Story By: arachniphiliac
Miyu stood on a hill overlooking the small town nestled in a valley,
hidden on all sides by hills like the one she now occupied. She
resided in that town during the day, vainly trying to occupy her
immortal mind by absorbing again the information that had been
filtered down, generation to generation, in a pitifully human attempt
to become more than their nature allowed, educating themselves in the
hopes that they wouldn't be doomed to repeat history's mistakes. It
was the humans themselves rather than their distilled knowledge that
amused her and helped pass the time. At times she thought she might
be being a bit hypocritical, especially when, on a rare occasion, a
human would turn up that would genuinely touch her tired soul. But
they were always the outcasts, like herself, straying from the flock.
'That's why they're so alike throughout the generations. They cull out
all who have the key to becoming more than their nature allows. But,
that is their nature, isn't it? If they didn't, then the strange ones
wouldn't be the outcasts, thus culling would never take place to
begin with!' She giggled at her own thoughts. 'I'm having Larva's
problem, I think too much.' She gave a satisfied sigh and turned from
the view to descend down the hillside. There was a certain arrogant
thrill in being able to fool the thousands she had encountered
throughout the years into believing her to be human, something to
keep her coming back for more, other than the obvious necessity. The
unwelcome thought brought on a blacker one, momentarily spoiling her
good mood.
By instinct rather than thought, she bent reality around her until
the earth-realm and hers were one, than simply moved from one into
the other, seeking comfort from an ancient source. She went to Larva
and wrapped herself in his presence, comforted. She giggled, amused
at thinking of him as an 'ancient source'. 'But he's older than me, an
I don't even remember how old I am'. He smiled down at her, simply
content that she had found something to laugh at.
"Larva," she said, "what do you think of me being a vampire?" He
removed his mask to quirk an eyebrow at her, but she forestalled him.
"I mean, everyone seems to have an opinion, especially the humans,"
he smiled at that, "and I just wanted to know what yours was."
He settled himself against what appeared to be a tree. "What do you
think of you being a vampire?" he said generically.
She hopped up on a tree and arranged her short skirts around her. "I
think I wouldn't want to be you," she teased. "Always lounging
around, nothing to do but follow an ageless vampire-child, wearing
that monstrosity of an excuse for clothing. I'm surprised you don't
get tangled and fall on your face and flash your underthings in the
face of some Shinma." She laughed. "Then I wouldn't have to name
them, they'd be plenty amiable after that!" He gave her a wry look,
and she smiled infuriatingly at him.
"I'm glad you're in a good mood," he said sarcastically, glad at
least to have dodged the question he knew Miyu would just make
herself feel bad over. She sighed. "I need blood." Larva nodded
understandingly. "I promise to summon you if something turns up I
can't handle by myself." She doubted it would.
She returned to the earth-realm, this time further down, into the
outskirts of the town itself. Small towns weren't one of her favorite
places to hunt. People became suspicious sooner and tended to believe
more legends and myths, which would be unfortunate for one living and
breathing, in a sense. Also, the community, since it was smaller, was
more close-knit, and tended to be more distant toward strangers.
"They don't get much stranger than me," she said into the night.
The town was in Japan, not far from Kyoto, which Miyu would always
consider home. She shivered, immune to the cold but feeling the
emptiness of fading day around her. Dawn and dusk were her least
favorite times of day, probably a psychological reaction to hundreds
of years of myths and assumptions. Crosses were her favorite of fatal
object for vampires, since it was the most accessible to the human
population, she supposed. She liked things that confused her. They
kept her occupied. 'You have two bars, one on top of the other, one
horizontal and one vertical. You align them so they directly bisect
one another, and you have a letter of the Roman alphabet. Add four
little feet on the end, all pointing the same way, and you have a
Swastika. Turn THAT over, and you have a Chinese symbol for good
luck. Take one bar on the 'x', without the feet, move it up, turn it a bit, and you have
the shape of wood the Romans constructed to nail the human Messiah to
and a religious symbol humans kill each other over and an instantly
fatal curse for vampires. If Jesus Christ had been a vampire, he
wouldn't have died just by being nailed to a piece of wood, so one
would think it would be more harmful to humans than us.' She grimaced.
'Or me, rather.' She wrapped her arms around herself to ward out some
of the oppression closing in on her. She wished she could bring
Larva with her, to help her better combat her few fears. 'The
villagers would like that. '
She had reached the square, and began to idly wander the streets. She
remembered reading a story about a vampire. The vampire had
behaved as many of human's vampire did, jumping on people and biting
them, none of whom made the slightest move to defend themselves. She
supposed that was why the humans were so wary of vampires. 'Humans are
just frightened of anything more powerful than them' she told
herself. 'But so are you,' a small voice whispered in the back of her
head. Some people were out on the street, hurrying to get back to
their homes, none of who interested Miyu anyway. Some looked at her
askance, most at a child walking at night alone, some because they
thought they knew her personally and thought her odd. She ignored
them all. It was becoming almost ridiculously easy to find the weak
and give them what they thought they desired. It was also the kind of
place Shinma preferred, since they operated almost, but not quite,
entirely unlike like herself. Of course, after a short time of
wandering, she felt the growing sense of a soul in torment, a feeling
somewhat like anticipation. She followed it out to a secluded part of
the town, near the edge of human habitation and nearer the edge of
the wilderness. Of course.' It's always dark', Miyu thought,' and it's
always secluded, and it's always in the heaviest part of the night..'
She seldom found someone walking about in the noontime, in a crowd of
people, on a sunny afternoon. That brought up some guilty
possibilities. 'Perhaps' she thought with a giggle, 'I can, instead of
taking their blood, wait until noon, take them out into a crowd, give
them a flower, and leave them. But of course, then where would I be? '
She had come to have a grudging respect for humans over the years, a
side effect of being dependant on them. She suspected most Shinma
felt the same, and tried to disguise it by cruelty or callousness,
trying to give the impression they did it for their sadistic
pleasures rather than admit they needed such an inferior species. She
wondered, as she had many times over the years, where Larva stood in
the matter. She wondered what he did while she was away, what he ate,
how he managed to clothe himself or bathe, or any of the regular
activities of the day she wouldn't expect him to do. 'I wonder, if I
brought him any soup, if he would eat it'. She herself had nothing
against eating or drinking human food, though how could it compare to
the pure life essence and warmth of blood? She always thought it
rather bland, and sometimes cruel, and it usually left her with a
heavy, unpleasant feeling. She pulled up a blade of grass with her
toes thoughtfully, waiting slightly behind a young boy leaning
disconsolately against a tree. The damp grass was soaking her yukata,
but she paid it as little mind as the cold. The night no longer
bothered her. This was her time, now. It was a sign of the boy's
distress that he didn't notice the dew soaking into his pants, worn
and faded and obviously meant for someone bigger. Probably of some
emotional significance. He looked about fifteen, the usual age, about
average height, and on the more attractive side of normal looking,
also usual. Miyu liked to indulge herself in her preferences. He
glanced around sorrowfully. Miyu felt his eyes pass over where she
was, and giggled happily. Nothing on the surface showed the boy's
torment, but through his eyes she could feel into the depths of his
soul, and she knew he would accept her gift quickly, without
suspicion, not even able to rouse a sense of self-preservation. How
satisfying. She did hate explaining herself.
He stiffened visibly at the sound, and straightened, asking the
inevitable question, "Who's there?"
Miyu smiled before stepping out from her hiding place. It was all so
routine. "If I told you my name, would it make that much of a
difference to you?"
The boy's first reaction was relief. It was just a thirteen year old
girl. Then the old numbness settled into his soul. 'Would I care if it
was an escaped psychopath with a meat cleaver?' "What do you want?
What are you doing here? Go away."
She just smiled at him in a very annoying knowing manner. "I know
what you need. I can give it to you." He sighed, frustrated, and felt
the first passionate urge since the accident, and that was to kick
her. "I said go away," he mumbled to the grass. He gave a start as a
hand stroked his hip. She had come to stand right next to him, and
was fingering the denim hanging loose around his hips. "Whose were
these?"
He gave a painful shake of his head. "Go away."
"A pair of his faded jeans aren't going to give you your father back,
or give you the feeling you had when he was near. I can give you
that."
He glanced up, staring into a pair of deep golden eyes that seemed to
hold all the sorrow in the world. Including his. His knees buckled as
all the old pain came flooding back. His parents, dead within weeks
of each other. His mother died of a brain fever the doctor, it seemed
to him, was too ignorant to cure. His father had taken his own life
later, unable to stand any sort of pain, except that of a bullet
flashing through his head. His mother had left him in the care of
friends the family had known for years. He despised them. He just
wanted...
"Things to be the way they were." He gave a start and stared at this
girl, whose sad smile seemed more knowing and less annoying. "I can
give you your fondest dream. In exchange of your blood." His mind
tried to rouse itself to process this new bit of information, but it
was still stubbornly crippled by the pain of his loss. He still
thought of it as his loss, though it was his parents who had died.
And now...
He nodded, and Miyu smiled as she knelt down and took his head in her
hands, gently but with and experienced and practiced air. Warmth and
life flooded into her, and she felt warm waves of satisfaction
echoing from the boy. She disengaged and stood, leaving the boy on
his knees with his hands dangling down into the wet grass, staring
with a glazed expression as the painful memories faded as he walked
toward his house, his father coming to meet him with an expression of
mock severity on his face, ready to lecture but ever proud, his
mother smiling indulgently from the living room. He sighed happily,
relief flooding him. He shook his head. Why was he relieved?
Everything was as it always was. Everything was fine.
Miyu smiled as the depths of the orb she was holding relayed the
boy's dreams. Such simple wants. Miyu sighed regretfully. Such a
simple thing to want. Larva folded himself around her protectively,
and she let herself be comforted like the child she was supposed to
be. She was in her realm. She released the orb, and it floated
lightly to rest in one of the strange trees. She peered around.
Hundreds of dreams, happily spinning themselves away, sometimes
vanishing as the owner passed away, perhaps into a different dream.
One of course, she would never know. "A forest of dreams" she
murmured sleepily, and she knew Larva was nodding, obedient as ever.
Everything was so routine. Perhaps tomorrow she would bring Larva
some soup to see his reaction, and try to listen attentively as the
student body related to each other with horror the newest victim of a
supernatural phenomenon, not the last. As the incidents grew, Miyu
would be discovered, a result of boredom, most likely, and she and
Larva would move to another small town, and the cycle would repeat
over again, dozens of times, dozens of lifetimes, and things would be
just as they had always been, just like a fantasy. The leaves would
bud and die in her forest of dreams, and Larva, her companion, would
always be there, fatherly and mysterious, a partner fitting for a
vampire princess, and all would be as it had been before. Everything
was so routine.
*NOTE* I am in no way employed by the companies that distribute Vampire Princess Miyu in all it's forms, this includes audio, video, and other such media. All images, unless otherwise noted, are copywrited to the following companies and persons: Narumi Kakinouchi, AnimEigo, AIC, or Sooeishinsha and Pony Canyon. If I am offending any of these companies, it is not my intention and any offending material will be removed upon notification. I display this gallery due to my love for a wonderfully drawn and told story. -The Countess
