Chapter 4: A New Visit

She had expected him to never show up again. He had done what he could to help her after all, and no longer had any reason to approach a hunter again. But much to her surprise, he came back the next night, as friendly and laidback as usual.

"Good evening, hunter," he said, once again using that same formula that had become kind of a ritual to them.

"Konbanwa, demon," she answered.

"Glad to see you're still there. Seeing how you had your revenge, I kinda expected you to be gone."

"Not yet. Thanks again for your help, demon."

"You're welcome."

He sat down.

"I am a bit tired, and hungry. Mind to let me taste a bit of your blood?"

For all answer, Yukie gave him a death glare.

"Relax, I am kidding! I brought my own meal anyway."

Opening his coat, he pulled a blood bag out of it, and started sucking on it like a straw. Yukie couldn't repress an expression of disgust, but said nothing. While seeing someone drink blood made her uncomfortable, it was better that he fed on blood bags rather than actually killing people in the street.

"Sorry for the show," he said once he was done. "It has been an exhausting evening for me. I had to fight my way out of some crazy mad scientist guy's company. Wanted to find out about vampire weaknesses. I almost ran out of vitae trying to survive his death traps"

"Vitae?" she asked, puzzled.

"That's how we call the blood we use to power our abilities. Long story."

"Ah," she nodded. "Did you kill him?"

"Actually, yes I did," he casually answered. "Oh, don't give me that stare," he groaned, noticing Yukie's disapproving look. "Guy deserved it. He was kidnapping vampires to experiment on them, had associate with the Tong, and was working for the Kuei-Jin. Trust me, Chinatown will be a safe place with him gone."

Yukie raised an eyebrow.

"He was working for ghost people?"

"Aye. From what I read on his computers, he was about to have Wong Ho, the Red Dragon's owner, and his daughter murdered on their order. Fortunately, the man is a friend of mine, so I was able to convince him to leave town for a while until this is settled. He and his brat should be fine for now."

"You saved their life?" Yukie asked.

"Well, yeah, what kind of monster do you think I am? ... Well, okay, I am a vampire," he admitted after a short pause, "but that doesn't mean I will let a crime lord kill innocent people. I prefer to only kill when it's absolutely necessary, and preferably people who deserve it."

"What about when you feed from humans?"

"I try to not drain them dry. Drink just what I need from them. Usually that leaves them a bit groggy, but they are fine by the next day. Or, you know, I drink from blood bags like I just did. I only drain people dry when they have it coming. Not that different from you killing monsters who don't behave, right?"

Yukie reluctantly nodded. She was uncomfortable with this notion, but he had a point. During her travels, she had been given many opportunities to see that humans could sometimes be just as bad as demons. In fact, a few weeks ago, she had read something in the journal about an insane prothesist in Santa Monica who had been sequestrating people to dissect them in his basement, just so he could better understand how the human body worked. Thanksfully, someone had eventually found out about him, killed him and freed his last surviving victim, allowing the police to uncover his crimes.

"Why do you come to visit me again, demon?" she asked. "Don't you feel uncomfortable talking with a hunter"

"Actually, that's part of the appeal," he answered. "You are the only hunter in the entire town who won't attack me on sight. More importantly, that makes you one of the few humans who know what I really am. Meaning I can have conversations with you that I can't have with any other human in all of Los Angeles."

"You were human once, right? Don't you have friends from your old life?"

The vampire's face darkened a bit.

"No, sadly. I used to, but when I was embraced, I had to cut ties with all my family and friends. I did find an old friend of mine in Hollywood once... but I had to pretend I was someone else to protect her. Otherwise I would have been forced to kill her."

He was visibly distraught by this memory, and Yukie, despite her best effort, actually felt sorry for him. She knew how it felt to lose someone close.

"Anyway," he said while standing up, "I'll have to go for now. I'll need to rest for tomorrow night, so I can pay a visit to vampire mafiosi. Long story."

"Good night, demon."

"Good night, hunter."