Chapter 3

"When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it's not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end." ~ Twilight

Sweet... that's what it smelled like to Mercy. Something sweet is in the air and it was not that far away. Mercy was frozen by the smell. Even though she just ate a perfectly delicious meal, there was nothing compares to this fragrance. "Merc? Hello? Are you still there?" Uta asked repeatedly. But Mercy was too dazed to answer. Lowering the phone at her side in submission. She turned her head back and forth in a desperate attempt to pinpoint the direction of the scent.

Her mouth was salivating. She couldn't stand it, the fragrance was sweet to the touch like cubes of sugar melting away in your hot mouth. It coated everything and she couldn't get enough. With shaking hands she slowly lifted her cellphone back to her ear. A crazed wide smile on her face as she answers "Clowns eat people." She giggled.

Dead silence. In Uta's shop, thousands of masks hung in rows. He was in his work shop drawing up another design of a fox mask for a client. Hunched over on his desk. Pencils and sketch books littered everywhere along with other different materials. He looked up from his work , carefully placing his phone against his ear without disrupting his work. He sighed. "Please don't get yourself killed. Be home before daybreak." He said exhausted. On the other line we can hear Mercy laughing. "Oh Uta -san. You have my word." She replied, then hung up.

Uto leaned back and sighed. "She really is a handful... but then again that suits her." Uta mumbled while his inked eyes stared up into nothing with a smirk on his face. Mercy packed away her phone and quickly started the hunt. She ran at top speed. Zigzagging in different alleys. Her heart pumping in exhilaration at the thought of sinking her teeth into soft flesh and fat. So much that she thought she would die of ecstasy.

"WHERE IS IT!?WHERE IS IT!" She thought frantically. Hoping desperately to erase her hunger. Finally the fragrance finally led her to a side building connected to a bunch of back alleys that sells crappy electrictronics.  There laying against the wall unconscious was a girl.

A small, frail little thing. She was thin, not enough fat on her. Flat chested and pale skinned with platinum blonde hair clipped back by a flower pin. From the look of her clothes, it looked like she was from some fancy school. From Mercy's point of view she was filled with.... disappointment . "The scent came from this?" She mumbled. Her hunger and lust all but disappeared in an instant. She slowly walked up to this girl and crouched down with her hands on her knees to examine a little more closely.

Though she wasn't much, she wasn't ugly either. Mercy thought she was kind of cute in her own way. She sniffed the air again and sure enough the sweet fragrance was coming straight from this girl. Mercy reached out her hand and moved the girls face to the side. "Looks like she fainted." She thought. Hearing the girl take slow breaths. Then she noticed the trickle of blood coming from the girl's neck. There she noticed that there were two puncture wounds in her neck where the source of the bleeding was coming from. "No wonder the scent was so strong." She whispered. She leaned forward on the tips of her toes and took another big whiff. This girl smelled of a Castella. A plane sponge cake but light and sweet to the tongue. As Mercy's customers described the said cake. Now she understands what they meant . She blushed from the scent, feeling her lust  and hunger return slowly. Forgetting who created those puncture wounds Mercy lost herself to the smell.

"Just... just a little taste." She thought. Her tongue already sticking out to taste the sweet nectar that is blood. She took a timid lick as to not arouse this girl. The taste was indescribable. It was like someone poured honey into her mouth. It was so sweet and addicting. She moaned. She took another few good licks  till her body was flushed against the unconscious girl's body. Her hands were placed carefully on the girls shoulders so she wouldn't crush her. Now her mouth was over the wounds and she began sucking the blood.

All you could hear were sucking and moaning sounds. Sure Mercy could've taken a chunk of flesh off this girl and killed her instantly but like we said before she ate beforehand so she wasn't that hungry. She just wanted a taste. "Mmmm... no..." the unconscious girl mumbled. Mercy jumped back in surprise. Hands suspended up in a surrender position. She waited a few more minutes to see if that girl would say anything else.

The girl's face was screwed up in pain, like she was having a nightmare. Mercy tilted her head in confusion. "Did I over do it?" She thought. She rested her head on the palm of her hand and sighed. "You're a strange one, I'll give you that." She said. She looked at her surroundings, not really noticing where exactly she was since she was caught up in her meal. "I wonder where her owner is?" Mercy mumbled to herself. She looked back at the girl and sighed in irritation. "I should probably get her out of the 4th Ward." She grumbled. She couldn't understand why she was going to help this girl. Did she feel pity? Empathy? She didn't know. Mercy just went with it since she was cutting it short in time. She checked the time on her phone and saw it was 12:30am. "I better get a move on." She mumbled.

"Excuse me." She said while standing up to her full height and picking the girl up bridal style. Not bothering to put on her mask since the girl was unconscious. Mercy was small in height but she was very strong. Once she got the girl secured in her arms she looked back at her neck. "Hmmm, looks like I left a mark. Oh well."  She thought while shrugging her shoulders. She jumped up onto the electronics building and scanned the area before she made a move to continue. When she sensed no other ghouls or other dangers she continued her way out of the 4th Ward.

While jumping from building to building like a monkey Mercy spotted an abandoned car at one of the many construction sites. She gracefully descended to the car without anyone noticing. Once firmly on the ground she looked around her surroundings and sniffed the area. She caught a pleasant scent and noticed that the car wasn't really abandoned. She walked up to the car and peered into the window and saw a body there but saw there was a bullet through his head with blood splattered across the passenger seat.

"Huh? How convenient." Mercy smiled. She carried the girl to the hood of the car and gently laid her down. "With this car I can get you to the 20th ward in no time." She said, still grinning. She walked over to the drivers side door and opened it, the door being unlocked. The body fell at her feet with a dull expression but Mercy didn't care.  She stepped over the body and got the truck unlocked. She picked up the body like it was nothing and carried the body to the trunk and shoved him right in.

She checked his pockets and found his keys and wallet. "Arai Onishi, male, 24 years old, organ donor. Only 35 yen to his name." She read, going through his ID card. She looked back at him and smiled. "Well Mr. Onishi, your life will have meaning after all." She said while closing the trunk.  She tossed away the wallet but kept the money and keys. Once she got a little miss school girl in the backseat, Mercy started the car and drove to the 20th Ward.

(20th Ward)

"1:10am. Great Uto is going to kill me" Mercy grumbled. It was still dark out but she was already late trying to get back home. She was driving on the outskirts of the 20th Ward, trying not to draw attention to herself. "It would be troublesome if someone saw a lone car driving in the middle of the night. Not to mention a school girl in the back would draw way too much attention." She sighed. Not understanding what she was doing or where she was going. She just assumed the girl lived in the 20th Ward since she looked too clean to be in any of the other wards. I mean seriously she was lost. "We're going on an adventure folks." She mumbled. She badly needed another smoke.

But soon she started picking up another scent. But what bothered her was that she didn't recognize this particular scent. She grit her teeth. "I don't like this." She thought. Soon she heard a moan from the back. "She's coming around." She mumbled while looking at the girl through the rearview mirror. Once she focused back on to the road she saw an old mansion coming up her way.

"I really don't like this."