My Vampire Little Sister

Jin was there. Lying in a pool of his own blood.

The colour on his face was slowly fading away as his cherry-red lips, which had always been filled with warmth, smiles and laughter… Had been stained entirely red. Jin’s eyes were barely open, flickering with every slight twitch from Ysabelle and Irina’s cries.

The boy who was supposed to save us… The boy who was promised to me… He was no longer smiling.

Jin, the boy who never once showed us his weak side. The boy who never once scolded or berated us. The boy… Who was powerful enough to match any one of us despite being human… He was no longer moving.

I could have prevented this.

I saw Jin face up against the Outer Demon. I saw him fight with his life on the line. I saw him struggle, I saw him fall, I saw him in pain… Yet, I couldn’t save him.

It wasn’t my destiny to save him. My involvement wasn’t promised in the prophecies. I could only watch as Jin fell to the Outer Demon, all while his mind was preoccupied with protecting us.

Why World Tree?

Why must Jin suffer this way? Why must I see my precious Jin fall into a pool of his own blood? Why… does my heart ache so much?

Tell me, World Tree.

Is this my purpose? Is this why you brought Jin to me? To watch him die? To be shown the light of my life, only to see it dissipate away? Why did you stop me? Why did you force Jin to face the Outer Demon alone? Why… Why did you force this prophecy on me?

Jin showed me happiness. He showed me how to smile. He gave me… a soul.

And yet… There was nothing I could do for him.

Why? Is this my fate? My destiny?

If so…

I’ll reject it.

I won’t be a puppet anymore. I will do everything that I can to protect Jin, even if it costs my life. I will do everything… To make him happy.

“The preparations for the ritual are complete!”

Lilith shouted as she finished the last symbols on the floor. Drawing a magic circle with Jin’s blood even before his body turned cold seemed to be a heartless thing to do, but Lilith wasn’t that kind of girl. Even with her face stained with tears, she had an expression of steel as she firmly declared:

“We’ll need to make Jin’s soul whole again! It has been scattered from the fight against the Outer Demon! Quick, we need to hurry!”

“H-How do we save him?”

“We must use our own souls to hold the pieces of his in shape! Fortunately, there are four of us, so we can split the load evenly. Living with three-quarters of our souls might be a little uncomfortable, but…”

“I’ll do it! Anything to save Brother!!!”

Irina never once hesitated as she stood at one corner of the ritual circle. Cutting her own wrist with her fingers, Irina let the blood flow down her hands as she held onto her side of the circle. Holding back her tears, Irina held onto Jin’s right hand as a quarter of her soul was consumed.

“I’ll never let Jin die! Never!”

Ysabelle was the next to follow. Moving to the opposite side, Ysabelle held onto Jin’s left hand and sliced her supple flesh to allow the blood to flow. Just like Irina, I could see a quarter of her soul being consumed by Jin’s unmoving body.

“Rosa? What will you do?”

Lilith was the next to follow. She placed herself firmly above Jin’s head and gave the sleeping boy a gentle lap pillow. It seemed like a lover caressing her most precious person, but the truth was far from that. Lilith’s blood and soul were being consumed rapidly, and I could see the weak-bodied girl suffering as a result.

The three of them looked at me as they waited for my response.

Girls… There’s no need to look at me that way.

Let alone one-quarter of my soul; you could take my entire soul if it meant saving Jin. He was the Sun and Moon of my life. My morning and night. My joy and sorrow.

I would do anything… Anything to have him back.

Kneeling by his feet, I made a deep cut on my wrist and allowed the blood to flow down like the three of them and almost instantly, I could feel my soul being ripped apart. My mind was in shambles, and my body was shaking violently.

Just one-quarter of my soul being ripped apart… Just that one-quarter, and I could feel my body shutting down. I couldn’t imagine Jin’s pain and suffering when his soul was shattered. And yet… He could still love and worry about us.

Perhaps it was fitting that I was at his feet.

My purpose, my destiny, the reason for my existence… It wasn’t to serve the World Tree.

And just like he gave me happiness… I will live to serve Jin Valter.

Many hours had passed since the ritual was conducted, and Jin’s soul had finally been pieced back together. It was a long and arduous process, but at least we’d finally saved Jin’s life. However, when we thought the worst part was over, Lilith hit us with the final bombshell.

“We can’t stay with Jin anymore.”

“W-What?! Why can’t I stay with Brother?!”

“It’s no longer safe for us to be close to him,” Lilith replied with a helpless expression in her eyes. “Our souls may have held him together, but it’s a temporary fix. It’s unnatural to leave our souls within another person’s body, and they will always try to return back to us. If we’re near him… The souls within him will go berserk, and it’ll cause Jin to suffer.”

“W-What?! So we can’t see Jin anymore?!”

“No, not until his soul completely heals up.” Lilith continued on with her explanation, her expression turning sadder and sadder by the second.

“And I hate to tell you this, but… Jin’s memories of us will be sealed too.”

“Sealed? What do you mean?”

“To prevent him from coming to find us, to prevent his soul from going berserk, I’ve sealed all memories he has of us. When Jin recovers and returns our souls, he’ll remember everything, but for now… We won’t exist in his memories.”

“So you’re saying… Brother will forget all about us?”

Irina couldn’t hold back her tears as her grip on Jin’s hand tightened even more.

“When he recovers… Jin will remember. It may take him ten or twenty years to recover his soul; I don’t really know. But when he does, we can reunite with him and let him recover his memories.”

Lilith gave Jin and tender stroke on his head as she whispered to all of us:

“In the meantime, we’ll need to protect him. With his soul in this shape, Jin won’t have the same power he had. We need to protect him during this time, but I know that we have duties to attend to, so I suggest we split the workload up.”

“I’ll protect Brother in Winter!” Irina was the first to volunteer her services. “I’m best equipped to protect Brother during the Winter months! I don’t think that you’ll disagree.”

“No arguments there,” Lilith nodded in a rare case of her agreeing with the youngest girl of our group. “Then I’ll take Spring.”

“I-I’ll take the Summer!” Ysabelle nervously declared her season while never letting go of Jin’s hand once.

The three girls looked right at me and waited for my answer. Once again, I didn’t know why they looked at me so strangely, but I replied nonetheless.

“Autumn…”

No, Autumn isn’t enough. With my powers, I can protect Jin all the time. Whether he’s at school, eating, showering or even sleeping. As long as there are plants nearby, I can protect Jin. No, I will protect Jin.

That is my fate. My one true destiny.

After saving Jin, we returned him to his parent’s house and secretly notified authorities of the Outer Demon attack. It took some time for his parents to return, but it didn’t matter. From the beginning, I was committed to protecting Jin, even if his parents were never to return.

As Lilith had predicted, Jin was unable to remember anything about us. When he awoke, he was confused and afraid. When he found out that he had lost his magical ability and could never become a Hunter, Jin fell into despair.

Yet, even as his world crumbled, Jin never once gave up. When he returned to school and got bullied, he never once gave in to his fate. Like he did with me, Jin struggled against his own forced destiny, fighting hard to become the best possible person he could be.

Jin… Even though his memories had been altered… He never changed.

Jin always remained as optimistic, confident and radiant as he always was.

Seasons passed, and over ten years had passed since Jin met us. Over the past few years, my eyes never left Jin’s side. I watched him turn from a young boy into a sickly teenager. I saw him go through adolescence in pain and suffering and yet never once give in to his fate. I watched him become a grown man as he pursued his dream of becoming a magic researcher.

Through my connections with the Shadowgarden House, I protected him from any harm that might come his way. If someone were to bully him, their houses would burn the next day. If a professor forced him to do something he didn’t like, the professor would lose all his funding the next hour. If some… random girl tried to latch herself onto him…

She would be before I counted to three.

I had to protect Jin, no matter the cost.

But… I’ve made one miscalculation.

Irina could not fight off the temptation and turned Jin into a Vampire behind our backs. Of everyone in the world, I’d never thought I would be betrayed by any of the three. However, I was fine with Jin being with Irina. So long as his safety was guaranteed, I didn’t mind staying in the shadows as I protected him.

However, after turning into a Vampire, Jin had been subjected to danger after danger.

During the Winter Hunt at the Everwinter House, one of Irina’s family members tried to murder him to aggravate Irina. At the Moonreaver Dimension, Jin fought against Sirius Moonreaver for the sake of Lilith, who had almost injured him severely. And finally, at the Blackburn House, Jin had to face Eyghon, a Demon Lord that was infinitely stronger than the Outer Demon that almost killed him.

And now… The whole world was out to get Jin.

From the Bloodborne House to the Holy Church… Everyone wants to get rid of Jin.

Why?

Why?

WHY?!

All I want is for Jin to be safe! All I want is to protect Jin from harm! Why does he have to suffer so much?! Must I watch Jin fall before my eyes once again?!

No!

No! I will not let that happen!

I will not let Jin suffer ever again!

I will…

Protect Jin…

Forever.