Alone again, he looked at his watch. It was 12:32 a.m.—the prime time to grab a drink, considering many of the guests had adjoined to another room to refill their cocaine bumps and various prescription pills. At the bar, Raiden ordered Jack on the Rocks from the plastic-breasted Barbie bartender. She was giving him the eye, but he did not bother to meet her gaze. Instead, he focused on the tanned flesh of her neck, smooth and indubitably soft. He wanted her, but not for sex. He imagined her long limbs writhing beneath him, her screams climbing higher and higher as his fangs sank lower and lower into her flesh, until they were flush against her esophagus.
Unconsciously, he licked his lips. The bartender tipped him a lewd wink as she set down the Jack, then leaned forward to accentuate her practically illegal cleavage. Raiden wondered if he could pop her implants with just one of his fangs, or if he would need to use them both to get the job done. Throwing down some money, he grabbed his drink and hurriedly left the bar before he could give further thought to conducting that tempting experiment.
He discovered an empty, unlit corner table away from the dance floor. It seemed like a sensible hiding place. He figured he could leave in half an hour without feeling like he had let Taro down. It was true that Baza was otherwise occupied. Hopefully, he would stay that way until Raiden could make his escape.
As he sank into the chair’s velvet upholstery, he closed his eyes in relief. He flipped open a pack of cigarettes with the casual air of a lifelong smoker and set his drink down on the table. Producing a lighter from the inside pocket of his jacket, he settled his lips around a cigarette and prepared to inhale. Seconds later, the sharp scent of tobacco assaulted his senses, momentarily drowning the insistent call of blood.
* * *
A glint of light caught Gabriel’s attention. The tiny flame illuminated a pale, angelic face. With a drunken gasp, he recognized Raiden. Too ecstatic to contemplate how he had missed the singer’s arrival, he floated toward the burning cigarette, its orange glow beckoning him like the promise of sunset. His nerves were tightly wound, but he would not allow anxiety to sabotage his chances of success. He would not cower during this crucial moment.
Hastily, he checked his reflection in the emergency pocket mirror he kept and smoothed his hair until he was satisfied with his appearance. Stashing the mirror, Gabriel steeled his nerves and slipped on his shades. He advanced upon Raiden’s lone figure. There would be no turning back.
* * *
As he chain-smoked and sipped his fresh whiskey, Raiden’s musings inevitably returned to Naomi. No matter how hard he tried, he had not yet been able to eradicate her memory from his mind. She was always there—especially in moments of intense hunger and sadness. Years had passed since her death, but his preoccupation with her was hard to shake—especially since she was his first love.
Naomi entered his life when he was twenty, mere months before Scent came to fame. He was in the Tsuruma Central Library, looking for books on how to break into the music industry. On his way to the circulation desk, he happened to glance over at the computer area. One of the seated girls instantly caught his attention. She was Caucasian, which alone was enough to stop him in his tracks. It was rather uncommon to see someone of a different race in Nagoya.
More than her race, Raiden noticed her incomparable beauty. Slender, white-blonde, and pale, she looked every bit the bright angel he had always hoped to meet. He stood staring for a few seconds before she looked up. Clear gray eyes assessed him for a moment before returning to the screen. Raiden’s gaze fell to her breasts. They were of superlative size and shape: a decent handful—more than enough for a mouthful.
Flushing, Raiden proceeded to the desk to check out his books. As he walked toward the exit, he felt the urge to turn around. She was staring at him. His feet moved in her direction. Adrenaline made his heart beat faster. As he sat down next to her, his mind was blank. She looked at him expectantly. He smiled, and she smiled back.
“I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind a conversation,” he said in Japanese.
“What kind of conversation?” A smile was in her voice. Despite her fairly accurate pronunciation of Raiden’s native language, her American accent was unmistakable.
Leaning forward, he whispered, “Actually, I need to brush up on my English. I’m out of practice. It’s been months since I’ve been in the US.”
She looked around self-consciously at the library patrons seated nearby. “Maybe we should go somewhere else. I don’t want to disturb anyone.”
“No worries.” Grinning from ear-to-ear, Raiden ushered the beautiful girl to a less populated study area. He found a free couch and took a seat.
She hesitated before sitting next to him. “I don’t normally do this. Talk to random guys, I mean.”
“That makes two of us.” Raiden winked.
He learned that Naomi was an only child from New York, an army brat whose dad was currently stationed in Nagoya. Now twenty years old, she had lived with her father and stepmother on the outskirts of the city since senior year of high school. With no real plans to go back to the States anytime soon, Naomi had taken a job as an English language teacher at a school in Ichinomiya, a town about a half-hour commute to and from Nagoya. She was also an accomplished violinist (which Raiden thought was sexy as hell). Talking to her was fun and easy—by the end of their conversation, Raiden felt confident enough to ask for her phone number. Blushing, she immediately gave it to him. He managed to wait until later that night to call her, even though he had wanted to ask her out since the moment she first smiled at him.
Three dates later, Raiden finally kissed her. They were walking in a park, laughing about a particularly melodramatic scene in a dorama they had watched on channel NHK earlier that morning.
“The way she fell down the stairs was so fake!” Naomi held her stomach to suppress her giggles.
Raiden wished he could trade places with her hands so that he could touch her there.
“Right? I wonder how much those actors get paid.”
There was a pause in the conversation. They looked at each other and simultaneously said, “Too much!”
Sakura blossoms softly floated to the ground as they walked. The late-March sky was a deep, cloudless blue. Looking around, Raiden noticed that no one else was in sight. He thought maybe it was just the right moment to kiss her. As he closed the distance between them, it seemed his heart would explode inside his chest. Naomi’s lips were soft. Her mouth tasted better than he had ever imagined. They shared a series of slow, deep kisses before a group of curious schoolchildren stumbled upon them. Making a quick getaway, they dodged through the blossoms: blushing, giggling, exhilarated. Falling in love.
No one knew about their relationship—not even Taro. Raiden preferred to keep his private life under wraps. He and Naomi were careful about not getting caught together. The secrecy was almost as tantalizing as their whirlwind romance. Often, they would meet in remote locations, reveling in the clandestine nature of their affair. After over a year of serious dating, Raiden popped the question. Naomi instantly accepted. Scent’s meteoric rise to fame, however, forced them to halt their wedding plans. They decided not to publicize their relationship until they had time to adjust to Raiden’s newfound stardom.
Time passed swiftly. It grew harder to hide their romance. After Scent’s first album went platinum, and the second album similarly rose to the top of the charts, Naomi managed to convince Raiden to score her a job as an assistant on his band’s staff for their first LA gig. They now had a legitimate excuse to interact; they could avoid arousing suspicion. Upon their return to Japan, Raiden and Naomi planned to officially come out as an engaged couple and immediately start planning their wedding.
Raiden knocked back the rest of his whiskey. Loving Naomi had been simple, instantaneous—as natural and uncomplicated as breathing. Raiden had dreamed of spending a lifetime with her. Now he suffered an endless deluge of nightmares for causing her death. Lover turned murderer.
He supposed the punishment fit the crime.
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