Natalia gently lifted the potion to her lips, carefully watching Reiko as she did. Both women seemed to pause as they gazed at one another. "You're not drinking."
"Neither are you."
Reiko and Natalia now began to laugh, both women wiping their eyes. Neither woman was used to the age alterations like the others, this was still new, both women somewhat apprehensive about being transformed. That and neither woman felt incredibly comfortable reliving their childhood. "We're a mess aren't we," Reiko sighed between laughs.
Natalia paused, grasping Reiko's hand as she gave the woman a small smile. "Maybe I am but not you," she said. "Reiko you, you're one of the most put together people I know. I'm the mess honestly."
"What," Reiko exclaimed. "Natalia how could you even think that? You so confident! I wish I was as confident as you. And um...your kinda sexy too."
"Only kinda sexy," Natalia smirked. Reiko blushed, shyly averting her gaze. Natalia sighed, she couldn't believe what she was thinking yet she fell such an incredible connection to this woman. For the first time ever she would reveal to someone exactly what she was.
"Reiko," she said softly. "Theres something I need to tell you."
"What is it," Reiko asked. Natalia shifted uncomfortably, knowing that what she was about to do could only get her killed but alienate Reiko as well. Taking a deep breath she now gazed into Reikos eyes.
"I'm a vampire."
Reiko paused, at first dubious about Natalia's response. If her daughters weren't dealing with vampires now she wouldn't have believed it. Still, why would Natalia confess to this. "Okay," she said softly. "Lets say I believe you. Why would you tell me?"
"Because I care for you Reiko," Natalia exclaimed. "For the first time in more than a century I find myself caring for someone besides myself." Reiko now sat in stunned silence as Natalia poured her heart out.
Natalia now bared her proverbial soul. Being an elite vampire, a trusted confidant of Miro Tepes,, everything including the vampires mission. Reiko felt as if her head was spinning, she wasn't sure what to make of Natalia. "Natalia I don't know what to say? I thought we were friends."
"We are Reiko," Natalia said quickly. "If we weren't I wouldn't have said anything. I've never met someone that reminds me so much if well...me."
"Of you," Reiko exclaimed.
"Yes Reiko you," Natalia smiled. "You remind me so much of how I used to be before I became a vampire. Its why I'm telling you this, and why I'm showing you something." Reiko now watched as Natalia pulled a small white gem from her picket, holding to it before the astonished woman. "What is that," Reiko asked.
"My soul," Natalia said softly. "That night at Lisa's party, when we met Santa. He gave me this gift. I've been too afraid to use it, until now."
Reiko watched as Natalia now grasped the gem in both hands, squeezing it tightly until it broke, a flash of light illuminating the car. Reiko now watched as a white mist floated over the vampire.
"Natalia?"
Natalia smiled, grasping Reiko's hand. She felt it, the gift had actually worked making Natalia a damphir, a vampire with a soul. She could feel old feelings returning, the callousness she possessed as a vampire fading. She was as she used to be, so many years ago.
"Natalia whats happening to you!"
Natalia paused, looking first at Reiko before glancing in a mirror. Gasping she took a good look at her face, shocked by what she saw. "I look younger," she whispered. "I'm, I'm getting younger!"
Natalias mind was racing, she looked 10 maybe 15 years younger. The small lines around her eyes had vanished, her face looking smoother, more youthful. Racking her brains, she gasped. "No," she groaned.
"What is it," Reiko asked.
"When I received my soul he said I would get a fresh start," she moaned. "I'm literally about to restart my life."
Reiko gaped as at Natalia, the confident woman she had grown to know and care about exiting her 30s as she reentered her 20s. Tears were streaming down Natalia's face as she watched her body tone and her face smooth. "Is there anything I can do?"
Natalia shook her head no, there wasn't anything this was the price she would pay for the evil she had done. She may have a soul but any chance of living a life with Reiko was loss. In a way her soul was completely wiping the board clean. Reiko now sighed, taking Natalia's potion as she now downed both vials and grabbed Natalia's hand.
"Reiko what are you doing!"
Reiko shuddered, she could feel the effects of the potion washing over her. "If you have to start over then I will too."
"What," Natalia whispered as she became 20. "But Reiko, you can't! Your family! Your husband!"
Reiko smiled, squeezing Natalia's hand tightly. The potion was working faster than she thought possible. Already she had lost enough years that she now found herself the same age as Natalia. Both women reentering their teens, their bodies becoming thinner, their faces rounder, and their eyes more innocent.
"Nattie listen," Reiko said softly as she became 16. "I know my family, my husband, they mean the world to me. But, you..you've made me realize a part of myself I thought I'd never connect with again. I....I love you Natalia."
Natalia balked, fidgeting slightly as the two became waifish young teens of 13 once more. Natalia's freckles were now prominent on her innocent face while Reiko now possessed a round an innocent look framed by her dark hair. Both girls giving eachother a shy look as they gazed at one another.
"I'm starting to forget things Nattie," Reiko said shyly as she became 12.
"Me too," Natalia replied. The spell returning her soul washing away her experience and memories. She truely was getting a fresh start. Still she did retain knowledge of one thing, Reiko.
The two girls now geld eachothers hands, gradually shrinking into childhood. Thw girls growing smaller, their minds slowly emptying of knowledge. As they now became five they looked at one another.
"Whats going to happen to us Natalia," a five year old Reiko asked. "Are we gonna jaffa grow up all over again?"
"I think so," Natalia lisped. "But we get to grow up together."
"And be beat friends," Reiko smiled as the girls became four.
"The best of friends!"
Both children now giggled as they descended into toddlerhood. As the girls snuggled next to one another, they held eachother close. Slowly they grew smaller, descending into infancy. The two girls hair growing shorter, their memories fading. In moments two newborns lay next to one another, swaddled in their old clothing.
Now reality itself began to warp around the infants. The girls new lives being rewritten. A damphir girl and her Asian best friend. Reiko Tozawa as far as the world was concerned had died of Covid while the vampire Natalia had been destroyed by Gloria and her friends.
Now instead a damphir girl and her Asian best friend existed. How Reiko and Natalia grew up though was another story.