“What?” The receptionist gave them a very blank look.
Sanji stepped in to explain, “I'm pretty sure she hit her head-”
“I know my own name, Sanji.” Rose retorted, her voice quite loud. She gave off the unfortunate impression of being a crazy homeless person, considering the blanket and the shouting.
“I'm going to need you to calm down or I'll have to call security,” the receptionist explained.
“Security?” Rose snapped to focus at that, then she looked to Sanji, “They found us faster than we thought.”
“What, no, they just want to help-” Sanji’s words fell on deaf ears, or rather on no ears at all considering Rose turned and ran from the emergency room.
“Mind explaining this situation?” The receptionist asked, and Sanji really couldn’t think of anything to say, so instead he turned and ran after Rose.
He emerged onto a busy city street, the hospital was always a hub for all sorts of activity, and as such he wasn’t able to spot Rose. Really, she should have been easy to pull out of a crowd, considering the blanket, but she was nowhere in sight.
How had she disappeared so quickly? And what should he even do about it?
Was she really even his responsibility? Surly someone else would find her- Sanji remembered the cat girl- maybe the person that found her might try to take advantage. He groaned, it would be so easy, so comfortable to just go back home and sink into some video game. It would be nice to let this girl’s problems be someone else’s issue, but he couldn’t. He had to find her.
Sanji sighed, giving up on shame, and shouted out, “Rose!”
Many faces turned in his direction, none of them hers, and most were annoyed. Sanji ignored them and continued down the street, calling out her name at random intervals always to no response.
He circled the entire hospital, and began to work his way outward, wondering if she had returned to his apartment. It got darker, and a chill began to edge its way into the summer air, but still he looked until the only light left was that of the moon and the pools cast by the streetlamps.
He continued to shout and search, during one such call a hand grabbed his elbow. Sanji twirled around, hoping to see the vaguely confused, distant yet cheerful face of Rose, but instead was faced with a tight lipped, pouting Eva Montague. The vampire girl. She looked him up and down before asking, “What’s my servant doing out here shouting on the street like a crazy person?”
The girl wearing sunglasses after dark, dressed in some sort of some cheesy vampire cosplay, who thinks a bite is a viable means of assigning servitude was calling Sanji crazy. He shook his head and replied, “I’m looking for someone.”
She nodded, and only as an afterthought Sanji protested, “And I’m not your servant!”
She ignored that comment and said, “It is getting quite late, and the dark is only for creatures of the night. It would be bad for her to be out alone. I will help you look, Servant.”
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“I’m not your Serv- you will?”
The short girl nodded, her wide hat going slightly askew. She fixed it and said, “Yes, a vampire needn’t be cruel all the time.”
Sanji decided to be grateful for her help rather than conflict her vampire story. He just picked a direction and began to walk down the street, “I have no idea which way she went, I was trying to get her to the hospital.”
“What happened to her anyway?” Eva asked as they walked down the quiet street.
“She got hit by a truck right in front of me,” Sanji replied, “But was she really like that before today?”
“Like what?”
“A video game character?” Sanji supplied.
“Oh yeah, definitely, she has been like that for as long as I’ve known her. Years.”
“Years?”
“Yeah, Lema Academy has been our home for years, since elementary school. So we’ve been sticking with the same people for our entire educational careers. It’s very tiring, especially considering all of my classmates are immune to my vampirism.”
Sanji thought it best to avoid the topic of her own… issues, and instead asked, “What’s the deal with that girl, Rey? It seems like everyone has their own, uh, reason for going to Lema, what’s hers?”
He looked at her and a scowl formed on her small mouth, her eyes were blocked by the sunglasses but it was clear they were downcast. He had to lean in close to hear her whisper, “Rey is evil, even by vampire standards.”
“Really?” Sanji asked, his voice must have made it clear that he did not believe her because Eva turned to look him right in the eyes, she even took off her sunglasses.
“Yes, really, I mean it. She’s cruel and manipulative, when she first found out about my vampirism, and how I hated the sun, she blackmailed me into stripping naked on the school roof in the middle of the day. Then she took my clothes and ran off!”
“What?” Sanji stammered at that, “But… she… did she get in trouble?”
“No! I had to wait on the roof all day too then I had to sneak through the halls to get my gym clothes, but I couldn’t tell on her because she knew about the time that I- Well, I couldn't tell on her. That’s what she does, she enjoys making people suffer, and none of the other behavioural issue schools would take her so she’s stuck at Lema, you should try to stay away from her.”
They reached a corner and Sanji made to take a right, but Eva took his hand and pulled him to the left. She did not let go of his hand as they continued to walk. She said, “As my familiar you’re going to have to learn some things. I can tell you’re a nice person because you’re trying to help Rose, and that’s a good thing. So I’ll be sure to make use of that… maybe you should walk me home from school sometimes.”
“Um,” Sanji replied as she continued to pull him along by the hand, “Why are we going this way?”
“That’s another thing for you to learn. I’m always right. And I bet Rose is at the park because she thinks it’s a sanctuary to recharge her energy or whatever.”
“How do you know you’re always right?”
“Because no one can prove otherwise. And look, there’s more proof.”
They made it to the corner, and there, sitting on a bench under a street lamp, sat Rose. And she wasn’t alone.
The girl still had Sanji’s blanket wrapped around her, and she looked straight ahead, appearing near indifferent to the two guys on either side of her. One had a hand on Rose’s thigh, and the other had one cast around her shoulder.
Without even thinking Sanji pulled his hand away from Eva’s and rushed forward shouting, “Hey!”
Neither of the two guys harassing Rose seemed to mind much about being called out. They hardly even moved, and when Sanji got closer he saw why. It was Rett and Zach, two guys from Sanji’s own school. They weren’t the same as the other seniors though, no, these two were twice the size as anyone should be at their age. Although some rumours claimed they had both been held back as many as five years each. These two, and their gang of other less than perfect citizens, were responsible for all of the cigarette butts found on the school grounds, they were the ones who attacked freshmen, the ones who graffitied school grounds and had probably done many worse things outside of Sanji’s knowledge. And now they were feeling up Rose in a park after dark.
“Got a problem, little guy?” Zach asked. He had shoulder length blond hair that probably hadn’t been washed for the entirety of his school career, and he flashed a grin that was missing a few teeth. Both thugs wore the dirty gray slacks and jackets of their school uniform.
“We’re just hanging out with our girlfriend here,” Rett said, his hand wandered a little higher up Rose’s thigh. His bald head glinted in the lamplight. The girl herself seemed to be in a trance, her eyes were shut and her hands were flat on her knees.
“She… was just in an accident,” Sanji said through a gulp. Even sitting down the two were nearly his height. “She needs to go to a hospital.”
“She feels just fine to me,” Zach replied and pulled her close to him, his arm draping around her shoulder with his hand drifting rather close to her chest.
“By the wrath of darkness!” At first Sanji thought Rose had called out, but he hardly had time to react as Eva ran forward and delivered a flying kick directly between Zach’s spread legs.
The thug let out a groan and released Rose, Eva fell to the ground, landing on her bottom with a high pitched, “Ouch!”
Zach curled up into a ball on the bench and Rose continued to sit indifferently, but Rett stood up slowly. His voice is gravel and broken glass as he grows, “Oh no, that ain’t gunna fly.”