Karou had been to three different Vampire Houses and trolled the streets all night looking for her brother

Karou had been to three different Vampire Houses and trolled the streets all night looking for her brother. She found the boy, finally, in the fourth House she stormed. Yahiko was strung up and bleeding, but he looked otherwise unharmed. They hadn't had time to do anything resembling torture. But he'd been bitten, and inside Karou wept.

She had hoped that it would be many more years before the Hunter-in-training would experience the horror of a Vampire bite. But it was too late now for regrets.

"We're not just going to let him go, you know." One of the Vampires said, standing up. Karou looked around her with sharp eyes, counting her opponents.

"Fine, I'll make a deal with you." She said after determining that she couldn't fight them all and be able to keep Yahiko alive. There were at least three Vampires in reach of Yahiko to kill him before she could get there if she attacked.

"Karou are you nuts? You're not supposed to make deals with Vampires!" And Yahiko was apparently well enough to argue with her. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Ignoring him, Karou swept her pony-tail to one side and bared her neck.

"True Hunter's blood, none of that in-training stuff. One pint exactly, no more, and I can tell how much you take. Then you let us both go without a fight. Deal?"

"Karou, you stupid ugly idiot!" The lead Vamp grinned.

"Deal. Let's seal it in blood." And he swooped down on her.

One, two, three, four… The Vampire closest to Yahiko took several steps forward, mouth open in obvious lust. Seven, eight, nine… A second Vamp took a couple of shuffling steps towards her; they had to be able to smell her blood by now. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen… Karou suppressed a wince at the pain spreading like fire up her neck and down her shoulder. Eighteen, nineteen, come on! Move already! A third Vampire shifted forward, but it wasn't the one she needed. Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three… shit.

In one swift strike, Karou hit the pressure point on the Vampire's neck that caused his fangs to retract. In a second strike, she separated his head from his body. A flash and a throwing knife imbedded it self hilt deep in the third Vamp's chest, dropping him for a precious few minutes before he'd revive; a second one severed the rope hanging Yahiko, and that's all Karou could do because the others were on her.

But she's lost blood, and they smell it, and her skill won't be enough.

"Yahiko, run!" A figure blurred past her, and then there was a hurricane of red hair and steel and her opponents fell like flies. Karou severed another head and ran for Yahiko, who was staring at Kenshin with a kind of awe. "Get up, Yahiko, get up! Come on!" She spun and made a swift cut with her sword, slitting the Vamp's throat but not enough to sever the head (that one would get up again) and swayed.

With a chill Karou realized she was still injured, still low on blood, and a twenty-five count had been too much. Her brother was at her elbow in an instant, and Karou was grateful of that much. They needed to go. Now.