"And I want to know

The depths of your mind

Tell me this whole thing is madness

And we're doing fine…"

-Depeche Mode, Breathe

Spiraling Madness: A Love Lies Bleeding Side Story

By Inuyoshie

(From Uryuu's eyes)

The Quincy is the most prestigious and effective vampire hunting organizations out there. My family, the Ishida clan, founded the organization. Mind you, my idiot father refuses to recognize me as a Quincy, I know what I am. Our organization is pure, our pride and honor are unbreakable. We refuse to consort with vampires, unlike the Seretei who have many vampires and vampire half breeds among their ranks. Vampires are parasites, how can one work with them? I never could understand that.

No matter how liberal the Seretei is, I was still curious to meet Kurosaki Ichigo. His father was a famous vampire hunter, and… perhaps part of me hoped Ichigo would be too. Hunting vampires is a nasty and dangerous business, and it's always nice to meet co-workers I guess. But Ichigo never mentioned vampires, not even once. He used not euphemisms, nothing. It just… never came up. It was almost as if he avoided the topic on purpose.

My father told me later on that Ichigo was afraid of them. The way he said it made it sound so weak, but later when I brought it up, the look on Ichigo's face… for some reason it seemed to spur me on to kill more of those blood sucking parasites.

Not that I liked Ichigo of course- Ichigo was hot-headed, smart but not intelligent. That and homosexuality is a carnal sin I would never partake in, no matter how 'girly' my hobbies may seem. Sewing is a useful skill. Vampire hunters rarely marry, and if they do, their significant others tend to die. Like Masaaki Kurosaki. So knowing how to sew is a useful thing for a bachelor. Also sewing gives me an excuse to carry around sharp objects without anyone asking questions. Every single one of my needles is silver plated and blessed. It took a lot to get them that way, but having a rich father has its perks.

Throughout grade school and middle school, Ichigo and I survived in different spheres. He always was… there, not like how a stalker is, but more like silent support. When some newer kids tried to give me grief about my hobbies Ichigo made them shut up. I never understood why until he and I got into an argument at school one day. How exactly we got on the topic of my well being is beyond me, but it ended with Ichigo shouting 'I care about you you freaking asshole!' and running off.

Of course, I didn't think much of it.

… Alright, that's a lie. It's unholy to lie. The outburst bothered me, causing all of Ichigo's previous actions to add up into one horrifying reality: Ichigo Kurosaki had a crush on me.

I went home. I had homework, and I had to distress. There was a very attractive looking dress I had in my head, and I had drawn it out on paper last night. Creating it would get my mind off of the irritating orange haired boy. A breeze rolled in, and I shivered. When did I open my window? I got up, and closed the window with a sigh. My lights flickered out, and every hair on the back stood on end.

There was a vampire in my room.

Casually, I pulled out two sewing needles and backed against the window, my eyes scanning my dark room. Was my door closed? It should be. Much as I disliked my father, I'd dislike him even more if he was a vampire.

Where was the vermin? There were no noises that indicated movement… my bedroom was eerily quiet. An owl hooted outside and I jumped slightly. That's when I heard a noise. Chuckling. Not just Heheh chuckling but a deep throated giggle with an awful mocking lilt to it. I lunged towards the sound, my needles out… and stumbled, trying to keep my balance. The chortling increased. I spun and attacked again, this time hitting something.

"Oh my," a voice remarked in the dark. It sounded low enough to be male, but disturbingly silky. "You managed to cut me."

"Damn straight. Now show yourself!" I barked, frustrated.

"Che, such a demanding boy you are… Quincy…" the man stretched my title out slowly, almost purring it. It felt sick. I lunged again, only this time my opponent caught me, wrapping a thin but muscular arm around my waist.

"What the-" I started, scowling as I felt fingertips brush up and down my waist. "Stop that!"

"Stop what?" the man remarked in a mock innocent voice, right next to my ear. Gah, I shuddered, and started struggling, causing the man to chuckle again. So I stabbed him in the chest with my holy sewing needles. The man broke away, hissing slightly.

"Well," I remarked, "not so tough now, huh?"

"Oh, don't get too cocky little Quincy boy," the man replied, now behind me. Something cold was pressed to the back of my neck. It took a few moments to compute that there was a syringe pressed to my neck, but by the time I did, something warm was spreading through my limbs and my eyelids were drooping.

"Damn… you…" I muttered, trying to stagger to the door. My assailant's arms seemed waay too strong as they circled around my waist again, pulling me easily against a thin, muscular body.

"My boy… I am already there," he purred in my ear, before I passed out.

I woke up to screaming.

My eyes snapped open. The room I was in was small, and dark, save a bright lamp swinging over a metal table. A figure was strapped to the table, with most of his innards on the ground. A tall, lithe man was crouched over the prone figure, with a neatly combed mess of light pink hair and flashing rectangular glasses. The pink haired man was a vampire, I could tell by his disgusting silky aura. A silver scalpel rested comfortably in the vampire's hand, as he made another cut. Some blood spurted at his face and he frowned.

"Now that was rude," he remarked, in the same voice that tormented me last night. That was the bastard. I bared my teeth. The vampire randomly pulled out a compact and snapped it open with the kind of grace I've only seen in a woman and scowled at his reflection. "Very rude, you made my face messy,"

After a few moments of preening, the man went back to the poor soul on the table. I watched, my stomach turning but unable to turn away. Finally, the man stopped, and turned to me. His face was pale, and speckled again with some blood, and his amber eyes flickered over to mine. There must have been something on my face, because a slow smirk spread on the bastard's face as he slowly sauntered over to me, his hips moving suggestively.

"Like something you see Quincy boy?" he asked in a lilting tone. I scowled.

"Feh. Let's just say you're not my type," I spat at the man. He knelt so he was at eye level with me and cupped my face gently and snickered.

"You're amusing," he remarked, slowly dragging his fingers along my jaw line. A shudder escaped from my body as I felt the skin tingle. To distract myself, I tugged at the bonds keeping my wrists above my head. I really wanted to stand up… my back hurt and my legs were stiff. "Are you in pain?"

"Che," I retorted, turning away from the man. Like hell I was going to tell him anything.

"Oh, don't be so difficult Quincy boy, we need to communicate," the man almost pleaded, but it sounded too mocking to be sincere. I snorted. "You don't believe me? What if I told you I was under direct orders not to kill you?"

Orders? Orders meant that there was a hierarchy. Orders meant that there was a more powerful vampire(s) than this one. Orders meant information.

"Oh my, that seems to have caught your attention Quincy boy," the man smirked, leaning in closer to my face. I tried to pull away as much as I could, but he just kept maintaining the same distance to my face. "Something wrong? It's not like I'm contagious,"

"Get away from me," I retorted. The man tilted his head, but did not comply.

"No, I don't really want to. The look on your face is quite enjoyable, see, and you happen to have an appetizing smell," he purred, licking his lips slowly. God he has a long tongue. Wait, what? Ech. Sinful thoughts. "Hmm? Is my little Quincy having some difficulties?"

"Difficulties?" I repeated, scowling. "No, I was just deciding how to kill you,"

The man leaned even closer until his nose was right next to my ear. He breathed softly, causing me to stiffen.

"Little Quincy boy, you shouldn't lie to me," he murmured, right in my ear. A shudder ran through my body and I felt oddly light headed. "Did you know something Quincy…?" the man splayed his hand across my chest, and a soft, warm feeling spread across my body. "I was ordered not to kill you…" Suddenly pain, like five iron vices across my chest and a thousand hot needles in my limbs burst through my body, causing me to jerk and bite back a scream. "But he never said anything about hurting you," The pain subsided quickly, and I fell limp, gasping, Sweat trickled down my back and I felt cold all over. I stared at the ground, and the man forced my chin up to meet his eyes, those awful amber eyes that bored into my mind and soul.

"Who… are you," I managed to squeeze out, trying to keep my eyes from watering. The man smirked again.

"You may call me… Szayel Aporro Granz,"

WHEEEEEEEE MYSTIC EYES WHEEEEEE

Inuyoshie's after the chapter special

So yeah. This be Spiraling Madness biatches! Hah!

This took me a bit to write… just because I would get stuck. Especially on the boring expository bits. I was tempted to just jump in to Uryuu waking up in Szayel's lab, but then I thought 'non… I was really vague as to some stuff. So exposition be good.'

So indeed. Here I be…

I intend on sticking a quasi lemon in this. Just be forewarned. I also intend on referencing this story in the main Love Lies Bleeding.

If you put mooncakes somewhere in your review of Love Lies Bleeding, that means you read the side story and get a cookie. Or you could just review this story and get a cookie too.