SIREN CALL | Shu Sakamaki

Chapter One

"Here's a suggestion," spoke Arashiro Reika as she swished her drink around the wine glass, "Why don't you leave your little girlfriend with my brothers? They'd take real good care of her, Florence. With them she'd never have to run away again."

"You must be absolutely mental, Reika," scoffed Florence, "Like I would leave Kazumi with thirteen vampires."

"It was just a suggestion since you're going to that boring ol' town anyway," said Reika, "And it wasn't a lie. My brothers could take care of her a lot better than you can."

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop talking about me like I can't take care of myself, please and thank you," said Kazumi as she sat down in the booth beside Reika.

"No offense but it's because you can't," said Florence, "I bet if I didn't give you food you'd starve to death."

"I would not," said Kazumi, "Anyway, I'm no one's girlfriend, Reika."

"That was one quick trio to the bathroom," mumbled Reika as she took a sip of the red liquid. Kazumi was sure it was blood, but she wasn't too sure. Her suspicions were proved correct when Florence spoke.

"Isn't it a bit risky to drink that in public, Reika?"

"As far as they are concerned it's wine," said Reika.

"So," said Florence, "What was it this time?"

Reika looked up from her glass, "What?"

"Why'd you run away this time?" said Florence, "Did friends with benefits become something more and you got scared and ran away?"

Reika scoffed before she smirked and leaned on the table and closer to Florence, "Aw, is someone jelly?"

It was Florence's turn to scoff, "I just pity the fool that was stupid enough to catch feelings for you."

Reika leaned back on the seat and took another sip of her drink, "Just so you know, I didn't catch feelings for Soushi and neither did he."

"Where are you planning to go?" asked Kazumi as she looked up from her phone.

"Beats me," shrugged Reika, "I'll just roam here and there, who knows. Perhaps visit Hana at some point."

"I'll pretend that I know who she is," said Kazumi.

"We should get going, Kaz," said Florence, "Any later and we won't arrive until late at night and that's when all the leeches are out and about."

"If you despise us so much then why bother going to a vampire infested location?" said Reika with a sharp glare.

"It's the last place he'd think to look," said Florence.

"Oh yeah?" said Reika.

"Don't threaten him, Reika," said Kazumi, "Florence is losing his sanity, he might attack you."

"I'd like to see him try," said Reika as she followed Kazumi out of the booth, "You don't need to be a genius to know who would win between a vampire and ghoul."

"Careful, he's fragile," said Kazumi as Florence gave the ugliest glare to the pair of girls.

Reika smirked at him before she spun around and strolled away. Kazumi and Florence followed her out of the pub.

"Tell my brothers that if they don't stop calling me I'll need a new phone," said Reika, "Oh and Florence, say hi to Sakamaki Reiji for me."

Realization dawned upon Florence as he let out a laugh, "No way! You —"

"Careful," said Reika, "You finish that sentence and you'll find your new home in my hand."

Florence shut his mouth after her threat. Reika turned to Kazumi.

"Take care, Kazumi."

"Thanks, you too, Reika," said Kazumi.

"I'll pay you a visit sometime," said Reika, "Til then, you two."

Kazumi waved and then Arashiro Reika was gone.

Florence and Kazumi met Reika around a decade ago. The second eldest Arashiro brother had sent Reika to check up on a client of the family company, H&R. Reika had been leaving the client's home when Florence and Kazumi walked past. That was when Reika made a comment about how it smelled like fish. Florence and Kazumi hadn't thought much about it until they realized there wasn't any restaurants nearby. It didn't take long for Florence to realize that Reika was a vampire.

A few days later and Florence and Kazumi's flight had been delayed. That was when one of his men found them. After a pathetic fight, Reika appeared out of nowhere and saved the day. They thought she was kind at first, but they were proven wrong as Reika soon said she wanted something in return for saving them.

"I want to taste the blood of a mermaid."

After a lot of hesitation, Kazumi gave in on the condition that Reika couldn't drink from her. Reika agreed after complaining for a while and they went on their separate ways. They continued to run into each other and soon some sort of friendship formed.

While they trusted Reika enough that they didn't flinch away from her whenever she moved or touched them, they both knew that Reika wasn't a kind vampire. In fact, Florence and Kazumi had never heard of a kind vampire. From what they knew, Reika was the most honest Arashiro sibling, while most of her brothers pretended to be friendly when they were far from it. Reika didn't hide that she had no interest in humans.

They had never met the Arashiro brothers and they had Reika to thank for that. Florence and Kazumi knew that despite Reika's comments, Reika didn't actually want Kazumi to stay with her brothers.

Kazumi turned to face Florence, who was sulking as he stared at the spot that Reika once stood.

"We should get going," said Kazumi, "There's no one to save us now if we're late again."

"Would it kill her to accompany us to the airport?" grumbled Florence.

"I'd assume so," said Kazumi, "You've heard her complain about airports, haven't you?"

"She's dramatic," said Florence with a roll of his eyes, "She could control herself fine."

"I'd assume it stinks though," said Kazumi, "Imagine being a vampire surrounded by humans that were stuck in a crammed space for a couple of hours."

"The smell isn't that bad," said Florence.

Kazumi went to respond when her phone vibrated in her pocket. Kazumi pulled it out and looked down to see that she had a message from Reika. Kazumi opened it up. It was the address that they would be staying at.

"Who is it?" said Florence.

"Obviously Reika," said Kazumi, holding up her phone for him to see, "You two are the only contacts on my phone."

"You know sometimes it pays off to be friends with a vampire from a rich and powerful family," said Florence. He had pulled out his own phone and had searched up the address. A small, old building showed up. However, Reika had sent in pictures beforehand and the address looked nothing like the photos online.

"They'd never think we'd stay in this place," said Florence, showing Kazumi the photos.

"You say that like it's a burden to be Reika's friend when it doesn't benefit you," said Kazumi.

"It's not a burden," said Florence, "She's just not casual friend material, you know? For example, you can't even hug her."

"I think that's more of a preference thing rather than a vampire thing," said Kazumi.

"Or maybe she says she doesn't like hugs, but she really can't control herself when someone hugs her."

Kazumi rolled her eyes as they waited for a taxi, "I've hugged her before she didn't bite me, so I don't know what you mean."

"What did she do when you hugged her?" asked Florence.

"She just became stiff until I let go," said Kazumi.

"Maybe you just really stink. I mean seafood doesn't exactly smell pleasant."

"Hey! I'm not seafood," said Kazumi as a taxi pulled up.

"Ready?" said Florence.

"Ready."