Space

“... Welcome”, my little sister said, staring at the pair of strangers who stood behind me.

She sat alone at the kitchen table, in her usual spot. There was no sign of our parents, which implied they'd already left for work. 

“Finally. Home, sweet home...”, I said, quickly pulling up one of the kitchen chairs to sit down.

“Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends, dear brother of mine?”, Yukina asked irritably as she served me a sandwich and a mug of coffee.

“You... You made me coffee?”, I asked, fascinated with her unusual thoughtfulness.

“I thought you were still asleep in your room... But now I see you were out and about all night”, she looked at me with contempt.

I looked at Akashi and Rio, both still behind me, awaiting explicit permission to get inside.

“What's the matter? Come on in, both of you”, I said.

“Excuse us, then”, they said simultaneously, and also came in at the same time, closing their umbrellas and removing their sunglasses and shoes before stepping in. 

“So, Yuki... Rio is now a vampire, too”, I revealed.

“... Wasn't one enough?”, she asked incredulously.

“Right?”, I agreed, ironically. “At least... You don't have to set the table for either of them”, I commented.

“You really are a masochist, Akito...”, she said, a wry smile stamping her lips.

“By the way, Akashi... I think Yukina should know too. About Apparitions and magic, I mean”, I said.

“Yes... I suppose you're right. She already knows about us, after all”, he agreed.

Akashi Asami then pulled one of the chairs toward him and sat down on it backwards, leaning his chest against the backrest. What a delinquent. Rio, in turn, sat politely in the chair next to me, and my sister finished pouring her own coffee and sat down in the last of the four chairs. Luckily for us, my parents had already left for work.

“Well... Of course, Yukina and I are going to be late for school, but... Akashi, please, go ahead”, I asked.

“Okay, okay... A-hem", he cleared his throat before beginning to sing.

“Here comes a long one...”, I commented right before he started.

"It is said that the first Apparition arose from a story. The First Writer had created a tale, humanity's first contact with what we now call the imaginary. His desire for his story to become real was immeasurable, and his imagination was so fertile and vivid that everyone around him came to believe in the tale. The lie became the truth. The vital energy of that community was catalyzed through collective belief, and the story came to life. Magic itself came to life", the vampire explained.

"... Just like that?", I asked.

"In ancient times, before modern civilization, it was much easier to create Apparitions", he replied.

“Why's that?”, I pressed on.

“Nowadays, there are too many humans, and most are skeptical, which prevents the birth of Apparitions”, he replied. “Even so, those first Apparitions eventually gave rise to others. More importantly, other people with the same powers as the First Writer were born throughout the ages”, the vampire continued. "Bringing forth even more Apparitions unto the world". 

"Who were those people? Are they still alive?”, Rio asked.

"There were many... Artists whose paintings come to life, Artificers whose inventions are capable of unimaginable things... Eventually, Apparitions became indistinguishable from reality, and turned real from the moment they interacted with these special humans", Akashi replied.

“Ah... That's really fascinating”, the new vampiress admitted.

"Apparitions can be born of a collective belief... But also from the absolute certainty of a single powerful human", he highlighted. 

"Oh... I see", I was impressed. 

“Nowadays, there are still dozens of Apparitions, but knowledge of them is restricted to the groups that study them, and those circles are very difficult to get in... The exceptions are the Visionaries, who are able to see and create Apparitions, just like the First Writer, from the very day they are born".

We were all amazed by the story, and none of us were able to question its veracity given the very beings seated at that table. 

From what I had gathered, magic and Apparitions were a well-kept secret. Only certain families, groups and select individuals knew the truth that was being told to us. We were, truly, a lucky bunch. 

It seemed to me that the Apparitions and the scholars shared a common interest: to not reveal the existence of Apparitions as an absolute truth to the world.

The conclusion of what would happen was obvious. Since Apparitions draw power from human life force channeled through a strong belief, if all humans were forced to accept their existence...

All Apparitions would become extraordinarily powerful, and they would be as prevalent in the world as humans themselves.

That's what Akashi's story implied. That's the secret we had to protect with our lives. 

“From your expression... It seems you understood, Akito”, Akashi commented.

“Yes... Revealing the existence of Apparitions to the world is an incalculable risk", he replied.

“Precisely. That is why the most powerful Apparitions, such as us, vampires, prefer to remain anonymous, revealing ourselves to only a few individuals at a time, in order to stabilize our own existence”, he explained.

“I see...”, his words were engraved in my mind.

“The scholars categorize magic into four main categories”, he added.

“How convenient...”, Yukina whispered softly.

“First, the Apparitions. That is, living beings born from the vital energy and beliefs of humans. Us vampires, for example”, he said, pointing to Rio and himself.

“That part was obvious enough”, I commented.

“Then, there are the Artifacts, which are complex artificial creations. Sometimes they are alive, and sometimes they are not. They have an origin and a maker, whether human or Apparition. The camera that made Akito immortal, for example, is an Artifact”, he looked at me as he spoke.

“Hmmmmm", I began to take a real interest in the subject, starting from the moment my name was mentioned.

“Thirdly... The Agreements, which are contracts between humans and an Apparition. The human believes that they have borrowed part of the Apparition's powers. Initially, the Apparition is weakened, but the powerful human attracts belief to themselves, strengthening both parties of an Agreement”.

“Is that any different from turning a human into a vampire?”, Rio asked, setting herself as an example.

“Good question. Yes, it's different. I turned you into a fully fledged Apparition, Rio. You don't follow the laws of biology, chemistry, and human physics”, he explained. “The Agreed are still human, they only act as channels to summon part of an Apparition's powers.”

“I see...”, she thought for a moment. “It's as if part of the Apparition's existence is superimposed on a human, but the human itself does not become an Apparition”, she concluded.

“Bingo. Finally, there are Blessings and Curses. They are exactly like Agreements, but they are not consensual, and the goal of the Apparition offering those is to make their victim believe in them, not for others to believe in either”, he concluded.

“... And Blessings are good things, and Curses are bad things?”, Yukina asked.

“Not exactly. Blessings are always things that add to the existence of the human target, while curses are like restrictions or punishments”, Akashi corrected her.

“... That makes sense”, my foolish sister admitted.

“Now do you understand, Akito?”, he asked. “Toshiki had an Agreement with me, and was therefore able to use some of my more complex abilities”, Akashi added.

“To be honest, I think it's going to be hard for me to get used to all of this right away...”, I confessed.

“What skills were those, Akashi?”, Rio asked, curious to know if she herself would be able to use them, having become a vampire.

“Well... You would refer to them as magic itself”, he revealed. “In reality, it is the ability to act upon the world, within the limits of what is possible for the type of Apparition that you are”.

“... What do you mean?”, Rio rested her elbows on the table, immersed in thought.

“Of course...”, I made a point of commenting. “I should have guessed. What I witnessed you do wasn't natural at all”. "All the way back to our first fight atop the building". 

“Exactly, my protégé", Akashi reaffirmed. “I have the ability to channel my energy into blood and shadows, and therefore control them to my will”, he said. “And, of course... You will surely master these skills soon, my descendant”, he finally made Rio smile with the statement.

“Akashi... One question”, I interjected.

“Of course”, he replied briefly, giving me an opening to ask.

“Why was Cubas unaffected by your magic!? He can't be that strong, can he!?”, I shouted, incredulous.

“Ah, heh-heh”, he laughed. “Calm down, Akito. Manipulating elements consumes a lot of energy, and Cubas' barrier rejects magic altogether”, he pointed out. “That's why I didn't use magic as much as I could have”. 

"Since his name was mentioned... Who in their right mind made an Apparition like Cubas?", I inquired.

"Oh, that's a whole other story", Akashi seemed bothered by my question. Yet, he insisted on answering it. "Cubas and his family made him an Apparition. He believed he was so great, so divine, that he must be immortal, and his family bought into the idea".

"That's insane...", Rio commented.  

“I see... Wouldn't it have been easier for you to tell me these things before the fight, though?”, I asked, still a bit tense.

“Well, Akito...”, he thought for a bit before speaking. “I wanted you to know as little as possible about Apparitions... For you to still have a normal life once we're done with this”, he replied.

“What do you mean?!”, I exclaimed, confused.

“The more you know, and the more you interact with Apparitions... The greater the chance that they will appear to you again in the future. Even now... I would say that it's impossible for you to live normally as a human. Unless...”, he was about to say, but cut himself off.

“Oh, no. Drop the suspense. Now, you talk”, I said, irritably.

“To restore humanity on both you and Rio...”, he said. “Well, vampires are notorious for their ability to influence, it's almost more prudent to call it hypnosis”, he said.

“So what?”, I pressed him for details.

“If I make the three of you forget everything that happened since the photograph was taken...”, he said. “Also, if we kill Cubas, and I destroy the photograph itlsef... And, then, with my death...”.

“There would be no evidence left of our contact with magic", Rio added.

“What?!”, I was outraged.

“Exactly. If I die before Rio establishes herself as a vampiric entity, and no one remembers that I transformed her... It's possible that the transformation could be reversed. If no one remembers the photograph, and it is destroyed... The wall between the natural and supernatural worlds would rise again for the three of you”, Akashi speculated.

“... Is that the only way?”, I asked.

“It's the only way. But there's no point in talking about it now", Akashi ended the conversation, standing up. “Go, Akito and Yukina. You have school, and I have a lot to discuss with my descendant...”, Akashi proceeded to expel us from our own home.

When I realized it, I was already outside with Yukina, both of us in our school uniforms. I had the slight feeling that we had been hypnotized and taken outside by Akashi. However, it was not possible to confirm or refute that statement without causing a direct confrontation.

As we walked to school, I made sure to tell my sister about last night's events. I relived every memory, from Toshiki to Rio's arrival, Braz Cubas, and finally, dawn.

I omitted, however, that last moment I shared with Rio. That was for my eyes, and my eyes only.

“... You should stop hanging out with vampires, Akito. Next thing you know, you'll be sleeping upside down like a bat...”, Yukina commented.

“I'll be fine... I hope”, I replied. "I don't even know if they sleep like that...". 

As we approached our destination, I remembered a very important issue I needed to discuss with Rio. So, I decided to send her a message.

“Dee, do you happen to remember who told you the rumor about a vampire on the loose in the city?”, I sent it.

“...”, I waited a few seconds for a reply.

“Not exactly... I remember it was a man, but that's all. Sorry, Akito”, she replied.

"No problem. Thanks", I said goodbye to her, still via text, then put my phone back in my pocket.

By the next step I took, we had already arrived at school. I went about my usual routine, dropping Yukina off at her classroom door and heading straight to mine, with as little human interaction as possible during the process.

Suddenly, by coincidence, I ended up paying attention to a conversation between my classmates.

“Hey, hey, you hear?”, said the first one.

“What?”, asked the second one.

“It seems like there was a gas explosion in one of the temples on the outskirts of town…”, replied the first one.

“Really?”, asked the second one again.

“Really. And they still haven’t found any of the family members who looked after the place…”, added the first one.

“Wow! Could it be arson? Maybe they're trying to commit insurance fraud...”, the second one commented.

“You know what I heard?”, a third one joined the conversation. “I heard that the place was cursed... Could this explosion be part of the curse?”.

“How scary!”, the other two replied, hugging each other.

I contemplated for a moment just how accurate this speculation about the temple being cursed was. The next moment, I thought it was very strange that there were already rumors about what happened at the temple the morning after the incident. It was possible that someone was watching us. Maybe Cubas himself was spreading rumors? I couldn't confirm or deny this speculation until I confronted him.

Finally, a thought occurred to me. Was the supernatural really becoming so popular among young people? The girls at school talked as if the place being cursed was an obvious fact. According to Akashi's explanation, it was possible that this shared belief could become the birthplace of a new Apparition... Or even strengthen the existing apparitions in the city.

At the end of the school day, I soon met Yukina at the school gate.

“Aki... Have you heard the rumors?”, she asked immediately.

“About the temple?”, I sought to confirm.

“Yes. The girls in my class wouldn't stop yapping about it”, she said.

“The same goes for my classroom”, I revealed.

“Yeah... They've even linked it to the other rumor about a vampire on the loose”, Yukina pointed out.

“These rumors are starting to get dangerously specific... Has your fame allowed you to find out anything else?”, I asked.

“Of course. I don't like half-baked gossip”, she said proudly. “They're discussing magic, the occult, and the supernatural extensively on a message board. Here, look!”, she practically threw her phone onto my face so I could see.

“Besides the temple... Are there any other supposedly haunted places in town?”, I asked.

“Let me see...”, Yukina scrolled through the forum posts like a true professional. “There’s our school... The abandoned lighthouse... And they also say there’s a ghost under the bridge”, she said. “But that’s it”.

“Well... That should be enough to begin an investigation. Akashi says he can sense the presence of other Apparitions, so he'll surely tell us which of these really hold secrets...”, I concluded.

“Aren't you at all surprised by the rumors of our own school?”, she asked.

“Well... Technically, I'm haunting the school once a day”, I commented.

“That's true...”, Yukina admitted.

At this leisurely pace of conversation, we walked back to our house, hoping we would be welcome this time. And, before that caused any concern, we were lucky that our parents had left extremely early and would not be back until extremely late. Talk about a haunted house...

Upon opening the door, I noticed that Akashi and Rio were no longer in the kitchen or living room. So, I opened the backyard door to investigate.

As soon as I finished sliding it open, however, a head came flying toward me. It was Akashi's.

“Hey! Welcome back, my protégé! Could you please throw me back over to my body?”, he asked, laughing.

And, of course, before thinking about anything else, I threw his head in the general direction of the backyard. Following it with my eyes, I was able to gradually admire the scene that was unfolding there. 

Rio and the headless vampire were fighting, in classic no-holds-barred style. It was certainly one of the ways he could teach her the same things he had taught me on my first day as an Apparition, but his methods remained quite unorthodox.

Heads flew, then arms, legs, and even bats made of shadow magic, and everything dissolved into smoke, the blood evaporated, and in the blink of an eye they were both completely healed.

“Wow...”, my sister's eyes widened, apparently fascinated.

“Oh, no... Another nutcase for fights between immortals...”, I commented. “You stay there watching, to make sure they don't destroy the yard, Yuki. I'm going to make me some coffee", I said, closing the door to the yard and leaving the vampires to play in the shadows of the walls that separated us from our neighbors. 

Then, I set about making my coffee, hoping that Yukina wouldn't join the crazy vampires in the vile act of destroying my parents' yard.

Coffee... Bread... Fried eggs, and... It was all ready.

“Coffee break!”, I shouted, hoping that at least Yukina would have heard me.

I was met with silence. Or rather, I was met with loud noises and thuds coming from my precious backyard. Irritated, I decided to open the door and teach the vampires a lesson. Unsupervised, they fought aggressively, showing no regard for the well-tended plants in the garden.

As soon as I opened the door and looked at the situation, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head.

An arrow had pierced my skull from one side to the other.

I turned to the side, and my sister was shooting with her bow and arrow while the vampires fought each other amicably, their bodies now covered with arrows.

“Oops! Sorry, Aki! That one went astray!”, Yukina shouted at me, waving with a smile.

I could practically hear the veins in my temple throbbing, and I gritted my teeth.

I pulled the arrow out of my head and threw it at the vampires. The arrow flew right between them, hitting the tree in the center of the yard. Startled, they all turned their collective gaze to me.

“I said... Coffee... Break”, I repeated, pausing to make myself clear.

“Oops, sorry, my protégé. We didn't hear you, the fight was so entertaining!”, he said, panting.

“That's true! I learned a lot!”, Rio agreed, also panting.

“Come in. I have things to discuss with you both”, I said, gesturing with my hand for them to come inside. 

“Yes, sir!”, Akashi exclaimed playfully.

“Honestly…”, I muttered, sitting down in my chair.

Akashi sat down on my right. Rio sat down on my left. Across the table sat my sister, Yukina.

“Just a quick thing, Akito… Before you talk about what you found out…”, Rio interrupted.

“Yeah... All that fighting made us pretty hungry...”, Akashi added.

Then, they both bit me at the same time. Each on one side of my neck, each on a jugular vein. I sighed, not knowing which of the two made me more uncomfortable.

“You really are a masochist, Akito...”, Yukina said, a wry smile stamping her lips.