Vampire Fetish (Yumikuri)

10. The Word "Irrevocably" Does Not Appear In This Chapter Because It Is Stupid

The next day started as normal. Historia got up, made breakfast, and watched the news. Another person had been found dead, the cause chalked up to a bear attack. Uri was going around to the Ackermans' place, as Mikasa was feeling better, and offered to take Historia along; but she had other plans. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to find Ymir, but she was going to try. They needed to have a talk.

It turned out, it was a lot easier to find Ymir than Historia had expected. She stood across the road from Uri's house, leaning against a tree. Historia crossed the road.

"Were you watching me all night?" Historia asked.

"No. A little birdy told me that you wanted to chat with me about last night." Ymir stood up straight. "I'm guessing you want to go into the woods for this conversation."

Historia walked alongside her. "Was this "birdy" anyone I know?"

Ymir shoved her hands in her back pockets. "Not really. But he is like me. His... ability involves randomly seeing into the future. He decided to blurt in front of our whole family that I was going to spill our secret to you in the forest. I got in a lot of trouble for something I technically hadn't even done yet."

"Uh huh," Historia said, not quite following on. The two walked for a while, until they came to a small clearing.

"I think you already know what I am," Ymir said. Her usual sarcastic tone had dropped. Something about her seemed cold, steely. "You seemed pretty close last night."

"I think I do," Historia said. "Tell me - how old are you?"

"Seventeen." 

"How long have you been seventeen?"

Ymir stared at her. "A while."

That was the final puzzle piece. It fell into place perfectly, spelling out the answer in clear letters.

"You're a vampire."

Ymir turned away from her, staying silent. Historia knew she was right.

"Aren't you scared, Historia?" Ymir asked, still facing away.

That was the first time Ymir had used her name. It sounded nice, coming off her tongue like that.

"Why should I be?" Historia asked. "You saved my life. You're one of the good guys."

As she said it, she wasn't sure if she truly believed that or if she was trying to convince herself.

"But I'm sure you know what vampires drink. Doesn't that frighten you?"

Ymir turned back around. A tiny smirk played at her lips as she looked down at Historia. Historia stood her ground, not wanting Ymir to know that she was, in fact, the tiniest bit scared.

"No. You drink animal blood. Or at least, your ancestors did. You're like... a vampire vegetarian."

"Vegetarian... that's good. I'm using that." Ymir walked closer, a twig snapping underfoot. "But that doesn't make me a gentle soul. You haven't seen me hunt."

"What are you like when you hunt?" Historia asked, prompting Ymir to tell her more about herself.

Ymir couldn't help herself from smiling more. "I'm told I'm like a mountain lion. My brothers are more like bears."

"Bears," Historia echoed. The image of humanlike people hunting like bears reminded her of something, probably a show on TV or something.

 "You know, I've killed people," Ymir said. There was a twinge of playfulness in her voice. "It's dangerous for you to be around me."

"You haven't killed me yet," Historia replied. 

"I might not drink human blood, but that doesn't mean it isn't borderline irresistible. Who knows what might happen if I get hungry..." Ymir flashed her teeth, showing them off. Historia could see now that her incisors ended in needle-like points.

"You won't. You go to school, and there's loads of people there."

"Ha. I keep my distance from them. Unlike one of my brothers, I know not to risk revealing myself. Of course, I've failed at that now."

Ymir rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. Historia decided to ask more questions.

"So is all of your family vampires?"

There was no way that Ymir's siblings, emotionally cold and distant and bizarre, weren't also vampires.

"Yep. All of them. I'm the oldest - of my siblings. Maybe. I think Bert and Reiner were turned sometime around the forties. That's around the time they joined the family."

Well. They weren't as old as Historia had thought. "Were they a couple back then as well?" Historia asked.

"Absolutely. They're..." Ymir took a pause to show off her disgusted expression- "soulmates. They're gross with each other. It's disgusting to watch."

Historia knew the type. Back at her old school, there had been multiple couples who were joined at the hip. She supposed that it would be infinitely worse to have to watch a couple like that for all eternity.

"I'm guessing your absences from school are so you don't burn up and die in the sunlight," she said.

Ymir laughed harshly. "No. We don't burn in the sun, dumbass."

She started unbuttoning the Hawaiian shirt she was wearing. Historia looked away, awkwardly.

"Hold my shirt," Ymir said, and gave it to her. "Watch me."

She stepped out into the sunlight, and Historia gasped.

Ymir was glowing, like in her dream. Her skin shone like it emitted its own light, with the freckles brighter than the rest.

"It's beautiful," Historia breathed.

"This is the skin of a killer, Historia. I'm a monster. Everything about me is supposed to draw you in, to lull you into a false sense of security." 

It's working, Historia thought. She couldn't take her eyes off Ymir.

"Hey, my eyes are up here," Ymir said. Historia blinked, and threw the shirt back at her. 

When the shirt was buttoned up again, Ymir sat down in the grass. She motioned for Historia to sit next to her.

"So you've decided not to eat me?" Historia asked, sitting in the cold dirt. 

"Maybe not," Ymir said with a grin, exposing her sharp teeth again. "Maybe I just like to play with my food."

They laid down together, staring up at the sky, for quite some time.

"What are we?" Historia asked, on the hike back to her house.

"I'm not sure. It depends on what you want from me."

"I think I'd like for us to be friends."

Ymir looked at her, a twinge of annoyance in her eyes.

Perhaps more than that. Though Ymir could not read her mind, Historia hoped she picked up on the subtext.

"I guess it would be nice to be around someone as mentally quiet as you," Ymir said. Historia wasn't sure if that was meant as a compliment or not.

"So I'll see you at school on Monday?" Historia asked, when they reached the house. Ymir gave her a smile.

"If the weather's miserable, then perhaps."

And in the blink of an eye, Ymir was gone.

It was nice to have some closure. There were three things Historia knew now that she didn't before. 

The first was that Ymir was a vampire.

The second was that there was a chance, deep down, that she thirsted for her blood.

And the third was that some part of Historia was madly in love with her.