Bloodstained Reflections [Saber & Raina Reader]

[Raina Reader]

Tasha Lumen was seated at her desk, clutching a mug of coffee in one hand as she peered into her laptop screen, lazily browsing twitter through heavy-lidded eyes as she waited for her coffee to do its magic when a sound erupted from behind her laptop. Bzzzt "Erhm, Tasha, your Nine o'clock is here." A nasally voice called over the intercom, startling the woman as she nearly spilled her mug of half-drunken coffee into her laptop keyboard. Shit. Tasha steadied her mug in her hand before setting it carefully upon her dark oak desk. Was it really 9 already? The woman glanced at the corner of her computer screen, noting that the time was in fact 8:49 AM, she could only shake her head in annoyance. The only thing worse than a late client was an early one.

Dr. Lumen was a therapist working out of LA, who obtained her doctorate in psychology at the age of 27. She couldn't write prescriptions or work as a medical doctor, but she had the title, which is what truly mattered to her anyway. Now at the age of 31, not only did she have her own practice, but she made a killing off of high-end clients who appreciated her for her discretion and her young, feminine appearance. She had lucked out three years ago when a well-known celebrity walked into her office in desperate need of therapy and advice on how to kick a dangerous drug habit without anyone else knowing about it. Being her first major client, she did her best to work with them and support them all while being discrete, even going so far as to make house calls to assist them in their detox. After that, word of mouth spread amongst the Hollywood elite all thanks to her grateful client. Now she was the go-to therapist for the influential, working out of her spacious, well-furnished office, which wasn't near big enough for her now bloated ego.

Who was it again? Tasha thought bitterly as she tabbed onto her work schedule in google docs. "Mio Kinoshita...?" She said aloud as she attempted to recognize the name, but nothing was coming to her. "Great, now I get to spend my morning dealing with a nobody who probably has daddy issues no doubt." Whoever this Mio was, obviously she could afford her embarrassingly high rates, which went up for every celebrity client she acquired. The celebrities were fantastic, she loved secrets, even if she couldn't tell anyone. Knowing all of these famous people made her feel special and powerful. It also granted her many special privileges within Hollywood, of which she took advantage of any chance she got, which was probably why she was hungover this morning. The fact that this Mio Kinoshita was someone she had never heard of, left her bitter and irritable.

"Alright, send her in."

Tasha lifted her finger from the intercom, rising from her desk as she closed her laptop. She was dressed in a soft, long-sleeve black turtleneck, and black jeans, her long bangs, parted in the center, framing her delicate, youthful features as they draped over her shoulders. She turned toward the door across the room from her desk, light pouring in from the large open windows behind her. A large, comfortable black couch along with a matching padded chair was set in the center of the room. Stepping in between them gingerly upon the thick, white wooly rug placed underneath them, her shoeless feet, covered only in simple black socks, appreciated the softness as opposed to the hard laminate flooring in the rest of the office. She glanced over at the door, double-checking that it was partially ajar before sitting down in the comfortable black chair across from the couch, placing a pen and notepad in her lap as she heard movement outside the door.

"Come in, take a seat on the couch, let's begin! She said sharply, before even seeing the person. She wore her irritation on her sleeve, clearly wanting to get this hour over with.

 

[Saber]

It was anxiety. It had to be. That's what Mio kept telling herself as she sat in a chair in the lobby of her new therapist's office. She was the only one there and the clacking of the receptionist's keyboard echoing in the surreal silence of the morning was causing her leg to bounce. Her arms were folded around her waist in a measly attempt to calm herself as her eyes bounced back and forth to the pristine, white marble floors, to the abstract paintings that were hung on the wall. Mio had seen therapists before when she was in high school for small things. Sometimes she studied too hard and would go a whole day without eating. Sometimes she wouldn't sleep. In her mind, those were normal things that came with being her absolute academic best, though her parents thought otherwise. What had they diagnosed her with? Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? She honestly couldn't remember anymore.

Regardless, now that she was in her top pick of universities in LA, funds were low and stakes were high to be at the top of her academic game. She worked a part time job on the weekends for a little extra money to spend, but it usually went to food and nothing else. So when a friend of the family called on her twenty first birthday, as they did every year, she may have been a little inebriated and spilled all of her anxieties and concerns to them. She didn't remember most of the conversation, honestly. Mio just knew that this friend of the family who would send her the random card in the mail and phone call maybe twice a year, had a lot of money and wasn't apprehensive about spending it on her. It was odd at first, receiving money from someone she'd never met in person, but they seemed kind enough over the phone and insisted that she wanted to help. So why not? It's not like she was taking advantage of this mysterious benefactor. If anything, she was fulfilling her wish.

"Mio?" The young woman visibly flinched when the receptionist called her name and she had, at some point, began gnawing on her thumb nail. "Dr. Lumen will see you now."

"Th-thank you." Mio muttered as she gathered her shoulder bag and scurried in the direction the receptionist had pointed. The door was heavy when she opened it and she peeked in before completely entering, the door slowly swinging shut behind her.

"Come in, take a seat on the couch, let's begin!"

Mio flinched again at the sharp tone in the therapists voice. She swallowed hard as she did as directed, setting her bag down next to her as she examined the woman sitting in the chair across from her. The doctor looked young, appearing not much older than Mio herself, but that couldn't be. Mio knew the program for psychology and it wasn't short. The woman was dressed simply, but it was classy and a bit intimidating compared to her own outfit which just consisted of a plain white t-shirt and some blue jeans. The office was exorbitant to say the least. One whole wall was large pane windows and Mio was captivated by the view.

A moment later and she snapped out of her awe, remembering what she was there for and clearing her throat lightly before folding her hands neatly in her lap. She'd never been to a therapist whose office, or appearance, looked like this. She had done some minor research on Tasha Lumen before she'd agreed to the appointment. She knew that she was a "therapist for the stars" and her clientele consisted of some well known names in Hollywood, so why had she agreed to come here again?

You get what you pay for.

That's what her patron had said on the phone when Mio had tried to argue about the high profile therapist. Usually that was true, but in LA? Everything was clouded with something, whether it be greed or power, the more money you spent didn't necessarily mean you'd get the best quality. That seemed a bit apparent now that Mio was reading into Dr. Lumen's body language and her biting tone. Still, maybe she was just overthinking things. Add that to the list of what was fueling her anxiety.

"So," Mio cleared her throat again. "I have been dealing with some anxiety, a lot actually this past semester."

 

[Raina Reader]

Tasha's gaze lingered on the young woman as she waited for her to say something--anything at all, apart from sitting fidgety across from her on the expensive sofa. Finally when the girl did speak, a soft sound left Tasha's lips, sounding something akin to Hm, only she exhaled when she made the sound, resembling more of a huff than any kind of epiphany.

"What are you? High school?" She scribbled something on her notepad while shaking her head, tsking under her breath as if judging the nervous girl. In truth, she had been judging her since she first read her name on her schedule. This girl was a nobody, some spoiled rich girl who didn't understand the true stresses of life, and so when things became a little too hard, the privileged girl broke under pressure. Clearly, that's what it was, simple anxiety, atleast that's how Tasha saw it. What made it all the more frustrating was, that she had to somehow stretch this out for a full hour in order to get her money, despite the answer being so obvious, or so she thought.

"If you're looking to score some Ativan you can forget." The therapist added in her sharp, annoyed tone. "Something you learn as you get older is that you have to actually work to succeed at anything. It can be hard, and stressful. It took me 7 years to get the sufficient schooling to be where I am today. Do you think I whined to others about being stressed out or anxious?" It was perhaps, a little unprofessional to say what she had said, but she was hungover and her patience for this trust fund kid had been at zero since before the appointment began.

Tasha paused for a moment, furrowing her brow as she contemplated what she had just said to the girl. She glanced down to her watch, and upon realizing there were still 55 minutes left of this appointment to go, she attempted to backpedal a bit "Why don't you tell me what some of the triggers are for your anxiety? How much sleep are you getting a night? How many hours are you putting into your schooling in a day? How many hours of leisure time? Do you have a boyfriend? " She continued to rattle off a list of generic potential stressors as if reading them from a book while focusing on the girls expression.

 

[Saber]

High school? Whining? Mio tried to control her facial features at the flippant observation, but it was really, really difficult. Being of Japanese descent, she knew she could be mistaken for being younger, but high school? Even though Mio had a quiet, seemingly demure disposition, deep down she held the inferno of a woman who had been trained to hold her tongue practically all of her life. So she quarreled with her own body when her muscles in her face threatened to twitch. Had her eyebrow raised? She hoped not. The audacity of this therapist. Mio closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled slowly through her nose, trying so desperately to find her happy place, before exhaling with a soft hum.

"The last thing I'm looking for is medication, Dr. Lumen." Mio answered after what seemed like hours of trying to calm her agitated second-to-last nerve. She glanced down at the pad of paper and then back up to the listless therapist. "I work very hard for everything I have achieved in my life and I'm the top of my class at UCLA. I made the Dean's List my freshman year." Why was her voice shaking? This was beyond frustrating. Why did she have to prove herself to her therapist? Wasn't she supposed to be making her less anxious?

There was an awkward pause and Mio studied Dr. Lumen's expression, watching it shift from exasperation to indifference before she started rapid firing questions. The young woman wanted to voice her frustration, but her tongue couldn't keep up with her thoughts and she fumbled with her words for a moment when she tried to answer all the doctor's questions.

"Triggers?" Mio had heard the word before, but not in this context. Did she even have triggers for her anxiety? She had always thought it was a severed connection in her brain that had always been there. "I-I don't really...I'm not sure. Since I've started university I've only been averaging maybe four hours of sleep a night, but I'm taking twenty credit hours per semester so I have to push myself. I don't really have too many friends other than my roommates and on the weekends I work as a waitress." She paused for a moment and furrowed her brow slightly when repeating the question about a boyfriend in her mind. Was that really relevant? "N-no. I don't have a significant other. I don't have time for one."

Was this part of the process? Was Dr. Lumen just trying to jumble her mind so much that Mio would break and just have a meltdown? Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, it could have made sense. Maybe the therapist wanted a raw demonstration of what Mio was really experiencing. The rational part of her brain, however, just thought that Dr. Lumen was being a bully for absolutely no reason. Again, Mio tried to calm herself with a couple deep breaths before speaking again.

"Look," Mio looked Dr. Lumen dead in the eyes and tried her best not to waver under her slightly aggressive gaze. "I just need some advice on how to handle my anxiety while still being able to function as a student without the use of drugs preferably, unless you deem it absolutely necessary."

 

[Raina Reader]

If anyone should know not to make assumptions about one's age, it would be Tasha, after all until her practice became successful, not many took her seriously, whether it was due to her race or how youthful she looked, she was disregarded as a silly little girl, it wasn't until she had esteem that people began to look past that, even then, it still happened from time to time, and yet here she was doing the exact same thing to Mio.

"Well, that's good, because, as I said I couldn't prescribe you any. If drugs are what you're after, I can refer you to a psychiatrist." She added matter of factly, ignoring most of what Mio had said. "UCLA?" She turned her head at the mention of this, almost taken by surprise that the girl was of college-age. "Look, the pressures of college are hard, I've been there."

She paused, leaning back, returning an incredulous expression as the girl inquired about triggers. "Listen, you study a lot, you work on weekends, it sounds like you're not having enough fun, you need to cut loose, that's your problem. You don't need pills, and quite frankly, you don't need me." She added dismissively as she put her pad down in her lap, there was almost a finality to it as she set down her pen as well, as if she had decided she was done with this appointment despite barely beginning.

"I'm going, to be frank with you, Miss Kinoshita. When you get stressed out and have these anxiety attacks, you're doing yourself no favors by dwelling on it. Practicing mindfulness can help, take breaks, do something fun once in a while, surely you have hobbies besides work and school?"

There was actually some truth to what she was saying, especially about mindfulness, however, her dismissive attitude and refusal to elaborate did the girl no favors. Instead of taking the time to discuss her anxieties and teach her what mindfulness was and how to use it, she glossed over it. Everything from her behavior, her expression, and body language within her expensive, leather chair suggested she wanted to get this appointment over as fast as possible.

 

[Saber]

The crushing pressure that Mio was straining on her jaw would have been agonizing if she hadn't been so vehemently infuriated. Mio sat there silently, hearing what the therapist was speaking to her, but not listening to a word she had said. Dr. Lumen was treating her like she had no knowledge of mental health at all. If she could've coped on her own, she wouldn't be here. Had the woman not heard a thing she'd said? The years of having to be perfect, and not for her parents or anyone else, but for herself. She needed to prove to herself that she could be her indisputable and absolute best at whatever she applied her knowledge or skill to. At this point, this therapist had become a hinderance to her. A roadblock. If Dr. Lumen wasn't going to help, what was the point of her patron wasting her money?

"Did you have fun in your university years?" Mio couldn't quell the question before it escaped her lips. Her eyes narrowed barely, not wanting to give too much away with her body language, though, she was sure that Dr. Lumen could tell she was over this session, as well as any boundaries between them. "Was having fun how you only decided on becoming a therapist instead of a psychiatrist?" Mio huffed audibly before standing, hefting her bag over her shoulder and flipping her hair. "I can see I'm not going to be getting any sort of useful help from you. So I'm just going to stop wasting both of our time and leave."

Mio didn't wait for a response from the therapist as she moved to the door and whipped it open, ignoring the minor strain on her shoulder from the heaviness of the door. She heard the receptionist say something to her as she walked past and out of the office, but she was too busy focusing on getting out. When she was in the hallway of the building, she made her way to the elevator and practically punched the down button. Her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at the red digital numbers count down that were above the elevator doors. When it reached her floor, she heard the familiar ding of the doors opening and she was thankful to see no one else was in there. When the doors closed she rifled through her bag and pulled out her phone. It was easy to find the familiar, unsaved number in her recent calls and she tapped it, bringing the phone to her ear as it began to ring.

---

Time was a capricious phenomenon. Though most people would agree that time was something they never had enough of. Never enough time to do the things they needed during the day, never enough time to finish the things they had planned in their very short, limited life. Was there ever enough time for anything or anyone? The definite and unequivocal answer to most humans would be, no. Though in this world, humans weren't the only beings that experienced time.

The flow and ebb of time was something that swerved and twisted back and forth for Rei Kinoshita. Her earliest memory was when she was four years old, the first time she'd held her father's wakizashi, and even though it had been a short sword, her childish arms weren't strong enough to hold it upright. The blade had fallen back and hit the top of of her forehead. She had been scolded that day, lectured on how being strong was the only way to thrive and make something of herself. To make up for not being born a man.

If only her father could see her now. See the empire she had built around herself a millennium after he had been slain in the civil war. Centuries after she had been reborn as a vampire, which had helped her experience life without any limitations. There wasn't anything in the human world that could touch her, or even come close without bending to her magnificence and offering their life, their existence to her. Even now, a touch over a thousand years old, Rei's lust for life was still insatiable. Not only the pleasures it brought to her, but for the darkness, the pain that would remind her of her past and the pain she could cause to others. She embraced everything about life in the fullest. It's what kept her going all these years that seemed to melt together since she had nothing else in her immeasurable life that she really cared about. Except one.

At one point in her human life, she'd had the inescapable urge to carry on her family legacy, when her mind was still constrained to the prison of being conventional. At the age of twenty, four years before she'd been chosen, she had given birth to a perfect baby girl and at that moment, she was everything. Her Ayaka. The man who had fathered her daughter wasn't anything special, but he'd been handsome with a strong family, all the things that mattered in that time. When Rei had been captured and turned by her master, all assumed she had been murdered for her family fortune and no one pursued or thought much of it after. They ignored the slew of bodies that showed up around the city the following year until Rei got her bloodlust under control.

You must never show yourself to your family. That's what she'd been told by her maker. They don't have the capacity to understand what you are. How could she argue against her ancient life giver when she'd done so much for her? So she kept her distance. Watching her daughter grow and start her own family; and her children and their children; until her umpteenth grandson finally left Japan to start a new life in the United States.

Rei had really tried not to contact her descendants, and she had done an acceptable job over the centuries, but her great (add a few greats) grand daughter now looked so much like Ayaka. She couldn't help but take advantage of the technology of the time to insert herself into her life. It was just letters at first. Letters to Mio's parents explaining that she was an old family friend and expressing that she wanted to help them in any way she could. So she paid for tutors, books, vehicles, whatever could make their lives easier. Letters soon turned into phone calls when Mio was old enough to speak in complete sentences, of course she kept the calls limited to special events like birthdays and her high school graduation. Recently she had helped Mio find a therapist to help with her anxiety. She had done her research, paid the woman before hand in full to make sure that Mio had been taken care of.

Not once had Mio ever reached out to Rei on her own accord over the years. So when the mobile phone rang while Rei was sitting in her den, enjoying the drabness of the grey clouds that shrouded the sky and threatened rain, she didn't think much of it. Her maid appeared by her side a moment later with her phone and offered it to her with her head bowed.

"It's Miss Mio, ma'am." The maid was young, maybe in her twenties and was new to the mansion. Rei had yet to learn her name, not that she really made a habit of doing so in the traditional way.

"Mio?" Rei repeated, a bit shocked as she took the phone and tapped the screen. "Is something wrong?" She asked calmly, though her brow had knit together in concern and she sat forward a bit in her chair.

"That therapist was a quack." Mio's voice squeaked a bit as she started to vent. "She just kept telling me that I had anxiety and I studied too much. I need to get out and have fun. I thought she was going to help me get to the root of my issues, but all she did was act like I was nothing other than a spoiled child!"

"Wait, wait," Rei couldn't help but chuckle a little at how flustered her great grand daughter sounded. "Slow down and tell me everything." Mio took a few deep breaths over the phone and started to recount the conversation that had been exchanged between herself and Dr. Lumen. Rei's eyes narrowed slightly as she hummed and she sat back in her chair, snapping her fingers. She was irritated. The maid moved to kneel in front of Rei, unbuttoning the top three buttons of her black dress shirt.

"I'm sorry I left the session early." Mio lamented, her tone a bit calmer now that she'd gotten her frustrations off her chest. "I-I'll pay you back as soon as I have some extra cash."

"Don't worry about it." Rei said as she sat forward in the chair again, her eyes shimmering dimly with a deep crimson hue. "I will have a conversation with Dr. Lumen and we will get things straightened out."

"Really? You don't have to." Mio replied and Rei sighed softly as she examined the maid's neck, her heartbeat thrumming faster than before.

"I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding." Rei answered as she brought a hand up to brush the woman's hair over her shoulder. "I promise, I will take care of it." Without saying goodbye, Rei hung up the phone and set it on the table next to her chair. She inhaled slowly, looking down at the maid in front of her. "Please call Dr. Lumen's office when we're finished and make sure to get me an appointment today." Rei leaned forward and opened her mouth, fangs piercing the woman's flesh to release the scarlet ambrosia that flowed tantalizingly underneath. A deep inhale before her hand came up to cradle the back of the maid's head as she drank deeper, closing her eyes as the woman's most recent memories flashed in Rei's mind.

After a moment, Rei pulled away, gently running her tongue over the maid's bite wounds to not waste a drop. The vampire sat back in her chair then, swallowing slowly to savor the taste and licking her lips. "Thank you, Camilla."

"Thank you, ma'am." Camilla replied as she stood and buttoned her shirt. "I will go call Dr. Lumen's office."

"Make it clear I won't take no for an answer." She peered out the window as the sky grew darker and the patter of rain could be heard against the glass. The vampire rose to her feet, gliding over to the window and moving the light blocking drapes completely to the side. Her home sat secluded up a private drive that overlooked the city and it gave her enough privacy from people she didn't know. Even though she didn't make a habit of meeting people that didn't have to do with her life directly, she wanted Mio to have the best care possible and clearly Dr. Lumen wasn't providing. That warranted at the very least, a meeting.

 

[Raina Reader]

It had been getting late as Tasha leaned back in her office chair, rubbing her eyes gently before glancing down at the time shown in her laptop screen. 6:30 pm. She knew she still had work to do, and it was her own fault for drinking so much last night, but the day hadn't proven to be an easy one. She only had a couple of clients that day, two were the norm, though one of them could be a strain on her own mental health, he tended to cry a lot, however, the most annoying one was that spoiled girl that didn't seem to understand the difference between anxiety and over exerting herself, Dr. Lumen sighed and shrugged it off.

"At least she paid in full." She said aloud, chuckling to herself while lifting her 7th coffee of the day to her lips.

Part of her wondered if she should return to her flat, it was, after all, a nice expensive place with a view that her successful job was able to afford for her, but it was easier to think here within the office, especially once her receptionist had retired for the evening. Now she had the entire place all to herself.

Upon deciding to take a break the therapist ordered herself some pasta and a bottle of wine through doordash, kicking her feet up upon the office table as she lounged on the couch eating a rather overpriced chicken pesto while utilizing her work laptop for netflix.

Opting to check out the new season of stranger things, she let her worries and the stresses her patients plagued her with slip away, assuming she wouldn't see that girl again, which meant a lost client and loss of money but at the same time, there were more where that came from.

She proceeded to watch the show late into the evening, the scariest elements leaving her unphased as she munched and chewed, all the while sipping her red wine from a coffee cup the half-full bottle sitting opened, next to her feet and her laptop.