Part 2

I met Takeo in a club at the night when he was
murdered.

But before I started telling you what had actually
happened. Let me get back to the time when I ran into
Takeo on a main street. It was where the whole thing
really started.

Takeo and my older brother Kirito used to be close
friends back into the time when we were still living
in our hometown. And since Takeo and my brother were
friends, so naturally enough I had became his friend
as well shortly afterward. Our friendship remained
till Takeo moved away from town and I guessed it was
just quite natural for us to lose contact with him as
time past by. Then another couple of years later, my
family too had moved away from our hometown. Our
chance of meeting old friends from the past seemed to
get even thinner. So when I ran into Takeo on the
street again by chance, it was really hard to believe
that sometime the world can be so small.

Nevertheless, after cheering each other and a few
long-time-no-see conversations, the two of us decided
to go into a bar nearby and in order to have a
gathering for the two of us together. To have a couple
of drink and some good time together, that kind of
usual things...

But of course the event didn't turn out that way
eventually...

There was one thing that I had to point out before I
continued; being couple of years my senior, Takeo and
I weren't terribly close to each other, at least not
as close as he and Kirito had got to be. To sum up, he
was more my brother's friend than mine. But still I
dared say I *know* this man because the three of us
had spent a long period of time together, so shortly
after we had seated together in the club and exchanged
some conversations, I started to notice something was
wrong with Takeo...and soon it began to trouble me.

People used to say being in different condition could
change a man into a different person, but I never knew
that such change could be so..astonishing. When I
looked up to Takeo that night, I could hardly link him
to the person whom I had known of for so many years
back then!

It was hard for me to put this feeling into words, but
the more I study Takeo and the way he acted, the more
I could be sure of one thing abut him...

Takeo wasn't the same old Takeo anymore.

It was such a strange thing to say because judging by
his appearance; he didn't have much change but now
every time I laid my eyes on him long enough, I
couldn't stop noticing how hollow and sad he looked
to me as if something important inside of him had gone
forever.
During the next half an hour in the club, I tried to
make *real* conversations with my old friend without
much success, Takeo seemed to be very "out there"¨,
almost like he was sleep-walking and talking with his
eyes opened.
Finally I had to give up trying; I decided that if
Takeo didn't want a talk, I should stop bugging
around so we could enjoy our drinks in peace. Even
though I couldn't stop wondering whether Takeo would
be more willing to open himself up a little if Kirito
was there. Damn, things would be a bit easier if he
had answered my call that night.

When our glasses were almost empty, Takeo stood up and
told me he would go to the bartender for a few more
drinks. I nodded and saw him off before sitting back
to my seat. Out of boredom, I started watching the
crowd while waiting for Takeo to return. I still hoped
that maybe he would be more willing to talk about
himself after we had more drinks together.
But the problem was, he never did return to our table,
when I glared out to the dance floor, suddenly I found
Takeo once again, standing in the middle of the
dancing crowd. But it was clear that he had forgotten
all about our drinks, and he wasn't dancing either.
Instead he stood still in the crowd with a blonde hair
youth whom I had every seen before. I failed to see
the face of this stranger but I could see that Takeo
was looking at him with adoration.

Now things were getting even more complex and
senseless for me to handle and I was clueless to
figure what was going on. It seemed that the two were
exchanging some conversations. But it was strange to
exchange conversations in the middle of the dance
floor, and I also tell that some of the dancing people
out there had the same thought as mine because quite a
number of them had stopped dancing then peer. So maybe
I should move to Takeo's side to remind him this.
Bad luck for both Takeo and I, the dance floor was
began to get even more crowded as people danced even
more wildly, losing in the loud music. Therefore by
the time I got to the dance floor, Takeo and the
stranger were nowhere to be seen.
I frowned, my worry dept, how come Takeo left me here
so suddenly with someone else as if he had completely
forgotten my existence! To my knowledge, Takeo
wouldn't treat his friends like this, so something
must be wrong...
I hurried to the front door as quick as I could. I
looked out to the main street outside but it was
empty. Where was Takeo? I thought furiously to myself
and began to search for my friend¡K

Comparing to the crowed noisy club, the street seemed
so eerily empty and quiet, quiet enough for me to hear
some noise on the side of the building, it sounded
like two people talking to each other...

Then I recognized one of the voices, Takeo.

The voice came out from an alley besides the building,
I heard Takeo whispering something to a person unknown
to me; and I¡¦d never heard him sounding so lost and
pitiful before, what happened to him actually? And
whom was he having conversations with?
Still unable to decide whether I should walk in the
alley and interrupt the two, I heard the other unknown
man whispered something back to Takeo, and the latter
exclaimed immediately and replied something that too
abrupt and fast for me to catch up...
At that point I could hold back my curiosity no
longer, so I took a few steps forward, peering into
the alley to see what was going on.
So I saw it happened, I witnessed the moment Takeo
being murdered.
First all I could make out clearly was Takeo, second
later I found a smaller figure standing in front of
him with something shape in one of his hands, then he
slipped this object through Takeo's throat and blood
came out slowly.
The most horrible thing was, Takeo really didn't
awake of what did the smaller one mean to do to him,
all he knew at this moment was his lover's eyes on
him, and he was blessed with joy.
Expecting everything but *this*, I was horrified and
was frozen in my position immediately, watching
helplessly as the blonde took hold of Takeo and drank
from his throat.
First Takeo¡¦s body tensed slightly against the
blonde's but slowly his limbs went numb; then fell
peacefully still into the latter's arms like he was
falling for a loving embrace from his lover.

Finally, as if sensing the presence of another being
by instant, this monster in a form of a young boy
loosed himself from Takeo, looking up to my direction,
then my stunned, widen eyes met with his and I frozen
ever further as if being drowned into the dept of the
icy ocean.
It was when the realization hit me. He isn¡¦t a human,
what I'm gazing at can¡¦t be a human being, this
creature is something inhuman, immortal...some unknown
beast from the nightmare...just like...just like...
Vampire?
This inhuman creature, he was fixing his eyes on me,
studying me silently. Those eyes of his shone with
blood red flash within them, absolutely intoxicative
to look at with their own gloomy deadly way.
Funny that I could still notice things like these when
I was facing this moment of horror.
In the back of my dysfunctional mind I *knew* that
this creature could recognize my face even I was
standing against the streetlamp light, my face half
hidden away in the shade. He say nothing, stood
motionlessly still like a statue inside the alley,
staring out at me.
I couldn't guess what he was going to do to me. And I
couldn't see there was much chance for me to flee if
he decided to attack.

To be continued...

[next chapter]