Seven hundred and twenty-one years had passed since the bite of a vampire had transformed Jose Rodriguez into a creature of the night at the age of twenty-one. He had spent five hundred of those years imprisoned in his own coffin by a cross. Now he was playing catch-up, though it had taken quite some effort to find a school which tolerated some of the more bizarre aspects of his behavior. Jubutsu Gakuen was that school, but the darkened halls through which he skulked at the moment were not those of JG, but of its rival, Giseisha Prep., a frequent hunting ground for members of the Saimin, or Hypnosis, club. Though he was a vampire, Jose was not here for his own nourishment. This was club business.
The school was exhibiting the works of its art students at the moment. Jose passed tack board after tack board of uninspired still-life paintings framed in cardboard to facilitate the use of tacks to stick them up. Only one of the paintings stirred any emotion in him whatsoever. It wasn't that remarkable a painting, unless you happened to be a vampire. The usual fruit basket that all the students had used was placed in front of a stained glass window containing a depiction of the cross. Jose recoiled instinctively, hissing malevolently at the painting as his nature compelled him to back away from it. He tumbled into an open door, and down some stairs leading to the school's basement. A wooden crate shattered upon impact, and Jose cried out in agony. A large, pointy piece was sticking through his left arm. He swore venomously in his native Spanish, his mouth spewing a malevolent string of maledictions, oaths and epithets that would make a rapper blush. He grasped the wooden fragment with his right hand and began to pull. A primal cry was wrenched from his throat as fiery agony lanced through him worse than the actual penetration.
Keiko's blood ran cold at the sound. She wasn't alone. The rest of the squad were cowering and hugging each other. She grabbed the track team's starter pistol and ventured off, accompanied by the cheerleading squad's pleas for her return. Keiko grunted at their utter lack of anything resembling a spine. No wonder Jubutsu Gakuen beat them in every game. She realized the starter pistol was loaded with blanks, but maybe she could scare off whatever it was in the school.
It sounded like a cougar or something. She shivered.
It roared again. The sound was coming from the art wing. She quickened her pace. The only unlocked door she found was the stairwell leading down to the storage room. The whatever-it-was roared again, a sound that was half mountain lion, half deranged human. She staggered backwards, ruining someone's so-called art and breaking the tackboard in half. In all the commotion, she lost her pistol. Peering downstairs, she saw that a bag of sports supplies was lying spilled on the first landing. She grabbed an aluminum bat from the spilled supplies and continued downstairs. As she reached the basement, she discovered that the source of the noise was no animal, but a man in really old-fashioned clothes. Someone's taking "retro" to the extreme. she thought to herself.
Returning his blood-soaked hand to the base of the intrusion behind his shoulder, Jose steeled himself for one final effort. His strength was waning, and his loss of blood was making him hungry. Normal wounds he could heal with ease, but any wound originating from wood required blood to heal. He schooled his breathing and pulled! With another cry of anguish, the wooden intrusion budged, then slid out. Jose flopped forward into a pool of his own blood. He heard shoes on the concrete, and opened his eyes. A cheerleader with a bat. Clenching his teeth, he was able to rise. He could see that this bat was not the wooden kind that could hurt him, but a mere piece of metal. The girl backed away as Jose approached. He locked eyes with her.
"You're not going anywhere." he said. She struggled against his command and began a backwards retreat up the stairs. Jose staggered forward, focussing on the girl. She was strong, stronger than most at least. "Stop." he commanded. She froze in place, but was still struggling against him. "Your will is strong." he said. "But mine is stronger. Struggle all you like, but in the end..." The unthinkable happened. She moved her foot, retreating another step up the stairs. But Jose was advancing. The distance between them slowly lessened, even as Jose's hunger grew. He had to feed now or he would bleed himself out. Four more steps, and he was face to face with her, his eyes boring into hers. Her face was relaxing, jaw slackening, but still part of her resisted. No matter, he had enough power over her to turn her head to the side, exposing her neck for his attentions. His fangs thrust home, and Jose reveled in the welcome sensation of liquid nourishment. The girl--whose name was Keiko, he now knew--reveled in another sensation entirely; a mind-blasting pleasure that dissolved the last of her flagging resistence.
Ken heard it first, the sound of squeaking wheels in the hall. In moments, Jose Rodriguez was visible, pulling three carts behind him loaded with what looked like tall gift-boxes. His shirt was torn at the shoulder, and bloodstained down his left side. Someone else followed behind him, almost puppy-like in her manner. She was dressed in a Giseisha Prep. cheerleader's uniform, but it was dirty.
No, SHE was dirty. Her neck and the front of her uniform were bloodstained, and she was covered in topsoil from head to foot. She was pale, and there was a hungry look in her eyes--the same look he'd seen in Jose's if he had to go a day or two without feeding. It was then that Ken noticed the sun-charm around her neck which matched Jose's. The magical amulet served a single purpose, to protect a vampire against the lethal effects of sunlight.
"Apologies for the lack of a strong-willed subject, everyone." Jose said. The girl pulled on the ribbon, and the boxes opened. Each one contained a metal pole to which three cheerleaders were securely bound. "The ones I brought will make pretty pets if nothing else."
"What happened?" Ken asked as the rest of the club admired the adorable array of frightened femininity.
"Some smartass painted a cross in his still life, and I ended up falling on a wooden crate." Jose replied.
"Ouch."
"Luckily Keiko here showed up when she did." the vampire continued. "She was strong, but in the end..." He pulled her close to him, and her head rested on his shoulder before her eyes locked with Ken's. "No, Keiko." Jose admonished. "You've already eaten." Keiko lowered her eyes poutily, but Jose shrugged at Ken. "Kids." he remarked. "No self-control."
"You both should get yourselves cleaned up." Ken said. "Especially her." Jose bowed regally and left with Keiko in tow. He stopped at the door and tossed Ken the keys to the cheerleaders' shackles.
End.