There is that one song from the 80's about a woman with revolver eyes. The man in it describes how he fell in love with a woman with just one look from her.
She has the killing gaze, he said.
She shot first, he said.
And with that single shot, he was doomed. Quite a poetic way to describe what could just be called love at first sight.
I am not particularly fond of music especially when it belongs to what people would describe as normal – albeit old – songs. I am not even fond of poetry either; I was never able to finish a single poetry book because just the thought of reading one would trigger an instant sigh.
However, I did admit that poetry could be good. Maybe. At the very least, it made me reflect on how twisted I truly was.
The name is Dawn Riftwalker. Sixteen. First-year student at Eve's Anathema and back from her very first day of school.
It seems I met a girl with revolver eyes.
But I shot first. Literally.
After all, I did have a true revolver.
One shot just between the eyes. I didn't want to brag, but I was a skilled marksman. Either way, the girl was dead, lying lifeless on my bed, her blood staining the white sheets.
I knew I should've thrown them away way back then. Blood is a hassle to remove and white textiles are just a nightmare to wash. I don't even have a machine to make it easier... and so on.
Those were my first thoughts. It might sound weird but I didn't really feel any guilt or horror after doing that. At least that's what I wanted to believe.
Actually, I was terrified but I couldn't even understand that. My mind was running through mundane topics again and again in a desperate attempt to run away from what I just did.
You see, in this world, there are uncanny beings known as vampires. They are easy to spot – glowing scarlet eyes, white slit pupils, pale skin, and, of course, the oh-so-needed fangs.
Can you guess what the girl lying on my bed looked like?
Yes. She was a pale-skinned beauty with long dark braided hair and red eyes. For some reason, she also had glasses on which made me doubt she was a vampire. They don't usually need them, do they?
Besides, I hadn't seen the girl's fangs yet so, with my luck, she could actually be a normal human who just somehow happened to get inside my locked home. She could have closed the bedroom's windows because - let's be crazy - she didn't want to be bothered by the sun's dying light while reading? Also, she could just happen to have glowing red eyes. It could happen.
Sure, that was a lot of coincidences, but believe me, my luck is sometimes so bad it could be considered a statistical anomaly at this point. I could have killed a human being and, even if this girl wasn't one, killing a living being was not something I could do without unplugging my mind for a few seconds.
That's when my twisted self usually takes the lead.
I looked at the girl's eyes. They were red. They were lifeless. Yet, I couldn't stop looking.
"Beautiful…" I thought for a moment.
She was beautiful. Even in death, she was beautiful. Her skin was smooth and cold, her hair was soft and dark, her eyes were bright and red. She looked like an angel, a fallen angel. She looked like she was sleeping, dreaming of something better. But then, my 'moral' self surfaced.
Beautiful? A corpse ? That… That couldn't be…
I always knew something was wrong with me but I never thought it was THAT wrong. I tried to shake the thought out of my head but it was too late. The funny thing about the human mind is that the more you want to forget something, the more you think about it.
Well of course. How do you know you forgot about 'x' without thinking about 'x'?
This is usually funny to think about when 'x' is a really annoying jingle that you can't help humming. Less so when it's your heart skipping a beat for a dead person. I wasn't disgusted with myself so to speak, but what I felt was quite the opposite of being proud.
Thankfully, my brain came up with the perfect excuse: I must just like red eyes. They are uncommon. I usually liked uncommon things. A simple reasoning, but it helped me to avoid falling into self-loathing.
"..."
After hesitating for what seemed like hours, I decided to check for myself. I approached the body, lifted her head gently and opened her mouth. There they were, the two sharp fangs hidden behind her lips. She was definitely a vampire.
I felt a surge of relief and guilt at the same time. Relief, because I didn't kill an innocent person. Guilt, because I still killed a person. I was somewhat uneasy, I needed to explain it to someone. Tell them it wasn't my fault.
"I came home from school. My front door was closed but I found an unidentified red-eyed individual in my room. I panicked and shot them. It was an accident. I came home but I found an unidentified red-eyed individual in my room. My house was closed, so I thought it was a vampire and shot. My home was closed and I found a red-eyed individual inside. I thought they were a vampire so… Wait, she didn't attack me so does it count as self-defense? They say vampires are evil but are they legally? Will I get in trouble? Oh no. Why did I panic? What if they find the body? How can I explain what I did?"
I repeated the story, the one I would tell the authorities to justify myself. But I wasn't stupid, there was simply no explanation for what I did, nothing that could make for an absolute defense. Worst case scenario, I would get arrested without even having the pride of those prisoners who knows they are innocent. That being said, getting condemned for protecting my house was still too hard to swallow. I acted hastily, sure, but why was she in my house to begin with?
Thus, I made up my mind: I wouldn't let anyone know what happened. Ever.
First, I needed to make the body disappear. I was one of those who used to watch investigation channels all day. Sure, it was mostly to have a background noise when using my phone but I did learn a few things from them. Errors I shouldn't make if I didn't want to be caught too easily for instance. Which is why I was utterly baffled when I realized the only conclusion I reached was that I should wrap the body in a blanket and drag it to the basement.
Like, seriously?! That was like willingly stopping on the 'go to jail' case in Monopoly!!!
Each move I made was worse than the last and trivial compared to the next one. You know about that – trying to fix a thing you care about again and again even when you know it is pointless. You just make it worse and worse because you can't stop yourself when you don't have what it takes to repair it.
And here, I was trying to fix my ife.
At that moment, I could understand the horror some killers must have felt. Make of that what you will, but I wished I had planned to kill this girl from the very beginning. I would probably have made fewer errors if that was the case . Well, that was what I was thinking about when I noticed something.
For some reason, I felt as if the corpse was looking at me.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Greetings."
"..."
Blood drained from my face. I stayed silent, paralyzed. The girl I shot in the head a few minutes earlier had just started talking out of nowhere. She tilted her head and stared at me with what could be only described at puzzlement. It was like she was observing a funny animal who fell into her trap.
"Hypothesis. Could you perhaps be the owner of this house?"
That was her first question. The corpse (?) looked around the room before turning to me, with a little smile. Either I was getting crazy or this vampire was still alive but I wasn't sure which and wasn't sure I wanted to be sure at all.
"Serial killer?" the vampire girl asked with so much calm that it was eerie.
"...eh?" I mumbled to herself. I instinctively looked around the room to see what she was talking about, before understanding what she was actually asking me: "Are you a serial killer?"
"...No," I replied. Why would she think that?
"You sure? What about those weapons?"
She pointed at the wall on my right side. Here weapons of all kinds were hanged but they were just common uncanny blades used at my school. Well, not that I could say that to her, so I just kept silent.
"Hm, I see, I see," the vampire girl said, pushing her glasses upward.
What does she see? I asked myself. I sure hoped the girl didn't reach a weird conclusion. Though I wouldn't have been surprised if she did.
The girl pointed to the wall on my left side, "What are those? Did you take them from someone?"
"..."
Again, I couldn't say anything. On that shelf some organs were kept in transparent containers but I also used those at school. It wasn't as if I wanted them to be here. That's just how strange my school was. Truly!
But well, even I had a hard time convincing myself of that so I kept silent again.
The vampire girl nodded and slowly got up. In panic, I pointed at her with my revolver again.
"Stay where you are!" I warned but the vampire didn't seem to listen at all.
"A teenage girl with a firearm in an apartment which belongs to no one in particular. Skilled at handling corpses, finding them beautiful, exposing them like trophies. Then, when they whither, she takes their organs using her wide collection of blades and exposes them for eternity."
The girl got closer and closer simply uttering sentences in rapid succession as if they escaped her before stopping just in front of me.
"How twisted," she simply said, her red eyes cast downward. That's when I realized the vampire girl was quite taller than me.
I couldn't shoot. I felt I was in danger, but I couldn't shoot. It was as if she owned the place and I was just an insect. I don't know if it was because of her incorrect but understandable conclusion or the fact she just raised from the dead but I felt powerless. There was a vampire unable to be killed by a bullet and thinking I was a serial killer. I couldn't object if she just sucked me dry right there.
The vampire girl put her hands on my shoulders. I felt an urge to run away, but my legs wouldn't move. In the past, I already found myself in life-threatening situations but my legs never let me down before. I was a coward, I should have been able to run away, but I couldn't. Maybe that vampire girl had hypnotized me? I heard some vampires could do that. If that was the case, I just had to give up. My hands were growing weaker and, just when I was about to drop my gun, the vampire girl took my hands and smiled.
"Hey, I always wanted to meet a serial killer! Request. Could you give an autograph, please?!"
Her eyes were shining like a kid lost in a toy shop who didn't yet realize their parents were missing. Everything about her has changed, she was no longer the heavy presence walking towards me earlier, she was a fan-girl who just met that star she never imagined she could even approach. Needless to say, I was confused.
"Can you talk to me about your former victims? Was there a profile? Confidence. I would be really honored to hear that I was right into your strike zone! So was I? Do you usually kill girls like me? I don't smell much human blood here, that must mean you are super skilled when it comes to washing blood! How do you do that? What do you use? I—"
*gunshot*
I shot her again. This time it was in the chest, she touched the zone of the impact with a dumbfounded expression. Blood was starting to stain her already red pullover, giving it a darker hue.
"Eh~..."
Again, she seemed eerily calm if not a bit confused. I pushed her back and ran away to the door. It was easier than I thought; it was as if she was a paper doll with no resistance at all. She fell to the ground with a soft moan. She sounded so weak, but I couldn't care less. That's when she caught my left foot.
"Where aaaare yoouu gooooing~?"
"Eeeeeeeeek!!!"
I shot her a third time; in the head. She loosened her grip and stopped moving. But just as I was about to let out a sigh of relief…
"Request. Could you refrain from shooting me in the head? While I don't mind being paralyzed for a few seconds, I must confess that randomly going blind is inconvenient. I mean, I wear glasses for a reason, you know?" she said, even though her face was against the floor and her blood was staining her dark hair.
I couldn't take it.
I rushed out of the room, running. For a moment, I hesitated to close the door behind me, but it was easy enough to imagine that girl breaking the door. No, I had to get to safety first. I headed for the door, trying to open it.
"No no no no no!!!"
I cursed this habit of always closing my door behind me. Hastily, I searched the pockets of my uniform. They weren't there.
"Sh*t!!! F**king hell!!!"
"A young woman shouldn't swear like that?"
"Yes, yes! A young lady shouldn't swear like that, but understand my situation! It isn't easy to stay calm with a vampire on... my heels..."
I turned around.
"Greetings?"
"..."
"I think we got off on the wrong foot. Actually, I'm a fan of reading and— * gunshot* — Could… Could you stop shooting at me?" She fell to her knees, her eyes and lips trembling. "I... I almost want to cry right now. It's not because I get up that it doesn't hurt okay?! I know it must be fun to shoot at someone who won't die anyway, but couldn't you, uh, dress up your act? Example. You could offer me an ice cream or a massage before! Getting penetrated without preparation is painful, you know?!"
"... Don't care."
Another bullet in the face. She collapsed with a dull thud. Just to be sure, I pulled back the curtains of the window in my living room. Even though we were at dusk, I figured the sunlight would be enough to destroy her once and for all. But nothing.
"Of course," I said to myself. This level of brightness was surely not enough. I should have dragged her outside, but there was no way I was touching her body again. Besides, I couldn't have get out at the moment. My keys were probably on one of the pockets normally reserved for bottles on my backpack. It was the second choice just behind the pockets of my skirt. But it was upstairs, I had to step over this vampire. She wasn't moving but...
*gunshot*
"Why?!"
"..." I knew it...
*gunshot*
"Ow! Cheat! That's cheating! Revolvers don't have more than six bullets normally! That's the seventh time there! I DO NOT agree with that—"
*gunshot*
So she was counting. "... Mine has eight."
This time, she really wasn't moving anymore but who knows? Even with three bullets in the head, she would eventually get up, the question was just 'when?'. Passing near her was risky but I had no more bullets anyway. The living room window was equipped with anti-theft devices so my only escape was to use my keys or...
Anyway, it was a risk to take and to take as quickly as possible. I ran and bypassed her without any problem and headed for my bedroom. Once inside, I locked it behind me. Why? I had given up on using the main door. My best option was the window of my bedroom upstairs. It's true, it was high - more than 5 or 7 meters if I estimate correctly - but it had a double advantage.
On one hand, I knew my neighbor could hear me from there. His window was relatively close to mine. Enough for me to hear him, huh, blow VERY HARD. If I screamed, he would surely hear me. The only issue here was something else.
"Nei— Neighbor? Ahem, Neighbor! Help! I need help!"
Yes, I'm not used to raising my voice. Every time I try, I feel like my intonation is weird and all over the place. But I can't help it, ok? I really can't do much about it!
*door opens*
I heard a door open. Had my neighbor heard my screams?
Thank God, I thought, I would have had a hard time screaming more. Now, all is— why did the noise came from behind me?
"Excuse me~," whispered a certain girl with red eyes as she entered the room with a delicacy and politeness that did not match her blood-covered face. At all.
She closed the door behind her as if nothing had happened and looked in my direction. Her eyes were hidden by the reflections of lights on her glasses – that made her look quite disturbing already, but she just had to smile right after.
"Greetings! Well, now that the weapon is out of the game, can we talk? You have a lot of stories for me, don't you, miss serial killer?"
"..."
I turned to the window and took a deep breath.
"NEIGHBOR!!! NEIGHBOR, HELP!!! A VAMPIRE, THERE IS A VAMPIRE IN MY ROOM!!! HELP!!!"
"Eh?! Wait, don't do that! He will find out that—"
"NEIGHBOR!!!"
All of a sudden, the vampire girl grabbed me and pulled me into my room, "STOP!!! DON'T BE STUPID!!! AND YOUR FUTURE VICTIMS!!! YOU PLAN TO STOP EVERYTHING WITH ME, JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN'T KILL ME?!! WHAT A LACK OF AMBITION!!!"
Me? I clung to the window at the risk of falling into the void, "LET ME GO!!! LET ME GO!!! HELP!!!"
"WAIT!!!"
"WAIT WHAT?!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!! AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"DON'T SCREAM!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
"NOOOOOO!!! STOP!!! AND MY AUTOGRAPH THEN ?!! FOR ONCE I HAVE THE CHANCE TO MEET A SERIAL KILLER!!!" she seemed to be on the verge of tears. Honestly, at this point, she scared me for totally different reasons.
"LET ME GO, YOU DIRTY VAMPIRE!!!"
Which she did.
"... Oops?" she said. There was no malice in her tone, I think she really let me go under the influence of confusion. Still, I was pulling with all my strength on the window frame, so if she let me go...
Ah, inertia our friend ...
I didn't have a lock on the window of my room so very quickly I saw the grass of my garden approaching. The angle was unbeatable. An exclusive Live from "I'm going to break my neck, huh?"
When you see yourself dying, I don't think you really see your life flash before your eyes. At least I hope so, it would be pretty boring in my case. On the other hand, at that moment, the irony of what came back to my memory almost made me laugh. I was going to break that neck that I wanted so much to protect from a vampire.
As my cousin would to say: "Bad luck is more than death."
I always thought that it didn't make sense as an expression but I must admit that I could relate to it.
*thud*
And so ends the life of Dawn Riftwalker.
... Or so she thought.
I don't know what happened, but I found myself in the arms of this vampire. How do they say it? She held me like a princess without any difficulty as if I was as light as a feather.
"Uwah ... That was close ..." she said, seeming tired. "Are you okay? Not too shaken?"
I couldn't answer.
The sun was setting and her pale face was bathed in its orange light. I learned two things that day; first, the sunlight didn't seem to bother her; second, she had really beautiful eyes.
"... Could you stop looking at me like that?" she asked, avoiding my gaze. "It ... It makes me wet ..."
"... huh?"
Wet, wet, WET?!!
"WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT !!! WET ?!! LIKE— YOU MEAN—"
"Sweat."
"... Sweat?"
"Sweat! I'm quite shy contrary to appearances! When someone stares at me, I start to sweat profusely. So, could you please avoid gawking for too long? Please?"
"... Huh?"
"Huh?"
Huh???
"Hm? Could it be that you interpreted my words the wrong way?"
That was the case, but ... what was the wrong way? I had a doubt, but if she didn't imply anything strange then it was me who was ...
"Oh? Red all of a sudden? Embarrassed? Why is that? Why is that?! Tell me everything!"
"... Let me go."
"Hm?"
"LET ME GO, YOU DIRTY VAMPIRE!!!"
"NOT AGAIN!!!"
And I started to struggle again and she held me as best she could.
"STOP!!! IT'S DANGEROUS!!! I AM TELLING YOU IT'S DANGEROUS!!! STOP!!!"
"LET ME GO !!! LET ME GO YOU IDIOT !!!"
"AAAARGHH!!! NO CHOICE!!! YOU DON'T LEAVE ME ANY CHOICE!!!" She grabbed the back of my head and brought her face closer to mine, "Excuse me, but this is an emergency."
And without another word, she pressed her lips against mine.
"Mmmnnf ???"
And if she had only done that. Quickly, I felt her put her tongue inside my mouth. She infiltrated everywhere. It was as if she wanted to totally imbue me with her being. I could barely breathe.
At first, of course, I tried to push her away. To begin with, I'm not really interested in girls that way. Not that I am not lesbian, mind you. I am just not interested in physical relationships to begin with.
Plus, she had kissed me without warning so I guess that counts as an assault even if we omitted the very intrusive behavior of her, um, technique.
But after a few seconds... it was as if all my strength left me. If I had to compare, I would say it was as if she had - and I really hate the fact that this is the only term that comes to me - tamed me. I let her do it without really understanding why. In fact, it was even ... pleasant?
Finally, she gently parted her lips from mine.
"So? Calmed down?" she asked me.
I could still feel her breath on my face; it was warm. Strange for an undead, I thought.
"Hm? Miss serial killer?"
"...eh?"
"You seem absent."
"O-Oh ..."
"Request. Can I have your autograph now?"
"... yes…"
There is that one song from the 80s about a woman with revolver eyes. The man in it describes how he fell in love with a woman with just one look from her.
She has the killing gaze, he said.
She shot first, he said.
And with that single shot, he was doomed. Quite a poetic way to describe what I would just call love at first sight.
The girl I met may have had a killing gaze, but I shot first.
Yet, somehow, I still felt as if I was doomed.
The name is Dawn Riftwalker. First-year student at Eve's Anathema and this is the story of my daily life with a certain vampire girl.