The Taste of Blood
When Eryk opened his eyes, he found himself lying on a bed. The metallic tang in his mouth. As the memory of that taste slowly returned, I bolted upright on the mattress.
“…Lieutenant Colonel.”
“You’re awake?”
Eryk stared at me, his face twisted into a deep frown. A towel was pressed against his neck. The wound wasn’t large enough for heavy bleeding, but it still needed tending.
“…You filthy bitch.”
His eyes carried a strange mix of sorrow and bitterness as he spoke.
“How dare you drink your superior’s blood?”
With those words, he hurled the blood-stained towel at me. I couldn’t find a single thing to say in return.
“…I’m… sorry.”
“From now on, make sure you drink blood on a proper schedule.”
Eryk grabbed my chin and lifted it, clicking his tongue in disapproval.
“We can’t have your disgusting nature exposed anywhere, can we?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“……Can you still work?”
I nodded silently at his question.
“……”
Eryk simply stared at me without a word. I tilted my head, looking up at him.
“…Does it not bother you at all that I’m treating you this way?”
“If I said it bothered me, would you stop?”
When I asked that, Eryk’s brow furrowed even deeper. I turned my gaze toward the window.
“…Then it’s fine.”
“Why are you always so expressionless?”
“……”
To survive, I couldn’t show any emotion. I couldn’t waver, couldn’t rejoice, couldn’t grieve. Hiding my expressions, concealing myself—that was the survival strategy I had chosen.
“…It’s a survival strategy. To stay alive on either side. No matter where I go, I’m always the weak one.”
Valentine had been driven out of the Vampire Kingdom and was persecuted in the Empire. Between those two worlds, the method I chose was to remain expressionless. Reveal nothing. Hide everything. That had become my way of life.
“I see.”
Eryk nodded, then tossed out a single blunt remark.
“…Disgusting.”
With that, he rose from his seat and walked out. I stared at his retreating back for a long time.
…Son of a bitch.
It was wrong to drink his blood, but did he really need to treat me like this? Thinking that, I crawled back under the blanket. That was when I realized something.
“…His blood… it wasn’t disgusting.”
The taste of Eryk’s blood in my memory hadn’t been repulsive at all. It carried a pleasant scent, almost like a warm embrace.
“Crazy… what the hell am I saying? Like some insane vampire…”
I muttered to myself and burrowed deeper into the covers.
The dark office smelled of freshly built walls. Rain pattered against the windows—tap, tap—making the room even gloomier.
—BANG!!!
Eryk slammed his fist down on his desk. What on earth had he done? Rage surged through him.
“…Giving blood to a vampire… and even letting her lie down in the infirmary…? Eryk, you’ve truly lost your mind.”
He absently touched the wound on his neck, which still throbbed. The day his family was massacred flashed before his eyes. Vampires gleefully tearing his loved ones apart with weapons and drinking their blood. The scene that had traumatized him as a child replayed once more.
The moment a vampire, pretending to be dead, had sunk its teeth into his neck was vivid. He had felt that same skin-crawling sensation again today. There was only one difference.
…I’m sorry… I’m sorry…
…It’s disgusting… please help me… it’s too, too disgusting…
Lieutenant Colonel, not your blood… I… I’m the one who’s disgusting…
Valentine had kept muttering those words while drinking. Even as she fed, her cold tears had continued to fall onto his neck and shoulder.
I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…
I’ve committed too many sins… I can’t go back…
I want to live… I don’t want to die…
Because of that, he had ended up feeling pity for a vampire—of all things, that filthy race. That fact weighed heavily on Eryk’s chest. He couldn’t simply hate her anymore. Pity… or some emotion he couldn’t even name, kept rising inside him.
After all, she was a woman with a tiny frame. Valentine was unusually short—perhaps because she hadn’t received proper nutrition since childhood. Remembering that, Eryk felt a flicker of something that might have been sympathy.
“Haa… I really have gone mad from this war.”
Muttering to himself, Eryk thought of Valentine and gazed out the rain-streaked window.
“…I couldn’t kill her.”
Even when the vampire collapsed right in front of him, he hadn’t been able to finish her. When she bit him, he hadn’t pushed her away. She had been completely defenseless.
As he muttered, Eryk reached for a cigarette—one he rarely smoked but kept anyway.
“Ah.”
But he soon remembered that Valentine had taken those cigarettes from him not long ago.
“Haa……”
Sighing, Eryk opened the window. He was watching the steady drizzle when—
—Creak.
“Loyalty. I have returned.”
“……”
Valentine, her face gaunt, staggered into the room. She collapsed into a chair, breathing harshly. Eryk knew well that drinking blood didn’t instantly restore her strength.
…Right now…
Though he feared the backlash from the nobles and the imperial family, if he could just kill this vampire—Eryk was willing to bear it all. The last remaining vampire had to be erased from the world. As his instincts whispered that to him—
“…I’m sorry. I’ve caused you trouble.”
Valentine murmured, her face still completely expressionless.
“But… it will be fine from now on. This… was the only time.”
With those words, she lowered her head and returned to her work. Watching her, Eryk—
“……”
couldn’t say a single thing. It was unpleasant. Insanely unpleasant. Just seeing Valentine made his chest burn with discomfort. Yes, ever since the day she first received her commission. From the very first moment he laid eyes on her.
“…Why do you push yourself that far?”
It had been painful to watch such a frail body struggle. Every time he heard of her accumulating achievements, every time she snatched away the most grueling tasks from him—it had felt pitiful. And that pity made him uncomfortable. She seemed like someone who needed protection.
Then, when he accidentally discovered her using blood magic, that discomfort had doubled. It explained why she usually looked so weak. Why she suddenly became strong only on the battlefield. So he had asked her. Why she pushed herself so hard. Why she rolled across battlefields and took every beating with that delicate body.
“…Mind your own business.”
But the answer that came back was ice-cold. Unpleasant.
…It’s not because she’s a vampire that I feel this way.
Only now did Eryk realize the truth. He frowned.
“…How arrogant. Do you not realize I’m turning a blind eye to the fact that you’re a vampire?”
“I know. I know you’re only staying silent because you have no choice due to pressure.”
“……”
That wasn’t it. Eryk wanted to say so. He could kill her anytime he wished. It was just that… it bothered him. The way she threw herself across battlefields with that frail body. The way she had joined the military. The way she endured bloodlust, endured death, just to survive among humans.
“…Major Valentine, you……”
“Please be quiet… I’m grateful for your help, but please don’t interfere any further.”
Without even glancing at him, Valentine spoke as she organized the documents.
“…Please. I beg you.”
She bit her lip as she said it. Eryk remained silent, watching her. The look in Valentine’s eyes was clearly displeased. Seeing that expression, Eryk let out a helpless laugh.
“…Haa……”
Evening had come. Back in the dormitory, I sat at the dining table. I was exhausted.
“…What the hell is with that guy Eryk, always picking fights?”
My superior kept provoking me. Because I drank his blood, he kept trying to lord it over me.
You filthy bitch…
Can’t you even do this one thing right?
…Tsk, I should have killed something like you earlier.
He couldn’t even stab me properly anyway, so it was all so ridiculous that I just played along half-heartedly.
—Click, click!
I lit the lighter that was almost out of fuel and put a cigarette between my lips.
“…Only two left.”
Somehow, only two cigarettes remained. I put one in my mouth and began preparing food.
“Huuup… Haa……”
I took a drag and exhaled. My head felt a little clearer. I drizzled pig blood I’d bought from the butcher over the food. Pouring blood over my favorite grilled pork—how ridiculous. It diluted both the flavor and the blood’s effect, but it was still better than drinking pig blood straight.
After forcing the meal down while suppressing my nausea, I smoked the cigarette.
“Huuuup… Haaaa……”
I inhaled deeply, trying to wash away the disgusting taste of blood still lingering in my mouth.
“…I survived.”
Muttering that, I took off my clothes and headed to the bathroom. My somewhat dry body reflected in the mirror. It had been five years, and my figure wasn’t particularly attractive anyway, so no strange thoughts came to mind.
“…I wish I were a bit taller.”
That was all I thought. I sighed and sank into the bathtub filled with water.
“Eryk’s blood… for the first time, it wasn’t disgusting.”
As I submerged myself in the warm bathwater, a rather embarrassing thought crossed my mind.
“…I wish I could drink it again.”
Well, there was no one around to hear it, so it didn’t matter.
I was exhausted. Even after drinking blood, this was the most draining day I’d ever had. I put the last of the lieutenant colonel’s cigarettes in my mouth and lit it. The hazy smoke filled my lungs and left again. Feeling a slight buzz in my head, I lay down on the bed.
Today, as always, I placed my hand over my left breast. Thump, thump. My small heart comforted me once again.
“…Good work, Valentine.”
I whispered to myself and pulled the blanket up. And just like that, I fell into a deep sleep that night. After all, I had to wake up early again tomorrow.
Today, too, I had survived.