My first entry for solitaryloner's contest. Also my first 'official' multi-fic.
"Brr!" Ring Suzune, a vibrant young actress with a light, cheerful personality shivered in the cold of the night. After a hard day of filming her movie, all the young woman wanted to do was to go home. Sadly, to do that she needed to reach her car, and to get to the vehicle she would have to go through the biting cold. Her white sundress, reaching to her knees and made with a thin fabric, did nothing to help her keep her body heat to herself.
In the darkness above her, a silent figure scoffed mentally at the weakness his prey was showing, and silently prepared to strike. The predator, unlike his prey, was in all black, what most would call 'gothic', 'punkish', or even 'emo'. A few of his many silver chains hanging from his belt clinked against each other, but the senses of the human below failed to pick up the sound.
"Oh, Ring!" The young woman with light blue hair turned to face her friend, who had called her name.
"Piko! I thought you left for home already!" She greeted the silver-haired assistant director as warmly as she could in a cold parking lot.
"Ha ha, I did, but I forgot to get the files for the equipment, see."
Laughing, Ring teased her friend mercilessly. "Oh, the great Piko finally slips! How the mighty has fallen!"
Even from above, Gakupo Kamui, two hundred year old Vampire Prince, could see that the man with heterochromia was rolling his dual-coloured eyes. "Unlike you, I don't make it a habit to forget everything of importance."
"Yeah, well, I think you've forgotten your wife is waiting for you," Ring grinned. "Isn't that a thing of importance?"
His green and blue eyes widened in terror. Gakupo sneered disdainfully. He had no idea what real terror was. To be the prey, and awaken for real with a ruthless predator after you. Your heart would frantically beat, and your body would produce hormones and adrenaline, desperately trying to get you to run from the dangerous being that would drain you of your lifeblood.
But, of course, he would not learn, not tonight. After all, it was the woman he was after.
"Crap! Miki's going to kill me!" He started to run back towards his car. "Alright, see you tomorrow, and don't be late!"
"I won't!" she called after him, and then began to make her way to the lonely silver convertible waiting for its owner.
Silently, the vampire slipped from the tree he had hidden in, and snuck up onto the woman. She really was a pretty thing, with light blue hair like starlight and pale milky skin giving off a tantalizing scent. He knew that her eyes were amazing, and as much as he would have loved to take her to his mansion-
-An unbelievable pain struck through his chest, just below his heart. Hissing, he leapt back from the woman, clawing at the stake in his heart.
"Vampire scum," sneered the woman, her large sparkling eyes shining maliciously.
"Filthy hunters," he spat back. Literarily, as a glob of blood struck the ground at her feet.
"If it's so filthy, why'd you try to drink it?" she taunted, grabbing another sharpened piece of wood from her purse. He nearly swore at the annoying thing, only years of discipline holding back the vile words at his tongue. Blessed with powers against his kind, those stupid chunks of wood were made for one thing; to cut through their fortified and magicked skin.
Instead of deigning to answer, Gakupo silently thought as he assessed the girl.
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Ring narrowed her eyes as she gripped the blessed stake that was her only defense.
Why, oh why did all of these undead bloodthirsty freaks have to be so damned gorgeous? It was hard enough to kill an innocent-looking girl who would rip your throat out with amazing skill and ease, but a sexy man who was totally yummy? So. Fucking. Un. Fair.
Her current target was no exception. While he looked feminine, there was something about the way he carried himself that made him unmistakably male, and an Alpha male at that. Or maybe that was his height, towering over her 160cm by at least twenty centimeters. He had long dark purple hair tied back into a ponytail, his bangs were arranged messily with a few streaks of black, something that contrasted greatly against his pale skin and mauve eyes and made him look like a supermodel for Goths. He was dressed in black, loose shirt and lots of black and silver jewelry, and a leather belt collar connected to his belt with a thin chain wrapped his pale neck, hiding what she knew would be the unmistakable mark of vampires. A short-sleeved hoodie, ragged at the ends and flaring around him completed the bloodsucker look, a perfect modern-day Dracula.
Well, he was bleeding through a hole in his chest and hissing at her, but small details could be overlooked.
"So, I thought you leeches were supposed to be all, 'stay incognito' and all that shit," she said aloud, one hand rummaging for the pendant that would keep her from being one of the Undead in case he bit her. "Attacking a talented actress and recognized singer isn't such a good idea for that, you know."
He sneered, twisting his attractive features into… Okay, she had to admit, something even more attractive. "Your voice is annoying."
"Insulting a hunter?" she put her free hand on her hip and made a tsk-tsk sound. "Big mistake, death boy."
If looks could kill, Ring would have burned to death. Instead of carrying on with the silent threat given to her, however, he merely ripped out the wood, throwing away the contaminated weapon before sprouting giant bat wings and flying off.
The blue-haired actress kept her head straight, posture defensive until he was out of sight.
Then her knees buckled, forcing her to fall to the ground showing fear on her delicate face. "Not too bad for my first solo-fighting!" she told herself, laughing shakily.
The night didn't answer back, and Ring pulled herself into her car, taking deep breaths to calm herself.
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Snarling, Gakupo grabbed the front of his shirt, irritated at the slow rate he was healing. The fabric, dark as the night he hunted in, ripped into shreds at his tough nails. On his pale skin, the red hole oozed out blood. Blood that had belonged to his past victims.
"Milord?" A voice cautiously asked.
"Yes?" He still stared at his wound. The girl had missed his heart, and yet it wasn't healing. Perhaps it was because he hadn't hunted yet.
"Your mother requires your presence," the purple-haired Vampire Prince finally spared a glance to one of the few Supernatural servants serving at Kamui Manor.
"What does she want, Lily?"
The blonde shrugged, and bowed her head. "She merely stated that it was of considerable emergency, Your Highness."
Gakupo decided that whatever it was, it wasn't worth having his mother unleash her wrath on him. Quickly, he grabbed a fresh shirt and pulled it on, thankful that he had removed all the jewelry on him when he had come back home.
"Let's see what she wants, then," he strode out of the room, ignoring the throbbing pain at his chest. He'd been through worse.
Slamming his door closed, Gakupo glided down the black-walled hallway with the grace only the Supernaturals of this world possessed, passing the occasional servant, both human and Supernatural who would pause in their work to bow in respect to their only prince.
As he came closer and closer to his mother's room, he noticed a scent of someone familiar. Ah, so this was why he was needed.
He nodded to the maid who had followed silently, giving her the signal to step forward and knock firmly on the sturdy wood of the door separating his mother's quarters from him. "Lady Kamui, the prince is here."
"Send him in," ordered a haughty voice, and Lily quickly opened the door for him, allowing him to pass.
It was a large room, the walls covered with black silk much like his own chambers. However, her wall furnishings had stripes of deep violet running down vertically, and the room was much bigger. In the end lay a King-sized bed where two women sat.
With the speed of vampires, he flitted across the room and stopped in a kneel. "Mother."
"Rise, my son," Ordered Gakuko Kamui, widowed Queen of the Western Vampires. He did so, and shot a glance at the other woman.
"Hi, big brother," Gumi fluttered her fingers and giggled.
Gakupo did not reply, and instead turned his attention back to his mother, making the green-haired princess pout.
"The Prince of the Northern Vampires is here," she informed her son, carefully inspecting her nails for any unfortunate specks of dust. "Go amuse him, and don't start the next Dark Wars," she said this as if Gakuko believed that his son would be stupid enough to reveal the presence of Vampires to humans.
He bowed wordlessly, and left the room. The heavy doors shut behind him with a resounding slam.
At the sound, a blue-haired man slinked out of the plentiful darkness in the manor, smirking in an arrogant, haughty way. Like Gakupo, he was dressed in black, but his clothes were more formal, a black suit with a crisp white dress shirt underneath, the red tie surprisingly not clashing with his azure hair. Shining black shoes barely made a sound as the man walked up to him.
Kaito Shion, the Vampire Prince of North, saluted him mockingly. "I bet I can get more girls than you," he taunted, his words of greetings being ones daring his friend.
Gakupo grinned, dropping his princely attitude. "You wish."
"Well, as much as I'd love to prove that I am, by far, more superior and attractive than you, your mother tells me that I should not lead you out in your condition."
"My what?"
Kaito shot a look at him. "Your pregnancy, of course," he said, perfectly serious, and ducked to avoid Gakupo's punch, laughing.
"I'm joking, Gak, chill. I'm talking about you being staked," at his words, Gakupo remembered the actress hunter and the wound that healed ridiculously slowly. No matter, a drink of blood would close the thing up.
"I am fine," he said stiffly. "There is no need to stay inside."
"Well, tell that to your mother," replied Kaito. "We're staying in your house tonight."
"So all we are to have are going to be human slaves," noted Gakupo drily. "Great."
"I don't know," Kaito murmured, thoughtful. "Your slaves are pretty…." He said the last part while shooting Lily a look.
"Lily is a vampire," Gakupo was amused at the barely concealed look of irritation on his maid's face.
"I know," sighed Kaito.
Clapping his friend on the shoulder, Gakupo began to lead the way to the dungeons where the 'snack packs' were kept. "Time for dinner, I suppose."
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As he opened the heavy rusting door to the dungeons, he noticed the smell of fear increasing dramatically. Unlike his opinions on the silver-haired man earlier that night, Gakupo didn't consider them as ignorant to the feeling of true fear. These humans had known the feeling of being hunted in the night, the true terror that was sealed inside all mortals before an encounter with a Supernatural open inside of them.
"Why do you only have girls?" questioned Kaito, idly glancing down at the rows of female humans chained up to the cold brick walls of the dungeons.
"Tastier," answered Gakupo without thinking, making the nearest girl's eyes widen even further.
"I'll take your word for it," Kaito wasn't really listening as he looked at the girls he could eat. "Ooh! I like this one!"
The one he picked was a small girl with black hair and golden eyes, who held her head high and refused to show any fear, despite both men being able to sense the terror coming from her.
"Doesn't she remind you of chocolate and caramel ice cream?" beamed the Northern Vampire, unclasping the chains from the wall.
Scoffing, Gakupo just grabbed the one closest to him. "What is with you and your ice cream comparisons?"
Shrugging, Kaito left the dark dungeon, followed by Gakupo and the chosen meals.
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Each vampire had a different style of feeding. Some would keep them alive, taking enough to keep the human alive so they could regenerate more. Others would just shred them to pieces, violent and brutal.
The Prince from the North did not use those methods. Kaito would snap the victim's neck when they didn't suspect, and drain them dry, as he did now to the girl. She never felt a thing, but would have died with anxiousness in her heart. To Gakupo, this affected the taste of the blood, and that was something he did not enjoy.
The method he used was different. "Sleep," he ordered his choice, layering his voice with the hypnotic charm. She complied, relaxed and free of fear at the end.
He sank his fangs into her neck, relishing the feel that had been kept back from him, and began to suck the blood-
-Only to scream and throw the girl across the room as a familiar pain blazed once more, stronger than ever. The blood that had run down his throat should have given him a soothing feeling of contentment, of dried land happy at the water rushing to wet and moisten it again.
This feeling, this pain was abnormal. Instead of healing, it damaged, setting fire to where there should have been soothing water. Worse, it also made his unhealed wound burn again with renewed pain.
"Gakupo!" alarmed, the blue-haired prince grabbed his friend, and gawked at the sight.
The wounded man had clawed away his shirt again in pain, and the hole in his chest was red, not only from blood but from infection, something extremely rare with Vampires.
"Call the healer!" he yelled out, and a rush of footsteps hammered through the mansion at his command.
The last thing Gakupo remembered before blacking out was the dreadful pain, shredding through his veins around his chest.
The song that inspired me for this fic - www. youtube watch?v=L4IeKL1rBds
The pictures for Gakupo - www. zerochan 1038563 and www. zerochan 1038564
Luka appears next chapter...probably.