I Fixed Her Fault

When Orivaneia returned, the forest was eerily quiet. She carried in her arms looted treasures from the village market, including three glistening, sugar-dusted pastries that she was sure Suzuha would pretend not to want and then secretly eat, a warm loaf of bread, and a block of cheese.

“Suzu-chaaan!” Her voice reverberated in the quiet clearing as she exclaimed, “I have returned with tribute for the great emperor!”

No response. The girl that usually crouched next to the campfire was no longer there. On the bed Vane had so meticulously built, the books were lying closed.

“Mnnaa…? Suzu-chan…?” A shiver of unease went through her body. She carefully put down the food as she looked about. "A footprint?" she asked herself, noticing a single set of footsteps that led from the camp into the river. But it didn’t disappear beside it, the footstep was gone before it could reach the stream.

Her heart beat faster, “No, no, no…” she whispered, but it soon turns to a full on panic, “KYAAAAA! She’s been taken! That vampire! This is my fault!”

Wings of light burst from her back, tearing through the quiet night. She launched herself as she continues to look for something, “SUZUHA!” she screamed, circling nearby trees. She did it for what felt like an eternity, her divine senses stretched to their limit, finding nothing but the cold indifference of the forest.

Just as a sobs almost overwhelmed her, she felt something.

A faint drips of golden light in her perception, as fragile as a dying star. It was Suzuha’s Radiance, she was sure of it. But something felt… wrong. A holy light flickering in such a weird, secluded place.

She rushed in its direction, following the dim trail into the shadowy trees, disregarding every instinct that told her to run. It took her farther than they had ever gone, to a section of the forest where the trees grew twisted and diseased, and the villagers declared it too unsafe. And there, impossibly, stood a place for the living.

“No… This is not a human house!” She declared, “Too creepy… way too creepy..”

A mansion, three-story structure of rotting wood that sagged in on itself, looking as though it had been clawed from the earth rather than built upon it.

“But still…” the goddess whispered, landing silently on the blighted grass. “A house in here could only mean one thing, right?”

Dread crips on her. This had to be his lair.

She slipped over to the slanted door that rested open on a single rusty hinge. She tried to force it open, but her hand shook.

Wait for me, Suzuha.

Although the door was fairly heavy, a goddess's strength is clearly unmatched.

She tries to keep quiet as she moves through the deserted rooms on the creaky floors. Overturned tables and shredded furniture show of a violent struggle just happened here, but the house was empty, no life, no nothing.

But Orivaneia still senses a glimpse of what could be only a Radiance Mana.

I’m too late… don’t tell me I’m too late…

Then she saw the door at the end of a long hall. Unlike the others, this last one was eerily pristine. It looks clean and magnificent except for the frame that was slick with something wet and crimson, with fresh handprints slid down its surface.

She panicked as the smell of hot, coppery tang of freshly spilled blood hit her.

Without furthermore thinking, she threw the door open. Bracing for anything that she wouldn’t want to see.

But as she got in, it was worse than she thinks and her mind refused to process the scene. It was much more of a slaughterhouse than a regular place for living.

Dozens of bodies, men and women, were strewn across the floor in such unnatural poses with many body parts missing. In the middle lay the librarian—the one she’d spoken to only hours ago—slumped and lifeless.

And Suzuha stood over her, lit by a glimmer of moonlight from a broken window.

There was blood all over her plain dress. A streak of blood ran down her chin from the corner of her lips. She turned her head gently, as though sensing the goddess' presence.

“Took you long enough…” She said, her eyes no longer the soft and weak pairs of Suzuha, this was more serious.

Orivaneia froze, her throat closing, she tried to say something yet her mind told her that it was not going to fix anything now.

“Vane,” Suzuha spoke breathily, “You’re back.”

The goddess staggered back, her wings hitting the doorframe quite hard.

“S-Suzu… chan… what… what did you do?”

Suzuha took a step towards her, “My mana,” she stated, “You said I couldn’t replenish it from the world. So, I took it from… elsewhere.” Her golden gaze flicked dismissively to the corpse of the librarian at her feet, and then to the carnage filling the room. “From them.”

“From them…?” Orivaneia’s mind fractured.

“That’s right…” She said as she looks down at her status bar. Showing 120k mana.

Her wings flared open in a convulsive and panicked motion that sent feathers scattering like snow. “KYAAAA, SUZU-CHAN!!” she shrieked,

“You can’t—Your soul! You have my mana, my Radiance! You’re a vessel of holy light! If you became… that… and tried to cast even one spell, you’ll just—just—POOF!!” She flailed her hands above her head, mimicking an explosion. “You’ll be instant fried chicken!”

Suzuha tilted her head slightly, her incandescent orange eyes were calm again, and smirk touched her lip. “…I am aware.”

“AW—AWARE?!” Orivaneia’s voice cracked, climbing an octave. “You’re too calm! This is a catastrophe! A divine-level screw-up!!! My precious Suzuha, my would-be Saint, has turned into a sparkly-bloodsucker?! This isn’t supposed to happen in my world! You have my name! You are Orivanne!”

“Right, I suppose you’re right about that.”

Her gaze darted wildly around the room, “Where is he?! Where’s the vile creature that did this to you?! I’ll purify him! I’ll blast him! I’ll even shove holy feathers down his throat until he’ll explode!”

“Ah right… There…” Suzuha raised her stained fingers and pointed to a smoldering black pile in the corner of the room. It was nothing more than ash.

“Where?”

“That ash… He tried to drain me,” Suzuha stated with a flat voice. “But it seems like the Radiance in my blood was… indigestible.”

The goddess froze, blinking a few before looking at Suzuha innocently, “Is that Mr Goodwill?”

Suzuha shakes her head, “Doesn’t seem like it… He’s way younger looking than Mr Goodwill… Looked around my age, around 17. He said some creepy things and bite me real hard on my neck…” She showed the bite mark,

“But after sucking a few, he just exploded.”

A weird sound escaped her lips. It might have been a laugh, or something else, Suzuha couldn’t quite catch it. “O-of course he did!” She clutched her sides, her body shaking slowly.

“You did say that one drop would be lethal to a dark magic being, no?” Suzuha tried to reason, “I simply did what you told me. I trusted you.”

“AHAHAHA—ahahaha… my Suzu-chan, too terrifying for even the undead! A truly blessed child! Yes, yes, nothing strange at all about this! Totally fine! Everything’s fine!! I did say that. You’re a genius, Suzu-chan!”

“You’re not mad now?” Suzuha asked.

Orivaneia clapped her hands together, “I’m not really mad… Because you’re not cursed, you’re just… um… special!! Yes! A special case! Vampire-Lite! A Holy Bloodsucker™!”

Suzuha blinked once, her expression unchanging. “No, why did you trademark such a stupid thing?”

“STUPID?!” Orivaneia shrieked, the manufactured cheerfulness shattering into a million pieces. “No! It is not stupid at all! You’re the first vampire to ever have holy power and still live! That’s really actually very impressive! You’re a vampire now, yet look at this, I’m sure I can do this.” She touched Suzuha cheeks.

“What are you doing?”

Orivaneia smiled, “See? You didn’t vanish after I touch you. That means you’re not a dark magical being. You’re… I don’t really know actually… what are you?”

Suzuha expression becomes warmer, “…Well… whatever this is… it kept me alive. That’s all that matters. I won’t die now, Ori…”

Orivaneia’s divine composure crumbled completely, hugging Suzuha, “Uuuu, why are you like this?!” she wailed, “I already cried so much that you’re gonna leave me… I thought you’re gonna die… Why don’t you tell me that you have a plan? Suzuha so mean!!!”

Suzuha let the goddess writhe on her shoulder for a long moment. She raised a hand and deliberately wiped a smudge of blood from the corner of her own lips, “That’s because… I knew you’d try to stop me.”

“I mean…”

“Orivaneia,” she said, her voice cutting through the sobs.

The goddess hiccupped, peering up at her with tear-filled eyes.

Suzuha looked down at her, “Look at me. I’m not dying anymore.” After a short break, she continued, “I fixed your mistake.”

By being a vampire

“Now… you have nothing to worry about.”