20 Chapter 2 - Santa Claus Impostor (1/2)
”...and now she's staying with you, have I got it right?” Sister An asked with a tick mark on her head, ”How utterly irresponsible of you.”
It was the next day. Vincent decided to visit Sister An and tell her what had happened.
”It's not like I have a choice,” Vincent sighed as he sat on the doorstep, ”if I do try to kick her out then she'll just come back. Not to mention she has guns. She even offhandedly said that she could snipe five kilometers with a pistol, a frickin pistol!”
”She probably enhances the performance of the gun with her blood,” Sister An said thoughtfully. She then proceeded to glare at Vincent, ”but that's not the reason you let her stay, right Vince?”
Vincent started sweating, ”I don't kn—”
”Right?”
”...Ok, ok, fine,” Vincent groaned, ”I felt bad that she didn't have a place to stay, even though she's a vampire and has a gun, I didn't want a crippled girl out on her own. Happy?”
”Anything else?”
”...She's cute,” Vincent, embarrassed, put his face in his hands while Sister An struggled not to laugh.
”I wonder how people would react if they found out your, what should we call it? Weakness? Preferences?”
”Shut up...” Vincent groaned.
”Brother Vince!” A small dark-haired girl jumped on his back, ”This Sister is so much fun to play with.”
”Nim,” Vincent said, ”what did she do?”
”Vincent...” The three of them turned around to see Arnya carrying a pile of stuffed teddy bears. She could barely see over the top.
”What are you doing?” Arnya, confused, just looked at Nim.
”This girl told me that teddy bears are cuddly to hug, so I thought that if I had two it would be twice as cuddly. Three, three times. Four, four times and so forth,” Arnya explained, ”so I gathered as much teddy bears as I could find.”
”...”
”...”
”...”
”...It's getting hard to carry.”
Vincent just stared a bit before walking over, ”...Let me help you with that.”
”Thank you.”
Nim and Sister An could only exchange odd glances as they watched the pair try to sort out the bears.
”Still, a crippled vampire?” Sister An thought as she watched Vincent take some of the bears, ”cursed perhaps?”
After a few days, Arnya had settled into Vincent's life. Through this time, they learned a lot more about each other. Whenever Vincent went out, Arnya would follow behind. He had soon gotten used to it. Vincent had taken a break from Trespassing to adjust to this new lifestyle.
She seemed to like spending time at the orphanage with Nim. It was there that Arnya found a particular attachment to board games. Chess, checkers, a game called Go, she would play that with Nin, Vincent or even Nyx, who was surprisingly good at such games.
”So, you've escaped,” Sister An muttered as she looked at Sirius Black yelling from the picture. Her eyes looked rather dark for a bit before turning a back to normal. She folded the newspaper and threw it in the trash.
...
”This is a quiet night,” Vincent muttered as he strolled across the rooftops. He lept down onto a lower level, ”well it's not like there will be a crime all the time.”
”Do you want one to happen every night?” Arnya asked rolling her wheelchair beside him.
”Nah, it's a good thing that nothing is—!” Vincent responded naturally before freezing. He turned to the side to see Arnya wheeling beside him.
”Vincent? What's wrong?” she asked.
”H—how did you get up here?” Vincent spluttered.
”How? Just like you, I climbed,” she stated.
”But you have a—you know what, forget it,” Vincent scratched his head in frustration.
”She's a vampire, of course, she can get up here even if she is a wheelchair,” Vincent thought glumly as he continued walking.
”So do you do this every night?” she asks as she followed from behind.
”Yeah, I do,” Vincent replied before stopping at a ledge and taking a seat, ”I see something bad and I try to stop it. Either call the police or do it myself.”
”That sounds a little too casual don't you think?” Arnya asks.
”I guess so,” Vincent chuckled as he looked over the whole of London under the night. The two of them were silent for a bit, ”hey Arnya, are you able to answer a few questions of mine?”
”Go ahead.”
”What kind of person is Dracula?” he asked.
”What type of person is father?” Arnya looked thoughtful for a moment, ”I don't know.”
”Wait, you don't know your own father?” Vincent turned around and looked incredulously at Arnya who shrugged.
”The number of times I've spoken with him must be around ten or so,” Arnya's voice didn't change it's tone, as if she was speaking of something trivial, ”I guess he simply didn't think I was worth it.”
She then noticed Vincent's sad gaze and waved her hand, ”Don't worry about me, I've gotten used to it.”
”Doesn't mean it's right,” Vincent said, ”a father shouldn't neglect their children like that. It's not right.”
Arnya merely blinked before looking away, ”I only had Axel to keep me company. All the other servants would just do their jobs, they would never talk to me.”
Vincent just let out a breath of frustration before getting up. He started walking towards another building with Arnya following behind.
”So I really am one of the first people you've actually talked to?” Vincent asked without turning around. He jumped and caught hold of a ladder which he used to climb to the roof of another building. He then turned to see Arnya casually wheeling herself up the wall. Vincent couldn't help but feel resigned, ”I've seen weirder things before,” he thought.
”Yes,” she nodded as she made it to the roof. There was an awkward silence, at least for Vincent. He didn't know what to say or ask next.
”By the way,” Arnya merely tilted her head, ”how long are you staying with me?”
”Until you've become Dracula, or Father ordering me to stop, or perhaps you or me dying, who knows?” she answered.
”Since I don't plan on becoming Dracula and no plans for dying, you're most likely going to stay with me for a long time eh?” Arnya nodded, ”Well, in that case, call me Vince.”
”Vince?” she looked confused. Vincent turned and gave her a wry smile.
”Yeah, all my friends call me that,” Vincent explained, ”think of it as a nickname of sorts.”
”Friends?” Arnya said making Vincent stop in his tracks, ”Are we friends?”
Vincent thought for a moment, ”You aim a gun at me, played with my character to let you stay at my house and you're the daughter of Dracula, someone who wants me to become king despite my reluctance. You tell me, are we or can we become friends?”
”Judging by what you said, no—” Arnya started analyzing before feeling a soft thump on her head. She looked up to see Vincent's hand on her head.
”The answer is yes,” Vincent smiled before he started walking away, ”even though you're all those things, you don't seem like a bad person.”
”You would become friends with the enemy?” she asked confused.
”I don't wish for anyone to be an enemy,” Vincent answered as he looked down at the streets below.
”What a strange boy,” Arnya thought. She felt something come from her mouth uncontrollably, a strange noise. She managed to stop herself, ”what was that feeling? That noise was also strange.”
”You know, this is the first time I've seen you laugh or smile,” she turned to see Vincent looking back at her, ”although your sense of humor is a bit odd, you look better this way.”
Arnya raised her hand to her mouth and felt it twitched upwards. She then looked back at Vincent who was smiling back at her. Her face soon returned back to normal, ”So that was smiling and laughing? It felt, nice.”
Vincent felt a pang of sadness seeing the girl not knowing what either of those meant, ”She really lacks some emotions does she?” he thought.
He watched Arnya play with her mouth trying to smile again and couldn't help but feel that the girl was truly pitiful. She suddenly stopped and looked confused for a moment.
”Is it natural for strange things to happen at night?” Arnya asked.
”Define strange.”
”Strange balloon people getting stuck in chimneys, does that happen here a lot?”
”Where on earth did you—” Vincent was cut off by a small scream.
He turned around and nearly fell from the roof in shock. In the distance, an incredibly round woman was screaming from the top of her lungs. She was all bulged out into the shape of a balloon and had somehow gotten stuck in a chimney.
”Before you ask, this is a first for me too,” Vincent answered Arnya before rushing off in the balloon lady's direction.
He jumped off the roof and landed on a sign that stretched across the buildings. Once on the other side he jumped and lifted himself up onto a window sill which he used to get on the roof before proceeding to run across. He then vaulted himself across a vent and jumped off the roof onto another, landing in a roll before proceeding to run again. For his own enjoyment, Vincent did a last frontflip over another gap before stopping at the site.
”VERMON, HELP ME VERMON!” the balloon lady yelled in obvious rage and panic.
”What the hell happened to her?” Vincent thought as he scratched his head, he then turned around and felt his eyes twitch, ”You have got to be kidding me.”
Arnya raced across the rooftops on her wheelchair, she wasn't even touching the wheels either meaning she was most likely controlling it. At each gap between the houses, she would make the whole wheelchair jump over them. Soon she took one last jump onto Vincent's roof and skidded to a stop by his side. She noticed Vincent's dead look and tilted her head in confusion.
”Did you see something weird?” she asked. Vincent decided that it was best not to answer.
”People?! Is there anyone there?! Help me!” the woman pleaded with the two of them.
”Ah, sure, just give us a—” Vincent was about to help when Arnya tugged his sleeve, ”Arnya?”
”How are you going to help that woman?” she asked.
”I was thinking of pulling her out,” Arnya sighed.
”Do you think that woman got here by normal means?”
Vincent raised an eyebrow, ”You mean by magic?”
”It would appear so.”
”Huh, I thought it was a Santa wannabe,” Vincent said thoughtfully not noticing Arnya's eyes start to sparkle at the mention of Santa.
”Oi, you brats, help me already!” Vincent and Arnya exchanged glances.
”She's not very nice is she?” Arnya said.
”Doesn't seem like it,” Vincent said before addressing the woman, ”how'd you get here ma'am?”
”I don't know, one second I was scolding my nephew, the next I burst into a balloon and started floating away!” she struggled in the chimney, ”Can you please help me down?!”
”If I pry her out, she's most likely going to float off again right?” Vincent thought out loud.
Arnya looked thoughtful for a moment before she pulled out her gun. Vincent looked blankly at her, ”Arnya, What are you doing?”
”If she's a balloon, then all we need to do is pop her,” she said pointing it at the struggling woman.
”Pop me?! Pop me with what?!” The woman yelled frantically.
Vincent started sweating, ”Arnya, let's try a method that doesn't involve violence.”