Teufelsschloßes - Chapter 9
Dracula waited. Either he was pressing just the right buttons, or the mental change was taking hold of the boy. “Well?” he prompted.
“I-I… I don’t know…” Omi couldn’t put anything into words.
The Vampire answered for him. “You know nothing of innocence. Then who are you to judge on that matter?”
“I protect the innocent!” He was adamant in his conviction.
“Ah, but you still haven’t answered me regarding your own state, Hansel.” The tone fit his stature, that of an authoritative king, overseeing his court.
The assassin’s eyes dimmed further, under the sheer pressure of the other’s personality. “I… I only do what I’m told. We hunt the Dark Beasts. We’re not doing anything wrong.”
Again, Dracula touched him, brushing hair from the dimmed eyes. And again, Omi’s body reacted with pleasure to the touch. “And yet, you hide in the shadows, stalk in the night. If the cause is right, would you not hunt in the light of day?”
“I-if we had to…”
“ ‘If we had to’ are words of someone who knows that he must hide what he does,” the man stated quite plainly. “I believe you prefer the darkness.”
“N-no! I don’t!” Omi’s words were insistent, but his voice sounded unclear on if he was convinced of his own words.
“Aaa… what is that hitch in your voice that I hear? Uncertainty? Are you denying what you are? A man must be honest with himself, Hansel.”
That name… The Vampire Lord had been using it for some time now. “That’s not… not my name…” With every counter Dracula gave to Omi’s rather unsound arguments, the boy lost more and more of his confidence, and the fog in his mind grew thicker.
“Oh? Then what is your name? The one that you wear now, that you use while creeping in the shadows? I wonder if you even know?” Dracula gave a ‘hmmm’ sound, waiting for reply.
Omi was about to answer, but then he paused. What was his name? Was it Omi? That name had been given to him by Persia, not his parents. Mamoru? True, it was from his parents, but they hadn’t wanted him. Why would they even bother naming him? Bombay? True, he was Bombay, but he’d never asked to become Bombay. It was just a name given to him by Kritiker. Just another name…
Dracula waited for response, looking almost impatient. The mental change was surely beginning. It was hardly sporting to use such abilities as Suggestion to completely bend another's will. So when he finally spoke, he made sure there was no mental pressure behind his words. “A man should be able to answer that question in an instant, and yet… it has been nearly five minutes. Have you lost your memory of your true name?”
It was hard for him to concentrate through the fog. A voice from inside it whispered to him to let go, to let the bliss of nothingness take over his mind. “I… I don’t know what my name is,” Omi mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper. “No one ever gave me a proper name. No one that loved me…”
“Then, by that, any name would do, would it not?”
“I…” Omi’s head hung down. “It doesn’t matter…”
“Hansel, then.” The next words were honeyed. “I have wanted to meet you for quite a while now.”
Omi looked up at him, his eyes dull, but not yet given in to the fog. “Y-you did?”
“Indeed. Why did you think I went to your flower shop, of all places, in this land of rising sun?”
Omi frowned. “Why?” Why would anyone want to meet him? He… he was nothing… not compared with the one who stood before him.
“You are a most interesting human. Not many can hold my attention for long.”
“I’m not interesting. I’m just… me…” Omi was beginning to relax. Certainly, his stance was no longer that of one who was afraid, at least.
“You sell yourself too short, Hansel.” He spoke off-handedly. “An innocent little murderer, at ease at night.”
“I’m not at ease!” It was… better, he supposed, now, than when he’d found out who he was, but he still had nightmares. Almost every night.
“Are you…?” There’s a glint of knowledge in those wolf-like eyes. “I see that you are referring to a different kind of trouble.”
Omi looked up at him, eyes wide, almost as if he was yearning for someone who could understand him. “A different kind?”
“I was referring to the ease of moving through the darkness-but what is it that preys upon your mind, that makes you fearful?”
“I… I killed my family…”
“There are always circumstances. Nothing is as simple as it seems.”
“I wish things were simple…” The boy looked down.
Dracula just smiled. “And now, you are above such complications. In the night, it is much simpler.” The Vampire flicked a strand of hair out of Omi’s eyes and stepped back.
Omi looked at him. When he’d moved away, he’d felt himself wanting to take a step towards him, to stay hear to… to… Omi didn’t know. The voice from the fog promised that what Dracula said was true, and that if he would just give in, everything would make perfect sense. “Simpler… how?”
The King hid the smirk that wanted form when he saw the shift in body language. “We are above the complexities of mere human mortality; it is by our own strength that we create ‘right’ in the eternal night.”
“B-but… what about innocents?”
“Few and far between, Hansel. But with this strength that we have, you can punish your guilty parties with a more deserving ferocity.”
“I-I can?” Omi-no… Hansel-gave into the voice, and let the fog fill his mind. He took that step towards Dracula. “How?”
[This chapter is adapted from the latter half of this, as well as half of this.]