Chapter 30: The Art club, party invitation
The next day, Minato woke up late in the afternoon. He yawned loudly, stretching his arms above his head for close to a minute until his joints gave a satisfying pop.
"Man... I haven’t slept this long in a while," he muttered groggily, rubbing his eyes.
He sat up and looked around the room. It was strangely quiet. Amelia wasn’t on the bed beside him, nor anywhere in sight. For a moment, he thought she had gone out.
That was, until he heard it... A slow and steady sound of breathing from somewhere above him.
"Huh?"
And then his jaw nearly dropped, and he was filled with amusement.
Amelia was there... asleep, completely upside down, her body hanging from the ceiling like a bat. Her yellow hair flowed down freely toward the floor, and her hoodie had slipped slightly, revealing her slender neck and collarbone.
"...You’ve got to be kidding me," Minato whispered, blinking rapidly to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
Then he started laughing a little, still shocked that the movie’s description of a vampire was actually pretty close to the real thing.
He stood up, taking a few quiet steps closer and squinting. "Amelia?"
No response... just the soft, steady rhythm of her breathing.
Minato sighed, scratching the back of his head.
A few seconds later, Amelia’s eyes fluttered open. She looked down at him, her expression blank for a moment before she smirked. "You’re awake."
"Yeah," Minato replied, not really knowing what to tell her, so he just decided not to make a fuss about anything.
She yawned and stretched on the ceiling, slowly descending until her feet touched the floor. Her movements were fluid, natural and nonchalant for someone who had just defied physics.
"Did you get enough sleep?" Amelia asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked at him.
Minato nodded, stretching a little. "Yeah... finally did."
He walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and grabbed a cold bottle of water. Twisting off the cap, he took a few long sips. The sound of his throat moving as he swallowed the water filled the kitchen. His Adam’s apple moved with each sip, standing out clearly.
Amelia, who had been watching from the living room, suddenly froze. Her eyes followed the movement of his neck, her breathing getting shallow. Before Minato could react, she appeared right in front of him, closing the distance instantly.
"Wha...."
He didn’t even finish speaking before she pushed him back against the fridge and sank her fangs deep into his neck.
"Ah... Amelia..." he exclaimed softly. It was unexpected, but at this point, he was almost used to it. The sharp and painful sting was followed by a warm, draining feeling that made his knees slightly weak.
After a few seconds, she stopped, licking the small trace of blood from her lips before stepping back like nothing had happened. Without saying anything, she walked over and sat on the edge of his bed, crossing her legs and looking out the window.
Minato touched the bite mark; it stung a little, but the pain faded quickly thanks to his regeneration. He sighed, grabbed the vacuum cleaner, and started cleaning up the apartment. The vibration noise of the machine filled the room.
When he was done, Amelia called out.
"Minato."
He turned, still holding the vacuum cleaner cord. "What?"
"Do you know who Yuto is?" she asked calmly.
He blinked twice, confused. "Yeah. He’s a friend of mine."
She pointed at his phone on the table. "He asked me to tell you that he called."
Minato frowned and walked over to grab his phone. "Yuto called?... When was that?"
"While you were asleep yesterday," she replied, leaning back on her hands.
He unlocked the phone and went to the call history. There it was... Yuto’s name, several missed calls stacked together, and one answered call marked from when Amelia had picked up.
Minato exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Is he just checking up on me now? I wonder what he wants this time..."
Without thinking too much about it, he tapped the call button and raised the phone to his ear.
It rang a few times before Yuto’s voice came through, loud and cheerful as always.
"Yo! Finally decided to pick up, huh? Thought you vanished or something."
Minato sighed. "Yeah, sorry. Things have been... complicated lately."
"Complicated, huh? You sneaky bastard... you’ve gone and gotten yourself a girlfriend, haven’t you?" Yuto laughed through the phone’s speaker.
"Girlfriend?" Minato repeated, blinking twice, narrowing his eyelids.
"Don’t even try to deny it. Yesterday, when you were asleep, I called... and she answered," Yuto teased him, laughing at the other end of the call.
"Oh... right." Minato rubbed his temple, deciding not to bother correcting him. Let him think that... it was easier that way.
"Is that the reason you called?" Minato asked flatly, annoyance in his tone.
"Nah," Yuto replied, his tone shifting to something a bit more serious. "I just wanted to make sure you’re still alive. The whole city’s been talking about the portal incident yesterday... pretty wild stuff. I heard one appeared close to your apartment. You good?"
Minato’s eyes drifted toward Amelia, who sat cross-legged on the bed, pretending to look out the window but was listening. "Yeah," he said simply. "I’m fine. Our neighborhood wasn’t really affected."
"Good to hear," Yuto said, relief audible in his voice. "Oh, and we’re meeting up later today. The art club’s throwing a little party... everyone’s gonna be there. You in? You can even bring your girlfriend along."
Minato froze for half a second, his gaze moved to Amelia again. She raised an eyebrow, pretending not to care, though a faint smirk tugged at her lips.
"I’ll... think about it," Minato replied, scratching his nose.
"Alright, alright. Don’t disappear again, man. See you... at the party."
"I never said I would go..."
The line clicked, ending the call.
Minato lowered his phone and sighed, leaning back against his apartment wall.
Amelia finally spoke up from the bed, her voice calm but curious. "So... what did he want?"