About The Vampire Hour – Part 1

03h33.

If my memory serves right, we talk about this time as ~THE DEVIL'S HOUR~ or something like that. It seems that all the artifacts that require a dubious ritual to work have a better chance of working at this time. It is also the most convenient time to summon demons, it seems.

Logically, it would not be surprising to meet a demonic creature at this time, like a vampire for example. It would therefore be wise to sleep with a vial of holy water or, you know ...

*gunshot *

... a revolver.

"Aaaaaahhh !!! My ... My glasses !!! What have you done?! Don't you know they cost a fortune?!"

"If they are so expensive, why don't you stop coming?! Do you enjoy getting shot?!" I said, getting up from my bed.

I pressed the switch to see more clearly this girl with a long black braid who was bleeding on the floor of my room.

The name is Dawn Riftwalker. Sixteen. First-year student at Eve's Anathema and a bit of a twisted teenage girl. For reasons unknown, a vampire was coming into my room every night and I could do nothing about it.

"Sadness. Fortunately, I have spare glasses," she said, closing her eyes as she removed her glasses, one of whose lenses was broken, before wearing another pair coming from the pocket of her sweater. "Advice. Avoid shooting me so close. If I didn't make any effort, your bullets would go through my skull and damage a piece of furniture or a wall! Your landlord would be happy! And then, shooting glass so close could hurt you badly too. I care about your health, you know?!"

"So don't watch me sleep!!! You are creepy!!! Stop!!!"

"Correction! You were not sleeping, were you? So it is not inappropriate to observe you, is it?!"

"That's not the problem!!!"

"Complicated. You are a complicated person."

"Get out of my room!!!"

"Anyway," she said, heading to my library. "What to read? What to read? So many choices."

As you may have noticed, she had such a great regeneration ability that despite the bullet she had taken in the eye a few minutes before, she had no visible injury. That didn't stop her from dirtying my floor though. I never thought I would get so used to cleaning blood stains.

Contrary to what I was referring to at the beginning, she does not come specifically at the devil's hour, but rather at 02:51, precisely. I call it "the vampire hour".

"Do you have anything to recommend to me, Miss serial killer?" she asked me, turning to me.

I then threw her a dark look, "Hey."

"Hm?"

"You know I'm innocent, right? I never killed anyone in my life."

She nodded, almost whispering, "Affirmation. Affirmation."

Her way of speaking as well as her apparent disinterest bothered me but I decided to ignore it.

"... So, if you know that, why do you keep coming? I'm not a serial killer so you have no interest in staying here, right?"

She turned to me with an interrogative gaze, "Who said that?"

"Who? Who?! I can't believe you are asking me this!"

"You shouldn't yell at this hour?"

"Are you asking me or are you telling me?!!"

"Strange. It is really strange. Why are you so hostile towards me? Aren't we friends or something?"

"Ha?! Friends?! You forcefully kissed me the first day we met!!!"

"I also got into your house without permission but you don't seem bothered by that though?"

"You do that every night!!!"

She stopped for a moment as if shocked by something. She then put back the book she was about to take from my library and quickly walked towards me. She then brought her face close to mine and…

"What do you think you are doing?!!" I yelled, pushing her face with violence.

"Kissing you?" she asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Well, it was obvious that she intended to do this, but I couldn't phantom her motive.

"What… What are you talking about again?!! Taking my first kiss wasn't enough for you?!! You want the second now?!!"

"Well, I figured that if I also kissed you everyday, you would eventually forgive it. Just like the intrusion thing."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hm? Did I say something wrong?"

"... Get out. Get out right now."

"So we are back there?"

She leaned back and we stayed silent for a long moment. And then, she threw another bomb.

"Curiosity. Is your first kiss so important?"

"... What?"

"I mean, I heard that human parents tend to kiss their children all the time."

"When we are children! And not every parent does that! Also, why are you talking about humans as if it doesn't concern you? Weren't you human at some point?"

She put her hand on her chin, "For me you are like a child!"

"I am not YOUR child!" But it was true she was probably old enough to be my mother or grandmother or something. "Anyway, no parent does it that way! You… You know that it isn't normal right?!"

"Complicated. You are so complicated."

That conversation wasn't going anywhere as usual. After a few hours, she would just go away using my bedroom's window. And then, the next day, she would show up again. Even if I locked my door, she would open it as if it wasn't closed at all. The part of my budget allotted to bullets went through the roof. Also, my school… didn't seem to care.

For instance when I tried to call them…

"Hello? Eve's Anathema here! We are listening! To everything. Everything!"

"Hello? Miss Tru'nembra? It is—"

"First-year student Dawn Riftwalker! What is it? You sound worried. Are you worried? Are you in school? Are you calling me from school? No, you are not! Why aren't you at school?! Ah yes! School is over for today! Come to school tomorrow!"

"Huh… Yes. Anyway there's something I would like to ask you. Could you… ask a containment squad to come to my house? Around 2:51 AM, please."

"A containment squad? Is there a dangerous artifact in your house? Does it prevent you from going to school?"

"Huh, no—"

"Then it is fine! Don't forget to come to school tomorrow! Well then, goodbye—"

"Don't hang up! A vampire! A vampire is inside my house!"

"A vampire? Which kind? Living statue? Toxic girlfriend? Vanilla ice? Hardcore rapist? Grave defiler? Way too much money? Alien?"

"What are you talking about? Uh, anyway, about her type, I think she is a noble. She has red eyes and everything."

"Oh! Vanilla ice?! Are you currently under attack?!"

"No, but… she keeps coming to my house. I am afraid she is planning to attack me soon. I tried killing her but even my uncanny bullets don't work. Could you catch her please? I don't feel safe anymore with her around. She—"

"Just to be sure, is your address the 77 Fraternity Street?"

"Uh, yes. Does that mean—"

"Don't forget to come to school tomorrow!"

*beep**beep**beep*

"... Is someone going to come? Anyone?"

Nobody came.

In the end, I was stuck with her. It was annoying but I couldn't do anything about it so I just gave up at some point.

But then, one day, the situation changed.

I was exhausted after a long day at work... School, I meant school. I had to deal with many assignments, dissections, rude teachers, and endless paperwork about artifacts' classification. When I finally went home, I just wanted to sleep and forget about everything. I crawled into my bed and closed my eyes, hoping for a peaceful night.

*rumble**rumble*

"..."

But of course, that was too much to ask. Around 2 AM, I heard some noise downstairs.

I groaned and rolled over, trying to ignore it; it was probably that vampire girl who liked to visit me at night. She was a pain in the neck, but thankfully it was only figuratively.

I hoped she would get the hint and go away, but the noise continued. I heard footsteps, drawers opening and closing, and things being moved around. She was being very noisy for a vampire.

"What is she looking for now?" I mumbled.

I heard my fridge open.

What? Did she think I kept blood vials or something inside there? Or maybe she was finally getting bored? I didn't care. I just wanted her to stop.

That's why I decided to go downstairs. I planned to get there and scold her thoroughly. I don't know, maybe it was because I had a bad day, but I didn't feel like humoring her at all. I planned to tell her how annoying she was with the harshest words possible and as calmly as possible. She had to understand I didn't want her here even if I had to act out of character and be voluntarily mean.

But when I reached the living room, I saw a different intruder. It was a man wearing a dark hoodie. He was holding an opened bag as if he wanted to put something inside. Of course, he saw me too, and his eyes widened. I froze, not knowing what to do. I was caught off guard, and so was he. He even dropped his bag.

"Who are you?" he asked, in a shaky voice.

"I could ask you the same?" I asked back with a calm that visibly threw him off.

Honestly, if I wasn't so inexpressive, I would have smiled there.

"I'm... I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was home."

"Sure didn't."

"L-Look, just let me go, okay? I won't hurt you, I promise."

"Let you go? Sure. I mean, I'm not even holding you or anything…"

"T-Then—"

"Well, I still need to warn the… police? You broke into my house and everything…" I sighed and turned around. "What was their number again…?"

"S-Stop!!!"

"Hm?"

"Because... because I have a gun," he said, pulling a pistol out of his pocket.

"..."

Here I had a ridiculous thought.

If that vampire didn't come to my house every single night, I wouldn't have to shoot that many bullets. If I didn't have to shoot that many bullets, I wouldn't have to wash blood stains so often. If I didn't have to wash blood stains so often, I wouldn't have grown tired of it. If I didn't get tired of it, I wouldn't have left my revolver under my pillow. And if I didn't leave it under my pillow… Well, honestly it wouldn't have made any difference whatsoever since I didn't have any bullets at the time.

Huh? Bluff? What is that? Would you bluff against a man who is holding his gun with trembling hands? You would? Really? Congratulations! You may be more twisted than me! Anyway, he pointed the gun at me, and I raised my hands.

"Don't shoot, please," I said.

"I…. I'm sorry, I have to," he said, sounding scared.

"...I am pretty sure you—"

"Because you saw my face! You can identify me! You can call the police! Do you know how they treat people?! It… They don't even consider us human!!!"

Oh no… Did he reach a weird conclusion? "Huh… I am pretty sure it just a rumo—"

"S-SHUT UP!!!"

Why the hell are people so afraid of the police here?!! I asked myself before trying to reason with him again. "Listen… I won't call them. Just let me go, and I'll forget everything."

He shook his head, "No. No no no no. You don't even look scared! You don't look apologetic! Apologize! Apologize if you really want to live!!!"

"Oh boy…" I said. It escaped me. It escaped me at the worst possible moment.

"I-I knew it!"

He didn't add anything and pulled the trigger. I heard a detonation, saw a flash and then, it was the end for Dawn Riftwalker. Again…

*sigh*

I will take this moment to mention it. I, Dawn Riftwalker, face life-threatening situations more or less everyday. Blame my school and my luck but we will get to that later. Anyway, for some reason, I never actually die and that's what happened that one time too.

Before I could understand what was happening, the man was sent flying through the room and heard something buzz around my left ear. Standing in front of me was a familiar girl. Long dark hair tied in a single braid, pale skin, a red pullover, black pantyhose, well, a sight that was usual for me.

"... Don't you ever change your clothes?" I asked, weakly.

"Horrible! What kind of horrible things are you implying!" she said, lowering the leg she used to kick the man before pushing her glasses up. "I will have you know I aspire to be a generic character! Generic characters don't change their clothes!"

"Isn't that exactly what I was saying?!!"

"I just happen to have a lot of clothes that look exactly the same!" she said, pumping her chest.

"Why didn't you say it first?! And why are you proud of this?!"

"Hm? Angry? Are you angry? Why? I haven't even done anything yet."

"I am not!!!"

*groan*

I looked to my left. The burglar was still on the floor, forgotten. He groaned, blood coming from his mouth as he tried to get up.

"Oh my, oh my, how impolite of us!" exclaimed the vampire girl. "I am so very sorry, Mr. Burglar! It seems I broke two or three of your ribs. It must hurt, right?"

She walked towards him, caught his collar and left him above her head with a single hand. She was holding a grown up man like he was an empty bag with no visible difficulty.

"Now, now, what should I do with you? Thieves aren't exactly rare, you know? Not exactly the most interesting people. Yet, it seems you were about to kill someone I am interested in. Um… You know what?" She made a pause and her smile widened, "I don't like you."

I don't remember if I mentioned earlier, but this girl was always smiling. Well, mostly. It was her default expression if I may put it that way.

At that moment, she was still smiling like, her smile was wider even. However, it wasn't in a good way.

Up until that point, I wasn't really afraid of her. She was a vampire and vampires are, apparently, evil by nature. Being afraid of bloodsuckers was something no one could hold against me, not even her. Still, I wasn't really afraid of her. Many uncanny beings are more misunderstood than plain evil unlike what the old classification says.

With that in mind, I figured that vampires – or at least her – must not be truly evil. They just happened to be beings that needed to eat blood. For instance, I am a meat lover but I don't consider myself evil because of that. That is probably not the opinion of the countless chicken I ate though.

Anyway, I didn't like her. At all. But I wasn't afraid either. At least up until I saw her smile at that moment.

I couldn't properly see her face and I was stressed at the moment so maybe it was my imagination but, there was something truly disturbing with her. Even the man she was holding had its face twisted with sheer horror.

*thud*

"...eh?"

Without realizing, I found myself sitting on the ground. My legs just gave out I think.

The vampire girl turned to me with surprise in her eyes. She let go of the man and after a short silence, adjusted her glasses.

"Mr. Burglar."

"..."

"Manners! You lack manners! When someone calls you, answer!" she scolded, pointing at the man.

"Y-YES!!!"

She lifted her skirt and put her hands under her pantyho—

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!" I yelled.

"Hm? Is something wrong?" she asked, getting a purse from under her pantyhose… She was seriously asking me if something was wrong?

"You are seriously asking me if something is wrong?!!" I asked, yes. "Why do you keep your purse there?!"

"Evidence! It would be too classic if it was between my breasts!"

"What is evident here?! Don't you have pockets?!"

"Of course, I don't. Pullovers don't have pockets."

I put both of my hands on my face and sighed heavily. "I don't care anymore. I don't anymore. I don't care anymore. I don't anymore. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't—"

While I was repeating the same sentence over and over again, the vampire girl crouched and gave her purse to the burglar, "Here. There's a lot of money inside. You know, those 4D purse things. Technology is amazing, right? Right?"

"R-Right…"

She then got up again and pointed at the door, "Run. Run and don't look back. If you do… Ah, I don't know but you don't want to know either. So, run quickly, okay?"

"Y-YES!!!"

He nodded, and ran. He left his bag, his gun, and everything was over. The vampire girl put her hands on her hips and sighed before turning to me with a smile.