Dancing with Vampires
an excerpt

“That is not what I am concerned about,” Nauka said softly. “All of these people … they died because of ME –“

“No, they did not,” Ezekiel said sharply, causing Nauka to flinch. “They died because of Ryuji, not because of you.”

“But that book exists because of ME,” Nauka countered. “It is not like it came out of thin air! Ryuji would not even HAVE the book if it did not exist, and guess who WROTE it?” Nauka sighed. “You were right,” she said bleakly. “Mom and Dad were right. That book DID blow up the universe.” At this, Ezekiel could not help but laugh.

“Crazy thought, is it not,” Ezekiel chuckled. “Such a simple object causing the destruction of existence. Sort of like a flower burning out your retinas …” Nauka smiled at this comment. He always DID know how to make her feel better.

“Oh, Zeke” she murmured, “I do not know what to do …”

“There is not anything you CAN do,” Ezekiel replied, now serious again. “I hate to say it, but there is no way out of here except to some place new.” Then, something struck Nauka.

“Zeke,” she said, alarmed, “why have YOU not gone anywhere? Have they not chosen a place for you?”

“Well … actually, I left for a time, but to the Spirit Realm, which is sort of like the leader realm. They allowed me to be a guide to you. I can protect you …” Ezekiel paused. “Except for when somebody blows up the universe. Then there is no protection. Can not really do anything about that…” Nauka chuckled.

“Nauka,” came an uncertain voice. Nauka looked behind Ezekiel to see Kaito, followed by Zira, Lukas, Faye, and Konnyr. Nauka immediately rushed over to them and hugged each of them excitedly.

“Lukas and Zira told me what happened,” Konnyr told her. “Sort of wish I could have seen it.”

“No, you do not,” Nauka said. “I highly doubt you would have found it to be fun.”

“Death usually is not fun.” Faye put in, “Unless, you know, you are some sort of sadist or … something …”

Nauka looked around again, and the crowd was still becoming thinner. Someone beside her disappeared into thin air, and Nauka finally realized just how these people were disappearing.

“Zeke,” she asked, turning to Ezekiel again, “Do the people in the Spirit Realm just … PLUCK people out of this room?”

“I … suppose you could say that,” Ezekiel answered, although his tone suggested he was uncertain. The speed in which the room was emptying was increasing – half of the people were already gone. He was not about to point this out to Nauka, however. He was sure she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her friends.

“So … um …” Konnyr looked slightly confused. “What exactly blew up our realm? I know it was some sort of orb, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“To be honest, I did not read the whole chapter on it,” Nauka noted, “but I believe what he summoned was the Emerald Orb. I do not know much about it, I only read one page of the chapter before Ryuji took the book. From what I read, though, destroying the realm was one of its purposes.”

“Oh, now, that is nice,” Konnyr muttered. “I thought he would have wanted to take over the world, not destroy everything.”

“Well, I guess you were wrong,” Zira muttered back.

“And this is supposed to be the 16th century,” asked Faye.

“That is what I've been told,” Lukas said.

“My foot.”

“Mine too.”

Suddenly, Faye disappeared.

“Hey! I was not done talking to ‘im,” Lukas whined, and then he disappeared too.

“DAMN IT,” Konnyr cursed. “I hope we all do not get separated too far apart.”

“Me too,” Nauka murmured. Would she ever see them again after this? More and more people in the room were disappearing, and the room was thinning out fast. Soon, Zira disappeared without another word, and of the group only Ezekiel, Nauka, Kaito, and Konnyr remained. It hurt, just having them disappear like that without enough time to say so much as a farewell. The room had fallen relatively silent as everyone realized that they were dead and going to just disappear.

“Well, do we stand around just waiting to leave,” Kaito asked, sounding somewhere between bored and impatient, “or are we going to do something?”

“There is nothing we can do,” Ezekiel stated grimly, looking around the room. “All we can do is wait.” Nauka nodded in agreement. Everyone around her was disappearing, including her friends. She didn’t want to admit to the others that she was afraid. What if there was no place for her? Would she remain in this room forever?

They stood close together, waiting. Finally, as Konnyr disappeared, Nauka gripped the hands of both Kaito and Ezekiel.

“Nauka.”

There came a faint voice. It sounded like Kaito’s. She looked up at him, but he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were closed, as though he were waiting to cease to exist. The voice called her name again. She looked at Ezekiel, but he too was too distracted to have said anything to her. Now, they were the only ones in the room.

“Nauka, wake up.”

The room around her got brighter, and she closed her eyes. Was this what the others had heard before they disappeared. Was she about to meet them again? The light became blinding again, even with her eyes closed. She felt their hands disappear.

“Nauka!”