Disclaimer: I do not own Shiki or any character from it.

Blood Reign; Chapter 1: New Blood

"From the day we were born…our whole being has been drenched in blood"

On a hot summer day figure, four figures stood on the road that seemed to stretch for miles behind them. One was a rather large male with red hair, in a red opened sleeveless jacket with black jeans, and boots, the other was a female wearing a red sun dress moved with the cool breeze. The female next to her was shorter and had short red hair that cane over the left half of her head; she was wearing a red blouse and red shorts. Her left leg was completely wrapped in bandages. The last was a young boy who also had red hair and was the smallest of the three. The figures began walking passed the gates that led into the small town, the town known only as Sotoba.

They walked along the path, each carrying their own suitcases in their hands as they walked through the quite area with rural houses. Simple people walk by and sit in the shaded area of the buildings. Eyes look back and forth at the new person to the village.

"This place is so…peaceful" the long haired female said as the larger male gave a loud yawn.

"Looks quite enough" the small boy said as they continued their walk down the road

As they continued their walk, the long haired female stopped suddenly feeling a precise coming toward her, as it neared she stopped, peering down, scarlet red eyes met a small dog that was now sniffing at her leg before looking up and giving a happy bark.

"Love! Come back" a voice called, "Please stay there!" they called again as a girl came running up to rode to stop behind her and kneeled picking up the small dog.

"I'm so sorry I hope he didn't cause you any trouble" she apologized as the four figures turned and looked at her, "Oh, you must to new here" she said with a timid laugh as the four just looked at her with impassive eyes.

"Well…let me be the first to welcome you to Sotoba!" she said happily, "I'm Kaori Tanaka, nice to meet you" she greeted the others, only to blink in confusion. After a moment of silence the largest of the four decided to take the initiative as a smile came on his face,

"Hi there nice to meet you!" he said, his voice was average yet deep as the girl blushed as he took her hand and shook it rather vigorously.

"You can call me Marco, Marco Blood!" he said with a toothy grin pointing his thumb at himself.

"Those three are my siblings" he turned, his hands over the girls shoulder, "That's my lil bro Marx Blood" he pointed to the small boy.

"The girl next to him is my lil sis Marla Blood" he pointed to the female with long red hair, wearing a red sun dress.

"And finally that's Mariaz Blood, she's my…"

"Oh she's must be your other little sister!" the pigtailed girl said as the air went silent; Marco looked at the girl, mouthed agape at what she had just said. Clearing his throat he looked back at the smaller girl, "Um no actually she's my big sister" he said and the girl gave a surprised looked.

"Wow that's weird, I would never suspect because she's so small" she said and the others looked over at Mariaz who seemed to be keeping her cool, which was a surprise to them.

"Well anyway it was nice meeting you, sorry we can't talk more but we really have to be…going" he said rather quickly as he grabbed his siblings and began a sprint down the road.

"Ah! Bye if you need anything I'm here!" she called down the road but they we're already gone.

"What a weird bunch" she said as her dog gave a bark of agreement

-The Next Day-

"Did you hear about what happened yesterday?"

"I heard he died last night, apparently he had been sick for a couple of days"

"Didn't he lose his wife a few days before?"

"It's so sad we should go visit"

The red haired female placed her basket down on the counter bringing the cashiers attention to her and away from the village gossip.

"Will this be it for today?" he asked and the woman only nodded as she opened her wallet and handing the man the money.

"So you're our new resident" he smiled at her passing her the groceries, "Have a good…day" he said but she was already out the door. Walking down the road, passing by buildings, the sound of whispers and gossip echoed on the wind and into her ear, though she ignored it. Every word was the same and all seemed to be about one person or another.

As she made her way done the road she couldn't help noticing the strange sense in the air,

"Right, relaxing" she said to herself as she returned to her walk. As she continued down the road she couldn't shake the feeling like there was something or someone looking at her.

In the middle of the woods in a rather large house decorated completely in red and gold, three of the four siblings busied themselves moving furniture and unpacking boxes.

"Can someone please tell me again why we didn't bring any servants with us?" the smaller boy said as he put books away in the large bookshelf.

"Don't be so sour little bro were on vacation remember" the older brother said, "Hey sis where does the couch go?" he called into the house, "It goes in the living room upstairs" she deadpanned as the bro grinned before caring the couch upstairs.

"This is tedious" the boy said placing the next few books on the top shelf, "Marla's back" he said, the door opened revealing the long haired sibling, "I brought food" she said with a low tone shutting the door before walking into the next room.

"Hey sis how was shopping?" Marco smiled as he walked down the steps, Mariaz not far behind him. Marla returned from the kitchen, a rather tired look on her face.

"Fine" she said before joining in on unpacking the items into the house.

The next few days the heat was sweltering as usual for summers in Sotoba, on this particular day the Marco dragged his siblings out for what he called summer fun, much to the discernment of his siblings. As they walked through the town they couldn't help, like every day, but here the new rumors and gossip that seemed to fill the town.

"See isn't this better than being locked up in that house all day!" Marco laughed as his siblings gave him the saw unemotional look.

"Oh come on sour pusses what do you guys want to do?" he asked as the three looked at each other, "And no you can't go back home" he said and the three groaned before one replayed "How about going to the library" it was Mariaz who made the suggestion

"Okay the library it is, you guys go on a head I'll meet you there" he said as he began racing down the road leaving his siblings behind. Skidding to a stop Marco found himself in front of his destination and entered inside.

"You fool!" a loud voice boomed as Marco stood there, "Ah! Sorry dad I was…" a rather timid voice said as the larger of the two stood over him glaring in anger, "You were slacking off again! How do aspect to take over the shop when you keep falling asleep and forgetting your work ethic!" he boomed fire burning in his eyes as the on below shook in terror.

"Forgive me dad!" he begged

"Um, hello" Marco said as the two men looked over toward the door and saw Marco standing there waiving rather nervously.

"I hope I'm not interrupting…but would one of you happen to know who owns this business" he said the larger man stood folding his arms as he looked down at the red haired male, "Yes, I am the owner, Tomio Ookawa" he said greeting the male who just continued to smile, "So tell me what can I do you for" he said and the male gave a short bow.

"My name is Marco Blood; I actually came here to see if you needed any extra help around here" he said and the man blinked at this, "So you're asking if you can work at the shop"

"Yep that's right" he said still keeping his smile, "Hm…well you look like an active young man" he said looking the other, "Well…I like your attitude so I'll give a small job in the shop"

"Really, thanks Mr. Ookawa! I promise I'll work hard!" he said and the man gave a loud laugh, "Now that's what I like too here!" he said but then out of the corner of his eye he caught his son sneaking away, "I wish my son could be like that!" he said as he watched the male scurry away.

"So then when can you start?"

"Well if it's no problem I can start right now" he said this seemed to shock the man, "Well if you're up to the take I have some cases that needs to be brought in" he said pointing to the back and Marco nodded confidently, "Just leave it to me!" he declared and the man nodded

"Now that's what I like too here!"

At the library Mariaz combed through the books of the many shelves that lined them. As she ran over each of the books her eyes seemed to narrow.

"These books are out of order" she said pulling out a couple of books, "This is a mystery novel and this is a…romantic comedy" she looked through the many books and found books of many genres in the wrong place. With a deep grunt she moved walking up towards the front desk where the librarian was, he was average looking though he looked rather distressed at the moment.

Clearing her throat she caught the man's attention, "Um, yes may I help you" he said in a timid voice, "Yes, I was looking around at some of the shelves and I noticed many of your books are out of order"

"Oh, my apologies…you see I'm new here, I was actually just a regular worker until the head librarian, Yuzuki, passed away a couple of weeks ago" he explained in a meek voice, "I was his apprentice and when he did I was appointed head librarian" he said but a frown instantly form, "Though I have to admit I done a terrible job as a librarian. All the books keep getting moved and placed in the wrong shelves it's too much keeping up with them all and…" as he suddenly stopped when the red haired girl placed her hand up,

"Listen while I never make it a habit to fix the messes of others, I'm making it a personal reason of mine to fix this place up" she said and the man blinked in confusion, "Now then we'll have to remove every book off each shelf, then we'll need to categorize and organize each book by genre, name…" she looked over seeing the man still standing there, "Why are you standing there"

"We'll I…"

"Listen we have a lot of work to do so…let's get to work" she said and began taking books down, "Well…"

"Right! Coming!" he scrambled from behind the desk and helped the girl take the books down, "Um thank you miss…"

"Blood, Mariaz Blood" she said still taking the books down, she didn't notice as the man smiled at her before continuing the large task.

The siblings found each other again in the middle of town, "Yo sibs!" Marco grinned as they stood together, "Sorry I guess this hasn't been much of a family outing" he said scratching the back of his head.

"Obviously" they said and he continue to embarrassingly grin, "Well you'll be happy to know your big bro got a job!" he said

"What"

"Yeah I got a job at Ookawa's Wine Shop!"

"You mean a liquor store"

"Yep!" he said happily and confidently

"So what have sibs been up too?"

"Hn, I got a job at the library" she said simply as her sibling looked at her, "Wow"

"What about you?" she looked at Marla who shrugged, "I'm now working at the lumber yard" she said and siblings gave similar short groans.

"And what about you little bro" Marco squatted down to look his brother in the eyes…well eye. The boy looked at him with a clear face.

"Well anyway, I'm hungry!" Marco grinned as the other siblings gave a short sigh, "So what do you guys feel like"

"I could go for some meat" Marla said as her siblings grunted in agreement, "Alright meat it is, now then let's go hunting"

"Or we could go to the market" Marla pointed towards the butcher shop and his heart seemed to plummet, "Ah man that's no fun" he said as he sluggishly followed his siblings into the market.

"Hello what can I do for you?" the butcher said as the siblings looked over the selection, "Hmm, we'll need some beef" Marla said and the butcher nodded, "Okay how much…"

"We'll also need some pork, lamb, rabbit, chicken…" she began naming more meat before her brother intervened, "Just give use ten…make that twenty pounds of every meat you have" Marc said as the butcher gasped, his eyes blinking in shock. After making their large purchase the siblings, mostly Marco, carried the food back to their house.

"Man I can't wait to taste this meat!" Marco grinned as his siblings rolled their eyes, "Wow it got dark quick"

"It's much cooler now" he said as they walked up the long path, it was quite as they continued their walk, pairs of red eyes followed them.

…..to be continued…