Taste of Blood

Shade stopped and so did Eirin.

'Did I say that out loud?' Eirin covered her mouth and hiccupped. "I-I have another question! What are those things outside the window?" She tried to change the direction of their conversation.

"To answer your annoying question, just look out of the window." Shade gave way for Eirin, giving enough space for her to peek out.

"Are you sure you're not planning to push me?"

"I could throw you in an instant if I wanted to," Shade said as he lay on the sofa near the wall as if forgetting what he was asking the teenage girl. Since Eirin's still curious about the thing that flew around a minute ago, she walked towards the window, hoping to find some answers to her questions.

The scenery outside changed, and the pink and blue dust in the air vanished. "What happened?" Eirin's forehead creased as she looked around and only saw a vast grassland with a gigantic oak tree in the middle. "Where are the sparkles and pixie dust?"

"What drugs are you on?"

Eirin glared at Shade after he said that. She then looked back outside and her eyes twinkled. The dull scenery changed, and the pink and blue dust appeared in front of Eirin.

"Amazing," she said aloud with her eyes twinkling in amusement. When Eirin tried to touch the dust, it seeped through her skin and as if invaded by her body, she suddenly felt light.

Eirin giggled, but as her body grew lighter, the wind started pulling her and the floating magical particles started getting denser. She reached the edge of the window and grabbed onto the glass.

'Why does this feel like they're pulling me out?' she thought as she struggled to stay inside the room.

"What are you doing?" Eirin felt Shade's arm around her waist, dispersing the magical pixie dust, and pulling her away from the window.

However, the moment their face got too close to each other, Eirin panicked in fear of being strangled again. She pushed Shade, but instead of him moving, Eirin flew out of the window instead.

"Shit!"

As soon as Eirin screamed, Shade grabbed her by the arm, letting out a cuss while stopping the teenage girl from falling to the ground.

Eirin saw how high the room was from the ground, and she looked up with her trembling eyes. She saw Shade's eyes slowly turning red. He was grabbing her arm with his bare hand.

"Y-Your eyes."

Shade used all his strength to pull Eirin back to the room as he grunted in pain.

"A-Are you alright?" Eirin stuttered as she sat on the floor trembling. 'H-His eyes are turning red,' she thought as she crawled towards the door the moment she hears Shade grunting even more.

"H-Hey! What's the matter with you?"

Shade screamed and growled, terrifying the already terrified Eirin. "L-Leave," the man struggled to say those words aloud.

"LEAVE!"

Eirin stood up and she stared at the struggling man. He looked like he was stopping himself from charging right at Eirin, but his eyes still kept changing from black to red.

'What should I do?' the teenage girl panicked, and out of fear of being hurt, she ran away, leaving the struggling man inside that room.

"I don't want to die."

She ran through the empty hallway with only the sound of her footsteps echoing through the walls. But as she ran, Shade's voice kept repeating inside her head. The sight of him appearing to be in pain made Eirin stop running slowly.

"He started turning weird after he saved me," Eirin said as she started biting her fingernails. "What if he dies? I'm the only one who saw what happened, but I don't understand what even happened!"

Her thoughts leaked out of her mouth as she looked left and right, torn between going back or getting away.

"No, that's not it." She looked out of the window from the hallway. "I need to find his companions instead. I'm sure they'll know what to do."

As Eirin ran through the hallway, students were already arriving, and it hinders her way of finding Link and Cali. 'Where could they be?' She kept biting her fingernails.

"What should I do?"

She turned toward the auditorium. 'If I leave him be, who knows what might happen to him… but if I go back now, he might try to kill me again.' Time was running out, and Eirin cannot let anyone see Shade in that state. 'What if he tries to kill another person? He'll get reported!'

With that thought, Eirin ran with all her might back to the auditorium. When she arrived, she felt relieved seeing that no one was still there, but also anxious because Link and Cali are not there either, which means it was her and Shade all over again.

'Where are they when I need them the most?' she thought.

"H-Hey."

As soon as she opened the door to the storage room, she saw Shade sitting on the corner of the room with all the lights closed and the window stopped emitting brightness from the outside. The once-opened window changed into a locked one with a barricade from the inside with wood that you wouldn't be able to open without tools.

'Just how did he do that?' Eirin got tons of questions in her head, but that was not the most important thing at that moment. Her heart thumped so fast that it felt like it was about to leap out of her chest.

"I need to know where your companions are." She tried talking to Shade about his friend's whereabouts, the Shade stayed sitting with his head low.

"I can't help you like this."

Shade growled like an animal, and Eirin felt the birthmark on the back of her neck near her shoulder, throbbing. 'Why is this happening again? It's so painful!' she thought as she leaned by the door, weak after the sudden pang.

"I need you to answer if you want my help."

Despite that, Eirin tried to communicate with the young man, but Shade's deranged eyes terrified her. 'I don't think we'll be able to talk like this.' Eirin slowly opened the door, but the creaking sound it created triggered Shade and he growled louder, like a lion in front of its prey.

Shade stood up from the floor. The tension in the air dropped, and at that moment, Eirin knew that she was in grave danger. She opened the door, but before she could get out, Shade grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back inside. His eyes stared deep into Eirin's as she struggled to get away. The absence of any voices caused Eirin to panic.

"Stop it!" she screamed and pushed the man. However, Shade's grip on her arm was tight, causing the both of them to fall to the ground.

Fear surrounded Eirin while she tried to catch her breath. Shade straddled her, making her unable to move away. "W-Wake up!" she said while tapping Shade's legs.

Shade drooled as he stared at Eirin like a starved animal in front of its food.

"H-Hey, stop it."

'There must be a reason he's like this. He apologized earlier… there's no way he would wish for it to happen again, wouldn't he?' Eirin thought, despite feeling terrified. The teenage girl believed that there was goodness in Shade's heart. If he did not have one, he would not have apologized to her.

"Y-You're not a monster, aren't you?"

The growling didn't stop, but Eirin noticed how Shade's eyes kept switching from red to black.

"T-That's right. You don't really want to hurt me," she said and touched his arm, but as soon as she did that, Shade winced in pain and grunted. "H-Hey, are you okay? What did I do?"

Shade growled nonstop and leaned towards Eirin, causing her to close both of her eyes. Hopeless and waiting for her to get attacked, Eirin stayed still. However, Shade's growling stopped and instead of being torn into pieces, Eirin felt something dripping on her cheek.

"B-Blood."

Eirin gasped and blinked lots of times while staring at the blood coming out of Shade's arm. He was biting on it so fiercely that it wouldn't be a surprise if he ends up biting it off.

"H-Hey, wake up."

Tears welled in Eirin's eyes, and fear enveloped her heart. It was not only because she feared her death, but also because of the fear that Shade might end up hurting himself further just to stop his bloodlust. Despite the pain Shade was in, he did not let go of his arm.

Eirin thought of it as Shade trying to protect her, and with her trembling hand, she reached for the young man's face. Both were puffing. Before Eirin could even touch Shade's face, he growled, making Eirin flinch and her hand backed away.

Regardless of the risk, Eirin still touched Shade's bleeding arm. She knew that she might end up dead instead, but her guts were telling her to stop the man from self-harm. Shade's eyes glowed even redder than before as he let go of his arm.

"S-Shade?"

Eirin winced after Shade suddenly screamed while grabbing both of his ears, trying to cover all the sound that gets into his head.

"I'm not a monster!"

The man repeatedly said to himself while losing control, but he didn't move away from Eirin.

"S-Shade."

Eirin couldn't move due to fear and only called the young man's name, but after she did, Shade stopped moving and sat on Eirin's legs, thus making her feel his weight.

"H-Hey."

An eerie sound coming from somewhere Eirin doesn't know replaced the silence, filling her ears. She grabbed Shade's arm, making the man look at her as he moved his face closer.

"You need to snap out of it," Eirin said while staring at Shade's bloody red eyes from below him.

It was as if the moment she tries to look away; she will get eaten alive.

Silence… Shade did not respond. Instead, his eyes were blank as he moved his face even closer to Eirin. The teenage girl froze as she could taste blood on her lips.