Moon's Murderers: Chapter 06

Moon's Murderers: Chapter 06

The sound of keys jingle for a bit before a door got opened. Three figures fumbled through the door shortly afterwards - correctly, one figure was stumbling while two other figures fumbled. Once these three figures made it through the door, one of them immediately closed and locked the door to the apartment. Another figure merely threw her purse onto the couch and her keys onto the kitchen's counter.

"Ugh."

"Ugh."

"Mmhmsfffff." A few more minutes later, the lights to one of the bedroom got turned on.

"On three...one, two, three!" shouted one of the figures and two of the figures basically threw the third figure onto a queen-sized bed.

"And here I thought vampires don't get drunk," muttered one figure as they both walked out of the room and closed the door. The figure besides her merely rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen. She pulled out a wine glass and poured herself a glass of red wine.

"Haven't you drank enough at the bar?"

"Chill out, Betha," she responded.

"That's exactly what Rikku told me before she got drunk," retorted Betha, looking at Hotaru with one hand on her waist - you know, that "mother" look. Hotaru stared at Betha with a blank look for about a minute or two before walking past her and heading towards the balcony. Glass doors slid open just as they had done last night. The breeze rushed past Hotaru's form and into the apartment living room. Hotaru closed her eyes briefly before stepping outside onto the balcony. Betha followed her onto the balcony, slid the glass doors shut, and took a seat in one of the chairs. Hotaru leaned next to the metal railing while taking a sip of her wine.

"You really need to stop drinking so much," commented Betha as she looked up at the night sky. The stars twinkled brightly, glowing with a beautiful angelic aura.

"Vampires don't get drunk, Betha," responded Hotaru. Her eyes were closed as she focused on the breeze that rushed past her.

"Then explain Rikku." Hotaru looked at Betha and gave her a funny look that says, "You nuts?"

"Betha...Rikku had about ten bottles of Vodka, five bottles of Brandi, a few cocktail drinks, about three bottles of Scottish Whisky, and a few other alcoholic beverages here and there. We may be vampires and we may have a whole lot of immunity towards alcohol but we, like humans, have a limit. And apparently, Rikku crossed that limit by the time she was downing her five bottles of Brandi after the Vodka. I'm surprised no one said anything when she ordered that many ..."

"Too bad vampires aren't immune to human emotions eh?" asked Betha but Betha wasn't looking at Hotaru when she said that. Hotaru looked at Betha and blinked - something inside of Hotaru churned. She turned around to look at the city lights. She didn't say a single word because she had nothing better to say to what Betha commented on.

"I'm right, aren't I?" asked Betha.

"Right about what? You didn't exactly say anything," replied Hotaru.

"Hota, don't act dumb."

"I'm not. I'm just being technical," responded Hotaru. Betha sighed. Betha got up from her spot and walked over to where Hotaru stood - she stood next to Hotaru but didn't look at her. She, too, looked over at the beautiful city lights.

"You want to become emotionless to avoid the pain. You want to forget about your past. You want to forget him." Hotaru took another sip of her wine and smirked.

"Read me like an open book," responded Hotaru.

"As always," said Betha. A moment of silence overcame the two before Betha got annoyed. She sighed and shook her head from side to side before taking a glance at Hotaru.

"Well?" asked Betha. Hotaru shot her a confused look.

"Well what?" asked Hotaru.

"Are you going to tell me? Or should I pry it out of you?" asked Betha.

"Tell you about what? I don't think there's much to tell," responded Hotaru.

"Has anyone ever told you that you don't know how to hide your eyes?" asked Betha.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Your eyes betray you. You know what I'm talking about. Now that I'm still here, why don't we talk about it?"

"What about you, Betha? What are you doing here so early? You don't normally come so early unless there are problems going on."

"Oh no you don't! You are NOT turning this around on me, young lady!" shouted Betha.

"Well, there goes my plan," pouted Hotaru.

"Hota ... How is he?" asked Betha. Hotaru's face became solemn as she turned away. Betha sighed for the zillionth time this night. Betha put a hand on Hotaru's shoulder as a sign of moral support.

"Awake." Betha blinked. Betha blinked again. Then she shook her head, wondering if she heard right.

"Wait. What did you just say?" asked Betha.

"He is awake," responded Hotaru.

"What do you mean by awake?" Hotaru glanced at Betha with one of those looks - you know the "wtf?" look.

"I mean he's awake. He's walking, he's talking, and he's ... just awake," responded Hotaru.

"Wasn't he in a coma? I mean, it's great that he's out of the coma but ..."

"I visited him last night and he was still deep into the coma but when I visited him this afternoon, he was awake. I'll assume he woke up sometime this morning," responded Hotaru.

"Sounds fishy," muttered Betha.

"What do you mean?"

"From what I remembered, he hasn't had any movements in the past five years. It seemed like he was in an eternal slumber - like he doesn't move."

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, most of the time when patients are close to coming out of their coma, there would be little movements or jerks in their body. Like their fingers would move or something to that subject matter."

"Are you saying that he didn't come out of the coma naturally?" asked Hotaru.

"That could be a possibility but I can't be certain. It's just a thought - I'm probably over thinking the situation so don't worry," responded Betha. Another moment of silence passed the two.

"Well, my turn is over. Your turn, Betha."

"What?" asked Betha.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean what happened?"

"Do we have to go through this all night?"

"You started it."

"Okay! Well, what's wrong?" asked Hotaru as Betha shook her head, sadness shinning within her bright orbs.

"I'm just a bit tired of my life and Russell's been bothering me so much about marriage that I just had to get away."

"Marriage? Wait! What the FUCK?" shouted Hotaru. Betha winced a little.

"Calm down. It was his idea," said Betha.

"So did he propose with rings and flowers?" asked Hotaru.

"As if he's smart enough to do something romantic," muttered Betha.

"Well then you can't reject him properly!" giggled Hotaru.

"Very funny. It seems that everyone in my family wants it except for me so I decided to visit you guys," said Betha.

"Wow, using us to escape. Thanks a lot," muttered Hotaru. Betha hugged Hotaru tightly while giggling.

"You know it's not like that!" shouted Betha. Hotaru giggled.

"Yeah, I know but you know what? You better get some sleep. You can sleep in my room since Rikku's passed out in hers. Plus, we didn't have time to clean up one of the rooms for you."

"Hey! Fine by me! You get some rest soon okay? Do you have work tomorrow?"

"I have one class to teach tomorrow," responded Hotaru.

"Well, you sleep soon," said Betha. Hotaru smiled and nodded while she watched Betha walk back into the apartment building. Hotaru turned to look at the city lights once more before thoughts consumed her mind once again.

It had been a while. It had been a long while. About six years ago, Rikku and Hotaru had met Betha on one of their trips. It was probably due to fate that they met each other. Rikku and Hotaru were taking a vacation in California and they were looking at one of the older bookstores in the city. The bookstore was fabulous - it had a vast collection of old books from different countries. That was where they bumped into each other. Betha had been looking at books about Vampires. Hotaru and Rikku couldn't help but to notice.

~Flashback

"I hope you don't expect to learn anything about vampires just from books," commented Hotaru. Betha looked up from where she was reading and came face to face with two young women.

"What do you mean?" asked Betha.

"Books are never accurate!" piped Rikku.

"How do you know?" asked Betha. Hotaru and Rikku both smiled a secret smile.

"Personal experience," responded Hotaru.

"I see. Well, I only wanted to know how vampires looked like. Hi, my name is Betha and I work as an animator. Recently there have been a few vampire fads going on and I just wanted to join in the circle - you know, makes better money when the subject is popular," explained Betha.

"I see," replied Hotaru.

"Maybe we could help," suggested Rikku.

"You?" asked Betha. The two girls nodded their heads with a smile.

~End Flashback

Hotaru smiled a little to herself as the memory flashed in her head. From then on, the three had been really good friends - often visiting each other from time to time. Of course, Betha knew that Hotaru and Rikku were vampires judging from the information that they gave. Betha, surprisingly, wasn't afraid of them at all. In fact, Betha was pretty interested in the vampire race.

A frown marred Hotaru's face as a thought struck her. The time is coming near - very near. Apparently Rikku and her have been especially requested to attend. She didn't want to - she really didn't but she can't have anyone in danger. Hilary is powerful and she will do what she can to get what she wants ... with help of course. Hotaru's hands slowly formed into fists, crushing the wine glass in her hand.

Unknown to Hotaru, she was secretly being watched by two pairs of eyes. One belonging to a mysterious man and the other pair belonged to someone she knew. The two men were shielding themselves with magic.

"Can't you see how painful she is?" asked the man.

"What's your point?" asked the other man.

"She's in pain. She's been on the balcony for several nights now. She hasn't gotten an ounce of sleep. Would you want her to continue this life?"

"You just want her to be human," responded the man. The mysterious man smirked.

"Perhaps I do but it benefits all of us, does it not? Devin, look at her. The sadness in her eyes ..."

"I'm not going to separate her from Rikku," Devin responded firmly. The man frowned for a second.

"But can't you see that her life is in ruins?"

"Take me back to the hospital." It was an order - not a request. The mysterious man almost growled but did as he was asked. In a second, Devin was back in his own hospital room. Once again, he took the same spot he was in earlier this morning - looking out the window, submerged in his own thoughts. He wanted Hotaru to be human...the man was right, it would benefit everyone. But to separate Hotaru from Rikku - that would be something that both of the girls would not stand for. Hotaru would rather give up her life than to be separated from Rikku. This was all so hard and confusing. He wanted to be selfish - maybe just this once. Just once. Just once...

~

"I was so CLOSE!" shouted a man as he sat down on a throne. Yes, a throne. A woman with blond hair walked into the room and raised her eyebrow.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Hilary. Good. Did you get an answer from Aisu?"

"She's going to come," Hilary responded.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked. Hilary smirked.

"Because I know her weakness. Besides, I don't get it. Why do you want Aisu to become a human? And even if that does benefits us all, but why have her separated from Rikku? I mean, you want her to come, don't you?"

"Ah Hilary ... so little do you know. See, if Devin did something as stupid as agreeing to separate her and Rikku, what do you think she would do?" asked the man.

"Yell at him?" asked Hilary.

"She might lose control for a second and that is what we want. We want her to lose control and we'll use that - control that. We lost our chance five years ago but we won't lose it this time."

"You are a genius," Hilary commented.

"Of course. I will be the one to resurrect our Queen after all."

"Do you think she'll be ready?"

"She'll be ready whether or not she likes it. Now leave me, I must rest." Hilary bowed, turned around, and walked out.

~

A big scream echoed through the apartment building at noon. A clang was heard after the big scream.

"Shit. My lunch..."

"OH MY GOD! IT'S NOON!"

A blurry figure rushed out of the room and into the bathroom. Noises of water was heard, a few "ow," and a bunch of other bumping noises - probably due to the fact that stuff were dropped. Either that or the certain someone is bumping into walls. The blurry figure rushed out of the bathroom and into her room about ten minutes later. All the while, Betha stood and watched the beautiful display of Hurricane Rikku.

"You know Rikku, Hota already called in sick for you." And everything stopped. No sounds, no crashes, no busy bees ...

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME EARLIER BEFORE I HIT MY HEAD IN THE BATHROOM?" shouted Rikku with her eyes wide open.

"Because this is entertaining..." laughed Betha as she walked back into the kitchen to fix her lunch all over again.

"..."