nopain7                                         
by seat 8.9.1999

     "Don’t look so surprised." Camui flashed a charming smile at Ryu and
glided towards the bed. "The night is still young and beautiful, what a
shame it would be to waste it in sleep." He leaned forward and tipped up
Ryu’s face with one slender finger, and whispered softly. "Remember I
promised to teach you all about immortal kiss?"

     Ryu repressed an urge to flinch, and regarded the vampire with barely
perceptible contempt. "But I never said I want to learn from you."

     Camui lifted an eyebrow. "I suppose you are thinking to have Sugi to
teach you? You are just like every other foolish mortal, so easily
flattered by his attention. Do you know how everyone in the club throws
himself at Sugi every night, just like you did tonight? Most probably he
has forgotten your face by now."

     Ryu’s face darkened in objection. "It is none of your business."

     Camui’s said sourly. "Come on, what is so wonderful to be with him
anyway? He appears to be everyone’s lover, talking in his ever endearing
tone, and drinking as if he is making love. But while he waltz between his
many admirers, he isn’t taking any of them seriously. As many mortal lovers
as he has, not one has ever received his Dark Gift. Don’t you realize, you
are not any more special to him than anyone else?"

     Ryu felt sudden anger, for he knew there was someone special to Sugi.
But that lucky one whom the vampire thought to be his past lover
reincarnate, whom he truly cared, was Ino, not himself. 

     Camui’s lips hovered over Ryu’s neck. "Sugi is definitely beyond your
reach. But there is nothing that he can offer you while I can’t. Why not be
my mortal lover, and let me show you the immeasurable pleasure that even
God, in his Garden of Eden, is denied of?"

     Ryu returned a disgusted look. "Too bad, but I am not in the least
interested. I think you should leave now."

     Camui’s eyes narrowed in humiliated anger. "What an arrogant fool!! If
it weren’t for that delicious blood of yours which I like to have a taste
from time to time, I wouldn’t have wasted my breath on you. Very well,
‘moderation’ is not my strong point anyway, especially when I am  hungry!"
He reached out to grab Ryu’s hair.

     Ryu recoiled in a panic. "You dare to break Sugi’s rules?"

     Camui laughed. "But we are not in his club now!! He will never find
out!!" 

     Ryu bit his lips and raised his voice. "I count to three, if you don’t
get out of here before that, you are going to die. One….."

     Camui gaped in amusement. "What….?"

     "Two….."

     "You must be kidding me….."

     "Three!" Ryu took a deep breath and shouted. "J !!!!!!! Help!!!!!!!"

     Before Camui could react, the door was bang open and J stood with a
gun in one hand, a large flashlight in another. "Demon!!!" Eyes burning
with abhorrence, the priest took aim without hesitation.

     A loud gun shot pierced through the night as Camui fell over to the
bed. His body was fully paralyzed before he could utter a scream when a
bullet was fired straight into his heart.

     "Ino, don’t come in here. Stay in your room." J shut the door behind
him and approached the vampire.

     Ryu stumbled away from the bed and said breathlessly. "J !! Thank god
you are here!! He….he almost got me….."

     "Are you alright?" asked J.

     Ryu nodded, then took a glance at Camui, who was staring wide-eyed at
them. "What…..what are we going to do with him?"

     "Do you recognize him? Is he from Sugi’s club?"

     "I…..I think so….." Ryu’s eyes flickered slightly.

     "It is a UV light torch, hold it directed at him for me in full alert.
He may regain his strength any second." J said sternly as he passed the
flashlight to Ryu.

     J grasped Camui’s neck and brought his body up with his free hand, his
gun still firmly aiming at the vampire’s heart. In an icy voice, he asked,
"Who are you? Did Sugi send you here?"

     Camui spoke in stiff tongue. "Let….let me go."

     "Not so easy. Tell me the location of Sugi’s club, if you don’t want
to be treated with sunlight!"

     Camui’s fingers flexed slightly. "Why don’t you ask your little friend
there? He just went there today."

     J pressed the gun harder into Camui’s flesh. "He was captured by Sugi
without being shown the way."

     Camui blinked . "Captured? Then why was he throwing himself at his
captor begging him to kiss him, to drink from him?"

     "What are you talking about?! Sugi that savage creature forced himself
on Ryu against his will!!"

     Camui laughed suddenly. "I think he was more than willing! I overheard
him asking Sugi to ‘drink more’…." 

     Suddenly a bluish light beamed at Camui. The vampire screamed in terror.

     "Ryu!! Turn it off!!" J snapped.

     Ryu gaped white-faced but didn’t response. J backed away immediately
as Camui’s agonized cry mingled with the crackle of his flesh burning in
sheer heat. His whole body erupted violently into a furnace of fire fueled
and made fierce by his own vampire blood, and in a few seconds, entirely
consumed into smothering cinder.

     The flashlight dropped to the floor and broke with a loud crack. Ryu
fell on his knees and sobbed with his hands shaking. "Father…..I…..I saw
his hand creeping up to you…..I was completely freaked out….."

     J stared at the remains of the vampire for a long time without
speaking. Abruptly he went to knock on Ino’s room door. "Ino, is everything
alright?"

     There was no answer at first, J frowned and turned the door knob, then
Ino’s voice came, "I…..I am fine…..what…..what happened?"

     "No, don’t worry about it now. Just go to sleep. I will be nearby." J
said.

     Silence fell in the room. Ryu got to his feet and attempted an
explanation. "Father….he was trying to harm you…..and you didn’t seem to be
aware…..I HAD to take action…."

     "Of course you did," J turned to him sharply, "otherwise god knows
what other things he might have to say about your encounter with Sugi."  

     Ryu stiffened. "Father…..what do you mean?"

     J said with a hint of anger, "I mean I am starting to suspect that you
have been lying to me all along."

     Ryu winced immediately at the accusation. "Father! You’d rather trust
that monster, than to trust your own student?! How could I possibly lie to
you?!"

     Even though J couldn’t think of a reason for the vampire to lie, he
knew full well that believing entirely in that side of the story would be
unfair to Ryu. Uncertainty dammed his anger. He looked at his student for a
long moment, trying to read the truth from his face, but to no avail.
Finally he shook his head. "I want to keep my faith in you, Ryu, and I
will. If you were ever lost to the evil, I pray that you had found your way
back to the right side. Yielding to temptation is a sin, but nothing will
not be forgiven once a prayer of confession from your true heart is
uttered. Do you understand, Ryu?"

     Seeing Ryu lower his head and nod docilely, J patted gently on his
student’s head, and prayed silently for good faith, for Ryu, and for himself. 

**************************************************

     Ino stood by the door slammed shut by the priest, his hands sweating
nervously. He heard the gun shot and knew there was a vampire endangering
Ryu in the other room, but J had blocked his view and he didn’t have a
chance to see the intruder’s face before the priest ordered him to stay away. 

     Ino fumbled for the pen J had given him earlier from his pocket,
clicked out the sharp end and held it tightly in front of his chest.
"Please…..don’t be you…..Sugi….."

     "No, that’s not me, my love."

     At the sudden sound, Ino reeled aside and saw Sugi sitting on the
window sill smiling at him.

     "You are going to hurt yourself with that, you know." Sugi said,
pointing a finger at the weapon in Ino’s hands. "Must be my little priest’s
silly idea of ‘self-defense’."

     Ino’s heart raced in a mixture of fear and an odd sense of longing.
"What…..what are you doing here….?"

     Sugi took slow steps towards Ino, as if afraid to frighten him. "We
have had no chance to talk tonight…..I miss you so much, I have to see you."

     Ino averted his eyes that were betraying his emotions. "No…..please go
away….."

     "Why, my love? You don’t want to see me? Are you still afraid of me?"
Sugi drew close, his both hands pressed on the wall engulfing Ino in the
circle of his arms. The needle-point pierced through the vampire’s clothes,
a trickle of blood dripped onto Ino’s hand. Ino gasped and the weapon
dropped to the floor.

     Sugi whispered softly into Ino’s ears. "An eternal life without your
love is nothing but endless misery. I have suffered pain like knife-thrust
every moment since I lost you centuries ago, and I cannot bear to lose you
again. If you hate to see me, if you want to kill me, so that I do not
trouble you with my obsessive love, then I will gladly let you take my
life. Pick up your weapon now, and let me die in your hands."

     Ino looked up, the sincerity on the vampire’s face sent a tremble to
his heart, and a rush of tears threatened to break through. But Ryu’s words
came to his mind, and a spasm of distress struck him. "Why…..why do you
have to say such things to me? Why do you have to make me feel that I am
being loved, while you repeat the same sweet words to other people?"

     Sugi’s eyes widened in surprise. "I don’t understand what you mean…."

     At that moment, a deafening scream came from the next room. Ino froze
in fear as loud disturbing noises of unknown activity gnawed at his nerves.
When the commotion finally subsided, a knock came and J’s voice asked from
the other side of the door. "Ino, is everything alright?"

     A panic shot through Ino, he flustered and didn’t know how to reply.
Sugi’s arms closed on the shaking shoulders as he bent down to kiss Ino’s
lips gently. "Just tell him you are fine." Sugi whispered.

     Slightly calmed, Ino took a breath and strove for a steady voice.
"I…..I am fine…..what…..what happened?"

     J’s sigh of relief could be heard. "No, don’t worry about it now. Just
go to sleep. I will be nearby."

     Sugi’s lips curled in a wicked smile. "My little priest has definitely
grown strong over the years. Camui was such a fool to blunder cluelessly
into a vampire hunter’s home. Oh well, he got the lesson he deserved. Save
me some trouble as well since I wasn’t going to let him get away with his
disrespect to me."

     Ino asked suddenly. "Disrespect….because he attacked Ryu……?"

     Sugi was taken back. "Is something troubling you, love?"

     Feeling too ashamed to admit his jealousy towards Ryu, Ino kept silent.

     Sugi brushed at Ino’s cheek with tender fingers, and said in a voice
choked with affection. "I don’t know what you have heard from that cunning
little boy, or what grand speech J has fed you to distort my intention and
cause you doubt my love. Explanation is futile if you cannot see into my
soul and acknowledge how deep and fatal my love for you has always been and
always will be. If it should take my life to make you understand the true
feelings of my heart, then today shall be the end of my time."

     Ino raised an unsure hand and touched the clogged blood stain on
Sugi’s clothes, and lost speech. 

     Sugi’s hand closed gently on Ino’s wrist. "Not a single soul in this
whole world matters to me except you, my beloved one. Mortals and immortals
I have called my lovers, only to fool myself over the years of loneliness.
But now I have found you, and I can no longer see beyond your eyes that are
too beautiful to be of this world, and too beautiful for me to let go. I
want you, and I want you alone."

     Sugi held Ino in a firm embrace, and kissed him hard. For a long time,
their lips joined in heated passion. Feverish desire rose in Ino, making
his head reel as if the world was collapsing around him. 

     Tossed off-balance by his own emotion, Sugi pulled away and said with
desperate urgency.  "Come with me, let me make you an immortal, be my
companion forever."

     Ino gasped breathlessly as he struggled to speak.

     Sugi gathered Ino to rest on his chest, which was also heaving
rapidly. "I have never made a fledgling before, for my Dark Gift will only
be granted to my only true love." Sugi paused in a painful recall of the
past. "Will you once again break my heart in refusing my offer of immortal
life?"

     Ino trembled furiously in Sugi’s arms. "But…..what if I am not your
past lover…..what if I am just a look-alike…..?"

     "You are my past lover reincarnate." Sugi reassured in a soothing
tone. "I felt your presence long before I found you two years ago. Your
face is not the only reason why I am so certain. When I close my eyes, I
can feel the same soul that I so hopelessly loved when I was still mortal,
now residing in your body." 

     Sugi cupped Ino’s face in his hands and brought it close to him. "It
does not matter if you cannot recall our past, because we have an eternity
to make up for the loss. Let go of your doubt and trust me, give yourself
to me, I assure you will never regret it."

     Tears rolled down Ino’s cheeks, he lowered his eyelids and sobbed
uncontrollably.

     "My love….?" Sugi said softly.

     "Call me by my own name…..so that I know I am the true one you are
loving….." For the first time, Ino looked into Sugi’s eyes and did not falter.

     "Ino….." Sugi whispered, "Love me, for I will always love you more."

**************************************************

     The first ray of light sliced through the sky and broke the oppressing
gloom in the early hours of the day. Ino leaned on the fence of his balcony
and felt the mild sunlight warming away the morning chill. He had not slept
since Sugi left before dawn, even though he was exhausted from a whole
night of shocking events and emotional turmoil. The vampire had told Ino to
meet him in a deserted church far-off from the city at midnight, and there
in front of the holy altar he would let Ino die as a mortal and be reborn
into darkness, and they would leave the world behind and begin their new
life together. 

     A melancholic sentiment touched him as he realized this would be the
last sunrise he was ever going to behold. Everything that made up his whole
life would be given up, all for the promise of love that would last forever. 

     The sound of the window from next door opening interrupted his thoughts.

     "Ah, good morning, Ino." Ryu said as he stepped into his balcony.

     "Good morning." Ino said. 

     "You are up very early today. I just finished my morning prayer."

     "I…..I had trouble sleeping…..Ryu, are you alright from last night?"

     "Yes…..J came in time and saved me from a vampire’s attack."

     "What…..what happened to the vampire at the end?"

     "Oh he died. Burnt into ashes." Ryu said flatly.

     A chill ran through Ino, and he shuddered.

     Ryu looked at Ino’s pale face and wondered why he didn’t ask if the
vampire was Sugi. 

     After a brief silence, Ino asked hesitantly. "About the things you
said…..do you think….it is possible that you might have mistaken Sugi’s
words…..I mean…..about him wanting to make you a vampire….."

     Ryu raised an eyebrow. "I’m not sure what you’re trying to say?"

     Ino sensed Ryu’s displeasure and regretted immediately. "I am
sorry…..I didn’t mean anything….."

     An uneasy moment of silence passed. Ryu suddenly gave a deep sigh.
"Perhaps you are right. Perhaps it was all my misunderstanding of Sugi’s
intention, when I was lost in confusion and fear that night. Perhaps…..I
was fooling myself with my own fantasy……"

     Ino looked at him in shock. "Ryu……?"

     "Sad, isn’t it?" Ryu smiled bitterly. "Being a studying priest, a
vampire’s hunter apprentice, I should be hating those evil creatures…..but
somehow my fascination towards them have driven me further and further from
my belief and my mission. Especially after my encounter with Sugi…..I…..I
am so fatally attracted to his beauty…..that I start to have sinful dreams
of being with him…..as his lover."

     Ryu’s face reddened in embarrassment. "J would be furious if he knew
what has been corrupting my mind……you must be disappointed in me……"

     Ino shook his head and said sincerely, "I can understand how you feel,
Ryu…..because I feel the same way too….."

     Ryu met Ino’s eyes. "Sugi is in love with you…..but are you in love
with him?"

     Ino hesitated, then nodded slightly.

     A flicker of guile was hardly noticeable in Ryu’s eyes. "If Sugi
offers you the Dark Gift, will you accept it?"

     Ino’s shoulders tensed and didn’t reply.

     Ryu’s voice was as smooth as silk. "Ino, your life is yours to live.
No one can tell you what is best for you. J is stubborn and will not
understand, but I care about your happiness more than anything and I will
support wholeheartedly whatever your decision is. So Ino, if anything
happens, you can confide to me, because I am your friend."

     Ino turned to Ryu, eyes brimming with gratitude. "Ryu…..I…..I have
something to tell you….."

**************************************************

     The front door creaked open as J stepped into the abandoned church
next to an old cemetery. He switched on his torch and swept the light
across the ruinous interior of the church. Finding it empty, the priest
spoke into the dark, "I know you are here, Sugi. Come out."

     Without sensing any sign of movement, J felt a presence at his side
suddenly. "Where is Ino?" Sugi’s cold voice came.

     J took in a breath of the stuffy air and said, "He is not coming."

     Sugi’s hostile gaze intensified in the dim light. "Are you going to
tell me that he doesn’t want to see me anymore and has sent you to kill
me?" His mocking tone was hardened by the unwanted memory of the similar
situation in the past.

     "No," J replied, "I have locked Ino in his room and kept him from
coming here. If it weren’t for Ryu who found out about Ino’s intention in
time, I would have made a mistake of a lifetime in failing to stop him from
falling into your trap."

     "What right do you have to interfere with Ino’s decision? Who do think
you are?" Sugi sneered. "You can stop him now, but you can’t stop him
forever. It is Ino’s own will to be with me. Even God has no right to
forbid, let alone you."

     "He is only confused by your alluring lies for now." J retorted. "He
doesn’t know what he is doing because he can’t think clearly. I have the
responsibility to stop him from ruining his life unawares. And I will make
him understand what grim consequences he would have to face if he succumbed
to a moment of weakness."

     Sugi laughed. "What ‘grim consequences’? Do you consider an immortal
life filled with love as ‘grim’?"

     "Don’t beautify your life of living dead. Evil is nothing but evil.
Have you ever thought about how Ino would feel if he had to survive through
endless killing? Ino is kind-hearted, and guilt would leave him in torture
and pain. On the other hand, if you turn Ino into a bloody-thirsty monster,
you are forcing me to put an end to his cursed life, together with yours."

     "You are one insolent fool, J. You judge with such naïve idea of right
and wrong." Sugi said in contempt. "You think that immortal life will be
cursed, and mortal one will not? What about your father then?"

     J’s face whitened sharply in hatred. "What about him?"

     "His life was cursed because he could not have the love he wanted and
only death could come as a relief to end his misery."

     J hissed sarcastically. "Are you saying it was actually a mercy from
you that you killed him."

     "I didn’t kill him."

     "What is the difference? He was killed by my mother in her hysteria
because of you. And even though my parents were both determined officially
to be suicide, I suspect my mother’s death was your bloody deed, as your
revenge for my father."

     Sugi suddenly approached the priest and faced him up-close. "J…..is
that what you think had happened?"

     J stepped back and drew his gun. "What else could have happened?"

     Sugi took no notice of the weapon and pressed forward to the priest.
"J…..it was your father who killed your mother."

     J’s face distorted in fury. "Shut up!! You dare to tell such a lie?!!"

     Sugi placed one finger on J’s lips, not caring the gun that pointed
dangerously to his heart. "No, you listen to me. I am telling the truth.
Your father and I had an affair, but when I wanted to end it, your father
refused to let go. I left him without a word, but he was blindly obsessed
and kept searching for me months after months. In order to make him give
up, I told him that I couldn’t make him my immortal lover because he had a
family to care for. He seemed to understand and I was relieved to see him
returning home. But I had underestimated his obsession with me. When he
arrived home, he slashed your mother’s throat, and then started looking for
you, with the knife still in his hand." 

     J’s face was rigid as stone, but his lips betrayed his barely
suppressed tremor. Sugi went on. "You were lucky to be away at that time.
Because you had been spared from the nightmare of witnessing your father
stabbing himself to death, after I told him finally I had never loved him
and never would, even though he was willing to sacrifice his family for me." 

     Sugi stroke J’s cheek softly, as if he was still a little boy in need
of comfort. "Your life was spared, from your own father and from me, and I
had given you a purpose in life by challenging you to hunt me with your own
strength. What more do you expect of me? I am a killer, but the tragedy of
your parents was not caused by my killer nature, but because both of them
were denied of the love they longed for." 

     Sugi looked into J’s eyes which were unfocussed and still. "Now Ino
and I are in love. And I won’t allow you to deny our love for each other
and tear us apart. But anyway," Sugi smiled and whispered to J’s ears, "you
have not the power to do so even if you want to." 

     J raised his gun but was too late, as the vampire had disappeared into
the darkness.

**************************************************

     "Open the door!!! Ryu!!! Please!!!" Ino pounded on the door with his
fists already bruised severely, and cried in despair.

     Ryu paced outside the room impatiently and ignored Ino’s persistent
begging. He was sick worried about Sugi and J’s confrontation. He didn’t
want Sugi to get hurt, but he also cared much for the priest’s safety. Even
if nothing disastrous happened, he worried that J might find out about his
behaviour in Sugi’s club. But he knew if he hadn’t disclosed Ino’s plan to
escape with Sugi, he would have definitely regretted it because he might
never see the vampire again.

     "Ryu!!! Are you there?!!! Please let me out!!!" Ino’s voice was hoarse
from hours of continuous crying.

     Thinking on how he could make Ino calm down, Ryu didn’t notice someone
had crept into the house and stood by the corridor looking at him.

     "You are such a naughty boy, Ryu."

     Startled by the voice, he turned to see a figure gracefully walking
towards him. He mouthed the name soundlessly, "Sugi."

* * * * * *

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