CHAPTER TWO
His throat was dry.
He blinked, inhaled, then coughed violently as he choked on the dust that floated in the air. Once he'd stopped coughing, the dark-haired man looked to the boy on the floor. Light hazel eyes glanced from the hand that had been offered to him to the redhead's beaming face, feeling very confused.
The boy had introduced himself as Hanna Falk Cross. This made sense. Of course he was Hanna Falk Cross, the Ahimsa agent would know that face anywhere. Those electric blue eyes had gazed at him from posters planted all throughout the office, that grin had beamed at him from nearly every telescreen. Hanna Falk Cross, the most wanted Undesirable of the time. His bounty was set unbelievably high, he was wanted for a number of atrocities, from guarding other Undesirables to smuggling to terrorism to harming innocent people and agents alike. That all made sense.
But that smile, those wide innocent eyes and that hand that spoke of friendship even though the boy on the floor knew nothing about him, that did not.
"I..." He choked out, seemingly unsure of what to say.
"What in the hell is fucking going on!" Conrad screeched and Hanna's head snapped around to look at the graphic designer. Conrad focused on him and his eyes got even wider if that was even possible, "Oh my God...that's...y-you're...you're that Undesirable! You're part of the resistance! What the fuck were you doing in my apartment!"
"Oh, you know, the usual." That smile never left the red head's face as he stood up and dusted himself off. Then he paused and pressed a couple of fingers to the communicator looped around his ear, "I'm fine, Toni, really!" His voice was unbelievably cheerful for someone who had just smashed through a door and was bleeding rather badly.
The Ahimsa agent's jaw snapped shut as the redhead pressed two fingers against his ear, probably talking to the girl he'd heard over his own earpiece. Absently he felt the gun in his hands, lowered at his side and utterly useless. A part of him, his training, was screaming at him, insisting that he needed to be pointing it at Hanna, that he neededto get this all under control, but there was this strange sense of something in the air.
The dark-haired man shook his head, his muscles tensing. He had to focus! His eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth to speak, to shout out commands.
He never got the chance. Quite suddenly a purple streak shot out of the condo and slammed into Hanna, sending him flying into the wall again with a loud 'crunch' and a downpour of rubble.
"Damn, they weren't kidding when they said you were light as a feather," A female voice murmured. The dust cleared to reveal a young woman with long, silken purple curls. She stepped daintily over the threshold of Conrad's condo, her bare feet padding across the dust-coated carpet, clad only in a simple black and green hoodie. Her crimson eyes flicked from Hanna to the two other occupants of the hallway, a wide, fang-filled grin revealing what she was.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the twat," She purred as she put her hands on her hips, glancing up and down at Conrad. "I'm surprised you had the gall to come back after I sent you crying to the Ahimsa."
Conrad's fists clenched, "You invaded my condo and you attacked me! Of course I'm gonna call Ahimsa! You're a fucking Undesirable!" The graphic designer rounded on the agent, "Aren't you going to do something! Stop standing there like a dead man and get rid of her!"
The dark-haired man nodded. Apparently Conrad's words were what he needed to snap into action, as he finally pulled up his gun and pointed it at Adelaide. "He's right, ma'am. You're an Undesirable and you've broken multiple laws, not to mention I highly doubt you're registered. You're under arrest," He declared, the soft hum of the charged pistol filling the room as the lines of light on the weapon's sides flared to life in an instant.
The purple-haired vampire gave a chuckle at this. "Aw, that's cute. Why is it I'm under arrest and not Mr. Cross here? He's the one who's got a bounty on his head, aren't your priorities a little off?" She asked as she cocked her head to the side and folded her arms.
Light hazel eyes blinked, then flicked from the vampire to the redhead laying amongst the rubble. A few moments of silence passed before his grip tightened on his gun. "He's under arrest too," The man muttered, voice clipped. "That is not the point. I'll need you to come with me."
"Hmmm," The vampire tapped one long, manicured finger against her chin, as if deep in thought. Then she smirked. "How about no!" She called out as her bare foot shot out.
Her kick took him by surprise, hitting him solidly in the jaw. Fortunately, after that he was more prepared for the fist that followed. The dark-haired man ducked under her punch, booted foot shooting out to trip her on the way down. The purple-haired woman let out a small cry of surprise as her bare feet caught his shoe, but she flipped out of the fall. As she landed she spun to face him, a smirk on her face. "You're not bad for an agent! What's your name?"
"That's classified," He said as he pointed the gun. He hated shooting, but there wasn't really any other option at the moment.
Bang!
One flash of bright red later, there was a hole in the wall where the vampire's leg would have been. Unfortunately, she was gone already, leaping over his head with an insane amount of agility.
Hanna managed to lever a rather hefty portion of rubble off of himself and looked up just as Adelaide landed in front of the door. Blue eyes narrowed slightly, he stood up, wiped blood from his eyes, and glared at the female vampire. The blue lines on his arm braces glowed brighter and he thrust his hands forward, firing off a streak the same cerulean energy that had erupted from underneath the door earlier.
But the attack never hit the target. Adelaide dodged and was suddenly beside Conrad, leaning in a bit too close for the graphic designer's taste. Hanna's eyes widened and he held his hands up again, more blue energy crackling across his fingers.
"Not so fast, sweetheart!" The vampire called out as a manicured hand shot out to grab Conrad by the collar, pulling him against her. "Unless you've got some fantastic aim, there's no way you won't fry the little girl here along with me."
Before Hanna could answer, there came a click, followed by a soft hum. "Well," The Ahimsa agent commented. "Unfortunately for you, I have good aim."
With those words, a flash of bright red shot through the air, clipping the vampire in the shoulder. The woman let out a shriek of pain and stumbled back, clutching at the wound. She glared at the crimson bubbling up from beneath her pale fingers, then turned to snarl at the Ahimsa agent. "Well, admittedly this isn't going exactly how I planned! Fine, time for plan B!"
And then her foot shot up to nail Conrad between the legs.
The graphic designer let out a strangled cry of pain and doubled over, whimpering weakly. He stumbled a bit and dropped to his knees, shaking.
Hanna cringed, "Aw, come on, leave him alone! He's got nothing to do with this!" The red head took a step forward, still holding the blue energy in his hands.
"Oh, I know," The vampire laughed as she knelt down next to Conrad, pale fingers gripping at a fistful of his shirt. "Try to understand dear, it's nothing personal. I'm just starving, that's-"
She was cut off by another shot that narrowly missed her head, more of a warning shot than anything. The woman let out a curse, eyes narrowing as she looked to the Ahimsa agent, whom was already charging toward her. He didn't need to wait, he knew how vampires worked by now.
"Right, the banter's over! Come on, sweetie!" She snapped as she scooped up Conrad like a sack of potatoes, throwing him over her shoulder and narrowly dodging another shot. Her foot shot out again, catching a bit of rubble and sending it flying in the direction of her adversaries.
It wasn't much, but the few bits of crumbling drywall provided the couple of seconds the vampire needed to duck into Conrad's condo. The Ahimsa agent let out a shout as he watched the vampire leap over a couch in a blur of purple. "Stop!" He called out.
Naturally, this did little to deter the vampire. There was a loud 'crash' as the vampire shattered the window, and then with the tinkling of shattered glass and a laugh she was gone.
Well. Apparently the seals the government had placed on the windows "for our citizens protection" weren't as solid as they'd claimed.
"Damn it!" Hanna shouted and the energy in his hands flickered away, "This wasn't supposed to happen! No one was supposed to get hurt!"
The young red head crouched down and his eyes narrowed as he concentrated. The bracers on his legs began to spark and the strips on the glowed brighter and brighter. Tendrils of azure light spilled out from underneath his boots, flickering into the air as sparks danced upwards. The air seemed to be vibrating with some sort of intangible energy. Hanna's face was serious but there was a sparkle of excitement in his eyes.
Light hazel eyes widened as the Ahimsa agent watched this display, his jaw dropping. He knew Cross had strange abilities, but this was easily one of the weirdest ones he'd ever seen. With each spark of energy the room seemed to pulsate, every hair on his body seeming to stand on end as he watched the display.
The dark-haired man shook his head violently, snapping out of it. He didn't know what was going on, but he had to stop this. The vampire had already got away, there was no way in hell he was going to deal with the repercussions of having let Hanna Falk Cross escape.
"Stop!" The man called out as a hand shot out to grab Hanna's upper arm. "I said you're under arrest!"
"No, let go!" The redhead cried but it was too late, the Ahimsa agent's fingers had clamped tightly around his arm. Blue energy erupted from underneath them and Hanna and the agent were flung forward in a blur. Hanna leaned away from the man who had his arm in death grip, trying to steer them away so as not to smash into the wall that was coming up on them way too quickly...
To no avail. They both slammed into the wall and bounced back. Hanna was flung against the opposite wall and the back of his head smacked against it. The world tipped and he dropped to the floor, dazed.
The Ahimsa agent had crashed to the floor in a heap, groaning in pain from the impact with the wall. He forced himself shakily to his knees, reaching up and clutching at his head. He took a deep breath, trying to force the room to stop spinning.
He was an agent of the Ahimsa and this was just a slightly different case from usual. He should not have been freezing up and having issues like this. He had to take the control.
Light hazel eyes narrowed as he looked to the source of the problems, the reason why a run-of-the-mill case had gone so impossibly wrong. The redhead lay there on the floor in a pile of rubble, one of Mr. Achenleck's impossibly unfortunate lamps shattered at his side. Shaking his head once more to clear it, the dark-haired man stood and made his way across the room.
Hanna may not have been what he came here for, but the dark-haired man knew better than to let him try to move again.
"Mr. Cross," There was a click as the Ahimsa agent pulled a small metal disk from his belt and pressed it against one of Hanna's wrists. "As an unregistered Undesirable and for countless crimes against the Government, you are under arrest." With a whir and a second click, a metal band shot from the disk, extending into a cuff that easily encircled Hanna's wrist, bracer and all. It adjusted to the redhead's size easily, extending into a full pair of handcuffs in seconds as the dark-haired man reached for Hanna's other wrist.
"Wh-what...?" The red head blinked several times and his bright eyes focused once again. He tried to get up but couldn't when he found his arms tight behind his back, held there by the handcuffs. Hanna struggled, "No, wait! Let me go, please! I have to stop her!"
Hanna turned those impossibly blue eyes on the dark-haired man, pleading, desperately trying to get the Ahimsa agent to let him go.
The agent blinked in confusion as electric blue met light hazel. His brain was screaming at him that this was impossibly stupid and everything Hanna Cross could possibly say was a lie, but those eyes, for some reason, had him lost. His training had his grip tightening on the handcuffs and was reminding him that of course Undesirables stuck together and anything Hanna said was just meant to protect himself and that damn vampire, but there were those eyes.
Those eyes were honest. And that was something rarely seen in Varuna these days.
He swallowed, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you go. It's against policy. You're coming with me, though." With those words he hauled Hanna to his feet and began to rush for the door. "They went to the roof, right?" He asked as he jogged down the hallway, doing his best to make sure Hanna could keep up.
Granted, this was against policy too, but he couldn't fight against those eyes.
"Yeah!" The red head responded, "And we have to hurry! That vampire lady, she might-!" He stumbled suddenly, tripping over his own feet. Glancing back, an expression of panic washed over Hanna's face for a brief moment. One of his leg bracers was broken; a crack ran along the metal and split one of the blue lines in half. Sparks shot out of it whenever he moved.
"Worth's going to murder me..." The young man breathed. Then he looked around and saw the Ahimsa agent had paused to give him a very confused stare. He grinned sheepishly, "It's not important. Right now we have to catch that vampire!" He urged the man onward and silence fell between them as they began to ascend the stairs.
And then, "You know, I told you my name! So what's yours?" The question was bright and filled with innocence, like a person trying to make casual conversation on a street corner rather than running up the stairs after a rouge vampire.
The dark-haired man blinked in confusion, then shook his head. Was Hanna seriously trying to have a conversation with the man who was arresting him? "I can't tell you that, it's classified," He said as he used the railing to hoist the two of them up another flight, their footsteps casting shadows in the lines of light that lined the stairway.
"But I saw your badge!" Hanna said excitedly, bouncing in the man's grip, "That has your name on it, doesn't it?"
"It's fake." The Ahimsa agent shook his head as he glanced at the number next to the door. Right, only a few more flights of stairs. He was now quite thankful that Mr. Achenleck lived so close to the top of the building. "They change it on every mission we go on so we can't be traced by the public."
"So that's not your real name?" Hanna gave a light laugh, "Haha, that's cool! I didn't like that one anyway." The red head tripped up the stairs, stumbled, and righted himself. "So hey, how about I just call you something else and you can tell me when I say a name you like?" When the Ahimsa agent didn't respond, Hanna continued, "How about Zander? Zander's a cool name and you kind of look like a Zander...!"
The dark-haired man's brow furrowed, then he shook his head. "No," He declared flatly.
"Jack, then. How about Jack?"
"Hm. No," The Ahimsa agent replied, his denial echoing through the stairwell.
"Ooh, ooh, I've got a great one!" Hanna exclaimed as they reached the landing, "How about..." He paused and then said in a loud, dramatic voice that bounced off the metal, "Holland!"
His companion paused at this one, something akin to confusion passing across his normally stoic face. He then shook his head as he made his way for the door marked 'Exit' with glowing, red neon letters. "No."
"You're kind of hard to please... don't worry though, I can do this all night!" Hanna exclaimed and it sounded as though he would have said more but the Ahimsa agent had already reached the door to the roof. Talking didn't seem like an appropriate thing to do.
"I was kind of afraid of that," His companion muttered as he pressed a fingertip against the doorpad, unlocking it with ease. This task done, he shoved the door open and rushed outside onto the roof.
What greeted him was a fairly standard rooftop, multiple glowing mechanisms on the top whirring off to the side and keeping the building running. There was a waist-high wall along the edges of the roof, probably to keep people from falling, and aside from this the area was relatively unremarkable.
Aside from the sight of laying out on the rooftop. His skin, a pale shade of gray, seemed to reflect the lights of the city in it's translucence, a few remaining droplets of crimson clinging to the puncture wounds in his neck and the various claw marks across his frame.
The Ahimsa agent's eyes widened and he rushed to his client's side, the wind sending his coat whipping about as he dropped to his knees. "Mr. Achenleck!" He called out, his voice nearly lost to the wind as he took the graphic designer's pulse. He knew it was largely pointless, it was clear Conrad was nearly gone, but he tried anyway.
"Is he...oh hell..." Hanna was still standing with his hands cuffed behind his back, eyes wide in the night as he stared at Conrad's body.
Captivated as he was, he failed to notice the dark shadow coming down on him from above.
'Crack'! The sound was harsh as the vampire quite suddenly slammed Hanna down onto the rooftop in a flurry of purple hair and fangs. There was a clatter of metal as the handcuffs broke and skidded uselessly across the ground, though the redhead's arms were still trapped under his own bodyweight and hers. "Hello again, Mr. Cross!" The vampire crowed, mouth set into a terrifying grin.
"Hi there...!" Hanna sounded far less enthusiastic than he had a few seconds ago, "Listen, didn't we agree that no one was going to get hurt in this?" He struggled a bit, trying to get his arms free, "You weren't supposed to hurt anyone! You promised you wouldn't!"
"Plans change, Mr. Cross," The vampire drawled as she pressed a hand against the redhead's shoulder, forcing him to be still. "Now why don't you tell me just what it is going on, hm? You're no regular prepubescent brat, I can smell death on you. What are you, Mr. Cross?" As she spoke she moved in closer, her voice a frigid whisper in Hanna's ear.
She never got her answer, as at that moment the side of the Ahimsa agent's pistol rather suddenly cracked against the back of skull.
The vampire let out a shriek of pain as the force of the blow knocked her off of Hanna, sending her sprawling across the rooftop. Crimson pooled at the base of her head as she lay there in a daze, purple hair fanning out beneath her.
Hanna rolled to his feet, looking relieved. He turned his gaze towards the Ahimsa agent with a half-smile on his face, about to thank the man for saving him. Then his eyes widened.
"Give me your gun!" He demanded, thrusting a hand out, "Hurry! Throw me your gun!"
The Ahimsa agent blinked in confusion at Hanna's words. Light hazel eyes went from the redhead to the blood-splattered weapon in his hands and again came the war in his mind. His head screamed 'no', because of course, that was downright stupid. What made Hanna think he was honestly going to be getting an Ahimsa weapon? Did he really think he was going to get it? There was no way, that was probably one of the worst mistakes he could possibly make on accident, let alone on purpose.
But there were those eyes again and some part of him could not say no. Some part of him was saying 'trust him' and it was the same part screaming in his head at night, whispering doubts in his mind as he gazed out at the city, and he couldn't ignore that anymore.
So before he could overthink it and take it back, he threw the gun to Hanna.
The red head fumbled with it and then tightened his fingers around the barrel, holding it completely the wrong way. Then he spun around and ran across the rooftop...right past the vampire woman.
He dropped to his knees beside Conrad's body and swiped some of the blood off the end of the gun. It dripped off his fingers, hot and sticky.
"Please be enough..." Hanna whispered, "Sorry Mr. Achenleck, but this is your ticket out of death so you have to fucking take it!"
"What are you doing?" The Ahimsa agent called out as he made a step toward Hanna, eyes flicking from the still groaning vampire woman to the redhead. He faintly spotted the flash of crimson on his former captive's fingers and his eyes widened, the memory of something he'd been taught during training coming to mind.
'In order to become a vampire, there must be an exchange of blood between sire and victim...'
"Wait!" He cried out as he rushed to Hanna's side. "You can't-"
"I know!" Hanna cried from the shadows, pulling his hand away from Conrad, "I know that but this is the only chance he has to live!" Those brilliant blue eyes flashed with something dark, the happy light in them dimming a little, "I can't just leave him here for the Council to find! You don't know what they'd do to him!"
The Ahimsa agent blinked, brow furrowing as he skidded to a stop. Light hazel met brilliant blue and he just stared at the redhead for a moment. "What are you talking about?" He asked. "He's not an Undesirable..."
WHAM!
A fist came flying out and socked Hanna in the side of the face, making him jerk backwards at the impact. Hanna put a hand to his mouth, wiping away the blood dribbling down his chin. There was a relieved grin on his face.
"Fffuuuuucccckkkk..." Conrad Achenleck groaned, sitting up slowly, one hand to his head, "What the fuck happened...! I feel like I've been through a meat grinder and a garbage compressor...oh fuck..."
"Oh thank God that worked!" Hanna cried, throwing his arms around this man he barely knew and giving him a giant hug, "Oh God, I'm so sorry you got dragged into this but it's okay because you're alive! Well, sorta..."
"Wh-what!" Conrad shoved Hanna way, "What the fuck do you mean "not really alive"! What the hell does that mean!"
"Wwwweeeellll," Hanna grinned sheepishly, "You're a vampire now but, you know, that's alright because you're not dead!"
"V-v-vampire!" The graphic designer looked dazed with shock for a moment, as though he couldn't completely grasp what Hanna had just told him, "A...a..." He gathered himself up a bit and screamed, "You turned me into a fucking Undersirable!"
"I'm sorry! Really!" Hanna said and looking like he meant it too, "But trust me, this is way better than if the Council had picked you up! Things would have been-." The red head stopped for a second and put his fingers to his ear again, listening to his companion over the speaker, "Everything's okay, Toni! Calm down, alright! But listen..."
The Ahimsa agent stood and watched this exchange in a daze, There were now two vampires, the terrorist he'd meant to capture had been hugging one of them and cheerily chatting with what was possibly another terrorist, and he'd let it all happen. His gun, the source of the whole mess, lay covered in blood and forgotten at Hanna's side. It had all happened so suddenly and he just didn't know what to make of it all. There was the memory of the redhead insisting they had to stop the other vampire, that friendly smile, the insistence that this was better and God he knew it had to be a lie, he'd been taught better than this. He knew it was wrong but he'd already gone against protocol so much tonight and why on Earth had he done that? That boy, the way he acted, the way everything had just seemed to fall apart he just felt so impossibly lost.
"... and there's this guy I kinda-sorta might have accidentally managed to kill but then brought him back to life." Hanna was still rambling, looking this way and that as he spoke. He then glanced over his shoulder at the Ahimsa agent, "And, er, there's also a..."
Blue eyes widened and Hanna's hand dropped as he lept up, shouting, "Denzel, look out!"
The dark-haired man immediately spun to try to see what Hanna was shouting about, but all he caught was a flash of purple and gleaming fangs before something hit him hard in the back of the head. He let out a cry as the world spun and he swore he heard the redhead shouting yet another name for him, but he couldn't make it out as he dropped to his knees. There was still more shouting and he swore he heard laughter and saw a flash of blue fur out of the corner of his eye. His stomach twisted as his vision swam, becoming gray at the edges, then black.
This really was just not his night.