In the middle of the night, I woke up, struggling to breathe, only to find myself bound tight, wound round and round with rope. My head was pounding, and my body was numb. Was it food poisoning or something? I had been laid out on the stone pavement of the shrine precincts, and the children were looking down at me.
“What’s the meaning of this…” My voice was raspy and barely came out.
Illuminated by the flickering flames of the bonfires, the children were smirking. “What a haul today. We caught two adult humans.”
“What do you intend to do with me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Eat you.”
“What?”
“If you devour the living liver of a human and sip their living blood, you become immortal. That’s why we stay children forever.” The oldest-looking child, wielding a hatchet, squatted down and peered into my face with a nasty, unchildlike grin. Looking closely, although he appeared to be a child, his face seemed covered in countless fine wrinkles.
“Are you… vampires?”
“Hmm. I wonder. Some among our race might be called that by the outside world.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“Yes. But don’t worry. It’ll be over quickly. Don’t make trouble by struggling. The longer it takes, the more you’ll suffer. Hey, bring the other one out.” The children who seemed to be subordinates tried to open the doors of the shrine. I see. That journalist must also be tied up with rope, drugged just like me, and shut away inside there.
As soon as the doors opened, a succession of piercing, explosive bangs rang out—bang, bang—and sparks flew. The children who had put their hands on the doors tumbled down from the shrine. That man is standing inside the shrine. It’s too dark to see clearly, but he seems to be holding a handgun. Another bang sounded, and right before my eyes, blood geysered from the brow of the child who had raised the hatchet, and he collapsed. The man fired again and again, and in an instant, he had shot all the children dead. The smell of blood and gunsmoke filled the air.