Page 27 of The Tainted and the Tamed
Chapter 13
Haruki
Around noon, Haruki rose from the comfort of his own bed, donned his mask, and raced past the guest room Junpei was pretending to use. With very little notice or propriety, he burst in on his friends.
Junpei gave a muffled reply, then returned his head to the pillow. Daisuke groaned aloud. “Too early,” he groused, finally managing a few syllables.
“Don’t either of you do business during the day?”
Junpei spoke into his pillow. “Not after all that sake hours before and too little sleep, no.”
“You’d best rest up, then. We’re going to the festival tomorrow night.”
Daisuke bolted upright, suddenly awake. “What?”
Haruki replied while already entering the private corridor. “You heard me.”
As he closed the door behind him, Haruki heard a hissed, “Yougo talk to him. You’ve been his friend for centuries.”
With a sigh, Haruki returned to his quarters, tidying last night’s toppled bottles and stacking the cups for Ms. Tanabe to collect later. Only after this was done did he realize there were leaves in his hair.
I must look like a madman.To Junpei and Daisuke, he must’ve sounded like one, too.
Haruki went to his dressing table, checking his shadowy reflection for more leaves. He looked wild. Yet his face was brighter than usual, even through the haze of vampiric dark magic that blurred his reflection. The shadows could not hide the almost feverish look of excitement in his eyes.
He hated to admit it.
Daisuke was right.
Haruki did feel lighter now, as if suppressing his instincts was what made him so miserable all this time. It seemed absurd. Two days of hunting—two straight days in the mountains, with Daisuke constructing a clever hide from pine bowers during the daytime—was all it took.
Haruki was sated and strong for the first time in ages. He dragged a finger through the still-neat facial hair across his chin, instantly deciding he hated it.
A short while later, as his style of the last three decades disappeared beneath a razor blade, he was aware of how many times he had done this. He’d had so many rebirths in his centuries as a vampire, he almost couldn’t remember the things he’d been or what he’d once believed.
He chose to let the past go. To walk away as someone else.
When he was through shaving, he beheld his face, youthful, clean and clear. Twenty-seven forever.
Never changing was little different than death. If he could not change outside, at least his heart and mind could live on, free from the chains of immortal stasis.
Running a comb through his untidy hair, Haruki wondered,Will this change be for the better this time?
“Come in,” Haruki called.
The door to his private rooms slid open—but Tanabe did not enter. At the sight of his clean-shaven face, her own went soft with surprise.
“You look too young to be a chairman now,” she said quietly, chidingly.
Haruki stroked his smooth chin. “I will always look too young. What’s a few years’ difference?” He gestured to the tray, set with so many empty bottles. “For once, I didn’t drink that alone, so there’s no need to scold me.”
“I would never scold a chairman of Kaiden.”
“Of course you would.”
She clucked her tongue disapprovingly. “I no longer outrank you in any way,” she rebutted. “I’m simply a humble servant now.”
“As if you could discard your pride so easily.”
