Vampire Love Bites
 
By Minako Tomoka
 
A Vampire Dormitory Short Story
 
 
  The cold, hard ground was no stranger to Mito Yamamoto. Ever since being kicked out on the streets by uncaring relatives, Mito had spent many miserable, sleepless nights curled up on cold, hard concrete, hiding away in some back alley. But she shouldn't have been feeling this anymore. Even though she had disguised herself as a boy in order to survive on the streets, the vampire Ruka Saotome had taken her into his dorm at an all-boys school as his thrall for that exact reason. She had grown used to sleeping in a soft, warm bed for a change. But something was different this time.
 
  Mito's eyes slowly opened, and she brushed away strands of short red hair to make an assessment of her surroundings. Her vision was a bit blurry after just having woken up, but she could make out that the floor she was lying on was the cold, smooth surface of steel, not the familiar rough hardness of concrete. Everything around her was dark, a deep blackness darker than night, like a void sapped of all traces of light. But in front of her and all around her were metal bars, enclosing and arching into a dome above her head. It didn't seem like a prison cell. No...it seemed more like a cage for a bird or small animal, but somehow human-sized. Or rather...Mito was actually the size of a bird herself?
 
  She shook her head, shaking off the remnants of sleep along with it. No, that was ridiculous. Nothing about this made sense. Mito was locked in a giant birdcage, hanging in some endless black void with no semblance of up or down, left or right? The red-headed tomboy clambered over to the far side of the cage, wrapping her hands around the chilly bars and glancing over the edge below her. She gasped as she gazed down at nothing, a never-ending pit of blackness that felt as though it would swallow her whole. Dressed in nothing but her loose-fitting pajamas, Mito was cold, confused, and once again alone. The thought of being all alone again brought her pain like a blade to the heart. She had struggled so much to finally find a place to belong, where she was loved and wanted...so why this? Was this a delusion of hers, a nightmare she conjured up from her own subconscious trauma and insecurities? Tears welled up in Mito's eyes. If only Ruka was there...
 
  As if some unseen force could read her mind, a familiar male voice called out to her, echoing and loud. "Don't cry like that, Mito. If you do, your blood will taste worse than it already does..."
 
  Mito jerked her head upright. "H-hello? Who's there?!"
 
  All at once, the cage began to rattle and tremble, sending Mito rolling around. She gripped the bars to prevent herself from getting flung any further. Above her, she saw an enormous, white-gloved hand coiling around the handle of the cage, and the arm that followed from it was attached to none other than the familiar red-eyed, gray-haired vampire- and Mito's current bloodthirsty roommate- Ruka Saotome. His crimson gaze pierced her all the way to the core, not helped by the fact that his eyes were now the size of windowpanes, large enough for Mito to gaze at her own trembling, terrified reflection in them.
 
  His tongue was longer than her whole body, and it glided over his lips, giving Mito a fresh glimpse of Ruka's razor-sharp fangs. He was a vampire of course, fangs were only natural to him, but at this size, Mito felt as though he could skewer her with them. Ruka clearly held the cage in one hand, and with his free hand, he poked a finger through the cage bars, pushing right against Mito's chest. Her heart was pounding so hard, it felt as though it would burst. Mito didn't know what to even say- all that came out was a stuttery, "R-Ruka...i-is that you...?"
 
  The giant-sized vampire looked offended by the question. "Who else does it look like to you? Your heart is racing...I can feel it right beneath my fingertip. Is me touching you all it takes to get you excited?"
 
  "T-that's not it!" Mito stammered. "W-why...why am I so small, and why am I in this cage!? What's happened to me?!"
 
  Ruka retracted his finger. "You're dense, aren't you? This is the way you've always looked to me, on the inside. Humans in general are like that...small, helpless, and...very edible. Even if your blood doesn't taste very good right now, you're still my thrall. It's your responsibility to feed me. But there's no way even every drop of blood in your tiny body would be anything other than a single swallow down in my gut...I think your body would taste much better than your blood, don't you think? Would you like to find out, Mito?"
 
  "Ruka...please stop saying things like that," Mito whimpered. "You're scaring me..."
 
  It seemed pointless trying to negotiate with a vampire who was a hundred times her size, as well as a hundred times more hungry. Ruka sharply tilted the cage, causing Mito to slide right down to the cage door, which swung open once she crashed into it. Mito screamed and latched onto the hanging door, wrapping her limbs around the metal bars and clinging with all her strength. "Ruka, please stop!" she shrieked. "What are you doing?!"
 
  "Take a good guess," Ruka sneered. "It has to be said, you've been a good friend...but I bet you'll be an even better midnight snack."
 
  "Ruka, noooo!" Mito screeched. "You can't do this!"
 
  He snickered. "Oh yeah? Why can't I do what I want with you? You agreed to become my thrall, which means you willingly gave up your life to become a vampire's eternal prey. You're just my snack, at the end of the day."
 
  Mito was left frozen in terror, clinging to life as the vampire spread his jaws, dangling Mito's cage- and her with it- above the abyss of his maw, a fleshy pit framed by vicious fangs. The moist heat of his breath washed over her tiny, helpless form. His snake-like tongue emerged from the depths, gliding over Mito's body and licking at her even as she gripped the hanging door of the cage. Mito squealed at the wet, slimy sensation. Ruka had licked her many times before while drinking her blood, but this time a single brush from his tongue coated her entire body in saliva. Ruka's tongue was a monster in itself. She was...being tasted.
 
  "Stop it!" she screamed. "Please, don`t do this! Don't eat me!"
 
  Neither her struggles nor her screams would convince Ruka to stop. In fact, her terror only seemed to make him even hungrier. His dark chuckle echoed below her. "I have to say, you tasted way better than I thought. I can't wait to devour you, my little thrall. I'm going to enjoy this." He lifted her up even higher, dangling her above his gaping maw. Mito's grip was slipping, and now that she was drenched in vampire drool, it was even harder to hang on. Her arms were burning, and her hands were sliding...she couldn't hold on for much longer. She squirmed and screamed, but no matter what she did, it wasn't going to change the fact that she was about to be eaten alive. "Hey," Ruka said, "it's nothing personal. No hard feelings. Goodbye, Mito Yamamoto."
 
  Mito's fingers loosened from the cage bars, and gravity pulled her down instantly. She fell straight into Ruka's open mouth. Pitch-black darkness swallowed her whole as wetness and humidity struck her entire body. She sprawled out upon the vampire's tongue, but she wasn't there for long, as she was soon battered and slammed against the sides of his mouth. The appendage dominated her completely. Mito clawed and kicked at the terrifyingly large muscle, but the bloodthirsty brute continued to push her around the interior of his mouth like a jawbreaker. Drool drenched her pajamas and pooled up around her as she was slowly savored.
 
  After a few minutes of being tossed about inside the dark, humid chamber, Mito had been tired out. She was way too exhausted to resist anymore. Turned out, that was exactly what Ruka wanted, because then, the biting started. His pointy, threatening fangs clamped down on Mito, piercing her skin and puncturing every part of her body. Blood gushed from the narrow wounds the fangs left behind. She threw back her head and screamed in excruciating agony. She had never, ever been so scared in her entire life. But it was far from over.
 
  The pressure of the fangs increased, pushing into Mito's back and chest at the same time. She was lucky enough to not have her head in the way, but in her position, "lucky" was a useless word. She was being crushed. She could feel her bones breaking and shattering. She gave a wet cough, hacking up a splatter of blood. At that point, she didn't care anymore. She was in so much pain, she just wanted this to end. "JUST HURRY UP AND GET IT OVER WITH!" she shrieked, screaming at the top of her lungs.
 
  But Ruka wasn't going to let Mito die. Not that easily. Suddenly, the stabbing pain and pressure of his fangs lifted from her blood-drenched body. All of her bones had to be broken, because she couldn't move anymore. All she could manage were small, weak twitches, and even those were painful. Ruka tipped back his head to gulp down his meal. Mito slid to the back of his throat, unable to resist or struggle.
 
  With a large swallow, Mito was shoved down into a rippling chamber of muscle that tugged and pulled at her tiny, weakened form. So, this is what happens to a vampire's thrall, she thought. This is what it feels like to be eaten.
She attempted to squirm and thrash using the dwindling energy she had left, but it was useless, because with another hard gulp, she was gone. Mito slid down even further, until she crashed into a tight, narrow chamber of gastric fluids and digestive juices- Ruka's stomach.
 
  She expected it to be a massive, cavernous space, but it was actually quite small and cramped. Tears poured from her watery red eyes as she was enveloped by the darkness of Ruka's body. She took a deep breath, inhaling the sickening smell of rotting flesh- the scent of death. Her lungs heaved, whistling weakly. Mito wasn't sure how she was still alive, but she knew that she wouldn't be for much longer. Ruka's belly was rumbling and hungry. The stomach acid bit into Mito's skin, removing the pain and replacing it with an intense, tingling numbness. He was...digesting her.
 
  Mito couldn't move, or struggle, or even scream anymore. All she could do now was cry. The small, cramped stomach growled all around Mito, the tiny victim. How could Ruka be this cruel when he promised to take care of her and love her? Her friend Ren was right. All vampires were the same. They weren't human, not anymore. They were only hungry monsters, something to be feared. Mito was stupid to believe that Ruka was any different. She couldn't do anything for herself, so she merely attached herself to someone who would do it all for her, even if that someone was a bloodthirsty predator. Because in the end, she was only food to begin with, as soon as she gave herself to Ruka as his thrall.
 
  Mito continued to cry and sniffle for a few moments more, but before long, she collapsed beneath the rising pool of gastric fluids. Then...she woke up screaming. She jerked awake in a cold sweat, inhaling gulps of air. "I...I'm alive?" She glanced around, realizing she was back in her bed, in the dorm room, with Ruka's grumpy white cat crawling around on her lap, clearly disgruntled by the sudden awakening. "G-go away!" she barked. The cat let out a displeased, grumbly meow as Mito shooed him off the bed.
 
  Right beside her, she heard someone else grumbling. "Ughhh...what's wrong, Mito? Why so loud so early in the morning...?" Mito glanced to her left to see Ruka, the gray-haired, red-eyed vampire who had seemingly devoured her whole and alive a few moments ago, lying next to her in the bed, rubbing sleep from his tired eyes. Mito bit her lip and clenched the sheets as she gazed at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Ruka asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Did you have a bad dream or something?"
 
  Mito took a deep breath, relieved to still be alive and well. "Y-yeah, I did," she mumbled. "Ruka, tell me...can vampires manipulate people's dreams?"
 
  Ruka sat up, looking confused. "Uh, no? What kind of miracle worker do you think I am? I'm a vampire, not a psychic. If you had a nightmare, you can tell me about it, ya know."
 
  Mito struggled to gather her composure to speak properly. "I...I had a dream that I was really small, and you bit into me like a kabob and swallowed me whole!" she sputtered, forcing it all out in one breath.
 
  To her dismay, Ruka started to laugh. "Damn, really? I didn't realize you thought of yourself as food in that way, haha."
 
  "It's not funny!" Mito protested. "It was really scary...you are still a vampire after all...maybe deep down I think that one day you're going to...eat me."
 
  Ruka's expression took on a more serious tone. "Hmm...well you are my thrall, it's only natural to feel that way. But if it helps at all, I can promise that I'm not going to eat you. After all, we still have a long way to go to make your blood taste sweet and delicious."
 
  "Are you going to eat me then?" Mito whimpered. "When my blood tastes...sweet enough for you?"
 
  "You're in a weird mood today, aren't you?" Ruka smirked. "If you want to know so bad, why don't I just show you how you'll be eaten right now?"
 
  Mito blinked. "Huh?"
 
  The next thing she knew, she gasped as Ruka pushed her back down onto the bed, his arms coiling around her body and embracing her as he swiftly moved to her neck and dragged his tongue across the smooth skin, leaving a trail of saliva behind. Mito let out a squeal at the sensation of Ruka's tongue, and the sight of his fangs. Even though she was back to her normal size, she couldn't help but feel as though she was about to be swallowed up again...
 
  She winced as Ruka's fangs punctured her neck and sank deep into her flesh. She was used to the feeling of his fangs by now. Compared to what she felt in that dream, this was far more pleasurable. It started out as a sharp, brief pain that transitioned to a tingly numbness, as well as a sense of euphoria that washed over her entire body, as though being digested from the inside-out.
 
  Mito felt her warm blood leave her neck in streams, drawn into Ruka's mouth and gulped down with great mirth. He seemed to be enjoying her more than usual this time. Perhaps her fear made her taste better to him? She watched his throat muscles move as he swallowed her blood, like how she was swallowed in her dream. Maybe being eaten wouldn't be so bad...if it was gentle like this. She curiously moved her hand down to Ruka's midsection, gently feeling out his belly as he drank her blood with loud, heavy gulps. Mito could feel his belly slightly pushing out as it filled up with her blood...
 
  Sensing the unusual touches, Ruka extracted his fangs from Mito's neck and pulled away, his face broken out in a reddish blush. "W-what are you doing?! I was trying to be cool, and you're making everything all awkward..."
 
  Embarrassed beyond belief, Mito squealed and threw the sheets over her head. "I-I'm so sorry! I don't know what's gotten into me this morning...I've been thinking about weird things."
 
  Ruka crawled out of bed, stretching and letting out a yawn. "Well, that's my breakfast for today. Come on, we gotta get ready for class. We can talk about your...weird thoughts later." He went off to the bathroom to get dressed, while Mito sat up in bed, too much of a mess to even want to get up. Perhaps that dream wasn't about Mito being afraid of being eaten by Ruka...perhaps it was about the fear of being abandoned by him, being viewed only as food and nothing else, that would one day be consumed and gone forever...but for now, as long as Ruka was here with her, that was all Mito really needed...
 
The End...
May 7th, 2024.