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Introduction
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Louis — Sinking in a Pool of Blood is the eighth chapter of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas.
This article contains plot and/or ending details for The Case Study of Vanitas.
Read at your own risk.
Summary[]
“This is revenge!”
The moment Noé realizes it, everything clicks into place for him. As if those words screamed by Vanitas gave him the answer he was looking for. It all makes sense now. Noé remembers the night he first met Vanitas, his declaration of salvation, the terrible smile upon his face. He understands. All Noé can think is, no wonder he was the way he was. Vanitas continues to stand motionlessly atop the chandelier made of bones, eyes staring into nothing, hand clasped tightly over the Book of Vanitas, as Noé quietly calls out his name.
“And… so!! That’s why!!”
Vanitas abruptly barks out in an attempt to diffuse the tension. The Vampires below him stare wide-eyed. So does Dominique. So do Noé and Luca. Vanitas proudly, almost pompously invites anyone who might suspect themselves to be a curse-bearer to step forward. He, the self-proclaimed “Vampire specialist” will save them without fail. A pause as everyone takes in his words. Then the Vampires en masse snap out of their stupor and yell at him in anger, treating his words as nonsense, that the Vampire of the Blue Moon creates curse-bearers, and that Vanitas needs to be killed. Their combined cries for his blood to be spilled fills the dancing hall with chaos. Luca, watching from a balcony above, is pale and appalled at the sight of Vanitas making such a scene in the worst possible place. Noé, equally pale and exasperated as he watches too, says he has no idea.
A smooth voice speaks up as someone makes their appearance from among the crowd. A woman with long pale blonde hair, dressed in a sultry kimono-inspired outfit, a matching paper fan, and a foxlike mask. Veronica de Sade, who scowls with disgust at the sight—the stench of a human man before her eyes. Dominique chokes. She panics at the sight of her elder sister, under the impression she wasn’t going to come, and thus is left floundering. Veronica addresses a man behind her who looks to be completely obscured within an automaton-like suit, appearing as if his entire body was robotic, his voice emerging from a grate in his chest. Veronica asks him, as the host of the bal masqué, to rid of the human. Marquis Machina sheepishly answers that, frankly, he doesn’t want to because the human is interesting to him.
Veronica is silent for a moment. Then she closes her paper fan and declares that, in that case, she’ll rid of the human herself. Energy forms around her and constellations start appearing in the air behind her; a wave of freezing cold ice races for Vanitas. Dominique and Luca both cry out in panic. A sword comes flying out of nowhere, spinning in midair. Veronica gasps. The blade strike the chain connecting the chandelier, severing it just above Vanitas’s head. Vanitas goes pale. He drops down along with the chandelier, which crashes into the ground, causing the Vampires nearby to scream and jump out of the way. A beat passes, then everyone looks and realizes.
The human is gone. The shattered remains of the chandelier left behind have no trace of him. Veronica asks Marquis Machina, who confirms. The sword which came flying in is now embedded into the wall on the opposite side. In that split second, within the time bought by that very sword, someone in a dress and a mask swooped in, caught Vanitas, and vanished. Veronica laughs from behind her mask. She calls to her fellow Vampires, the human is still somewhere in the estate. And so, she declares this a human-hunt. They will do just as their predecessors did and find the human who will bring misery to them all—and kill him. The Vampires around her yell out at once at the idea, determined to hunt and kill the human. Marquis Machina sighs in exasperation. A masked man within the shadows draws back.
Noé’s eyes are wide in surprise, because he recognized the person who jumped in and carried Vanitas off. It was Jeanne. Luca is surprised that Noé recognized her, as she had been wearing a mask. Noé is still confused though, as he can’t fathom why she would save Vanitas. Luca hesitates before answering for himself. Luca asked her to do it. He told her he wanted to see the two of them once again. Face ridden with guilt and shame, Luca apologizes to Noé. He pleads for forgiveness for the way he acted towards them during the moment they first met. That day was the first time Luca witnessed a curse-bearer being saved and having their True Name restored. That sight opened up his eyes, and upon reflection he realizes he should’ve listened more carefully, more considerately for what they had to say. Luca recalls his anger, his frantic emotions at the time, the way it made him falter and panic and fail to stay calm, and goes weepy with guilt. He apologizes for being so immature. Noé stares at the child before him, completely stunned. He thinks for a moment, then he pulls Luca in close and requests to simply be called “Noé,” no honorifics. Luca looks up at him in surprise. Noé smiles and suggests they find Vanitas, as if he ends up dying they’ll both be in trouble. Luca’s face flushes with relief and he agrees eagerly.
They go off together to find Vanitas. Similarly, the Vampires in the hall begin their hunt for the human in full. Veronica holds up her paper fan to her masked face. A group of masked individuals huddle together in the shadows. And throughout it all, there is someone laughing and laughing and laughing—about how lucky they all are. The broken-eyed smile of a living shadow appears behind two masked men. It remarks on how fun everything looks, and grins, the very shape of its smile twisting into something terrible.
Vanitas’s eyes are wide. He comments on how shocking it is. He’s being carried bridal-style by the masked woman who saved him, which he remarks he never expected to happen. He finds it surprisingly thrilling—Vanitas is cut off when he’s unceremoniously dropped to the ground. The woman who saved him gasps as he touches her hand to her face and realizes her mask is gone. Vanitas holds up her mask to the cobweb-lined night sky of Altus, and with a sly and devious smile, greets Jeanne. Jeanne grimaces with a pale face as she looks at him. Vanitas suddenly throws his arms open, making Jeanne flinch. She shakily asks what he’s doing, to which he answer he wants an embrace for their reunion. Jeanne strongly rejects him. Vanitas rises to a knee and offers a kiss instead, making Jeanne back away and snap at him. Vanitas pauses in his teasing when he realizes, Jeanne is acting different. She’s panting heavily, her face is flushed, and the way she tells him not to come near her sounds desperate, pleading, in true pain. Vanitas stares at her in confusion.
A discordant, cacophonous, screeching sound echoes from below—a song, played as if each note were broken and shattered. From atop the roof of the estate, Vanitas and Jeanne look below into the building with confusion. The music pierces through every inch of the place, captivating the attention of everyone present. The Vampires pause in their eager, bloodthirsty hunt as they listen on in confusion. Luca and Noé both cover their ears as they listen to it and its terrible tones. Like human voices and mechanical noises mixed together in a horrible concoction, Noé can only think about how jarring and wrong it sounds. The music plays on brokenly. At that moment, several Vampires in the crowd suddenly jolt, as if something has come upon them. Even Catherine, the young girl who had been charmed earlier by Vanitas, doubles over in pain to the concern of her mother and sister. Her face is pale and confusion and realization sets in.
All the Vampires afflicted scream at once. Noé and Veronica both flinch in shock. As one of the Vampires begin to transform, those around them yell that curse-bearers have appeared in the hall, and they run in fright from those affected. Dominique staring down into the chaos cries out in confusion at what’s happening. Several curse-bearers appearing at once; such a thing shouldn’t happen, and yet… The several curse-bearers scream. Their eyes turn blank, their fangs bare hungrily, they growl animalistically, and something comes over them. All at once, they turn their heads to the sky and scream—but this time it’s different. The voices that emerge from them are more than just dissonant or horrible or wrong.
Those who hear it clutch their ears in pain and confusion, then stop. Their faces go blank—and they begin to attack one another and everyone around them. Luca is alarmed as he sees the Vampires before him attacking and fighting within themselves, as if they’ve all gone mad. Veronica wonders if the voices of the curse-bearers are the cause behind the chaos, and Marquis Machina standing next to her laughs about how troublesome this all is. Someone calls Luca’s name, and he turns with relief to see his two guards running up to join them. They express relief that he’s okay—blood spurts out of them. The two guards drop dead.
Two masked figures stand over the dead bodies, one with a spider-like mask and the other with a plague doctor-esque mask. They glare darkly at Luca, who goes pale with fright at the sight of them. The spider-masked man lunges forth with his bladed claw weapons at Luca, striking to kill. Noé jumps in front of the boy and stops the weapon with ease. As the two of them struggle, Noé growls the question of who are they. They engage in battle. Luca cries out in concern and Noé yells for him to stay back. As Noé and the spider-masked man jump apart, the plague doctor figure swoops in with a blade aimed right for Noé. The plague doctor stabs his blade forth. Noé smoothly moves out of the way while raising his arm to the sky. The blade whips right past Noé’s side—and snaps. The plague doctor’s weapon splits in two as Noé strikes its forcefully between his elbow and his knee. The plague doctor cries out in shock, and Noé grabs him by the cloak. The spider-masked man stiffens, then rapidly ducks as the plague doctor is thrown bodily right at him and slams into the wall behind. The spider-masked man leaps in to engage with Noé again. He rakes his claws upward as Noé leans backwards. He swipes his claws back and forth from side to side, missing every time as Noé ducks out of the way of every attack. In between his swipes, Noé delivers a forceful kick to the man.
The spider-mask leaps backwards away from Noé, disengaging their battle. The only injuries each of them sustain are a small nick on the spider-mask’s horn, and a light scratch on Noé’s cheek. Luca stares at Noé in shock as the older takes off his cape, and asks the masked figures who they are. The spider-mask is silent for a moment, before he answers. They are Charlatan. Noé’s eyes are wide. Someone begins to laugh. From behind the spider-mask, a darkness starts to seep in. Like living smoke given a vaguely humanoid form, something emerges with an eerie, ecstatic, eager laugh. The shadow whom Noé had seen only through memories, the one whom he watched take away Amelia’s True Name—it sprouts forth with its horrible, twisted, broken-eyed smile and calls the group of them that name. Charlatan. Noé’s eyes are wide as he stares at it.
Jeanne on top of the roof cries out for Luca in concern as the chaos below continues. Something overcomes her, and she doubles over in pain, choking on nothing. Vanitas next to her peers out and casually comments how exciting things seem to be getting. Jeanne pants heavily and grasps at her throat, wondering desperately how her medicine could’ve worn off so quickly. Vanitas watches Jeanne struggle for a quiet moment. He identifies her as grappling with the impulse to drink blood. Vanitas asks Jeanne directly: is she a curse-bearer? Jeanne’s eyes are wide and her face is pale. Vanitas then denies this immediately after, muttering to himself about what it could be. As he does, Jeanne gasps to herself, stuttering out her words, unable to fully answer. Vanitas tilts his head with consideration, then begins to unbuckle his belts and overcoat. He says to himself that it doesn’t matter either way, to Jeanne’s confusion. Vanitas presses up close to Jeanne, trapping her between his body and the railing, and he tells her—here.
“Drink my blood.”
Jeanne stares up at him in shock. Vanitas smiles down at her, smile thing and eyes faraway. Vanitas pulls at his collar, revealing his bare neck, and once again offers up his own blood. Jeanne leans back further into the railing and away from him, snapping at him for toying with her. She says she would never take blood from a human like him. Vanitas reminds her, she needs to go save Luca, which means she doesn’t have time to be picky. Jeanne flinches and Vanitas leans in further into her. The cut on Vanitas’s face, only lightly stained with blood, entices Jeanne with its sweet, cloying scent. Jeanne’s eyes begin to water and fill with tears as the hunger within her starts to become too much. She asks him, why? Her fangs could kill him, poison him, rip him apart drop by drop. Vanitas’s eyes are blank. Why is he doing this? Vanitas considers this for a moment.
“No real reason.”
Vanitas’s face is completely emotionless. Hollow. Uncaring, even. Jeanne stares at him in shock and confusion. Being asked if he worshipped them, declaring his vengeance against Vanitas. All he says in explanation is that, right now, he doesn’t really care what happens. Jeanne’s face is pale. Then something occurs to Vanitas, and he says that instead he’s intrigued, to Jeanne’s confusion. He recalls listening to Noé drink Dominique’s blood, and wonders aloud what it’d feel like to have his own blood drunken. Jeanne flushes in shock as he grabs her hand. He claims that, either way, he is in love with her. Vanitas presses her hand to his neck and tells her to take it. Jeanne’s fingers press against Vanitas’s pulse, feeling with every heartbeat the rushing of his sweet, warm blood. Desperately, she tries to deny it. She tries to assert that she doesn’t want his blood. Below, shrieks continue to cry out in the chaos. “Jeanne.” Luca’s voice echoes in her mind, his bright and loving smile as he looked to her and offered her flowers. Jeanne remembers Luca. Her eyes fill with tears. Her fangs bare.
Jeanne bites Vanitas’s neck.
Blood spills. Vanitas winces in pain. Jeanne surges forward with complete force and tackles him to the ground with her on top of him. Jeanne grabs him by the collar and drinks up his blood as if starving for it. Vanitas shudders, face flushing red as the sensation comes over him. His eyes are wide, a bright blush has overcome his face, he pants heavily, and Jeanne continues to drink up his blood. Vanitas covers his mouth with his hand to smother his own noises. Jeanne drinks and drinks and drinks, then releases him with a deep breath. Vanitas looks up at the moonlit cobwebbed sky as Jeanne pants heavily, and leans in with her hungry face and bared fangs for more. She bites him once again and drinks anew. Vanitas, as his blood is being steadily consumed, laughs shakily, his voice echoing out into the night air. He remarks, this actually isn’t all that bad.
Shrieking, sneering, mocking laughter continues screeching out. The shadow’s twisted smile stretched more and more with every peal of laughter. The ground at Noé’s feet cracks under his pressure. Luca flinches and turns to Noé in concern. Noé recalls those memories he witnessed, that shadow’s haunting, devouring, invading grin. He screams at it in rage. Noé surges forward, fangs bared, claws at the ready, attacking with every inch of force within his body. The spider-mask prepares to engage with him, but Noé just snaps with dark eyes to get out of the way. Noé kicks at the spider-mask. The full-force of the kick rams into the man’s side even as he braces against it, and he’s sent forcefully crashing into the opposite wall. The shadow continues to smile. Noé attacks it with fervor, growling to himself that everything was it’s fault, that it was all because of this thing—
“Oh… I thought so.”
Noé’s clawed fingers pass through the shadow’s form as if it were nothing. Like inky water, the tendrils of darkness making up its form simply moves out of the way of the danger and curls around Noé’s limbs. Its face twists to smile upside-down at Noé. It tells him that it knows him. The shadow touches its hands to his cheeks, cradling his face lovingly in its hold, and recalls seeing him before through the eyes of another. It tries to remember what the child’s name was, until it occurs to it.
Noé gasps in alarm. The boy’s voice echoes in his mind, begging Noé. The boy smiles at him as he tells Noé he wants him to be the one to kill him. Noé cries out in distress. In that moment of hesitation, the blackness making up the shadow’s form completely wraps around Noé, consuming him entirely. Luca cries out to Noé, but the man’s mind is already lost to the darkness. There is nothing but black before his eyes.
Noé, a child, opens his eyes in complete darkness. He looks around and wonders where he is. A broken voice calls out to him. He sees Dominique, a child herself, staring at him with wide eyes that slowly drip tears down her face. He asks her why she’s crying, when he feels something wet. He looks at his own hand. It is stained completely with blood. Noé looks behind him. The dead bodies of his friends greet him—of Fred, Gilles, Fanny, Mina, all lying in pools of blood, unmoving and unhearing. Noé’s breath quickens. Slowly, his face now stained with blood, he looks down.
Louis’s beheaded body lies right in front of him.
Noé’s eyes shake with horror and grief. He looks at the severed head of Louis, at his blood that stains his hands, at those unseeing eyes that continue to stare at him with complete death. Louis. Dominique’s brother, older by one year. A boy who knew everything, who was very mature, who would sometimes pick on him. They were always together. Louis…
Noé’s friend who was beheaded as a curse-bearer.
Characters[]
- Noé Archiviste
- Vanitas
- Dominique de Sade
- Luca Oriflamme
- Vanitas of the Blue Moon (Mentioned only)
- Veronica de Sade (First Appearance)
- Marquis Machina (First Appearance)
- Jeanne
- Naenia
- Catherine
- Monsieur Spider (First Appearance)
- Plague Doctor (First Appearance)
- Fred* (First Appearance)
- Gilles* (First Appearance)
- Fanny* (First Appearance)
- Mina*
- Louis de Sade*
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
Trivia[]
- "Louis" is the French form of the Old Frankish name "*Hlōdowig" and means "famed warrior" or "loot bringer."[1] It is also well-known for being the name of 18 kings of France.
- It is possible that Louis is named after Louis de Pointe du Lac,[2] a character from The Vampire Chronicles[3] series by Anne Rice. Though this is no more than conjecture, Jun Mochizuki has stated to be a fan of Anne Rice's works, to the point of having named her characters after The Vampire Chronicles characters before.[4] This, coupled with the number of parallels between the two characters in question, leads to a strong possibility that this be the origin behind Louis's name.
References[]
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| v - e - t | The Case Study of Vanitas Chapters |
|---|---|
| Parisian Excursion Arc | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 |
| Bal Masqué Arc | 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Hunters of the Dark Arc | 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 |
| The Beast of Gévaudan Arc | 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 34.5 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 38.5 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 |
| Amusement Park Arc | 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 54.5 • 55 • 55.5 • 56 |
| Miel Incident Arc | 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 61.5 • 62 • 62.5 • 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 |
| Intermissions | 15.5 • 46.5 • 51.5 • 60.5 |
| Volumes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Omake | Vanitashu no Karute • Romance is a✰LOVE MISSION • Confessional Counseling Office |
| Other | Author's Notes |