Title: Blood Moon
Author: Dysnomia
Beta: AlenaYuy
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Seto/Jou, Yami/Yugi, Bakura/Ryou
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, I'm just borrowing the characters for a bit.
Warnings: Yaoi, violence, blood and gore, the supernatural, AU, and a bit of het (not involving our favorite boys though.)
Summary: In a world where human rule is teetering on the brink of destruction, vampires and werewolves conspire to reclaim their superiority. The survival or destruction of humans rests on the shoulders of Katsuya Jounouchi, but which direction will his choices turn the tide in? And just what role does Seto Kaiba play?
Prologue
The Great Temple, tucked into the mountainside far from the prying eyes of humans, was once the gathering place for unspeakable evil. It now lies in ruins, a mere shadow of its former glory. The now crumbling structure was once the dark soul to a culture who reveled in the pain and suffering of others, whose magic rituals created objects that helped sustain the lives of those that thrived on the blood and pain of humans.
While the ways of the ancient magic might be nearly forgotten, there are still those left in the world who remember the old ways, although they are unable to use any of the knowledge. The oldest of the vampires and werewolves remember those days of glory for their kind, the days when they ruled and humans were subservient to them. The days when all they had to worry about were the Ancients, for that deadly dark magic was all they had to fear.
Their dealings with the Ancients were by necessity only, although since the Ancients were only an advanced race of humans they held all the same vices. Wealth and power, women and status, every man considered himself the most important, which would turn out to be their downfall. They didn't live in packs with a leader like the werewolves, nor did they have the same sense of brotherhood that the vampires shared.
It wasn't long before they began to turn on each other, dragging the other races into their battles. It was a long and bloody war, in the end pitting pack mate against pack mate, brother against brother, their minds altered by the Ancients' black magic. Their numbers dwindled, until only small pockets of their kind remained, going into hiding, waiting for the inevitable destruction of the Ancients.
The end eventually did come, but there was no winner. The Ancients had been wiped out. Only the humans, who had been deemed too useless to fight, only their numbers remained. For the first time in their history, they were the most dominate species on the planet, with the Ancients gone and the wolves and vampires licking their wounds, so to speak, building up their numbers once again.
The humans' rule wouldn't be an easy one though. While not as gifted with magic, they still managed to kill each other easily enough. The supernatural beings however, left them to their cities, living their lives in smaller communities outside the city. While humans might have been free, their lives were far from easy. Only those privileged enough to have money had a normal life. Life as a poor man was hard, most just barely managing to live through the day only to do it all over gain the next day.
The largest of the human cities was Domino, once a sprawling metropolis where the Ancients lives, now a half ruined mess of buildings in the slums, only the rich areas still standing undisturbed. Because of its size, Domino was one of the harshest places to live. Gangs ran rampant throughout the slums, and cutthroat businessmen made their dealings in the good side of town. Learning nothing from their ancestors, slavery was one of the largest trades, one of the best ways to make money in the slums.
While the majority of the supernatural accepted the way their lives were, the elders bristled at their loss of dominance. The fiercest of the Wolf clans was led by Mai, the only female to have control of a pack. Ryuuji Otogi ruled the vampires as their Lord, as one of their oldest and whose hatred of humans was unmatched by any of their kind. The two species avoided each other as a general rule. But Mai and Otogi were different; their longing for the ways of the past so great that each was able to tolerate the presence of the other, working together for a greater purpose. For Otogi had learnt of a prophecy, one that would bring the humans back to their rightful place under them.
The Ancients had created, through countless sacrifices, an amulet, a stone that granted the bearer unbridled power. The amulet had the power needed to control the humans. Otogi knew where the stone was, but the Ancients had protected the temple from his kind, and he could do nothing more then prowl around the perimeter, waiting as the magic slowly wore off. Finally, after two hundred years, the seals guarding the Great Temple finally disappeared completely, enabling their kind entry. After years of combing through the ruins he'd finally found it, the item that would help to bring about their salvation.
Their anger was unparalleled when they realized what the flaw in their plan had been. The stone would not work for them, as they knew no magic. Only an Ancient would be able to put the stone to use, and since there were no longer any Ancients, their plan was ruined.
Discouraged, but not beaten, Mai and Otogi continued to search for another way to bring back their glory days. As a reminder of his failure, Otogi continued to wear the amulet around his neck, the blood red stone hidden beneath his clothes, the perpetually cold gem nestled against his own forever cold skin.
