Fiction: An Act Of Mercy

She always went to the same hospital and made her way along the same hallways, always with the same silent footsteps. Footsteps that seemed unnaturally silent, preternaturally graceful. The patients and the night staff all knew, instinctively, that she was there. They understood her nature and the purpose for her arrival. There were a few who refused to accept her actions, more still that held true to their belief that she was violating some ethical rule or another, but few really vocally objected to her being there. After all, it wasn't as if she came there every night. She only came, in her own words, when someone in the hospital called out to her, required the one thing she could give them that modern society was unwilling to. So it was that she stopped by room 314, one of the rooms of the hospital's ICU.

In the room was a young woman. Terminally ill, as she had been for most of her life, she had every right to resent the world, to want society to pay for her pain, and to want to just die. However, every negative emotion and thought she had a right to harbor seemed alien to her. She was oddly perky and bright for someone in her position, despite her clear affection for black and the darker shades of red. The figure had heard the girl described as a "perky goth" by some of the other regular fixtures of the hospital. She was most often referred to by that nickname by the two nurses that tended to her, both of whom seemed particularly fond of the girl's cheerful and friendly demeanor. Yet, they were also aware of the underlying deception of that cheerful facade. In a childlike manner that only anyone can pick up on but only a child can understand, the little girl with the fatal heart ailment was afraid of death.

So her mind called out to the hospital's near-mythical "Angel of Mercy."

"Hello there," the figure called to the girl.

A smile. "You are real."

There was an interesting comparison between the two that both had managed to pick up on rather quickly. The patient was hardly a child, but she was no woman. She was just barely 16, still in the flower of life. She had a prettiness to her that carried her cheery smile well, making it twice as potent and, to most observers, twice as difficult to understand. She looked typical of girls of her age in most respects, save that her muscles had less definition, her skin was just a little paler. Oh, but the life in her eyes! There was that spark of life in them, the drive to experience the fullness of life that was missing from so many among the living, that set her apart the most.

The figure didn't look that much older. Her innocent, shy face looked just a little over 17 or 18, though her figure suggested she was a little closer to early 20s in age. She moved with the grace of a ballerina, but the poise betrayed a strength to her that was hidden deep beneath the calm, angelic exterior. She was also oddly pale, though she didn't seem like an albino. Her skin resembled that of someone who was anemic, lacking the blood to bring color to her flesh. In days gone by, that feature made her those moments when she blushed more adorable, which compounded with her natural shyness and unusual aura of cuteness. Her eyes, however, were the most striking, as they seemed to be an unnatural shade of blue.

"You know, for a while there I didn't think you were real," the girl said as the figure came closer.

"It is a little hard to believe what they say about me, isn't it?" she asked with a smile. Her voice had that odd submissive quality, but it also sounded overwhelmingly kind. "My name is Kotonoha. What's yours?"

She returned the smile. "Kelly."

"That's a nice name."

"You're very pretty."

"So are you," Kotonoha said as she took Kelly's hand. "Do you know what I am?"

"I've heard the night nurses talk about you, call you an angel," the girl said. Kotonoha felt surprised by the honesty. "They mentioned something about blood."

"Yes, they're right about the blood," Kotonoha said. "I'm a Vampire, you see."

It felt rather surreal that the girl didn't seem at all affected by the statement. "Like Dracula?"

There's that question again. "Not quite."

"So when they say you take their blood so they can die, they mean it literally?"

A nervous laugh. "Yeah, they do."

"You come to the ones who don't want to go on living and you help them go away peacefully."


"So, is that what you called me for?"

"I'm going to die, aren't I?"

Kotonoha dropped the smile. The advent of mortality in one so young wounded her, mainly because she herself had been taken from the mortal coil as a child. "I can take the pain away, make sure you go comfortably..."

"I don't want to die," came the blunt reply.

Kotonoha looked into her eyes and saw determination. She looked into the girl's mind and saw a strong desire to live, to be free of her physical burden, and to experience the wonders of life that countless others take for granted.

"I'd do anything," the little girl said.

Kotonoha leaned close and brushed aside some of the young girl's hair. She placed a kiss on the girl's right cheek as she began to embrace Kelly. It was cold and warm at the same time, but it was comforting in an odd and...unnatural manner. A few gentle caresses and soft kisses, light one that barely touched the lips, followed before Kelly's eyes pleaded with Kotonoha once more. She lets Kelly go and lays her down on the bed, resting her head and back as comfortably as possible.

"Kaede would disapprove of this as she usually does," Kotonoha said before she let out a single, prolonged sigh. "You are certain of your wish, little one?"

"I want to live life."

With no reluctance, Kotonoha slits her wrist and offered it to Kelly. "Drink."

"Will this...?"

"It'll fix what's wrong with you. Slowly," the Vampire explained. "It won't be an instant change. It'll be gradual. It will take time."

"Thank you."

As Kelly pressed her lips and began to drink, Kotonoha could do nothing but look away.

She knew the consequences of saving a life with Vampire blood.

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Yeah, I haven't done this in a while. This is, of course, just an experiment. There really wasn't much of a point to this when I first put it together in my head. I suppose it grew to have a point when I took it apart, but that's merely speculation. Anyway, I was bored, I had time on my hands, and I'm interested in working on a special horror project that just screams "personal horror sub-genre!," so this may or may not be a part of it.

I don't know.