Chapter 1

Kain was exhausted, the day had been particularly busy and now all he wanted was to get some sleep. Being Kaname's right hand had its downsides in the form of working over hours sometimes. But he didn't want to complain. It was a good sign after all, meaning that Kaname trusted him and his judgement.

The sun's red crown was already visible at the horizon so he was most likely the last one wandering through the Kuran mansion. At least, he thought so but when he turned around the corner to enter the hallway leading to his room, he found Seiren leaning against the wall next to his door. As usual, she didn't waist any time with greeting: "Kaname wants to see you. Now." She pushed herself from the wall and vanished into the darkness of the hallway, leaving Kain without being able to answer. He sighed and turned around to go back to Kaname's office. He put a hand over his face, muttering a curse under his breath but there was no way of getting around this, Seiren's message had been crystal clear. Well, his bed would have to wait a bit longer then. On his way, he wondered what it would be that Kaname wanted to speak to him about so urgently. Kain' s brain wasn't able to come up with a decent explanation and once more, he sighed. It was too late and he was incredibly tired. The pureblood wouldn't call him without good reason and even he didn't understand what went on in Kaname's head for most of the time, Kain sensed that it had to be something important. 'Please, don't let it be Aidou' he thought. His cousin had a certain talent to get himself into trouble. And while he was still up and following Kaname's orders, his beloved cousin probably was already fast asleep or engaging in any sort of activity that included minimum another player, preferably female. Hanabusa was like a bee: always looking for nectar. Well, he didn't have to look long, the girls were practically throwing themselves to his cousin's feet, all Hanabusa had to do was pick them up and carry them to his bed. And that, he didn't need to be told twice. Kain shook his head and sighed. Sometimes, he wished to be able to be more like Hanabusa. But then, who would look out for his cousin if it wouldn't be him? One had to keep a level head and this one wasn't Hanabusa.

Kaname's office was at the other end of the mansion and after getting downstairs and making some turns, Kain reached his destination. The heavy wooden door was ajar and he could feel the pureblood's presence on the other side. He waited, his thoughts reeling with anticipation.

"You may enter" came the order from within. Kain opened the door and prepared instinctively for the onslaught of power one feels when being around Kaname. Its presence thickened the air and made it almost impossible to breath normally. One should think that he had been gotten used to the sensation by now but it was still a conscious effort for him not to stop breathing altogether. Kaname was standing at the window, gazing at something only he could see. Funny, Kain mused to himself, even before he entered, he knew where the pureblood would stand, the window was his favorite spot and only God and Kaname himself knew why he liked it so much. And as always, his face was bearing this expression of unspeakable grief and burden. Even with Yuuki around now, he was brooding most of the time and Kain often wondered how she could put up with so much moodiness. But then again, a few weeks ago, Kain had been able to catch a glimpse of them being together in the backyard when they obviously thought nobody would be watching. Kaname looked quite happy and relaxed spending some quality time with the pureblood princess. It must be hard for him to let down his guard completely, always being on top of the game took its toll. Kain couldn't help to feel a bit compassion for the pureblood.

Kain paused after he had made a few steps into the room and waited patiently for their gang leader to address him. He stopped his thoughts from wandering and steeled himself for whatever Kaname was going to say. Finally, Kaname turned his head and his black eyes looked directly into his. Kain stood his ground and bowed his head slightly. "Kaname-sama" he greeted sincerely.

"There has been going on some activity in the hunter's association lately" Kaname's deep and melodic voice flooded through the room and the air around the pureblood vibrated visibly. He slowly went back to his huge oak desk at the left side of the office to sit down and stretch his legs. His movements were graceful, his whole being was ethereal and beyond beautiful but yet extremely lethal. Kain had seen it many times that Kaname's opponents marveled a blink of a second too long about his ethereal manner which was enough to get them killed. At least, they didn't see it coming and died with a somewhat relaxed expression on their faces. Kain had to refrain from chuckling and yanked his mind back to the presence. Kaname looked at him intently, somewhat amused. "A penny for your thoughts." It wasn't a question.

If there had opened a hole in the floor in front of him, he would have gladly jumped in without thinking just to escape the embarrassment. What was he thinking? 'Get your act together, Akatsuki!' he scolded himself silently.

"We've been watching them for some weeks now and it seems that their actions are concentrated to a certain area" Kain replied quickly to cover his tracks. He was not sure what else to say. It was no news to them that the hunter's association had been engaging in some sort of secretive activity for a couple of months now. They never were able to find out what exactly it was about. Kain knew that this was driving the pureblood mad since he had been spending quite an amount of time and resources to find out. Hell, there likely wasn't anything on this earth which could hide from Kaname and yet the association managed to do exactly it. Kaname had a legion of spies and none of them had been retrieving any useful information so far. It was simply frustrating. All they knew was that the actions were concentrated in an area approximately 50 miles from the association's headquarters away. A small town, completely unsuspicious and never a target of any vampiric activity. No ballistic level E's, no nobles and not to mention purebloods have ever set a foot in this town. So why such a fuss? What were they up to, for Pete's sake? The more Kain thought about it, the louder the hammering ache in his head became. Instinctively, he lifted his right hand and pressed it against his temple. This annoying one of a headache wouldn't go away and had been bothering him since this morning.

Kaname chuckled. "Do not be too hard on yourself, Kain." He leaned forward, resting his palms calmly on the wooden surface of the desk. If there had be a trace of a smile in Kaname's face, it was gone by now and he looked frighteningly sincere. "But there have been recents events which are forcing me to give up our passive attitude towards the association's plans." It was impossible to ignore the rage underneath those words. And Kain understood immediately. Kaname wanted him to be the one who made the first step out of the cover in order to provoke some kind of reaction from the hunter's association. It was a risky mission and Kaname was walking on a fine line here. To give up cover and make a move could point the association to the fact that Kaname was suspicious in the first place. And this would shake the diplomatic relationship between humans and vampires. Kaname's goal of a peaceful coexistence of both races could be at stake. "A few hours ago, the association let a level E deliberately escape. He killed a human before Seiren was able to bring it down." The words reached Kain's ears and brought him back to attention. Kaname's mood had shifted considerably within the last minute, he was out of a sudden like a black hole at the center of the room drawing all energy into his abyss. The window where Kaname had stood before cracked and hundreds of splitters were flying through the air, the sun making them glittering quite beautifully. The tension subsided then and Kaname looked at him encouragingly. Kain blinked. Wow, he would never get used to their gang leader's impulsive tendencies he showed sometimes. But now, the steam was obviously off and he allowed himself to relax and focus on the matter at hand.

"That goes against everything the hunter's association stands for. Why would they let a level E escape?" Kain's mind picked up pace. Forgotten was his tiredness, this was serious business. If this really was the case, then something evil was the motivation behind it.

"That is exactly what I am determined to find out." Kaname answered to his unspoken thought and stood up. Even Kain was taller than the pureblood, their both eyes seemed to be at the same level. "I have arranged for a car, you will be leaving before sunset." Kaname paused and Kain nodded. "You may enter now, Seiren." The white haired vampire entered the room, quickly closing the distance between the door and the desk.

"Kaname-sama" She spoke solemnly.

"Seiren, please instruct Kain as we discussed earlier. I expect a full report when I am awake." Then, Kaname turned to Kain to address him directly. "Kain, I will see you back in my house soon." It was an order, Kain was supposed to not get himself killed along the way. With this said, Kaname retreated to his private chambers. Kain swallowed. He had known that it was going to be a dangerous mission but Kaname's last words rubbed it in without any doubt. But always been a pragmatic mind, there was no sense in dwelling on it, so he quickly recovered and turned to Seiren who was standing next to him, looking nothing but uninvolved. But Kain was absolutely sure that she had understood the meaning of Kaname's words as clearly as he had. Despite her composure, she was an extremely observing person.

Seiren moved around the desk to stand next to Kaname's chair and took a pile of papers lying in front of her. It looked like maps and a couple of pictures. She spread them on the desk and started to explain: "There is a shelter outside of town where you are going to stay for the duration of this mission." She pointed at a spot marked with a red X on the map in an area east of town. It looked like this place was deep in the woods. "We can say for sure that this area is clean of any hunters activity so this is going to be your headquarters." Kain memorized every single detail since he was sure not to be allowed to take the maps and pictures with him.

"What about the pictures?" Kain pressed. There was little time and he needed to get at least a hand full of sleep before leaving.

Seiren nodded. "This one here" - she pointed to a rather large pixeled, black and white picture of a man - "is the head of the operation. We don't know much, only that he joined the association a year ago. His background is unknown but we're checking into it. Might be some sort of military. He is twenty four-seven on site, their headquarters is here." The spot on the map was in the center of the town. 'Why in such an exposed position?' Kain thought. The headquarters was a complex of buildings which occupied a whole block with the east side bordering on a park.

"The other two," Seiren moved on, "are scientists." The three pictures showed each a sturdy man in his probably forties and an older woman with short gray hair at different occasions. One of them had been made at a banquet because the man was wearing a tux and the woman some sort of cocktail dress. Kain looked closer at the woman's face, something had caught his eye, something familiar. The quality of the picture wasn't excellent but still good enough for him to recognize the ugly scar which covered the woman's left cheek. "I know her." Seiren tensed beside him and looked up at him. It was quite a stretch for her but she managed to maintain a serious expression on her face.

"Where do you know her from?"

"I attended that particular banquet as well. Two years ago, it was a charity event at the association's headquarters. She and her companion were inseparable the whole evening. It almost looked as if she wasn't allowed to walk around on her own. I remember her because of that scar in her face, everyone was staring at her that evening." Kain answered, recalling the evening. "Hanabusa and me were attending. Kaname wanted to show good will so he sent two of us."

"Did you talk to her?"

"No. I didn't talk to anybody. Hanabusa didn't talk to her, either. But I can't tell for the rest of the crowd. We weren't supposed to mingle but you know how Hanabusa can be sometimes, he was having quite some fun with Kiryuu." It had been what turned out to be a horrible night. Kain and Hanabusa had been the only vampires in a crowd of hunters and he still cursed Kaname for his diplomatic decision to put them on display at that event. But the ever so bright and cheerful Hanabusa hadn't cared, instead, he took off with Zero. It was still a mystery to Kain why Hanabusa and Zero liked each other because they didn't have anything in common. Actually, they had been bickering at each other the whole time, but Kain honestly had the feeling that they had kind of enjoyed it though they would never admit it - but what did he know, right? And besides, he had to focus on more important things right now.

"Well, that won't change anything" Seiren retorted, quickly moving on. "She is not the problem - he is." Her pointer finger landed on the face of the woman's companion. Pressing her finger tip on the man's face, it seemed to Kain as if she wanted to smash the man's head right here.

She drew a key out of her left pocket, handing it over to Kain. "The car will be parked at the back entrance of the house at 5-0-0 sharp. And pack light. You will have to leave the car here" - she marked a spot on the map - "and walk the last part of the way up to the cabin." Kain nodded.

"Anything else?" He now was hardly able to hold his eyes open. His head was hammering, causing him trouble to stand up straight.

Seiren paused. Kain thought to notice the expression of anger on her face but it was gone before he could really catch it.

"Yes. Your contact person will be waiting for you in the shelter. She -" He never had seen Seiren having difficulties to bring a sentence to an end but here she was: stopping at the word 'she' and obviously trying to keep herself in check. She succeeded and finished quickly what she was about to say: "She will have further information for you and you both will work on this mission together." The next second, she was at the door holding it open for him. He was dismissed.

He still wondered what this little episode was about when passing her. This woman who was supposed to be his contact person must have done something extraordinary to rattle Seiren. Now he was even more curious to meet her.

"Good night, Seiren." The corner of his mouth twitched and he really had to restrain himself from smirking at her.

She didn't bother to answer him. He rolled his eyes when he had his back to her and went back to his bedroom. Being unable to hold his eyes open for another minute, Kain didn't undress and the minute his head hit the pillow, he was fast asleep.