A constellation of tiny, white light bulbs hung over Keiko’s head. They spelled ‘CARMILLA’S’ in katakana on an old billboard with a collage of beautiful women’s faces. She unwrapped her bow and quiver from her drawstring bag.

Rin slid her thumb over her katana’s hilt with a wry grin. “Found you.”

The streets around Carmilla's, located near the ancient, white-walled Nichijou Castle were practically empty, probably due to the kabuki festival at the temple. A breeze played sweet melodies on the chimes outside of a house, and filled some carp-shaped windsocks left up after Children’s Day. Keiko wondered why the city allowed a brothel to run out of such a pleasant part of town.

She leaned over beside her sister’s ear. “Let’s secure the kill and get out.”

Rin nodded. "Get an arrow nocked."

Keiko became Rising Dragon, inhaled and went through the motions in her mind’s eye: “Nock the arrow. Raise the bow. Draw it back and find your anchor point. There it is. Lower the bow and exhale, relax. Don’t be afraid. Be strong for both of you.”

“Ready when you are,” she whispered to her sister, who placed both hands on the brothel’s front, sliding doors. There would be no negotiation, only bloodshed. Civility was too dangerous and the twins’ element of surprise would only favor them in these critical, next few seconds.

Rin whipped the doors open, revealing a dingy, heavily perfumed lobby. At the front desk, a middle-aged, gray-haired, Caucasian woman in a frilly ball gown stood. She gritted her sharp canine teeth and glared at them with emerald green eyes with dilated pupils. Definitely a vampire. Two burly bodyguards stood on either side of her, wearing neatly-pressed, forest green kimonos with white tassels. One looked up from his newspaper while the other stopped ogling one of the sex workers and turned to the door. Their canines were as sharp as their boss lady’s.

The white vampiress’ eyes bulged and she pointed at the twins. “Get them!”

Keiko loosed her shot. The arrow flew straight and true from the longbow’s drawstring and hit the woman’s chest. The woman clutched at the arrow with her bony hands, hissed like a cat, and collapsed on the front desk.

One of the bouncers turned to his fallen boss. “Miss Carmilla!”

Had this man trained at the Kiryuu Dojo, Keiko’s father would’ve taught him to focus only on the opponent in front of him. Keiko aimed for the spot where the two folds of his kimono formed a V, and stuck in his heart with another shot. Blood gurgled through clenched, yellow teeth as he lost his footing and fell face first onto the floorboards. The other bouncer, katana drawn, charged like a taunted bull towards Keiko. She turned to evade his attack, knowing Rin had her back. Before the big vampire got too close, little sister slipped out from the side and swung her katana in an upwards arc. The edge of her blade snuck inside the bouncer’s guard and opened him diagonally from navel to armpit. His intestines spilled out of his abdomen and his huge sword fell from his hands, the heavy, steel hilt hitting the floor with a cla-a-a-ang. The mountain of a vampire went limp and fell backwards, shaking the room with a thunderous crash onto the hardwood floor.

The twins walked towards the bedroom hallway, weapons at the ready in case the building had any more security personnel. A naked, skinny sex worker, not Sakura, peeked out of her room and saw blood on Rin’s blade. Her eyes, painted to look like a geisha’s, darted to the crumpled bodies of the giants in the lobby. They were human eyes. She screeched like a banshee, retreated, and slammed her shoji divider shut.

“Don’t just sit there! Help!” the prostitute barked at her client, her voice shrill and cracking. Through the paper over the divider, furniture scraped along cheap tatami.

Rin cocked her head in the direction of the entrance, where the white woman groaned, still alive apparently.

Rin scrunched her eyes closed and shook her head. “I’ll finish the woman. You get the two in the bedroom.”

“Let’s just leave them,” Keiko whispered.

Rin’s hand sliced at her neck. “Too dangerous.”

Appearing as silhouettes on the translucent paper of the divider, the couple heaved at a big block, likely a wardrobe. Keiko went into her shooting stance, nocked another arrow, and sent it sailing through the paper. The wardrobe tipped over and slammed through the divider.

Keiko pictured her sister’s angry "you missed on purpose" face, which she’d be receiving later and climbed over the wardrobe, into the room. The whore sat on the floor beneath the arrow stuck in the wall. Her teeth chattered together and a stream of urine tricked from her hairy nethers and puddled on the scraped-up tatami.

Keiko’s shoulders relaxed. "Aren't you house-trained?"

"Don't kill me! I don't wanna die!" the whore whimpered.

The young man, a pampered prince type, retreated to the back wall. He was as terrified as the prostitute, though his dick remained fully erect. No fangs nor dilated pupils. Another human. She put another arrow on her drawstring, pulling it back far enough so the fuckers could hear the bow’s tension.

“Don’t move, or I’ll kill both of you,” Keiko warned, pointing the longbow at both of them.

“Yes, ma’am,” the young man squeaked.

The sex worker trembled and sobbed, smearing her paint terribly. “I’ll do whatever, you say! Please, don’t kill me!”

“You’re noisy, shut up,” Keiko ordered, then turned to the prince. “Put that dirty thing away.”

“But you said don’t move…”

“Just do it already.”

With haste, the whimpering man stuffed his penis back into his robe, though the nasty thing disobediently tried to poke through.

Keiko faced the faux geisha, who yipped like a scared puppy. "Tell me where Sakura is."

"Door 19, upstairs and at the end of the hall! Spare me, I'm begging you!"

Keiko took a step back onto the wardrobe. "Don't you dare leave this room."

"We won't! We swear it!" the young man shouted.

"And keep your damn voices down."

Keiko returned to her sister, who still looked to be in a foul mood. Rin leaned against the hallway wall and cleaned blood from her katana with a handkerchief. “I’ve been listening. Proud of yourself?”

"Yeah," replied Keiko, “I found the target’s location, didn’t I?”

Rin slugged Keiko’s shoulder. “You’re too soft-hearted. Your kindness is going to get us killed.”

Keiko bit her lip. Rin’s criticisms were becoming more testy and less constructive with each mission, or perhaps Keiko’s tolerance of them was thinning. Keiko killed monsters. She didn’t want to become one.