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There could have been many reasons why Ochako’s parents sent her to this place ; she could have fallen victim to heresy or impulses of perverse nature, succumbed to hysteria like so many other girls and women of the community or even became manic but what had led her to this institution was the lack of money coming to the house that kept growing and putting her younger siblings’ lives in danger. 

Ochako couldn’t blame her parents for selling her off to the Director of this institution as a well-mannered maid who wouldn’t mind cleaning up after the most disgusting of patients and ill-living. In a way, she was glad to have helped them and her siblings as much as someone like her - someone with no talents or predispositioned skill for anything - could. However, that did not make the place appear more welcoming.

The House of the Ninth was an austere edifice. The imposing building had been imagined by an eminent architect who intended for it to become his magnum opus and who had died over the sketches he had been pouring all of his life over - the details of the architecture were blurry and fleeting as the architect hadn’t been able to finish drawing them. To her, the building conveyed nothing more than a cold sense of foreboding as the madness of its creator ran down its walls in waves and consumed all of its inhabitants. The House looked hungry ; as if her creator hadn’t been enough to satisfy her appetite. 

Even as it was turned into a hospital for mentally unwell individuals soon after the completion of the construction, the House of the Ninth never gained this distinct shine of hope to cure and help that was given to other hospitals ; it remained cold and uncharitable in its magnificence. Even its adage seemed obsolete despite its meaning as it stood carved in grey stone above the main entrance: “Bene diagnoscitur, bene curatur.” A disease known is half cured. It seemed ill-fitted for the place who had imprisoned its own creator in its walls. 

Ochako wouldn’t dare speak any of this outloud of course. She knew better than to attract the ire of the Director or the matriarch in charge of both the maid and nurse staff - if she was chastised and dismissed, she would be the shame of her family and Ochako couldn’t let her that be so she held her tongue. 

Ochako’s tasks around the House, if tedious, were still relatively simple. She was called upon by nurses when patients wrecked their room, injured themselves or someone else or lacked the capacity to go to the toilet by themselves and, as the nurses took care of taking the convalescents away, she had to clean up after them and get rid of the mess. 

The number of patients in the House was relatively high and every maid like her was assigned to a different area. Along the course of her second day, Ochako learned that she had been assigned to the area where the most difficult and dangerous patients were kept ; she wasn’t specifically surprised by this as her parents had insisted she could manage it. 

Still, it made a shiver run down her spine at the idea of crossing paths with the ruthless and unyielding insanity in their gaze. She kept her eyes down when she walked in front of the bedrooms and refused to lock eyes with the patients, even those who stared at her with morbid curiosity to try and decipher who the new and unknown face was. Fortunately, maids never had to engage with patients and Ochako had only ever stayed a safe distance away from them. 

In a distant echo, she heard that the left wing of the House where those difficult patients were kept had been surnamed “The Dungeon” by some of the other nurses. When Ochako asked the matriarch of the House why, she had obscurely answered it was because “nothing is more frightening and damnable than what festers in the Dungeon.”  

Despite its reputation, the Dungeon was the emptiest wing of the House where a humble number of patients whose minds refused to get better were placed. Patients were long-time ones, people who had been there for years and would be there for the many years to come. Ochako sometimes felt pity for them, cloistered beyond those thick stone walls, not fit to appear in society and cursed to remain here as the breathing phantoms of the House. 

Only senior nurses were put in charge of the left wing, hardened by the years of taking care of the needy and the pathetic and no longer sensitive to the venomous tongues of the ill-minded and the sharpness of their nails. But even the most well-polished of knives would break under the bulky burden of their responsibilities, something that Ochako came to understand as she cleaned up the spilled blood of a nurse that tried to cut herself later that very first week, her hands stained pink with the mix of fluid and water. 

In the same breath of that first realization, Ochako began to understand why other maids avoided her when she came to rest in the dormitories. 

They must think that she was a walking bad omen like all of those who marched into the left wing of the House of the Ninth. She had heard of the rumours that said anyone who ever entered in the left wing would never come back out as the place slowly breeds insanity into their heads like a plague and they all slowly lose themselves in the depths of the left wing. Nurse and maid uniforms then melt into patient attire as they too were cursed to forever stay beyond those walls and so on does the circle of sin continue. Recently hired maids refused to work in the left wing and even nurses willing to step foot in the left wing were rare. 

The nurse in question, bandaged up and put to bed rest, was placed into one of the available rooms of the left wing that same evening, no longer responsive to any of her former colleagues’ pleas to pull herself together. 

Despite refraining from close contact with the patients and staying in her lane until one of the nurses requested her labour, Ochako came to know a lot about the patients living in the left wing of the House of the Ninth. After all, mad people didn’t care about who was around to hear their business nor did they particularly mind their volumes. 

The more restless ones quickly ingrained themselves into her daily routine as the aftermath of their agitation often became Ochako’s responsibility. 

A particular set of individuals that often were in the centre of the mess were the twins of room 008 and 010. They always fight each other in a never-ending tussle in order to find out which of them was real and which of them was a clone. They often injured themselves, fists and kicks flying around in the common room whenever they seemed to notice the other. Ochako sometimes wondered how come they both remembered who was Bubaigawara Jin but never seemed to recollect about the existence of his twin brother, Jun ; but there was no logical explanation to be found in the irrationality of the left wing’s patients. 

Another unruly patient was the white-haired woman who had accidentally set her kitchen on fire and burned alive her children. She claimed to be haunted by the ghosts of her children who would visit her at night and chant accusations of murdering them in her ears. She was often subject to bounds of hysteria, screaming in fright, clawing at her arms and attempting to scratch out her own face. As she was sedated and led to compose herself in solitary confinement, Ochako regularly had to clean the porcelain of her fallen teacups. 

There were more patients causing different degrees of disturbances inside of the left wing, like those who would attempt to harm their caretakers. Those incidents were rarer than erratic delirium and frenzy but Ochako still had to become adept at cleaning up the blood spills of injured nurses from the cold stone floor. 

Not all patients were this rowdy. Some were surprisingly calm, if sometimes a bit apathetic. One of them was a man who had lost his sleep when he was still a teenager and no longer seemed to be able to fall asleep, his mind deteriorating as time passed and rest continued to escape him. He was uncaring about most things, although he seemed fond of cats. He often had hallucinations but never seemed inclined to share them with his caretaker, preferring to stay silent. Perhaps he had already reached the state of being rendered completely speechless but someone had yet to voice that possibility. 

Another patient with ivory-coloured hair kept staring at walls vacantly, simply waiting for time to pass from dawn to dusk. From what was said about him, he was a witness to the horrifying murders of his family by thieves as a young child. Now older than Ochako by a few years, he firmly denied any conversation, refusing to speak to anyone and could often be found scratching at his neck until it bled as if attempting to scratch out an itch for a wordless and unattainable desire within him. He was so withdrawn most of the time that the blood would clot before having the chance to spill on the floor and Ochako only ever had to wash away the stains of his blood on his clothes when laundry had to be done. 

A girl of her age was too part of the most quiet of all patients in the left wing. Ochako found herself to be more interested in her than other patients, thinking about her forced stay in the House of the Ninth from her childhood while Ochako, who bore no difference to her in age got to live with her family until she was of age made chills run down her back. Ochako learned that she was afflicted with a rare illness that made her unable to recognise people’s faces including her own. Her eyes would always shift away from people in fear and when she caught sight of her reflection in mirrors, the invisibility of her traits always left her standing petrified, staring blankly as if trying to decipher her own face. If rumors were to be right, she had confused her parents with strangers and she had followed them until, inevitably, she got lost and three days later, the mayor of the city had brought her to the House of the Ninth. 

Perhaps, in the end, the reason why some people ended up here didn’t really matter. Not when all of them, no matter whether they were the quietest person there, the most troubled or even the most violent, were entangled and caged in the mess of their own minds. 

Learning about the patients’ troubles had reminded her to be grateful for her position, despite being away from her family, away from everything she had ever known, cleaning spilled blood and food from the ground every day, at least Ochako was freer than the patients of the left wing will ever be. 

After a few weeks spent amidst this new cycle of her life, Ochako felt like she had entered the same state of eternal limbo that the patients and nurses of the left wing lived in. Lost souls roaming in this confined space without aim ; nurses taking care of patients that’ll never get better and patients living only to get worse with time. And Ochako cleaning up messes bound to spill over again and again. 

The entire left wing of the House of the Ninth was a stage on which all of them performed an endless dance until each of them fell victim to their exhaustion and apathy. 

Ochako was now used to taking care of the incidents that continued to occur, cleaning vomit, spilled food and shards of porcelain off the floor and even the sight of blood became a familiar view that no longer left her feeling rattled to her core. 

Ochako still longed to see her younger siblings again but she now had a vague sense of purpose as she helped the nurses take care of their patients and their spaces. By then, after weeks of work at the House spent observing the nurses taking care of them, Ochako had gotten to know all of the people living in the left wing. 

However, this unsettled feeling in her chest kept burning bright and deep leaving her breathless and jittery most days. She didn’t know why she felt so frazzled whenever she stepped foot inside the left wing when, after weeks spent there, she had gotten used to the hysteria and the lunacy embedded in the walls and their inhabitants. 

The discomfort would always be present over her time spent working set into the background when she was affair occupied with her daily chores but following around the place from dawn ‘til dusk. Ochako was more than familiar with the heavy sensation of being observed. People in her small hometown had always been quick to cast glances and judgments upon others ; Ochako herself hadn’t escaped that fate. She could still remember the stares of the old ladies that always sat on the white bench near the town hall and the workers at the factory who followed her with their gazes until she was out of view. 

She had tried to find out who could be watching her so intently but the nurses were too busy to do so while most patients were barely aware of her presence most of the time. Those who did notice her always eyed her with a calm apathy or a crazed look that would soon forget about her almost as if they had never even seen her at all. 

As days continued to pass and Ochako was still nowhere near figuring out who was watching her, she began wondering if perhaps the curse of the left wing was real. Was Ochako falling victim to the festering insanity eternally present in the House ? 

Her first instinct was to try to ignore it even as worry settled over her and her fear of being cloistered into one of the left wing’s rooms kept her awake at night. The more time passed, the less Ochako was confident that she wasn’t being consumed by insanity too. 

The nail in the coffin was when the shadows and corners of the left wing started changing in fleeing movements in the corner of her eyes. In some sort of game it almost looked like the shadows were following her around the House, observing her every action. 

It turned to a point as Ochako was debating whether or not she should consult the Director when it surfaced from the shadows. Ochako had been on her way back to the dormitories when, as she turned into the long corridor, she was faced with a shadow with a pair of glowing golden eyes with slitted pupils directed right at her. Ochako forgot how to breathe as the eyes crinkled in pleasure at her sight and as she stood petrified, she felt a light touch on her hand. Before she could even think, Ochako turned back around and ran away from the featherly-light touch in panic. 

Running through the empty corridors of the House with only her lamp for source of light, Ochako was left vulnerable to the obscurity and its inhabitant. Without knowing where to go, Ochako took off towards the second floor where resided Director Kimoto. 

The Director was a former priest who had, in his late years, decided to dedicate his life to helping those who were ill. He had bought the House thanks to the heritage his family had left him and used his numerous contacts with former students to continue running the house. Ochako had seen the man himself only a few times since her arrival, standing tall and straight, his hair a striking grey shade and his face aged by the years. She knew him to be discreet around the house, only ever getting out of his office to go pray at the chapel in the backyard, welcome new patients and consult with the matron every few days. 

As she reached the top of the stairs, she was surprised to see the light under his door still shining despite the late hour. Hurrying towards it, Ochako knocked on the wooden door and waited anxiously, looking around, trying to determine if the shadow had followed her through the House. 

Behind her, the door opened, Director Kimoto looking surprised to see her. “What are you doing here at this late hour, child ?” he asked.

Ochako couldn’t find the right words to explain herself, stammering through her speech every few seconds, eyes fleeting from one point to another and avoiding his face. 

The man stopped her by settling a hand on her shoulder, “Come on child, go sit down and calm yourself.” he said as he pushed her inside, the door clicking softly behind them. 

Director Kimoto busied himself with a tea set as Ochako sat down on one of the chairs on the opposite side of his desk, her hands gripping the handle of her lamp as she tried to rethink the occurrence into proper words. “Sir, I’m sorry to disturb you this late.” she ended up muttering in shame, not knowing where to start. 

“Do not think too hard about it”, he replied, setting a fuming tea cup in front of her before taking his place on the chair opposite hers, “just tell me why you felt the need to seek me out so late.” 

“There was something rather strange- um, I witnessed a strange apparition that had me running towards your office.”

“And what was this strange apparition ? What did it look like ?” he inquired, a light frown sitting between his eyebrows. 

Ochako breathed in, reeling herself in. “A set of glowing slitted eyes staring at me.” she answered. 

At her words, the Director who had been languidly sipping his tea harshly set down his teacup on the desk. Ochako looked up to see the man staring at her, his frown deepening, marring his face and his eyes looking at her with wariness. Her grip on the handle of the lamp in her lap tightened with uneasiness ; she had never seen Director Kimoto look so aghast before. 

“Have you felt like someone was following you in the past weeks ? Have you seen any shadows moving alongside you ?” he demanded and the dread in Ochako’s stomach grew stronger.

“I- yes. Do you know anything about-” she tried to ask but he abruptly got up, interrupting her. 

“As I was fearing, it seems to me like you attracted something malignant to yourself.” he told her as he searched through a drawer of the large cabinet behind the desk. “It is not the first time I’ve seen it happen here.” 

“What does this mean ?” she asked, her voice wobbly. 

“It means that the House has awakened an inhospitable spirit,” he replied, holding a leather-bound book in his hand. “The House of the Ninth’s occupants, especially those who live in the left wing of the manor, operate on another plane as the rest of us. Their misery and heresy lures beings from other realms into the House and they take residence here. Most of those beings aren’t a danger to us, they’re attracted to the unwell and choose to spread their darkness to those who are already beyond help and are easily banished with a simple prayer. The one that has latched onto you is fundamentally different from them.” 

Opening the book and turning it towards her, he gestured towards the open pages. “What you see here is the sanguis quaesitor which translates to ‘blood seeker’. Another name for these creatures is vampyr.” 

On the page he had laid out in front of her was the illustration of a slender man draped in a black shadow with high cheekbones and serpent-like eyes the color of garnet stones. It was the only detail of the page that was colored as if the eyes were meant to command the attention of the readers. The depiction of those eyes reminded her of the hypnotising nature of the golden irises she had seen earlier. 

“The sanguis quaesitor is a particularly perfidious creature who prays on those they are attracted to. Like the name suggests, they deceive their victims into a false sense of love and devotion before sustaining themselves on their blood slowly draining those naive fellows of their life.” 

“So, this thing wants to…” whispered Ochako, “consume me?” And the word was almost too much for her to pronounce, a terror akin to something she had never felt before buried behind the letters making her shiver.

“Listen to me before you despair, child. Means exist to protect yourself against those deceptive beings.” He opened up the right drawer of his large desk, handing her a small notebook. “In fact, everything you might need is inside of this journal. Although they possess few weaknesses, vampyrs aren’t invincible ; they are defeated by being set on fire or decapitated. Their heart especially is particularly fragile and a stake through the heart is the most effective way to vanquish one of them. Adding to this, as they are abnormalities of the natural order, any sanguis quaesitor has to rest laying in the soil of where it was buried in order to continue its way of life and fool the universe.” 

He dropped the notebook on top of the leather book which finally hid the vampyr illustration’s stare from her sight. “While vampyrs have a multitude of weaknesses, nothing will protect you better than the Holy light and its saving grace. In this notebook are catalogued a certain number of prayers and incantations which will protect you from their depraved intentions. I recommend that you learn them by heart until this vampyr has to return to its resting place.” 

Ochako slowly detached her left hand from her lamp to take the notebook, “Would it not be better if I, uh, vanquish the vampyr ?”, she asked, unsure. 

Director Kimoto visibly reeled back, leaning against the back of his chair, “Now, young lady, don’t be so idiotic ! Vanquishing vampyrs requires strength and wit that only those far older than you possess, it’s not a job for a young woman like you. Focus on keeping yourself away from harm and leave the vanquishing to the people who are capable of it once the vampyr will return to its homeland.” 

Pressing the notebook against her chest, Ochako nodded in compliance. The Director smiled at her acceptance and gestured towards the door. “Go on, now. Get back to the dormitories quickly, I’m sure the patients of the left wing will not stop their habitual ruckus on account of your poor sleep.” 

“Of course.” She stood up in haste, the metal of her lamp rattling with the sudden movement, “I’ll be taking my leave then. Thank you for your help, Director.” 

After exiting the Director’s office, holding her small lantern in one hand and the notebook in another, Ochako found herself too restless to go back to the dormitories immediately. 

For the second time that evening, her feet guided her towards her destination : a small alcove near the manor’s library she had found one day as she was exploring the House during one of her rare moments of free time. 

Sitting there, her back pressed against the harsh rock wall, her dress doing very little to hold off the cold, Ochako started skimming through the notebook she was just given. Each page had a total of one prayer or one incantation to perform small but - as described by the Director - effective exorcisms to drive away evil presences. 

Stopping on a random page, Ochako pressed the notebook against her thighs, eyes dancing around the words written down in a language she didn’t understand. 

“ Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux …” she murmured to herself, mindlessly. “ May the dragon never be my guide. As one of the Guidance Prayers from the Saint-Benedictine medals and serve the purpose of warding off evil when uttered in desperate times.” 

“Ah, so he got to you with his idiotic songs.” wondered a velvety voice from her right. 

Ochako felt her blood suddenly freeze as a gasp fell from her lips and she whirled around to face the voice. Her back now pressed against the cold glass window, her lantern having fallen to the ground and the notebook’s upper corners digging into her chest uncomfortably, Ochako came face to face with the same hauntingly alluring golden eyes she had gazed into not so long ago. She had nothing else to do but to hit the floor with her knees, raise her hands above her eyes, join them and pray but she could do none of that, breath too short and her knuckles too tight around the notebook pressed against her chest in a desperate attempt to shield herself.

This time, the owner of such striking eyes was in full view. Before Ochako stood a woman of alabaster skin, long blonde hair freely coming down to the middle of her shoulder blades, adorning a serene, if a little too wide to be considered normal, smile, her head tilted on the side as her eyes continued to watch Ochako intently. 

Dressed in a long ruffled black skirt and a white shirt - which seemed to have a few dirt stains -  topped by a man’s dark grey waistcoat with an old pocket watch’s chain hanging from the left pocket, she looked like she had just come out of a portrait dated two or three decades back. 

“Oh my, you sure are a jumpy one, aren’t you darling?” smiled the other woman. The growing smile drew Ochako’s attention to the wine-coloured lips and the glinting fangs hidden behind them. 

“You look nothing like the picture.” she blurted out, surprising both herself and the vampyr. Did Ochako just sign her death’s certificate by babbling nonsense instead of using one of the many prayers she was given ? But it was true, she looked much more human than the illustration drawn in the Director’s book. In fact, her beauty didn’t seem to be aggressive and dangerous like the man depicted, she looked… almost captivating.

A sharp laugh cleared all of her racing thoughts, the eerie creature looking at her with a certain softness that Ochako couldn’t understand. “Of course I don’t look like the picture that old buffoon showed you, silly. Didn’t you realize that he knows nothing of what he’s  speaking of ?” said the other, bending slightly towards her with a mocking smile. 

“What ?” 

“He thinks everything can be solved with pretty but meaningless words.” With a glint in her eyes, she bent over even more towards Ochako, caging her against the window, her cold and pale hands resting on Ochako’s knees as the vampyr came face to face with her. “Go on, Ochako-chan, try to ward me off with one of those cute little prayers.” she said teasingly.

Incapable of looking away from the golden pupils pining her in place, Ochako slowly raised the notebook to her level, hands gripped tightly around the covers. 

“Go on, dear, make me vanish.” murmured the vampyr and as if spell-bound, Ochako executed her orders. 

She let her gaze fall down on the pages before her, slowly reading off the words before her and as she trailed off when the prayer came to an end, the hands on her knees squeezed as if to reaffirm that it had been completely and utterly useless. 

Gazing up into the eyes of the woman who was so close to her and meeting those golden eyes who were staring right at her, Ochako felt almost lightheaded. 

“What do you want from me ?” she asked softly.

A smile stretched wide on the face of the other woman, white and sharp teeth put on display. “Oh Ochako-chan,” she whispered as her left hand came up to cup her face, “I’ll pour my blood into your body… I’ll make you mine until nothing can discern us from one another and I’ll possess your soul until it indelibly merges with mine.” 

Oddly enough, Ochako was not terrified the way she most definitely should have been after hearing those words. 

Ochako had regained her bed in a daze after that discussion ; unable to remember what had exactly gone down after the vampyr had caressed her face so gently and she was forced to return to her normal routine. Albeit for a few exceptions as the notebook now had a permanent place in her apron’s front pocket - a rather ironic thing as Ochako couldn’t imagine using one of the prayers on the vampyr again, no matter how inefficient - and the vampyr seemed hellbent on never leaving her mind. 

It seemed impossible for her to leave Ochako’s field of vision as well ; the blond woman appeared at all times, day and night alike, everywhere Ochako herself was and everywhere she looked. She appeared behind the windows of the left wing, a happy wave greeting Ochako whenever she saw her behind the glass, in the park standing by the large beds of flowers when Ochako trailed after the nurses and the patients on their way to the chapel for the weekly mass, in the dormitories when she was coming back from a long day of work, in the kitchen, the corridors, the library’s alcove, the dining room, the staff’s lounge and even patients’ rooms. The vampyr was everywhere. Always wearing that same long skirt and the forever dirt-stained shirt, eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

Even as the woman seemed to materialize and vanish from places in a matter of seconds, Ochako still couldn’t bring herself to be afraid. The company, in its forever distant and silent nature, became a beacon of light for Ochako who hadn’t realized until then how much time she was mourning her peaceful life with her family.

Two weeks passed before Ochako got to exchange words with the vampyr again. The Director had asked for her before going on his daily walk ; the one that always ended with a prayer in the chapel before he returned to his office.

Ochako had joined him on the House’s porch, the man standing with his hands behind his back as she tried to warm herself. Winter had started up already despite it being only mid-October and it wouldn’t be long before the first snows arrived to immerse the House in white. 

“How have you been child ?” he asked, still looking towards the horizon.

“I have been well, Sir.” she said, before looking around, purposefully letting her gaze glide over the blond woman on her left,  “I, um, I haven’t seen the creature since that night.” she finished in a lower voice. 

He hummed, finally turning towards her. “That’s good to hear. However, I must warn you, vampyrs aren’t known for letting go of their target easily. I strongly advise you that you continue to be cautious and keep reciting prayers often during the day. It’s important that you keep protecting yourself, young lady.” 

Ochako nodded, ignoring the flowy movement of the vampyr’s skirt moving in the wind. “Of course, Director Kimoto. I understand.”

A long silence fell over the both of them as the Director continued to observe her, cold blue eyes studying her. Ochako kept her eyes straight, trying hard to keep herself from unintentionally revealing the truth to the man, ignoring the shivers caused by the cold hand that had settled on her left shoulder and the chin that rested on the opposite one. 

The most distracting of all wasn’t the physical touch that had the vampyr pressed up against her but the scent of her enthralling perfume which had Ochako wishing she could drink the other in to keep the scent forever etched in her memories. 

As the silence between her and the Director grew longer, Ochako felt herself tensing up, wondering if perhaps the Director could see the blonde woman hanging off her frame too. She didn't want to imagine what would happen if he saw her surrounding to what he deemed to be an unforgivable evil.

“Very well then. I shall leave you to it then.” declared the man at last.

Ochako nodded, wishing the man well on his stroll before finally allowing her form to relax as he turned his back on them.

Director Kimoto took a couple of steps only before angling his face in Ochako’s direction again.

“ Ulula cum lupis, cum quibus esse cupis. ” he told her, eyes finding hers and pinning her down.

Ochako swallowed painfully around the sense of foreboding that had lodged itself in her chest cavity. “What does that mean, Director ?”

“ Who keeps company with wolves, will learn to howl, ” he replied. “I don't doubt that you are a child of goodwill, young lady but you would do well to remember this simple adage. Humans are extremely influenced by their environments and we, as social animals, crave the company of others and act accordingly by copying their behaviour to ensure our acceptance.” He let out a little laugh, “In a way, only the patients we take care of everyday here at the House have renounced this particular curse of humanity. However, that is a topic for another time, perhaps. What I wished to tell you was that us humans replicate others’ behaviours and if you find yourself in the company of evil… you will soon find yourself matching its behaviour.”

The frigid hand on her shoulder slowly slid to rest around her throat, an irrepressible shudder traversing through her body effectively drowning whatever meaning Director Kimoto had painfully tried to embed into his words. 

“I understand, Director. Thank you for your invaluable advice.” she responded in a semi-daze, thoughts far away from this conversation as they were consumed by the hold the vampyr had on her. Ochako was certain that if she wanted to, the vampyr would be able to bend Ochako's body to her desires. 

As the man finally departed and left Ochako on the porch, a giggle echoed in her ear as the other woman gradually let go of her embrace. “Such a sweet liar for me, Ochako-chan.” Another giggle and her hand let go of her throat. “I’m flattered, really.” 

“I-” started Ochako. 

“It would have been terrible if he had caught you wouldn’t it ?” interrupted the other woman.

“Yes.” admitted Ochako, eyes facing the ground, as another giggle left the vampyr.

“How thoughtful of you to risk such things for me, Ochako-chan.” 

The harmonious voice wrapped itself around Ochako’s body as much as the delicate scent of the other creature filled her nose and she couldn’t help her thoughts from drifting. “What’s your name ?” asked Ochako under her breath. 

“Why do you wanna know my name ?” 

“You’re beautiful.” The confession earned her a startled glance that soon morphed into a spark of joy as the smile widened impossibly on the other’s face. 

“Call me Himiko, then !” replied the vampyr.

“Himiko…” Ochako smiled at her. “It’s nice to meet you, Himiko-chan.” 

Ochako stood on the porch, in the cold October breeze, gazing in the eyes of the blonde woman until a nurse ran up to her, pulling her in the direction of the left wing of the House, admonishing her for taking so long to come back.

As she trailed after the older woman, she glanced back at Himiko only to see that the haunting creature had already vanished in the wind. 

After that day, Himiko seemed to have taken her abrupt admission as a sign to lessen the distance she had kept between them. Each time Ochako found herself to be left unattended, Himiko-chan emerged out of thin air to keep her company. Her melodic voice regularly filled the space around her and as her encounters with Himiko multiplied over time, the more settled down Ochako felt. It looked as though the vampyr’s presence, instead of wearing her down and frightening her, was soothing her. 

Ochako was busying herself with hanging the washed clothes in the laundry room as Himiko sat on top of the small window sill, her linx-like eyes tracking down all of her movements. 

“You know, Ochako-chan, I have a favourite bird.” stated Himiko, effectively breaking the tranquil silence that had settled in the room. 

“You do ?” 

“Yes. They’re called bleeding-heart doves.” 

Ochako paused for a second in her work before starting it back up. “That’s a rather intimidating appellation, isn’t it ?” 

Himiko giggled. “Oh no, not at all. I find it rather fitting. They have grey and green-tinted feathers on their wings and head but their torso is an immaculate white except for this blood-red stain in the middle of it that bleeds out over the white feathers.” she explained. 

“I have never seen such bird before.” said Ochako. 

The vampyr hummed back. “You remind me of them.” 

She frowned, turning towards the other woman. “How come ?” she asked, curious to see how she could resemble a bird. 

The blonde woman stood up, narrowing down the space between the two of them until their nose nearly touched each other. Her cold hands grasped Ochako’s, the linen sheet falling from her own hand and a smile carved itself on Himiko’s face. Standing defenseless as she was in front of her, Ochako was prey. She knew it and the thing in front of her knew it too as its hungry gaze rested heavily on her face, hands squeezing hers in an expression of delight that had Ochako’s heart racing. 

“It’s because you are as beautiful as them, Ochako-chan. You have the same innocent look in your eyes as they do.” she whispered, “I am certain you'll be just as delectable as them if you were stained with red.” 

“Really ?” asked Ochako.

“Oh truly, you are just lovely, Ochako-chan.” 

The vampyr tilted her head and closed her eyes, cold lips brushing against Ochako’s throat. “Yes, you just look delicious…” she murmured, her pointy teeth inching closer. 

Ochako felt petrified, her heart jumping up her throat and her breath quick and elaborated. Her hands, now free as the vampyr’s were now woven around her waist, clasped around the other’s shoulders, shirt creasing under her fingertips. Eye cast downwards, she could see clear as day the dirt stains on the back of her waistcoat which were usually hidden by her hair. As the teeth on her throat became more insistent, Ochako closed her eyes, surrounding herself to Himiko’s desires. 

However, the vampyr reeled back slowly, her arms loosening around her waist but not leaving it completely, a disheartened smile on her face. Ochako hated the sight of such a smile on Himiko’s usually such bright face. “What’s wrong Himiko-chan ?” she softly asked, scared of why the bright vampyr suddenly felt much colder than the usual. 

“Ochako-chan, you know that I am not from this village, right ?” Ochako nodded. “When I was alive, I lived miles away from here but my parents were convinced I was ill and sent me here. The medication they gave me ended up killing me slowly and when my parents claimed my body. I was buried near my hometown.” she told her. 

“What does this mean…?” mumbled Ochako, who tried to ignore the heavy feeling of dread who rested in the pit of her stomach.

Himiko shook her head with a slightly mocking grin. “Ochako-chan, I know that that old senile priest told you all about me. He called me a sanguin quaesotor or whatever it’s called, didn’t he ?” She scoffed in mock outrance and Ochako let a little chuckle escape her at the butchered name.  

“While he may be idiotically following the beliefs he preaches, he was not completely lying or talking nonsense either. I do have to go back to my place of burial. I need to rest before I disappear forever.” explained Himiko. 

Ochako tensed up, her hands gripping Himiko's upper arms tightly, nails digging into the cold pale skin underneath her button up. “Are you leaving soon ?” she asked immediately, a desperate plea hiding in the back of her throat. Perhaps it was foolish to be so taken with a creature that could easily drain her of her life blood but Ochako had never met someone quite like Himiko before ; she had never met someone so attune to her own body and soul before and she despaired at the idea of letting go of such a person. 

“I am leaving as soon as night settles down.” said Himiko and Ochako’s hold on her became even strained. 

“Ochako-chan… Would you come with me ?” 

She closed her eyes, brows furrowed and biting her lower lip. Following Himiko meant that she ought to become something else, it meant that Ochako wasn’t only leaving her family and the House behind but she was also abandoning her humanity. 

“Himiko-chan,” she smiled, “you've emptied me of all my desire to fight against my buried yearning. Before knowing your skin, I believed I could have been happy with this life but it's no longer true, is it Himiko ?” 

She nodded, reassuring both herself and Himiko at the same time. “I’ll come with you and follow you until the end of times.” 

Himiko’s golden eyes scrutinized her, as if trying to decipher whether she was telling the truth or not. Her arms came up around Ochako’s neck, her body colliding against hers in a fierce collision as Himiko smiled widely, her usual smile finally coming back to her face. Ochako’s relief followed quickly, her arms embracing Himiko to bring her as close to her as possible. 

“Let’s stay together forever, Ochako-chan.” 

“Yes… Let’s stay together forever, Himiko-chan.” 

The moon was shining above Ochako as she faced the illuminated sky. They had exited the House of the Ninth right after dinner as the sun was finally setting down, the night following them as they walked for hours on end. Himiko had guided her in the dark, hand in hand as they hiked through the shadows. 

They had reached their destination barely two hours before dawn was to come. Himiko had pressed her torso against her back, making her kneel and lie down in the dirt near her own grave. She was now straddling Ochako, her golden eyes looking down on her with hunger. 

“I’m not scared, Himiko-chan.” she whispered to the hauntingly beautiful girl above her. 

Her hands cradled her face as Himiko smiled widely, teeth shining as she bathed in the moonlight. Ochako’s fingers came to rest on her wrists, smiling softly back at her. “You’re the cutest in the whole world, Himiko-chan. I know you will not hurt me.”

Himiko’s eyes locked onto Ochako’s bare neck, her body covering hers as her teeth digged painfully in Ochako’s vital point. A pained moan slipped from her lips as warm blood flowed over her collarbone and shoulder. 

Facing the moon, with the most beautiful person she had ever met, the one she had undeniably fallen for and covered in blood, Ochako was at her happiest.