Disclaimer- I don't own Vampire Knight.

Hello again! This is the sequel to Many Faces of Innocence, if you haven't read that then this might not make an ounce of sense. This chapter is a little short, the next few chapters will be too...

Thus Tainted begins...

Chapter 1

In the Darkness

A man with gray eyes let his steely gaze roam over the body of a white haired girl that was currently curled up against the back wall of a dark, cold stone cell in front of him. Her small, delicate wrists and ankles were bound by heavy iron shackles that were bolted to the damp stone wall behind her. Strange carvings had been made in the iron of her bonds and there was a design on the walls and floor around her that resembled a geometrical blooming rose.

The gray eyes belonged to a young man who appeared to be at least eighteen with long dark chocolaty brown hair that was pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was dressed in a plain but tailored and well pressed, smoky gray suit and a white button up shirt. His jacket was left open and the white button up beneath it was untucked, the top few buttons were undone and he looked completely at ease as he leaned into the musty stones across from the iron bars that caged the lifeless woman he was staring at with eyes that were devoid of emotion.

She was beautiful, even in the state she was in. Her expensive jeans were smeared in dirt and blood, her fitted black top was torn in several places and there was a cut on her right cheek that was slowly healing. Her snow white hair was mussed from having come loose of the pins that had held it in a neat bun at the nape of her neck, it now hung limply over her shoulder and hid part of her face from view.

It was a horrible sight, to see such beauty and innocence tainted by the malice and blackness of others. The young man frowned as he thought about how the being in front of him had come to be in such a disgusting, violated state. She had done everything he had asked her to without a word of complaint, but that hadn't stopped the man he called his father from taking out his rage on the girl when he had come to see that she was behaving. There was no way for her to defend herself from the blows he inflicted upon her, the magic of her bonds and the symbol that had been painted on the wall making it impossible for her to use any of her own strength to do anything but curl up in a protective ball and huddle against the floor like an animal. He had had to stop his father, watching the abuse was making him sick to his stomach, the poor creature in front of them didn't deserve to be treated in such a vile fashion.

With a sigh, the young man pushed himself away from the wall, pulling his hands from his pockets and walking to the door of the cell. He pushed the creaky door open and stepped into the chamber, walking towards the figure in the back. He stood over the white haired woman who still hadn't made a sound or even moved. Crouching down before her, the man carefully placed a hand under her chin that was tucked into her chest and lifted her face up, brushing her hair from her eyes to get a better look at her face. Sapphire eyes fluttered open and a small groan poured from her throat as his thumb traced the slowly healing cut on her cheek.

"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you," he assured the frightened girl that was trying to desperately back further into the wall, softly. "I would like to help you."

"Liar," she spat hoarsely. "Get away from me."

"I can't do that. I need to get you out of here, and then I need to make you die."

Before she could protest his arms were around her in a comforting hug, she felt a strange sensation on the back of her neck and then everything faded into blackness.

The same gray eyed man later stood in front of the same cell, but now the cell was empty, occupied only by the iron chains and shackles that would forever be bolted to its walls. There was a stiff looking man that resembled him, only older, to his left, looking into the cell with a look mixed with disgust and triumph on his face. The man was his father, Daiki Takamora.

"I have disposed of anything that could indicate she was ever here. Reina Tsukina is dead and there is no proof we were involved in anyway," he said.

"Good job, Ken," the older man replied. "I do wish she had behaved herself just a little longer, it would have made Kaname more pliant, but oh well."

"What would you like me to do now, Father?" Ken inquired.

"Nothing, now we wait for the true king to return."

Ken's eyes were blank pits as his lips twisted up into an emotionless smile. "In that case, I'm a bit..hungry, I'm going to go find something to eat," he commented, his voice as emotionless as his smile. Showing emotion of any kind in front of his father was never a good thing and he had learned long ago to hide everything he was thinking or feeling, or suffer for it.

"Fine, but be careful. Kaname would have noticed immediately that her presence vanished and I'm worried that the Ichijo may not follow orders very willingly now," Daiki commented dryly.

"I'm not so sure," Ken mused evenly. "The boy may very well end up being more useful now that she's out of the picture."

His father's gray eyes cornered to him briefly, narrowing darkly. "I do hope my dear, cute child that you're not planning anything without my consent?"

"Of course not, father. I'm just making an observation, that's all. Now, if you'll excuse me I have a beautiful young lady to seduce," Ken smirked, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he turned to leave the drafty dungeon beneath a small stone building to the south of the Ichijo mansion.

Ken's feet crunched into the gravel and dirt that made up the path that led away from the dungeons, it was snowing softly and the the sky was just starting to lighten as the sun began to rise over the groves of trees. His footsteps were heard as he walked over the frozen ground, it was the only sound aside from the falling snow that muted out everything else. The sound of the footsteps stopped and there was a swooshing howl of wind that caused little snow tornadoes to spring into existence for a moment before everything was utterly silent and Ken was nowhere to be seen.