Part 2

I met Takeo in a club at the night when he was

murdered.

But before I started telling you what had actually

happened. Let me get back to the time when I ran into

Takeo on a main street. It was where the whole thing

really started.

Takeo and my older brother Kirito used to be close

friends back into the time when we were still living

in our hometown. And since Takeo and my brother were

friends, so naturally enough I had became his friend

as well shortly afterward. Our friendship remained

till Takeo moved away from town and I guessed it was

just quite natural for us to lose contact with him as

time past by. Then another couple of years later, my

family too had moved away from our hometown. Our

chance of meeting old friends from the past seemed to

get even thinner. So when I ran into Takeo on the

street again by chance, it was really hard to believe

that sometime the world can be so small.

Nevertheless, after cheering each other and a few

long-time-no-see conversations, the two of us decided

to go into a bar nearby and in order to have a

gathering for the two of us together. To have a couple

of drink and some good time together, that kind of

usual things...

But of course the event didn't turn out that way

eventually...

There was one thing that I had to point out before I

continued; being couple of years my senior, Takeo and

I weren't terribly close to each other, at least not

as close as he and Kirito had got to be. To sum up, he

was more my brother's friend than mine. But still I

dared say I *know* this man because the three of us

had spent a long period of time together, so shortly

after we had seated together in the club and exchanged

some conversations, I started to notice something was

wrong with Takeo...and soon it began to trouble me.

People used to say being in different condition could

change a man into a different person, but I never knew

that such change could be so..astonishing. When I

looked up to Takeo that night, I could hardly link him

to the person whom I had known of for so many years

back then!

It was hard for me to put this feeling into words, but

the more I study Takeo and the way he acted, the more

I could be sure of one thing abut him...

Takeo wasn't the same old Takeo anymore.

It was such a strange thing to say because judging by

his appearance; he didn't have much change but now

every time I laid my eyes on him long enough, I

couldn't stop noticing how hollow and sad he looked

to me as if something important inside of him had gone

forever.

During the next half an hour in the club, I tried to

make *real* conversations with my old friend without

much success, Takeo seemed to be very "out there"¨,

almost like he was sleep-walking and talking with his

eyes opened.

Finally I had to give up trying; I decided that if

Takeo didn't want a talk, I should stop bugging

around so we could enjoy our drinks in peace. Even

though I couldn't stop wondering whether Takeo would

be more willing to open himself up a little if Kirito

was there. Damn, things would be a bit easier if he

had answered my call that night.

When our glasses were almost empty, Takeo stood up and

told me he would go to the bartender for a few more

drinks. I nodded and saw him off before sitting back

to my seat. Out of boredom, I started watching the

crowd while waiting for Takeo to return. I still hoped

that maybe he would be more willing to talk about

himself after we had more drinks together.

But the problem was, he never did return to our table,

when I glared out to the dance floor, suddenly I found

Takeo once again, standing in the middle of the

dancing crowd. But it was clear that he had forgotten

all about our drinks, and he wasn't dancing either.

Instead he stood still in the crowd with a blonde hair

youth whom I had every seen before. I failed to see

the face of this stranger but I could see that Takeo

was looking at him with adoration.

Now things were getting even more complex and

senseless for me to handle and I was clueless to

figure what was going on. It seemed that the two were

exchanging some conversations. But it was strange to

exchange conversations in the middle of the dance

floor, and I also tell that some of the dancing people

out there had the same thought as mine because quite a

number of them had stopped dancing then peer. So maybe

I should move to Takeo's side to remind him this.

Bad luck for both Takeo and I, the dance floor was

began to get even more crowded as people danced even

more wildly, losing in the loud music. Therefore by

the time I got to the dance floor, Takeo and the

stranger were nowhere to be seen.

I frowned, my worry dept, how come Takeo left me here

so suddenly with someone else as if he had completely

forgotten my existence! To my knowledge, Takeo

wouldn't treat his friends like this, so something

must be wrong...

I hurried to the front door as quick as I could. I

looked out to the main street outside but it was

empty. Where was Takeo? I thought furiously to myself

and began to search for my friend¡K

Comparing to the crowed noisy club, the street seemed

so eerily empty and quiet, quiet enough for me to hear

some noise on the side of the building, it sounded

like two people talking to each other...

Then I recognized one of the voices, Takeo.

The voice came out from an alley besides the building,

I heard Takeo whispering something to a person unknown

to me; and I¡¦d never heard him sounding so lost and

pitiful before, what happened to him actually? And

whom was he having conversations with?

Still unable to decide whether I should walk in the

alley and interrupt the two, I heard the other unknown

man whispered something back to Takeo, and the latter

exclaimed immediately and replied something that too

abrupt and fast for me to catch up...

At that point I could hold back my curiosity no

longer, so I took a few steps forward, peering into

the alley to see what was going on.

So I saw it happened, I witnessed the moment Takeo

being murdered.

First all I could make out clearly was Takeo, second

later I found a smaller figure standing in front of

him with something shape in one of his hands, then he

slipped this object through Takeo's throat and blood

came out slowly.

The most horrible thing was, Takeo really didn't

awake of what did the smaller one mean to do to him,

all he knew at this moment was his lover's eyes on

him, and he was blessed with joy.

Expecting everything but *this*, I was horrified and

was frozen in my position immediately, watching

helplessly as the blonde took hold of Takeo and drank

from his throat.

First Takeo¡¦s body tensed slightly against the

blonde's but slowly his limbs went numb; then fell

peacefully still into the latter's arms like he was

falling for a loving embrace from his lover.

Finally, as if sensing the presence of another being

by instant, this monster in a form of a young boy

loosed himself from Takeo, looking up to my direction,

then my stunned, widen eyes met with his and I frozen

ever further as if being drowned into the dept of the

icy ocean.

It was when the realization hit me. He isn¡¦t a human,

what I'm gazing at can¡¦t be a human being, this

creature is something inhuman, immortal...some unknown

beast from the nightmare...just like...just like...

Vampire?

This inhuman creature, he was fixing his eyes on me,

studying me silently. Those eyes of his shone with

blood red flash within them, absolutely intoxicative

to look at with their own gloomy deadly way.

Funny that I could still notice things like these when

I was facing this moment of horror.

In the back of my dysfunctional mind I *knew* that

this creature could recognize my face even I was

standing against the streetlamp light, my face half

hidden away in the shade. He say nothing, stood

motionlessly still like a statue inside the alley,

staring out at me.

I couldn't guess what he was going to do to me. And I

couldn't see there was much chance for me to flee if

he decided to attack.

To be continued...

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