"I'm the one who took care of you when you fell sick in the mansion. " She revealed, "And I see you are still the same. Which means you are a vampire too. "

"I am now. " Kira clarified quietly.

"Why have you come to my door? Go away! " Her voice wavered a little with fear.

"Please let me stay. I was not lying when I said I need shelter. " Kira requested.

"Out of the question. The only way you can enter this house is if you kill me. " The old woman stood her ground firmly.

"No, don't say that! Dawn is near and if I can't find a place to stay I'll die. " Kira pleaded, "You have saved my life once, won't you do it again?" She had removed her hood and was looking at her with pitiful white eyes.

The old woman was unnerved by her gaze but also moved by her expression. Kira had been kind to her when she was at her mercy. Not to mention, she had been her savior once and it was strange how after all those years the same woman was pleading to be saved again. It felt like some strange plan by God.

"Alright. Come in. " She finally agreed.

...

"What is your name? I'm Kira. " She introduced herself.

"I am Clara. " The old woman answered.

"You live alone?" Kira asked as she looked around the house curiously. She had picked a dark corner in the kitchen.

"It's all thanks to you and that vampire. " Clara made no effort to hide her contempt.

"My husband. " Kira spoke sheepishly in a low voice as she looked down.

"When I returned from the mansion everyone thought I must have been turned too. They refused to believe that I had come out of there unharmed. " Clara elaborated, "My own mother screamed at the sight of me. " She was especially disappointed at this sentence.

Kira was regretful to hear about her situation. She felt responsible for it all.

"They would have stoned me to death if not for my Adam. He was the only one who believed me and kept his promise of marrying me even after everything. " Clara continued.

Kira sighed in relief to know Clara hadn't been living alone all her life.

"He isn't with you anymore?" She hesitantly asked.

"He passed away five years ago. But right until his final breath he lived with me in this house away from everyone. He gave up everything for me. " She began to tear up, "Oh, I miss him dearly. " She pulled up her apron to wipe her tears.

"I'm sorry to hear that. " Kira spoke awkwardly. She was bad at consoling people.

"Do you not have any children?" She asked next.

"I have a son. He has gone to the city to earn and he prefers to live there too. He doesn't like this wilderness but I have grown accustomed to it after living here all my life. " Clara's voice trailed off as if she was exhausted.

"What I meant to say was," She spurred up again with a new vigour, "That one incident completely derailed my life and all because of that vampire!"

"Trust me, I'm not too fond of him right now either." Kira mumbled.

...

Kira remained asleep for the majority of the day in a dark corner and at night she woke up. She would open the window and stare out towards the wilderness with hopeless eyes continuing to feel the ache of her broken heart.

She was hurt beyond measure this time. She felt humiliated like never before. Every time she remembered that moment of silence from Gouenji, it stung her all over again. She didn't know when, or if ever she was going to forgive him. She had all the time in the world to be angry.

Kira tried to help Clara as much as she could. Clara was slow and got tired easily while Kira was the exact opposite. So she made sure that she helped her with all the difficult tasks. The only thing she couldn't do was help her cook because that's not something she had ever had the need to learn.

Clara was grateful for all the help and ease in her life and because of it, soon they became good friends. They could bond over their life of solitude even if both had fell into it under wildly different circumstances.

Clara told her about the little she knew of the town and a lot of what she remembered about her time with Adam. It was evident he was a true companion to her and she missed him dearly. However, Kira did not talk about Gouenji to her because she knew Clara did not like him and mentioning him would only distress her.

One day Clara got carried away with her stories and said these words,

"Sometimes Adam would get riled up and tell me that he wanted to march up to the mansion right then and drive a stake through the vampire's heart and avenge the fact that it was because of him I was cast away. "

When she realised what she had said she abruptly became quiet and looked at Kira with concerned eyes. Even though they had become amicable, she was still scared of Kira's capabilities.

Kira remained silent. At this, Clara decided to get past the moment,

"Come to think of it, what became of the mansion? Why are you here?"

"It burned down." Kira said plainly.

Clara was not expecting such an abruptly frank answer and gasped as a result of it.

"Why are you here...alone?" She asked next, with a bit of hesitation. She knew she was prying but she was also curious.

Kira didn't respond and looked down. Clara didn't push any further and assumed something had parted the two. 

A/N: Kinda off topic but does anyone know how to fix the quality of the cover image on this book? No matter what I do it's getting low res.