The Fallen Vampire

When Aveena finally regained some semblance of strength within her legs, Keran supported her with her body and helped her get outside.

There, the two women met up with Ayame again and came across the bodies of all of the departed sect members who were covered with thin blankets.

Their bodies had been arranged neatly along the stone bridge in two rows, allowing Aveena to walk down the middle and say her goodbyes as needed.

But she didn't make it that far.

As soon as she came to the foot of the bridge; her muscular legs gave out from underneath her and she collapsed sobbing in front of their bodies.

Keran did not rush her to stop crying, nor did she ask her to continue walking or continue on the path forward.

Instead, she rubbed her back gently as she tried to get her to look up from the stone ground where she was pressing her head.

"Aveena... I need you to watch this, okay?"

*sniff* "W-What...?"

Keran smiled and waved her hand over the length of the bridge.

At her command, walls of crystal blue water leapt up from the surrounding lake.

Watching carefully, Aveena witnessed the waves fall on top of the resting bodies of her former sect members.

Initially she was alarmed, but a firm hand squeeze from Keran called her down and allowed her to watch the full sequence of events.

The water delicately lifted the bodies of all of the women before pulling them over the bridge into the lake.

A bright and purifying light shone from the surrounding waters and a clean, calming feeling passed through the air.

While Aveena did feel a little more relaxed, she still didn't understand exactly what was so significant about what had just been done.

"Keran... What did you-"

"Shhh. Just be patient." She said gently.

A few seconds later, a watery hand clasped over the railing of the bridge.

One by one, several figures began to climb up from the bridge.

They had no features or any sort of identifying characteristics, but Aveena knew them all just by their various shapes and sizes.

"T-This... what..?"

"Go to them, Aveena. They have something they'd like to do for you."

With shaky feet, Aveena heeded Keran's words and pulled herself up from the ground to stand in the midst of the watery remnants of her family.

"I-I'm sorry everyone! It was my fault that-"

One of the spirits gently placed her finger over Aveena's lips, and she recognized her identity instantly.

Her senior sister Jinhe, who she was constantly trying to catch up to but never succeeded in doing so.

The remanent wiped her flowing tears and led her closer to the ledge, at which point the other spirits began to undress her.

Once she was laid bare, they pushed her into the water without warning.

'T-They're trying to kill me!! I knew they were mad!'

Aveena sank like a rock towards the bottom of the lake, where she learned that her initial assumption was woefully inaccurate.

Waiting for her at the bottom with her arms out was an old woman whose face she actually could see.

Elated beyond belief, Aveena swam towards the remnant of her former master and dove into her arms desperately.

The freezing cold of the water around her no longer seemed to bother her; being replaced by a warmth that promised salvation.

Suddenly, the spirit tapped Aveena on the shoulder to get her attention before directing her gaze upwards.

Swimming in choreographed formations above her were all of her junior and senior sisters from above.

But the thing was, it seemed like there were more than just her junior sisters present.

There were millions of different women; some who she'd seen before and others whom she hadn't.

But regardless of whether or not she recognized them, they were all smiling at her so warmly and compassionately that it made her heart hurt.

As the remnants of the sect swam around her, a cold and calming feeling began to form within her navel, and spread throughout every corner of her body.

-

Taira opened his eyes sleepily and immediately recognized that he was being smushed to death by various curvy bodies.

Enyo was directly to his right; sleeping while using his arm as a pillow and snoring relatively comfortably.

Lucia was lying directly across his chest with his lower body wrapped up in the entire length of her tail.

At the foot of the bed, Vermeil was sitting on a small stool with her body slumped over and her face showing clear signs of crying and exhaustion.

Using one of his tails, Taira gently tickled the tip of her nose to wake her up as discreetly as possible.

"Mhm.. Taira..?"

"I'm sorry to wake you, Vermeil."

The human girl rubbed her eyes and showed her friend a small smile.

"No, don't worry about it. I'm just glad that you're finally up and alert for the most part. I was... pretty worried when you didn't wake up for four days."

"So... That's how long it's been, huh..?" Taira muttered. "Where are we now?"

"O-Oh, well apparently when the Abbess died she transferred ownership of the sect to Keran... I think she intends for this entire place to be our new home. Kinda crazy, huh?"

Taira couldn't help but notice that her voice was trembling as she spoke and her emotions were incredibly turbulent.

Though she was trying her best to pretend like everything was normal, he could see that she was teetering on the verge of a breakdown.

"Vermeil...What is the matter?"

Apparently, the human girl thought that she'd been hiding her emotions fairly well, as she showed a noticeable degree of surprise that Taira suddenly asked about her wellbeing.

"Ah...You and your pesky mind reading." She realized.

"I didn't have to read your mind to know that something is wrong with you. I can read all forms of body language."

"Of course you can." Vermeil chuckled.

She finally dropped her aloof and non feeling demeanor as she looked up at Taira with a face full of tears.

"Do you know... I thought I was coming closer to understanding how to love you..? I thought that if I kept working day by day, I would finally get to the point where I could really say that I was in love with you, and by extension become someone who was worthy enough to be with you.

But I think that I learned.. I am not and won't ever be that person. When your life was in danger and you needed someone to save you.. I couldn't move... I.. couldn't make myself move to save you no matter how badly I wanted to..!

B-Because I was too scared to do anything you almost-..!"

Taira slipped out of bed in a gentle way so as not to wake his wives who were sleeping beside him.

He moved to sit at the foot of the bed and positioned himself directly in front of the crying Vermeil.

Gently, he wiped away the tears on her face with his fingers and cradled her face in his hands.

"Honestly... Are all humans this stupid or are you the exception?"

"W-What did you just say to me!?"

"Why would I expect you to save me when you've yet to experience any real bloodshed yet? Even if you had tried, I think I would have scolded you after you saved me for being reckless."

"I forget that you're annoying like that..."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

Taira grabbed both of Vermeil's cheeks and started to pull them, but she didn't cry out or complain this time.

"And... for arguments sake... I would say that you are already significantly more worthy than most to love me. You don't need to push yourself to do dangerous things to prove that to me or anyone else. But... I am more than touched by your sentiment." he admitted.

"Are you... Flirting with me?" Vermeil asked suspiciously.

"I am not." he said firmly.

"...You could if you wanted to."

"Yes, I know."

"Do you..? I think that you should give it a try just for arguments sake."

"Weren't you supposed to be depressed a moment ago?"

"You sat in front of me completely undressed, it makes it kind of hard for a girl to be sad for long."

Taira looked down and realized that he was indeed sitting around in only a pair of black boxers.

He held out his hand to call for his clothes on the other side of the room when Vermeil suddenly placed a hand on his bare chest.

"If this goes wrong... I'll just blame it on the sleep deprivation and rawness from emotional vulnerability."

"Huh-"

Closing her eyes as tight as she could, Vermeil tackled Taira and kissed him on the lips clumsily like she had no experience.

Taira almost pushed her away on instinct but he realized.. he didn't want to.

For a moment he just wanted to forget about the humiliation of his most recent defeat.

Wrapping his arms around her slender waist, he kissed her softly and thoughtfully as he finally acknowledged the feelings for her that were no longer quite so one sided.