Souls vs Blood 6

Souls vs Blood 6

The mark. Ever wondered how the mark looked like? Alice couldn't see it, but James could. The mark, that dreaded mark, it appeared ever stronger later that morning. The trap hadn't responded, the soul sucker must have went around it somehow. Not only did he managed to go round the trap unnoticed, he had replaced his mark. James stared down the little bright spot on Alice's collarbone. It shone through her clothes. The size of a small pebble, the shape of a soul... James hated it. It was like a tattoo badly placed because it was constantly renewed, each time more deeply etched than before. That was the nature of a soul sucker's mark. It stayed longer the more often you replace it. It wasn't going to disappear for at least 2 weeks. But a weak mark was no good as a mark. So in about a week James could dispel it. IF, it is not replaced again. Also, soul suckers and vampires were of contrasting types and so the mark would disappear faster with James close by. Which explains the sticking. With that mark on Alice, James' fangs would be repelled. However, James didn't want to feed on Alice just yet. He did feel a bit of guilt about Alice. He didn't think it was proper to feed on her before she could accept that he was a vampire. That is, if she accepted it in the first place. He shook those negative thoughts out of his head. They walked to school, both in a daze, conversing superficially.

That night, and during each of the following nights, after Alice fell asleep, James went into her room and bared his fangs at her collarbone to weaken the mark. He continued on without feeding. During this time, the tenant agency contacted Alice. They would have a tenant soon. Her name, was Rebecca. Not just any Rebecca. Rebecca Klar. Her identity? This was an interesting one. She was infamous in two of the three worlds due to her origins. She was born of a soul sucker female and a vampire male. A half blood. The reason for her fame? Her parents lived a story of adultery and rape. Her father was killed as a traitor, while her mother was banished and lived in the human world ever since. Rebecca Klar had fangs, and the ability to absorb time and place marks. She was proud of it. She made use of it. The higher ups in both soul sucking and blood sucking worlds didn't know what to make of her. Friend? Or foe? She played with them, signed contracts with them, did all she wanted while laughing and making fun of them, she LOVED her origins. No one else did. James was devastated when Alice told him the name of the new tenant. Unfortunately she had accepted the offer without consulting James and James couldn't think of how to change the arrangements so he braced himself for the worst. Not that he had met Rebecca Klar in his life time. How old was she? Well, soul suckers and vampires age rather differently. Soul suckers grow slowly and look rather small for a longer time while Vampires grow as quickly as humans when they were young and almost not change once they reach the body of a human in their mid twenties. James was the same age as Alice, while Harold, looked younger, but was slightly older than the two of them. As for Rebecca Klar, her body stopped obvious growth the moment her body reached the age of a human teenager. Forever looking as if she was in the prime of her life, she was actually already in her late twenties. The very next day, she banged through the door dressed fully in punk, her hair messily and partially pulled into a high bun of sorts, high laced platform boots, checkered skirt, bubblegum in mouth... she was only missing the tattoos and the piercings. Guess her regeneration speed was too fast for the piercings to stay for long.

"Who's Alice?"
"That would be me..." Alice said with a tone filled with questions. James gave her a weary glance.
Rebecca smiled. She dropped her bags and fawned over Alice.
"Ohhhh~ What a cute little girl!"
Alice blushed. She felt awkward that a girl younger than her was treating her like some kid. Well, she wouldn't know how old Rebecca Klar would be...
"Call me Klar. Don't call me Rebecca. It's too common. I hate it." Rebecca continued.
"Hi Klar, let me lead you to your room."
"Oh what a pleasure. Thank you dearie!"
Rebecca glares at James because he didn't take her bags for her, but she picked up her own bags (which didn't seem to be much) and followed Alice happily. She had taken a liken to Alice. How not to? She had the mark of a soul sucker and lived with a vampire. Rebecca was just slightly envious of her. She knew James was a vampire since vampires had great noses and they could sniff out their own kind.

She loved how the room was plain. She could decorate the whole interior from scratch. Another thing about Rebecca Klar, was that she was an open black market/ smuggler, whatever people like to call her. She had mountains of things you couldn't find even if you tried for your life time. How she got them, remains a mystery.
"The room is lovely dear. I'm so sorry but would you just step out for one moment please?" Rebecca gave Alice an exaggerated look of apology. Alice obliged obediently. "Sure."
Rebecca closed the door, removed a bottle from her relatively small bag, poured a portion of the concoction in her mouth, grew her fangs, and sprayed it back out onto the walls surrounding her. The effect? A painted wall with sweets and the occasional skull in a baby pink background. The bottle? A bottle filled with liquidized wall design. Who made it? Well, sometimes soul suckers can make a little magic and when you add humans into the picture, they try and make it sellable... Unfortunately, fangs were necessary to use them. These items were long lost and only existed during the time the three worlds were still open to one another and some what peacefully living together. Obviously since all three types were needed to make these, the only one that could, was now Rebecca. Next, she extracted a tiny structure from her slightly larger bag and slid a part of it open to click a switch. It enlarged itself into a sliding cabinet which held all her clothes. Designed like a tissue dispenser, it had four slides that clothes slid down from that were matched the way Rebecca liked it. It was programmed to detect the customized labels (a small metal piece) on each piece of clothing and mix and matched them using some artificial intelligence and a pseudo expert system. The existing cupboard, became a holding place for all Rebecca's rare items which were taken out from her slightly larger bag, case by case, bag by bag, the slightly larger bag had a portal. It wasn't just a bag. Unfortunately, Rebecca could not leave her things on the other side of the portal because the portal was not permanent. As such, they were placed cautiously and carefully into the cupboard. In about 5 minutes, she came out and gasped, "Why Alice, you're such a good girl! You waited for me?" Alice had a shocked expression on her face. She thought, *is it just me or was the wall... pink?* She was really liking Alice now, Alice was wonderful teasing material.
"Yeah, do you umm, have any problems? Shall I show you the bathroom?"
"Problems, why none at all. If I do have any, I can look for you, right?"
"Umm, yes. The bathroom's nearer to my room--"
"Oooo! Can I look into your room as well?"
"Uhh, sure!"
Alice went through the taps and the drawers and the space she allocated for Rebecca while Rebecca gave exaggerated replies and comments to everything. James was close by, arms crossed, expression grim.
Then Alice let Rebecca into her own room. Rebecca was slightly quieter here. She took in everything and touched everything. Photo frames, bed, pillows, curtains, dressing table, bottles, books. In each of these she extracted information and made observations about Alice. Just like a bartender, Rebecca knew a lot of gossip. The moment she heard about the girl who's parent's had been hunted by soul suckers but was still alive, she did her research on Alice, which is why she had decided to come here. She was curious. Her parents were hunted, but she wasn't. When she entered this house, she saw the mark. She now knew only part of the answer, she wanted to meet the soul sucker.

Rebecca was not like other soul suckers. She had complete control over soul absorption. Even hugging Alice would not bring damage to Alice in anyway unless she willed it to be so. Rebecca could choose between blood and souls. When she was younger she preferred souls, but she soon grew to like the taste of blood which was something close to... an acquired taste.

Rebecca was disappointed. Nothing in Alice's room had any trace of a soul sucker. Well, that was expected. Harold had never stepped in her room before. In a rather sour mood, she left Alice's room. Alice didn't know why Rebecca's expression changed as so, but she decided not to ponder about her extreme home mate too much after forcefully relaxing her single, raised eyebrow. As Rebecca reached the outside of Alice's room, she abruptly turned back to look at Alice's collarbone. Alice jerked back a little. Rebecca did not look into her eyes or face at all. She stayed very still. Rebecca regained her mood. Alice's reaction was cute. And the mark was sexy. That was enough for now. As she passed James, she winked. He scowled back. Alice gave him a warning look. On the first floor, Rebecca was suddenly dressed in frilly attire with an apron strapped loosely about her outfit. The kitchen table then slowly conjured up ingredients and pots and pans and cooking materials. Alice was amazed. Well, Rebecca was just a bit careful, she didn't let Alice see the magical part. To Alice, it just seemed as if Rebecca had a fridge and tools cabinet in her apron. To James though, it was obvious she was warping the things beneath her frills. Heehee.

"So! What shall we have for dinner tonight?" Rebecca was all smiles.
Alice noticed her gaping mouth and closed it before opening it again to say, "you're cooking?"
"Well, let the guest settle your meal for tonight. My cooking is not too bad if I say so myself!"
James snarled.
"I'm fine with anything you have to offer Karl. I'm not a picky eater. James doesn't like what you're holding in your hand there though." Alice pointed.
Rebecca looks down at her hands. "Oh! Garlic? I was planning on adding quite a lot of them! What shall we do now..." She looked at James through the corner of her eyes.
James was in a bad mood. Really bad. She was ecstatic about that. Alice, worried that James would not eat if there was garlic, took the spotlight off James and said, "don't add any garlic, for my sake Rebecca. Please?"
"Well, if my Landlady says so! No garlic in a dish that should have garlic then! It'll work somehow!"
Alice sighed a sigh of relief. She watched Rebecca cook. Rebecca hummed and danced as she fried and diced. She also warped a few spices below her frills along the way, hiding the actions and words in her song and dance. James kept a watchful eye on her. Alice felt a little jealous of the attention he gave Rebecca. Rebecca looked up and smiled at them ever so often.
"Dinner's ready!"
The table was set in seconds. The food looked scrumptious. To Alice's delight, it tasted as good as it looked.
"This is really good!" exclaimed Alice.
"That's so sweet of you darling. Glad you like my cooking!" replied Rebecca.
James grunted. But he ate his food and scrapped his plates clean. Alice was relieved that James seemed to like the food too. She was also a bit envious of Rebecca's cooking skills. What she didn't know was, Rebecca was a horrible cook without her spices and magic. Well, it didn't matter since Rebecca always used her magic and spices to cook. Thankfully.

James promptly went to sulk in his room. Apparently good food helped him decide to trust Rebecca for the time being. Alice helped to wash the dishes. Rebecca decided not to use her cleaning powder with Alice so close by. The moment Alice went to wipe the table with a cloth however, Rebecca finished the rest of the dishes in a jiffy, using her ciffy jiffy powder (that's the name of her cleaning powder).

Rebecca invited Alice into her room for a girls chat. After Alice gets over her shock at the wall and the clothes cabinet, they lie on the bed and start talking.
After some random explosions of giggles as Rebecca brought up famous singers and actors she liked and Alice liked as well, Rebecca slid into her interrogation.
"So... is there anything between you and that boy downstairs?"
Alice blushed immediately.
"Oh... so there is?" Rebecca teases.
"Well, I... I guess I can tell you. Please don't tell James?"
"Depends."
"Oh Klar!" Alice whines.
Rebecca laughs, "Of course I won't tell him! Don't worry!"
"Okay then. James and I are childhood friends. When I was really small, my parents used to leave me in the orphanage that was owned by a close friend of my mother and that orphanage was where James lived in. He is an orphan you see? Somehow we started playing and he protected me from the bullys there too. We attended the same schools all the way till today. Ever since I was ten I think? I've always felt a little bit of... a special feeling towards him..." Alice starts blushing again.
"Oooo... So does he feel that special thing for you too?" Rebecca was direct as usual.
"Well... I... I'm not sure..." Alice was a bright shade of pink at this point.
"Shall I find out for you?" Rebecca smirks.
"No! I-- I mean..." Alice starts to fluster.
Rebecca laughs. "Okay Okay, but anyway, do you want to date him at all? Some day?"
Alice turned tomato red. "Uhhh... I uhhh..."
Rebecca decides to tease her further. "Ooooorrrr... is there another guy?"
The red fades from Alice's face. She turned quite pale. Rebecca was surprised. *So, was the soul sucker a guy?* thought Rebecca. Both of them kept quiet. Rebecca never stopped reading Alice's expression.
Finally the silence was unbearable.
"There was..."
"mm-hmm?"
"This guy I met the other day..."
Rebecca nodded.
"He... was injured."
Rebecca opened her eyes wider as if in surprise just to make clear she was listening intently.
"And he didn't let me go near him. At first I thought... he was afraid of me but... we was instead wo... worried... for.. me..." Alice didn't know why she was telling Rebecca, who she had only met today, and looked younger than her, all about what she had kept from everyone else. Well, Rebecca did have some incense burning in the room. One wonders about the purpose of that little purple candle burning at the corner.
"uh-huh?"
"Told me not to come near him. But he recovered at a crazy speed as he walked or, limped really, about the place."
"Wow. That must have been surprising." Rebecca said since Alice paused. She gave an expectant look to Alice.
"Then he disappears somehow. Every time we part ways, I never see him actually leaving." Alice started to feel okay about speaking and in fact, began to rant. She tells Rebecca about everything she saw, felt, and thought. She just left out the name of the soul sucker.
"Do you know his name?" Rebecca tried to pry and she was really curious as to the identity of this rather unique soul sucker.
"It's... " Alice looked at her toes and wriggled them.
Rebecca waited for a while but she knew Alice didn't want to tell her so she cut the conversation.
"Well, that's more than enough for one night. You've got school tomorrow don't you? Don't worry about breakfast. I'll take care of that. Go catch some sleep pretty girl. Oh! *Rebecca pulled a straw like item out from a pocket and presented it to Alice* Chew on this before you sleep. It's like a sweet but it's got nice effects."
Alice looked at the straw doubtfully but felt it was proper to accept it so she took it. "Thanks. Goodnight Rebecca." She stood up.
"Turn off the lights on your way out won't you dearie?"
"Sure." Alice looked back before hitting the light switch. Rebecca was already in a sleeping position with her eyes closed, just like a child. Alice smiled. The lights went out.