CHAPTER 187

The story started in an internment camp in Oak Creek in 1943, during World War 2, which was also in the outskirts of present day Beacon Hills, where Japanese immigrants were kept in after the event of the Pearl Harbor attack, and Noshiko had been one of those refugees.

Her small acts of kindness – discreetly stealing supplies and sharing them with the other refugees – spiraled so out of control that it resulted in almost everyone in the camp dying. Just because of an innocent mistake.

Sometimes a genuine act of kindness could make someone indebted and entitled.

After one of her usual snooping and sneaking out supplies that no one would notice, one of the children in the camp came down with pneumonia, something that was very dangerous back then and there was no medicine to treat him and others that were sick, except that Noshiko had seen the batches of medicine during her stealing spree.

This sparked an investigation that soon revealed that one of the head doctors was selling the batches of medicine in the black market. Unfortunately, before anything could be done, the child died and the grief-stricken father incited the other refugees and they rioted.

As if to further mock her good intentions, the riot had almost been curbed when one of the soldiers hit a elderly woman across the face with his gun; the woman who had been a beta werewolf at the time and was struggling with controlling her emotions lost control and grabbed a molotov cocktail from the dead child's father and threw it at one of the soldiers – the very one that had been Noshiko's lover.

With that spark, the soldiers opened fire and killed most of the refugees while Noshiko's lover, Corporal Rhys, screamed in pain as he burned.

Those in power covered up the massacre and ordered for the bodies to be burnt – which included a half dead Noshiko that was riddled with bullet holes - to prevent diseases from spreading. With the loss of her lover and the people she called family, she called on a dark fox spirit to possess her body so that she could carry out her vengeance… but fate decided to have the last laugh.

The spirit that came down, the Nogitsune, instead of possessing her body, in its warped sense of dark humor, chose to possess her comatose lover that was covered in second and third degrees burns in every part of his body.

With a powerful spirit let loose, the Nogitsune started slaughtering anyone in the camp it came across with a sick laugh in his lips.

She managed to heal her wounds and was morally and duty-bound to correct her mistake and exorcize the Nogitsune and kill her own lover.

By the time she managed to do it, along with the help of the werewolf woman, almost everyone was dead in the camp.

Overflowing with regret and despair, she sealed the spirit manifestation of the Nogitsune, which was a firefly, in the roots of the Nemeton that had yet to be cut.

And it should have stayed that way but history, like the unfair irony of life, always found a way to repeat itself… An eternally running joke.

....

"Wait, so you knew grandma back in '43?" Tristan couldn't help but ask after Noshiko finished her narration of the Nogitsune origin history.

"We knew each other, yes, but we never could see eye to eye. Perhaps things would have been different if I had listened to her even once." Her words were spoken with a despondent air around it.

"Foxes and wolves."

"And you couldn't be anymore right, Derek Hale."

"So what type of fox are you? From what I know, the species of a kitsune is not always hereditary." Argent asked.

Noshiko paused and looked at the people before her; an Hale Alpha, the Argent patriarch, a Primearch and a coyote – a group of people she never would have thought could sit together peacefully.

"Noshiko, it is true that those who don't learn from the past are bound to repeat it but remember that we are the sum of our choices. Times change, accept it." Ken nudged her softly before getting up and leaving them in the living room when he sensed that the discussion was almost over.

"I am a Celestial Kitsune, while Kira, my daughter, is a Thunder Kitsune. If I am not able to kill the Nogitsune once and for all this time around, it'll fall on Kira to do it."

Kira gaped speechless at her mother. After all what she just heard, and the verification she had an hour prior, she couldn't even fathom putting herself in such a dangerous and complicated situation.

"Mom! What do you mean by it'll fall on me to kill some thousand year old fox spirit? Remember, I don't have powers to summon forces of nature like you do."

"Listen Kira, you–"

She'd been about to say something but Tristan interjected and asked a question that had suddenly started nagging his mind after she revealed her age.

"You said you're 900 years old, right?" He might not care about his past or any unknown history surrounding him, but he still felt that he had to know. He didn't know what he expected from the Nemeton, but nothing has happened.

Noshiko gave him a knowing look and her next words confirmed it. "You want to know about the vampires, right?"

"Yes, I do. You must have come across them a lot during your life with how long you've lived, at least before the great culling where they practically disappeared after being hunted down by everyone, according to Deaton at least."

This topic was such an interesting one and an obscure part of the supernatural world's history and almost nobody knew anything about it, except Noshiko who lived before, through, and after it.

"How about I get dinner started first? This might take a while." She said and stood up to go to the half destroyed kitchen and was surprised that Tristan was following her.

"I know how to make Okonomiyaki." Was all the explanation he gave and it seemed to work as Noshiko gave a small smile.

Argent and Derek left soon after since they had more things to worry about while Malia, Kira and Ken gathered around the kitchen that Ken had managed to clean, and joined Noshiko and Tristan in helping set up dinner.

"Vampires are a very complicated topic, especially for someone like me who knew them very well. But let's start with the vampires I knew, and some I heard about."

At this point, only Noshiko's voice and the sound of utensils being worked on sounded through the house.

Malia and Tristan were familiar with Japanese dishes because of Satomi so they were very familiar with what they were doing that they moved in perfect synchrony with the Yukimuras, something that inwardly pleased the couples.

"Generally, vampires are divided into day walkers and night crawlers but the former are just too rare, even to other vampires. Though, there are some secret ways some night crawlers use to walk out in the day but that's something only they know and would never tell anyone about."

It didn't take more than a few words for them to be hooked on Noshiko's forgotten history trivia.

"Among vampires, their ability and traits differed so much that some stopped being classified as vampires. Some of the most dangerous ones were the Shadow-walkers; vampires who could walk through people's shadows. Baital; half man and half bat vampires who practically ruled the night. Ghouls; true shape-shifting vampires and the most insatiable species out there. I think the wendigos are actually their offshoots."

"Then there are the Bloodborns and the Nosferatu, one of the most ruthless and terrifying creatures to ever walk the earth. There's one specific type of vampire I'd put above even these two but no one knows anything about them, like literally."

Malia scrunched her brows as she sieved a bowl of flour. "If no one knows anything about them, then how can you be sure they exist?"

"Because they do." Noshiko simply replied. "They were the ones who sired the first line of vampires after all. No one might have seen or heard of them, but back then everyone knew, even humans, that they existed. It was like nature gave everyone that instinct but I digress."

Tristan shrugged. "I don't mind either way as long as I'm still learning something new. You mentioned Bloodborns and Nosferatu; why were they so dangerous?"

Noshiko looked at Tristan and wondered if he was actually playing dumb but shook her head with a sigh at just how curious he looked.

"For Bloodborns, other than their abilities to control blood and consume someone's lifeblood to increase their own, they could also graft a trait of their victim from the lifeblood they drink. As for Nosferatu, where the Bloodborns were focused on blood, these hellish breeds preyed directly on people's souls. Made of shadows, blood and a river of souls, it still surprises me when I realize that the only species of vampires that could stand up to a Nosferatu was a Bloodborn, because compared to the hellish nightmare they became when shifted, Bloodborns became infinitely aesthetically good looking."

Noshiko paused midway through slicing an onion and Tristan could see how her hand slightly trembled.

"Against a Bloodborn, you'll only lose your lifeblood after they've defeated you, but against a Nosferatu you'll lose not only your lifeblood, but also your shadow and your soul. They were the closest thing to a true death anyone could imagine."

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