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It was one of those nights Kanae couldn’t sleep.
The priest stood below the glass-stained window, the wick of his candle now burning low in its brass holder, sending long shadows flickering through the church.
This darkness surrounding the priest, seemed to crawl back into the cracks of the stonework, as each step of his finely polished black shoes announced his holy presence. There was no living company tonight, he noted, as the nuns and children of the orphanage had left to visit the city the night previous.
He alone stood beneath the cathedral roof. He lifted his candle high, and in the gloom above revealed the ribcage of the church itself. The wooden beams above creaked softly.
He stood there for a while, frowning at the shadows above. “You can reveal yourself; I know you’re there.”
Kanae steeled his expression, keeping a tight grip on his candle as he lifted it up to try to distinguish the newcomer, “What are you?”
The person, whose voice sounded like that of a man’s, was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, he seemed almost sullen, “You worry for what I am before you question my intentions… typical.”
He steps forwards, and Kanae frowns as a light sound of jangling metal follows his movements, each step is silent and his strides are long. Slowly the figure became clearer in the light, and Kanae felt his breath catch in his throat.
“You…” he hissed, but slowly the rest of the words died on his tongue as he began to take in the creature closer. He’d never seen a vampire so beautiful before.
It had skin purer than ivory, red eyes concealed by long white lashes and hair that seemed to float majestically around him like a halo. It almost looked like a statue when it stopped a pace away, but the soft cold breeze emitting from its lifeless lungs spoke otherwise.
His fingers twitched towards his holster, as he tried to steel his resolve. The glint of the creature's attire was bright in the low candlelight, the clothes it wore were finely pressed and poised, like that of royalty- though it bore no familiar crest, other than a large purple jewel on its breast.
“What brings something the likes of you here?” he asks, trying to hide the shake of his voice.
“I was tired. I wanted a place to sleep.” The vampire responded, its voice lilted softly with an edge of regality buried beneath a toneless drawl, “I was told these places are courteous.”
“Like I would believe something like that,” Kanae barked, pulling the hidden weapon from his night clothes and aligning it with the vampire’s forehead.
The vampire’s red eyes darted to the barrel, looking a little surprised; much to Kanae’s chagrin “… you humans… are so troublesome.”
To think, such a creature would come wandering into the hornet’s nest… pretty or not, Kanae thought, they were all the same moronic creatures…
Destructive, mindless… monsters of the pure definition.
And by the decree of his holy alignment… no monster Kanae sees should live.
With a grim expression, Kanae let his finger pull on the trigger, relishing in the satisfying way the gun jolted and the deafening bang that resounded through the church walls. One less monster to worry about… one less thing to hurt the children and the innocent people, he thought, eyes closed in prayer.
It was a gruesome but necessary job, he thought, letting his hand fall to the cross on his chest.
“Ahem.”
Kanae screamed, nearly dropping his gun when his eyes flicked open to see the vampire still standing before him.
He righted his gun once more and shot, but to his surprise, his wrist had been caught in a firm grip, “Would you-“ “HOW DID YOU LIVE?” “-oi don’t- “Kanae interrupted whatever it had to say by ramming his foot into their crotch, forcing the vampire to crumple in on itself releasing his wrist.
He fired again, this time with eyes open, able to see how the vampire jolted at the contact of the bullet. He fired again, and again, and again - until at last it fell to the floor, leaving Kanae to try still his rapidly beating heart.
He stared at the motionless body for a minute, till he was almost certain it was truly dead before unexpectedly it spoke; “So much for courteous.” The words were delivered with a deadpan annoyance, its thin lips moving ever so subtly.
Kanae felt his gun tremble and he shot again, listening to the splatter of blood, but as he stared in the dim light of his dying candle, he witnessed the flesh around his bullet heal before his very eyes.
“H-how…”
The vampire grunted, sitting up from the floor, “God, my parents are gonna kill me.” It picked at his tattered and bloodstained uniform with a clawed finger.
Kanae went to fire again, but to his dismay the barrel was empty.
He stared at his gun in shock and then at the vampire.
Just… how many bullets did he fire?!
Slowly the vampire stood again, staggering slightly as he rubbed its forehead. In its hand, a single silver bullet fell away, gently tapping against the floors below.
Kanae stared at it, bewildered. “What… are you exactly?”
“Oh, now you have the gall to ask?” the thing tsked.
“You’re a demon!”
“No!” it snarls- it yelled, its voice suffocating the thoughts in Kanae’s head as its clawed hand shot forth to grip the front of his uniform, “I’m tired! I want a fucking nap! And you shot me fifteen times- and it- it hurt!”
Kanae startled at his words, listening as its voice became wobbly and its eyes watery.
He didn’t know what to say. What could he say? Vampires don’t cry… monsters don’t cry, it was a common and well-known fact. Yet there they were, pooling at the edges of those delicate eyes, clinging to the white lashes and warping the lines of perfect makeup.
The priest stared, hanging from its clawed grip, as his eyes roved the planes of its peerless face. It looked like it had been carved of marble, were it not for the intricate wrinkle of its brow and the way the crimson eyes fluttered.
The vampire hurriedly released him, to rub its eyes, but it only made matters worse when it smeared a streak of its own blood across its face. “Humans are horrible…” it muttered before turning on its heel and walking towards the entrance of the church.
Kanae could only watch as the jagged shadow of that creature stepped into the shadows and vanished before his eyes, leaving him to still his thundering heart in the skeleton of that stone-walled church. The only remnant of the vampire's presence; was a pool of dark blood, bleeding into the cracks of God's marbled floors... and Kanae couldn't help but think the place looked better with a bit of colour.