• CHAPTER 74 - NIGHTGLARES

    The time eventually comes to tell them what's been going on in your mind.

    .:{{Arisa's Perspective}}:.

    It happened again. I forced myself awake and shot upwards, followed by a sharp gasp. I woke in a sweat from all of the covers and comforters bombarding me. It took me about half a minute to realize how weak I still was and I leaned back against the headboard and relaxed. Momo was startled and woken by my sudden freak act and was standing next to me, eying me curiously. I sighed and gently scratched the underside of his chin and he purred loudly. Momo climbed onto my lap and curled up and fell asleep once more after knowing everything was okay.

    The dream of my parents' murder came back. It was the same thing over and over again, the blood, the screams, the dying, everything. I had gone so long without that dream and it came back to haunt me. The dream was longer this time, reiterating every detail of that fateful night. It sent chills up and down my back to think about that Vampire that had tried to kill me. Why did he not finish me off? Being a Vampire, he should have known if I were dead or not. Why did he hold back?

    "Duh, Arisa," I sighed to myself. "They're waiting for your blood."

    That's right. It would have been pointless for them to kill me because my blood would become useless. My blood would convert to that of a normal human's blood and they would have to wait another two hundred years for another girl with special blood like mine to come along. Were I not in love with Kai, I'd have no problem with that.

    Poor Kai, he's under so much pressure from the contract. He wanted to back out of it even before he brought me here. He told me he could hardly stand the fact that he was ordered to kill my parents, let alone kill me. Killing my parents was something he backed out of, though infallibly impossible. But with this contract, there is no loophole. We can't find a way out of it. Nobody knows when the day will come, what will happen, where Kai will take me, anything. Kai feels the need to beat himself up every day for that, but I don't want him to feel such guilt. It's something he can't control. It's much like me; I couldn't control the fact that I fell in love with him. If we hadn't fallen in love, it probably would have been a little easier for him to bring me to the other Vampires.

    "Arisa?" I heard Kai whisper. I whipped my head up and he was standing at the bedroom door.

    "Oh," I sighed, "hi."

    "You had a nightmare?" he assumed, shutting the door and approaching the bed.

    I nodded, "Yeah. It's the same one you looked into so long ago."

    Kai paused, "Your parents' murders?"

    I nodded again, "Yeah. I had gone so long without having that dream, ever since you looked into it, and now it's coming back."

    "Maybe it's just a one time thing," he assumed again. "How are you feeling?"

    Before I could answer, he already slid his frozen hand onto my burning forehead. I took the time to glance at the alarm clock on the end table and it read two in the afternoon. I thought back to the dream I just had and as soon as the thought of the Vampire trying to kill me came up, I immediately switched my attention to another dream I had. The dream I had when I was at Akatsuki's apartment; the dream where Kai brought me to my death and that Vampire was eating me alive. I told Akatsuki about the dream, but I never told Kai.

    "Kai?" I asked him with a slightly shaky voice.

    "Yeah?" he slid his hand off of my forehead and stared at me.

    "Um," I fondled with my fingers. "There...was another dream."

    "Oh," Kai burrowed his eyebrows together in curiosity. "Tell me."

    "It's a nightmare I had when I was at Akatsuki's apartment," I mumbled. "After you left me."

    Kai fell silent for a long moment, remembering what he did, "Yeah,"

    "Um," I continued to fondle with my fingers unconsciously, feeling uneasy, "you won't like it...at all."

    Kai sighed, "I have time,"

    "Uh," I pondered, thinking of where and how to start. "I was dreaming that I was running through a large house, a mansion, and I kept running past the same things every time. It took me a moment to realize that it was Matsuda and Orihime's mansion, but it was all boarded up and dark and eerie.

    "I called out your name and was even surprised about that in my dream. It had felt like I didn't have a voice and that I couldn't call out to you. I ran upstairs, having no control over my feet, and walked into this bedroom." I gestured to the commodious bedroom.

    "I...I was happy to be back, happy to know I was in Matsuda and Orihime's house again. Just when I was about to go look for you some more, I felt something in my stomach." I pressed my hands against my lower abdomen, feeling faint shadow pain.

    "I-I looked down and..." I shivered. "There was a hand...right through my stomach."

    Kai flinched slightly at that, "And?"

    "The hand pulled out. I just stood still with a gaping hole in my abdomen. When I turned around, it was the silhouette of a Vampire I was looking at, but it wasn't you, like I had hoped." I sighed. "I came to my senses and started backing away from the Vampire, but my body gave out and I collapsed." I pointed to the small area at the foot of the bed. "Right there.

    "I kept bleeding and bleeding, it had no end. It was strange, though, because I didn't pass out. I was just in pain. The Vampire kneeled down next to me and immediately bit into my airway." I grasped my throat this time, trying to calm the faint shadow pain that lingered there too. "When he pulled away, he said 'I should thank your boyfriend for luring you here'."

    Kai's eyes widened a little bit and I continued, "I didn't believe that it was you that brought me to him. I didn't believe it one bit...at least...for a while I didn't.

    "I looked past the Vampire and there you were," I looked down, not wanting to witness Kai's pain on his face. "Your eyes were red, but I didn't know what from. You just kept staring at me, as if you were in pain. You looked like you wanted to do something, but couldn't. Almost as if something was holding you back.

    "The strangest thing happened then," I continued. "I closed my eyes, not wanting to witness my death, and a sudden chilled breeze swept over me and when I reluctantly opened my eyes again, I was on my bed in the orphanage." I thought harder. "I was still bleeding, still suffocating, still dying, dyed in my own blood. When I looked over to my right, there you were again. Only this time your eyes were gold, depressed.

    "You leaned over and...you told me something," I closed my eyes to try and remember what Kai said to me. "You said 'Now you understand why we can't be together' or something like that. Then you said something like 'That's what's going to happen to you...what just happened with that Vampire'.

    "I didn't want to believe that either. I didn't want to believe that it was you who brought me to him, it was you that caused my death. I wanted to believe that there was no other Vampires in the world, next to you and Kira. After a second, you leaned over farther and kissed me."

    I touched my lips lightly with my fingertips, "But the strange thing was that I couldn't feel it. I saw your face up to mine, but I couldn't feel your lips compressed against mine. Then--"

    I was silenced by Kai's real lips clashing with mine after he cupped my jaw with both hands. His kiss was hard and pretty urgent. His lips and tongue were moving much too quickly for me to catch up, so I allowed him to do as he wished. He wrapped one arm around my waist and reposed the other hand next to me and leaned me against the headboard of the bed. He finally pulled away after I pushed him away when he bit my lip. I took my time regaining my breath and I rubbed my sore lip.

    "Ouch," I sighed, examining the single drop of blood that smeared onto my fingertip.

    "Arisa..." Kai closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against mine and sighed deeply. "Do you know what a dream like that means?"

    I shook my head lightly and stared at him, although he didn't stare back, "No,"

    "When you have dreams that foretell your death," he flinched slightly, "they're called nightglares."

    "What?" I cocked an eyebrow. "What is a 'nightglare'?" the name sounded ridiculous.

    "Exactly what I just explained," Kai hissed. "Nightmares that foretell your death. They're not foretelling your exact way of dying, but just analyzing the whole gist."

    "So..." my face fell slightly, "does that mean it's coming soon?"

    I felt Kai stiffen severely and it seemed as though he was not even breathing. He lightly reposed his hands on both sides of my waist and rested his head on my right shoulder. He sighed deeply, letting me know that he was still breathing. There was another long pause and I was pretty sure I was about to hear my own heartbeat.

    "Yes," I heard Kai barely mumble.

    My hands started shaking, "I-I'm going to die soon...?"

    That question was meant to be rhetorical, but Kai answered anyways, "I think so. But the fact that it happened once--over a month ago--means it won't happen too soon, I guess."

    That lifted only one ounce of a thousand pounds off of my shoulders, "What happens when the nightglares show up more frequently?"

    Kai squeezed my waist a little, "Then the time will be closer,"

    My hands were shaking violently this time. I had only had one of those so-called "nightglares", nightmares that foretell my death Kai will bring me to. But Kai said that if it's happened once and it was over a month ago, then it won't happen too soon. I was questioning whether it was a good thing or not that I told Kai my dream.

    Kai unconsciously squeezed my waist a little harder, "I was too weak to break that goddamn contract," he hissed to himself. "Now you're having nightglares..."

    I wrapped one arm around Kai's shoulders and ran my other hand through his hair and held him close, "I'm sorry," I whispered. "It's okay."

    "No it's not," Kai hissed again.

    "It's not happening any time soon, you still have time to get rid of the contract,"

    "But there is no way to dispose of it," Kai mumbled. "Matsuda even made an effort and he found nothing."

    "Kai--"

    He interrupted me before I could hardly start, "When that time unexpectedly flourishes for you to perish, I won't have any authority over myself!" Kai shouted and the room fell silent once more. "I'll have no self-control...I'll only witness what's happening..."

    I kissed the side of Kai's head and then his ear and held him closer, "I believe in you, Kai," I whispered into his ear. "Just please don't give up already."

    "I love you, Arisa," he whispered. "I can't let you go now..."

    "I love you too, Kai," I whispered back to him, "no matter the situation."

    I pressed my forehead against Kai's neck, feeling dizzy already. Kai pulled back, his face massacred by sorrow and pain, and he touched my cheek. Without arguing or protest, I obediently lay myself back down in the bed and Kai pulled the covers up to my shoulders. Momo had moved his place to my feet and was asleep yet again. Kai stood up straight and without another word, turned around.

    I stopped Kai right away by grabbing his hand and he turned around, "Just stay here a little longer," I begged.

    Kai stared at me in a musing fashion for a second and he bent over and pecked my forehead, "Get some sleep," and he slid his hand out of mine, exiting the bedroom.

    I was afraid to fall asleep ever again, knowing that the dream I had at Akatsuki's house was foretelling the gist of my brutal death. I didn't want to have any more of those, I didn't want my departure from Kai to come sooner than later. The only optimistic part about the whole thing was that it won't be happening anytime soon...

    ...I assume.


    ***RANDOM QUESTION TIME (AGAIN)***

    Been a long time since we've had random questions, no?
    Lol, remember, this is completely optional; I'm just bored out of my mind right now.

    QUESTION: What compelled you to read this story (what got you started)? What do you like about the story?

    Have fun : D