Awakened

"You are such a lovely guy, I couldn't just hold it in", a lustrous voice echoed in the darkness of that scarlet room.

"What...what are you doing...a...?"

"It's alright. It won't cost you much. I've been holding myself back for far too long. I can't afford to dry up like this or my beauty will..."

A figure moved into vision.

"Amelia...?", the figure which was almost naked had bared its fangs, and was about to dig in.

It growled in a low voice as its face moved closer. But just before it could thrust its teeth in, something stopped it.

"Deli...?!"

She grabbed Amelia's neck and flung her aside as if she was a doll.

"Keep your filthy mug off him, ghoul!"

She surely wasn't pleased though it was hard to discern what kind of look she had on her face.

"Ghoul...?", Amelia spat a gob of blood on her side and tried to stand up, "Who the hell are you?!"

She flung forward like a beast to attack Deli who stood as calm as ever. Amelia grabbed hold of her, thrusting her claws into her arms and paws into her stomach. Deli remained immobile as Amelia dug her fangs into the side of her neck with a grin on her face.

But in the blink of an eye, as if encountering poison, Amelia squealed and released her, jumping away and retreating as her eyes flooded with tears and she groaned in pain. Meanwhile, Deli stood as if nothing had happened.

"It burns...it burns!!!", Amelia writhed in pain on the ground.

"You dared bare your fangs at me, you mutt!"

"Who...who are you...? Who the hell...!?!", Amelia had begun crying, her voice becoming weaker and weaker.

"You filthy creatures are a shame, a pointless weight on the face of Earth and on your own lives. It would be better if you were rid of yourselves", Deli said as she pierced through her breast.

Her bloodied hand had a heart in it as Amelia's mouth gushed with her own blood and her body flinched weakly.

"Look into my eyes, filth, and you'll know who I am", Deli said looking straight at her tear-stained face before crushing her heart in her hands. Amelia dropped to the ground motionless as Deli pulled her hand out of her chest.

"Shouldn't have left you alone. What a kid you are to have ended up like this", Deli sighed turning away from Amelia, "I bet you can't tell this from that anymore, can you? Don't drink strange potions, you idiot."

"Deli..."

"Shut the hell up, Seraph. You stink."

********************

"Deli!!!", I woke up reaching out to something.

Right, it was a dream. I remember now. It was Deli...she killed Amelia and then she brought me home. Deli was...different.

And then I looked around. I was in some sort of run-down area. It smelled like factories and I noticed a tall, inconspicuous building in front of me. There was a huge piece of empty land in front of it. And there stood a single car on this empty expanse.

"Deli!", that's right. I was chasing after her so why had I been sleeping? My horse had seemed to run off somewhere too. I was supposed to return it but there was no time for mourning its loss, I needed to find Deli. I got up, realizing I was encrusted in dirt. I wonder what had happened, I keep forgetting things.

I attempted to dust myself off but before I knew it, I had begun running toward the car. As expected, it was empty and I could barely recognize the car. It was coated in dirt and the seats were so buried by dust I wondered if it had just been through a sandstorm.

"Where...where am I supposed to find her?", I said to myself and felt I was about to either break into a fit of bitter crying or beat my head and roll around on the ground.

"Boy, you up and worried again?", a hand on my shoulder startled me to no end. I had not noticed anyone reaching me at all.

"Sight?!?"

"Yo, boy!", he said calmly as he chewed on some bread.

"This is baguette", he introduced me to his bread when he noticed I was wildly staring between his face and baguette.

"Sight...what are you doing here?", I asked in a low voice.

"You shouldn't ride horses if you can't ride horses, boy", he continued eating baguette as he gave the most obvious instructions I've had to hear.

"Sight..."

"If I hadn't come, you'd be...well you'd be the same as now, boy", he went on without noticing my emotional turmoil.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You want baguette? You should buy it, it's cheap here in Versailles".

"Sight...where's Deli?", I mustered enough strength to suppress any reaction to baguette.

"Boy! Lady sent me to look for her. You too? Talk about a coincidence", I didn't take him to be the clueless type but I suppose that's what you get when you're old.

"Why are you wasting time with me then, Sight? She could be anywhere", I retained my low and gentle as ever voice.

Sight who had made it halfway through baguette, took a final look at the remaining part and tucked it inside the inner pocket of his long white overcoat.

"Don't worry, boy. When I got here, she was already gone. That's why Lady sent me to find her, isn't that obvious?", Sight laughed slightly.

"Well Sight if you ask me, I'd say it's ironic she sends you of all people to find anything", I don't think my point got through to him exactly but he began observing the place.

"We'd better not be here too long", he said casually, "Wanna go to town? You could buy baguette."

"I don't think I'll have time for baguette. Lady told me to stay with her and it's proven to be the hardest thing so far. I just want to find her as quickly as I can."

"Well, you'd need a ride to find her. Go look for your horse, boy. That's got to be useful", Sight sounded serious for once.

"The horse? I don't have time t-"

"I bet there's horse tracks. Go find horse."

I was not the least bit convinced by anything Sight said and yet I began to follow the tracks the horse had left. They were not so clear and I didn't know for the longest time what I was following. Sight had disappeared too, after a while and now all that kept me going were horse tracks.

I wonder if Sight somehow knew but that day I was convinced that no one was better at finding things than Sight. At the end of that uncertain trail that I was following, I ended up in a rural part of Versailles. It was tiny and along the tarmac road filled with gravel were two lanes of equally dark stone houses, with mansard roofs and ashen looks.

I told myself there was simply no way the horse could be anywhere near here but then I heard its neighing. I quickly hurried ahead toward the sound which was coming from the side of one of the houses and there it was, a horse being fed by a boy around 10 years of age. He noticed me and gave me an unwelcoming look. I just stood and looked back at the boy.

"Par ici!", a smaller boy joined the elder one, popping out of the house's side door. He looked at me strangely and then stood close behind the elder one.

"Uh...I'm sorry to disturb you but...that horse is mine", I said with a certain degree of reluctance.

The boys kept on staring. The older one specifically gave me such a hostile look, it perplexed me. A kid that age could make such a face, I had never imagined.

"Partir", the little one whispered.

The older one gave him a nasty look to shut him up and then looked back at me angrily.

"Are you mad I came here?"

"You aren't one of us. Go away."

He finally spoke.

"One of you...? What are you?", I was happy he had talked.

"I don't know. We aren't like other people, you should stay away from us."

"I should...?"

The boy shook his head and looked away from me, staring at the ground right next to my feet. I didn't realize I had gotten down on my knees while chatting with him. I straightened up when he looked away.

"Hey, can I take the horse?"

The boy reluctantly let go of its reins and it moved over so that I was able to grab them. I got on it and rode away slowly while the boys stayed in their places watching me go.

"You have to return the horse when you are done. Don't forget that, alright?", he called out to me and I turned around, shocked.

But the boys were already gone.