| Daughter of the Damned |
| Chapter One |
by - Azra
azra_greenleaf@hotmail.com | http://envisioning.cjb.net
~I don't own any of the characters, plots, or other affiliates mentioned in the following story. They belong to Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles) and Naoko Takeuchi (Sailor Moon). Bear with me. This is a new idea of mine, and I felt that Usagi would fit perfectly into the complex world of vampires that Anne Rice had created~
~Warning: There is a minor mention of shonen-ai (yaoi, slash, male/male pairing) in this fic. Only in mention. Please do not flame me for any of this~
~
The blood was warm as it flowed down her throat. She half-closed her silver eyes with pleasure, her arms instinctively closing tighter around her victim's body as he grew limp. She'd found him wandering outside a nightclub, a young man in his late twenties just waiting for some young, innocent girl to come out alone. He was the kind of person she hunted, a man who lived his life based on other people's pain.
Her mind told her the man's pulse was slowing, and with a sigh she removed her fangs from his neck. She bit her tongue and took a small bit of her own blood on her finger, rubbing it on the two bite marks. As she watched, the small holes healed.
"Stupid mortal." She whispered, letting his almost-dead body drop to the cement. He would die soon from the loss of blood, this mortal. But she didn't care. He was nothing to her, just another wrongdoer that she'd had the pleasure of using as a food source.
Running her tongue along her teeth and lips, she wiped away the last trace of blood and smiled. This had been a good night for hunting. Yes, she could grow to like this city. New Orleans it was called in this day, but she could remember centuries before when it had been a small French trading port in the New World.
Her appetite was appeased for the night, but it was not always so. Indeed, in the last two months, she'd found herself in constant pain. And the only way to forget the pain, even for a moment, was to feed.
This pain was not like other pain she experienced. It wasn't at all like the feel of the sun on her body, which had resulted in her darkly tanned skin. That had been an external pain. This was internal, in her heart and mind. She'd known what it was instantly; the moment she'd first felt the searing agony rip through her soul.
That had been two months ago to the day, the night her mother was murdered. She still could feel the sense of loss in her soul, the presence that had always been there was now gone.
But now, that meant one thing. She was responsible for avenging the murder of her parents. Her mother had been the one to kill her father, but now her mother had been murdered. This meant that while she was unable to avenge her father, she could easily take her blood claim from the group of rogues that had killed her mother. She didn't need the blood claim, but she was entitled to it, and it was the revenge she had to take. She did not need the claiming at all; now that her parents were dead, she was the oldest and most powerful vampire in this world.
She was Usagi,
daughter of Akasha- the mother of all her kind- and Enkil. She was the
daughter of the Queen of the Damned.
s © eNe
~ ChaNge
*
3
~ dAys ~ lateR
Applause filled the audience as the red, velvet curtain fell and the lights dimmed. It was soon replaced by the sounds of shuffling and talking as people rose from their seats and stretched. Already it was midnight, and the night air was cool and fresh as he stepped out of the Opera House and took a deep breath.
As he reached for the keys to his rented black Ferrari, his sharp ears caught the sound of smaller footsteps trying to catch up with him. He turned, his blond hair swaying, and looked to see who it was.
It was a young boy, maybe fourteen, clutching a sheet of paper in one fist. He quickly caught up and began to speak. "You are Monsieur Lestat de Lioncourt?" He asked, straining to pronounce the French name correctly.
Lestat nodded, turning his grey eyes on the boy. "How may I help you?"
The boy shrugged. "Your lady friend asked me to deliver a message to you." He said. He held out a folded sheet of paper. "And she said to tell you that she's waiting for you."
'Lady friend?' Lestat was confused. Unless it was Gabriel, or another of their little group. He flashed a smile, taking the note. "Thank you very much." he said. As soon as the boy had turned away, he frowned.
Who was this person, and where were they waiting for him? It could have been any of the others; he had not heard from any of the other vampires for almost a month. Except for Louis, of course. Louis, who was his constant and faithful companion.
He carefully opened the paper. Black ink words were written across the page in a large, flowing script that he didn't recognized. He read it once, quickly, then read it again. Blood tears threatened to fall as he realized what the note was telling him. Then, with an angry growl, he dropped the note to the ground and stormed into his car, driving away as fast as he could.
The note fluttered
softly to the ground before bursting into flame. As the red fire consumed
it, the words were just barely visible.
I hope the red haired witch girl wasn't too important to you. She's dead.
A drop of dark
red blood was smeared underneath. From the scent, it clearly belonged to
the one girl Lestat had ever really loved. It was the proof: Jesse Reeves
had been murdered.
neW ~ oRleaneS
*
1 ~ weeK ~
laTeR
The entire house had been on high alert since Lestat had rushed in with the bad news. Maharet and her sister still hadn't been contacted; no one knew where the twins where, nor had any way of contacting them.
Armand had flown in with David from Miami on the first flight out. The two were now curled up on one of the leather couches, Armand with his arm wrapped around the younger man's shoulders and whispering comfortingly in his lover's ear.
That sight made Marius smile, as his gaze rested upon the two. They were one of the few vampire couples that actually found true love. David was the youngest there. He was also the weakest. Everyone, including the former reporter himself, knew he was most likely the next target of the mysterious killer of Jesse.
There was a knock on the door, and everyone jumped. When no one made any move to answer, Lestat rolled his eyes and rose. He moved to the door confidently, but froze before answering it. His eyes looked troubled for a moment.
"It's another vampire." He said softly. "But there's nothing there. I can't read anything from it except that it is." His hand shook only slightly as he reached out to open the door. He stilled it quickly, and turned the handle, swinging the heavy wood door open so everyone in the room could see whom it was.
The figure on the front mat, completely covered in a dark cloak, tilted its head to the side, studying the man before it. "You are Lestat, are you not?" The voice was definitely feminine, and it was soft and filled with a heavy Egyptian accent.
The blond vampire was instantly on guard. "That depends." He said warily. "Who are you?"
There was soft laughter, before a slender tanned hand reached up and brushed the hood of the cloak back to her shoulders. "My name is Usagi." She said. "Or at least, that is what I am called in this time. Please, may I come in?"
Lestat glanced behind him, his eyes meeting those of his friends. Marius hesitated, then nodded. The blond stepped back and allowed the female called Usagi entry.
Usagi glanced behind her and made a motion for someone else to come closer. Another, smaller figure joined her at her side. This one was also cloaked, but cowered from the other people in the room. Usagi wrapped an arm easily around the shorter figure's shoulders and murmured some words to her quietly. Without waiting for approval, she led the other person to one of the couches and sat down.
"I understand that you do not trust me." The blond girl began. "And I know why. But I am not the one you believed killed your friend."
"Then what do you want?" Armand's voice was quiet, but laced with anger.
"I found the body of Jesse only moments after she was attacked." If Usagi hadn't had all their attention before, she had it now. "She was not dead yet, but she was close. So I did the only thing I could think of." She slid the sleeve of her cloak back and held her wrist out for all to see.
Thick white scars ran across the tanned flesh, obvious signs of a knife or other blade. "My blood is by far more powerful than most any other creature in this world." The blond shoved the sleeve back down, once more hiding the marred skin. "I did the only thing I could think of, as desperate as I was to save this girl. I gave her my blood. I blood-bonded your friend to me."
With that, she gently pushed the hood of the other cloaked figure back, allowing the thick mass of red curls to fall loose over thin shoulders, and a pale face to stare wide-eyed around the room.
Lestat reacted almost immediately. "Jesse!" He made to move towards her, but an upheld hand from Usagi stopped her.
"She knows nothing!" This time, the Egyptian accent came back thicker, making the words almost difficult to understand. The blond took a deep breath, then continued. "The shock from being so close to death and from the blood bonding to such powerful blood has temporarily erased all memory of you, all of you. She'll recover, but I can't say when. Soon."
Marius nodded, taking in the entire revelation quite calmly. But then, Lestat noted mentally, he'd always been the calmer, more mature one in the clan. "You're not telling them everything." Marius' voice was quiet, but an icy undertone laced through it.
Usagi's gaze fell to the plush rug at her feet, her blue-eyed gaze studying it as if memorizing it's every detail. "The blood bonding…" She trailed off. "The amount of blood I gave her fully bonded her to me. Which means she'll never be able to go far from me, and if I am killed, she will be too."
"So then we keep you from dieing, easy enough. And you're free to live here with us." Armand had loosened his grip from around David's shoulders and the younger vampire was now curled up into his side, watching the events unfold silently. But now, he spoke up. "Yet, for some reason I take it that it's not as easy as it sounds, hmm?"
"You're wise for one so young." A tight smile, then she continued. "My… heritage makes it difficult for most people to accept who I am. There's obviously another vampire out there, and she's challenging me by trying to kill off what's rightfully mine… and-" She cut off as she realized what she'd just said.
"Rightfully yours?" Louis spoke up now. His black eyes focused on the seemingly young woman.
Usagi shook her head. "It's why I was in this cursed city in the first place." She muttered under her breath. "I have to do honor to my mother, and that honor means blood claim. Unless I want to kill you, I must take blood claim from each of you who killed my mother."
Armand frowned. "Your mother?"
"Her name… Her name was Akasha."
