My Vampires

Chapter 30

A snowy gust of wind blew in from outside down the long, narrow corridor. It seemed like I was in an old castle somewhere.  I slowly stood up and breathed in the icy air, an intense sense of déjà vu washing over me. Now I remember... I saw this in that dream I had the day I was going to go back home.

Kira
"...I have to go..." 

I ran down the dark hallway, the memory of my dream pulling me through. My lungs burned as I breathed in the cold air while I ran and ran. Suddenly a distinctive smell invaded my senses.  There's a smell on the wind--and it's not snow. It's...the smell of blood. My fingertips trembled with horror, but I couldn't stop running. I ran and ran like some invisible force was pushing me. I  opened an unfamiliar door in the old castle.  It was a child's room, but there was no one there. The only sound was that of the grandfather clock.  I took a step, and then another, until I stopped in front of the large closet.  In my dream, I tried to open this closet and then I woke up. So I don't know what was supposed to happen after that.  But I knew without a doubt that I needed to keep chasing the rest of my dream.  My fingers were shaking out of control as I reached for the doorknob.  I grasped the doorknob tightly, almost like I was grasping for the rest of my dream, and I opened it.  And there inside the closet was a little boy, curled into a ball, hugging his knees.  He stared up at me with vivid, crimson eyes.

Vlad
"...?"

I forgot to breathe as I stared back into those eyes, red as a rose. Those crimson eyes, the soft, silver hair...I have no doubt about it... This little boy is Vlad.  After I heard what Sander  had to say, a crazy idea had popped into my head. I clung onto it and went to the
door.  I had jumped into the warped maelstrom of time and space with one solitary thought--the wish to travel to the day Vlad was hurt. And I had found him.  I was right. The girl in the portrait, the faceless girl–

Flashback

Kira
"Whose portrait is that?"

Vlad
"Oh, that?" "It's a portrait of someone I've been searching for, for a very long time now."

Kira
"Is it the person you told me about that day at the fountain?"

Vlad
"A long, long time ago I was feeling so hopeless I wanted everything to end, even my life."  "And then she saved me."  "But she disappeared. I searched all over for her, but I could never find her."  "I held onto a wish deep in my heart. A wish to see her again someday. That was all that kept me going."

Flashback Ends

The person who Vlad had spent hundreds of years searching for......was me.  When that revelation hit me, tears burned my eyes.  To Vlad, we met in the past. But it hadn't happened for me yet, and that was why I didn't realize it.  Even though Vlad knew it was me from the very beginning...!

Flashback

Kira
"Why do you look so sad?"

Vlad
"......"

Kira
"Um..."

Vlad
"Hey." "...Haven't we met somewhere before?"

Flashback Ends

I couldn't understand Vlad's precious memory at that time....And because of that, I had unknowingly hurt him over and over.  But Vlad never said a word about it.
He just continued smiling, staying by my side.  He probably kept holding onto the belief that I would someday find him here, in the past. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Vlad.  But I finally reached you. So...Please let me touch your heart, your heart that is so far away... I slowly reached out and clasped his tiny hand.  I gently pulled Vlad out of the dark closet and knelt down in front of him, looking straight into his eyes.  I spoke before I thought.