We don't die

Immortality, a fate worse than death...

***

"Since Seppi couldn't keep his juniors in line, we'll just have to do that for him. We can't let small fry like them who try to destroy the school's system, go scot free."

Jaeshin snickered with both hands still in his pants pocket. He didn't sleep well and he'd been itching for a fight all morning. Luckily he had run into Seppi's little nemesis.

"Watch and learn. I'm going to beat this punk up."

Jaeshin took out his arms from his pocket. One contained cuts and callouses from several street fights involving the use of fists and the other... an iron pipe.

He was addressing the four guys that were trespassing in the neighbourhood with him. He turned to Lex with a malicious smile.

Lex hadn't given off any visible reactions. He was just worried about what he would tell Bodie. He didn't know where the money on this planet was gotten from and he needed to get the same amount he was given so he could bring back Bodie's breakfast.

"You haven't been slapped by an iron pipe before, right?"

Jaeshin tapped the pipe in his palm. He wanted to see Lex trembling but he was doing the opposite. He wasn't even afraid to look him in the eye.

"Haha, I'll make sure you feel just how painful it is to be slapped with an iron pipe by a mechanics major."

"Nice one, Jaeshin."

Asashi was the first to suck up to Jaeshin and cheer him on. He was in his third year of high school while Jaeshin was in his fourth*.

Jaeshin was getting ready for his first slap when Lex brought out his hand like he wanted to collect something.

"What the fuck are you bringing your hand out for? I said that I'm slapping you, you dumbass!"

"Do you have 46 Wuan* ?"

Lex had been carefully trying to remember how much he was given the whole time. He didn't want to collect too much or too little from these troublemakers.

"What the hell is this fucker saying...?"

Jaeshin scratched the back of his head with the pipe.

"Give me 46 Wuan for the food that you spilt on the floor."

Lex extended his hand out to Jaeshin again expecting money to be placed in it.

Jaeshin had never met anyone as fearless as Lex.

"You're pretty brave, I'll give you that. But do you know what happened to the last guy who acted up against me?"

***

"Ugh, where the hell is Lex?"

Bodie was positive that Lex would be able to pull this off. If he didn't know what to do, he should have just come back to the car and told him that.

He would tell Luther to go with him and teach him how it's done. Did he get tempted? Nah, Bodie doubted it. He couldn't exactly eat human food so...

"Wait, what if he was tempted by something else...?"

Bodie had tested Lex on his first day and he wasn't exactly attracted to girls. So... was it blood? Or...

"Here he comes, young master."

Lex returned with a neutral face and gave Bodie his breakfast. He had already had a can of ham for breakfast and some water.

Bodie had found out that Lex also had water on his planet. The substance had no nutritional benefit to them but they use it to freshen up and cool off on hot days.

"What took you so long?"

Bodie grabbed the paper bag and started munching on his bagel. Pumpernickel wasn't his favourite, and neither was it a flavour that he liked. He just liked to torment himself sometimes.

"I—"

Bodie asked Lex and also intercepted before he was given a reply.

"It doesn't matter. I'm glad you got the hang of it. I've been meaning to ask but keep forgetting. What's the lifespan of vampires on your planet?"

It was shocking really. A three-hundred-year-old vampire was wearing a middle school uniform and didn't stand out at all in the hallways. There were no human traces of maturity in him.

No facial hair. Wrinkles. Really deep voice. Overflowing wisdom. Ripped body—well, he had this but not enough to raise suspicions. Relatively narrow waist—he had this too but still normal. V-shaped torso, yes. He did have broad shoulders that made him look like a professional swimmer but other than that, nothing.

Even his relatively masculine facial dimorphism was warped. He would look like a high schooler in a high schooler's uniform and a businessman in a suit.

"Oh, we don't die."

Of all the replies that Bodie had expected to hear, the actual truth punched him square in the chest with disbelief.

"Huh? But didn't you say that your race was wiped off from the face of the planet and that your friends died in that cell?"

Bodie thought he'd lied to him and he wasn't planning on letting a lie go unpunished.

"Well, yes and no. They would be buried and will be reawakened a century later. Their bodies just shut down because all their strength had been exhausted."

Lex started and looked in Bodie's direction. He was gawking in disbelief.

"When they wake up they lose all their memories and that was what we were afraid of not them dying but their memories of us for over three hundred years."

Lex sat down opposite Bodie and the vehicle started to move soon afterwards.

"While it may be impossible to kill us, a vampire burial is conducted when we get tired of living. It is the best way to ensure that we remain immobilized for as long as possible. Wooden stakes are usually driven through our chests in other to pin us to the coffin."

"Oh, okay."

Bodie had been so curious about their life expectancy that he was only just starting to notice how Lex's uniform looked quite rumpled.

"Lex, why is there a blood stain on your shirt?"