Enid picked her way through the overgrown remnants of the World War two shipyard. The sun streamed through the thick vegetation. There were hundreds of places in the area that could serve as a haven from the sun. This Obake had chosen wisely for a place to sleep during the day. Close enough to a city with plenty of humans, far enough away that only the adventurous might happen upon it. Likely he’d have picked someplace with a door, something that he could seal and lock. She scanned the reinforced concrete remnants. Could easily be overgrown by vines. The vegetation was quite lush and full. She glanced up at the sun. As nice as it felt on her skin it was being troublesome since her sense of smell was so inferior in sunlight. She may as well be wearing a nose plug.

Enid found a solid piece of concrete and sat down cross-legged putting Bloodseeker in her lap. She glared up at the sun. Another side effect is she could get stiff during the day. Her muscles would ache. Night would come soon. She could feel the day losing its power over her. She watched the sun sink below the ocean. She stood up and pulled the shadows around herself and waited. If he was a vampire, he would wake soon and smell her on his territory. He’d start patrolling. Vampires were nothing if not predictable. So, she waited.

She heard the creak of rusty hinges somewhere in the ruins. She could smell him now. His scent was something different. Not Pugmentia, not Imperial. She could smell the blood on him. He was vampire.

Cursed.

She slipped through the shadows. She found him he was using his own version of the shadow powers, but he wasn’t powerful enough to block her senses. She watched him looking around the shipyard. Tracing her steps. He was non-descript. A grey man. You could see him on the street and probably not even notice you passed him. He was wearing a t-shirt and jogging pants and runners. After half an hour he gave up his search. He returned to his home. Enid saw racks of clothes inside, men’s, women’s, uniforms. It looked dry enough and comfortable enough. There was a hinged crate covered in black out fabric.

Sleeps there.

There was a wooden desk, that looked like it survived World War Two. Old maps shipping maps on the walls, perhaps decoration. He sat on a cot. There was a worn patch on it, otherwise it looked unused. He started working with a knife and some wood. Deeper in on some old, rusted steel shelves she saw row after row of wooden figurine. He had a golden pocket watch which he kept checking. At nine pm he stood up and went to the mirror and started adjusting his face and hair. She watched as he made himself into a rather attractive woman. She quirked an eyebrow.

That’s what I need.

He, now she, started going through her clothes and picked out a dress. And got changed. Plumbing hadn’t changed just the chest and face. She continued to watch him go about his nightly rituals. He left his home and made his way through the bushes and walked down a well-worn path to the city. She watched him hunt. Seducing an unsuspecting man and drinking his blood. He then turned around and headed home. When he was outside of the city limits about halfway to the ruins of the shipyard she came out of the shadows in front of him, or her as the case was currently. He turned to bolt but was no match for Enid’s speed. She grabbed him/her and body slammed her into the ground.

“Just want to talk Obake.”

She showed her fangs. His eyes went wide, and he shrunk himself and squirreled out of her grasp and tried to flee. She was much faster than him. By the time she had found him he was wearing police uniform and looked like another man. She recognized his scent immediately.

“Just stop. You can’t outrun me, and you can’t hide. I just want to talk.”

He started to run again. Enid sighed and followed again. Apparently, he could alter his form, but he couldn’t alter his scent. She was able to track him easily. She didn’t bother wasting blood keeping up. When she finally caught up with him, he was hiding in an abandoned medical clinic. At the edge of the abandoned shipyard. He was in the ceiling. She jumped up and grabbed him and yanked him down.

“Stop running. You can’t get away. I’m getting annoyed.”

She raised an eyebrow when she saw him sprawled on the ground. He now looked like her. And had his hands up. The look on his face was one of terror. She’d seen it many times before. Not on her face of course. Enid drew Bloodseeker and put it to his throat. His skin started sizzle at the touch of the silver.

“Okay take my face off. I know how bad I look.”

He shook himself and reverted to his original non-descript appearance. Enid pulled Bloodseeker away from his throat. The skin was black and raw. Silver seemed to be worse for him then Pugmentia. That was the thing with the cursed you could never be sure what their vulnerabilities were. They all shared two traits, they drank blood, and the sun hurt them. Symbols of purity would often harm them; Silver was considered pure so was usually a safe bet. They could manifest powers that hadn’t been seen before. Like the shape changing.

“What do you want?”

“For you to teach me how to change my face.”

“You can’t change your face?”

“No, I can do lots of other things though, I’m willing to trade.”

She stepped back and put Bloodseeker away.

“You’re like me?”

“Not exactly, I’m a different kind of vampire. There are a few types.”

“If you teach me about vampires, I will share what I know.”

“Shall we go back to your home and discuss?”

Enid offered her hand to help him up. He took it and she pulled him up. The pair returned to his home silently. He hurriedly cleaned off an old office chair for her.

“You said I am a vampire?”

“Yes, you are a vampire, I’m guessing you didn’t know what you were, or what happened to you.”

He nodded.

“Well, you become a vampire in one of two ways, someone drains you of your blood and feeds you some of theirs, or you go and get yourself cursed somehow. Sometimes you can make more of yourself, sometimes you can’t.”

“Cursed?”

“Yes, you aren’t an Imperial like me, and you aren’t a Pugmentia, so you are one of the cursed. Or were turned by one of the cursed. Based on the fact you have no idea what you are, I’m thinking its that you are one of the cursed. Made any deals with dark powers? Piss anyone off? Had a moment of monumental anger? Cowardice that killed a large group of people?”

He thought for a bit. Then his eyes went a bit wider. Enid nodded.

“I was an assassin. I killed a samurai for the Emperor. He was instigating a rebellion. His wife swore I would never rest.”

“Cursed by a mourning loved one.”

“Can I undo it?”

“You’d have to get her to remove it or ask for it to be removed. But it sounds like this happened a long time ago. So, she’s probably dead. But I have bad news, you’re technically a walking corpse. If the curse is removed, you will die.”

He looked down.

“I killed her in my rage. Once I found out I couldn’t go in the sun. I thought she had cursed me I demanded she remove the curse. I threatened her children. She laughed at me. I lost my temper and killed her and the children.”

He looked up at Enid.

“You could kill me!”

“Technically I could but you’d probably just become a revenant, or ghost. Curses have real power. If she cursed you to never rest, you never will.”

“If I am cursed why do I have powers like shape changing, and I can turn invisible.”

“The universe is balance. You can’t take something away without giving back. By cursing you she made you thirst for blood, took the sun away from you. In exchange you got power.”

“Is there no away I can be freed?”

“Not that I am aware of. I have never been skilled in necromancy. I am sorry.”

“But you could learn how?”

“Technically yes, but I have no one to teach me, and to tomes I have are too complex for me to the understand without a tutor. Trust me I have tried for several hundred years.”

“Maybe I can use them to learn?”

“You would not be able to understand them. Nor are you capable of channeling the energies involved. You would destroy your physical form and put yourself in a way worse predicament.”

“There is no hope?”

“Just because I called you cursed doesn’t mean you are doomed. Being a vampire is a gift. You will see the rise and fall of human empires. You are not bound by human limitations or laws. I have lived for two thousand years. Once you are old enough to control yourself, you can associate with humans in a limited fashion. You of all of us is probably the best at that you can take and shed new identities. You only have our laws to follow. Keep our existence safe from humans and don’t kill other vampires.”

He nodded.

“I am lonely. I used to shun human interactions. Now I only wish to be part of the world.”

“I was lonely too; It is not a good place to be. There are other vampires in Japan. We have had interactions. You could seek them out. You would be among peers. They’re Pugmentia but they won’t know you’re not. They don’t have my experience they don’t know there are different types of vampires”

“Would they accept me?”

“Yes, just tell them the Mother Blood Goddess sent you. They’ll fall over themselves to make you feel accepted.”

“Is that what you are?”

“No, I’m just a really old vampire so I have accumulated a lot of power. I’ve only made fourteen vampires in my time.”

“How do you make others?”

“I told you, drain them of blood and feed them yours. But you might not be able too, it depends on the nature of your curse. Which is impossible to know without seeing the original text, or hearing it spoken.”

“So, you killed them all before you turned them.”

Enid nodded.

“They all asked me to do it, I would never make someone a vampire without their approval.”

He nodded.

“Once you make a vampire, they become your responsibility. Their crimes become yours. It is the way it has been since the dawn of time. It’s like having a child, only they could live for thousands of years. Turning someone against their will is basically making yourself an eternal nemesis. One of you will die in the end. Even when they are willing, they become family, and there is no hate that can spawn like family who feel like they’ve been betrayed.”

“Then why did you make so many?”

“I’m what the Pugmentia call a Reaper. I kill vampires who break the law, and cover up their crimes from the humans, or I used to. Now I have a different job, but there is a special talent to be a Seer, which is what we call ourselves. When I found someone with the gift, I offered them immortality and, in some cases, eternal beauty. In exchange I turned them into hunters. A crime I still have not forgiven myself for. In only one case did I do so out of love, and she is my daughter birthed from my womb. I am not saying do not turn others, I’m just saying be careful with your choice it is one you have to live with for a very long time. I do not regret my daughter. She is the one thing that has preserved my humanity over the centuries.”

“What is a Pugmentia?”

“Roman slang for impure vampires. You see my father, the progenitor of all turned vampires, he was self-created. We are different, we’re free of corruption. Pure bloods so to speak. The Pugmentia are a corruption of his pure blood. Mixed with dark magic and someone’s lust to have children that she could never birth from her own womb. A selfish act that has spawned a plague of impure vampires on this would. They are many, but they are weak. Cursed ones, like yourself have more potential than they do. And Pure bloods, imperial vampires like myself, we have infinite potential. We’re referred to as godlings. The youngest of us is six hundred years old. Most are far older, thousands of years old. We don’t make many spawn. My father believes it thins the blood. Or believed before he passed on.”

“What do they call themselves?”

“Depends on which one you ask, the old ones who remember their origins refer to themselves as the Children of Lilith, those who don’t vampire, the cabal, the cartel, the organization. Whatever makes them feel better about being blood-sucking monsters.”

“You don’t think much of them, do you?”

“I’ve spent two thousand years cleaning up their messes. They make new vampires like rabbits’ breed. They don’t teach them well enough and then the Seers clean up their mess. But they are vampires and that makes them more suitable for friends then humans.”

He nodded. Enid looked around the room.

“How old are you Obake? The last Samurai rebellion was in eighteen seventy-seven. So I’m guessing at least one hundred years ago.”

“It was that rebellion that resulted in my curse. You know much of Japanese history.”

“Not as much as I would like.”

He nodded.

“You would like to learn my ability to change my face?”

“Yes, very much so, I have been more active in the human world and being stuck looking like this makes it difficult to shed identities.”

“I think it is an extension of my skills of disguise when I was human. How do I teach you?”

“You share blood with me, and I use that to access the power and infuse it into my body. It is customary to exchange abilities when one is doing this. You would share your blood and I will learn what it is to shape-change, and you would share my blood to learn a gift I have that you would like to unlock. I know how to make myself stronger, faster, more durable. I have superior senses. The ability to cloud and control the mind of weaker creatures, speaking to animals, cloak myself in shadows, force lesser minds to overlook my presence. There are other gifts, but you may not be able to use them, altering the flow of time, flight, telekinesis, ancient magic. They are old powers, older than the universe.”

“What is telekinesis?”

Enid reached up her hand and the wooden figurine that lay discarded beside him on his cot flew to her hand. She held up the figure. Obake’s eyes went wide.

“You could teach me this?”

“Perhaps, if you’ve the power in your blood. It took me centuries to master it. And as with all things we do it drains essence from our blood that we must replenish by drinking humans. It is a very costly gift and needs to be used sparingly. I try to avoid it. Other gifts are more useful and cost nothing. What would you like in exchange for your knowledge of shape-changing?”

“I would like to influence people’s minds.”

“Then a bargain is struck, and we will seal it in blood.”

She bit her wrist and motioned him to do the same.

“To transfer the essence of the power we must drink from each other.”

She offered her wrist, he offered his. Enid drank the offered blood and he drank hers. His blood was pure, almost like an imperial. Pugmentia’s while powerful tasted like it was tainted. He finished and looked like he’d just drank three coffees.

“Your blood tastes like…”

“Like you just drank from the fountain of youth?”

“Like life itself.”

Enid nodded.

“My father was the first vampire, and I am two thousand years old. Our blood gains strength as we age, and he was hundreds of thousands of years old. Mine is very potent. Shall we exchange gifts now? I have a human friend who is going to be wondering where I am, so my time grows short.”

He nodded.