Kirie Tamura had been a member of the highly secret Shadow Inquisition, an elite force within the Vatican, for three years now, and she was regarded as one of the most talented Inquisitors the church had to offer. Highly skilled and deadly, Kirie was sent around the world to eliminate demons and monsters in the name of God.
And now, she had been sent to Sakamoto Town, the place where her grandfather lived, to deal with the vampire infestation there. And it just happened that she found one of them, in the form of her cousin, Karen Tamura. She could sense that Karen was no longer human the moment she saw her, and for her, she knew that the girl before her was nothing more than a demon wearing her little cousin's face.
"Living with my grandfather after putting on my cousin's face on yourself, I'd say you're pretty brave, or rather foolish…" Kirie said as she observed the blonde girl before her, who had sprouted a pair of hellish-looking black wings from her back, removing any doubt about her being a monster.
"W-what are you… talking about?" Karen expressed confusion at Kirie's words. "He's my grandpa, of course I'd live with him!" She looked at Kirie's face, trying to figure out what she actually had in her mind.
"How twisted…" Kirie scoffed. "Not only that you take my cousin's face, you also have the gall to think he's your grandfather." Brandishing her weapons, Kirie was ready to attack her. "Once I'm done with you, I'll put my cousin's body to rest…"
It seemed that Kirie didn't consider the girl before her to be Karen, her little cousin, even accusing her of being a demon who took over her cousin's body and wore her face for whatever dark machination that she was currently brewing. Meanwhile, Karen was confused by the whole thing, by the fact that Kirie was an enforcer of the Church and the accusation that she wasn't Karen.
"Hold on, hold on!" Karen held out her hands. "Y-you seriously think a demon took over my body? You seriously think I'm not Karen?"
"You're a vampire, stop trying to confuse me." Kirie said resolutely. "Isn't that how it happens? Once a vampire is born, the soul within is lost in the darkness, leaving only the inner demon to take control the body. Isn't that how it goes?"
Karen blinked. "W-well, about that…" She was aware of the fact that once a vampire is sired, the soul within will be damned, making it easier for the vampire to commit atrocities and harm to other people just to survive. She had to battle her own dark impulses constantly back then when she was newly-turned into a vampire, but as she grew powerful, she was able to push back her dark impulses, allowing her to prevent herself from intentionally causing harm to others.
"I will save my cousin's mortal soul from your foul grasp, demon…" Kirie said sorrowfully, eyeing Karen. "I will tear open your chest and cleanse my cousin's soul from your black taint. That's the least I can do for her…" She seemed to believe that the real Karen was already dead.
Karen groaned. She wanted to tell her older cousin that she was still Karen, already freed from the demonic influence of her vampirism thanks to her being a Daywalker, but she could see that there was no way she could convince Kirie about that. "Please, Big Sis Kirie, I don't want to do this…" She pleaded, though her black wings had expanded, as if ready to defend herself from Kirie's attacks.
"Don't you dare call me that!" Kirie snapped. "It's already bad enough you're wearing Karen's face! I will not let you insult her memory any longer!" With that, she instantly closed the distance between the two of them, coming towards Karen in a whirlwind of violence, wielding her seemingly-blessed katana that seemed to radiate unnatural shine.
"S-shit, shit!" Karen desperately blocked the attacks from her older cousin. Under normal circumstances, she would have no problem dealing with any agent of the church or a demon hunter, but this one was different. She would have no problem dealing with any stranger who would try to harm her, and she was even willing to kill them. She had done so in the past, back then when she was still getting used to being a vampire.
But here, Karen was unable to retaliate, because the agent of church in question was none other than her own older cousin, whom she even considered her older sister.
"T-this is beyond fucked up! I need to get myself out of here!" Karen thought to herself as she used her own power to protect herself from Kirie's vicious assault. "I can't… I don't want to fight her!"
Karen knew that as a Vampire Lord, Karen could easily go all out on Kirie, perhaps even overpowering her with her full power, but if she did that, she might risk killing her own older cousin.
"And grandpa might even be disappointed in me…"
Using her black wings as her shield, Karen blocked another slash from Kirie. But Kirie didn't slow down as she continued with her relentless attacks, even shooting at Karen with her gun. Just like her katana, it seemed that the bullets might even be blessed, which could cause incredible damage on demonic beings.
"Tch!" Kirie clicked her tongue when Karen successfully blocked all her attacks. "Seems like conventional attacks won't work on you." She jumped back, distancing herself from Karen. "It seems that I have no choice. Let's see if you can withstand what's coming next, demon." Holding her gun with her left hand and her katana with her right, Kirie then formed a cross with both of those weapons, holding them perpendicular to each other.
Karen flinched as she saw what Kirie was doing, feeling uneasy as she looked at the makeshift cross. She tried to flee, but found herself locked on her feet and unable to move, as if put under compulsion.
"T-this is…!" Karen realized what Karen was about to do. She tried to overcome the compulsion, but it was too strong for her to handle, especially due to her unwillingness to fight her older cousin.
"In the Name of Jesus Christ, our God and Lord," Kirie began to recite, and the makeshift cross began to shine. "Strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints." As she continued to recite, blood started to drip down Kirie's forehead as an image of a crown of thorn flickered on top of her head.
Karen found herself gasping, starting to have difficulty to breathe. She could smell the scent of burnt meat before she realized that it was coming from her.
"And powerful in the holy authority of our ministry, we confidently undertake to repulse the attacks and deceits of the devil." Kirie was now bleeding from her forehead, her blood dropping on her own dress and onto the ground. "Behold the Cross of the Lord, and be vanquished, enemy of the God!"
Karen could only scream in pain as she was bathed in the holy light.
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Haruka was in her own room, pacing restlessly. Just earlier, she felt a surge of energy coming from a direction, and she almost jumped into action, preparing to transform into Glitter Orange. But then, she stopped herself as Saiph informed her that the one who let out the energy wasn't someone to be concerned about.
"It's someone from the Church." Saiph told her earlier. "It would be better if you don't get yourself involved in their business."
So, Haruka remained in her room, trying to calm herself. The energy that she felt earlier felt pure and holy, almost comparable to her own power. Haruka had no idea what the Church was like, though she knew that these people fought to protect the innocents from demons and monsters.
Still, now that there was someone from the Church coming here in Sakamoto Town, Haruka knew that her workload had been lessened somewhat. Hopefully. She still wasn't sure if it was the right idea to introduce herself to them. For all she knew, she might be branded a heretic due to the nature of her power, because they might consider her a dabbler in witchcraft.
"Man, being a magical girl sure is lonely…" Haruka muttered to herself as she sat on her bed. Magical girls rarely worked with each other, and she also had to keep her identity a secret. That was why she was glad that she got her grandfather to know about her secret as a magical girl. At the very least, she got someone she could confide to, even though there was little he could actually do to help her.
Haruka sighed. She wasn't sure what the future might have in store for her. She wasn't even sure if being a magical girl was something that she would have to do for the rest of her life. There had to be a limit somewhat on how long she could use her power as a magical girl. She had tried asking Saiph once whether she could keep being a magical girl as a grown up or not, and the cat answered that it wasn't something that she should worry about at the moment.
She remembered pouting after hearing that answer from Saiph. It felt like Saiph was still keeping lots of things from her, even though she agreed to become a magical girl. It frustrated her sometimes. In the end, she had to accept it, because it was thanks to Saiph that she got to become a magical girl in the first place.
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Besides her duty as a magical girl, Haruka was also reminded of her own cousin, Karen. She had promised to her that they would talk, though she honestly didn't know what she wanted to actually talk about to her. And she was also kind of afraid to actually talk to her, fearing that Karen might have changed for the worse.
"Even if she has changed for the worse, at the very least there is no doubt left when it comes to your relationship with her. You can be frank with her if your doubt is cleared."
Haruka was reminded of the words of her older cousin, Kirie, who urged her to have the talk with Karen. She smiled, feeling her own motivation renewed. This was a reason why she looked up to Kirie so much. She was so dependable and kind, always knowing the right words to say, and she was so beautiful too. There was no wonder Haruka idolized her so much.
"Still…" Haruka then brought her own hands to her chest. While she wasn't exactly small in terms of chest size, she got herself thoroughly beaten by Kirie, whose ample bust was a subject of envy from her. And when she thought about it again, Karen was pretty big as well, which was kind of unfair, because they were supposed to be around the same age.
Haruka sighed heavily, lamenting such unfairness. She would like to believe that she wasn't done growing up yet, but that was neither here nor there.
She shook her head, hoping to put this matter aside for now. She was determined to have this talk with Karen and make things clear between them. Even if Karen might have changed, possibly to the worse, Haruka didn't want to have any doubt about her relationship with her cousin.
She reminded herself that this would be the first thing she would do next day. Speak to Karen and settle it once and for all.
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Karen groaned, dropping herself on her knees. The pain was so unbearable that she couldn't move herself. There were burn marks all over her body thanks to the holy light that Kirie had fired at her earlier.
Meanwhile, Kirie stared at Karen disbelievingly. She lowered her katana and gun as she slowly approached the weakened Karen. Her face was still stained with her own blood.
"Impossible…" Kirie muttered. "The full power of True Cross should've killed you, unless…" She eyed Karen suspiciously. "Don't tell me, you're… a Daywalker?"
Hearing that, Karen couldn't help but smile. "Heh… j-just figured that out?"
"Silence!" Kirie snapped. "What are you planning, demon?! If you could survive an exorcism like that, you should've been able to fight back and kill me, and yet… you've been defensive this whole time!" She seemed frustrated by what Karen had been doing.
"Haa… l-like I said, I d-don't want to fight you…" Karen said. She tried moving herself, but the act of moving was too painful for her.
"…" Kirie looked at Karen before her before she brought her gun to her head. "Don't try to trick me. I know you're planning something. I just know it…"
Karen looked at the barrel of Kirie's gun and she was reminded of that time, when she was newly-awakened as a vampire. After her own sire was killed, she looked at the barrel of a gun pointed to her head by a demon hunter, and at that time, she thought that she would be dead.
"Perhaps… I should've died back then…"
It was only thanks to dumb luck that she managed to survive. She had to stay in the dark streets and feed on rats just to sate her bloodlust. It was all because she thought her father might be worried about her.
But then, when she returned back home, she found out that her father didn't even realize that she was even missing.
"Yeah, when I think about it, maybe it's better for me to die back then. I doubt Dad would even notice. He cared too much about his works than me, anyway."
She wasn't even sure why she tried to hard to survive, even after knowing that her father didn't even care about her. She could easily choose to end her pathetic existence, after all.
"Ah… I see…"
Karen closed her eyes, remembering why she worked so hard to survive.
"I wanted to live because… I didn't want grandpa to be sad…"
Karen sighed, feeling regretful that she might have to die here, which meant she would make her grandfather sad. Of course, the alternative here was to kill Kirie, which wasn't any better, because their grandfather would be sad if that happened too.
"Sorry, grandpa… in the end, I'm just a bad girl…"
Karen reopened her eyes and stared into Kirie's own. There was resignation in Karen's gaze as she spoke to her older cousin.
"Please… take care of grandpa…"
"W-what?!" Kirie was stunned, those words leaving her shaken. Karen's smile looked peaceful, as if she had resigned herself to her own death.
Awaiting the gunshot, Karen closed her eyes.
"Knudsen… Homura… Raoul… everyone… I'm sorry."
As Karen awaited the coup-de-grace from her older cousin, Kirie hesitated. Her finger was already on the trigger, but for some reason, she was unable to fire. She was disturbed by the serenity on Karen's face. She had never seen anything like this before.
She almost didn't realize that her hand was trembling.
"Y-you…" Kirie said. "What are-" Before she could finish her words, she sensed danger. She immediately jumped back, avoiding a claw attack from a young man who suddenly emerged out of nowhere. The young man looked like a foreigner, and he unleashed more of his claw attacks, and Kirie used her katana to deflect and parry those attacks.
Meanwhile, a shadowy creature emerged from the ground before it reformed into a young woman in black gothic Lolita outfit. She held onto Karen, cradling her in her arms.
"Homura? Knudsen?" Karen expressed her surprise when her subordinates showed up.
"We're sorry for being late, mistress." Homura expressed her apology. "We will bring you to our lair now so that you can recuperate. Knudsen, we're going back now." She then called for Knudsen, who was engaging with Kirie in combat.
"Alright!" Knudsen jumped back. "Dang, that looks rough. Let's get ya patched up, mistress." Huddled together, all three of them were surrounded by some kind of shadowy blob before they disappeared before Kirie's eyes.
Seeing that the vampires had disappeared, Kirie lowered her weapons. Shaking her head, she brought her hand to her bloodied forehead.
"…" She had a disturbed look on her face as she still remembered Karen's words earlier. The whole time during their fight, Karen hadn't attacked her, not even once. And after she was defeated, she seemed to be at peace, as if willing to be killed by her. For Kirie, she was supposed to be a demon puppeteering her younger cousin's body, and yet…
"Please… take care of grandpa…"
Those words shook her to the core. Why should a demon care about her grandfather in the place? Why was she so content even in the face of death? Why didn't she even attack her during the fight?
There were so many questions Kirie had at the moment, and now, she had to think what to do first.
She knew that after what happened earlier, there was no way Karen would return back home. And she didn't want her grandfather to know the truth.
When she thought about it again, she shouldn't be so hasty. Even if Karen had been nothing but a demon masquerading as her little cousin, she should've waited for the right moment to confront her. And now, Kirie had to think of a way to cover up Karen's disappearance.
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The next day, Tetsu and Haruka found a short note written by Karen, left in her room, telling them that she was leaving. There was nothing else was written in the note besides that.
Haruka was devastated by this while Tetsu was bewildered. Though he seemed oddly calm by this, and when Kirie asked him why he seemed calm, he told her that Karen would come back eventually.
Kirie tried her best to not show her guilty look at her grandfather.
In truth, it was Kirie who left that note in Karen's room for both her grandfather and Haruka to find. She didn't want them to know that Karen was a vampire.
"Please… take care of grandpa…"
Karen's words kept haunting her. After that fight, Kirie wasn't sure what to believe anymore. As an Inquisitor, she was taught that vampires are those who are controlled by demons that are born from their dark impulses, and yet, Karen didn't seem to show the signs of being controlled by any demons. If anything, she behaved as if she was still Karen herself, not just someone pretending to be her.
Kirie wished to learn more about this, and there was only one person who could help her. As her grandfather and Haruka were still in the house, brooding over Karen's disappearance, Kirie stepped out of the house, bringing her cellphone with her. Once she was outside, she made a phone call.
"Hey, it's been a while."
"Yeah, it's been a while, Maya. I'm back in Japan, by the way." Kirie spoke to the one she was calling. "Are you in Japan right now?"
"Well, I'm in Tokyo. What's up?"
"There's something happening here in Sakamoto Town. And I want your help. It's about vampires." Kirie paused. "Will you come here?"
"Sure thing, cousin! It's been a while since the last time I visited grandpa, after all! I'll be there tomorrow!"