Part 1

Painting of life and death

If there was anything Kuro hated wholeheartedly it was trouble. And he was quite the unlucky person for it was all that seemed to cross his path these days. From the dangerous Tsubaki to C3 and from C3 to his annoying younger brother Lawless. Sure, they were all a different kind of troublesome, but they were troublesome nonetheless. Even Mahiru was included in his mental list of troublesome things and persons. His name was written at the very end, beneath every other name, institution or thing that had once managed to annoy the hell out of Kuro.

Mahiru was a good person and his open, kind-hearted nature had made it rather easy for Kuro to like him. Over the months he had developed a certain fondness for the boy, which he treasured deep inside his heart. The fact that he felt that way, however, didn't take away that the teen was a magnet for everything that was even remotely dangerous or troublesome. And when he did attract anything of the sort, Kuro was thrown into it head-first.

Really, why was he always dragged into stuff he tried his best to avoid? Was it some evil twist of fate seeking to punish him? Because it certainly started to look like it.

He climbed out of Mahiru's backpack – relieved to see that the bright daylight had been replaced by darkness – and made himself comfortable on the boy's shoulder. He nuzzled his small head against the eve's neck, closed his eyes and sighed inaudibly.

It wasn't as if he didn't deserve it though. Fate sought out those whose hands were stained with blood and whose shoulders carried the heavy load of guilt. He knew that he met both criteria…deep down, somewhere at the edge between conscious and subconscious - he knew that what he had done was wrong…but he just couldn't and wouldn't admit it to himself.

As he walked down memory lane, the path of never-ending darkness that had been his life, situated in the gloomiest realms of his mind, he was suddenly disturbed by a new kind of sensation. The wavering scene of his dream pulsed with an unknown energy from a source he could not see. It was reality threatening to pull him back into its mess.

The puppet-like demon that was always following one step behind him was jumping around now, excited by the sudden change. "It seems that another one of your mistakes has caught up with you." It said, as it got a whiff of a painfully familiar smell coming through the cracks in Kuro's dream.

Kuro shot him a furious glance. He knew what the demon meant, but he himself did not consider it a mistake. Whatever he had done, had been done in the best of her interests.

"Shouldn't you be going back?" the demon teased as it spun around.

Kuro wanted to reply something along the line of "gladly", but decided against doing so. He wasn't entirely sure whether he really wanted to wake up. He knew what was awaiting him beyond the vague boundaries of his dreams, in that reality that caused him so much trouble. Like the demon, he had recognized the smell and it had promised little good.

He turned around and glanced towards the cracks, which grew larger and larger with every passing second. It seemed that he didn't have a choice. He had to wake up.

The moment his mind entered reality again everything around him seemed to pass by as if in a haze. His senses felt numbed and it took a few seconds before they regained their full strength, submerging him with the familiar smell, intensifying it and taking it to a whole new level.

He smelt the blood long before he could see it. A soft fragrance, warm and full of life…tinged with something sweet. It took control of his mind and opened the door to a room full of memories, showing him images of the owner – of her – taken in a time before he met Mahiru. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the pictures. He didn't want to go there. It was too painful.

Please, just go straight home, he thought. I can't deal with this. I just can't.

Honestly, wasn't it better to ignore situations like these? To run away instead of adding yet another layer of guilt and sorrow to an already cracked soul?

"Kuro? Are you alright?" Mahiru asked worriedly as he felt the little black cat tense up on his shoulder.

"Just tired," he replied in his usual bored voice. "Wake me up when we are home."

"You're always tired! Jeez, why am I even asking? You lazy vampire, I…huh?" Mahiru suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and turned his head to the left. They were standing in front of a dark narrow alleyway. The shadows crept up to them, dark and ominous, but were unable to touch them in the circle of light created by the streetlamp.

"Did you hear that?" Mahiru asked, as he turned to face the dark place.

Of course Kuro had heard it. In the past few seconds he had fervently wished for Mahiru not to notice anything of what was going on in that alley, but it had been to no avail. Fate was once more confronting him with how terrible and agonizing it could be, forcing him to think about the past and to recall old feelings.

Oh, how he wished he could just sink away into the sweet depths of indifference…not having to care about any of the trouble this god-forsaken world brought him.

If only he could tell Mahiru that it had just been his imagination. Nothing more than a delusion of the mind. But he couldn't do it. He just couldn't.

He kept quiet for a moment and then said: "Let's go home."

"Are you crazy?!" That was about the response Kuro had expected from the Eve. "It sounds as if someone is in dire need of help!" And with that the boy dashed off into the alleyway, Kuro holding onto his shoulder. The vampire cat closed his eyes, not willing to see what he already knew…not willing to accept that it was her.

Out of all people…why her?

It was pitch black in the alleyway and the more they advanced, the more the street lights started to fade. Mahiru carefully made his way through the darkness, moving around crates and other rubbish the small pathway was strewn with. He took his phone out of his pocket and held it out in front of him, using it as a flashlight. It wasn't much, but at least he could now see where he was going.

"Hello?" he called out, his voice cutting through the deafening silence.

The word had only just left his mouth when it was met with a soft moan. A few meters ahead, he could see a small figure lying on the ground in what seemed to be…a pool of blood?
The amount of dark red liquid present in the alleyway froze Mahiru to his spot. There was so much of it and it was literally everywhere. His body was paralyzed; he could only stare at the scene before him...at this painting of life and death...entranced by the frightening beauty of it. He shook his head, pulled himself together and forced himself to walk over to the source of the blood. He knelt down next to the motionless figure and saw that it was a teenage girl, not much older than he was. Her eyes were open – she was still conscious despite the enormous loss of blood – and weakly stared up at him. They were a dark blue, coloured by the pain and fear that were inflicted upon her body and soul.

Mesmerizing was the first thought that sprung to Mahiru's mind. Her eyes spoke of a strength, a willpower, that could only be met with pure admiration.

Her glance shifted to a point beside his head. Mahiru realized that she was no longer looking at him, but at his shoulder.

"Ku…ro…," she brought out in a hoarse voice.

Kuro, who had pretended to be asleep all the while, couldn't ignore the sound of her voice. He opened his eyes and looked down at her. That was his first mistake. As his eyes connected with hers, he felt a harsh tug at his heart. He jumped down Mahiru's shoulder, hesitantly took a few steps towards her and lied down next to her arm.

"Do you know her?" Mahiru asked, sending a bewildered glance in his direction.

"I used to."

"Then how can you be so calm?! She's dying!" the boy yelled, as he finally seemed to snap out of the trance he had been in for the past half a minute. He pushed his hands against the wound in the girl's neck. The fragile pale skin had been ripped apart, blood gushing out in large streams of shining red. The teen almost lost it when he felt her heartbeat beneath his hands; the sickening pulse, mixed with the warm blood, made his stomach turn. His head started to feel light…he was on the verge of blackening out.

"It's for the best, believe me," Kuro said.

"What do you mean?! For the best? How can this be for the best? You have to help her!"
Mahiru just couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Kuro sighed heavily. "What a pain."
You don't understand, he thought.

"Kuro, please…you could just…"

The vampire glanced up, his eyes two seas of red seriousness. "I'm not going to do that if that's what you're thinking of. No way.""

"You have to!" Mahiru said stubbornly, as he tore off a piece of his shirt to press it against the gaping wound. "She doesn't have much time left." Those words instigated something in the girl for she suddenly grabbed Kuro's front paw, a look of pure horror written on her face. "I'm scared," she rasped. "D…don't…wa…want…to die."

Kuro looked genuinely troubled now.

"Kuro, I remember what you said about subclasses, but please…" Mahiru was on the verge of tears. The inability to help the girl was taking its toll on him. Did Kuro really expect of him to just sit there and do nothing? If the girl died, he would never be able to forgive himself. This was a scene he was all too familiar with and he knew that his heart would not be able to deal with another bad end.

"Kuro, please…if you ever even cared a second about her, then…"

Kuro shot him a glance. Mahiru swore that he could see a flash of anger in those red orbs, but it was quickly replaced again by the usual shine of boredom.

"Fine."

His soul was already ruined…there was no escape from it so why not make another mistake?

He turned into his human form and carefully pulled the girl against him. Her skin was awfully cold to the touch; a sharp contrast to the warm blood staining his hands and clothes, giving off that delicious smell. He tried to ignore it, bit back the age old desire to hurt. He was better than that…if only a little. He took over the cloth that Mahiru had used to stop the flow of the bleeding and pressed it against the girl's neck. She whimpered at the pressure and took hold of his jacket, holding on for dear life. Kuro was a bit flustered at that, but he didn't have the heart to move her hands. She looked so vulnerable…and so much in pain…it hurt him to look at her.

He brought his wrist to his mouth and bit down hard, just until he could taste his own blood. It dripped down his arm…this should be sufficient, he thought. The girl was hesitant when she was offered the blood, coughing up some of the red liquid the moment she had swallowed it.

It must taste really horrible to a human, he mused.

The girl did her best to keep it in though and soon the effects on her body began to show. The wound on her neck was healing. It became smaller with every drop of blood she swallowed. It was working. He took his wrist away, cradled her in his arms and looked into her dark blue eyes for what would be the last time.

"Go to sleep. You'll feel better when you wake up." The girl did as she was told; almost instantly sinking away in a deep sleep.

Mahiru, who had been watching the whole scene in utter silence and who had worry written all over his face, finally found the courage to break the silence. "Is she going to be okay?"

"If with okay you mean she's going to wake up as a vampire, then yes. She'll be fine," Kuro said, his voice blunt.

"Yes, well." Mahiru scratched the back of his head, not sure what else to say. "Uhm…we should take her home with us. I bet she'll be confused when she wakes up."

Kuro nodded silently, picked up the girl and carried her in his arms. As they walked home, there was no "what a pain" or "so troublesome" to be heard. The vampire did not complain, nor did he utter anything else that could be considered a word or sound. He followed behind Mahiru, who had decided to remain silent as well. It wasn't like him to stay quiet, but he felt that Kuro, who wasn't very talkative to begin with, didn't want to talk right now. In the deafening silence, Mahiru was at the mercy of his own thoughts, running at an unseen speed towards a faraway place full of worry. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't happy the girl had been saved. Vampire or not…he was relieved to know that she would live to see another day.

But Kuro seemed to think otherwise. Why wasn't he happy about it? That question bothered the Eve to no ends; the more he mulled it over, the farther away he seemed from an answer. Perhaps he had been wrong in asking to change her after all?

Notes from the author

Hi there! I'm Moonwolflove. Thanks for reading this first chapter of my new fanfic. It's been a long time since I last wrote something on and after reading the servamp manga (+ watching that gorgeous anime) I just couldn't help myself. I had to write a story about it. I do hope you like it so far (since I'm having one hell of a time writing it). As for now the story will focus on the girl and the two boys, but it will follow the anime/manga later on.

I'll do my best to keep the characters in character...and to give some depth to the girl (since I really don't want her to be Mary Sue-ish).
Extra note: my native language isn't English (even though I would want it to be) so you might find some (even more than some) grammatical/ spelling mistakes in my work. Bear with me, please!