(A/N Sorry it took so long to get this back up. About the story: OCs die very quickly in almost every situation. Italics are either quaint, poetic phrasing or my way of symbolizing that the character has stopped talking in Japanese and is now speaking in English.)
Prologue: Coalescing Shadows
Darkness. Pain. Big brother. Little brother. Them.
Life had been nearly unbearable for years, an endless dream of fear and hopelessness. Things had not been all that great beforehand either but at least there had been sunshine, a window, enough to eat every day.
Hunger. Baggy clothes. Mother. Father.
Mother and Father had locked them in a basement for eight years. The shadowed rooms were lit only by dim lamps and furnished only by stacks of old books and worn sleeping pallets. There were two rooms, one which held the Door and the other which held their pallets, leading to a small, mirror-less bathroom. They did not need a mirror. They were twins and looked exactly like the other- amethyst eyes and silver hair, 'evil', 'filthy', as they were told every day.
Because their parents were vampire hunters, being twins was taboo, unheard of and a ghastly concept to consider. They were cursed, as wicked as vampires according to their parents.
Misery. Hatred. Love. A bond that would be strong enough to break the Door if only it were corporal.
The door was made of iron, a metal barrier between the twins and the house above, the outside world. Their only wish was to get through it and to always be by each other's side. Nothing was alright if they were not together.
Underweight. Protective. Zero.
Zero was only so thin because he gave his little brother nearly all of his food. He tried to protect his brother from Mother and Father's unmerciful blows but then the younger twin just would not stop testing them, saying things, asking questions…
Sickness. Fever. Ichiru.
Ichiru was just as thin as Zero, constantly suffering from an illness he had possessed since birth. In the womb, the Twins' Curse had taken effect and half of Ichiru's strength had gone into his brother. He was lucky to have lived so long, the younger twin. Still, he was frail and often feverish. That did not stop him from reading and reading and reading the books their father had brought them.
"You're filthy enough without being illiterate too," Father had said when they were eight years old.
The books the twins had were boring and tattered, nonfiction dictionaries and history text books, literary explanations, grammatical works and bilingual encyclopedias. Ichiru taught himself to read then studied them with a passion, especially the dictionary of old words that the first hunters had used to craft their spells. He loved the dictionaries on foreign languages too.
"Okaa-san, do you know English?" he had asked their mother.
It had earned him a blow and Zero had run to his side, in whispers begging him to be quiet.
"Don't ask such pointless questions," Mother had said as she stoically set their evening meal on a metal tray.
"But do you?" Ichiru persisted.
"No. If I go to an English speaking country, it will be to kill vampires- I won't need to say much, will I?" She had turned then, ready to go upstairs.
"Does Otou-san speak it?" "No, filth," she had snapped. "Shut your mouth already." The Door closed behind her, shutting them inside their shadowed prison.
From that day, Ichiru constantly wrote his brother little messages in English and Zero quickly learned the language.
"Okaa-san and Otou-san are…oh, what's the word?" Ichiru would say in English, even though he knew.
"Evil," Zero would answer. "Or cruel. Or despicable."
"That's what it was," the younger twin would smile, despite the bruises on his face. "Because it says in these books that parents always treasure their children- even twins, even filth. Even useless trash."
The text books were the only connection they had to the world, the tale-tellers that allowed them to remember the sunset, to imagine snowy mountains and the rolling waves of the sea. Their most precious treasure was one English encyclopedia that had pictures not too faded to see. They would talk about places they wanted to go and even created times of humor, laughing quietly with each other. They could survive, ward off the despair because of each other.
Zero's worst fear was losing his twin. His only desire was to protect Ichiru in every way he could and that was what he contemplated for hours into the night.
Ichiru, however, read books. Ichiru was the first between them to dream up a secret.
He read a dictionary on the hunter language, inspired by a goal far more grand than surviving. When Zero was asleep, he murmured incantations to himself, his voice nothing but a soundless breath of air. Even with only the elements of their strange magic, what if, through the limitations of the art, he could accomplish something? Every time their parents struck them, Ichiru was driven all the more desperately toward one, mad idea.
What if he could make them pay for what they had done?
o0O0o
"Demo, Onii-sama!" Yuuki protested tremulously, clutching her older brother's arm. "What if the Shadow gets me?"
The seven year-old's wine-red eyes were large, her rich brown hair cascading down in messy locks to her waist. She wore a pale green nightgown, her feet bare, her lower lip quivering. She was the most adorable thing 'Onii-sama' had ever seen but it was time for the pureblood vampire princess to go to sleep.
Kaname smiled gently at his little sister, placing his free hand on her head. "Yuuki," he said chidingly, "you are perfectly safe. Not even the legendary Shadow-san could get to you here."
"But Aido-kun told me that the Shadow is a hunter so powerful, she can infiltrate even the most highly protected vampire sanctuaries!" Yuuki wailed, pressing her cheek against her brother's sleeve and tightly closing her eyes. "He said that she has killed countless vampires- that she always wears a veil so that not even the Association of Hunters knows who she is!" she listed, diligently repeating the horrors her young tutor and unofficial 'nanny' had told her. "What if she is hiding under my bed, waiting for you to leave me so that she can stab me through the heart?!"
"It was Aido who told you this?" Kaname asked, his eyes darkening. That foolish boy was out stepping his place as a noble vampire in his duty to serve his pureblood masters. Frightening Yuuki for no good reason was unacceptable. The elder pureblood made a mental note to have a 'chat' with Aido later.
Kaname sighed, kneeling down to embrace Yuuki. "Yuuki," he consoled her, "the Shadow is not hiding under your bed. There is no human alive quiet enough to stay unnoticed by the ears of pureblood vampires. It does not matter if she has trained for decades or knows a thousand different spells; we would still hear her breathing, were she here." He placed his forehead against his sister's. "More ever, I promise that I will protect you from anyone who dares to try to hurt you."
Yuuki gave a little nod to show that she understood. She looked somewhat mollified as well, assurance and trust in her large eyes. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Hai. I love you, Onii-sama."
"I love you too, Yuuki," he answered, rising to his feet. "Oyasumi." He made sure that she was comfortably tucked into her bed and- at her insistence- that the Shadow was not hiding under it. He would have sincerely been surprised if the hunter had been but no- no veiled woman dressed in black, ready to choke his sister with wires. As by his acute pureblood senses, he had thought not.
He carefully closed the curtains of Yuuki's room against the rising sun, sending her a small smile as she whispered a sleepy "good night" to him. On silent feet he left her room, soundlessly shutting the door behind him.
He made his way down the shadowed hallway, the soles of his shoes making no sound on the carpeted floor. The sitting room was not far and he soon took a seat across from the man waiting for him, shooting the bespectacled 'ex-hunter' a slightly apologetic look. Moonlight drifted into the room, bathing the gray-carpeted floors in a pallid glow and leeching the color from the room. It shown on the human's glasses and glinted in Kaname's wine-red eyes as the pureblood draped his elbow over the arm of his chair.
"My apologies for making you wait, Cross-san," he said impassively, meeting the ex-hunter's gaze. His dispassionate tone was not due to any cold feelings toward his old friend; he had a habit of speaking stoically to everyone other than Yuuki. Having known Kaname for a long time, Cross understood that fact and smiled warmly in greeting.
"It is no problem at all, Kaname-kun," the ex-hunter assured him, pushing his glasses farther up his nose. Cross was dressed in a long, black coat and boots, his dirty-blond hair tied back in a ponytail. He looked tired but that was nothing new for times such as these. "How is Yuuki?"
Kaname frowned. "Aido told her about the Shadow today. She was so afraid that I had to make sure the woman wasn't hiding under her bed."
Cross smiled painfully. "Aido-kun probably mentioned Shadow-san accidentally and was forced to tell the whole tale by Yuuki pestering him until he did. I'm sure he didn't want to scare her, Kaname-kun." Kaname knew Cross was trying to make life less painful for Aido but he was used to it. Cross had a habit of trying to smooth everyone's problems over- it came from supporting peace in this age of war.
"Of course, Cross-san," Kaname indulged the ex-hunter graciously. "I understand completely." Completely understanding, he absently decided the best way to punish Aido was to frighten the noble class vampire so much that Aido was the one fearing the darkness under his bed. There would be blood.
Moving onto a more relevant topic, Kaname sobered. "I assume you have come here about the war?"
"That's certainly part of it," Cross sighed, his eyes troubled. "Things have not gotten any better in the past few weeks. Fighting has broken out in the western half of the globe- so openly that many humans are learning of the vampires' existence. Both sides have teams walking through cities and erasing memories. I just hope that neither the hunters nor the vampires one day decide that it would be a good thing for the common people to know."
"And your ideals?" Kaname questioned. "You were planning to plead with the Association once more the last time we met."
"I went to the meeting as you suggested, Kaname-kun," the ex-hunter informed the dark-haired vampire. "'Traitor' and 'naïve' are the most civil names I was called. The feelings the Association harbors for me are not pleasant to say the least. I was still able to make my case, strongly even and I will give them that they listened but…" Cross shook his head. "I don't think I got threw to any of them."
"A disappointment, indeed," Kaname murmured.
"Speaking of which, I was introduced to Shadow-san at that meeting," the human said, offering the pureblood a weary smile.
"Is Yuuki right to be worried?" A note of curiosity laced Kaname's voice. The Shadow was a mystery, known to assist the Association but not work directly for them. Of all the famous hunters, she kept the tightest lock on her identity and always kept her face covered. She did not even speak; when needing to converse, with the Association perhaps, a hooded assistant spoke for her lest her voice ever be recognized.
Cross frowned thoughtfully. "Shadow-san is as good as I was when I fought vampires. She…could certainly be dangerous to us if she acquired more power. Especially since she does not sympathize with my beliefs at all. While not openly condescending at the meeting, her assistant made it clear that she was not interested in peace. Her word swayed a lot of hunters against me."
"As skilled as that woman is," Kaname stated, "she can now only gain greater power through one method."
"And it is unlikely that she will be able to attain pure vampiric blood," Cross finished wryly. "I'm not sure if she is even the type to desire it, Kaname-kun- but that doesn't matter. I have more to tell you and talk of shadows will only lead us chasing after rumors."
"A fair point," the pureblood agreed ambivalently.
Cross drew a low breath. "I have news about your aunt."
Kaname actually smiled, his lips twisting in wry amusement. "If you are referring to Shizuka-san, and I assume you are, then be careful to never call her that in her presence. She loathes my family and frequently murders any unfortunate person to associate her with we Kurans."
"Technically," the ex-hunter grimaced, "she is your uncle's fiancé." "And I share a mutual desire with Shizuka-san for that man to not be an issue, marital or otherwise," Kaname droned.
"You're right, you're right," Cross conceded. "Gomen. I consistently read her name that way in so many Association reports…" He trailed off, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I meant to say, Shizuka-san has left Council protection. She simply opened the doors of her cage and left."
Kaname did not react to this information, hardly blinking at the news. "I suppose it is about time. She has allowed herself to be caged in that cell for nearly a thousand years."
Cross nodded solemnly. "Yet…it is rumored that she left with an ex-human, one who was previously her prey thrown into the cell. They say it is because of him that she left."
"It could be," the dark-haired pureblood allowed indifferently.
"I know it does not concern you much, Kaname-kun," Cross said with a frown, "but the Association is ruffling its feathers over her. No one knows where she is and not knowing where a pureblood vampire is bothers them immensely. Especially because of Shizuka-san's expertise in spell work. If she so desired, she could destroy practically all the wards around any Association safe house except for the headquarters itself- given enough time."
"They are worried she will lay siege to a safe house?" Kaname asked, raising an eyebrow. "Believe me, Cross-san, unless Shizuka-san has changed exceedingly in the few years since I last saw her, she will not care enough about the war to lift a finger with intent to effect it."
Cross let out a breath of laughter. "I will quote you on that. I suppose there is nothing more about her that we can do. For now, we must calms these fires erupting everywhere. The world will be destroyed if hunters and vampires persist." His eyes were intense, burning even in the pallid light of the moon. "I will not have Juuri-san and Haruka-san's memory be scorned with this foolishness."
"I am ready to hear your plans, Cross-san," Kaname said quietly, subdued as always by the mention of his late parents.
It was not the war that had killed them but peace had been Juuri's dearest wish, a desire Haruka had felt as well. They had fought as dedicatedly for harmony between the two races as Cross was fighting now. They had changed many hearts and come very far…until they were killed by an old enemy, Kaname's uncle and Shizuka's fiancé.
That story was forever engraved in Kaname's mind, the death of two people too good for this broken world and…one other.
It was only a matter of time before there was another death in the Kuran family. Kaname was gradually moving his pieces in a matter of years to capture his opponent's king.
o0O0o
One year of happiness had been bestowed upon the undying prisoner. One year of freedom had been granted to her, breaking her out of her reverie of peace and serene silence. Shizuka could not be forced to stay in a cage. The iron bars were like cobwebs to her colossal power as a pureblood vampire. Her guards were like toothpicks or statues of brittle glass, easily splintered. She had stayed because the world had always seemed ugly to her and silence was the sweetest music to her ears. One year of happiness had shattered that calm existence.
Now she was to reap the penalty of foolishly daring to believe she could possess a 'happy' life.
It was snowing ashes. What had once been a grove of beautiful sakura trees was now a skeletal graveyard of barren structures, clawing at the winter sky as the powdery, gray flakes rained down. The sakura had bloomed unnaturally in the bitterest month at the calling of Shizuka's power and now they were withering, disintegrating into dust at the unconscious cry of her heart.
There were ashes before her, all that remained of the only beautiful person she had ever met.
Ashen snowflakes settled in Shizuka's long, silver hair, brushing against the silk fabric of her kimono. The hard earth was cold on her bare feet but she did not notice it. Her cherry blossom eyes were locked on his ashes, the only one she had loved.
The remnants of hunter magic crackled around his formless corpse, the only corpse left behind by a vampire. He had been hunted down despite how far Shizuka and her beloved had been from the inane squabbles between hunters and vampires. Was it because she had turned him into a vampire, despite his wish to remain a human? Was it her fault? The thoughts, while present in Shizuka's mind, did not really reach her. She was still staring numbly at his remains, longing with all her being to awaken and find it a dream, find him beside her and sleeping peacefully. She would never again have that blessing.
A breath of wind stirred his ashes, stealing a few grains of the sooty substance and carrying it away out of reach. A soft noise escaped Shizuka's lips but if it was a moan of horror or a choked scream of anguish, she could not be certain.
Her knees gave way which was strange since her inhumanly powerful body had never failed her before. She hit the ground, her head coming to rest on his ashes, her trembling fingers grasping at the colorless grains. She felt cold, achingly cold as though all the blood in her veins was turning to ice. There were no tears in her eyes; she did not know how to cry and despite hundreds of years of existence, she had never bothered to learn. She stared blankly ahead and the wind ghosted on, stealing more and more of him from beneath her fingertips.
It had been a year since she left that cage with the ex-human intended to be her prey. In his blood she had sensed a beautiful world, vibrant as she had never imagined nor had any of her victims imagined. His perceptions were enrapturing, deep enough to drown in, showing layer upon layer of things she had not once even considered. The sun was warm. The rain was thrilling. The snow tasted sweet and sang lullabies as it fell for those with sharp enough ears to hear it. The world was beautiful and because of him, she had seen it.
In just a few hours, everything that had been her beloved was stolen by the wind. She was clinging to a bare strip of earth that offered no more warmth than the deadened trees around her. Numbly, she stood. She began to cast a spell.
The remnants of hunter magic lingering around the area had come from a weapon- an inch or so of enchanted wire that lay in the dirt. It had been separated from the rest of its coils, perhaps by sharp vampiric fingernails or teeth. It was the weapon of a hunter, the hunter who had killed him.
The spell Shizuka crafted swiftly gifted her with a mental image of the wire's owner- a tall woman clad all in black and wearing a heavy veil before her eyes. Vaguely, Shizuka recognized the hunter- a person called the Shadow.
Shizuka ran a shaking hand through her hair, displacing flakes of ash from the silvery strands. It was not a problem that she still felt sick or that her slender figure trembled with the sobs frozen in her throat. It did not matter that her telekinetic powers had slipped from her control, first to disintegrate the sakura blossoms and now to carve fissures in the ground every once in a while. She was more powerful when feeling strong emotions and surely not even this 'legendary hunter' could stand against a pureblood.
Shizuka tilted back her head, breathing deeply, her eyes closing as she inhaled the cool air. Under her breath, she whispered the words of another incantation, searching with her mind. Several miles east, she caught her prey's location.
It was time to turn the hunter into the hunted.
The Shadow was currently within a little town, shoddy buildings and faded street signs cluttering the empty streets. It was deserted- the refuge of ex-human vampires who were slowly losing their minds to the thirst. Or it had been. There was nothing but ash left of them now, the good fifteen of them there had been.
There was no way Shizuka's beloved could have been mistaken for a straggler of these miserable creatures. His clothes had not been tattered. His eyes had not been mad. Shizuka had kept him sane, given him the deliverance from mindless thirst that only an ex-human's vampire master could grant. The Shadow had hunted him down despite that.
A full moon hung in the sky, casting an eerie light over the ghost town. It's pallid glow could not penetrate the blackness of the Shadow's clothes. It reflected off of Shizuka's kimono, her silver hair, making her radiant- a shining saint of grief and vengeance. The pureblood vampire walked slowly down the cobblestone street to the faceless woman awaiting her. The bell strung on a cord around Shizuka's waist rang softly, augmenting the silence.
"A pureblood, is it?" The Shadow's voice was hard, distinctly feminine but not pleasant to the ears. It broke the illusion of stealth and fluidity that her name would suggest. "I thought as much. I sensed you stalking me quite some time ago, Kuruizaki-hime."
Kuruizaki-hime? Shizuka had almost forgotten the nickname her 'fiancé' had given her. It had quickly spread throughout vampiric court and even infected the Hunter Association. Few dared to call her such to her face but she was most commonly known by that ridiculous title in private discussions. It meant 'Madly Blooming Princess', a play off her wild power to make sakura blossoms bloom whenever she neared, no matter the season. It did not bother her on most occasions but now it made cold hatred swell in her heart. She wanted a face to align with her loathing but all she had was a faceless veil.
"Is it a fight you desire, pureblood?" the hunter continued calmly. "You caught me at just the right time. I'm in the mood for a challenge. Each vampire I killed today was tediously easy to reduce to ash." They were yards away from each other when she said, "my, my. I never thought I would see a pureblood cry."
Crying? Yes, Shizuka was crying but her facial expression had not changed. A single tear spilled down her cheek, glistening in the moonlight. Shizuka was crying for the first time and hated it because now she knew that she could. Still, she said nothing.
"I do know why you are here," the Shadow informed Shizuka quietly. "It's because the ex-human I killed was your lover, correct? There was a rumor about that, that you had fallen in love with a human and turned him into your slave. What a shame it is that his name was written on the Association's Execution List." Despite her words, there was no sympathy in her scathing tone, no remorse.
"For erasing that person," Shizuka said softly, "I will destroy you."
She was already evaluating the wards cast around the Shadow, eagerly in her raw desire for revenge. There was a ward against arcane attacks, powerful enough to make a magical duel pointless. The Shadow also had the all-important ward that powerful hunters wore in case they needed it- the ward that protected them from a pureblood's telekinetic power.
Yet something was wrong with this ward. Terribly difficult to cast and effective for long periods of time, the hunter spell was nearly impossible to break. Had it been flawless, Shizuka would not have been able to dispel it in a battle. She would have had to rely on her strength, speed and skill alone to kill the Shadow. It was not flawless however.
The Shadow's most important ward was riddled with cracks and faults, tiny but numerous flaws in the spell that could bring it tumbling down to nothing with only a hint of power. They were invisible to anyone who did not look for them but all the same, unbelievable. Why would the Shadow, the legendary hunter, arm herself so poorly against a fight she welcomed? A trap? Shizuka could sense no other living being in the area and no other spells.
The Shadow was unaware of her weakness.
"You are certainly welcome to try, Kuruizaki-hime," the Shadow was drawling in her unpleasant voice, "but your emotions undo you. I will gain much esteem by defeating you and so I will fight to the best of my ability. You, however, are shaken by grief and anger. It is a solid fact that purebloods are worse at fighting when they are angry." She tensed, wires glinting between her outstretched hands. "I hope you are not too disappointing an opponent."
Spurred by a mad rush of delight from her discovery, Shizuka felt her lips curve in a vicious, ghost of a smile. "It seems it will be the other way around, Shadow." She sent a perfectly aimed blast of mental power toward the Shadow's feeble ward. It silently crumbled down into nothingness, its energy dissipating. Easily, as she would to a defenseless, oblivious human, Shizuka then reached out with her telekinetic power and broke the bone in the Shadow's right leg.
The hunter sucked in a sharp breath, wobbling for one agonized moment until she collapsed to the ground. "N-nani?" she gasped.
Shizuka could hear the woman's heart beat pounding sporadically, shock and pain making the frail, human organ flutter like a caged bird.
"Your wards were weakened by something," Shizuka murmured, calmly breaking the woman's other four limbs as she closed the distance between them. A scream accentuated each crack. "Because of this, I can now kill you however I wish." She towered over the trembling hunter, looking down at the veiled face. "First you will answer my questions."
"I…" The Shadow was slow in regaining her power of speech. "I will tell you nothing, vampire!" she finally spat, her voice unsteady and choked with pain.
Shizuka knelt down beside the motionless woman and calmly removed her veil. Beneath the gossamer material, the Shadow was wearing a second mask that crossed diagonally over her face- yet now Shizuka could see the woman's wide, brown eyes staring back at her.
"Tell me your name," Shizuka instructed, emotionlessly pulling the mask from the Shadow's face.
With the veil and the mask gone, the Shadow was a passably pretty woman with a hard jaw line and light brown eyes. Her brown hair was pulled back into a thin ponytail that had been tucked up into her hat. Now it fell down to the ground, strands of hair escaping its tie.
The Shadow's jaw was clenched, her eyes angry and horrified, afraid and loathing.
"If you don't answer my questions, Shadow," Shizuka said softly, placing a finger on the woman's lower lip, "I will turn you into my vampire thrall and then order you to do so."
The fear dominated the Shadow's expression. This woman was not used to being helpless; it made her panic. "My name is Kiryuu Saika," the Shadow confessed in a rush.
"I see," Shizuka acknowledged, staring dispassionately down at the woman. It was strange that she had been first compelled to find the woman's identity of all things but 'Saika' was so much less horrific than 'the Shadow'. It was easier for Shizuka to speak her next words now that she was asking a frightened human woman. "You said the name of my beloved was on the Execution List. Why did this come to pass?"
"I…I don't know," Saika answered raggedly, her brow furrowed in pain. "There was an order from high up in the Association's ranks, the president himself I believe."
"And why would the Association President know the name of that person?" Shizuka said softly, her eyes darkening. "That sort of information would only be available to the Vampire Council, the names my former prey had gone by."
"Perhaps a deserter told him," Saika supplied, her voice choked.
"No," the pureblood shook her head, closing her eyes briefly. It was all to clear. "This is treachery." She knew who was responsible, in truth. She could not bring herself to speak it. The Association was in the pocket of her fiancé, just like the Vampire Council. That man had ordered her beloved executed just to hurt her- though there was no love lost between them, though the engagement was a humorless joke.
A building nearby cracked through the middle, broken by Shizuka's unstable power. She drew a low breath, forcing her emotions into control.
"I have things to do," Shizuka told the loathsome woman lying broken beside her. "I cannot do them as Hiou Shizuka, a pureblood vampire." She watched the woman for another few moments. In truth, a mad idea was gripping her and she no longer had a reason not to act impulsively. "We are about the same height- isn't that right? Though I am slightly taller." She did not wait for Saika's response, continuing the interrogation. "What is the identity of your assistant?" she questioned.
"Ah, Kiryuu Akihiro," the Shadow answered quickly, her eyes hazy. The moment probably had a surreal feeling to her, this woman who was never beaten. "My husband."
"Is that so?" Shizuka murmured. "Then are the both of you affiliated with the Association in any way through your true identity?"
"No," Saika breathed. "They don't even know we exist. As the Kiryuus, we are not believed to be involved with the war or even to know about vampires."
"Who else is involved in your life?" the pureblood continued. "Any family members?"
"Just…our two sons," Saika answered. "Zero and Ichiru."
Looking into the mirror was like looking into the face of a living nightmare. For the first time, Shizuka felt a tendril of dread and revulsion coiling around her heart at the sight of herself- and all because of a mask.
Saika's body was ash. The legendary hunter had been broken as a human then turned into Shizuka's thrall, that stricken look etched with seeming permanence on her passably pretty face. Then Shizuka had killed her- and with relish.
Even that did not make the raw grief in the pureblood's heart sooth; revenge did not bring back her loved one, the thing most precious that had been stolen from her. Hatred- the parched craving for vengeance however, seemed to be the only thing keeping Shizuka alive. It rushed through her veins as if it had completely replaced her blood. Were it drained away, she would be an empty shell- insubstantial as an apparation and as mortal as the winter's last snow.
Black, gossamer fabric slid under Shizuka's fingers as she straightened the veil she was wearing. Her slender figure was now clothed in dark hunter's attire, form-fitting around the torso and with slits on either side at the legs for free movement. Black pants sheathed her legs, heavy boots adding an extra inch to her height. Leather gloves were a second skin on her hands. She hated the clothes as much as she hated her reflection- and not because the long coat was just a hair too tight in the chest and slightly too loose around the waist.
The aggressive grace the battle gear had possessed when Saika was its wearer was different with Shizuka. The pureblood was subtle and quiet, a patron of the night. Like most hunters, the late Shadow-san had been loud, violent and fierce. The demon currently standing before the mirror was not a hunter dressed in black. She was a being with the terrifying fluidity of a predator about to spring, danger screaming in every inch of black cloth even though she was standing still. She was a shadow.
Her identity as a pureblood had also fallen away. Subtle spell work surrounded her body in an unbreakable mesh, hiding her aura of power. No one would sense her vampiric presence- not unless she allowed it.
Shizuka let her eyes fall away from the broken, rusting mirror. She stood within an abandoned house, the windows boarded up, the walls cracked and a pile of dust on the floor from when she had shaken Saika's remains out of her new clothes. At her feet on the creaking wood, was a heap of silk that was her discarded kimono. Atop it was a pale-colored cord upon which a bell was strung. Shizuka reached down, extracting it from the white garment. It emitted a light ringing, swinging on the cord from her gloved fingers. Staring at it, Shizuka realized with numb wonder that her hands were shaking.
"My soul has become black," she murmured in a dead-voiced whisper. She let out a low breath, closing her eyes for a brief moment; then she tied the cord around her slim wrist, letting the bell dangle within her wide sleeve. It was cool against her palm when she lowered her hand.
"Well, Shadow-san," she observed mockingly to her late enemy or perhaps to herself, "it does seem as though you have killed Hiou Shizuka, does it not? There are her empty clothes amidst her ashes and here on your wrist is the trophy you took from her corpse. What esteem you will surely get for murdering a pureblood and her lover."
Her voice sounded hollow, even to her own ears.
"Saika?"
The male tones hit her senses and she tensed in surprise. There was not another living being around her for miles- she was sure of it. For a moment, her thoughts cast about wildly in search of answer; then it all became apparent. The veil was enchanted and she noticed that now. Upon further examination, the ward around the veil could stifle sound if activated and it also brought to her the sounds from somewhere far away- a companion ward bound to it. This was how the Shadow spoke to her assistant, surely. The hunter woman would speak into the ward so that no other would hear and her assistant would hear her voice through his ward- that way he could relay her words.
Shizuka carefully avoided activating her part of the ward, listening as the man- Kiryuu Akihiro, surely- continued.
"We're needed on the front lines in the mainland so finish up there, alright? Here's the excitement you wanted so badly. I've arranged for a car to pick you up," he explained. "Oh, and don't worry about the veil. They're expecting the Shadow." He paused for a moment, waiting for a response. "Saika…?"
Shizuka let a frown slip onto her lips, then activated the ward. Her voice would not sound quite right but she was fairly certain she could muster a reasonable imitation of Saika's tone. "Finally, yes," she said with forced impatience, making her habitually soft voice hard. "I'm coming." She was quiet as he explained the situation- a small hunter outpost overwhelmed by a swarm of commoner vampires and a few nobles. If the vampires were victorious, they would gain territory that, in their possession, would lead to the strategical disadvantage of the Association.
As she listened, she extracted one more item from Saika's ashes- a coil of wire that sent chills of dread running down her spine. This blood-stained coil had killed hundreds of vampires and also…that person who was now lost forever. The sound cloth of her gloves protected her vampiric skin from the sting of its hunter enchantment but did not lesson the horror bleeding into her from the cold metal. She closed her eyes against the memories of him, the horrid truth of his death; she closed her heart against the sorrow and put the wire on her belt.
She left the abandoned shack, feeling as a stranger in her own skin. When she walked, her heavy booted feet made no sound at all. The cool breeze that now stirred the air in lazy currents made the black veil around her ripple. Akihiro told her where to find the car and driver. She made for that destination with a human's slowness.
The car was waiting for her at the edge of the ghost town. It was black. Shizuka said nothing as she slipped into the backseat. The driver said nothing, nodding respectfully to her and taking off down the road. She successfully kept her discomfort from showing but it nagged at her mind with unwavering persistence. That she had never before ridden in a car did not help the situation. When she had entered confinement thousands of years ago, cars had not existed. Was this strap supposed to connect on the other side of her body? She pretended she had not a care for it and stared out the window.
It was only thirty minutes before she felt the atmosphere change- not surprising as the driver sped down roads with all haste. They had traveled deserted roads and busy streets but now they were driving through an area in good repair; good repair despite its emptiness. There were no city dwellers in the buildings around them, no cars on the street. The town had been evacuated and in the distance, sounds of battle were carried to Shizuka's sharp ears.
The driver pulled to a stop at the side of the road. "Shadow-sama," he said quickly, "here is as close as we can get by car. The hunter units are being overrun just two blocks from here. Can you make it on your own?" He twisted in his seat to look at her.
She inclined her head once and slipped out of the car. She was immediately assaulted with the scent of blood- the blood of humans and vampires. The car drove off in the way they had come. She took the coil of wire from her belt, wondering half-interestedly how she was supposed to use such a weapon. She had seen Saika stretch it between her fingers- most likely with the intent to sling it around her enemies' necks and choke the life from their bodies. The Shadow was a powerful hunter however- perhaps this wire severed heads right off their shoulders. Shizuka could certainly achieve such a feat with the loathsome device.
She was at the battle field in a heartbeat, moving with inhuman speed to cover two blocks of distance. Her senses came to life with the presence of many auras- vampiric and hunter- all around her. Gunshots rang through the air, final screams and cries of hunger from parched throats resounded together in a chaotic tumble of noise. Bodies struggled, darting here and there and then not moving at all. All around, buildings were broken, the pavement smashed and street signs ripped from the ground. Before her, hunters struggled against an unrelenting mob of commoners. They were gravely outnumbered but the commoners were gravely out-skilled. Fifteen hunters were clear in Shizuka's sight and the vampire mob seemed endless.
"Saika? Are you here yet?" came Akihiro's voice.
She spotted him- a cloaked figure fighting five vampires at once on the edge of the mob with a katana.
"Yes, I am here," she replied simply. Then she attacked.
She threw herself full on into the mob, catching vampires around the throat from behind with the wire and effortlessly using it to decapitate them. Blood flew, its scent a rich perfume in the cool air. The pureblood vampire killed mechanically, methodically, slicing away at her foes with a weapon that was more of a hindrance than an aid. It was amusing- the Lady of the vampires' race soaking her hands in their blood when all she need do was call out in her pureblood voice and tell them to die. Nobles and commoners could only obey their pureblood masters; it was in their veins to surrender.
Shizuka was now fighting in the middle of the mob, all sight of her hunter 'fellows' lost in the tangle of commoner heads and limbs. She whipped the coil of wire outward, severing torsos from bodies around her with strength no hunter ought have possessed. They kept coming, new enemies replacing the dead and stepping on the ashes of their comrades. Shizuka did not falter; it was not as though she would run out of energy.
Then she began to enjoy herself.
It was the simplest thing she had ever attempted and how hilarious to be betraying the race that had never done a thing for her, had gawked with the rest of the world at her as she silently watched behind iron bars. She cared not at all for the war; everyone in the world could die. It did not matter- but while their lives ended easily as though they were disgusting bugs crushed beneath her feet, she knew she hated each one of them.
It became a bit of a game. Whenever she was in sight of a hunter, she would fight as the Shadow, a legendary hunter wielding a coil of blood-stained wires. When she was all alone amidst the sea of vampires, she would become what she truly was- a demon masquerading in a costume of black, wearing her racial enemy's skin like a mask. When she curled her fingers, blood was squeezed from the leathery material of her gloves to drip to the ash-coated earth. Gradually the sea of vampires became something smaller than a sea- a fanged crowd of monsters, a fearful group of stragglers and finally mere dust on the red-speckled streets.
The group of hunters remaining had been halved and each of the survivors was staring at Shizuka in awe. Akihiro was among them, his eyes invisible beneath the cowl of his hood. Keenly feeling their gaze, Shizuka removed one of her gloves and wrung the blood from it. After replacing it, she began to neatly coil the wire once more.
"Amazing…just amazing- and we were sure to have lost this territory long before reinforcements arrived," Akihiro told her. "I'll send our report of the incident to the Association tomorrow. We should get home to the twins now. They haven't eaten since yesterday morning." He paused. "You really were hungering for a battle, weren't you, Saika?"
She glanced at him, giving him a small nod. She did not feel like mimicking Saika's voice; she was unskilled at it. Akihiro began to address the remaining hunters, his words not exactly orders- they were not under his authority- but powerful all the same. Shizuka decided she needed him. She could never carry on this hoax without his knowledge and presence. Well, it was not difficult to make him her thrall, was it?
Her thoughts turned to the assumption she had already made about her future. Yes, she was going to carry on her deception, impersonating a legendary hunter. She was going to use it to find her despicable fiancé and permanently end his life. There was nothing but hatred keeping her living now, her emotions dulled to bitter amusement and cruel enjoyment of the kill. She remembered her fiancé's mismatched eyes- the seemingly charming smile he donned like a mask. She had loathed him at once- why had she not bothered long enough with the world to see the engagement nullified? Why had she allowed him to do whatever he wished in his little circles of vampiric court while she remained peacefully in a cage away from all she hated? Why had she not plotted to kill him before now? Had she done so, her most precious person might never have been snatched away.
"Saika," Akihiro interrupted her bitter musings, "let's go home." She followed him as he strode from the block. Cars were pulling up, hunters meeting with their fellows and arranging on small, black phones for clean up of the area. As she passed they called out to her, some bowing respectfully, some praising her with admiring smiles on their faces.
The Shadow and her assistant stole away from the rest. Akihiro had a car some distance from the battle and to her relief, he did not expect her to drive it. She slid into the passenger seat and was silent for the duration of the drive.
They had come to a small town, driving leisurely through the shadowed streets when Shizuka got the feeling they were nearing their final destination. The sun was rising, a line of fire staining the horizon in the east. Its vibrant color bled into the night's retreating darkness, tainting the once velvety rich blackness into gray and orange hues. Shizuka stared out the window, her pensive silence drawing her 'husband's' attention.
"You're thinking about them again, aren't you?" Since she was unsure of to whom he was referring, she just nodded.
"It's not your fault, Saika," Akihiro said, the slight weariness in his voice suggesting that this was not the first time. "It was a fluke of magic- a mistake. You must stop blaming yourself for giving birth to twins." That drew her attention- he had mentioned twins before but it had not registered in her mind. Didn't hunters not ever have twins? Weren't twins of hunters supposed to be cursed?
She nodded again to get him to stop talking. She would find out later.
He pulled into the drive of a small house just outside of town. The plain dwelling did not seem lived in, dull in its appearance. He parked the car in the garage, pulling down his hood and getting out. For the first time, she glimpsed his face. He had silver hair, a shade or so darker than hers, despite only appearing to be in his early thirties. His eyes were the color of amethysts. Despite his exotic features, she did not find him to be much more appealing to look at than his late wife had been. Shizuka stepped out of the car, following him as he shut the garage door after them and entered the house through a side door.
She froze on the doorstep, glimpsing only his back as he disappeared down the hall. There were anti-vampire wards around the house, screaming their disapproval at her as she strove to enter the dwelling. They were minor wards but she made haste as she murmured an incantation to break them all the same.
"Saika? Is everything alright?" Akihiro called absently just as she finished deconstructing the last ward.
"Everything," she reassured him, altering her voice slightly. She crossed the threshold, walking into the hall. She found him in a sparsely furnished living room. He had a first aid kit open next to him as he sat at one end of a couch. He was treating a long but shallow gash down his arm.
Her brow furrowed in confusion- why had she not realized he was hurt? Surely she would have noticed the scent of his blood. It dawned on her; both of their garments were enchanted to hide the smell of their blood. Vampires, after all, could identify a person based on that fragrance.
Akihiro looked up, confusion crossing his face as he saw she was still wearing the veil. He did not mention it however, continuing with his task of cleaning the cut. "Were you injured at all?" he questioned, glancing at her.
She shook her head, standing in the doorway of the room.
A wry smile spread across his face. "Figures. You're too good at what you do. One day, the Association will be asking you to take on armies single-handed." She did not respond and he continued, talking too much to make up for her silence. Perhaps he was trying to distract her from her thoughts of twins? "Did anything interesting happen while you were off hunting from the execution list?"
In the meantime, he had done something exceptionally convenient- he had put himself alone with her in a place that was out of sight and far enough from the city for sound to remain unnoticed. It was time to let this façade crumble.
"Sou," she murmured, answering his question honestly. "The Shadow got into a fight with a pureblood vampire; Hiou Shizuka."
He froze, looking at her sharply. "Nani?" he breathed. "A pureblood?"
She nodded slowly. "Sou. Then Hiou Shizuka killed the Shadow and stole her skin." She had not bothered to alter her voice. The way his entire countenance had changed from relaxed to rigid and tense was a clear sign he was unbalanced. His expression was that of one who was about to be horrified, about to be stricken with shock and fear- for this was just like a tale of horror. The person he had been talking familiarly to was in truth his wife's killer and a blood drinking beast at the same time.
Shizuka pulled the veil and the mask from her head with one motion, letting them fall to the floor in a heap of black cloth. Her silver hair cascaded down to her waist, released from its restraints. She regarded him with a bitter smile, her cherry blossom eyes glinting with misery.
"The fault for my loved one's unfounded execution did not rest with Saika, Akihiro," she assured him tonelessly. She spoke familiarly without honorifics but only because she had a habit of acting with closeness towards the ones she intended to hurt- or kill. Saika, as a person Shizuka had killed, would always be just 'Saika' to the pureblood, spoken of like a good friend. "The person who put my lover's name on that list is, of course, to blame. However…"
Akihiro had a katana in his hands and he was standing now. The expression on his face was stoic- a fighter's face- but his eyes were still lost in his horror.
"His blood still stains this wire," she continued in a broken tone, letting her fingers ghost across the coil on her belt. "How could I not kill her? Especially with your wife being such an unpleasant person…" She let her gaze sharpen as she watched him. "I happen to need this identity to kill the person actually responsible, Akihiro. Of course you do not mind assisting me for the rest of your life…isn't that right?"
He lunged at her with a snarl, the hopeless act fueled by the mindless rage in his eyes. The Shadow had been nearly a titan the same way that purebloods were; her assistant however was just a hunter, just someone who could not possibly hope to defeat Hiou Shizuka.
She was gone in an instant, moving to stand behind him with inhuman speed and catching his wrists in her grip. A mere tightening of her hands snapped his bones as though they were twigs and the katana fell to the ground. She had no desire to play with him; this would end quickly.
She effortlessly drove him forward, pinning him face first against the wall. He strained in her grip, cursing her, but his attempts to break free were useless. She sank her fangs into his neck, letting the taste of his hot blood soak her tongue.
His struggles gradually faltered and finally, as she pulled back, he was still all together. She released him, allowing him to turn at meet her gaze.
"What do you wish of me, Hiou-sama?" he asked tonelessly, staring at her with vacant eyes.
Shizuka smiled coldly. "Become my slave."
o0O0o
"They must be fighting an actual battle today," Zero murmured, staring up at the shadowed ceiling. Neither he nor his brother could sleep, hunger gnawing at their stomachs with dull and persistent teeth. The elder twin loathed nights like this where his parents just did not come home; it meant Ichiru was suffering and there was not a single thing Zero could do about it. He had no ration to sacrifice for his brother. He had no energy to share a fragment of humor, no warmth for a smile.
Ichiru made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat. Unlike his brother, he was not negatively affected by the absence of their parents. His eyes were bright despite his impassive expression. As they lay awake in the back room of their two-room prison, he was dreaming of blood and perhaps a light brilliant enough to completely banish the shadows from his life.
"You're thinking about something," Zero called him out, turning onto one side to regard his brother.
The thin sleeping pallet beneath them was wide enough for both their skinny frames and they rested side by side. That night there seemed to be a barrier between them, the unfamiliar darkness of secrets in Ichiru's eyes. It was strange; Zero could almost always guess his brother's contemplations but the younger twin's mind was now a mystery to him.
"Thinking about things is a habit of mine," Ichiru said, the light note in his voice evasive. He was too wound-up to lie convincingly. Every minute his parents were gone made him more hopeful. Was Okaa-san dead? Had he killed her yet? With a spell he had invented himself, he had destroyed the anti-pureblood ward protecting her from telekinesis. Had it ceased to matter in a storm of level B and below vampires? No matter, he told himself. If she came back alive, he would break more of her wards- and more and more until it did kill her.
He knew he was murdering Zero.
"I'm just wondering, Zero, if starving to death is really so awful," he explained then, the casual tone in his voice forced- because if the iron basement door never opened…
"They will come back, Ichiru," Zero assured him with a sarcastic smile. "We won't die before then."
"And say they don't come back?" Ichiru breathed, his gaze drifting from his brother to the ceiling. "Would that really be awful at all?"
"It would be awful," the elder twin affirmed without hesitation. "We would die and then I would lose you."
A question that was constantly haunting Zero's mind returned with force. In the womb, they had unconsciously battled each other to see which would live- Zero had won. It was such with every set of twins born by hunters. The winner would absorb its sibling's strength and one child would live- the other would be stillborn. Yet Zero had not killed Ichiru, only taking half of the younger twin's strength. He should not have taken any and then the unrelenting illness that even now laid the flush of fever upon Ichiru's cheeks would never have existed.
Without meaning to, he spoke, his voice very quiet in the shadows. "Okaa-san told me something once," he said softly, his eyes locked on Ichiru's face. "I think it was when we were seven- the day she took me out of this basement for a few minutes." The younger twin gave a nod of understanding to show he remembered. Zero drew a low breath and continued. "She told me I could live outside, go to school, become a hunter. She said she would treat me as her son…if I were to kill you."
Ichiru scarcely blinked. "It's not surprising she would say something like that."
Zero was taken aback. "That's it?" he demanded, sitting up to look down at his twin. "She told me to strangle you in your sleep! That doesn't bother you?"
The younger twin rolled his eyes with a sigh. "What bothers me is that you didn't do it. You should have killed me, Zero. I was meant to die anyway. Think of it intelligently- if you had strangled me in my sleep, you could have acquired enough power to kill both of those monsters."
"But…" Zero stammered, staring at his brother wide-eyed and lost. "You would be dead."
"We're already dead, Zero," Ichiru muttered, a scathing note in his voice. "According to the world out there, we were never even born."
"If the same choice had been offered to you…?" his brother began. This was what he had always wanted to know with a sort of masochistic hunger that gave him nightmares.
"I would have done it," the younger twin said unflinchingly, turning on his side to face away from his brother. Then he whispered, "Besides…if I haven't killed you already, I intend to. That's why I asked about starving to death."
"What do you mean?" Zero demanded, shaking away the past and the pain to focus on the more current problem Ichiru was alluding to. He was hurt however and it now surfaced as the note of rising anger in his tone.
"I don't really feel like talking about it," Ichiru said evasively, his voice flat, "but the reason Okaa-san and Otou-san are late might be because the ward protecting Shadow-sama from purebloods could be shattered with the slightest breath of an arcane attack. You see…I cast a spell to destroy it."
"What?" the elder twin breathed, inhaling sharply. "You learned magic? How?!"
"The dictionary Otou-san gave us," the younger answered reluctantly. "All spells are in that language- it wasn't hard to invent a few."
"No one can invent spells," Zero pointed out harshly.
"Then how were any spells thought up in the first place?" his brother scoffed. "Stop bringing up irrelevant things." "It's not irrelevant!" the elder snapped. He drew a low breath, calming himself. "Well, if you know spells, can you get the door open?"
"Of course not," Ichiru said wryly, frowning at the gray material of his sleeping pallet. "If hunters could manipulate physical objects with our magic, we'd be called 'wizards', wouldn't we? The best I can do is warp someone's perceptions- specifically, those people with the gene that connects us to the vampire race. Otherwise, it's all wards and anti-vampire crap."
Zero stood up, turning away from his brother. "I should have known this entire idea of yours was useless," his voice devoid of warmth and coiled as tightly as a spring. His back was to Ichiru so he did not see the younger twin flinch at the cold word. He remained unaware as Ichiru's voice was steady and sharp as steel when a retort was delivered.
"Why? Because I and everything I do is useless?" Ichiru spat, standing up. His amethyst eyes bore holes in Zero's back.
"No!" Zero denied angrily, whirling around to face his brother. His face was ashen but his eyes were wild and afire with hopeless fury. He grabbed the collar of Ichiru's shirt and with one powerful step, slammed his brother against the wall. "No! It's because I would rather live decades in this hellish room than see you die! Can't you understand that?!"
Ichiru let out a shaky breath, dizzy from the sudden attack. He met Zero's gaze dully, slumping against the wall. The look seemed to bring Zero to his senses and the elder twin quickly released his brother, guilt flashing across his face.
"Gomen," he apologized in a whisper. He closed his eyes, his shoulders shaking slightly. "I…You deserve everything, Ichiru. Don't say you should have died because…you're my reason for living."
"Zero is too gentle," the younger twin said softly, his voice no longer hard with sarcasm and bitterness. "My reason for living is to kill our parents. I'm sorry that it will kill you too."
Zero was about to reply but he was cut off by the deep, reverberating sound of the basement door being opened. Ichiru sighed, disappointment turning down the corners of his mouth.
"It looks like I've failed," he said in English to his brother. "Let's just hope mother doesn't know what I've done."
The elder twin let out a breath of relief. A small smile touched his lips. "I'll protect you. I promise."
"Zero, Ichiru, come here," called Otou-san's voice hollowly from the other room.
Zero opened the door of their bedroom, glancing at Ichiru. "Stay here," he said. "I'll tell him you're sick."
"He'll be angry if I don't come," Ichiru disagreed, quietly slipping out of the bedroom after his brother.
Their eyes swept over their plain common room, the stacks of worn books and dim lamp that were the only furnishings. The enormous, mechanically locked iron door in one corner of the room hung open, its five-inch thick surface hanging from large hinges. Otou-san stood in the doorway, dressed in his battle gear.
That in and of itself was a frightening sign- so much that neither of the twins noticed the hints of blood staining his neck or tangling in the strands of his silver hair. They noticed the vacant look in his eyes but they attributed it to an unknown emotion- one that should be found out as quickly as possible.
"Welcome home, Otou-san," Ichiru said softly in Japanese, placing a hand on Zero's shoulder for support. He still felt slightly dizzy but he shoved away his ever-present frailty, intent on concentrating. It did not help that he had not eaten. Hunger was giving him a headache.
"Come here," Otou-san repeated without inflection.
"Something's off," Zero murmured to his brother.
"What should we do?" Ichiru replied tensely, his voice hushed. Otou-san did not react to their conversation, staring blankly at them in wait.
"Stay here," the elder twin ordered, boldly approaching their father. He addressed Otou-san in Japanese once more, his shoulders hunched slightly as he neared the person who had beaten him so often. "What is it? Are you taking us somewhere?"
'Somewhere' really could only mean one place- the closet. Whenever the twins did something wrong, they were locked in a hallway closet, so small that there was barely enough room to sit down. Naturally, both of them were claustrophobic by now.
"I am to take you upstairs," Otou-san intoned, mechanically seizing Zero's wrist in an iron grip. "Ichiru too. Come here."
Zero shot his brother a helpless look. Ichiru nodded and went to their father. Upon grabbing the wrist of his youngest son, Otou-san turned and pushed them along in front of him through the iron door.
"I always want to run for it when he takes us out," Ichiru breathed as they were marched up the stairs to the ground floor of the house. "We could never break the wards around this place though. Not even I could- not without plenty of time. They would get us by then."
Zero was not listening; he was staring at his father, his brow furrowed and a slightly unnerved expression on his face. "Ichiru," he said uncertainly, steadying his brother with his free hand when Ichiru stumbled on the stairs. "Do you sense anything? Otou-san's clothes cancel out any auras that a hunter might normally give off but…it's weird."
Ichiru shook his head. "I don't sense anything. Then again…we both know your senses are better than mine." Zero nodded, not noticing the bitterness in those last words. He was quiet as they walked down the hall, passing the closet they were usually locked inside. Ichiru looked around with interest, savoring the moment to observe new surroundings. The house was big- very big, like an old mansion despite its modern furnishings. Then Zero inhaled sharply, coming to a halt only to trip as Otou-san pushed him along. Zero fell to the ground, looking up at his father in horror.
"You're a vampire!" he cried, staring into his father's vacant eyes.
"A vampire?" Ichiru said with a sharp breath, looking over his shoulder at Otou-san.
"If you do not walk, I will carry you," Otou-san said tonelessly. "We must not make the lady wait." Ichiru's eyes narrowed and he murmured an incantation under his breath. Abruptly the hand Otou-san had around Ichiru's wrist burst into white flame. The silver-haired man let out a moan that was only an echo of a human cry of pain. He released his youngest son, numbly batting at his flaming skin.
"Let's go!" the younger twin shouted, grabbing Zero's elbow as the elder stood.
They took off, racing down the unfamiliar hallway on long legs. Ichiru, though the one initially to lead their mad dash, was soon overtaken by Zero who pulled him along protectively. The elder twin glanced as brother.
"I'm sorry for calling your magic useless," he said with a wan smile.
"It's nothing," Ichiru waved off though he felt like he could collapse from the strain of maintaining their frantic sprint. "Ne…he'll be coming after us. Let's hide somewhere." "Here," Zero agreed, pulling Ichiru through a door into an empty room.
Breathing hard, Ichiru slammed the door shut and began murmuring a soft incantation under his breath. A moment or so later, its polished wood surface hummed with a faint energy, detectable to their hunter senses.
"Ichiru…"
"That will keep either out," Ichiru told his brother, resting his palm on the door to catch his breath, "hunters and vampires."
"Ichiru, I chose the wrong room," Zero finished, his voice low and tense.
Ichiru whipped his head around, his eyes locking on what his brother had already been staring at. "No, you think?" the younger of the two questioned wearily.
They were in a sitting room and that was fair enough, with its sparse collection of furniture that even looked comfortable to some extent. It had looked completely empty at first glance but now they both saw they were not alone.
The woman stood motionlessly in one corner by the mantle, her lines of her dark clothing obscured by the shadows filling the room. She looked like a shadow herself actually, easily overlooked in her motionless grace. A hat and a black veil covered her head, the gossamer fabric parted slightly so that only the lower half of her face was visible. The collar of her long coat was black, and her pants- visible through the slits on either side of her coat- were as well.
"I think Okaa-san is a vampire too," Zero murmured, pushing Ichiru behind him.
"I think that isn't Okaa-san," Ichiru said with wonder in his voice.
"What?" the elder twin asked sharply, his voice tense. "That's her battle gear…"
"Okaa-san…never really looked like a shadow, did she?" the younger asked softly. A grin broke out on his face. "No, no, that's not her!" he said with certainty and growing excitement. "That has to be the pureblood that turned Otou-san into a thrall! Ne, Junketsu Onee-san! Thank you for killing that witch!"
"Don't talk to her!" Zero exclaimed. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Don't you get it? She'll kill us too!"
"So?" Ichiru scoffed.
"Ara," the shadow in the corner said with a soft voice like velvet, "you are not what I was expecting. I fear your father may truly be a useless individual if he cannot restrain two, half-starved children." She took a step forward, her movement as fluid as black water and her booted foot making no sound on the carpeted floor. "But there is more to you than it would seem…isn't that right?"
"We're pretty ordinary," Ichiru denied cheerfully.
Zero elbowed him. "Shut up," he hissed, then addressed the vampire. "Ah, like he said, thanks for killing our mother. We're not really hunters- in fact, we've been locked in a dark room most of our lives."
"Is that so?" the living shadow questioned, amusement lacing her voice. "Is it not a fascinating coincidence that I can say the exact same thing?" "About not really being a hunter or being locked in a dark room?" Ichiru questioned lightly.
"Cut that out," Zero growled.
"Both," the vampire answered with a fanged grin, just visible beneath her veil.
"Ah, right," the elder twin muttered. "Anyway, I'm glad we're similar and all- my point was, we have nothing to do with our mother and if you could let us go, that would be great."
"I don't think she is going to do that," Ichiru said, casually resting his chin on his brother's shoulder.
The pureblood laughed, the rich sound dulcet and chilling. "Sou, ne? Why on earth would I let such gifted children slip through my fingers?" She reached up with one slender hand and pulled the veil from her head. Silver hair cascaded down from the hat to fall in long locks to her waist. Her eyes were the color of cherry blossoms. She was inhumanly beautiful- but there were tearstains on her face and her smile was cruel.
"My name is Hiou Shizuka," she introduced herself, "and I did not kill your mother." She raised one gloved finger to point at Ichiru. "You did."