Malicious Tragedy Part II
by Marron
Disclaimer: I own Ranma 1/2. No, really. I bought it off some seedy looking
guy in a dark alley downtown. However, now that you're questioning me about
it, my ownership of Ranma 1/2 is probably a black market scam. Alas, maybe next
time. I do, however own Hamael, the sinister vampire who gave Ryouga the dark
gift in the original Malicious Tragedy. Anyway, on with the show!
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They walked in silence, the dark
black of the night enshrouding them, like a warm velvet blanket. The air was
warm and stale; there was no breeze, and if there had been, it would not have
been cool--the air was too warm and thick to allow it. Above them, the full
moon, large in the sky and surrounded by a myriad of stars, lit their way. It
was not that they needed the bright of the moon to light their way; they could
see very well in the darkness. They were not friends of the light, or even lovers
of it. They were afraid of the light--that was the secret of the vampire--and
the holy power the light had to render them weak and vulnerable.
Light was like God to them. No man could look to god, or be in the presence
of god for too long without going mad. Moses held intricate conversation with
a burning bush, because God himself would have made the man insane. Just like
light seemed to make the vampires go insane.
They walked, the two of them--father vampire, thousands of years old, and newborn
vampire, with age less than both men had fingers--they walked together in the
night, guided only by the moon and the splendor of living eternal life through
eternal death.
The younger of the two cast his dark eyes about, searching and taking in all
he could as they went. As they walked, he heard a sound that he could not quite
grasp; it was like the chanting of monks, or the murmur of a requiem.
"Hamael." He spoke softly, so that the voices of the requiem would not hear
him. "Do you hear?"
Hamael, the older, fair skinned vampire chuckled. "You don't need to whisper.
Those who sing the mantra you hear cannot hear you."
"They can't?" The newborn vampire asked, this time allowing his voice to sound
above a whisper.
"They are the souls of the dead." Hamael revealed the tidbit of information
quite casually. "We are walking past a cemetary, after all. Those who remain
here, chanting, praying, singing--they are souls bound to the earth much as
we are. They are bound here by violence, murder, blood. Those who we hear around
us in the dark of night are souls that were not ready to leave the world of
mortals--or that were taken away from it."
The younger vampire, with his dark hair and eyes a stark contrast to Hamael's
own pale yellow hair and ice colored eyes, was thoughtful of what his maker
had said. "They are kindred." He spoke, finally. "Unknown but in myth in the
world of mortal man, and fleeting through the night, only to be driven away
by the light of dawn."
"You are learning quickly, young one." Hamael smiled, though the expression
on his face made his companion more uncofmortable than anything else. There
was something about Hamael--something malicious and dark--that the young man
could sense; it was something that Hamael was careful to try and hide from his
childe, but the boy knew somehow. He could feel it faintly; and perhaps it was
just his new sense of wonder and amazement at the world around him that frightened
him, not Hamael; but either way, he never said a word.
"You will be learned enough to go your own seperate way soon, my friend." Hamael
spoke in a nonchalant, casual manner that disturbed his childe. "Perhaps you
will choose to stay here in your home city, or perhaps you will travel the world.
I cannot stay with you much longer."
"Where will you go?" The dark haired young vampire asked of his maker.
"I am being called upon by those that are much older than I. I do not like them,
but I must obey them, lest I spend the rest of my eternity bound by fear." Hamael
explained.
"Fear?"
"Fear of them finding me if I disobey; fear of tortures much worse than one
could ever imagine."
"You mean, they'll leave you in the sun?" Hamael's childe asked.
Hamael laghed. "You've seen movies and read stories about vampires, haven't
you? Well, let me clear up something right now." He looked to his childe with
a glint of amusement in his eyes. "We cannot be repelled by garlic and holy
water. A stake through the heart will not vanquish us, just as the sun will
not turn our bodies to ashes. These things will weaken us, however. The purity
of the sun and the wood that stakes are made of, these things will dilude our
strength. They are good and pure, and we are born from the darkness, which is
easily disrupted by the light. They will not kill us, but they render us extremely
weak and cause us great pain. So, we avoid them."
"We can see in the dark of night, as you know by now, and so there is no reason
for us to travel during the day. The light will hurt your eyes, you will find.
That is why, dear Ryouga, I told you to watch the sunset one more time before
I took you into my arms and gave you my sweet, dark kiss. It's because now,
when you look, you will feel pain. Trust me when I say there are sufferings
much worse than the sun." Hamael closed his eyes and shook his head.
"I understand." Ryouga replied quietly. "It's painful to live in the world of
man."
"It is." Hamael smiled his wicked smile again. "But we are not all that different
from men. We are still capable of emotions; we can love, and we can hate, and
we can desire."
Ryouga looked abhored at Hamael's words. "How can you say that we can love?!"
His voice rose. "Look what I did to Akari on that night when you made me what
I am..."
"Ryouga, you are so young, so fresh. If only I had that same kind of love that
you had for Akari when you took her into your arms and drank her blood. Didn't
you feel it? Your hunger? It was not just any normal hunger, like you've felt
these past few weeks as we've fed on strangers. It was desire, passion. As you
held that woman in your arms, you loved and desired her so much that you wanted
to become one with her; and, for that one sweet moment when her body lay limp
in your arms and her sweet blood flowed to your lips, you were one with her.
Do you feel remorse for what you did?"
Ryouga said nothing, and looked away.
"Did you feel remorse, childe? I asked you a question." Hamael repeated.
Ryouga hesitated. "I... I feel no remorse for taking Akari's life. It made me
feel..."
"It gave you pleasure." Hamael finished. Ryouga nodded with slight reluctance.
"Love and hatred fuels us, Ryouga. If you felt pleasure drinking from one you
loved so much, imagine the power and pleasure you might feel sinking your fangs
into the flesh of an enemy."
Ryouga thought he felt his heart skip a beat, but then realized his heart did
not beat at all.
"I want to feed on the enemy of the man I was before you made me." Ryouga said,
sternly, eagerness developing in his voice. "I want to feed tonight on the blood
of Ranma Saotome."
"Will you drink every last drop of his blood?" Hamael asked, his devilish and
wicked smile growing larger and more grotesque.
Ryouga's reply was curt. "I will kill him."