Jou sat with his back to the cool metal wall, tapping his claws absently against the floor. His stomach was tight with hunger and anxiety, and although a pack of blood lay on the table next to him, he refused to eat.
His eyes pressed shut in attempt to black out the thoughts, but it did little good. He remembered just how willingly he leaned forward and licked the blood from Kaiba's hand, remembered just how much he liked the taste. He shook his head hard, jostling around his memories until the one that fell into his recognition was the first time, the only other time he had tasted Kaiba's blood. That was different; he was starving and needed blood to heal himself. But this... Jou knew he hadn't needed it at all, he took it anyway, just because he could. The taste was still clinging to his tongue, and the worst part was he wanted more.
He remembered how helpless he had felt, drawn to that sweet red drink, almost willing to lick it off the floor where it fell in little red drops. Jou knew he very well might have, if Kaiba had not been holding his bleeding hand right before him. There was so much wrong with how badly he wanted it again Jou could hardly pick one reason from another.
He shouldn't want something Kaiba had to offer so badly, he shouldn't feel so drawn to it, so helpless when if was offered. He shouldn't feel so willing to do just anything to get more. It occurred to Jou in one horrible moment that he felt too much like a pet craving a treat, and he narrowed his eyes at the opposite wall, feeling his ears fold flat against his head. A soft growl rumbled from his throat, his arms winding tightly around his bare chest.
And the worst part was he couldn't deny that he was doing tricks for a little taste of Kaiba's blood; coming up with smarter strategies before he could stop himself, just to earn one more sweet lick.
The door slid open and Jou looked up, unable to stop the vivid flash of hope he felt, the wish to see those algid blue eyes looking back at him. He didn't know why but he somehow thought he'd feel better if could lose a game and be an experiment rather then a pet. Or maybe even win and turn Kaiba's blood away (although he seriously doubted he could do that).
In the doorway stood the tiny nervous servant girl who always gave Jou his blood packs. He looked up, ears perking up in question as he saw her, due to the face he had already been fed a while ago. Her eyes were wide, panic etched into her face.
"Help," she said, her voice a terror stained squeak. Jou hardly had time to stand before monstrous hands reached around either side of the servant girl's head and snapped her neck. Jou froze, starring in horror and shock as she fell to the floor, her eyes dull and lifeless. Behind her was a horrible creature, its skin a silvery death-grey, its fangs protruding from its thin black lips. Jou blinked several times, his mouth falling open when he realized just what he was looking at.
The other Nosferatu's eyes widened, like swelling pools of dirty brown water.
"I found him! Mistress, come this way!" he shouted, his voice rough and gravelly. Jou didn't know what to do; he kept looking between the dead girl on the floor, and the horrible creature before him. His stomach twisted painfully, stubborn denial racing back into his mind. He wasn't one of them… right?
But denying he was one of them meant knowing they were there, and he could hear more of them, their claws scrapping across the immaculate floors of the mansion. It gave him such a rush or belonging, of hope, that he instantly hated himself.
Through the doorway came a slim, tall Nosferatu female. There were shimmering violet scarves wrapped around random spots on her arms and legs, covering anywhere that may have been gashed and left open to fester. She smelled strongly of makeup, and her skin was almost more silver then grey. Tight black leather wrapped her chest, showing the shimmering silver skin of the top of her breasts, while a short strip of leather wrapped snugly around her hips, moving in tight loops down her thighs, sporting a silver buckle over her left hip. A thick silver ring hung from the center of her leather tube top, and she toyed with it with her long, violet painted claws. Gossamer thin white-blonde hair fell loosely don from her head, sheer enough that you could clearly see her scalp, her pierced pointed ears. Even her teeth had been filed down slightly, making the awkward shape of her jaw far less noticeable.
"Poor creature…" Jou's ears twitched as he heard her speak, recognition glowing over his eyes as he heard her voice, his gaze sinking into the deep violet of her eyes.
"M-Mai?" He stuttered, his jaw falling open. His mind seemed to be frozen, stunned into a sudden stop. It was then he heard a great deal of cursing and crashing, glass shattering and fabric ripping. Jou's ears tilted to the sounds past the door, and moments later he saw two Nosferatu dragging Kaiba into the doorway. Jou opened his mouth, panic writhing in his stomach as he saw the bruise forming on Kaiba's head, the glass shimmering on his torn coat.
"Jounouchi!" Mai shouted, leaping forward and wrapping her arms fiercely around Jou. "Oh Jou," she held him back by the shoulders, looking him up and down, "you look awful!"
"Duh," Jou couldn't help but say, his ears folding under her piercing eyes. Mai whacked his shoulder playfully, although Jou found it hurt a lot more then it should have.
"Not what I meant, you look underfed… and you clothes are all shredded…" She glared over at Kaiba, who seemed barely awake. "Don't worry Jou; we came to get you out of this place…"
"W-what?" Jou's head spun, "B-but,"
"Oh before we go, Princess," One of the vampires at Seto's side looked up, her ears perking in attention, "Kill Kaiba, we can't have anyone knowing we were here…"
"No!" Jou shouted, looking at Mai with panicked eyes. Then, feeling the sharp question of her gaze, he stuttered for an excuse. He got the feeling that if he wasn't careful, they could both end up dead. "I-I mean… I don't want him dead cuz… uh… it's to quick-"
"He's right!" Shouted another voice from the crowd of Nosferatu gathered at the doorway, "That poor kid has probably been through a lot of horrible experiments! Let's take Kaiba down to our city and show him what its like!"
"Oh what a great idea," Mai said with a soft, dark smile, "I'm sure Jounouchi would appreciate the revenge."
"What?!" Jou looked in panic over to Kaiba, who seemed to be fighting to keep awake. His eyes looked foggy and blind, but seemed to be searching, flickers of hot anger whispering across them.
"J-Jounouchi…?" The word left his lips on a weak breath, stained with anger. Jou felt a dark sadness tug at him, threaten to pull him under. Why was all of this happening?!
"Come on now Jou, I'm going to take you to my city…" Mai said gently, taking Jou's hand in hers.
"H-huh?" Jou was far to stunned to think straight, and for some reason he could feel tears swelling in the corners of his eyes.
"You poor thing… no one ever told you anything did they…?" Mai said, looking at Jou with sorrow in her eyes, like Jou was some little child everyone had forgotten. Jou tried not to narrow his eyes, holding his ears still, hating the feeling she gave him, even if it was true.
"No, no one told me nothin'," Jou's eyes flickered over to Kaiba, who was looking right back at him. Jou's stomach twisted in pain, his eyes widening when he saw the hate etched onto Kaiba's face, and had to look away. "Tell me," he said shortly, looking at Mai to avoid looking anywhere else.
"We have our own city Jou, underground where all the Nosferatu through the ages have lived. We keep it a secret… so none of the other vampires come to bother us. It's peaceful down there Jou, and we have everything: water, cable, lights, internet, power, and even an infinite source of food!" Jou listened, intent on watching her face, not letting his eyes wonder back to Kaiba. While avoiding that hateful look, he noted that her face was covered with silver paint, peeling slightly around her ears, and underneath her skin was dirty grey just like his. This thought comforted him slightly, tugging at his defenses.
"….h-how do you got all that?" he asked almost shyly. Her grip on his shoulders tightened very slightly, a pleased smile sliding over her violet painted lips, showing her fangs.
"Nosferatu are very skilled when we work together sweetheart, there's not much we can't do…" She said, somehow managing a sultry smile. "No come on… I'll show you the way," Without waiting for a response, she took Jou's wrist, leading him through the dark mansion halls. Jou looked back over his shoulder, watching Kaiba as the two other vampires carried him. His feet were dragging along the floor, and he seemed to be passed out, a trickle of blood slithering from under his hair. Jou's chest hurt, a sudden sharp pain stabbing him between his ribs. He made up is mind right there to help Kaiba as soon as he could.
Jounouchi could hardly believe what he was seeing. Tunnels and corridors carved from stone glistened softly in the neon light, which was flickering gently from stolen street lights and signs. Doors were propped against large expanses of stone, which were hallowed out onto large stony rooms. Jou could see inside one now at then, some had Christmas lights strung on the walls, some had bright eerie blue computer screens flooding there tiny caves with light, and some had little Nosferatu children perched laughing before a grainy television.
The streets were carved out widely, and Nosferatu would walk under the dim light chatting pleasantly, sometimes on would whip by on an old rusted bike, or sometimes a couple would even walk by hand in hand, whispering softly to each other. Jou was stunned silent, forgetting everything but this strange, fantastic little world.
"How long has this been here? Who made it…?" Jou said breathlessly, looking around at the high stone ceilings and softly glimmering lights. It looked like the stone walls were covered in fireflies because of all the soft white Christmas lights.
"Oh it's been here forever…" Mai explained with a little smile, "But it wasn't quite so pleasant until I fixed it up… convinced people to wire in our power and what not… Now it's a wonderful place, don't you think…?" Jou nodded, eyes still wondering about, inspecting each beautiful little light.
"H-how come I didn't know about this place…?" He questioned, wondering how an entire world could escape his knowledge.
"I told you already sweetheart, we keep it a secret. None of us want those other vampires coming down here and belittling us."
"Oh…" Jou looked behind himself briefly, checking to see if those two Nosferatu were still carrying Kaiba behind them. His eyes widened in slight panic when he realized they weren't there.
"Uh M-Mai where's Kaiba?" he stuttered, his urge to explore around this new world withering away instantly.
She seemed a little confused by the urgency to his voice, raising an eyebrow and looking at him carefully before she answered.
"There's a cage somewhere with his name on it," She said with a dark smile, showing her unnaturally white teeth.
"What? They're taking him there now?" Jou did his best to mask his worry in a casual, inquisitive tone.
"Of course, the plan was to put him through a few nasty little 'experiments', and I'm sure most of us have something we'd like to inflict on him… It's a crime to keep one Nos from another Jou," she looked as him with a silky expression, "All of us are offended for you…"
'Which is stupid because I'm not offended…' Jou thought to himself. He could feel sheer panic running through his veins, unable to stop himself from picturing Kaiba in a cage, surrounded by monsters holding rusted blades or dirty needles. He shook his hard, swallowing the dryness in his throat.
"Uhm, Mai…"Jou looked around, hardly noticing where they had gone while he was musing. Mai was pushing open her splintering wooden door, beckoning Jou to fallow her inside. The walls were decorated with a few slightly dirty paintings, and many strings of white and red Christmas lights. A cracked glass vanity table was nestled against the back wall of the room, littered with many containers of make up, and little brushes. Beside that was an open chest that seemed to be full of leathers, the smell tickling strongly at Jou's nose. Other then that, there was a heart shaped bed with dark red covers in the corner, and just beside that a softly glowing computer screen resting upon a scarred wooden table.
"What?" She questioned, sitting on the little chair before her vanity table, pulling open a container of thick silver paint and looking at her reflection in a displeased manner. She began to touch up the peeling color around her ears, her reflection watching Jou expectantly.
"I uh… I don't want no other Nos to touch Kaiba," he began, "cuz uh… it's not fair. I mean he only did bad stuff to me so… why should they get to have all the fun?" As Jou spoke he realized just why he was being so careful not to offend her or any of the other Nosferatu. What would happen after he helped Kaiba? Jou was sure the brunette would be incredibly angry with him, and with a sharp pang of sadness he realized Kaiba probably wouldn't want Jou to come back with him. So where would he go…? If he was careful enough about what he said… he could probably come back and stay with Mai. He felt a little sick at the thought of coming back to the creatures that caused him so much trouble, that hurt Kaiba so much, but…
Jounouchi decided he didn't have any other choice. What else could he do? Kaiba wasn't going to let him come back, and he certainly wasn't going to try living alone above ground again…
"I see your point…" Mai said with a faintly dark smile. "Okay then… what do you want to do with him?"
"Bite him," was the first thing that came to mind, "I wanna bite him… make him real scared…"
"Okay then, how could I say no?" Mai seemed satisfied with her makeup now, all her visible skin a smooth glimmering silver. "But first… let's sit you down and make you look nice… I won't send you back to Kaiba as the skinny dirty thing he made you."
"Will it take long?" Jou questioned, unable to keep all the nervousness from creeping into his voice. "I mean uh, I don't want him to get to hurt before I get there, more fun for me ya know…"
"Oh don't worry, a little burnt hair never hurt anyone," Mai said with a silvery laugh. Jou opened his mouth to speak, his stomach giving an anxious jolt, but Mai had grabbed his shoulders and steered him over to the vanity table, sitting him down firmly.
"I can tell you want to get to the little bastard but just wait, alright sweetheart? This shouldn't take to long…"
Jou got the idea he wasn't going anywhere until she was satisfied with him, so with a deep sigh he nodded, sitting still while she opened her collection of paints of crèmes.
"Wait until Kaiba sees you when you're finished, he's not even going to see the same creature…"
Jou's ears folded down.
"Yeah I know…"
~*~*~*~
Thank you guys for all the lovely reviews ^^ I'm so happy you're enjoying this fic! I hope you liked the update, Oooo things are getting tense!! After this, just two more chapters to go!! OMG!!
