'Who is the bad guy - the vampire who kills people and sucks their blood, or the survivalists who kill people to save their own lives? Is evil merely a creation of people? Or is there an evil nature? Or is it in the eye of the beholder?' - Quote by Lois Tilton
This work of (fan)fiction is rated T (for Tora)
Starring: A sexy, vampire prince Usui pursuing Ayuzawa Misaki, a human woman from humble beginnings who kicks ass in the business world (the business world of vampire slaying, that is), a bloodthirsty Igarashi flexing his vampiric powers at any given chance, and, a randomly created OC of my choosing. Her name's Cecelia. She's pretty cool. Oh there's also a second OC, but who knows how long he'll last in this fic? The scary monsters are out for blood, you know ;)
Pairings: Usui/Misaki and Tora/OC
Warnings: Tora Igarashi being Tora Igarashi. Takumi Usui being Takumi Usui. (in other words, perverseness, power-struggle dynamics, and hilarity will ensue)
Genres: Supernatural/Drama/Romance
Disclaimer: Maid Sama! is a shōjo manga series by Hiro Fujiwara, whom I tip my hat to. And if she ever read this I would probably scream out of either pure horror or delight. Perhaps both, if that's possible.
Once Bitten
Part I
Introduction
...
The Prince
He wasn't entirely sure what the plan was here.
All he knew was, the girl he'd been watching for several months now had, quite literally, fallen into his lap.
She was running from them.
Usui's lip curled at the thought of those High Born animals getting their hands on such a lovely, headstrong maiden. The things they'd do to her...
He shook his head, knowing that there was no other option but to get her out of here, take her someplace safe. What else could he do? He'd put too much time into following her, watching her, risking his life just to be near her. She was, after all, equally as dangerous to him as he was to her.
And yet, he had never once thought of hurting her. She had the kindest heart he'd ever seen, despite being so strong-willed.
Perhaps that's what intrigued him so much.
Perhaps that's why he'd become infatuated.
It didn't help that she smelled absolutely divine, too.
He ran his fingers over her raven tresses, snarling when he found a sticky trail of blood clotting there.
"I should kill them." He stated to no one in particular, his voice dry to the air, but his words ringing true with bitterness.
"Kill... who?" The girl stirred under his hand, and he froze. He hadn't thought she was awake. She had fallen from quite a height, and he'd only barely managed to catch her. It had been a lucky catch at that, too.
It was a good thing he'd been nearby. Then again, he was always nearby when it came to her.
"Why, the vampires, obviously." He answered her as if it were obvious, though his tone was slightly teasing. Licking his dry lips, he tried to ignore the fact that when she attempted to sit up, it put her breasts directly in his line of view. Her shirt was torn. There was a cut on her lower lip. She was trembling with the effort to stand.
Suddenly, she grabbed his free hand. He hadn't even been conscious of the fact that he'd raised it toward her face.
Their eyes met, and he wanted to melt into her honeyed gaze for the rest of his sorry existence.
"I'm not here to kill them," She rasped. "I'm here to make peace with them."
He blinked at her, and his breath would have caught if he had a working set of lungs. "What?"
Before she could elaborate, the woman collapsed forward into his arms, having finally lost consciousness.
...
The Princess
She was cold. Shivering, tired, sore, aching; and she knew she was being watched again.
Part of her had known about it for months now. The other part of her had been trying to ignore it, since she hadn't figured out quite what to do about it yet.
No doubt, it was the same creature as it always was. But what did he want from her? This man without a face. This presence without a name. A monster without motive. At least, without any motive to murder her.
Instead of that, he'd carried her, injured and bleeding, to God knows where. This place felt timeless, and far too quiet. Like a hidden dead zone, completely off the grid.
She had no idea how far they'd traveled, or how much time had passed. She did specifically recall the night air flying past, the strength with which he carried her, and his incredible resolve to not lick a drop of blood from her despite the fact that she was leaking like a broken faucet.
But there was a bandage on her head now, no doubt his doing.
Had he not swept her away from her encounter with the others, she would be dead.
For now though, she was alive... cold, but alive.
Barely.
"Sweet princess... Misaki... wake up."
He knew her name? She didn't remember telling him her name...
Cold. She was so ridiculously cold. Could he see her shivering? She had to stop. She couldn't look weak in front of him.
"Look at me." His voice called to her again, sweeter this time, a sound she couldn't resist.
Her eyelids fluttered upward, her vision blurry for a moment as she looked but did not see. She blinked. Blinked again. It took her a third time, before she was able to focus on the pair of eyes peering at her from a shadowed corner in the dark.
Glowing green eyes.
Like summer grass.
Like sun-soaked tea leaves.
Two deep, emerald pools of warmth.
"How are you feeling?" His voice floated toward her in the gloom, and some part of her wanted to reach out and physically touch it, it was so welcoming. Oh, to touch him... Feel him... Know and understand the person he was, rather than the monster the world - his comrades, or family, whoever - painted him to be.
"How are you feeling?" He repeated the question, a serious note behind it now that told her it was important for him to know. It was important for her to answer him - to stay awake and answer him.
What an odd thing for him to ask her, though. How was she feeling? How about how was she still alive? But, to answer his question...
She was no longer cold.
...
The Prey
Cecelia Russo came from a long line of gifted vampire slayers.
It was due to this family history of hers, that she found herself being recruited to the Japanese branch on the cusp of her 20th year of life, a little over nine months after graduating from the Academy in Rome.
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't take cases outside of her jurisdiction - and her overprotective, Roman-Catholic father (god rest his soul) was most certainly rolling over in his grave from the moment she took the job to the moment she was no longer safe on familiar, Italian soil.
In her defense, however, Cecelia wouldn't be leaving her home if she didn't think she absolutely had to. This was a special case, she knew it from the moment she got the call from a very, very desperate sounding Tokyo executive. Ayuzawa Misaki happened to be a highly respected woman in the vampire slaying business, and what's more, she was not the type to take extended leave from work without warning. In fact, she hardly ever took a break from work, having dedicated her life to it for the past several years now.
And yet, she'd been missing for three days. The Tokyo branch hadn't heard or seen from her in just over 72 hours, which was... more than suspicious at this point. In fact, it had everyone in full fits of hysterics, and the first 24 hours had been spent calling the top five best trackers and slayers in the world.
So, then, how did they end up with a 19-year-old woman fresh out of the Academy, coming to their rescue?
Well...
Gottfried Hahn of Berlin had 'gotten fried' to a crisp during one of his unorthodox experiments between humans and vampires, this time using himself as a test subject.
Nicholas Reagan was in the middle of a family crisis (rumors claimed his uncle had been turned, but the States were always filled with so many far-fetched rumors that no one knew what to believe anymore)
The Crown of London was having another rise of Jack-the-Ripper-type serial killers, and couldn't spare the time or resources.
President Ayuzawa was the missing person in question.
And Giuseppe Russo - a rotund, stern, and powerful Italian man who'd slain his fair share of vampires in his day, had been dead for half a year now, leaving his legacy to live on in his only daughter - Cecelia.
Though she preferred to go by Cece.
This is what she told the awkwardly tall man (or perhaps she was just awkwardly small), Kanou Sotarou, as he led her through the secret stronghold where all of Misaki's personal underlings, known as Seika's Slayer's, resided.
"Right, then... Miss... Cece." He cleared his throat, and pushed up his glasses. "You have your equipment with you?" He asked, getting right down to business.
She nodded. "I have everything that I need for tracking, though I couldn't bring weapons onto the plane..."
"No worries," He opened a large wooden door for her. The whole stronghold was made of wood, in fact - with fine carvings over the banister of the stairs they'd come down, depicting age-old wars between mankind and the dreaded creatures of the night. "We anticipated this."
Quirking an eyebrow, Cece walked past him into the next room and her jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
There were guns. There were knives. Cleavers. Throwing stars as big as her entire hand. Also, something that looked like a medieval torture device, and several other somethings that she didn't even know what to begin to do with.
"Um..." She tucked a long, curling lock of mahogany hair behind her tiny ear. "Do you have anything... small and simple?"
Mr. Kanou stared down at her, at a loss of words for a few seconds. "I-I'm not sure what you mean," He stuttered, confused.
"You know... something that's not too heavy, that someone like me," She gestured to herself, in all her petite, five foot tall glory. "Can handle easier?"
There was another pause as Kanou appeared to mull it over.
"You mean like a butter knife?" Someone joked from the far end of the room, interrupting them and startling them all at once.
Kanou's blue eyes flickered over Cece's head, and she took a moment to fold her arms angrily before turning to face whoever had spoken.
"Excuse you-" She began, but upon seeing who it was, she stopped short.
He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, and he was simultaneously swinging two sickle-shaped weapons in the air as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
Cecelia recognized him, but from where, she couldn't quite place.
"Ah," Kanou cleared his throat again. "I didn't know... you had already arrived, Mahajan-san."
The other man grinned back, and stopped swinging the weapons. Kanou seemed to visibly relax, at that.
"Mahajan... wait," Cecelia swore in her native tongue. "As in Lakshay Mahajan? What are you doing here?!" She pointed an accusatory finger at the darker man.
Lakshay Mahajan had a thousand-watt smile that shone like the stars in the night sky against his mocha-brown skin. His eyes were the darkest of chocolate browns, looking over her inch by inch as if she were a precious artifact he'd scoured the earth for. However beautiful he was, however, his attentions were not welcome. Mostly because he had all the attitude of a pig in heat and she was not looking forward to having his hands attempting to grope her ass again any time soon, like they had done at one of her father's many parties years back when she was just a girl of 17 and Lakshay a man of 23. After having escaped his parent's overbearing clutches, he had apparently been exploring his youth by traveling and meeting with all sorts of different people, mainly women. And then he had found himself in the beautiful capitol of Rome.
However, that is where his carefree travels had ended. After he had crashed one of the Russo's high-class parties, he'd promptly been sent back to India to face his responsibilities - and his family - but not before Cecelia's father had nearly murdered him for daring to lay so much as a finger on his only daughter.
"You seem to remember me." Lakshay's Japanese was broken up by his strong Indian accent. He slipped into Italian with his next words, his pronunciation only slightly better in that language. "I certainly remember you, Cecelia."
Ignoring him, Cece turned back to Kanou. "Why is he here?" She inquired sharply.
She nearly felt bad when she saw the tall man drawn in a deep, much needed breath of air to steady himself against her growing anger. "He is trained in multiple different martial arts, his mother is the so-called 'Vampire Whisperer', and we thought you might need the backup."
"You brought him all the way here to be my backup?"
Lakshay shot her a look from across the room. "Didn't you travel further than I to get here?"
"That's not-" She shook her head. "I don't even know what to say, I was under the impression that I'd be doing this by myself and-"
"Well, we can't risk you getting taken by the big bad vampires, now can we?" Lakshay was crossing the room to her now, and when he smiled down at her again, she nearly went blind. "Besides, you'll need me. My mother's title has also become my own. I don't sway under a vampire's thrall and better yet, I can even put some of them under my own."
Cece pursed her lips, and looked back to Kanou. "There's really no one else to assist me in this? If I admit I need the backup, can I at least get someone less... irritating?"
"Well, there are others who would be able to help." The spectacled young man admitted slowly. "But morale has run rather low around here since the President's disappearance, and Mahajan-san is probably your best shot at survival."
Cecelia swore in Italian again. Lakshay smirked down at her, as if he were rather enjoying himself.
"So," The older man turned his gaze reluctantly to Kanou. "Where is it that the little lady and I will be going first? I assume you had a certain place in mind?"
"The last trace we picked up from our President," Kanou explained. "Was close to an abandoned historical site known as Miyabigaoka. But to give you fair enough warning, in that area, there is a coven of vampires known as the Elite. And they don't exactly... play nice."
Lakshay snorted. "When do the monsters ever play nice?"
Kanou's eyes narrowed. "I suppose you have a point."
"Hey," Lightly, Cece reached up and patted the blue-eyed man on the arm. "Speaking of points, I'm going to need some pointers before I head out."
"I think you mean 'we'," Lakshay attempted, and failed to interject when she put up a small hand to silence him.
"First off," She went on. "Does this 'Elite' group have any specific weaknesses, that differ from others of their kind?"
"No," Kanou's brow furrowed. "Nothing specific that we know of."
"Alright, then do you know which of them is the leader?"
"It's hard to get close to them," He admitted. "Most of our people have either disappeared or been found dead in the process... Getting too close is usually a matter of suicide."
"Don't worry, mio caro." Lakshay put a lithe arm down around Cece's shoulders. "I'll protect you."
Cecelia hissed, shrugging out from under his arm as quickly as possible. "I can protect myself just fine, lo stupido."
He smirked again.
She wanted to punch him, if only she could reach that smug face of his from where she stood.
"Ahem," Kanou cleared his throat once more, this time to gather the pair's attention. "But to answer your question, there was one person who was able to come back to us alive, babbling on about a golden-eyed man who was more ferocious than the very animal from which he was so aptly named."
"Oh," Cece stared up at him, pleasantly surprised by the new information. "And what is this fierce creature called?"
"Tora. Surname Igarashi." His blue eyes darkened behind his glasses. "He's a dangerous one. Tricky, cold, and calculating from the reports... We can only hope Ayuzawa-san has somehow managed to avoid him, if she is in their territory somewhere."
"Hope, huh?" Lakshay spoke with a bit less of a smile on his lips now. "Hope is a tricky thing to maintain, in such dire circumstances."
Cecelia promptly elbowed him in the gut, causing him to bend over into a coughing fit as she smiled up at Kanou.
"Don't worry." Reaching up, she tapped the side of her temple with a finger. "I may be small, but I'm far more clever than those freaks. They're all the same, drunk on blood and power, while I remain perfectly sober."
"And I," Catching his breath, the darker man straightened up with a newly-applied smirk on his face. "Have my charming personality and muscular build on my side."
Cece's own smile fell in an instant. If only this nuisance of a man could get it through his thick skull, that she'd much rather take her chances alone with the vampires, than with the likes of him.
...
The Predator
"Oh, seven hells!" A thin, blonde woman cried out. "Why does the man have to be so irresistible? I almost don't want to kill him, he's too pretty, it wouldn't be fair to the world."
"Kaon, stop it. You're embarrassing yourself."
"Don't worry, I won't play with him..." She smiled something vicious, fangs flashing in the moonlight spilling in from the large windowpane. "Much."
"You're not to play with your food at all, witch." Li commented from where she leaned back against the wall, arms folded like a prim-and-proper lady.
"Don't call me a witch, bitch." The blonde shot back irritably, turning from the window to face the only other woman in their small group.
"What did you just call me?"
"Ladies, please." One of the boys tried to intervene - it was Tenryu, of course. Stepping in for Li's sake.
"No, wait." Tomu smirked as he, too, looked away from the window. "Let them fight it out. It's always hot when they fight."
"You do realize," Ichitaro's voice was incredibly small in the hugeness of the room they all stood in. "that one of them is your sister."
"Then you fight with me." Tomu turned to the other boy with a lopsided grin. "It's the fighting that gets my engine revving, not the matter of who's doing the fighting."
"Save it for our prey, idiot." Li snapped once more from her spot at the wall.
"Oh, like you have the right to boss us around!" Kaon hissed back, advancing on the sleeker woman.
"Enough."
She didn't get more than a single step, before a large hand had grabbed her by the collar of her dress shirt.
"Kaon." Tora sneered down at her, his eyes narrowed and his expression annoyed. "Sit. Stay."
Her pupils contracted. In an instant, she plopped down on the floor at his feet without anymore fuss, a dazed expression on her face.
Tora raised his gaze to the rest of the Elite, eyeing each of them in turn the same way a lion looks down on a pack of hyenas. "Anyone else?" He asked coolly.
No one moved. No one spoke.
"Good." Turning his focus back to the massive window, he quickly scanned the courtyard below for signs of the two trespassers. A moment later, he clenched his fists and sighed out his frustration. "Was no one keeping track of them?"
Tomu stepped around his enthralled sister, and peered through the window to Tora's left. "Did they see us? Or hear us, somehow?" He ventured to ask.
"It would be wise to get eyes on them again." Maki stated calmly, appearing suddenly at the window's edge. "Before they manage to find us."
"Split up, then." Tora growled, turning to face his coven with a shade of red pooling into the gold of his eyes. "But leave the woman for me."
Several of their faces fell, at that, but it was Tenryu who managed a meek, "But Li and I saw her first-"
Tora's expression darkened into that of a brewing storm, "I said leave her-"
"Well now wait a moment," Li mentioned casually, "Perhaps we can make a game out of it?"
Their leader gave pause for a fraction of a second. His ears perked at the sound of a challenge in her voice. "I'm listening."
"Whoever can catch her first," Li's eyes drifted down to Kaon, who was shaking her head, slowly coming out of her daze. "or the man... Gets to keep them. For whatever purpose they see fit."
Golden eyes, swirling with garnet now, glittered between shadows and moonlight. "Whatever purpose, you say?" Tora posed the question slow, and purposeful. His lips curled and sharpened into a grin, as his mind whispered to him the countless possibilities.
"There are rules about this." Maki was quick to remind.
"Fuck the rules," Kaon growled, standing up shakily as the paralysis on her limbs finally wore off. "That man is mine!"
She zipped off in an instant, the air rustling hair and clothing in her wake.
Tora merely motioned with his hand, and Maki fell away into the shadows, sneaking off to follow her and make sure she didn't make a mess of things, as she usually did.
The rest of the Elite looked around at each other, then back to where Tora stood.
He had a thumb pressed to his lips, thinking. The thrill of the hunt thrummed in his veins, his fangs were throbbing, and his eyes were thoroughly drenched in red at this point. Usually, he had more control over his instincts than this. Usually, the others did, too. He didn't know what or who it was, but there was a scent in the air tonight that was utterly divine.
He ran his tongue over the edge of one fang, then the other; longing to taste the source of it. To lunge and bite and tear and drink until he had had his fill.
No doubt, the entire clan was feeling the exact same way.
"Ten minutes." He finally allowed, giving a curt nod to the others. "And if I get to either of them first, I get to decide what we do with both of them."
Three of them disappeared in a flash. Tomu, however, lingered just long enough to give him a knowing smirk.
"Well, well. This is certainly unexpected. You don't plan to just drink from them or simply kill them, do you?"
Tora eyed him from the side, before tucking his hands into his pockets and gliding up the hall as if he had all the time in the world to catch his prey.
"They may have something to do with the disappearance of our dear Prince." He relayed.
"And if they don't," Tomu called after him, his tone lower and deeper from the excitement of a possible fight breaking out. "or if they do, then what?"
"Then," Tora's gaze locked with the full moon through the window, and he chuckled in the face of the light. "who knows what I'll end up doing to them?"
...
The Prey
Under the coverage of trees, Cecelia abruptly turned and grabbed onto her companion's shoulder.
"Did you hear anything just now?" She whispered, ignoring the eye roll he sent her way.
"No, did you?"
"No..." Her dark eyes fluttered as a cool breezed washed over them. It swept her hair from her face, and carried her scent away with it. When she opened her eyes again, she was looking straight up at the highest point of the building they were approaching, where she swore she saw a figure standing in the window; a pale statue of a man.
A/N: I know, I know. I shouldn't be starting something new, but I had fun with this, and it helped to get my creative juices flowing. This is helping my writer's block.
I've always wanted to do a Vampire AU, and don't you agree that Tora Igarashi would make the perfect vampire overlord? Don't fight me on this. He already has fangs, he was made to play this part. Powerful, sexy, rich, pretty-boy Igarashi, on the hunt for a late night snack, a warm body to sink his teeth into... If that doesn't send a thrill through you, then I don't know what does. And then there's Usui taking stalking to a whole other level as a vampire, lol. Gotta love our beloved blond duo, no matter how much they hate each other.
Due to the AU nature of this story, I might have taken creative liberties to twist some of the characters to be just a touch OOC. I think that certain characters would act somewhat differently as vampires rather than humans. Maybe I'm overthinking it though and none of the characters seem OOC after all.
I might expand this story, Once Bitten, into an extended after-story called Twice Shy. If Once Bitten has the potential to grow, then Twice Shy will be born afterward. I'm not sure about it all yet, I'm kinda busy atm, and would have to juggle this idea with Rules of Engagement. But, this was fun! I will probably continue this for a few more chapters, making it a shorter fic compared to my others, depending on how the audience feels about it. That being said, feedback is greatly encouraged.
Thank you for reading, lovelies! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat some leftover garlic toast now, with a heaping plate of last night's spaghetti.
(and now I realize why I created an Italian OC for a vampire AU...)
CK