Brielle's Apartment

Brielle's apartment was smaller than expected. The kitchen and living area were in separate halves of a larger room. The bedroom and bathroom doors were off to the side. It was mostly spotless, seemingly hardly lived in. It smelled of laundry detergent and its warmth swathed me like a hug.

She collapsed onto the couch, holding onto her midsection. As a vampire, she'd heal faster than any human, but it took time. 

For the first time in my twenty years of living, I'd entered a woman's home. However, the circumstances in my being there weren't how I'd imagined in the past. Having stood in the same place for an awkward amount of time, I plopped onto a bar stool.

Should I leave or should I stay? She should be fine since vampires can't enter private spaces uninvited... but still. 

"I never caught your name." Her voice snatched me out of my internal monologue.

"It's Raphael."

"Where'd you learn to fight like that, Raphael?" 

"I didn't."

"You don't just wake up with skills like that."

"In my case, you do. You were correct in saying that my blood is different. I'm not a vampire in the same way you are; hell, I don't even need to drink blood despite my body not minding the flavor. The idea of it still disgusts me though..." My fingers were tapping rhythmically on the countertop. 

"I'm a Wraith, I suppose. The man who cursed me with these powers called me that once. A Soul Reaver. Instead of needing to drink blood to live, I must consume souls. Whenever that happens, I absorb my victim's abilities. That is why fighting is coming naturally to me. The more I kill, the more fighting prowess I absorb."

"Is that why you're looking for Dracula? To consume his soul? To become as powerful as he is?"

"No..." I shook my head. Pausing, I wondered how to tell her I wanted his Soul Reaver without saying it outright. "He has an ancient relic that I'm after. It belonged to a relative." 

"I see... So in a way, we're both searching for family, huh?"

"I guess so."

I didn't know much about my family heritage. My mother threw me away on the doorstep of an orphanage, or so they say. I'd never met the woman, and my desire to meet her wilted as I aged.

"Could you go to the bathroom and grab anything that can fix this...? Your special little blade did some work on me."

I did as she asked, searching her medicine cabinet for any medical supplies I could find. When I came back, her shirt was lifted enough to reveal her midriff, showing her nasty cut. It seemed the vampire who wielded my sword was lucky enough to land a hit on her. 

I gestured the bandages toward her, compelling her to look at me the same way she'd look at an idiot. 

"You're not going to help me?"

"Oh, right. I'll clean the wound first. Do you have any buckets?"

"I have bowls in the cabinet next to the microwave."

I grabbed her biggest bowl from the cabinet and filled it with water. I found a pile of towels, so I brought those along with me. Using water and alcohol, I cleaned her wounds. I could tell that she was in pain each time the rag touched her skin, but she tried her best to hide that fact. When her wound was clean, I wrapped her body in bandages. 

I started washing out the bowl in the sink, and as I did so, I noticed her smile.

"What's so funny?" I asked her.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I didn't expect you to do all of that... Not that I don't appreciate it."

"I can't have you dying on me. You're my key to finding Dracula, remember?"

"Washing my dishes is keeping me alive?" she asked, leaning to see that I was drying off glasses and utensils I didn't use. I didn't realize that I'd cleaned everything in her sink, my body must've acted on its own.

"Blood from the bowl got on them when I cleaned it, so I thought I might as well clean the rest of them."

"Well, when you're done with that, how about I thank you with a drink? None of that animal blood crap from the Crimson Lotus."

"I'm only twenty. I don't drink." I told her.

She scoffed at me, irritating her wound in the process. "I just watched you kill twenty vampires, but you're scared of a little drink? I've been drinking since I was like nineteen and look at me!"

Dying on a couch? I thought.

"I'm not scared... I just haven't... yet." 

"Well, you don't have to if you don't want to, but could you bring that six-pack in the fridge over here? Please?"

"Sure... I'm only doing all of this for you because you're hurt. Don't expect me to come back and play house husband with you after those wounds are healed." I grabbed her drinks and then placed them on the coffee table. "There."

"Thanks, husband," she quipped as she snatched a can. 

"Don't call me that..." I grabbed one and sat beside her.

She took a sip, exhaling as it went down her throat. "Yup, that hit the spot." 

I tasted the fruit-flavored concoction, which was a far better experience than what I had at the Crimson Lotus. 

"It's pretty good, I guess," I said before taking another sip.

"See? Told you. Way better than that other stuff." Brielle drank until the last drop before opening another can. 

"You ever think about falling in love?" she asked before taking another swig.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, being a Soul Reaper and all that-"

"Soul Reaver."

"Yeah. Same thing. I mean, we're monsters, right? Among the monsters, we're monsters. Among the humans, we're monsters. Who's going to love a monster...?"

I hadn't thought about the ramifications my love life would suffer after becoming a Wraith. I wouldn't be able to hide my vampiric nature from my potential wife, nor would I ever even want to love a vampire.

"Probably no one..." I said frankly. "No one will."

"I wonder if that's why my dad left. Maybe he thought we wouldn't love him. Or maybe... Maybe he thought he couldn't love me..." Brielle emptied yet another can before crushing it between her palms.

I guess that's what they mean when they say drinking away your feelings...

"I feel the same way about my parents. They abandoned me as an infant. I always wondered why they would do such a thing, giving away their child. I wondered why they didn't..." I paused, squeezing the can in my hands.

"Why they didn't love you enough to keep you?" Brielle asked me.

I nodded. "What could I have done wrong?"

"Maybe they thought..." Brielle stopped for a moment. By her expression, I knew she'd made a connection. Perhaps hearing my story unlocked pieces to the puzzle of her own. "Maybe they thought that it would be better for you. Maybe it was to protect you somehow."

"Perhaps it's the same for your father, huh?"

"It might be..."

Time marched on; Brielle had four out of the six drinks and fell asleep. For a while, I let her rest on my shoulder until I decided it would be best to go home, though I would stay in the Spectral Realm on my way back to avoid any more conflict for the night. Consuming souls seemingly healed my wounds, but my body still needed rest. 

I picked her up and carried her into her bedroom, setting her on the bed and covering her in her blanket. As I turned around to leave, her hand clasped my wrist.

"Stay..." she whispered. "You can sleep here, it's late."

My heart shuddered and then paused for a moment. It shames me that romance crossed my mind for a moment, but she was under the influence of alcohol and I would never cross that line.

"I think it'll be best if I head home, Brielle... You're drunk. Go to sleep."

"Please... Just stay. I just want you to stay..." 

Right... I thought. 

It struck me that she was all alone in this country, having been searching for her father for God knows how long. She needed company, and I would give that to her. But from afar.

"Okay, I'll stay. I'll be in the living room when you wake up, alright?" I looked at her face, seeing that she'd already fallen asleep; she must have the moment 'I'll stay' left my lips.

As I walked out of the room, I looked back at her once more, seeing her gentle smile. I shut the door and lay on the couch.

For a while, my eyes were glued to the ceiling. I despised vampires with every fiber of my being, yet there I was sleeping under the same roof as one. Did I misunderstand vampires, or was she the only good one? Perhaps she wasn't a monster in my eyes since she was mostly human.

Once I thought about how many innocent lives were taken, including those of my brothers and sisters at the orphanage, my rage swelled and I was reminded of my mission. I needed the Soul Reaver. I needed to take Dracula's place as the King of Vampires. Then I could wipe every last one of them from this planet... 

I glanced over at Brielle's bedroom and felt an ounce of guilt. I'd spare her, but I wondered how she'd fare knowing I slaughtered every last one of her kind... If I went through with it and killed her father, could she forgive me? 

Or would she seek revenge?

If so, would I be willing to take her soul?

Out of the blue, I remembered what the siren said to me.

"I do not feed because I enjoy it, I feed because I must."

My thoughts turned to dreams and I slept on the couch until morning, unsure of my endgame.