Part 4

It was quiet.

There was not a single sound, not to the insensitive human ears at least. For some different beings, like one with vampire hearings, Kei could hear a great many things. There were sounds of hearts thundering, footsteps carefully trailing behind him, guns clicking and more…

Kei ignored all the sound. He reached out with his senses, straining as much as he could, and searched for the one heartbeat that he was more familiar than his own. He was unable to locate that familiar heartbeat as he continued to follow the trail of Sho's scent. The thought that this heart had stopped beating crept into his mind, but he pushed it firmly behind him. No, he wasn't going to believe that, not until he saw it with his own eyes.

The long corridor came to an end, and there was one single chamber at the end of it. That's where the scent of Sho lingered, although Kei couldn't hear any living breathing person inside the room. Without further hesitation, Kei slammed the door open.

Various things assaulted Kei's senses at once. There was the scent of Sho's blood, which he had already identified, except that it was ten times stronger here. There were also other scents of Sho, which were worse than the scent of blood. No human could detect this, but to Kei, it was clear as day. The scent of Sho's fear, anger, helplessness and… despair…

Kei looked around the room. He could see the chains hanging loosely, with dark stains on it that were clearly Sho's blood.

So, someone has chained MY Sho here…

Looking around the room for further clues, Kei's eyes found something placed neatly on an empty chair in the room. Kei slowly walked across the room and picked it up with his hand.

It was a braid. Sho's braid. One end of it was loosed, showing that it had been cut off neatly from the owner's head. The braid showed a dark maroon color, instead of the usual light brown. There was also a sticky substance around it. The braid had been dipped in blood; Sho's blood.

Squeezing the braid tightly in his hand, Kei let out a scream.

He felt, rather than heard, as footsteps closed in on him and he was surrounded. There were clicking noises of guns, and some far away voice yelled at him to surrender, to kneel down. He merely stood there; clutching the blood soaked braid in his hand.

Then, all hell broke loose.

X X X

Chan was a careful man. Being in his line of profession, and wanting to live till an old age, one couldn't afford to be not careful enough. He had been glad that he had always been extra careful on several occasions, and none of those times could compare to this one.

He had carefully planned the whole thing. He knew Son, the Chinese who had refused to join him, was connected to Sho and Kei. He had purposefully leaked the information about this place to Son. The trap was laid, and the ambush waited in the dark. There wasn't really a chance of this whole thing going wrong. After all, how could one soul fight against dozens armed men? He was tempted to be in the room, with his new untamed pet by his side, while he watched the bringing down of this man named Kei. However, after some thoughts, he decided against it. Just to be careful, he would wait at a different location and only appeared after Kei had been subdued.

That decision had saved his life.

Sho watched every move of Kei since he entered the building. The hidden cameras were well placed, and showing Kei from various angles.

With a mix of emotions, Sho held his breath as he followed on screen Kei's every expression. He saw Kei walking into the torture room where he was held for 3 days before being transported to this new location. He saw Kei picking up the braid that was forcefully chopped off. He saw Kei's hands shaking, and he assumed it was from anger.

Then, he only saw blurry images, and men letting out their last screams before death.

X X X

"Where is Sho?"

The pitiful man shook his head. He wanted to beg for mercy but his throat was squeezed too tightly.

"Die." The man felt a great force squeezing his throat, and that's the last he knew.

"Where is Sho?"

Another man was caught at the throat. Before he could answer, he was lifted like a toy doll and placed in front as a shield, where 8 bullets entered his body, killing him instantly. Dropping the dead shield, Kei moved with lightning speed towards his next target.

X X X

"Monster…" Chan muttered, as he watched on the screen how Kei finished off his men one by one, not even pulling out his own gun, and not carrying any battle wound.

Sho also stared in awe. He had never seen Kei killing like this before. Kei was always relaxed; wearing a somewhat bored expression, during their regular "jobs". This would be the first time he saw Kei letting loose of the vampire inside of him.

"MONSTER!" Chan shouted this time, and pushed the TV forcefully down to the floor.

The poor electronic slammed onto the concrete floor and ceased functioning.

"What is he? WHAT is he?" Chan ran in front of Sho and demanded.

Sho smiled. He couldn't resist.

"Well, I told you. He WILL kill ALL of you."

Chan stared at him. Sho defiantly stared back.

A fist connected with his chin, slamming his head to the side. The force of the blow almost knocked the chair that he was tied to onto the floor.

"That's a monster… a monster…" Chan continue to chant, while rubbing his fist against the dull pain from hitting his captive.

"A monster… who is also a perfect killing machine." Chan suddenly paused, "and whose little friend is in my claws."

This time Chan turned around and almost grinned.

"You bastard!" Sho cursed, "Kei will never work for you."

"Hahaha" Chan laughed, "Oh yes he will. He will work for me as long as I have you." Chan grabbed Sho's chin and smeared the trickle of blood dripping down on the side of Sho's face. "He will work for me, to keep his pretty little thing alive." His fingers trailed across Sho's lips. Without any thinking, Sho seized the opportunity and bit down hard on Chan's finger.

"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" Chan screamed. He was sure his finger was broken when his men finally "rescued" him from between Sho's teeth. To Sho's disappointment, the finger was merely bloodied bad enough, but still well connected to the owner.

"I have enough of your defiant attitude." Chan slapped him with one hand, while the wounded hand was being tended.

"I will have Kei working as my best killing machine, and you, will warm my beds." Staring into the beautiful emerald eyes, Chan laughed cruelly, "I think it's time for you to learn some respect."

His shadow towered over Sho who was bound to the chair with no hopes to escape.

Sho closed his eyes.