Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Of the Darkness: Chapter 9: Starting Stalking
Family: Ryou & Shou
Other Characters: Camula
Word Count: chapter: 1,153||story: 10,369
Genre: Family, Supernatural||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section J, #006, multi-chapter with 15-25 chapters; Written for the One Sibling Boot Camp, prompt #50, shade
Notes: It's an AU. It involves vampires.
Summary: Shou invites his brother in after Ryou returns from a long trip away. That is his first mistake. It only gets worse from there.
You're a hunter. You kill things like that. You've done it before. She kept the litany going in her mind even as she worked her way out of the mansion, every nerve tense and every sense perked for the slightest hint that either of them were on her trail.
She'd never visited the Marufuji mansion before, but she knew all the ways that nobles were meant to protect the peasantry and merchants. That included getting rid of monsters such as vampires that refused to be reasoned with.
It did not include being those monsters.
If it had been anyone else and anywhere else, she would've simply disposed of the creature right then and there. But to attack the head of the Marufuji family in his own home, with nothing but her own instincts telling her that he was the monster that slaughtered her lover? No, that would end up with her dead as well. And if she was wrong – even though she didn't think she was – then the true vampire would be free to stalk and slaughter anyone they chose to.
Chaos Hunter breathed in fresh air as soon as she stumbled her way out of the mansion's environs, waving off the curious looks of servants and the occasional outreached hand for help. There was no help here for her, even if they meant it in all honesty. She was a hunter of monsters. This was a home for monsters.
The tall one, the elder – Marufuji Ryou – he bore the signs of the undead: skin far too pale for one who fought in the light as all the tales of him said he did, the slightest peeking of fangs over his lips, perhaps by accident, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate her, the way that he moved without a single breath of sound. To her it rang clearly, especially given her encounter that night. She hadn't seen the creature then, but she recognized that it wore garments very similar to what the young nobleman wore now.
Not quite enough to take to those higher in rank as evidence, but enough to set her fears aflame.
The small one, the younger – Marufuji Shou – he did not bear any of the marks. What worried her was the way that he gazed at his brother, as if the older sibling held all the secrets of the universe and would give them for a piddling price. She'd heard that Shou hero worshiped his elder brother, but this was something more. Something that made her recall what she'd heard of vampires and their skill at putting people in trances, so that their slaves thought only what they wanted them to think.
She needed to get back and check her information. She thought if one killed the vampire in question, then all those enslaved by its power would then be released. But if she were wrong, then she would have to guard against both brothers when she returned to hunt.
There wasn't any doubt in her mind that she would. She only needed to be properly armed and certain of her target first.
Getting armed wasn't difficult at all. But to be certain of the target? That would require a little more effort.
Luckily, it was effort she was more than prepared to put in.
With the letters now sent off, all Shou had to wait for was their friends' arrival. That would take at least a few days, given the length of time it would take for the letters to arrive there and everyone deciding whether or not they could come at all. They'd learn something eventually.
So with that being all he had to wait for, Shou decided to put in a little time searching for any evidence of the vampire in the mansion. The first thing he thought of was letting his brother know. No one with any sense would go looking for one alone.
"Should I bring a stake with me?" Shou asked, twiddling with the bottom of his jacket. "They're supposed to be hurt by stakes, right?"
"Stakes, blessed water, fire," Ryou recited it as if he'd memorized it. "Some tales speak of garlic being a way to ward them off, among other things."
Shou frowned. He didn't like the smell of garlic that much. He didn't think they even had any in the mansion. "Can we do it without that?"
"Of course. A torch might be easier, though." Ryou shrugged his shoulders and rose from where he'd sat before his window. "Hitting a vampire in a vital spot with a stake isn't something anyone can do very easily."
He didn't say 'especially you', but Shou knew he meant it anyway. He hadn't received the benefit of the height that ran through their family on their mother's side. As much as the idea annoyed him, he also knew it was true. Unless the vampire happened to be on the short side like he was, the odds of him being able to hit a vampire where it counted were somewhat slim.
But a torch? That he could do.
"Would you come with me, big brother?" Shou asked. "You know more about them than I do."
Ryou shook his head. "I have some other matters I need to take care of. But I trust you can handle yourself."
Shou puffed his chest up and grinned in pride. "Of course I can!" He had a weapon that would do well against what he was looking for and the vampire didn't even know that he was coming. Not to mention that it was broad daylight outside. The vampire would probably be asleep.
He paused for a second on his way out. "Vampires do sleep in the day, don't they?"
Ryou smiled a thin little smile. "I believe they do."
"All right!" Shou whirled at once and headed for his room where he knew he could get a torch lit from the fire burning there. "I'll tell you how it went at dinner."
Even though Ryou didn't eat that much when meal hours came, he always turned up at the table, sipping on a cup of tea if nothing else. Shou knew he did eat, since he clearly wasn't wasting away, but he couldn't remember having seen him eat since he'd returned from the trip.
The thought slipped away like snow under summer sun as Shou began his trip down to the darkest parts of the mansion's basements. Catching a vampire would always be more interesting than worrying over Ryou's eating habits anyway.
I won't kill him! Ryou insisted, even as he crawled along outside of the castle battlements. Clouds scurried up from the west; soon, even though it wasn't yet nightfall, it would be too dark to see one's hand in front of one's face. The storm wouldn't last long, but it would be long enough.
You will do as I tell you to do, beloved. Now, go.
To Be Continued
