Memories of the Past

I looked down and sighed, another dead end of searching. I sat my glass down on the bar and sighed loudly, running my fingers through my long, black and purple hair and cradled my head in my hands, ‘Where is he?!'I mentally screamed, then snapped my purple eyes open as the bartender slammed a drink down in front of me with a sparkling smile.
"That ones on the house. Why don't you stick around until we close and I can show you around the town?" he said with a smirk, looking my slender body up and down.
"I-" I began, but was cut off by a sudden, strong arm wrapping around my shoulders and a white hand slam down onto the bar. In my ultimate shock, I felt the coolness of the hand and heard a low, guttural growl.
"She's with me." Was all the voice said before pulling me off the chair with one arm and bouncing a pure silver coin off the polished bar top, straight for the head of the handsome bartender. It split his head open with ease and melted the flesh like acid. I looked up to see who it was even though I already knew it was him, all I could see though was a pale face covered mostly with black hair, and a discolored scar on the left cheek. I felt more at ease knowing that I had finally found him.
I managed to steady myself after we were out the doors of the bar, and followed him quickly, and once we were at a safe distance from the place, he turned to me,
"What are you doing here, Renoka?" His icy fingers grazed my cheek in a way that was unusual for him, normally his grip was like iron, impossible to break free; this time, his touch was one of caring and concern, and I couldn't help but to lean in to it just a little.
"Nemo... I've been looking everywhere for you. The base in Germany has been completely destroyed, I tried to stop them but they were too strong and too many for me to take on before the explosion." I looked down, still disappointed in myself, and in the fact that I had allowed those bastards a good hit on me during the fight. "But I managed to save most of our valuables and weapons...” I tried to continue, but Nemo stopped me, looking down at me with that 'it's okay' look on his face. "I'm sorry, I just wasn't strong enough, and I should have tried harder." he ran his fingers through my silken hair.
"You were hurt, weren't you? You got hurt because of me... and for that, I'm sorry." he gathered up my bag and his, then instructed me to follow him. The town we were in was small and quiet, so what had happened at the bar was already all over the place. As we walked down the streets, I could feel the eyes of the townsfolk upon us, and it was slightly unsettling. I didn't know whether it was the cold lifelessness that was present, or the hatred and fear they felt for us.
As we turned a corner, there was a doe eyed prostitute waiting there for us. Her charming smile and supple breasts would have normally been enough to pull any man into her bed, but what she didn't realize was that Nemo was no ordinary man.
"Hello there, I heard about what you did to that big bad vampire at the bar, why don't I show you my true appreciation? Lose the little Goth girl and let a real woman take care of you." she eyed me with disdain and pushed herself up against Nemo's chest. He froze for a second then pushed her away forcefully,
"No thanks, I don't need some whore like you, I'm not interested in your skanky body or its blood, it's tainted with drugs and alcohol. You disgust me, now go, and tell those black market scumbags to get the fuck out of here before I kill all of you; and I will not hesitate to slit open that pale throat of yours right here. Now, get the fuck out of my way." His voice was so... scary, so different from the way he normally addressed me... it was almost terrifying the way his eyes flashed red. He shoved the girl out of the way and continued one the way to wherever it was he was leading me. I would follow him silently, blindly, I always would. Nemo was someone so special to me; I would follow him until death.
As we trudged through the snow outside of the town, I caught of glimpse of pure white fur running towards us, then a flash of blue eyes, 'Alexander!' I breathed, seeing the great white wolf run up to us. He was by no means small, but I was by no means large. At my 5'3 stature, most people towered over me; Alexander was up to my chest in his wolf form. He nuzzled me gently, knowing that my presence there meant that there was something very wrong. He licked my hand and pushed to my chest as I scratched is furry white ear.
"He knows you've been hurt, Ren, he wants you to get on his back, I'll help you up." Nemo set down the bags and lifted me effortlessly, setting me down on Alexander's back; when he pulled his hand away from my side, there was blood on his palm. 'The wound must have re-opened' I thought to myself, ashamed for showing them my weakness and making them worry about me. "We're almost there, Ren, please relax; once we're out of the open I can take a look at that gash." He touched my shoulder, knowing I was fading fast, and then offered me an awkward smile that soothed my nerves. Before we started off again, Nemo lifted the hand with my blood smeared on it to his lips and licked it clean. He sighed, as if it were the first drink of water he'd had in his entire life.
With that, we started off again, I was fading quicker by the second and felt dizzy from the blood loss; I held tightly onto Alexander's fur and turned my head to get more comfortable, as I looked down his right side, I could see his pure white fur colored crimson. I took one last breath before slipping into unconsciousness.

When I finally came to, I was on a stone floor, wrapped in blankets, with the right side of my body exposed and Nemo leaning over me. He was finishing up the stitching on the gash in my side.
"You must have really taken a beating, that was quite a cut you had there." he traced the long cut with his fingertips; it must have been at least 14 inches long and ran from the tip of my rib cage all the way to my hip. "I've sewn up the wound; you should be fine in a day or so." I took silent breaths, not feeling any pain at that moment; I looked behind me to see what was propping up my head, and there I came eye to eye with Alexander, he had allowed me to use him as a pillow in case I began coughing up blood.
"Thank you..." I managed to say, my throat was so dry, and I was starving; I hadn't eaten since the explosion. I shyly lifted my eyes to Nemo's pale face, and he knew immediately what I needed and nodded slightly. He slipped an arm gently around my shoulders and lifted me up, then dismissed Alexander so that he could hunt for himself. Alexander hoisted himself up and nodded to us, padded silently out of the cave. Once Alexander had disappeared into the snow, Nemo turned me so that I was facing him and wrapped his arms around me and pulled my head to his neck.
"You need to eat, young one, starving yourself won't make you thinner than you already are." He chuckled a little bit and rubbed my arm, giving me the go ahead. With a deep breath, I sank my long, white canines deep into the side of his throat, tasting the sweet, spicy, taste of his blood bubbling over my tongue as I drank. It was so delicious that I almost couldn't stop myself when he pushed slightly on my chest. Nemo's blood was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted, the equivalent of THC, rushing through your body at such a rate that you feel like you’re flying. He was panting heavily as I pulled away. "If you take anymore, I won't able able to control what would happen next." He gasped, licking his lips, "Are you full?" He asked as I licked some of his stray blood from my chin. "You’re a good girl, Ren." He said and I smiled; most of the time, Nemo was cold and heartless, but he would show me his soft spot every now and then when he was feeling alone. Even though he had changed his appearance many times over the years, he still had the same awkwardly comforting smile. "Now onto business my dear, the reason I'm here..." He trailed off slightly, looking to his left where there was a hidden room. "Ren, I came here upon request from ay young man. First, I went to Ireland to meet with him, he contacted me because there have been many attacks on him from my father's corporations... I don't know what it is that my father wants with him, but I'm not letting him get this young man, his skills are invaluable to us. So we ran here to Russia to hide until we were able to assess the situation better and make a plan. This young man is a master of assassination like you are, but he.... well.... I'm not sure how to put this." Nemo trailed off his sentence, trying to find the words to describe the young man; just when it seem he found the right ones, a body burst through the stone wall we were staring at, throwing rocks and dust everywhere, and the body lying on the floor, looking crushed and lifeless. I got ready to fight but Nemo stopped me,
"Did you see that, dude?! That was fucking epic, I mean that was so much c4, I can't believe that! I want to try that again!" The body said, getting up and shaking off, he cracked his neck so it was on straight and repositioned his arm. The young Irish man before us looked harmless enough with short blond hair that just barely covered the top of his forehead and icy blue eyes. I turned my head to Nemo and lifted my eyebrow, waiting for a much deserved explanation.
"Ren, this is Jackson Lane... he was a mercenary born with an amazing regenerative ability and the ability to stop and start time at his own will." I looked at Mr. Lane; his blue eyes held an heir of pure insanity that would have rivaled even the worst psychopaths. "He's batshit crazy."
"Damn Skippy! But that was a really terrible way to introduce my awesomeness, man. This must be that girl you were talking about earlier, let me tell you now, you didn't do her justice. So, how did you end up with this stick in the mud, pretty lady?" Jackson slid over to us as we sat down, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered me one, "You smoke, missy?" he asked as he lit one up. I nodded and took it happily, I hadn't had a cigarette since the explosion in Germany, and my nic fits had been pretty terrible. Nemo gave me a light and I took a long drag,
"Thank you." I said simply to Jackson, making him smile at me as he pulled out a little green bag of multicolored candies.
"Welcome. Now, why don't you tell me what happened to you, Nemo said that you hadn't had much better of a childhood than I did, so can I ask you how Nemo here came across such a pretty young woman." Nemo was silent as he lit a cigarette of his own, then smirked and nodded at me, telling me to begin with my story.
"Well, I guess Nemo has known me since before I was born, at least he knew of my parents before I ever came along, but what really made him interested in us was my father. First off, I was born of a human mother and vampire father, my mother was sweet and kind, but my father was the exact opposite, he was cruel hearted and full of hatred. As to why this didn't happen sooner, I don't know, but before it all did, my father had begun training me with weapons in hopes that I would become powerful by the time I was 5, and I became proficient with a dagger. One day, as I was playing and my mom was cooking, my dad came home but he looked very different, his face looked thinner, his eyes were ravenous, and he was salivating. He attacked my mother first, and as they fought she had manage to wound him slightly, but not enough to stop him, and he killed her easily. Next he came to me, thinking that once snap of his jaw would end my life, but he was wrong. He pounced on me and I jammed my dagger deep into his rib cage and kicked it hard, pushing it in deeper, then grabbed the knife lying beside me where my mother had thrown it and shoved it into his sternum, he rolled off me for a second, but once he was able to fight off the pain, he pinned me back down and started snapping at my neck, I had no more weapons anymore so I was sure that he would sink his teeth deep into my throat at any second. Once I thought he really had gotten to my neck, I heard a wet sound; I looked at my father and saw the lights leave his eyes. However, I didn't realize that I had my mouth open and his blood poured into mine." I stopped reliving everything all over again; it was horrifying to have to see his face again. Jackson looked at me sadly; apparently he did understand the severity of what had happened to me.
"That’s why your such a powerful vampire then, you drank your father's blood... but... I thought that was supposed to kill you in the vampire world, because it's the equivalent of drinking your own blood." Jackson asked looking absolutely fascinated as he ate his candies with child-like wide eyes.
"She's the only vampire born of vampire and human; and she and I are the only ones who have ever been able to survive ingesting the blood of another vampire. I think it's her will power that makes her so powerful that helped her survive." Nemo chimed in, taking one last drag of his cigarette before flicking it into the snow. "She's truly someone very special."
"It's only thanks to you that I'm alive, Nemo, if you hadn't shown up when you did he would have torn my throat open right there." I said, remembering the way Nemo looked all those years ago. He had looked so young and stress-free when we first met, he had a baby face and no scars, he was quite handsome as well, but even now he still was, scars and all.
"That's not the whole story though, Ren, keep going." Nemo nudged me as I took a final drag and threw my cigarette into the snow outside of the cave.
"Okay, okay, anyway. After Nemo saved he, he gave me a warm meal and took me to a woman he said would protect me until he had found a safe place for the both of us and where he could train me further. The woman had a kind face, and for a while she did protect me just the way Nemo promised me she would. At about the time I was 13 and beginning to mature into a young woman, she started using me to serve men sake in the tea house she owned. At the time, I didn't understand at the time what it was she was aiming for or what her real business was, but soon enough I found out and she sold me to a businessman who owned a bar in Kyoto. During regular business hours, it was just a regular bar, but after hours it became an exclusive men club; he made me dance there and serve drinks. Finally, one night when I was 18, I was closing up the bar alone, and I thought the place was empty but I would soon find out just how wrong I was. As I was cleaning the bar, a man grabbed me and dragged me out the back entrance, into an alleyway almost cut off from the streets. I wasn't sure what his intentions were, but I could tell that he was not human and he desired something from me. As we struggled, I found that I could look into someone's mind and see what it is they desired most; and he wanted my blood, he thought that if he killed me and drank my blood, and then he would become powerful enough to overtake Nemo, then his father. What I saw in the man's mind scared me to the point that I jumped and he grabbed me, ready to sink his teeth into my neck, and something hit him between the eyes. It was the same dagger that had killed my father all those years ago. Nemo had saved me again, but this time when he saved me, he didn't leave me." I looked over at Nemo and smiled.
"Nope, I never let you stray too far from me. I'd be too afraid that I'd lose you. I can't believe I let you get hurt like that. I smiled softly at him and looked down at my pale hands.
"You also gave me your jacket that day." He chuckled as I snuggled down into the jacket he'd given me. "Nemo and I have been together ever since. He trained me, took care of me, and showed me what it was like to have a family."
"Wow, that's a nice story." Jackson said, "But we should probably get moving, before you came along we were heading somewhere into Romania." Jackson got up and stretched, Nemo and I did the same. I checked my side, seeing that the scar was already fading into a pale line, leaving the large dragon tattoo that ran from my thigh up to my collar bone. Jackson looked at me, impressed.
"I got this tattoo once Nemo saved me, my mom had a small one on here wrist, but mine I wanted to be bigger and have some color. Nemo gave it to me, and now it gives me more of his power." Jackson looked at me blankly,
"What does that mean?" he asked us,
"It means I infused me blood, the essence of my being and power, into the ink of that tattoo. She can call on me whenever she wants to; though she's only had to use it once." Nemo informed Jackson. "Renoka is someone very special to me." Nemo helped me into my jacket and we packed everything up, and then met Alexander at the entrance of the cave.

The four of us trudged through the snow and freezing wind to Nemo's homeland, what was known as Romania instead of Walachia. It had been a long time since Nemo and I had be there, and Nemo both hated and loved the old place; it had been the place where he was born, the burial place of his mother, and the place where he had imprisoned his father's soul, although the imprisoning had only cut down his power and made him weak, which was why he had to have others do his work for him.
The castle was very large, beautiful; with tall, black stone turrets, wrought iron gates, grandly painted ceilings, spiral staircases, all of the old world charm and grandeur you would expect from a 14th century castle. The place held quite a few memories for me as well; like the first time Nemo had brought me here. I was covered in blood and scared out of my mind. The whole story started just after he had rescued me for the second time, he had found a small house where I could rest and he went to a nearby village to gather some things we would need for the journey, but a gang of men followed us and when they saw Nemo leave, they stormed in. I remembered fighting them as best I could, but I was weak and couldn't hold them off for long. They pinned me down, I really had no idea what they wanted to do with me, and I really didn't want to find out either; but I heard a raspy scream and lifted my head to see Nemo standing there, he was angry, his eyes looked like embers smoldering in a fire. There was a rush of wind, very cold wind, and then a warm feeling spread down my side. I thought one of the men had stabbed me, but when I looked down, the blood wasn't mine, there was the body of one of them men, eyes open but lifeless staring at me; Nemo was staring down at me covered in blood. I still hadn't forgotten the cold bloodlust and rage in those red eyes, and seeing it scared me to the core. I kept my distance from him until we had come to the castle; but he showed me his kindness by giving me a warm meal and a bath when we got to the castle.
As I came back into reality from my memory, I noticed that Nemo had stopped at the large mahogany doorway, Alexander asked Jackson to follow him around back to inspect something. I raised my eyes to Nemo's pale face, knowing exactly what he was thinking.
"You’re thinking about her, aren't you?" I asked, stepping slightly closer to him as the wind bellowed around us. He nodded softly and brought his hand up to his chest where a necklace hung just beneath his clothing. On that necklace hung an ornamental sword with a dark red gem in the hilt and a dragon spiraling around the blade. That gem held something so dear to him that legend said if you saw it, you would never see the light of day again, even with how long I had been with Nemo, I had only seen it once. The red gem in that necklace held the last remaining physical piece of his mother, Nemo had taken the little bit of blood left in her body and hardened it into a gem so he could never forget her and feel close to her because she truly was an angel.
"I still miss her, Ren." His voice was light and ghostly, almost like the wind. He was clutching the emblem beneath his shirt so tightly that his fingers were white, I grabbed lightly onto his closed fist.
"I know, Nemo, I wish you could see her again." I sighed softly and laid my head into the junction of his neck, inhaling his sweet and slightly spicy scent.
"At least I have you now, Ren; things are much easier now that you’re with me. I feel like she's here with me and I have a good friend and good family to help me through those tough times." He wrapped his arms around me and drew me into an embrace. I felt his sharp fangs against the flesh of my neck, Nemo would never feed on human blood, he said he tried it once and it had made him sick. Every time he brushed his fangs against me, I couldn't help but shiver. "If it isn't too much to ask of you...later tonight, may I partake from your neck?" he asked me politely, the way his fingers ghosted down my skin made me shake slightly with fear and excitement. I nodded and pushed open the heavy door, Nemo followed me into the old mansion with Alexander and Jackson following a few moments later.