Anyway, Iesha constantly comments about Lorelei and her muttering under her breath "Lorelei is stupid" gave me loads of inspiration as well for this Chapter. Don't worry…she'll get better.
Thank you to anyone who may read this chapter, and a great big thank you to those who review.
Stick with me, this WILL get better for those of you who may think it is crap!
Reiko: Uh huh? Suuuure…
Lorelei: CONDITION! CONDITION!
Reiko: …-.-; (attacks Dyne)
Japanese words you ought to know:-
Hausu = house
jajauma = bitch, or shrew or unmanageable woman
kutabare = fucker
'So…quite a big turn out.'
'More than I was expecting.' Reiko agreed. He watched them quietly, hidden by the shadows. None of the other vampires seemed to notice him. Remy smiled at Reiko.
'So, how does it feel to be a real leader again?' Reiko said nothing but continued staring over the rail.
'I can't let them down.'
'You didn't let any of them down before, Reiko.'
'They died because they followed me blindly. They died because of my folly.'
'See this as a chance to redeem yourself.'
'Even if I do, it won't bring back those lives that were lost.' He grew quiet again and his eyes turned far away. Lives that were lost…funny that. Life as a vampire could hardly be classified as life. It was more a punishment. But what had he done to gain this injustice? He didn't know. It was best not to think about it. It was best to look ahead and deal with the current events.
The vampire crowd milled around uncertainly below him, and Reiko felt his stomach clench quite suddenly as Remy looked up at him again.
'They grow impatient. It is time.' Reiko nodded softly.
'I know…I just hope I know what I'm doing, and that they do not desert me in my time of need.' Remy frowned at that.
' "Time of need"? What do you mean?' Reiko didn't answer him but stepped out of the shadows, cutting an impressive figure dressed in all white, the colour of his hair contrasting. Ironically, he looked as though he were a holy being, instead of one that was usually associated with evil.
Silence fell amongst the vampires, but it was only momentary before wild cheers hailed him. He stood there, his eyes widening only slightly, barely noticeable. Behind him, Remy smiled with pleasure. Reiko stared down at them before smiling mildly. This was all that was needed. Silence fell slowly, reluctantly, but despite this, Reiko could feel the air humming with the collective anticipation of all the vampires assembled. Sudden fear clenched at his stomach again but shortly released it as he began to address the masses.
'My friends, I thank you for placing your trust in me. However, let it be known that danger lies ahead of us all. Those who fear their renewed lives coming to an end should leave. For all who remain shall fight with me. If you do not want this, leave now, for you shall not get the opportunity to do so later. Once you decide to stay, there is no turning back. There is no way you can back out of your commitment.' Everyone fell silent, and from his vantage point, Reiko watched the vampires look at one another, daring them to move if they so wished.
'Do not be afraid. If you leave, no one shall be sent to come after you and kill you for mutiny. However, I cannot allow any deserters to remain in the city. You will have to leave and join someone else. If you do come back and try to cause a rebellion, you will not be forgiven.' Remy blinked as Reiko finished speaking. So, Reiko had learnt from his past mistake…
Reiko saw that no one moved, and the uneasy looks had ceased to exist. He blinked once, but tried not to show his surprise. Remy watched as he shifted his stance slightly and knew immediately that Reiko had lost much confidence during the past few weeks. It seemed as though he still had not regained all of it.
To the other vampires, however, they saw nothing of this. They saw only their leader, only the legendary face, and the figure of the one who would lead them through all dangers, and through to safety. Reiko took another deep breath.
'You all would no doubt know of the threat of the Harpies.' There was an excited babble, that drowned out his voice. Reiko paused, and his eyes narrowed. Apparently, no one noticed. His eyes flared crimson quite suddenly.
'SILENCE!' he roared. The sound carried, echoed off the walls and the ceiling and all noise was shattered. The vampires cowed down, and all eyes returned to Reiko. Dark shadows circled around him, in a display of his power. It was only then, that they realized exactly how powerful he was. Reiko gave another cat-like hiss before his eyes returned to their normal hazel. Everyone was struck mute.
'Our Lord and Master Vampire, has given me the task to reforge the alliance that once was between the Vampires and the Harpies. If you oppose me in any way, you oppose the Master Vampire. You must leave.' He watched with no apparent surprise as a few vampires left the premises. Even so, there were still many who stared up at him avidly. Reiko slowly walked down the stairs, his eyes serious, his face set in a look of grim determination. Remy followed him immediately, wordlessly, his eyes glimmering faintly with crimson light. When Reiko came to a halt at the bottom of the stairs, so did he.
Reiko looked around calmly.
'There's going to be a few changes around here. We may have new laws, but we have no enforcers of these laws. As of this moment, I have appointed Remy as "Chief Enforcer" of this city. He will choose forty vampires, all of whom will cover a particular area of this vast city. If any of you break the laws you will have to answer to me.' There was an ominous silence after this last statement. Reiko looked around again and surveyed the shocked faces. He smiled.
'That is all. You are dismissed.'
'You're the only one who hasn't broken down my door at some point.' Reiko smiled at Dante's comment.
'I could always change that for you.'
'I'd rather you didn't. The repairmen don't come here anymore so it's up to me to fix the door!' The two men looked towards the door, which was barely standing. Splinters decorated the door, making it a potential hazard to even open the damned thing. Reiko slowly turned to look back at Dante.
'Very well, I shall not break your door. But only because I fear that I would do more damage to myself than to the door.' He smiled at Dante. Dante glowered at him in response but Reiko didn't seem to notice as he sat down on the lumpy couch.
'My handiwork isn't that bad.' Reiko raised an eyebrow.
'I've seen better.' Dante said nothing, but silently, he was forced to reluctantly agree.
'So, Reiko. What brings you here?'
'I was at the guild.'
'What happened?'
'Nothing much. Some of my numbers left once they heard that I was to try and talk to the Harpies and gain their friendship. I still have a great number that will follow me.' Reiko said softly. Dante frowned, and it had the effect of causing Reiko to mirror the look on his face. 'What is it? Does this news distress you somehow?'
'I still have a bad feeling about this.' Dante blinked and the frown turned into a hostile scowl as Reiko laughed whole-heartedly at his statement. 'Is there something funny?'
'Dante, it is unlike you to be apprehensive about any situation.'
'Yeah well let's just say I learnt from a past mistake.'
'And what mistake was this?' Reiko's eyes were filled with sudden interest. Dante shook his head. 'The infamous Dante Sparda never makes mistakes as far as I know.' Again, Dante shook his head.
'You don't know me well enough to know whether I make mistakes or not.'
The vampire looked mollified.
'I apologize.' His voice had dropped to barely above a whisper. Dante didn't answer him and an uncomfortable silence fell between them, only broken by the ticking of a clock. Dante stared out of the window and into the lamp-lit world beyond. Reiko remained totally still, his eyes unblinking, focused on nothing, not breathing. The dead have no use for air, and Reiko stopped trying to act as though he still had use for it. He simply sat there, like some kind of realistic statue. The silence continued to stretch but it was suddenly broken as the vampire suddenly seemed to reanimate and stood up.
'I should take my leave.'
'I'm afraid you won't be doing that.' Again silence fell. Reiko felt something stir underneath Dante's skin. He didn't know whether it was simply irritation or whether it was the demon inside. Dante turned around, and Reiko's eyes flared crimson in warning before he went to sit back on the couch.
'Very well, Dante,' He said mildly. All was still again.
'I need a favour.' Reiko allowed a small smile to grace his features. So this was what all the fuss was about? He felt the irritation flowing outwards from Dante and grinned.
'Yes?'
'It's about Lorelei.' Reiko's grin slipped slightly.
'…'
'Her mother decided to drop in for a visit. The upshot of this was she took Lorelei back with her.' Reiko frowned at this.
'And what's so bad about that?'
'If Lorelei was telling the truth, that dragon could still be around. We need her here for her own safety and we need her to tell us anything else she may have noticed that night.' Reiko shrugged.
'So go get her then.'
'If only it was that simple. The kid's mother knows where we're at. She'll simply come again and we'll be back where we started.'
'You don't necessarily have to bring her back here though. Just go and get her and take her somewhere else.'
'I can't. I have a job.'
'Trish can then.'
'She's out on a job too.'
'How convenient,' Reiko muttered darkly and glared at Dante balefully.
'You're going to get her and you're going to keep her with you.'
'What?' Reiko's eyes had widened. 'No! You can't be serious!'
'You have no choice.'
'W-what d'you mean?'
'If you don't help us, we don't help you. We leave you on your own with the Harpies and you can fight this war yourself.' Reiko stared at him as though he was in the midst of some kind of nightmare.
'This has got to be some kind of joke,' he groaned. Dante handed him a scrap of paper with a crude sketch of a map drawn on it. Underneath, for his convenience, there were bullet points. Reiko squinted at the writing and could barely make out what it said. Trish's handwriting was difficult to read at the very best. He sighed with pure annoyance and glared at Dante before he turned for the door.
'Fine. I'll do this…but only because of the fact that if I don't, you'll stop fighting alongside me.' He left. Dante started to chuckle.
'You're a fool, Reiko,' he whispered. 'You seriously think I'd stop fighting for the world if you didn't do what I said?'
Reiko walked along the streets. Even with his excellent night-vision, he could not make out what the hell Trish had written down. The map looked like a bunch of squiggles and scrawls that were just as difficult to follow as the writing. He saw a lamp ahead and went over to it, hoping the extra light would aid him. It did not help him in the least. His eyes narrowed with irritation.
Not only was Trish's handwriting crap, she also spelt things wrong. What looked like an "S" was often an "R" and she often forgot to dot her "i"s and her "t"s. He paused when he saw the word "sight" on the paper and decided to take a right. "clempt" soon became left and "hor-stopp" was soon found out to mean "whore-stop". Sure enough there were loads of women milling around, just waiting. Luckily, Reiko saw that he had the word "sight" on his paper just before this area and took another right.
Eventually he came upon the house and stood staring at it. It wasn't too bad a place, if you discount the broken panes of glass that made up the windows to nearly every room, the slates that were missing from the roof, the crumbling walls and the fact that their garden shed seemed to be infested with rats. A nice place indeed. He circled the house warily and was pleased to see that there were no lights on at all. Only one window had a pane of glass that was still intact, even though it was incredibly dirty.
Content to see that it appeared as though no one was awake, he went into the garden shed and found a sizeable ladder and set it against the wall. He started to climb up it, his feet noiseless and peered into the first window. Inside, there was a small bed, with a huge mound asleep on it. It gave a particularly huge snore and Reiko backed down the ladder, grimacing. Lorelei did not look like a hippo in a bed-sheet. He felt a pang of guilt and felt dirty. What the hell was he doing sneaking around and staring into people's windows? Like a thief in the dark? Well…he was being a thief in one sense.
Was this really what it had come down to? Kidnapping? The things a self-respecting vampire had to do to make sure the world remained in safe hands…
The next window he went to did not reward him, though he had made a great deal of noise than before. The girl inside woke up and leant out of the window, but by the time she had got there, Reiko had already hidden the ladder and himself in the nearest clump of bushes he could find.
Through some miracle, he wasn't discovered and the girl went back to sleep. Reiko was left alone to continue his search.
The next window he went to was the one that actually had glass. When he climbed up the ladder, however, the glass was so filthy he couldn't see through it. He cursed and tore off a scrap of material from his sleeve and climbed down. He quickly dashed to the water tap and twisted it hard and was rewarded by some water trickling out. He sighed and dampened the cloth and then ran up the ladder as quick as he could. By the time he got there, the cloth had already dried.
He cursed again and went back down again and picked up a pebble, almost certain that this window would be Lorelei's. If not…well…he was screwed. He was about to throw the pebble when he thought about it and let it drop to the ground. It was best if he let the family keep their one remaining window. Instead he picked up a clod of mud and threw it, smiling when he heard it collide against the glass with a wet splat.
He blinked when he heard no sound from within the house and he bent down to pick up another fistful of grass and mud and chucked it again. Twice more he did this, but flinched when the window suddenly opened and the last piece of mud flew through the window. There was no splat, but instead a muffled shriek.
'HEY!' Lorelei poked her head out of the window and glared around, mud covering her face. Reiko had already dived for the bushes but soon crept out again and stood sheepishly.
'Um…'
'You!?'
'Uh…'
'What the hell are you doing?!'
'…Dante sent me.'
'…What?' Lorelei looked irritated and disbelieving. Reiko felt irritated himself.
'You know, Dante! The Devil Hunter?' Lorelei looked blank.
'He's a Devil Hunter? I thought he was a Dragon Hunter.' Reiko stared at her.
'If he was a Dragon Hunter he wouldn't be making much of a profit now, would he? Anyway, Dante sent me and you are to come with me.'
'How do I know you're not lying? Hm? And how do I know you're not trying to lure me out of the house to bite my neck or something?' Reiko was silent. Lorelei continued. 'You might be some vampire rapist or something!' Reiko's eyes narrowed slightly but he chose to say nothing. This had been precisely why Reiko didn't like women's company too much. They were stupid. Well, this one was anyway. Lorelei looked triumphant.
'You haven't got anything to say for yourself, do you? I was right, wasn't I?'
'…No.'
'No?'
'No.'
'Oh.' Lorelei blushed. 'So you're not a rapist?' Reiklo rolled his eyes.
'If I was a rapist, I wouldn't tell you would I? Stupid…'
'I'm not stupid! I'm just careful!'
'Uh huh? Suuuure…Listen, do you want to stay with your mother or not?'
'…'
'Because Dante's giving you an opportunity to get out of here and if you're not going to take it, very well. I bid you good night.' Lorelei sighed.
'Fine…I'll go. Just let me get my things.' Reiko rolled his eyes and sat down by the ladder, thinking that she was going to take an hour or something. Surprisingly, she only took ten minutes before she came down the ladder. Obviously, Lorelei wasn't a proper girl then. Reiko took a kind of malicious pleasure in thinking this. Him, a rapist? Yeah right. If he was a rapist, Lorelei was a hermaphrodite. Yeah. Made sense.
'Come on,' he grumbled.
'Where are we going?'
'To my place.' Lorelei ground to a halt.
'WHAT?' Reiko turned around.
'To…my…place…' he said blandly. 'À ma maison…Tu comprends? Non?' Lorelei frowned. Reiko continued. 'Alla mia casa…ancora non capiscono?' He frowned. 'Hausu… ' Lorelei looked irritated.
'I understood very well the meaning of your words!'
'So why did you exclaim so?'
'BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO GO TO A VAMPIRE'S HOUSE!'
'…jajauma' He muttered angrily under his breath, barely a whisper.
'What?'
'Nothing! …kutabare…' Lorelei was quiet but then sighed and walked alongside him. Everything was silent until Reiko passed the guild. He paused and frowned before looking up at the sky. The sun was no where to be seen. Other vampires apart from him would be around.
'Come on. We must be quick.'
'Why?'
'Not all vampires are as patient as me and not all vampires refuse to attack humans.' Lorelei gave him a long look but then frowned and looked away, feeling guilty.
'I'm sorry.'
'…'
'I really am sorry.' Reiko didn't answer, it was almost as though he hadn't heard her. He suddenly took a left and then a right and then came to a stop. Lorelei looked around and frowned. The building they had come to was very old, and it seemed as though slamming a door would cause the whole building to collapse. Reiko unlocked the door and switched off the alarm as soon as he went inside, Lorelei following close behind him. Her eyes widened as Reiko hit a light switch.
'Wow…'
