The Head Aide

Eh? What is that...? Is someone...

TICKLING MY FEET?!

"Vampires!!!!" Misa shot up into a sitting position with a shout from the very depths of her soul. "Not me! Not today!" She bellowed and used her fingers to form a cross in front of her face.

Breathing hard, her eyes darted around the room, expecting an assortment of mouth-frothing heathens to be looming over her, backs and arms--even their fingers--arched like the vampires of those old horror films. Except, only one pair of red-rimmed eyes were looking back at her, and they happened to be the eyes of a child.

A vampire child, Misa made herself think. Let's not be fooled. Could still nap my neck with a finger. She shook her head of the thought and swallowed before speaking to the creature before her.

"What... What were you doing to me?"

The child, a little girl with pale white skin and curly green locks, tipped her head to the side and scrunched up her lips and nose. It made Misa think, Does it not understand human speech? 

While she wondered if there was another way she could communicate with the undead child, she heard the girl speak in a voice much too old and weathered for her outward appearance. "You stink of human, human."

It was creepy as hell. Ice cold shivers ran from Misa's neck down to her toes. 

The old vampire child continued speaking. "I need to kill--"

"PLEASE, DON'T KILL ME!" Misa yelled, trying to scoot away. She realized she was slipping on what appeared to be a tiled bathroom floor so spacious and pearly white that it seemed endless in every direction around her. Misa, swiveling her head back and forth amid her attempts to put distance between herself and the vampire, couldn't see any doors for escape. 

"Oh, please! Knock it off!" The vampire jutted her pointer finger out at Misa and its dark black nail grew at least four times in size. With it, she stabbed through the pant leg of Misa's bunny pajamas and dragged Misa back toward her. "His Highness said you were the screaming type. You certainly are. Shut your mouth! As I was saying, I need to kill your human stench or else the whole palace will have their teeth in you before daybreak."

Misa made a noise between a gasp and a whimper. "I-I-I..." She didn't know what to say. So instead, she cried, "Thank youuuu!"

"Ugh, enough." The old child grumbled and ripped her fingernail out of Misa's pajama pants. "Do not thank me. If it were up to me, I would have sucked you dry by now, but Master Om would string me upside down on a rack somewhere and starve me of blood until my skin prunes like a raisin. I have seen him do it--took that whiny bastard Jun a couple decades to dry out. Must not have been fun." The lady-girl shuddered. Misa couldn't even imagine putting the word "fun" in the same sentence as what she'd just heard.

"Anyway, it should be him you are thanking."

Misa nodded her head. "Noted." She whispered, her voice thick with all the tears she wanted to cry. Instead of wailing, though, she decided it was best to feed her curiosity. "Then, if you're not going to... you know... what will you do to get rid of my smell?"

"Stench. Your odor."

"Yes, okay."

"I will need you to drink this." The vampire said, producing a vial of something thick and lurid and absolutely undrinkable from out of nowhere. It appeared in her hands as if she'd plucked it from the air.

"Um, I don't think I can drink that." Misa pointed and made a face at the stomach-churning liquid. Its appearance literally made her stomach grumble, but not in a good way.

I don't want to know what's in that, she thought as the old vampire child unstoppered the vial and swished the contents around a bit before thrusting it towards Misa's face.

Misa shook her head, "No, let's see. I really need to rephrase. It's not that I don't think I can drink that--"

"Then drink it." The vampire demanded.

"-- I won't drink that. I cannot drink that. I wouldn't even dream of drinking that concoction. Nn-nn," more head shaking, "I ain't drinking that."

"You little-- Fine." The child vampire with the elderly woman voice said. She stood slowly and loomed over Misa. "I will just have to make you."

At once, the vampire surged forward before Misa could move a muscle. Her claws settled into Misa's forehead, drawing four spots of blood. She forced Misa's head backward, lifting her chin so violently that Misa couldn't help but open her mouth and let out a shout of pain. In that instance, the elderly vampire child emptied the contents of the vial into Misa's mouth.

Misa squirmed like a burning worm. The liquid was hot as coals and thick like goo. She could hardly swallow any of it down and felt like she was being drowned.

Her eyes bulged. She tried to pry the vampire's arm away, but her efforts were to no avail. I can't breathe! Help! Someone help! Tears formed in her eyes. Her vision blurred. The liquid was still oozing from the vial, down her throat. It seemed endless. I'm going to die. Misa thought.

I'm going to die!

And then it ended. The vampire released her hold on Misa and let her head bang against the floor. Misa, burning like a fire had been lit within her, curled up into a little ball and waited for the sensation to pass, gasping for air. After several seconds, the fire within her calmed to a dull heat and Misa was able to struggle to a sitting position.

"Wh-What--" She had to pause, her voice too hoarse. Misa swallowed and asked the mysterious elderly vampire child, "What was that drink? What did you do to me?"

Instead of answering her in words, the vampire produced a handheld mirror and thrust it into Misa's face. "Look." She commanded, and Misa's eyes grew to the size of golf balls as she took in her appearance.

The spots of blood that had trickled little lines across her forehead were slowly dissipating in a curious show of hot steam. Her irises were a vibrant emerald green and the tops of her ears were pinched into a point. N-No--

"No way..." She whispered aloud and then slapped a hand over her mouth in shock.

My teeth!

Misa leaned in closer to the mirror and bared her teeth at her own reflection, unsure for a split second if she wanted to confirm whether she now had fangs for teeth or not. Though, sure enough, the fangs were there. Long, pointed, and sharp.

Misa sucked in a strong breath and looked over the handheld mirror at the age-confused vampire before her. For a moment, she was unable to find her voice, her mouth simply hanging open waiting for words to come out. Finally, she said, "I... I don't understand. Am I..." She didn't want to say it. Couldn't imagine it.

In all her favorite vampire novels, the female protagonist meets her beloved vampire beau and wishes to die to stay by his side to live(?) happily ever after. 'Die' being the keyword.

Misa shook her head and blurted out, "Am I dead? How did this happen? I wasn't bit!"

The vampire child shook her head and dissolved the mirror in her hand. "It is temporary, but you are one of us for now. It will wear off in about a week. The potion is strong, but as the end of the week nears, the smell of your human blood will overpower it even if you are still technically in a vampiric state, and the others' desire to prey on you will be stronger than ever.

"You have got to stay vigilant if you plan to survive here."

Misa's mind was blown, but she nodded her head anyway, slowly. Lost. Concerned, she asked, "What's going to happen to me here?" Misa didn't think she was even looking for an answer to that question. She just needed to ask it.

The vampire before her answered, nonetheless. "I cannot help you there, as I do not know. But do allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Ida, assigned to the task of head aide to the princess of this land. As such, you being the future Princess of Yugure Oukoku, I am yours to command." The aged vampire child, Ida, bent before Misa in a deep, stable curtsy.

Misa was speechless. This was not a development she had expected to happen so quickly if it was going to happen at all. The air shifting around Ida, the change in her demeanor, threw Misa off and she didn't know how to react.

Except, when the vampire made no move to break her curtsy, Misa awkwardly commanded her. "R-Relax, Miss Ida."

"You may refer to me as just 'Ida,' M'lady." 

"I'd like to call you 'Miss,' if that's okay with you." Misa replied. I mean, this kid is way freaking older than me. It'd be weird to just call her by her name. She thought.

Ida offered a short bow of her head, "As you wish."

Now, they faced each other in silence, Ida standing and Misa still awkwardly sitting. Let me... I should get up, Misa thought. But before she could stand, the door to the all-white room burst open and a guardsman poked his head inside, his expression troubled and his speech hurried. 

"They're back. Get somewhere safe, lest they decide that today is the day they force their way into the castle. There are more of them this time."

"And our Ryusei?"

"He's here. And looking for Prince Ran."

Ida nodded and grabbed hold of Misa's left arm. She started off toward the back of the large white space and forced a door open that Misa could now see, her vision sharper and clearer than ever. It was beginning to give her a headache. She covered an eye with her free hand.

On their way down a rather large secret passageway, Misa sought answers. "Who's Ryusei?" She asked.

"Prince Ran's older brother, ousted for objecting against the king's tyranny towards the humans outside the wall, and stripped of his royal title. Formally the next in line for the throne. Now the leader of a demonstration group. 

"Ryusei may be mostly non-violent, but he is strong. Fearsome, even. We fear the day he decides to use force to get what he wants."

"And what does he want?"

"Peace. With humans, for practical means. But it places him at odds with the family. He may not say it is so, but I suspect that he wants his father's, mother's, and his brother's heads for what they have done to him. 

"And I suspect, that if he finds you, the princess of prophecy, he will come to kill you, too."