Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 102 – Time to Explain

‘Thank you, Aria,’ I said as I watched Ava bring the knife up to her finger, drawing forth a few drops of her blood.

‘You don’t need to thank me for something like this,’ She replied, ‘After all, we already have an agreement between us.’

While Ava was trying to figure out how to help Cattleya, Aria suddenly told me to let her speak to her. All she did was explain that what Cattleya needed was more than likely fresh blood, although she didn’t explain why. But still, that seemed to be enough for Ava to take action… even if I was going to do it myself so she didn’t have to hurt herself.

After a deep breath, Ava brought her bleeding finger up to Cattleya’s lips, letting what few drops of blood there were slowly drip down into her mouth.

Cattleya reacted immediately, her arms jerking forward while her eyes were still closed, only for Ava to pull away just as quickly so as not to be grabbed.

“What was that?!” She shouted as her eyes shot open.

She already looked much better than when we had first found her, although clearly not quite back to how she used to be. Her skin was still fairly pale, and her legs were twitching ever so slightly as if not quite working as they were supposed to… not that she seemed to notice.

Ava took the opportunity to heal her finger, the small wound closing as soon as the glow of her magic engulfed it, before breathing a brief sigh of relief. However, she might have done so a bit too soon.

Cattleya’s face suddenly went a bright red, her eyes clearly still struggling to focus on what was around. It was so bad that I found myself reaching out towards her in an attempt to calm her down… although I wasn’t able to reach her in time.

“Oh, that… that does not matter right now. We need to get to the lighthouse! I cannot be late to this!” Immediately, she practically flew up off the chair, her legs shaking as they suddenly had to support her weight, “There are only a few more chances before-”

“No, that’s not going to happen,” Ava said as she put her hands firmly on Cattleya’s shoulders before gently guiding her back down onto the seat, “At least not until you tell me what’s going on with you. I mean, just how silly can you be? If things were that bad, you should’ve found me sooner. I just- I don’t understand it!”

The room was filled with an uncomfortable silence after how loud and frantic everything had just been. The only noise coming from Ava’s heavy breaths while Cattleya just stared back up at her in what I could only assume was confusion.

“I-I… um… I…” Cattleya stuttered.

“Blood,” Ava said, “Let’s just start there. Why did you need blood? Why are you in this… state right now? Tell me what’s gone on with you.”

“… It’s…”

“You don’t need to hesitate over this. I just want to know what’s going on so I can help you. It’s really not that complicated.”

Cattleya awkwardly looked around the room instead of replying instantly like she normally would. More than anything, Cattleya clearly needed some more time to recover, even in my eyes.

“Well, I’m… I’m… a vampire…” She eventually said, sounding much more deflated than before.

Ava’s face immediately changed to one of surprise, followed quickly by confusion as she glanced over at me, who didn’t react at all.

I already knew…

…

That didn’t last for very long though, as she almost immediately turned back to face Cattleya.

“What do you mean you’re a vampire? I didn’t even think they were real, let alone…” She stopped herself to compose herself a little before continuing, “Look, I’ve only heard about vampires from a story Mom told me about an old guild she stayed at for a few days. They apparently had some strange records from many hundreds of years ago that mentioned something they called vampires ravaging the continent before just suddenly disappearing one day… but they were described as monsters, large and horribly deformed, not-”

“That was just the first batch, not-!” What Ava said clearly struck a chord in Cattleya, who interrupted her before cupping her hand over her own mouth as if she had said something she wasn’t supposed to.

Silence once again filled the room as Ava and I simply looked at her, as she tried her best to look anywhere else.

“… I-If you remember, I explained in our magic lesson how all living creatures contain mana,” Cattleya spoke up, clearly trying to move away from the previous topic, “Well, there is a little more nuance to it than that. Mana does not just stay inside the body indefinitely. Instead, there is a constant, subtle flow of new mana coming in and old mana flowing out as it is used to sustain life, much like breathing. All living creatures rely on this flow, and we… vampires… are particularly reliant on it… but… um… Unlike most creatures… our mana only ever flows out of our bodies, be that passively or from using magic… So we have to absorb mana another way… blood just works the best… for… reasons.”

…

Does it have to be blood?

Is there another option that isn’t as good?

Strangely, after hearing Cattleya’s rushed explanation, all that came over me were more questions about the specifics of how it all worked, although I made sure to keep them to myself as it really wasn’t the right situation to be asking them.

“So… in short, you need to drink blood to survive, alright?” Ava asked, although she clearly didn’t actually need an answer, “I don’t really understand it, but… if that’s what you need, then, why didn’t you? Why did you show up today, barely able to hold yourself up? I’m sure you could find something, and even if you really couldn’t, you could have just come to me and explained. I would have helped you just like I’m trying to do now. I don’t know what idea you have of me in your mind, but I wouldn’t just leave you there on the street starving!”

I reached out for Ava and pulled her back a little. I knew that she was just trying to take care of Cattleya; I had been on the receiving end myself before, but she was probably going a little too far. It actually reminded me a little of Mom.

“It’s… complicated…” Cattleya eventually replied.

“Haa… fine…” Ava said as she slowly started to calm down, and I released my grip on her, “But, from now on, you don’t have any excuses. If it ever gets this bad again, or even anywhere remotely close to this bad, I want you to come straight to me so I can sort it out.”

…

…

“But… I couldn’t… It’s different when it’s a person like…” Cattleya muttered under her breath, probably too quiet for Ava to hear, before simply nodding.

“Alright… then that’s the first question answered,” This time, Ava sat down next to Cattleya before continuing, “Now, can you explain your obsession with these ships? I didn’t want to get involved but… with how far you’re pushing yourself, you had better have a good reason for it, y’know?”

“… I already told you. There is something I need, and it is coming in on a ship in a few weeks.”

“Why are you so sure that this ship in particular is going to be targeted? What exactly are you waiting for that is worth putting yourself through all of this?” Ava’s questions were unrelenting, but at least she wasn’t shouting like before.

“It is… because it has already happened before,” She admitted, “This is the second time… and I was very lucky to find it. I cannot make the same mistake and let it get stolen again. I do not know if there will be another chance anytime soon.”

“Cattleya, that’s all well and good, but you haven’t told me what exactly it is that you’re so desperate for? You wave around all this money you have, yet you are obsessing over this one thing so much that you’d sacrifice your own health? If it’s really that important, you or your family could go over to get it yourselves, or you could probably even rent out a private boat to send it over somewhere other than this port. I just don’t understand why you are doing things like this.”

“It’s because I ran away! Okay?” Cattleya suddenly exploded, her chest heaving despite her state, “She wouldn’t let me, so I ran away and did it myself! Is that what you wanted me to say?! I just-”

…

Her outburst filled me with a deep sense of guilt, as it reminded me of the moment when I decided to do the same thing. Everything I had felt when leaving, and how much I regretted it once I was finally found again after only a few hours had passed. And it seemed I wasn’t alone in that feeling as Ava chose to stay quiet instead of pushing Cattleya any further.

…

…

“I just don’t understand it,” Ava said, breaking the silence, “What could be so important to you that you just-… All of this…”

“… You don’t need to understand it,” Cattleya replied as she stood up before wobbling a little.

“I guess you’re right, I don’t ‘need’ to understand what’s going on,” Ava got up, wrapping one of Cattleya’s arms around her shoulder, “But I want to understand. I don’t want you to go walking around town while barely able to hold yourself together, for any reason. Is that not a normal thing?”

“…”

“Look, I don’t really want to be doing this, but… this is probably the best thing for me to do if you’re really going to be this stubborn about it. We’ll go up that lighthouse, just as you wanted, but you aren’t going to leave my side for even a second. And, if I decide that it’s too much for you, then I’m taking you right back here to lie down, no questions asked.”

“… Really?” Cattleya asked in disbelief.

“Hey, have I ever lied to you?”

“… Okay… but… I think… I will need some help getting there…”

“What do you think I’m doing now?” Ava replied, her usual smile now back on her face.