Blood Of The Moon (ch4)

EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS!

This chapter will switch between their POVs.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

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								Chapter 4. The Vampire's Vow

The night is full of blood and terror.

Claudine can hardly even tell which form she's in half the time, because she is so panicked and focused on running.

The shadows that pursue her vary in shapes and sizes and species. Sometimes they're on four legs and sometimes on two, but regardless they're out for her life. Whether it's jaws or whips snapping at her ankles she can't be certain, but she doesn't look back to check.

She races through the forest, and the sounds of snarling and shouting seem to press down on her from all sides. She shifts from wolf to human without control, her perspective changing with every other terrified beat of her heart. She cries out for help, but no sound comes.

Memories of her parents appear in her mind. It's been so many years now that their faces have begun to blur.

She sobs and cries out for them, but all that replies are guttural curses and hungry snarls.

Suddenly, the forest turns into an enclosed space, one that's all too familiar to her. The fighting ring where the Alphas set her on other animals, or the other way around, has high chain-linked walls to keep the participants trapped inside while the hundreds of human onlookers are safely shouting and laughing on the other side. Blood streaks the dirty floor and the fences so deeply that its scent is more pungent than the scent of the body heat, alcohol, and cigarette smoke combined.

Claudine finds herself facing two much smaller dogs who are infinitely more terrified than she is. The voices demand bloodshed, and there's nowhere to run for any of the fighters. When Claudine tries to back herself away, she hears familiar men behind her, whispering threats on her parents' lives. She has no choice but to face the terrified dogs and leap.

She tries to make it quick, tearing into the throat of one to ensure it never even feels the pain. But she slips on its blood and her jaws clamp the second on a non-vital spot. It yelps and pleads for its life, struggling and wriggling in the agony just before death, and the men holler in delight. Claudine whimpers apologies and sinks her sharp teeth in deeply, tasting the warm blood as it soaks her jaws and chest.

As she drops the body and staggers away, she feels a powerful kick to her side. When she snaps on reflex, something clubs her on the side of the head until her vision explodes in a torrent of blurring colors. While she's dazed, they send in something much bigger than she is, something she can't even decipher, something angry and full of teeth.

As she looks over the bodies and the blood coating her fur, she thinks of her family, of the parents she'll never see again.

And it's better that way.

Her death approaches and lunges for her throat.

Willingly, she lifts her chin.

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Maya sleeps through the entirety of the day, waking when the last rays of the sun are slipping away beneath the curtain's edges. Her stomach growls softly, but not for blood - not just yet.

As she opens her eyes and her vision registers what it is she's looking at, everything comes back to her at once.

She sits up slowly as not to wake Claudine, who is still deeply asleep beside her. At the very least she hadn't left when Maya had been asleep, but that was probably only because Claudine herself was unconscious as well.

As Maya rubs her eyes and stretches her arms a little, she never takes her eyes off the girl. So of course she notices when there's a sudden change in her condition.

It's subtle at first, but Claudine's face contorts ever so slightly, and her breathing suddenly clips. Maya frowns and reaches out to touch her forehead. Like the last time, she finds Claudine unnaturally warm, but the difference now is the layer of sweat coating her skin.

Claudine whimpers and jolts, then a shudder runs through her. Her breath hitches, and Maya doesn't need to see anymore to understand she's having a nightmare.

Maya wants to wake her without startling her. Though she isn't certain that's possible, she needs to try anyway.

Gently, she rests her hand on Claudine's shoulder, where she can feel her pulse pounding in the side of her neck. Maya's brow furrows as she calls out for her softly.

"Saijou-san?"

Claudine flinches, and a sound like a frightened growl creeps up from her throat. Maya uses her free hand to hold one of hers, squeezing lightly.

"Saijou-san?"

Maya gives her a small shake, hoping it will be enough. Claudine has begun to tremble beneath her touch, and her breathing has become labored with fright. Maya shakes her again a bit more firmly.

With a heavy gasp, Claudine's eyes fly open, round and drowning. Maya shifts so that she's the first thing she sees.

"Saijou-san? It's all right. You're with me now, remember?"

The terror in her eyes is strong, but Maya believes she spots just a flash of relief this time. Claudine tries to speak, but only a strangled sound comes out, and she coughs on it. Maya turns over her hand and glides the backs of her fingers along her temple and down her cheek.

"It's all right," she murmurs. "You're safe here."

Claudine blinks, and tears start to fall. She rolls onto her side, turning away from Maya to sob quietly.

Maya watches her sadly. She pulls the blanket up over Claudine's side as far up as her shoulder, laying it slowly so as not to make her feel like she's being trapped or restrained.

Maya rests her hand on the girl's side, just as a promise that she's still here with her. She can still feel her shaking, and listens to the choked sounds in her throat. Maya wonders if it had been a nightmare, or a flashback of something real. Probably a combination of both, she decides.

She waits, keeping her hand on Claudine's side and never removing it, solidifying this reality over the one she'd seen in her dreams.

It's a while before Maya finally feels her move other than the trembling and sobbing. Claudine pushes herself up, drawing Maya's immediate attention.

"Saijou-san?"

Claudine doesn't seem to hear her. She lets the blankets fall away and heaves her legs over the edge of the bed. Maya is dismayed.

"Saijou-san? Is something the matter? Please don't push yourself-"

"I have to-" Claudine wheezes, crossing an arm over her stomach to clutch where the biggest wound on her chest still is. "I have to-" She cuts off, breathless from the effort of moving.

Maya is up first, scurrying around to her side of the bed to keep Claudine from getting to her feet just yet.

"What? What must you do? I can't let you go back to those men. I won't."

Claudine shakes her head, and Maya is a bit relieved to know that wasn't her intention - at least for the moment.

"Then, the restroom? Let me help you-"

But again Claudine shakes her head.

"I have to-" She mumbles something more that Maya can't decipher. She's suddenly aware of Claudine's body growing warmer and warmer. When she sways, Maya reflexively reaches out to catch her. Claudine's eyes have fallen shut, her brow furrowed once more. Another wave of heat surges through her strongly enough for Maya to feel it.

"Saijou-san-?"

Maya can feel something strange. Claudine's body begins to move, though not of its own accord.

It changes.

Her limbs shorten just a bit, and her ears grow tall to appear at the top of her head rather than the sides. Her hair melts into her back and shoulders, until her entire body is covered with a pelt of the same color.

The next thing Maya knows, she is holding a wolf in her arms.

She has to admit this hadn't been what she was expecting. She almost releases Claudine, though thinks better of it when the wolf's weight sways a little. Her clothes and headband and bandages are all gone, and beneath the blankets Maya spots a tail. Her eyes are closed, as though the transformation had drained her of what little energy she'd gotten back after the day of rest.

Maya isn't certain what to do; her greatest fear is that Claudine might be frightened of her and attack, and that Maya herself will react on instinct and end up hurting her. Instinct is a powerful thing, after all.

Slowly, Maya lies the wolf down on the bed and takes a step away, just as Claudine's eyes open slowly. She snorts, parting her jaws slightly and closing them as if trying to speak, but all that comes out is the small sound of teeth clacking. Maya holds both her hands up like earlier to show she means her no harm.

"Saijou-san. Are you all right?"

Claudine tries to push herself up on her paws, but she's awkward moving on the squishy mattress on all fours, so the most she can manage is to sit up. She shakes herself off, and unlike before, her eyes are a bit calmer now, though Maya suspects that's only because she's so exhausted.

Claudine makes a few sounds, but ultimately keeps her mouth closed, concealing her teeth. Maya understands it is a sign of peace, and she makes sure to do the same. She's just a little perplexed about what to do now.

It's a bit of a challenge to remind herself that - though she may look and sound different now than she had moments earlier - this is still the same Saijou Claudine in front of her. Though she can't cry or speak the same way, the emotions are still there in her eyes. They aren't red like the first time Maya had found her, and the wounds on her body are no longer bleeding either, to her relief.

Claudine meets her eyes, and her ears angle backward in a display of embarrassment. Maya quickly shakes her head.

"I-In any case, would you like something to eat?"

Claudine huffs and shakes her head. Her eyes seem to convey disinterest. Maya nods.

"You don't like eating in this form. Is that it?"

Claudine snorts agreement.

"That's understandable. Then let's wait until you've turned back, shall we?" She wonders if it will last all night, and if so what they should do in the meantime. "Perhaps you should get some more rest. You're still recovering, after all."

Claudine looks away briefly, but eventually meets her eyes again. Maya sees a lot of things there. Claudine is anxious, likely because this is the first time in a very long time when she'd turned into a wolf and hadn't been expected to fight tooth and nail for her life. She's embarrassed by her appearance as well, perhaps because of the lack of clothing, or just because she fears Maya will think less of her when she's an animal.

But she's also relieved to be offered a place to rest, even in this form. She's probably never slept soundly as a wolf before in seven years.

In the end, Claudine dips her head, turning away from Maya and folding her legs beneath herself before plopping down onto the mattress.

Maya can't stop the small smile from spreading across her face. She pulls the blankets back up over her guest, glad to see Claudine's perked ears are gradually relaxing. Maya sits at the edge of the bed and stays put for a while to watch over her.

Even when Claudine is in this from, her breathing still sounds the same beneath the slight wheeze produced by her muzzle. Just as she'd done last night, Maya sits vigil, though now Claudine looks very different.

After a while, and when Maya is certain she isn't suffering anymore nightmares, she leaves the bedroom to begin preparing some food for the both of them. She heats up the remaining half-dozen dumplings and some rice, then chops up an assortment of vegetables to make a salad for herself.

By the time she's finished and brings it all back to the room, the wolf in her bed has turned back into a girl. She's exactly as she'd been before she'd shifted, still looking a bit too slender beneath Maya's clothes. But the smell of food rouses her, as Maya can assume scent is her strongest sense, and she slowly pushes herself up again. Maya is there to greet her with a pleasant smile.

"Good evening. Are you hungry?"

Claudine's stomach answers for her with a gurgle.

Maya sits beside her on the bed and offers Claudine's a bowl of five dumplings and some rice, while Maya takes a single dumpling and the salad for herself. Maya eats slowly and calmly, hoping the emotions will rub off on her guest who is constantly on-edge.

Claudine eyes her warily again, though not as much as before. When she speaks, it reminds Maya she hasn't heard her voice in hours.

"Since when do vampires eat salad?"

In spite of her mouthful, Maya bursts into a small laugh. Another thing she hadn't done in seven years.

"My," she chuckles. "That was unexpected. But you see, I am just as much a human as I am not. My body still requires basic nutrients and such from regular food, though I must admit it has no taste at all."

Claudine chews slowly on one of her dumplings.

"So you can only taste blood?"

"More or less," Maya agrees. "But not all of it tastes good."

"Like how?"

"It depends on the person. Those who eat poorly or have some kind of addiction would have bland-tasting blood. But someone who takes care of themselves would taste much more flavorful, if you'll excuse the term."

Claudine fiddles with her next dumpling, staring at the meat spilling out from the side.

"Huh. I never would've guessed vampires can't taste food."

"There's texture," Maya says. "And perhaps a very basic flavor. But if I were to close my eyes and bite into a pork dumpling or a beef one, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

They eat for a moment in silence, and Maya can't be certain, but Claudine seems to be savoring her food a bit more, as if in Maya's stead.

"What about blood?" Claudine asks her. "Do you drink every night?"

"About every three nights or so. That's when the urge begins to come back. Though I've gone up to five before, I've found it's best to quench it before I lose my composure."

"…How do you do it?" Claudine wonders.

Maya goes into brief detail about her bar hunts, explaining again about her powers of memory erasure to cover her tracks. Claudine's eyes go a bit wide.

"And you've never been discovered?"

Maya shakes her head.

"Not that I'm aware of, anyway. No one has ever bothered me, not even my landlord, since I always pay on time."

"Pay…" Claudine chews on a mouthful of rice next. "You said you had a job? At a grocery store?"

"Indeed." Maya ponders for a moment, frowning just slightly. "Come to think of it, I may have had to work tonight. I'll have to call and apologize a bit later. I've never missed before, so I'm certain I'll be forgiven."

Claudine chews quietly for a few moments after that, until she's finished every last grain of rice.

"To think…" she mumbles. "A vampire could be living a normal life like that. With a job and an apartment…"

Maya says nothing. Just as she'd lamented over how Claudine's life was so terribly different from her own, Claudine is realizing that even a cursed girl can live a somewhat normal life, all things considered.

Maya waits a moment longer as she gathers the dishes and brings them to the sink, but when she returns, Claudine has no more questions for her. Maya inclines her head, asking permission to sit beside her again. Claudine doesn't refuse.

As Maya gets comfortable, she seeks out her eyes once more.

"Saijou-san? May I ask you a few more things?"

Claudine swallows, as if dreading the nature of some of those questions. But she must feel she owes Maya this much after keeping her safe and fed for so long now.

"Fine."

Maya nods, trying not to sound too eager when she asks.

"How exactly does your transformation work?" she asks. "The night I found you was a half-moon and you changed back at daybreak. Last night you didn't shift at all, but tonight you did for a short amount of time, and now you're back."

Claudine doesn't answer right away, and Maya doesn't press her. She waits patiently, though her curiosity may be manifesting itself in her curling toes and fingers. At last, Claudine gives a response.

"When you're hungry," she says. "Do you feel the urge to drink blood? Like, it fills your whole body until it aches?"

Maya blinks, surprised by the reply and the accuracy with which Claudine had described her hunger.

"Yes, as a matter of fact."

Claudine nods.

"It's the same for me. Around dusk, my whole body will ache with the need to transform because of the curse. I can only control it to a certain degree. But my emotions play into it as well…" Here, she pauses, and Maya isn't certain she'll continue. But she must know Maya is eager to learn more, so she goes on.

"I probably didn't transform last night because my body was still too weak. It does take energy, after all. At least to hold the wolf form. But if I'm totally exhausted I'll turn back into a human, even if I was only a wolf for a few minutes. It depends on those things rather than moonlight or sunlight, really."

Maya listens intently, and more questions surface in her mind.

"Has it ever-" She stops herself, realizing she'd gotten a bit carried away. But Claudine dips her head, inviting her to continue. Maya softens her voice a bit. "Has that ever happened… in front of them…?"

Claudine's jaw tightens a little and she looks down into her lap.

"In front of the Alphas, yes. They'll often beat me until I shift forms one way or the other. But it's never happened in front of an audience. I can't let it happen. The fear keeps me rooted to my wolf form, even if I collapse."

"Even if you're unconscious…?" Maya wonders. Claudine nods.

"Even if I'm unconscious, my body and instincts still know if I'm in danger. So I won't transform until they've tossed me back into my room where no one can see me."

Maya averts her eyes.

"My apologies. I shouldn't have inquired about something like that…"

"It's fine. I supposed I would want to know, too."

A moment of silence passes between them. Maya's thoughts bring her back two nights to the forest, when Claudine had shifted forms right in front of her eyes. If what Claudine had just told her was true - that Claudine would retain her wolf form when she was terrified, even unconscious and even in spite of the presence of sunlight…

Perhaps that meant she'd trusted Maya, even just a little at that time.

Something warm blooms in Maya's chest at the notion, like a small flower.

She withdraws from talk of the Alphas for now, and takes her questions down a different tangent.

"You say you can likely transform at will if you're able to. Does it need to happen every night if you've got the energy?"

"Just about," Claudine answers. "Though I have a bit more strength on the nights when the moon is fullest. That's the peak time they make me fight, when it's waxing to and waning from full. But on the nights nearer to the new moon… sometimes I don't even transform at all. I guess that's when I'm closest to being fully human or something."

Maya nods. "That does make a great deal of sense. Does it hurt? When you transform, I mean."

Claudine shrugs.

"It did at first. After all, your body is reconfiguring itself. But after all this time I hardly even feel it anymore."

"I see. So then, if you have no choice but to transform at night unless you're physically too exhausted to do so, you can control when you change back?"

"Something like that. I'm not really sure…" Claudine still doesn't look up to meet her eyes. "I've… never really had a chance to do as I pleased before. I always just have to do what they want, when they want it. But I guess as long as I've shifted just long enough to satisfy the curse for the night, I can change back at will if I'm in the right mind."

Essentially, Maya notes. If she isn't terrified for her life to do otherwise.

This new knowledge she'd obtained tonight makes her blood hot with rage for the group of people behind such torment and cruelty. If they'd had Claudine in their clutches for nearly a decade now, there's no way Maya's going to simply get her out of it so easily.

Rather, even if Maya can offer her safety, it's a matter of whether Claudine will be able to resist the need to return to that place. She's already expressed it several times - the need to go back there. It's been engrained in her mind that there's nothing else she can do, that she has no choice but to keep returning no matter how often she runs away.

And with her family's lives to consider, Maya can hardly blame her. She doesn't doubt that such terrible men would keep true to their promise of harming Claudine's parents if she didn't return to them soon.

As if the thoughts of the Alphas had reached Claudine, a shudder rips through her.

"I have to go back…"

Maya's heart twists.

"Not yet-" she begs her. "Please. Stay a few more nights-"

"I can't-" Claudine whimpers as if she'd been struck by a fist. "I've been gone too long already. They've searched the woods by now and if they haven't found a body, they know I'm still alive. I have to go back." Anguish floods her eyes, and Maya feels it like her own, if only for different reasons.

"Then just one more day," she bargains. "Rest here until nightfall tomorrow. Regain your strength so you will be able to fight to protect yourself. Be rested enough to have a clear mind, so that whatever poor creatures they set on you, you'll be able to spare their lives. And then-" She stops, not entirely certain of what she wanted to say next.

Claudine lifts her face, and perhaps there is a hint of hope in her eyes.

"And then…?"

Maya inhales deeply.

"Come find me again. Escape and come to me, or I will come to you. I promise to do everything within my power to help you be free of them. You've already got one curse to live with. You don't need a second one."

Claudine scoffs and shakes her head.

"You're crazy, even for a vampire." She straightens herself up and holds Maya's gaze seriously. "Listen… I'm grateful for all you've done for me. But this is enough. We should't have gotten involved with one another in the first place. Vampires and werewolves shouldn't have anything to do with each other. It'll only bring us both misfortune."

"Do you think so?" Maya challenges her with a soft, yet firm tone. "I would argue that our encounter allowed me to help save your life. You wouldn't be alive right now if we hadn't met."

"And who's to say that isn't a misfortune?" Claudine snaps. "It would've been best if you'd just left me there to die."

"I disagree," Maya refutes. "At least in my case, I'm glad I could've helped you."

"Then you're just being selfish."

"Maybe so," she admits. "But you seemed awfully curious about me as well just now, wouldn't you say? Were you not at least a little excited to learn there was someone else like you in the world?"

Claudine's eyes fill with anger and pain.

"Don't try to compare yourself to me. You don't know what I've-" She cuts off and turns her face away before the tears can start falling. Maya softens and relents.

"My apologies. That isn't quite what I meant. I'd merely meant it in the sense that we are kindred spirits, no? Though our curses are different, we bear them just the same." She didn't mean to compare her own struggles to Claudine's. Next to Claudine's violent tsunami, Maya's troubles were a light drizzle.

Once Maya offers her apologies, Claudine wipes her arms across her face a few times before inhaling again slowly.

"Like I said… I have to go back."

"And as I said," Maya repeats. "Tomorrow. Please. Do what you must, and then escape if you can. Come find me again. I will search for you until we meet again. I want to do everything I can to help you, Saijou Claudine."

If she'd been in her wolf form, Claudine's ears might've perked at the sound of her name. Even so, she remains wary.

"Why? You don't owe me anything. In fact, it should be the other way around, though I never asked for your help…"

"It's just as I've said." Maya reaches out her hand for Claudine's in her lap, and touches her fingers gently. "We are similar, you and I. You are the only one I've met with a curse like this, and I'm sure it's the same for you. Perhaps, if we help one another, we can find some way to break them."

Claudine laughs wryly and pulls her hand away.

"You think this is some fairytale?"

"Perhaps not. But haven't you ever dreamt of a happy ending?"

Claudine says nothing. Instead she turns away from Maya and lies down.

"I'll stay tomorrow," she grunts. "But then I have to go back. It isn't an option."

"Of course…"

Maya gives a strained reply, but for now this is the best she can hope for, all things considered. Her mind is already churning with ideas and scenarios of how she might assist Claudine with destroying the Alphas and their terrible business once and for all.

Briefly, she considers why Claudine hadn't ever gone to the police if she'd escaped before, but quickly dashes the thought; such a concept may seem obvious to someone on the outside looking in, but it's absolutely unthinkable for the person being trapped and abused. If anything went wrong and even one of the Alphas got away, Claudine would have her parents' blood on her hands.

Something so simple wouldn't work anyway for such a complicated scheme and taboo business. They would need something more…

Maya rakes her mind, which is buzzing with thoughts now, so busily she almost doesn't feel the familiar, needy pulse in her veins. She'll need to feed tomorrow night, and perhaps she can hunt for information at the same time as a meal.

Maybe she has no right to get involved with Claudine so readily, but she simply can't help it.

Is it really just because they are kindred spirits? Or does Maya simply itch at the idea of action for a change? Or could it be something else entirely?

She isn't certain.

The only thing she's certain of right now is the fact that Claudine has curled up in bed beside her. Maya peers over the girl's shoulder to try and glimpse her face.

"Saijou-san…?"

Claudine huffs, but doesn't budge otherwise.

"I'm going," she growls. "Don't try to stop me."

"I suppose I can't…"

There's another beat of silence. But then-

"The abandoned department store."

Claudine mumbles the location under her breath. Maya tunes in.

"The one on the east side of town." Claudine draws in a deep breath. "That's where they hold the fights. If I can get out-"

"I will be there," Maya vows. "I swear it."

She watches as Claudine shivers again, hearing the way her breath trembles. Her voice is barely audible after that.

"Then... please come get me… Tendo Maya…"

The moon slips a beam of silver into the room. It paints a line across Maya's body to Claudine's, as if connecting them.

Claudine falls asleep shortly afterward, and Maya watches over her once again, for the last time until she'll have to let her go.

She traces her gaze over Claudine's back, which she'd turned to her the second she'd laid down. At the time, Maya had presumed it was a display of aloofness or disinterest.

But now she thinks very differently. It's as though Claudine had given Maya her back in the hopes that she would protect her blind side.

Maya swears on her life that she will honor that trust as she lies down beside her and waits for dawn.

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A/N: What do you think Maya's motives are for vowing to help Claudine...?