When evil wins

The day the restaurant collapsed, I had saved Jinko from dying twice. The first was when the explosion happened. He almost immediately lost consciousness, even without being injured in any way. Right after that, a huge chunk of the ceiling was falling right above his head, but I managed to kick it away before it hit him. I then laid him down, making sure he wasn’t in any immediate danger, and went on to help the other survivors.

He did a really great job organizing the people and leading them outside, but for some reason unknown to me, he rushed right back inside afterwards. I ignored it first, thinking he was fine and just wanted to help other people escape.

But for some reason, he suddenly froze in place. That was the second time I saved his life that day. While he was aware of the huge chunk of debris falling right above, he stood there, motionless. Thankfully, I noticed it in time and was able to get him outside to safety.

“Ru-”

“Don’t do that again,” I said quietly, but sharply, before rushing back inside to try and save other possible survivors.

After that day, Jinko tried calling and texting me, but I ignored him. I was aware that people were filming the whole incident, so I was scared he would get in trouble if he were to be seen with me.

In truth, I was probably more afraid I might become too dependent on him. He was the first person I could be myself with and have a proper conversation in thousands of years. He always made the effort to talk to me and even invited me to play badminton with him again. When he said he didn’t want to be too friendly with me in front of other people, I was shocked, angry, but mostly sad. It was the first time I felt sadness in a very, very long time. Thankfully, it turned out to be just a misunderstanding, and we went right back to talking and being friends again.

But because of it, I started to notice my feelings changing a little. I wanted to talk to him more, I wanted to play badminton and go on simple walks with him, and even when we weren’t with each other, I found myself looking over our old messages over and over again, but too shy to actually text him.

When he said he wanted to go to dinner with me, my heart jumped with joy.

Am I starting to like Jinko more than just a friend? What is he to me, really?

These thoughts lingered in my mind as I was deciding what to wear to our dinner.

His ex-girlfriend ruined the mood right from the start. The dinner was really awkward at first because of that, but my mind was elsewhere.

Do I really like him? I think I do, but... Jinko is only a human. If we actually started dating, I would be really happy, but for how long? On average, human live to be only around eighty years old. After that, he’ll be gone forever. I’d lose someone I love all over again. It’ll only bring me sadness in the end.

So, after the restaurant mysteriously collapsed, I took the chance and disappeared. I planned to move to another country and start a new life all over again, with a different name and identity. Even after the time we spent together, I was too afraid to give him my real name.

After a month of preparations, I was ready to leave the country, yet I didn’t. I was afraid of leaving Jinko behind, despite also being afraid of being with him. Eventually, I decided to at least say goodbye before leaving him forever. It took me some time to finally muster up the courage, and by the time I did, something terrible happened. When I went to text him I wanted to meet up, I saw a message from my account asking him to meet from the day before. Someone hacked into my CactuCall account.

I tried texting and calling him, but he wasn’t responding. I went to his house, but he wasn’t there, so I tried looking for him in his school, but he wasn’t there either.

I eventually tried locating the spirit possessing him, but that didn’t work either. At that point, I was terrified that something had happened to him, so I searched day and night before finally sensing a familiar spirit on the outskirts of the city one morning.

Thank goodness, I thought, flying to the ground while being careful about not being seen. I ran towards the villa I sensed Jinko in, when I noticed some people leaving the house. One of them was Jinko, but the other four I didn’t recognize. I slowed down, noticing something so unbelievable I stopped in my tracks.

How? How is this possible? They should be extinct. HOW ARE THEY ALIVE?!

I lost all reason while anger consumed me and started walking slowly forward again. After making sure I was close enough, I dashed forward, catching one of the vampires by surprise and ripping his head off. But because I knew she wouldn’t die from just having lost her head, I immediately went and pierced her heart.

Soon after, the two men began attacking me at the same time.  Thankfully, they were both slightly weaker than me, but with the two of them trying to kill me at once, I just barely managed to fight them off. After a minute, I somehow regained my composure, noticing Jinko and the other woman just watching our fight from the sidelines. I tried to run to him and escape with him, but every time I ran in his direction, the two vampires kept obstructing me and getting in my way, so I had to deal with them first.

I finally managed to kill one of the vampires by crushing his heart, so I thought it was my chance to grab Jinko and escape. But when I turned in Jinko’s direction, I saw the woman biting down on Jinko’s neck. She was sucking his blood. I stood frozen in terror and disbelief for a short moment, which gave the other man a chance to attack me. I barely managed to dodge in time, but I still took a hit to my left arm, which started bleeding slightly. The sight of my blood seemed to attract the attention of both the remaining vampires, but the woman restrained herself and continued biting into Jinko’s neck. I forced myself to look away, rushing towards the vampire I was fighting, and after some time, I finally managed to defeat him.

I quickly turned around, only to see Jinko lying on the ground, unconscious. The woman next to him licked her lips, before biting into them, with blood oozing from them slowly. She then looked me in the eyes, a menacing smile on her face, before pressing her bleeding lips against Jinko’s.

“NOOOOOOO!!!”

I’ve never seen it before, but my parents told me once that vampires can transfer their own blood to humans or even other animals in an attempt to turn them into vampires.

I rushed forward, but it was too late. Jinko already swallowed the blood. I tried to attack the woman, but she dodged easily. It seemed she was stronger than the ones I had fought just before. I tried to attack again, but she disappeared. I looked around everywhere, but she was nowhere to be seen. Just when I thought she escaped, I sensed something coming at me from behind. She was too fast. Before I could dodge, I took a punch to the back of my head, crashing to the ground face-first, my head slamming against the pavement. My vision started becoming hazy, and before I could stand up, she jumped on me, trying to pierce my heart from behind, just like I did to her friends right before.

But just as I was sure I was as good as dead, someone lunged at her from the side, knocking her back. It was Jinko. He had survived the transformation and was now a vampire. He engaged the woman, looking like he was protecting me, but that wasn’t the case. His eyes were consumed with rage and wrath, one of them already the red color of blood. As they were fighting to the death, I lost consciousness.

*

When I woke up, I had a terrible headache, and didn’t know what was going on at first. I looked around, and seeing the dead bodies of the three vampires I killed, I instantly remembered. I looked around, trying to locate Jinko or the vampire woman, but both of them were missing.

“No... No! NOOO!!!”

I cried out in anger, but no one seemed to hear it.

Jinko became a vampire. If he hadn’t died at the hands of the vampire woman, he was in the process of losing his sanity.

No, if he’s still alive, I can save him. He wouldn’t want to live as a mindless creature that murders other humans. I must find him and put him out of his misery. No matter how painful it’ll be for me, I have to do this. I have to kill Jinko, so he can die in peace without the sin of having taken another humans life.