4. The Mark

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/4/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

When I awoke from that dreamlike interlude, it was already past noon.
Beside me lay Ellis, wearing nothing but a single garment.
I reached out to her cheek and stroked it as though tickling her ear. With a soft “Mmm …” Ellis’s eyelids began to flutter.

“Good morning.”

I greeted her with a smile, and she gave me a dreamy, bashful grin. “Ehehe …”
Was she still dreaming?
Or had last night left her so utterly enthralled by me?

“Opening my eyes and finding you here, Chigusa … I’m so happy.”
“I feel the same. I could not help but touch your cheek.”

Ellis naturally drew her face closer to mine.
I leaned toward her in turn, and our lips met.
They merely touched—was this what they called a bird kiss?
We did it a second time, then a third, before gazing into each other’s eyes and laughing together.

“I love you. I love you so much. Chigusa … I love you more than anyone in the world.”
“Hee hee. More than Lyle?”
“Mmph, you’re so mean, Chigusa. But … now I can say it for sure. I love you so much more than Lyle. No, not just Lyle. I don’t care about anyone else.”

Her words were so adorable that this time I pulled her close and kissed her myself.
I forced my tongue between her lips, just a little.
As I ravaged the inside of her mouth, Ellis moaned with pleasure and writhed against me.
By now, she would surely accept anything I did to her with delight.
I slipped a hand beneath her garment, intending to join our bodies once again—and then I discovered an unfamiliar design below her navel.
It was red and shaped like a heart sprouting a devil’s wings. Could it be a tattoo?
I was certain nothing of the sort had been there last night.

“Ah … When you touch me there, it gets so hot …”

When I touched the design with my fingertip, Ellis let out a feverish sigh.
The sight filled me with an irresistible urge to ravage her.
What in the world was this?
I firmly suppressed my desire to pounce on her and asked.

“Ellis, have you always had this tattoo?”
“Huh? A tattoo? No, I’d never have the money for anything that fancy.”
“Then what could this be …?”

It seemed Ellis herself had not noticed it until I pointed it out.
At first, she touched it herself with a puzzled look—but then—

“Chigusa, could you touch it again?”
“Like this?”

I traced my fingertip over the soft, supple skin. Ellis gave a faint cry and trembled in tiny shivers.

“I knew it … It feels completely different when you touch it …”
“What could it be, I wonder?”
“Ah … Mmm, ngh … I don’t know, but … ehehe, it makes me feel like my body belongs to you, Chigusa. I think that makes me happy.”

Well—if she herself was happy, then that was all that mattered.
I continued touching the design as I savored her reactions, then pressed my lips to hers once more and devoured them.
Even after dawn broke, our revelry did not end.
It continued until Ellis’s stomach gave a loud growl and shattered the mood.

 

◇◇◇

 

Simply feeling hungry did not mean we would find food waiting for us in a place as impoverished as this.
Nor did we have enough money to buy any, so if we were hungry, we had no choice but to search.
Guided by Ellis, I made my way to a sturdy metal fence some distance from the Discard District.
Was it merely my imagination, or did this fence seem less intended to keep something out than to keep the people of the Discard District away?

“This fence was built to separate the Discard District from the city.”

Perhaps she had sensed my question, for Ellis explained without my having to ask.

“To the people on the inside, we’re the real garbage. They threw us away so they wouldn’t have to look at anything inconvenient.”
“I cannot understand it. To think there is such a lovely girl here, and yet they fail even to recognize her worth.”
“… Are you talking about me?”

When I nodded, Ellis flushed as red as ripe fruit.
With her body temperature rising, she would surely feel delightful in my arms—and even better beneath my teeth.
The droplets of life that spilled from her would be sweet as well—

“Chigusa, out here … someone might be watching. Are you sure?”

Before I knew it, my body was closing in on Ellis.
I paid no heed to her embarrassment at the possibility of prying eyes. I pulled her forcefully against me and reveled in the heat of her body.

“Ah … You really are rather forceful … I like that about you too, though.”
“You possess enough allure to make me act this way, Ellis.”

When I pressed myself firmly against her, I could even feel her heart beating.
The thought of fresh blood flowing from that pulsing organ throughout her entire body was enough to set me aflame as well.

“Ah … Hah … Chigusa, that tickles …”

Her skin alone was not enough. I pressed my lips to the side of her neck and ran my tongue over it as if testing her temperature.
It tasted of Ellis, and I thought that what lay inside her must taste even more intensely of Ellis.
Her scent—Ellis’s scent, the scent of a female—seemed far more honeyed than it had yesterday.
It was enticing me, beckoning me to come inside.
Ah, it was hot—so hot that my mind felt boiled, leaving me dazed.
This was normal—no, what did “normal” mean again? What was normal for me—what was normal for a vampire—was right. It was what I had to do in order to live.
It was the instinct harbored by every living creature—desire existed to compel living things to satisfy their instincts, and to satisfy that desire meant—
For what purpose did one live?
For what purpose did one encroach?
For what purpose did one enthrall?
For what purpose did one rule?
This species did not reproduce with its own kind. It implanted itself and propagated almost like a parasite—

“Hah … Haaah … Mmm, ah …”

I could no longer contain my excitement.
My body would not stop craving Ellis—craving what lay inside Ellis.
Before I knew it, fever had overtaken me, and I was about to sink my sharp, pointed fangs into the side of her neck.

“Ah … Ah … Chigu … sa …”

Even when she realized what I was doing, however, she made no attempt to resist.
That was because the preparations for this had already been completed.
The mark.
Yes, of course. Why had I lost that memory—no, why had I been unable to recall it?
Now that I was aware the memory existed, I could almost laugh at my own foolishness.
The mark—the design that had appeared on Ellis’s lower abdomen—was the signal that the preparations were complete.
It signified that the power poured from my body into hers had reached saturation, filling her until not the slightest space remained.
It was, so to speak, a curse, a magical enchantment—a state that could still be reversed if she were found by someone skilled in curse-breaking magic.
But if I drained the human blood from her in this state and poured in a fragment of a vampire’s soul, then at last her body and mind would become mine.
As my thrall, her dreams, hopes, love, and values—everything she possessed—would be painted over with love for me, or else loyalty.
Yet the affection did not come from her alone. I, too, held Ellis dear.
Was this the instinct of a vampire? Had I been made to feel this way?
No. No, even if it was! Even if that were true! I wanted to take everything from Ellis—quickly, as quickly as I could!
After all, Ellis was not resisting either.
Surely she understood and had entrusted herself to me.
In that case, all I had to do was tear the maiden’s tender skin with my fangs and drain away her humanity—

“Heeey, Ellis! Didn’t I tell you to let me know if you were going into the city!?”
“!?”

At the voice behind us, we hurriedly pulled apart.
Ellis stroked the side of her neck and glared resentfully at Lyle as he approached.

“Wh-What? Why are you glaring at me?”
“No reason …”

Lyle had no idea that his childhood friend had already become mine, so he could hardly be blamed for finding this situation unreasonable.
After all, I was merely a stranger who had met her for the first time yesterday.

“Anyway, you heard it’s dangerous around the city because there’ve been so many guards lately, right? Why’d you decide to go now?”
“Because Chigusa said she’d protect me.”
“You really do trust this woman, don’t you? Well, fine. It’s definitely worth going there even if it means taking a few risks—but I’m coming with you.”
“Do whatever you want.”
“Why are you in such a bad mood …?”

Her face plainly showed her displeasure that we would not be alone after all.
Lyle, however, seemed entirely oblivious to Ellis’s feelings.
Well, if he were considerate and perceptive, he would have noticed Ellis’s feelings long ago. In that sense, his failure to notice was only to be expected.