The Black Rose

Chapter 8

The next day, morning rose and Matsui Rena was dreaming. She was tossing and turning as a dream that seemed familiar yet unfamiliar played in her head.

"Nn... s-snow.. snow angel..." she mumbled in her sleep.

She saw a figure, a shadow. She couldn't see her face, but she felt long fingers stroking her hair and could hear them humming a lullaby.

Rena didn't feel scared or in danger. She actually felt safe in this person's arms. She felt warm, and secure, like nothing bad will happen. But she could not see her face. All she saw was a blurred shadow.

"Snow.. angel..."

"Rena?" Rena then heard someone call her name, pulling her away from the dream.

"Snow angel?"

"Nee-chan, wake up," Jurina shook her sister lightly as Rena's eyes slowly opened. She suddenly sat up, looking around. "What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry... I just had a strange dream. I can't remember what it was..."

"I heard you talking in your sleep. You kept saying 'snow angel'."

"Snow angel?" Rena's eyebrows furrowed. Indeed, that sounded familiar, but she can't recall from where.

"What could that mean..?"

"Come on, let's get ready to head to the agency," Jurina said as she handed Rena a change of clothes. "I'll be waiting downstairs."

"Alright."

As Jurina left, Rena started to change into her clothes. Unbeknownst to her, she was unconsciously singing the melody she heard in her head. She had heard it countless times before, and it calmed her, even when she was stressed.

She thought it may have been a lullaby her mom sung to her when she was a baby, but since she never saw the face of the person holding her, she wasn't sure.

After having gotten dressed, she quickly got two apples from the kitchen and she and Jurina headed out.

"Here," she handed her sister one and took bite out of the other.

"Nee, Rena-chan, I've still been thinking about Yuki-san. She looked really pale when we saw her yesterday."

"And what of it?"

"Well, she said she was sick... What if it's serious?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Don't worry about it," Rena said before taking another bite.

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Meanwhile, Yuki woke up and found herself in an alley. She dizzily looked around as she had remembered nearly biting someone, but she didn't remember collapsing in an alley.

Then, she felt a sickening feeling in her stomach. She felt her throat burning and her eyes widened when she felt a wave of nausea hit her. She bent down as she puked out blood onto the ground.

She fell to her knees, still coughing out the blood she had just barfed out. The smell made her even more sick and she quickly fled the scene.

Yuki had a good idea of what had happened after catching a whiff of that horrendous smell. That was RAT blood; she must've lost control and drank rat's blood until she passed out.

When she got to the agency building, she quickly went to one of the shower rooms and cleaned herself off. It was rather lucky for her that the hunter's agency actually had a shower room, and also a laundry room to clean her clothes.

After a nice good shower, she stepped out and proceeded to clean the barf out of her mouth with mouthwash.

Having fully cleansed herself, she left the shower room and got her now dried clothes.

After leaving the laundry room, she made her way down the hall, noticing the two Matsui sisters entering the building together.

"Oh, Rena, Yuki!" Takamina called out for the two girls. "Come with me, you two."

"Eh..?"

The two glanced at each other a bit before following their leader into her office. Sayaka was also standing there, facing the two.

Rena was the first to speak. "What's going on, Sayaka?"

"We've gathered information on some vampire activity around the area. This one is really strong."

"So, we thought, being our BEST hunter and our NEWEST hunter, you both should go along and defeat this vampire together."

"Haa?!" They both exclaimed.