAAIIIIINNNN XD
    Again, this is totally optional but I'm bored and...bored |:
    Anyways:

    Q: Which character(s) death(s) could you not contemplate at any rate? O:

    You can choose more than one character if you can't live without them XD