Disclaimer: I don't own Card Captor Sakura and the first to cheer up my spirit will be force-fed poison…

A/N: This will be my second fic…please review…

A Brain is like a sharp knife…use it for good and it will never fail you

Use it for bad…and it will be the architect of your demise…

By: A friend from School…

Chapter 1: Dark Power

By:Book-Guardian and her very secretive muse that lives in a

Cardboard box up in the attic…

Darkness was a strange thing…when you thought of darkness, sitting on your comfy couch, beside a large fire filled with dancing flames, you usually came to consider…what the hell, why would anyone ever go into the darkness…into the evil side…into something that would eventually destroy you…why would anyone be tempted like that…it was just so stupid. But when you actually feel the ice cold darkness in your skin, feel it crawling through your spine like a snake lunging for its prey…you had a very different opinion about darkness—you find it, all of a sudden, very appealing and your brain stops working and you suddenly want to make it out alive…

Darkness was like an envelope always ready for its next victim. The choice is always there…the circumstances aren't. When you feel pulled into the darkness, you gain new strength---powerful yes but uncontrollable. The strength is too strong to be stopped and lust for more appears without one's consent.

But the funny thing is, there is always someone who is ready to fight it—fight the dangerous temptation of the darkness—fight the ones who have already been tempted, the ones who are ready to lung out for more power. There is always someone who stopped it or has the skill to do it—there always had been that person who could do so.

That was her life…nothing more than bloodshed, darkness, and battles with the already tempted ones that were tainted with shadows. That was what she was meant to do—born to do. Many a times, she would wonder what would have happened if she weren't who she was—what she was--if she weren't selected.

Obviously, that would have been life. Now she was just as isolated as she was supposed to be.

Here she was, waiting for that thing to come out so she could kill it. She batted her eyelashes—seeing darkness in one vision and the deserted alley streets beside a graveyard in another. These creatures were despicable. They fought with no honour—they never slept and they never died. Speaking of sleep, she sighed—knowing that nothing could be seen on her face since she was well hidden behind the shadows—she wanted to sleep. Why couldn't she just come back tomorrow night? No, many could be slaughtered that night if she was stupid to go to bed. Suddenly she snapped out of her daze.

They were coming. She readied herself, straining her ears to hear them. There weren't more than five of them; she could sense that—piece of cake. She hid herself well in the alley corner waiting for them to come a good distance. Her long slender fingers encompassed around something and she took it out of her leather belt-pockets, flinging it into air before catching it with grace that a normal human wouldn't have mastered up. She smirked—it had taken months of lessons from his good-natured over-protective brother to learn that and she was not going to let it drop.

The footsteps were getting faster, or at least one of them was. She sneered--so they were following someone, all the more for her to satisfy herself with more than one killing—perfect. The fast-paced footsteps suddenly stopped as a loud thud was heard—someone had tripped—possibly the victim.

" Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you," a honey-laced voice said mockingly.

" Yeah, Ted here is right…we just want to taste your soul, is all, you smelled so good in the mall…we couldn't help following you…but we'll share alright…"another voice said.

She felt her blood boil…she hated them…hated those scoundrels. They always manipulated the weak. She decided it was time to act—time to fight.

" Alright…now let's feast shall we?" the man called Ted spoke, his face changing into a hideous feature as he did so.

She was used to this—since the first time, she was pretty used to demonic faces—after all, she fought them didn't she…the victim was a female teenager who looked white with fear and was whimpering uncontrollably. She stepped out.

" Why don't you ever pick on someone your own skill…oops, sorry, that can't be me, can it?" A woman stepped out of the shadows. The wind blew across her face swaying her auburn hair towards its course. The woman had startling emerald-green eyes that had lost all its warmth and was now just two cold-green orbs. Her hands were in her belt-pockets ready to take out the weapons. Her lips were put up in a smirk while she battled her way not to laugh cruelly.

" And what's a pretty little girl like you doing on the streets?" One of the men said scornfully.

" Don't complain Mike…" Ted said, " all the better for us…we drink two at the price of one…"

She smiled. The female victim meanwhile was so terrified, she was sweating and her face was becoming chalk-white and she had long ceased whimpering. Now she seemed to have adapted silence as if waiting for her death to just come. She smiled. They should teach women self-defense.

" Go," she said to the victim calmly, " and don't come back here…"

The woman was more than glad to carry out the orders as she ran out of the streets finally screaming when she was far away. She smirked again and turned to look at the five vampires. They looked pretty strong but then again, looks can sometimes be so scarily deceiving.

" Now," she said fearlessly, " where were we…oh, yeah…I will give you thirty seconds to run fast and if you are lucky you might even get away…then, you will die…"

" You hear, Ted…this girl wants to kill us…how pathetic…at least we can all feed on her…telling us to run, is she…who are you?"

" Your death…in other words…your Cleaning day is here…" She replied again smiling.

The demons seemed to have underestimated her as they lunged for her, some changing their faces into their true forms. She smiled—it would be their death, not hers…she had warned them…they didn't listen, whose fault was that? She jumped gracefully in the air and took out two carefully designed wooden stakes. They were sharp. She sprung right at them kicking one of them right in the chest with unimaginable skill as she did a front somersault and kicked another one right in the face. They both flew right towards the tree. The female fighter sent both her stakes right at their hearts and staked them from air. She smirked in surprise. She was getting better. The three other demons were right behind her. This time, she did a backwards somersaults, then a series of cartwheels and staked two of them.

The last remaining demon was whimpering, much like his victim. But he was obstinate and remained fighting punching the young fighter who in turn was blocking every one of them with yielding poise. Soon, she pined the vampire to a nearby tree and said, " You…are a Life Eater…aren't you?

" No…I…don't know…what you—" The fighter had just brought her stakes closer to him.

" You are among the most despicable race in this world…you are a Life Eater—someone who drinks not blood but souls and life and…I must kill you… you asked me who I was? Well, then…I am—"

" –-You can't be a slayer, you just can't be…" the vampire muttered fearfully, " she was killed just a few days ago, you couldn't have mastered moves like that in a few days and—"

" I am not a slayer," the woman said irritated as to why the vampire was talking so much when he was about to be dusted within seconds, " I am the Eradicator and one—"

" YOU CAN"T BE…YOU MUSN"T BE…the Eradicator died one thousand years ago…you couldn't have been reincarnated…could you?" The woman merely stared at the vampire wondering what on hell he talking about.

"—but that explains your advanced skills and your strength and your ravishing beauty and also why the Night Lord who is looking for—" Whoosh, he was dusted. The woman stared at the place where the vampire once was… The Night lord? That name somehow struck something in her mind as something hot and cold at the same time overwhelmed her…the woman shrugged. Let that vampire thingy come…she could kill it.

She turned to walk when something else caught her eye. She turned around elegantly and took out her stakes. She faced the darkness of the alley. Something wasn't right. Something just wasn't—the wind suddenly blew swiftly warning her of danger. She quickly took something else out of her pocket.

" Windy," the woman said lazily, " I command you to tell me if there is danger…" The woman took out what seemed like a tarot card but more olden and somehow more pleasing to the eye. On the card was a picture of a woman with wings across her chest. The rest of her body wasn't there. As she grasped hold of those words, the card shot out of her hair twirling around a few feet off the ground and with a burst of golden energy, a spirit much like the image on the card shot out and nodded, closing her eyes as she muttered.

The woman, on the ground waited. Within mere seconds, Windy had opened her eyes and had pointed towards the alley calmly. She then dissolved in the air and returned to her card. The woman moved towards the alley stealthily. Then, all of a sudden, something was growling like a dog or a wolf. The woman tightened her grip on her stakes as she entered the alley. She couldn't sense a Life-Eater but something was there.

Then she saw it. Two pairs of red eyes glowed in the dark as a vague shape of an animal came into view. As soon it saw it, it leapt away. The woman wanted to follow but decided it was better to deal with it the next night. Her body was aching.

Ding Dong…she rang the bell of her house. This just seemed so weird. Wasn't she supposed to be opening the door instead? Speaking of the door, it had just opened revealing a raven-haired woman with beautiful amethyst eyes who looked thoroughly disheveled.

" Oh, Sakura…we have been so worried for you—I mean usually, you hardly take that long and you didn't come for two hours, so we got kind of scared and Chelsea, Nikki and Rita started doing Tracking spells to find you…oh, thank goodness, you are alright…" she hugged the waiting girl named Sakura who raised her eyebrows.

" Uh, Tomoyo…can I please come in…into my own house?" Sakura said amusedly.

Tomoyo blinked before she understood, " oh, yeah, sorry about that…"

Sakura went inside her house closing the door and locking it shut. She opened her jacket and went into the living room where she was met with a very strange sight…

Four people were there sitting inside a pentacle with two huge circles along it. There was a lot of dust and gray ash that seemed to be from a graveyard. There were five small circles on which sat four people—one person was missing (probably Tomoyo, since she went to get the door) all looking so dusty, Sakura had an instant mental image of dust bunnies.

" Uh, Tomoyo…" Sakura asked, " Why did you invite demons into my house?"

" They are not demons…they live here, Sakura…"

Sakura looked at them. Then suddenly realization dawned on her.

" Oh, it's you…honestly Chelsea…when doing a spell, could you try not to attract so much dust, I mean, I am the Eradicator and a bank accountant and a Clow conjurer. I really don't want to be the maid of my own house as well…"

" Me?" said a very surprised voice as her hands wove to clean the dust off the entire room. The whole room was cleaned and dust-free within a minute.

" Wow, nice trick…teach me how to do it some time…" Tomoyo uttered looking at the den in awe.

" Anyways…" Chelsea, a brown eyed and petite girl with a strange hair sense (her hair was put up like two croissants) and shy attitude spoke, "…I did not set the room on dust…I mean Nikki was the one who decided we should do a tracking spell and—"

" Exactly," said a very thin looking girl with huge glasses, " I said to do a tracking spell—Chelsea—a tracking spell—not a Earth spell like you did…" she looked pretty worn out as did the other people.

" Yeah but—" Chelsea began determined to win this argument.

" Oh, please…you guys…" another voice said as she got up from her circle in the pentacle, " can we not do this now?"

" Yeah," the last voice spoke which was surprisingly full of meaning and matured, " Rita is right…Sakura just came back from hunting…let's try not hurting her mood…"

They all quieted down as Rita, a shorthaired and shy looking girl, snapped her fingers to vanish the chalk-drawn pentacle.

Sakura smiled. This was her family—her home, ever since that day, they were her family—Tomoyo: her best friend and first cousin, Rita, Chelsea and Nikki: the closest friends she had ever had…Tomoyo, and the three triplets (or as she liked to call the three friends) were all wiccas—powerful witches from the Pectus Dynasty and very useful. The matured woman was Kaho Mizuki—her Watcher. She was probably the only one in the house that understood exactly how it felt killing the dark, getting tempted, looking at blood.

"Guess what, Sakura?" Tomoyo said excitedly. Sakura tried not to groan and wished that Tomoyo would not say anything about—

" I made you a new battle dress, you want to--"

" NO, Tomoyo, but thank you…" Sakura said before Tomoyo had a chance to finish what she was saying. Honestly, that woman could sometimes be scarily cheerful. Sakura looked down at herself; today she was wearing one of Tomoyo's most uncomfortable but useful battle gear. She wore a tight leather pair of shorts that were unusually short and a dark colored T-shirt (Life-Eaters are attracted to bright colours) that barely met her shorts and a leather jacket on top of that.

" We bought Chinese food today, all our favorites…" Rita said, "…but, uh, we already finished our dinner…you don't mind…do you, Sakura?"

" No, that's fine…" Sakura said dropping all her weapons into a large chest that looked as though one good punch could easily destroy it. Sakura and her friends went into the dining room where Sakura's food was already laid down. Sakura licked her lips—that smelled really good.

" So, Sakura…" Kaho said pulling out one of the dining chairs, " anything new happen today…"

" No, not really," Sakura said wolfing down on her dinner, " a few Life-Eaters attacking a woman who was foolishly wearing a red silk dress…me come to the rescue…dust all of the Life-Eaters but the last one was really talkative…kept talking about some Night lord and—"

Clunk. Tomoyo dropped the spoon she was serving Sakura with and hardly seemed concerned to retrieve it from the floor. Kaho looked at Sakura as though she had uttered a very disgusting swear word and Chelsea, Rita and Nikki were all whispering in hushed voices with Rita's hand on top of her mouth.

" What did you say?" whispered Tomoyo.

Sakura raised her eyebrows. This was a little weird, " I said I dusted the Life-Eater and—"

" No, not that, what did you say after that?" Kaho said impatiently.

Sakura recalled back and then it hit her.

" I said the Night lord--, " Sakura ignored the flinched looks her friends were giving her, " honestly, what's wrong with you…"

" Do you know who he is, " then, ignoring Sakura's clueless face, Kaho sighed and went on, " he is the most powerful of all Life-Eaters and vampire kings…and demons and…your power can barely match his…he is called the Night Lord…do you know why…he is fear itself and he has been in almost all the books about demons…demons worship him and he killed so many slayers and—"

" –That's where you are wrong, Kaho…" Sakura said helping herself to more servings, " he has met many slayers and killed them—he has never met the Eradicator—Kaho, for heavens sake, stop looking like the world is about to end, all of you stop looking at me like that! We have met thousands of demons powerful and strong, and I've defeated everyone of them…this one will no different…"

Kaho smiled. So did everyone else.

" Sakura is right," Rita, said, " we will hit the books tomorrow and see what we can found out about this guy alright?"

Tomoyo, Chelsea and Nikki all nodded. Sakura couldn't help grin back.

After a few minutes, Sakura got up from the table and went upstairs. God, this was tiring. Sakura crawled into her bed. Ever since that day when her parents and brother were killed, she had decided never to look back. She had decided that she would not let the tempted ones get to her. She had remembered that day like it had just happened a few hours ago…

She had been alone at home with Touya. She had been thirteen while Touya, twenty. She had been watching television; some really scary movie while her brother had made them sandwiches. Her parents, Aiden and Natasha were not at home. Sakura shuddered as she remembered what had happened next. Touya had been eating his sandwich when suddenly he had dropped it and had started to tell Sakura to run. Sakura, being the oblivious teenager that she was had told off Touya by telling him to stop scaring her. But little had she known how scary it was going to get. Touya had immediately lunged for the door when the balcony door had exploded—the shards of glass flying through the air. Touya had realized, somehow what was happening.

Sakura still thought it as a mystery as to how he found out about demons and Life-eaters. Touya had taken Sakura by her waist and had opened the main door of their house trying to let her not see the sight. But despite that, Sakura had seen it. An image had cast into her mind forever. In the balcony had been three Life-eaters—two holding her pale and unmistakably dead parents while they had lunged for Touya. Touya had suddenly gone haywire and had thrown Sakura out of the main entrance telling her to run. Sakura had then understood. As she had started running, a terrifying scream had echoed in the neighborhood. But Sakura had kept on running.

From that day on, Sakura had decided to master herself, to train her body to endure pain, she had amazingly no difficulty doing that. Her body had seemed to become a killing machine. Everyday, she had practiced in the basement of her first cousin who hadn't been surprised after hearing about Life-Eaters from an extremely terrified Sakura.

Tomoyo had comforted her and told her who she was—what she was…told her, the life that awaited her. She had been given a choice—a brutal and short life of killing the tempted and dark ones or the peaceful life of an orphan in their house. She had chosen the former one. Since then, Sakura had become secluded, killing the demons mercilessly as their growing breed had suddenly lowered. In this process, she had made many enemies, most of them whom were hardly the challenge.

More than half the vampires and demons and Life-Eaters she faced hardly had strength and brains, let alone skill. The only thing she had lacked immensely was the sense of patience. But over the seven years, she had mastered that too. Hardly any time, she met a vampire or demon that possessed skill and extreme amount of strength but again, little brain.

Sakura clearly remembered the day she had met her watcher, an extremely intelligent and former slayer. Kaho Mizuki had been extremely patient with her and even though she was powerful, Sakura knew that her own power could harm her as well. That thought strangely and shamefully comforted Sakura. With the burning hatred that was kindled more by innocent killings of Life-Eaters, Sakura had in three years mastered everything a slayer could do and more. Then one day, Kaho had introduced her to Rita, Chelsea and Nikki who as she had learned along with Tomoyo were powerful witches-in-training.

Then came the day, when Kaho had told her, she was not just a slayer. Her power was that of a hundred slayers. She was the most powerful thing the council had had. Sakura hadn't cared then that she was the Eradicator and amusedly, Sakura still didn't care. Her physical power had been growing immensely and in her fifth year of training, Sakura had discovered her own power, a power very different from physical strength, she had discovered the Clow Cards—a very strong set of powerful cards that had once belonged to some magician that Sakura hadn't cared to learn the name of. Sakura had never even found out the Cards' origin. Her only goal was ridding the world of vermin such as the tempted ones—the vampires, demons etc…

Sakura rolled over. Whatever happened, she would never let anyone destroy her. Sakura silently vowed and quickly fell asleep of endless passages in a dark yet very spacious house.

An animal, perhaps a wolf was leaping from building to building stealthily. It looked very anxious as it growled and bared its teeth out. A full moon hung behind it making it look even more mysterious than intended to be. The wolf lunged down the building and landed gracefully on all fours. It went towards a telephone booth and opened the door. The shadows on the walls were moving but the shadow of the wolf quickly changed into the shadow of a female. The female took hold of the phone and dialed a number.

" Hello, Syaoran?" the female spoke, "Meiling speaking…I found her…she is here…in Tokyo…"

A deep voice could be heard which, could be none other the Syaoran, "Good--I am coming…keep a watch on her…"