Scabs

Love Conquers All

"Do you trust me?"

Anaka licked her lips, a nervous habit. Vash shifted over to her side, hand clasped tightly onto Anaka's. 

"Yes."

Moonlight streamed through the gaps in the roof above them. The attic of Anaka's house was old, unkempt, uninsulated. All of the house was; full of ratty furniture and stagnant air, average onlookers would believe the old house to be uninhabited. Vash, though she never would have admitted it, often imagined how cute the house could look if she lived there and fixed it up. Yellow daisies and bright red pillows and a cheery blue wallpaper and--

"I'm afraid," Anaka whispered. 

Vash looked at Anaka's porcelain face. White didn't quite describe it. It was... almost translucent. Each vein noticeable under her pasty complexion. Vash frowned slightly. It was clear, even in the dim light, that Anaka was far from well-fed. She always seemed to be on the brink of starvation; perhaps it was just the way of her kind. But today her sun-craved skin glistened with more than the need to feed; fear was etched into every facet of her face. The lines around her eyes, the purse of her lips, the indent on her forehead. Panic. A feeling shared by even the most primal of animals.

"Don't be, baby. I trust you. You just need to trust in yourself. You're not an animal."

"Sometimes I'm almost certain I am. That this is all my own self-deception. Clinging to the shadow of feelings I used to have, now reduced to just... an animal's state. Hunger. Panic. Lust. You wouldn't know. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

"I don't care. I trust you," Vash said, and reached over to kiss Anaka.

Her skin was icy cold, lips clammy and dotted in sweat. Vash didn't mind; love conquers all.

Love conquers all. 

Anaka didn't react at first. She lied there (like a corpse) with her hands by her sides, trembling ever-so-slightly, lips unmoving, eyes staring blankly ahead. Vash almost pulled away, but Anaka (corpse) sprang into action. Her long arms latched around Vash's waist, pulling the young girl on top of the decaying vampire and pressing into her. Anaka's strength surprised Vash, as did the sudden intensity with which she moved. Vash could hardly keep up as the vampire kissed with short, hard motions. 

She rolled over, pushing Vash to the dusty floor. She began to feel a flicker of fear at the reality of Anaka's might as Anaka stopped her kiss, pulling away, but holding Vash in place.

"Do you trust me?" Anaka asked again with a choked voice. Veins protruded from her skin. Her hands (claws) were clasped over Vash's wrists. Vash tried to move her hand, but an iron grip held her firm. 

"Yes! Yes, yes, I promise," Vash gasped, though fear bubbled up inside her. She moved her head up again to kiss, but Anaka didn't reciprocate the motion. Vash rested her head back down, trying again to move her body in some way.

"You shouldn't have," Anaka whispered, and Vash fell still. 

Vash looked up at her girlfriend, panic flooding throughout her body. "Anaka, Anaka it's okay. Just take a deep breath. Just let go. Anaka, just let go of me. I won't be mad. I promise."

Anaka tilted her head, and the moonlight shone through her long fangs. Anaka was trembling. Vash looked around for an exit, something to use to her advantage. Nothing. Nothing at all.

"Love conquers all," Vash whispered, making eye contact. Anaka's skin was completely see-through, muscles and veins and flesh obscured only by the dim light.

Vash felt a single tear fall onto her cheek before the (corpse) girl lurched into action as she had moments before. Anaka's hand pushed Vash's head to the side, steady but incredibly powerful, and bent over her neck. But she lingered there, for a moment, just long enough for Vash to hope, to pray...

Anaka's lips brushed over Vash's neck in a soft kiss before plunging her fangs deep into Vash's artery.

She lost feeling in her fingers and toes first. It spread up her arms and, eventually, legs as all the blood in her body moved towards her neck in a steady rush. She fell limp, for a moment, before her body erupted into pain before numbing, shriveling up in agony. And, all the while, her heart beat faster and faster and faster to make up for the lost blood, her breath so rapid no real air entered or exited her lungs. 

Vash looked upon the creature she had trusted; the creature whose primal instincts proved stronger than whatever it felt for Vash. She would have cried out, but the fear was too strong; it paralyzed her better than any venom could.

Skin and flesh began to die and rot off her body. Capillaries burst from the pressure put on them by the heart, her entire body blooming in bruises before those, too, were drained. Though she was numb, her heart beat ever-faster. Faster. Faster. Faster. Organs collapsed, her head blinded by pain as the oxygen-rich blood stops its flow, her eardrums bursting. Faster, faster, faster her heart beat thumped.

Memories flashed, remnants of old songs played in the wrong key, random images popped in and out of existence. 

Her head lolled back, her eyes closed, and her heart became terribly, terribly silent.