Isao Serato's Story

Isao Serato

Isao arrived at the university in the morning. His parents had drove him here while it was still dark, glad to be rid of him once more. Isao didn’t blame them for their sentiments. They disagreed on almost all matters, even his own nature. They had treated him like a child born with a serious disability and he had rebelled against that. Still, they weren’t as bad as most humans. They didn’t despise him, they pitied him. Misplaced pity of course, but more preferable than the hate most felt towards his kind. It wasn’t enough to warrant a good relationship though, they had said goodbye with some empty words and a hasty kiss, both all too happy to walk away from this awkward situation.
He studied the gate before him with a sad smile before walking in, a heavy backpack on his back, a suitcase in one hand and a violin case in the other. He was clothed in a plain blue shirt, black pants and a leather jacket. Many students were already exchanging vacation stories. Isao tried to ignore them, hoping to at the very least reach his dorm before someone insulted him. With quick strides he moved towards the periphery of the campus, where they had hidden his kind. The place still looked as willing to collapse as ever. He swung the creaking door open and moved through the dusty hallways. The funny thing was, he was glad to be back. The place might be old, damaged and unpleasant, it was home to his peers. He almost cried, glad to be among equals once more.

It didn’t take him long to find his room. It was the one place he could find on the campus. Many students had trouble orientating, but Isao was even worse at it than most. He slowly unlocked the door and entered. He was met by a stuffy smell and a substantial amount of dust. He sighed, put his luggage down and opened the window. At least the place wasn’t falling apart as badly last year, it had taken him months to either repair or replace everything. It was a shame he couldn’t replace the building.
With resignation he started to clean the place, humming an old tune while he was at it. His room wasn’t exactly big, so it didn’t take too long. Then he started unpacking, hanging posters from several music groups, movies and foreign places such as Egypt on the walls. When he was done, not a single hint of the white wall was visible. He smiled slightly, proud of his work. They might have given him a worthless room, but he had made sure it was his worthless room. These posters were his way of defying the world. They might do their very best to make him believe he was a worthless slob, not even remotely similar to humans, but on that account, they were dead wrong. It was a meagre act of rebellion, but at least one he could pull off without breaking the vampire codes.

A loud noise broke his concentration. He backed away slightly, or at least tried to. Instead he stumbled over his backpack and hit the floor. A soft groan escaped his lips as he crawled up. He stumbled towards the window, his one hand pressed against his grazed side, still slightly dazed, and saw a couple of students disappearing in the distance. It looked like the humans were starting early with their pranks.
“Oh why don’t you all go to hell,” he muttered before slamming the window shut, “damn humans, just wait till I find out who’s responsible for this,” he concluded, knowing it was an empty threat. He dropped down on his bed and massaged his temples, forcing himself to stay calm. His head hurt like hell, but he didn’t think he was actually hurt. It would have been embarrassing to start his new year with a broken nose. After a while he searched his pockets for a matchbook, but found none. He realized he had packed those as well, at the bottom of his suitcase.
With an exasperated sigh he cupped his hands together and focused, his brow furrowing. After a short time a small flame burst into life, hovering just above his hands. Isao focused on the flame, watching it dance to the sides. When a couple of seconds had passed, he withdrew his hands, the fire disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. He felt exhausted, but calmer. He was sure the university wouldn’t approve of this, even though he had the fire perfectly under control. Still, they’d never find out. His room didn’t even have a smoke detector unlike the human rooms. If the vampire dorm burned down, they would be rid of both their troublesome ilk and a building long due for either a renovation or a demolition.

With new resolve he got up from his bed and resumed the unpacking. He hung his clothes in the closet, made his bed and placed his books on a shelve, his hands gently sliding across the covers. His violin case was put in the closet as well. He left his most valuable stuff in the suitcase, making sure to lock it. Given the recent prank he decided to retain a certain degree of caution for now. He then turned towards the wash basin and splashed some water in his face, shivering at its cold touch.
“No warm water, looks like it still isn’t the university’s priority to fix. They probably ‘lost’ the complaint I filed ” he grumbled before he realized he was talking to himself. He sat down at his desk and surveyed his room once more and concluded there was not much left for him to do here. His posters had been hung up, the dust was mostly gone and his luggage was unpacked. A job well done. Then he saw something underneath the desk itself. He tilted his head slightly, seeing a small piece of paper. He crouched down and picked it up, expecting it to be either taunting, insulting or both. Instead a short sentence was written on it: ”Today is the first day of your new life."
Isao shook his head, surprised but also slightly annoyed. A year ago he might have believed that. Back when he still hoped vampires would be less hated here than everywhere else. This year, he was less naive. Still, it was a nice sentiment and it had improved his mood slightly. He just wondered who had gone through such trouble for the likes of him. He grabbed his leather jacket, a new matchbook and his keys. With a defiant smile he left his room, making sure to lock it. It was time to go find a quiet place outside.

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Piercing, ice-blue eyes. They stared deep into him, full of understanding and wisdom. The two pools of ice were framed by black and white fur that glittered in the sunlight streaming in through the window. Razor sharp claws dug into his bare chest, though the strength behind them was measured and careful so that they did not break his skin. The full weight of the beast on his body made it quite difficult to breathe. The snow leopard was perhaps heavier than himself. Dimly, he wondered what the feline ate to create so much body mass. A deep-throated growl filled the room and Henri was instantly jerked into full consciousness.

“Wha’s yer problem, Evs?”

Everest retracted his claws and stepped off his master, allowing him to sit up in bed. Henri rubbed his eyes tiredly. He reached under his pillow and brought out a box of cigarettes. Lazily, he looked about his surroundings. It was just his dorm room; his home for the past four years. His parents lived elsewhere in Iowa and Henri did not like to visit them. The last time he had gone, the neighbors had called the police because they thought the tall, intimidating figure with the ‘strange, long-tailed lynx’ was there to bring harm to the innocent Leppards. It had taken nearly seven hours to clear up the misunderstanding. Both Henri and his parents agreed that it would be best if he didn’t come over too often. His parents couldn’t visit the campus, since their disguise as a normal, human couple would crumble if they were spotted with Henri.

So he lived in his dorm room almost year-round. To be honest, it looked pretty much the same as when he had first become its inhabitant, albeit much more hygienic. Peeling wallpaper, sad-looking ceiling, gaping hole in the wall that exposed a rather important water pipe. This was home. What fun.

“It’s fifteen minutes after seven,” said Everest, flicking his tail back and forth impatiently.

Henri stuck a cigarette into his mouth. He struck a match against the wall and lit the roll of tobacco. After flicking out the match, he turned a bored gaze towards his familiar. “Yeah? What are ya now? Me ‘larm clock?” he asked casually.

Everest sat down beside Henri on the bed. “You have an appointment at seven thirty,” he reminded.

Henri blinked uncomprehendingly. “Whaddya mean? I don’ have a...” he trailed off as he glanced across the room to the calendar. Today’s date was circled in red with the words ‘CLIENT AT 7:30 AM’ written in the box. Henri just stared at the calendar for a long time. He wasn’t sure what to think at the moment. After all, he had just attended to another client the previous night. Which loser had scheduled two of them in a row?

“Now it’s twenty minutes after seven,” Everest murmured, sighing softly.

Henri reached for his phone, which sat on the bedside table. He saw that he had missed a text message while sleeping. It had been sent at 7:03 am:

Sinclair: Where r u? Client in 30 mins!

Henri growled in disapproval, sounding much like his familiar. He texted back:

You: cancel it. I have school

Everest chuckled in amusement. “Since when did you care about school?”

Henri playfully stuck out his tongue. “Never.” He literally swung out of bed, reaching up to stretch his arms over his head in one fluid motion. After stretching and yawning some, he slipped on a black t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. Reaching under the bed mattress, he produced his famous belt. Said belt always resided underneath the mattress when not worn, for it was far too precious to be kept anywhere else. Henri snapped his belt in place, admiring how the voodoo dolls swayed with his every step. The chains tinkled ominously. All his shorts had been modified so that the bottoms of the belt loops attached with snap buttons, which allowed him to easily put on his belt.

Armed with his belt, cigarette, and snow leopard, Henri was ready to face the first day of school.

Everest was calmly licking his paw when Henri made towards the door. The snow leopard stopped him, barring the path with his massive frame, teeth bared and gleaming in the morning light. He growled menacingly. “You forgot to brush your teeth.”

So Henri brushed his teeth. Sadly, he was unable to do so with the cigarette still in his mouth, so it went into the ashtray. When he looked into the bathroom mirror, he realized with a start that he hadn't washed off his face paint from last night. He took a damp towel and wiped it all off. And not very silently, he berated his familiar for not telling him.

Everest chuckled at the stream of profanity audible over the gushing of the faucet. The snow leopard was not one to waste words. Of course he had noticed the face paint. He had even laughed at his master's carelessness. By telling Henri to brush his teeth, knowing the dreadlocked teenager would see the face paint in the mirror, he had effectively killed two birds with one stone. When Henri emerged from the bathroom, Everest padded to his side and followed him out the building.

"Who’s that client anyways?" Henri asked, checking his cell phone for a reply.

Sinclair: the client aint happy

You: like I care

"Entrepreneur from Germany," Everest answered. He lifted his head, trying to read what was on the phone.

Henri stopped abruptly. His dreadlocks whipped around as his head turned incredulously towards his familiar. "Wha’? I don’ remem’er anyone from Germany.”

Everest did his best to shrug, but the action was not one meant for a feline. He settled for an irritated flick of the tail. "It seems he heard of you from one of your other clients. The one with the enlarged toe," he said. His bright blue eyes stared evenly ahead.

"The frickin' bastard!" spat Henri. Every client of his was sworn into secrecy. Henri only treated people with ‘incurable’ diseases who were found by his underlings. This was to stop massive publicity, since it would be disastrous if people found out that the Leopard Doctor was in fact a vampire. If the word spread, Henri would probably need to move elsewhere. To take his mind off this fact, he rummaged around in his pockets and produced a half-empty box of cigarettes. Henri lit one and took a long draft before blowing out a torrent of smoke from his mouth. He stuffed the box back into his pocket. "He’ll hafta get cursed."

"I agree. He broke his oath. He signed in blood."

Henri nodded half-heartedly. The two of them, leopard and vampire, continued on their way. They weren’t sure exactly where they were going. Their goal was to wander around, get lost, then try to find their way again. It was an effective method to waste time. The fact that it was extremely busy on campus helped with the task. Students of all ages and sizes were milling about, clogging the streets. As Henri waded through the crowd of people, towering well above most of them, he heard some murmuring amongst a group of teenage girls.

“Did you see that girl?”

“You mean the new Sponsor?” The word ‘Sponsor’ was spat out like a broken tooth.

Everest’s ears twitched with curiosity. A new Sponsor? That was rare.

“Yeah. She looks so filthy. No wonder she’s a Sponsor.”

“Well, duh. Only filthy people would associate with filthy vampires.”

With his hands in his pockets, Henri intruded on the conversation. “Why, ‘ello ladies!”

Immediately, the girls stopped talking. Who wouldn’t when faced with a huge guy and a huge snow leopard? When recognition dawned in their eyes, some of them shrieked in fright. Everyone knew of Henri, the vampire with the dreadlocks, but not many had actually interacted with him since he didn’t like talking to people he didn’t know. There was plenty of talk about him going around and sucking the blood of innocent girls.

Henri didn’t care about the rumors. Honestly, he had only entered the conversation to see if any of the girls were hot. He glanced around the group and confirmed that they were all average in terms of looks. How disappointing. He sighed. “Never mind,” he said dejectedly. “Le’s go, Evs.”

Leaving the girls thoroughly bewildered, Henri turned on his heel and headed back in the direction they had come from. Everest padded silently at his side, easily keeping up with his master’s long strides. He was used to Henri’s behavior and didn’t mind his carefree nature at all. In fact, seeing Henri burdened was quite distressing for the familiar, so it was best if those moments were few.

“Are we going back to the dorm?” Everest asked as the old, depressing building came into view.

“Yeah. I’m gunna see if Báthory’s back yet.”

Everest purred in delight. “Lilith is the best at scratching behind the ears,” he murmured dreamily. The snow leopard then shook his head free of his daydreams and circled Henri’s feet, noting that his master had mismatched his sandals. “Shouldn’t you also greet the new Sponsor?” prompted Everest, noting that Henri also had mismatched earings: a silver skull on the right ear and a golden hoop in the left.

“Well, if she’s pretty, she’ll get more than jus’ a greetin’,” Henri replied. With his next step, he nearly tripped on his familiar’s tail. “Watch it, Evs!”

Everest’s tail jerked away from Henri’s feet. “Sorry.”

The two continued for some time, conversing about the weather and other exciting topics. When they reached the dorms, Henri headed straight for Lilith Báthory’s room. Everest sighed inwardly. So much for greeting the new Sponsor. The snow leopard followed close behind his master. He glanced around and saw that there were a few familiar faces and few unfamiliar ones. There was Isao. And there was Edmund and Malphas. Oh, and there was Morana talking to a new girl. A human girl. There were two others who Everest noticed. They seemed quite confused. How refreshing.

Upon reaching Lilith’s room, they found the door open and Henri invited himself inside. Everest bounded in eagerly and rolled around on the floor like an excited cub.

Henri remained near the door, smoke drifting from between his slightly parted lips. Lilith was just as beautiful as she had been four years ago, perhaps even more so. Her silver hair and magenta eyes were odd, but only added to her radiance. Henri flashed a grin, holding out his arms for a welcoming hug. “So how’s me lovely Báthory today?”