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Chapter 15



They all walked home, but as they did, the initial thrill was gone. It was at this point that Karin began realize all that had happened to her, and what that would mean. She was quiet all the way, and then she began to tear up. Kenta did not understand, but she said, "Darling, please, wait for me at your house, Ineed a little time, okay?"

She stroked his face, and he seemed to understand. She then went upstairs, and Anjouknew well what was going on. Ryuu excused himself to go feed, as the girls took all the things up to Karin's room to set them down. When they went in, she was laying on her bed staring at the window, in a fetal position, holding apillow to her chest. No one said anything, but Karin weakly said, "Ruby, we will have to talk tomorrow night, because there are things you need to know. Don't tell your parents yet, because they have to be eased into this."

She acknowledged what was said, and she took her leave. Soon, the only ones left were the Markers, and Jean-Claude. The Markers, (save for Anjou,) were ecstatic. Karin would be spared and early grave and she was now a pure blood. Eldawondered why Anjou was not so happy, and Anjou said, "I am sad for Karin."

"Why are you sad?" said Elda,"This is a good thing!"

"You don't understand, grandmamma," she answered, "You cannot understand. It's always hard for a pure blood to say good-bye to the sunlight when one of us awakens. However, for Karin, she's been around the sun for much longer, and now it's all gone. I'm sure she had some dreams of this or that, but they're all gone."

"Wait, does that mean the wedding's off?" asked Henry.

"There is no stopping that now," answered Anjou,"But their lives will never be the same. Kenta will have to continue to have to live at night like he has been."

Calera said, "Let me go talk to the girl,"but Anjou said, "Please, let me go first. I think I can relate."



An hour passed since anyone had spoken to Karin. She, by now was in asemi-awakened state, lost in her "what-ifs." Anjouknocked and heard no answer. She tested the knob, and she realized that it was wide open. She entered with a heavy black canvas cloth, asmall hammer, and some tacks. "Sister,"said Anjou quietly, "Are you awake."

She answered with a simple mumble. "Karin, I..." but Karin interjected, and said, "I thank you for forgiving me when you awoke, because now I feel like more of adirt bag than ever before. I didn't know how hard it was for you until now."

Anjouset down her things, walked up to the bed, lay beside her, and held her close. Karin began to cry, and said, "I should have done this for you!"

"Big sister, you've repaid me several times over," consoled Anjou, "Now, it is my turn."

They lay there for about five minutes, and then Anjou said, "I must confess, when you awoke, it had to be hard for you as well, in your own way."

Karin was not sure what she meant, but she had to figure it was something to console her. She squeezed Anjou's hand and then kissed it. "Sister," Anjoucontinued, "You must have felt odd that you were not like us, and that must have felt like the Wall of China between us and you. I could not hold a grudge when you could not understand what happened to me. That is what helped me get over it. I felt alone, but you must have felt alone all the time. I was a bit selfish, because I thought you would be alone forever. Thanks to Kenta, that changed. Yes, the sun is gone, but now we have each other forever. We can hunt together now, and we can be closer than ever before. I am so happy this happened, because Ithought, once you dried, it was over. We owe Ryuu much, because he has helped to reawaken things that we all need to know. It will be hard not to have the sun anymore, but there is much you gain Big Sister. I love you."

Karin rolled over, bawling her eyes out, and clutching Anjou tight.



After they spent some time like that, Anjousaid, "I think what will help you now is if you help me sun proof the room. It will be like turning a page."

Karin said, "Okay," and they proceeded to get to things. However, when Karin opened the windows to close the shutters for the last time, Karin was surprised to hear guitar coming from outside her window. She looked over to see Jean-Claude playing his 12-string, smiling contently. He was singing Cat Steven's Moonshodow. He was only through the first chorus when he spotted Karin. He smiled at her and tipped his hat. She looked surprised, and said, "What are you doing up there?"

"It's a perfect and clear night!" he said,"The stars are incredible tonight! I felt like singing and stargazing."

She carefully climbed out the window, and Anjoucould not figure out what was going on. Once she saw, she was back to her room quickly. Meanwhile, Karin took a seat by Jean-Claude, and looked to the sky. She gasped, and said, "Oh my! I've never seen the stars like this before!"

"There is a reason for that," said Jean-Claude, "Not only is it a clear moonless night, but because of what has happened to you, your eyes have changed. You have become a pure blood, and that means all the benefits that come with it. I have similar sight, but I can only use fully when I concentrate. Go ahead, look at the sky, and tell me what you see."

Karin was flabbergasted. Not only were the stars brighter than ever before, even to the point where it seemed like there was a full moon, but there seemed to be colored clouds from place to place, including one that looked about the size of a full moon in Orion. There was a purple-red one on his hip that had a tiny horse head in the cloud. She said, "Look at those clouds!"

Jean-Claude said, "Those are nebulae. A couple humans can see without much problem, but faintly, but we can see a lot more. Now, scan the sky over to the right."

She then saw something that appeared to her eyes about the size of an eraser head. It looked like a pinwheel with a thin, bright rod put across the front. A little further over she saw one tilted at an angle, about the size of a crescent moon. "What are those pinwheels?" she asked.

"Those are galaxies," he said, "I thought you paid attention in science class?"

"Well, math and science was never my strongest suit," she said, "I guess I forgot more than I remembered."

"That one over the two arced lines of stars is the Great Galaxy in Andromeda. That is the most distant object that the human being can see with the unaided eye. If it is like this, it appears to them like a fuzzy star. If they use night vision goggles, they can see it the way we do, although in a green hue."

"It almost does not seem dark," said Karin.

"When it is a full moon, you are going to think it like a sunny day," said Jean-Claude, "Trust me, you are going to see the night in a way you never have before. The night has its own beauty that humans will never know. I feel sorry for our human brothers; because I wish they could see this!"

Karin began to smile, and said, "It's odd, but instead of feeling odd being a normal vampire, I feel more complete than Iever have before!"

"That's the way it's supposed to be," saidAnjou. She did not do her normal thing this time, because she did not want to disturb things. Instead, she said it as she noticeably walked up with her own guitar. She grinned as Karin smiled, and she said, "Do you see it, Karin, the difference?"

"It's beautiful," said Karin, "It's so good to be alive!"

She was saying this, not just because of what had happened, but also because of the fact that she no longer had to live in fear of dying day by day. Karin then said, "You know, Jean-Claude, I remember that night a few years ago when you taught me how to love myself. Even though I still was what I was, I felt more like what I was born to be than ever before. Now, more than before, I can say that I am a vampire, and it is a good thing to be what I am."

Without saying it, Karin was saying, for the first time, that she loved herself. Anjouthen said, "What was that song you were playing before, Big Brother?"

"Ah, that," he said, "Watch my hands, and you'll catch the phrasing. Then I'll teach you the song. I like to sing this one to the twins when I'm trying to put them to sleep."

With that, he taught them Moonshadow, which is a song where the singer declares that he will be happy no matter what happens to him. He then began to teach them some John Denver tunes, and they all began to harmonize. Soon, the others came out to see what was going on, and Jean-Claude said, "Come on up! We're having a sing-along!"

Soon, all of them were on the rooftop, and before long, the elder three were there. Ai and Chiyuki were anxious to join them, but Ryuu contented himself just to watch. However, his thoughts were turning to other things, wondering if this blissful scene could really last. Considering how the bokor were stirring, it could mean that there is another force in operation at that point. About an hour before sunrise, Karin and Anjou shut the shutters for the last time, as Jean-Claude hammered them shut. Inside, under the drapes, Anjouand Karin were tacking the black canvas over the window, so that the sunlight would never again come in. In so doing, Karin was feeling like a horrible nightmare was being put to rest forever. After she get a good day's sleep, she would have to find Ruby and help her, because she was going to be shocked at the changes in herself as much as she had been that night.



While all this was going on, the situation was explained to Jacques, and he did not like what he heard. However, he could not be too mad at his daughter, considering that she did what she did to save a life, even if that meant becoming an unvampire. Maria then asked, "Is there some things that we need to know?"

"We're going up to Karin's tomorrow," said Sea Blue, "Karin is going to fill her in on everything."

"Then we'll go with you," said Jacques, "This is just as important to us as it is to her."

At sunset the next evening, the Katiri family went to the Marker compound, and Karin met them in the kitchen. She had worked hard on preparing a meal with Fumio, and now she understood why her parents had a problem with garlic. Indeed, her sense of smell had heightened, and it did affect her. It saddened her atouch when she could barely taste the food, yet, that did not mean she had to stop cooking. The main reason for the spread was for Ruby, that she was going to experience eating as she never had before. When they arrived, Ruby had aseat next to Karin. Karin greeted her warmly, and bade her sit. She did, and felt disappointed that she could not smell the meal as well, but then Karin said, "Girl I can't enjoy it like I used to, but you are going to love this!"

Ruby put in a forkful, and her eyes nearly turned in her head. She then began to inhale, and almost choked. "You have to go slow," said Karin, "I bet that's the first time you were able to experience that, wasn't it?"

"This is incredible," she said, "I never knew there could be more tastes than from what I have tasted while feeding."

"You're going to find a lot different now,"said Karin, "One thing you have to know is that you only have to bite once a month now."

"That's it?" asked Jacques.

"She has to release, or she will have a massive nosebleed," said Karin.

"How does she do that?" asked Maria.

"If there is no one of our kind that needs her blood, she can release it into someone as if she were feeding," said Karin.

"But I heard that I cannot use any abilities," said Ruby.

"That, I can teach you," said Karin, "It took us a while, but we found a way to use my blood. Yet, you have to be careful. You don't want to burn through the fount so quickly. Since you just started making it, you will more than likely last a lot longer than I would have. Since we already know from the 'hard way school' of learning why I made blood, you will last even longer than that, because your releases will be far more controlled."

"You can always find another me," Kenta joked.

"Baby, you're irreplaceable!" said Karin, and they pecked. However, Jacques was still not settled about humans marrying vampires, so he said, "Well, let's not get the cart before the horse, shall we?"

"After dinner," said Karin, helping to change the subject, "We'll show you how to use what you have to do what you have always done. Once we do, tonight, when I go to feed, (seems odd to say that,) I'll show you how to erase memories. The blood you shall be creating will be in excess when we are done, and you are going to want to release."

"Will I need my preference?" she asked.

"What is your preference?" asked Karin.

"I like people with sorrow," answered Ruby.

"Good!" said Karin, "Because I like unhappiness, so we should be able to find a couple of good prospects tonight."



Once they finished, they began to teach her about her blood abilities. Since she was now the Fount, she had to learn to use them differently. Sea Blue was with them, encouraging them, talking all the way through. As they did, the three of them began to grow close. Later on, they went on the hunt, staying to populated areas to prevent being ambushed. For Karin, this was the first time she went to drink blood, so she began to pick Sea Blue's brain on what to do. Soon, they were able to find a couple that was down. Karin slipped up and asked them, "What's wrong?"

"Everything is falling through on our house," said the man.

"What do you mean?" asked Karin.

"If we cannot come up with 20,000 yen in two days, we lose everything," said the woman, "We were just wed, and this was to be our nest. I can't believe we're going to lose it."

She began to tear up, and her husband tried to console her as best that he could. Suddenly, Karin began to feel excited, wanting to get her fangs into them as soon as she could. Ruby began to lead them away. When they seemed isolated, the girls made their move. Before, Karin would have been scared and embarrassed to do what she was now doing. Yet, now, she was anxious, and she actually began to enjoy what she was doing. When they were not looking, the girls struck. Once she tasted that first drop, she began to drink violently. Her eyes brightened, and she felt a pleasure that she had not felt before. She had felt something similar to this when she had released, but never to this level. When she pulled out, she lay the woman down, and immediately erased the woman's memory. She then remembered what Anjoudid, leaned over to whisper in her ear, and said, "Thank you so much for satisfying me! When you awaken, you'll see things better, and you may find a way."

However, Innocent said, "I feel like Ishould, but I feel like something is missing."

"That depends on how much you release,"said Karin, "If it is your monthly, it will be close to what you normally feel. Yet, if it is like this, you won't feel it as much."

Ruby got a bit quiet, and then said, "I guess I'll just have to get used to it."

Karin squeezed her a bit, and said, "Hey, I'll be there for you, sister."

"Sister?" asked Ruby.

"You're a Clanswoman now," said Karin, "You're my sister now!"

Ruby smiled a bit, and said, softly, "Thank you.

Before they left, Karin checked his wallet, and jotted down his address."

"What is that for?" asked Sea Blue.

"Jean-Claude likes things like this," said Karin, "These two are in for a big surprise!"



Meanwhile, none of this was unwatched. A pair of female eyes watched intently, and the one to whom the eyes were attached smiled and said, "Enjoy it now, because, if I have my way, I shall destroy you despicable brother, and the cursed spawn he made. You shall not change anything!"