Under the Shadow of His Eyes

Kite Runner was irritated.  Putting it lightly, at least.  Receiving a note from one's boss in the middle of the night was not something that really ruffled his wings.  Especially getting a note saying that one's services are required right now, acting as if a late notice was something to be expected at any time, sleep be damned.

Trudging groggily down the street, he attempted to arrange his mane to look as if he hadn't been asleep ten minutes ago.  He waved to Countermelody, the odd pony who was always sitting in front of her house softly playing whatever instrument had currently drawn her interest.  She gave him a slight nod, not interrupting her music, carefully drawing a mournful song from her violin.

He stopped in front of the wayward human's hotel, checking his reflection in a puddle by the light of the candle that was always lit.  Luckily, his dark-blue mane lay flat, as he usually styled it.  He sighed, turning to slowly walk up to the door and nudge his way inside.

"Oh, good, Kite.  Thank you for coming in this late.  Our latest subject is in 13C, and I doubt he'll be settling in for the night anytime soon."

He stood for a moment, before he blearily recognized he was being spoken to by his employer, Mrs. Ironwood.  "Oh, er, good... evening?"

She chuckled softly.  "Morning's more like it.  Sorry again for the late letter."

Blinking slowly, he replied, "No.. problem, Ma'am.  But why..? Don't we, you know, wait until the next day to introduce humans that come in this late?"

"This is the one that we were supposed to introduce last night. He had a... accident, in a manner of speaking, and I figured it would be better to introduce him as soon as we could.  He's.. a rather interesting human."

Kite grinned.  "Oh, another one of-"

"He's a vampire."

There was only silence.  After a moment, Kite stammered, "B-but... is he safe to be around? How do we know-"

"Don't worry about him.  Once you talk to him a bit, and get him out of his shell, he's actually really friendly.  And I'm certain we can trust him not to cause any trouble.  Princesses Luna and Twilight escorted him here personally, and he seemed to be on fairly good terms with both of them."

No longer thinking he would need coffee, Kite shifted his hooves and flexed one of his wings uneasily.  "What subspecies is he?"

"Unknown.  Not a Tempter, and not an Illusionist.  So that's good." She gestured down the hall.  "Just get in there!  The more you think about how badly he wants to eat you, the harder it's going to be."

He gave Mrs. Ironwood an irritated glare, then sighed,  "Alright, then.  Here goes nothing, I guess."

"Who knows, you might like him."  She winked, giggling at her own joke.

"Yeah, yeah, you're hilarious. I had almost forgotten." He rolled his eyes. Picking up the case file, trotted lightly down the hallway to room 13C.  He knocked on the door, and waited for a moment.  He heard what sounded like "Come in." and the door opened.

Kite walked slowly into the dark room, glancing at the ceiling, the walls, then to the far side of the room, by the window.  There sat a human, with long, wavy, dark hair that was tied back in a loose ponytail.  The only visible part of his face was his circular-rimmed glasses, which dimly reflected the pale moonlight.

He is kind of sexy, just sitting there like that. Kite shook his head.

"Good evening." Said the human.  He stood, and walked slowly over to Kite, who was now staring at him in awe, afraid to move.  He knelt down and extended a hand.  "My name." He reached up and removed his glasses.  "Is Mar."

Now more terrified than ever, Kite simply stared at the human's right eye, which was no more than a socket filled with ethereal shadows and a glowing red iris in the middle.

Mar hastily put his sunglasses back on.  "S-sorry... I forgot about my eye.  I'll just leave these on."  He stood, and walked back to his chair.  He turned back to Kite, who was still standing in the same place.  "Oh, come on. Just relax, already.  I'm not going to eat you, for fuck's sake."

"Oh, er, right. Sorry about that, I've just never met a vampire before, let alone a human vampire. My name is Kite Runner."  Kite trotted over and sat across from Mar.  "Right."  he opened the file, looking over the details.  "So... you've met Countermelody, Princess Twilight, Princess Luna, and that's it.  Correct?"

"Yeah, pretty much.  Didn't get a whole lot out of the unicorn, I didn't speak Equestrian when I met her.  Luna and Twilight already explained a lot about this world."

Kite smiled.  "Good.  I hate sitting here giving humans a long lecture about how Equestria works."  He closed the file.  "Okay! So all you really need to know is that you can stay here for a while, we'll find you a job somewhere in Equestria, it may take longer for you, being a vampire.  And I'm here to talk to you, help you get familiar with how pony society works, and offer to spend the night with you."

"Wait.. what?"

"Well, yeah. A lot of humans have trouble adjusting to life here, and they can't cope with being alone.  So we, the aid workers, rather often stay with them, and keep them company."

"So why did they send me a male pony?"

Kite raised an eyebrow, confused.  "Well, there was the questionnaire you filled out when you got here, and on it, you filled out that you aren't attracted to females."

Mar crossed his legs.  "I don't really have an issue with it, I'm just surprised.  In my world, attraction is legally only between a male and a female."

The pony nodded.  "Yeah, we hear that from a lot of humans.  But here, we realize that when it comes to that, there are no real boundaries."

"That's... that's actually really cool."

"I can't imagine what life would be like if we only realized relationships between a mare and a stallion, actually.  A lot of ponies would be pretty upset."  Kite shifted in his seat, avoiding eye contact with Mar.  "So... how do like Equestria so far?"

"It seems almost too good to be true.  I feel like something's going to come along to remind me that this isn't as whimsical as it seems."

Kite brushed his mane out of his eyes.  "Well, there isn't much left to say but good night.  Would you like me to stay?"

Mar shook his head.  "Nah... I don't sleep at night, and even if I did, I wouldn't ask you sleep with me in that coffin over there."

His wings twitching a bit, Kite looked at the gleaming glasses just a few hooves from his face.  He didn't say he didn't want to...  "Well.. do you want to hang out sometime?"

"You want to do what now?"

"You know, go out somewhere... Not like a date or anything, I mean... just... hang out." Kite said nervously.

"Is 'hang out' a colloquialism or something?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Mar smiled.  "Alright, why not?  How does tomorrow night sound? Right after sunset? Except..." He frowned.  "I don't know of anywhere to go."

"I may know a place.  How about we meet in front of the hotel?"  Kite's expression brightened, his wings extended slightly.

"Sure."  They both stood.  Kite stood on his back legs and gave Mar a brief hug.

"It was nice to meet you. See you tomorrow.~" He left, a slight bounce in his step.

Mar waited until the door was closed before turning around and staring out the window, his crimson eyes glowing through his glasses.  "Well, now, I have a few questions to ask you." He adjusted his glasses. "Shira."

Around the block, Countermelody stopped playing and set aside her violin for a moment.  She turned to the direction of the hotel.  "Well, then."  She smiled, revealing a gleaming fang. "Come on over and ask them, Shadow Hunter."

Mar glided silently across the rooftops, keeping to the shadows in a way that he never would have been able to as a human. He followed the sound of a violin playing, knowing that the only one awake at this hour could be none other than the one he wanted to speak to. A few blocks away, he saw the tree-building amalgamation where the princess lived. Well, as I've been told, there's another pony who may still be awake.

Jumping across an alley, he landed on the roof just above the source of the music.  He crept slowly over to the edge of the roof, and gazed down at Countermelody, who was on the porch, playing what appeared to be a crystal violin.

Her horn glowed momentarily, and Mar felt his hand slip off the roof.  He slipped clumsily off and hit the ground.

"HEY! WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"  He shouted, jumping to his feet.

Countermelody giggled.  "For being a naughty vampire and spying on me, of course."  She set down the violin.  "Well, what are you doing standing out on the street?  Get up here, take a flank. Not mine, of course."

"Take a what now?"  Mar jumped up onto the porch.

"It means sit down.  You know, bend your knees and set your ass on a chair."

Mar shrugged, sitting on one of the inconveniently small chairs.  "I suppose I walked right into that one."

"They always do. Now.  What questions did you want to ask helpless little Countermelody, hmm?"  She batted her eyelashes.

"How did you know I wanted to ask you something?"

Countermelody raised her eyebrows in mock confusion.  "Huh?  Well, that's what you said, isn't it?"  Adjusting a pair of invisible glasses, and glaring madly at the moon.  "Well, now, I have a few questions to ask you, Shira."  She put on a sideways grin.  "Hardly anything in this village escapes my notice. You're no exception."

"Well, I guess that means stealth was out of the question."

"Oh, please. Your aura is about as stealthy as a club in downtown Manehattan if someone set the building on fire and started shooting flares out of it, and kept the music going. Which has actually happened." She blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Now seriously.  Your damn questions already." She pulled out two cigars, and offered one to Mar.

Taking the cigar, and lighting it with a small burst of magic, he said, "Might as well get the difficult questions out of the way. I heard about the war, and what you did. I also know you didn't explain exactly what happened.  Care to tell me?"

Countermelody's expression turned sour.  "Well, as you may have guessed, it's not something I like to talk about. Let's just say, a vampire in a blood rage is extremely dangerous.  And, given the correct circumstances, and a certain amount of power, which I gained from killing that fucking dragon, a blood rage can be extremely catastrophic. I'm not proud of what happened.  I wish I had never become a vampire, never met that dragon, never slaughtered all of those griffons." She took a long, deliberate puff.  "The Burning Scourge is less of a title, and more of a brand, signifying that at one point, I lost control, and others paid for it."

"Alright. I guess that's a good enough answer. I won't press it. So why do you do what you do now?"

She raised an eyebrow.  "What? Live in peace? Only hunt monsters? Not offer my service to royalty?  Believe me, being a warrior was very fulfilling.  But now... when there is no opponent left who could possibly match me, battle becomes a massacre. A massacre that leaves behind families, lovers, and friends with nothing but sadness and hatred.  I'd prefer not to kill at all. But you know how it is to be a vampire." Her eyes glowed softly.  "We have to kill. It is our nature, our way of existence."

"I haven't."

"Not yet you haven't, but you will. Vampires as a species have enemies."

"But, as long as I don't hunt ponies or cause trouble-"

"You won't be attacked? You think that, just because you're protected under the law, you're safe? Did living peacefully protect vampires from you?" She turned quickly to stare at him, the cigar hanging loosely off her lips.

Mar didn't answer.  He sighed, bowing his head. Flicking off the ash from his cigar, he said, "No. I suppose it didn't."

"Hey, don't worry about it.  Vampire hunters will come, offer their heads to you, so to speak, and you'll have a steady supply of food and easily obtained abilities as long as you don't hide yourself."

"And what if they manage to kill me?"

Countermelody snorted. "Kill you?  How?  You used to be a vampire hunter as well, so you know how to kill vampires, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"So I wouldn't doubt you know how to not get killed as a vampire, right? And besides, you have vampiric powers that rival those of adult vampires, not to mention your freaky knowledge of magic. I saw you light that cigar. And I felt those shadow spells you cast to hide yourself coming here. They almost managed to conceal that obvious-as-all-hell aura of yours."

Mar shrugged.  "I suppose I'll take your word for it." He pushed his glasses farther up his nose. "What can you tell me about Kite Runner?"

"What's this?  You've already got yourself a date?"  Countermelody snickered.

"W-what?!  No! He just asked me to er.. hang out, was it? Hang out, tomorrow night!"

"And you really thought it was just hanging out?"  Her grin widened.

"Well, obviously..."

"Gods above, you're so imperceptive. In case you somehow hadn't noticed, that one plays for the same team."

"Plays for...?"

"Shit, man, do you even know what an idiom is?  It means he's a Coltcuddler. You know, gay, a homosexual, a man's man, or in this case, a stallion's stallion, nonpolar, a-"

"Okay, okay, I get it. And no, I hadn't noticed. Although, I guess having a straight stallion offer to be an overnight comforter would be asking a bit much of your employees."

"Yeeup it would.  So yeah.  You have a date. But damn, he's hot!  Especially when he's done flying, or practicing with one of those kites, and he's all sweaty..." Her eyes glazed over.  "I'd like to fuck the blue out of his adorable mane."

"Umm... Countermelody?"  Mar flicked away the butt of the cigar.

"Oh, right.  He's yours now. I almost forgot.  But you know, if you're ever up for a threesome, I can always take the form of another stallion."

"Hell's motherfucking Boundaries, Countermelody! I'm not in a relationship with him! I wasn't even aware it was a date until you just told me!"

"Damn right." She said. "But, in case you two do start going steady, that option's as open as my sexual preference."

"What is it with you and sex?"

"You try having the body of a nineteen year old for fifty years.  Shit starts to happen."  Her eyes widened.  "Oh yeah, before I forget, there's a group of four ponies and one human, approaching the town from the east.  Judging by the fact that they have guns and silver blades with them, not to mention black motherfucking trench coats, kinda hot if you ask me, they're probably vampire hunters, coming here to find you and kill you.  I recommend dispatching them before they enter the town."

Mar stared.  "And you just barely decided to tell me this?!" He growled.

"Well, to be fair, they've only been within my range of detection for about a minute."

Mar jumped off of the porch.  "Hell's motherfucking Boundaries, woman!" He shouted back as he ran east.

Countermelody chuckled.  "Well, this will be interesting.  I really hope I don't have to intervene."  Her ears perked up, and she turned toward a house down the street.  She grimaced.  "Ugh... maybe knowing everything that happens around here isn't such a good thing..."  She narrowed her eyes at the pony in the house, who continued his activities, not knowing he was being observed.  "Oh, come on, that's just nasty."