Vampires do exist. You just never see them.
When you feel a cold chill on your neck at night. but there isn't a breeze, that's a vampire second-guessing. Maybe you have bad blood. Maybe you just taste funny.
The day was the same. June 7th. Overcast skies. Barely any sun peeking through the clouds.
Was this how it always was? Wasn't it a good day?
Since it's England, assumedly not.
Jacket, shoes, portable CD player too big to fit in a pocket, squeezed into the jacket pocket.
All in less than 2 pages.
I take my walk around the park, thinking to myself as usual. Listening to a playlist of anime openings, including Tank from Cowboy Bebop and A Cruel Angel's Thesis from Evangelion. Thirteen songs that repeat on a loop. That's when I see something strange. Someone is at the bench.
This is what I've been waiting for.
Another break in the cycle.
As I approach the bench cautiously, I feel a moment of hesitation. Is this a sixth sense? Do I smell danger? Am I hallucinating? No, that's what paranoid people think.
But I am paranoid.
Nervous, really.
I approach the stranger, still, maintaining some confidence that I'm still me, that I'll get out of the cycle.
He's a slender guy, at least mid-20's. Sporting a black shirt with red roses on it, blue jeans, black loafers, and a long black trench coat over it. He had shoulder-length wavy hair that he had tied most of it back.
Reading a book too. Way cool.
He sees me. Our eyes meet. He knows I'm like him. He gestures to me that the chair is open. I take a seat cautiously.
"What song are you listening to?" his voice is gentle, pure, untainted by the horrors of death.
"Tank… it's a song from-"
"Cowboy Bebop, yes? I've seen that a few times." he says, finishing my sentence as if he's heard it before.
Wait, has he heard it before?
He then lifts his arm up towards the sun, his hand cocked like a gun.
"Bang." Pretending to shoot the sun, he then turns to me with a gleam in his eye. "That looked pretty cool, right? My name's Zidane. Zidane Afrité. Pronounced ah-free-tee, as if I was giving away knock-off t-shirts. I've heard it before. I give points to the most original take." He smiled as if we'd been friends for years.
A warming smile that makes you feel at home no matter where you are. His eyes were a kind astral blue, as if they were injected with the cosmos, yet for some unknown reason, I don't question it further.
"My name is-"
"Well, well, well. It's like a family reunion." Out interrupts a purple haired girl in a flashy school uniform. Accessories flying around her two belts and rucksack, bandaged left arm, dark eyeliner. This is the protagonist.
"All we need are the dark forces at play to reveal themselves." She dramatically flicks her long coat in what one could assume was a cool pose. "I go by Violet. Violet Darkmoon, but I'm sure you both know that already." Speaking with such a confidence that I had to refresh my memory to recollect if I'd seen her before.
I had.
It wasn't too long ago. 75… no, 100 cycles have passed since then. I'm sure she's aware of this, took the time to introduce herself since I spend too many days (or day - singular) decaying in bed.
She frequents the park, usually running, practicing martial arts, mysterious girl things. I've had the misfortune of meeting her gaze a few times as she's doing her regular workouts. Misfortune since she knows I exist outside the cycle, and I assume that's bad for some reason.
Danger sense.
"Are you going to gawk like anime fans or say your names?" Her tone changes from dark and mysterious to annoyed in a matter of moments.
Also, what's with the anime talk today?
"My name is Zidane. Zidane Oscar."
He changed his name, and so easily too. I hesitate to ask or wonder why.
"My name is-"
"Zidane is a nice name." She interrupts immediately as if I was never here. "I've been looking for a Zidane for a long time."
He smiles, slightly less warmly than he did when speaking to me. I assume he's cautious of a girl he just met.
"Aren't you going to ask about these bandages?" Taunting him towards an ulterior motive.
"That's not the kind of thing a stranger asks a stranger. We're not children anymore."
"Even as an adult, curiosity is important part of inquisition. I would advise you to ask more questions to your potential opponents."
"Opponent is a dirty word. Even if we were, hypothetically, on opposing sides, you would still only be a stone in my way."
Are they old friends? Ex-lovers? They seem to compliment each other so well.
"And even so, the meaning behind the bandages are not within my interests. What interests me the most is why you would toss aside my good friend here. We haven't even heard his name." So kind, so generous.
"Because this man is not within my interests." Harsh. "What can you provide? What are your talents. Reveal your secrets to me." She points directly between my ears, aiming straight for my face, until opening her hand and placing her bandaged hand onto my face, occupying as much space as a hand can take.
"Hmm. Hmm…. Hm?" Groaning in the cardinal tones, eyes closed, focus unwavering. "Hm. You appear like us, but… different." Thanks?
"I think it's time to stop the act." Zidane speaks up. "We shouldn't taunt our friend more." His eyes avert back to me. "I love games, but there comes a time to stop playing. Raphael instructed us to be here. I'm sure you're acquainted?"
"Of course. He kidnapped me and tortured me for half a day."
"That sounds about right."
I meant to say that in my head.
"Raphael asked me to give this to you. It's an advanced pager. Designed them himself. Each one has all of our contacts, so we can all stay aware of if another moves outside the cycle." Zidane speaks as if he's rehearsed this for a while. Maybe he has.
"I still don't get it. Are we the police? Are we monitoring the town now? I thought we were trying to break out!" Violet bursts, clearly pissed off with the deviation in plan.
"Raphael gave us all the order. Our friend here is the only one we couldn't inform, that's what today is for. I told you all he'd find me before I finished my book, and look. Second-last chapter."
"And if this was so important, why didn't he use his new power to do it himself?"
"Because that's not how his power works. His machines defy the cycle by existing outside the loop, they don't move through it by themselves. We carry them through, they only work with us."
"Sounds like an excuse to me."
"Can we please explain what's going on?" I chime up, "You mentioned a new power?"
"It's a lot better to walk you through the day." Zidane folds his arms and closes his eyes in perfect reminiscence.