by S. Coop
John nodded. “Would you? If I changed into a monster.”
“Maybe.” She narrowed her eyes.
“I’ll try to remember that.” John wrapped his arms around her, kissed her neck, and soon was snoring.
Pony quietly slid out from under his arms and slipped into Grandpa John’s room. She found him awake, lying still and staring at the ceiling.
“Hi. Can I join you?”
“Come in, Akane,” he whispered.
Pony walked in and sat on his bed. “Long time, huh?”
“A lifetime,” he whispered. “I’ve waited my whole life to see you again, and here you are in front of me. Alive, looking the exact same as when I last saw you on that bridge. When this house came up for sale, I grabbed it. It had been abandoned for years. The locals thought it was cursed because of what happened here. I got it for a fraction of the price.” He coughed. “I just couldn’t accept that you were gone. Now I know my intuition was right.” He coughed again, this time for a solid minute.
Pony helped him drink water from a straw.
“Thank you, Akane,” he whispered. “I wish I wasn’t a sick old man. I’ve made myself this way with my self-destructive behavior. I just couldn’t figure out how to live in this world with you not in it. I started drinking and smoking heavily, gambling and womanizing. I did find an American woman I married, but she wasn’t you. My parents were happy, let me tell you.” He chuckled. “Their boy had finally settled down.”
“You had to go on,” Pony said. “You had to live.”
“It wasn’t much of a life,” he whispered. “We only had one child, John Junior. He married Mari and had another son he named John. I gave them this house as a wedding gift. Three generations of Johns. Unfortunately, my son picked up my bad habits and abandoned Mari and John when my grandson was only five years old.” He shook his head. “That’s when I moved back in. Been here ever since trying to do the best by John until I was too sick to do it.”
With tears in her eyes, Pony squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you’re still alive.”
He smiled. “So am I. I get to see my first love again.” He closed his eyes. “Tell me how your life has been since I last saw you.”
“It’s been … different.” Pony said. “Even though my appearance hasn’t changed, I’ve changed inside. I’ve done many things I should be ashamed of, but I’m not. I have felt no guilt or remorse for a very long time. I just started feeling … guilt? I don’t know what else to call it. I’ve been feeling guilty recently because Maria. She took me under her wing, treated me like I was her daughter. She tried to teach me kindness the best she could, and then my second father killed her. It hurt me to see her die like that after how we had gotten close. So I guess you could say I just recently started to feel again.”
Grandpa John shook his head and weakly squeezed her hand. “I’m glad.”
“And I, um, I have feelings for your grandson,” Pony said. “He’s a lot like you were.”
“He’s the only thing in my life that hasn’t turned to dust,” he said. “Look out for him when I’m gone, okay?”
“I will.”
“How long do I have?” he asked. “I know you can tell.”
Pony concentrated on the sound of his heartbeat. “A few hours, maybe a day. I can save you.”
“No.” He smiled and coughed. “I have come too far not to die now.” He squeezed her hand. “Protect John. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“I’m going to sleep now,” Grandpa John whispered. “And when I wake up, I hope I’m in heaven.”
Pony sat with him until he fell asleep, remembering the boy he used to be and the love he freely gave her when no one else did. She kissed his forehead and pulled the covers to his chin. “I want you to know that I loved you very much. How our lives would have been so different if—”
A bloodcurdling scream shattered the silence.
Grandpa John shot up in bed. “Oh no! Mari!”
Pony grabbed her sword and flew downstairs to find Mari lying in a pool of blood at the foot of the stairs. Pony could sense no heartbeat. I let my guard down, and she’s dead because of me! Dead because I came back and stayed too long! John will never forgive me!
John stumbled down the stairs and cradled Mari to his chest. “Mom!”
Mari’s head fell backwards, her eyes wide open.
“She’s dead, John,” Pony said.
John checked for a pulse and found none. “Can’t you save her?”
Pony crouched low, listening, sensing that the attack had only just begun. “No. I can’t.” She heard footsteps outside the shoji door. “I’m sorry, but there’s no time to—”
A man wearing all black somersaulted through the shoji door, and Pony beheaded him with ease, geysers of blood painting the walls.
“We should leave now, John.”
John shook his head. “What about Grandpa John?”
“He will be dead before sunrise,” Pony said.
“How do you know that?” John cried.
“I know when hearts are about to give out, John.” She felt John’s heartbeat thundering in her mind. “And I already asked if I could save him. He wants to die in peace.”
An explosion rocked the kitchen, and wood and debris shot over their heads. Smoke billowed over them.
“We need to go now!” Pony shouted.
“No.” John grabbed a sword off the wall and took up a defensive stance. “I want revenge!”
“They probably have us surrounded, John,” Pony said, stepping nimbly in front of John to shield him from whatever came from the kitchen.
A massive, muscled giant of a Japanese vampire swaggered out of the kitchen.
John pushed Pony out of the way. “It’s time for you to die.”
The vampire laughed so loudly the floor shook. “It is way past my time to die,” he said in Japanese.
“He’s a vampire, John!” Pony yelled. “An ancient, powerful vampire!”
“Then he will die a second time,” John said, gritting his teeth.
The vampire shook his head. “I am not here for you, boy. I am here for Akane Ito. But if you get in the way, I will give you the permanent death you wish for.”
Pony flew over John and swung her sword, cutting the vampire’s arm. “John, get out of here!”
John didn’t move. “No.”
The vampire stared at his arm and laughed as the wound instantly closed up. “You cannot defeat me with steel.”
John leaped past Pony, using his upward vertical technique. “This is for my mother!”
The vampire slapped the sword out of John’s hands and backhanded him, sending him flying at high speed into the wall beside the shoji door. John’s body left a crack in the wall as he fell to the floor.
“Now it is your turn, Akane Ito.” He became a blur.
Pony threw her sword toward the blur and dove toward John, grabbing him and dashing through the shoji door to the car. She dumped John in the passenger seat, grabbed the keys from the sun visor, started the car, and burned rubber, kicking up dust as they made their escape. She knew the vampire wouldn’t be far behind, but she also knew he wouldn’t be as strong or as fast with daylight looming.
John was moaning with his eyes closed. Pony thought about taking him to the hospital, but Tokyo was crawling with people and vampires who wanted her head on a stake, and now they would want John’s head simply because he associated with her. She had to find a hiding place, a place where humans and vampires alike were too afraid to go.
She raced toward Mount Fuji.
And the Suicide Forest.
Chapter Nine
Jukai (Sea of Trees)
Pony drove through the signs at the entrance of Aokigahara, nicknamed Suicide Forest. It sat at the base of Mt. Fuji. Only two kinds of people ventured there: those who wanted to kill themselves and nosy tourists.
Pony got about a mile into the forest when she lost control of the car and ran into a tree. The airbags dep
loyed, pinning them to their seats before they deflated. She grabbed John and carried him deep into the woods until she found a clearing filled with leaves.
John let out an agonizing scream as she laid him on a bed of leaves, and his scream echoed around him. She removed his shirt and was horrified when she saw bruising all over his body.
He’s bleeding internally. Inside, he’s shattered like glass. There is no way he will survive.
“Pony,” John wheezed while coughing blood. “Change me.”
“John—”
“I want to be yours forever,” he coughed. “I have no one else. You’re the only family I have left. Be my Maker. Make me because you love me.”
“I do love you, John.”
Blood dribbled out of John’s nose. “Prove it then.”
Pony bit into John’s neck. She retracted her fangs, then bit back down, mixing her blood with his. This continued until she heard John’s heartbeat stop.
I hope it’s not too late.
Pony looked at John. His eyes were closed and there was no movement of any kind. She lifted his chin and placed a kiss on his lips. Tears welled up in her eyes for only the third time since she became a vampire. Being emotional wasn’t her thing. She had cried enough in her mortal life to last her immortal life, but here she was with tears flowing down her face. She sat next to John and laid her head on his chest.
“Please, John. I’m not ready to let you go. You’re the only family I want to have.”
Pony looked around. The sun had risen, but it didn’t matter. The sea of trees formed a dome of protection that no light dare enter. The scent of death, both old and new, unapologetically swept through the trees, leaving a decaying odor. The sounds of various insects and invertebrate animals crawling through corpses combined to create a perfect symphony of hopelessness.
This was a perfect place for the dead to rest, a perfect place for the dead to rise.
Pony felt a faint heartbeat against her cheek. She closed her eyes and willed John’s heart to strengthen. In an hour, it pounded ceaselessly. Pony gasped with excitement as she heard and felt a cracking noise.
His bones are healing. He’s healing and in three days, we will be linked forever.
Pony wrapped her arms around him and rested.
Pony woke with John staring down at her.
She hopped to her feet and brushed the leaves that clung to her clothes. “You’re awake.”
John nodded.
“But it’s only been a day.” She reached out to touch his face.
John recoiled from her. “Who are you?” He stared at Pony with bright red eyes shining.
Pony looked into his eyes. “You don’t know who I am?”
“No.”
“Um, do you know who you are?”
John shook his head.
“Your name is John.”
John nodded. “John. Huh.” He leaped straight up onto a tree branch fifty feet above her. “What’s your name?”
“Akane, but you can call me Pony.”
John leapt on top of the Mazda, almost caving in it’s roof. He smiled down at Pony. “You’re pretty, but I have to go.” John wildly jumped from tree to tree deeper into the forest.
“Get back here, John!” Pony ordered.
John became a blur and materialized behind her. “Why?”
“Because I made you, and you have to do what I say, that’s why.”
John flew to the end of a branch and balanced on one foot. “You can tell me what to do, but that doesn’t mean I’ll do it.”
Pony covered her face with both hands. Great. I just made a vampire with free will. What are the chances of that happening? “John, get down here right now!”
John flashed by her and returned with a mouse, flopping down at the base of a tree and burying his fangs into it. He drained the mouse of blood in seconds and tossed the carcass to the side.
“You’re really starting to get on my nerves, John.”
“I’m thirsty.”
“You’re not supposed to be awake,” Pony said. “You need to rest up. You’ve only been going through the change for a day.”
“What change?” John skittered up a tree to the very top.
Pony flew up to where he was. “You’re becoming a vampire. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
John was hunched over and draining a squirrel. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Find your own.”
Pony leapt for him, but John jumped to the next tree. A smile crossed his face. “There’s a dead body down there.” He floated to the ground, grabbed a skeleton leg, and started gnawing on it.
Pony rolled her eyes and sighed. “So I guess it’s gonna be the hard way.”
John broke open the bone and chewed on some dried marrow. “This sucks.”
Pony rushed at him, but he again flew off into the forest.
They played musical trees for several hours. John sucked several birds dry. “I need more blood,” he complained. “Are there bears here?”
Pony caught up to him and knocked him out cold with one punch to his temple. His body plummeted to the ground and landed with a thump. Pony grabbed him and flew him to his original bed, propping him up against a tree. She dug up roots from that tree and wrapped them tightly around him.
“You won’t be going anywhere now,” she said.
Two more days passed, and John was still knocked out. Pony saw him change physically right before her eyes. His muscles became larger and more defined, his heart beat even stronger, and his body was in the finishing stages of healing. She opened his mouth several times to see his fangs forming and growing.
Pony never made a vampire before. She had seen other vampires make them and knew how annoying they could be before their full transformations. Morgan was always quick to tell her how annoying she was. Marcus left it up to Morgan to deal with Pony during the change. Now, knowing what it was like, she felt Morgan’s pain. During her transformation, Pony had run away and devoured an entire small town of humans. To this day, Morgan still bitched at her about it.
John started to stir. He adjusted his blurry eyes. His striking blues were back. Pony was excited about that because vampires rarely kept their original eye color, especially blues. Maria had kept her original eye color as well.
Hmm, maybe something in Marcus’s lineage allows this?
“Hey, Pony,” John said.
“You’re back!” Pony squeaked.
“Umm, did I go somewhere?”
Pony planted a barrage of kisses on his face. “You have no idea. Because of you I know Mount Fuji like the back of my hand.”
“We’re on Mount Fuji?”
Pony nodded. “I chased you all over creation two days ago.”
John looked at the tangle of roots that confined him. “Could you maybe, um …”
“Go ahead. You’re strong enough to get yourself out.”
John flexed his muscles and broke through the roots, sending the pieces flying. He growled as he stood. “Damn. I’m like the Hulk!” He flexed his muscles. “Right on!”
“Do you remember what happened?” Pony asked.
“I remember that guy threw me. I remember finding my mom … dead.” A lump formed in John’s throat. “I remember you bringing me here.”
“Your mother was good to me,” said Pony. “Mothers like her are rare to find.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, John.”
“I’m sure my grandpa is dead too. At least now he’s resting in peace. No more medicine, no more pain. None of that.” He shook his head and looked at Pony.” I only lost him once. You lost him twice.”
“I’m different now, John. I’m not that girl I was almost half a century ago. I offered to save him, but he didn’t want that.”
“I think he subconsciously held on for so long because he thought he might see you again.”
“Your grandfather and I both got closure.”
John looked at his dented Mazda. “Wha
t happened to the car?” He walked around it and assessed the damage.
“That would be your fault, John. You kept jumping on it like you were King Kong. You even carried it on your back. I’ll be surprised if it still runs.”
“Wow. I don’t remember doing any of that. How did I deploy the airbags?”
Pony side-eyed John, “You were totally out of control.”
John looked around and squinted. “Where are we exactly?”
“We are in Aokigahara.” Pony replied.
“Aokigahara? As in Jukai? As in Suicide Forest! We have to leave. We’re disrespecting the dead!”
“John, if you haven’t already noticed, we are dead.”
John scratched his head. “Well, yeah we are.”
They heard laughter and the sound of footsteps tracking though fallen leaves. A young couple appeared. American tourists. Pony and John hid behind the car.
“Gwen, you’re such a freak.” The man growled. “I like it.”
“I want to fuck you right here, Danny,” Gwen said.
Danny looked at the car. “How’d that car get here?”
“Who cares?” Gwen started unbuttoning Danny’s shirt. “Nothing like getting off in a place like this. Talk about exhilarating!”
Pony looked over at John—and didn’t see John.
John reappeared behind the couple. “You shouldn’t be here.”
The couple whipped around. “Where the hell did you come from?” Danny asked, buttoning up his shirt.
John stared at him. “You should leave.”
“What are you, some kind of morality police?” Danny laughed and patted John on his arm. “Lighten up, man. We’re just two horny newlyweds who just got married in Tokyo, and we’re now on our honeymoon.”
“You should respect the dead,” John said.
Danny shrugged. “You think I believe that superstitious bullshit? Dude. They’re dead! I’m sure they don’t mind if we’re here. I mean, you’re here, right?”
“Because I am dead,” John said. “I am among my own kind. You must leave.”
Gwen grabbed Danny’s arm. “Let’s go. This guy gives me the creeps.”
