Ketsu

[Blood-sucking demon. Mated to Shiro.]

It was rare to find another vampire. In his thousands of years of existence, Ketsu had only met a handful of his kind. He found them all most deplorable company, always droning on about times gone by, how the world used to be. Ketsu lived in the present. No matter how the present changed over the centuries, he had adapted, remained true to his nature.

Or so he had thought.

A mere decade ago, a strange illness had begun to invade his immortal body. It should have been impossible-- after all, he was immortal. Nothing should weaken him, let alone kill him. And yet, one morning, he had awoken to notice the tip of his tail had faded from its usual glimmering scarlet hue to a pale, dull red.

In the years that passed, the infection grew, spreading up from the tip of his tail. As the illness grew, so did Ketsu's paranoia. What did the illness mean? Why had he been infected? How did he know for certain that it wouldn't kill him? Was there a way to get rid of it? These unanswered questions consumed him day and night and left him in a state of constant anxiety.

For the first time in his existence, he was unhinged. He was weak. And weakness was unacceptable.

It was in this state that he first encountered Shiro. The female had just finished draining a particularly large Snapper when she locked eyes with Ketsu, spying on her from the nearby underbrush. Ketsu had emerged from his hiding place and introduced himself, trying to ignore the shame he felt at his appearance, his dull scales standing out in sharp contrast to her brilliant ruby ones. Still, he had put his shame aside and introduced himself cordially, using all his charm to win the female over.

But she was not so easily convinced.

Ketsu spent the better part of a century winning her affections, learning to play by her rules. And despite her best intentions, she couldn't deny that she enjoyed having the male around. But in the back of her mind, she knew that she couldn't fully trust him. She could sense his illness and she knew that Ketsu had only come to her to seek her help in curing it. The problem was, she had no idea how.


(to be continued...)