Hero

I know the reasons for which I have been taken. I understand fully the intent of my captors. This frightens me in ways that I don't care to ever admit. I know that it is extremely likely that I am to die here. Ryu is my only hope.

These beings are vampires. I'm not saying that as some sort of fancy analogy... they are the real deal with sharp teeth and a penchant for human blood. The only reason that I am still alive is my affiliation with Ryu, both tonight and for the past 6 years.

One of the great myths about vampires is that once they have become these "creatures of the night" that their conscience immediately goes away. This is untrue for most. It is like with most humans eating animals. For some, it is something that you just do for survival. For some you just do it because everyone else does and you never question it. For some, it is something that you unquestionably cannot do because you cannot kill another living being.

Obviously, Ryu is the latter. However, he has pushed himself beyond just the complacency of not eating living things to actually trying to help and protect people from each other and from other predators of the night.

In general, he does not bother with the night-to-night feedings of his brethren. He won't intervene on behalf of humans unless the vampires are feeding upon a child or someone that could ultimately reveal vampires at large. Mostly he hires himself out as a bodyguard or a bouncer for clubs at night. He occasionally will take on private detective work or, if he's of a particular mood, settle domestic squabbles that get out of hand late in the night.

He still cannot explain why on this particular night, he was moved to assist a doe-eyed prostitute from being a meal from a very intent vampire. Evidently, I did put up more of a struggle than most. Even after the what was supposed to be the "settling" influence of the actual bite. I flailed and wrestled and screamed. I kicked and pulled hair and punched and kicked. From blocks away, Ryu could feel the vibrations and something told him that this woman was worth saving.

Don't get me wrong, the vampires that feed upon people do not begrudge Ryu the occasional fit of morality. Finding another person to feed upon in this dark city isn't so difficult that being pried off a particularly difficult meal is cause to have much animosity. It is just that vampires, having lived so long, get bored easily and find Ryu a fun target to upset. That is why I am here tonight. No big holy war. Just the evening's entertainment.

I know I am safe at least until he gets here. They won't kill me until he is here to witness it. There's no fun in it unless it causes him pain. And me... well, as a human I am frail enough to go at any time. I'm like a ball of string to a kitten. I work hard not to show fear, no matter what they do. The fear is what's fun for them. Although, I think all of it is great fun for them.

Sarah slides a revolver over to me. We both know that there is little danger in me having a gun. I couldn't possibly kill them with it, and I wouldn't shoot myself. But they are bored. And so am I.

I pick up the gun and confirm that there are live bullets in it. I take dead aim on one of the leaders, a middle-aged appearing woman with shoulder-length grey hair wearing an elegant light blue sheath dress with matching jacket. There is a window between she and I, but I figure shattering glass might entertain them enough to give me a chance to run.

I pull the trigger and the bullet flies straight for the woman's head. Then the bullet merely bounces off the window. I sigh. They laugh. I put the gun down and stare at it dejectedly. This amuses them greatly. They are all standing around me in a loose circle, like I'm a cute puppy that they all get to play with for a while but don't want to escape.

"Come on, try it again! Shoot me!" says Frank, a young vampire looking for more amusement. I rest my head on my chin and roll my eyes at him and let out another big sigh. I'm terrified, but perhaps if they get the impression that I'm not going to entertain them they'll get distracted enough by something else that I can find a way out.

Sarah has other ideas. She drops to all fours and approaches me slowly, crawling with an evil smirk and a glint in her eyes that makes me very wary. It is a misconception that vampires are a sexless group. In fact, after a feeding, they are flush with sexual energy, and Sarah was looking very pink in the cheeks. I stared at her thoughtfully.

It was a forgone conclusion that I would be having sex of some variety with this woman. I was surrounded by killers that certainly weren't afraid of me. The only choice I had was how I was going to participate.

She crept up to me, still in her leather guard suit, the soft matte leather making soft noises as she moved. I sat there on the floor in the blankets wearing nothing but the oversized T-shirt of Ryu's that I had been sleeping in.

I just laid down and closed my eyes and felt her crawl over on top of me. I felt the soft leather stretched over my abdomen and opened my eyes and looked up into her soft brown eyes. I felt her long brown hair brush over my cheeks, down my shoulders as she leaned down to kiss me.

I closed my eyes again and kept still as a corpse, laying my hands flat down on the blankets. Her tongue brushed softly through my mouth, cold, but swift. Her fangs swept casually over my bottom lip, then down gently scraping my neck. My body twitched involuntarily and I could just feel their greedy smiles, their satisfied smirks that my body could not lie.

I felt Sarah move herself down and pull my shirt up to reveal my body, my nipples erect from her cold caresses. Despite my own personal feelings, my body betrayed me, wanting her, wanting more.

The cold steel feeling, the hard gripping of my nipples and the cold feeling between my breasts could only have been nipple clamps. She tugged on them to make sure they would hold fast and I gasped as an electric feeling from my nipples sent shockwaves to my head and then to my groin. I heard a soft lip smacking and then felt cold, moist fingers probing for my clit.

Expertly, she found it and alternated between gently caressing it to pinching it. I fought the urge to move my body along with her strokes, but it was ultimately a losing battle as she pulled the clamps to throw me off of my focus. The room exploded in riotous, evil laughter. As I felt her hair caress my thighs and then her cold tongue probing me, licking me, gently taunting me, everything started losing its focus. My grip on where I was, on what was happening was fading away in this incredible feeling. Everything was quiet, save for the smacking, the chains rattling, my gasping, my panting, my moaning.

My nails dug into the blankets... I tried so hard to think of something, anything else. But there it was... the feeling, the rubbing, the caressing... I could feel all of their hands and tongues on me. Every part of my body was being attended to. Hands on my breasts, whispers in my ears, fangs dragging over my belly, gentle tickling on my feet. It all gave way as I screamed for "RYUUU!" My entire body, everything I had went into that one piercing, shrill scream. The last of all of the energy I had.

And just after that, everything went away. They had all backed off, sitting on their knees, laughing. I crumpled into a small ball crying. Crying, mad at my body for this horrible betrayal, and finally crying for all of the fear I'd been trying so desperately to conceal. They had won and they knew that. So they laughed.

I heard them get up and move back into their circle formation around me. I pulled the blanket up over my body and my head. This seemed to make them even more amused. Then, over the din of laughter, I heard him.

"Did someone call my name?" Ryu said, leaning casually into the windowed doorway. He winked at me and my shame melted away. He knew, he didn't blame me. I was ready to fight with him.

They were shocked that he had gotten into this deep, inner sanctum without anyone noticing. This shock gave me just enough time to run over next to him with the gun. No, guns do not kill vampires, but it does injure them and it takes a couple of days for them to recover. Particularly when you shoot them in the head. Of course, I only had 5 rounds left and there were 11 vampires in this room alone. Not a wooden chair or pencil in sight, either.

Ryu was prepared, however, as he lit a Molotov cocktail that was hidden in his long trenchcoat and threw it into the middle of the circle where I had just been. The fire caught the blankets and soon the room was ablaze. I took aim at a couple of the vampires and shot them, but I wasn't sure how accurately, as Ryu scooped me up and started running.

His chest was hard and cold, but I felt safe and warm with him. I felt him leaping over objects and running at a speed only a vampire could keep. I put my arms around his neck and pulled myself up to look over his shoulders and took aim with the remaining 3 bullets I had. I took down the 3 closest vampires, and that appeared to be enough as we were very quickly outside and on the streets.

There was a soft mist of rain falling outside. Ryu's hair and eyelashes were dew-covered. His hair was black and short and usually spiked, but it was mussed and fluffed from the fighting and the rain. He was deathly pale and his eyes were a cold shade of light blue. But they looked down at me with genuine warmth as we reached his underground apartment and he laid me down into his bed. "I love you," I said, cradling his face in my hands. "I love you, too," he said, "get some rest." He backed out of the room and turned out the lights.