Crying. That's what kept echoing through his mind. Someone was crying. He tried to look but all he saw was darkness.
'I know this voice…It's so familiar. Why is this person crying?'
"Ri-ri-Riku!"
'My name. This person is crying for me? Why?' Slowly Riku's eyes opened. At first he couldn't see anything and everything was blurry. Riku blinked a few times feeling a couple of tear drops fall from his eyes.
"Troika…" Riku mumbled softly as he turned his head towards the sobbing figure. Troika was kneeling on the floor, letting his head rest on the side of the bed as he sobbed. He looked up startled when he heard his name and looked at Riku. Troika looked at Riku in disbelief as his friend gave him a soft smile.
"Riku…." Troika smiled moved closer to Riku.
"Riku!" Troika shouted in joy. Riku's smile faded quickly and the wounded vampire winced.
"Damn it Troika! Not so loud!" Riku ordered as he sat up and whacked Troika upside the head. Troika yelped and backed away. He closed his eyes and covered his head.
"Sorry Riku. I didn't mean it." Troika mumbled. He waited for Riku to say something hurtful but when nothing came to his ears Troika opened his eyes and saw Riku laying back on the bed, his face contorted in pain.
"Ah! Riku, are you alright? That's right Kouichi told me not to let you move when you woke up!" Troika moved close to Riku and set his hand on Riku's shoulder. Riku opened one of his closed eyes and tried to glare at Troika.
"We-well gee, thanks fo-for that!" Riku winced again and held his sides. Slowly the pain died down to a simple throbbing now and then. Riku sighed in relief and looked at Troika.
"Now that that's over with, you said something about Kouichi? What are you talking about?" Riku asked as he noticed his wings were out and he was bandaged around the torso. Troika gave Riku a funny look.
"You mean you don't remember last night?" Riku frowned and thought hard.
'Now that Troika mentioned it…there was a fight. Me and some human…and I passed out. Then I think I woke up again because of this huge pain in my back and…' Riku's eyes widened as the events replayed through his mind. He closed his eyes and groaned.
"Riku? Are you alright?" Riku opened his eyes and growled.
"No. I just let our enemy help me not die. Lucifer how weak am I becoming?" Riku mumbled as he shoved his head deep into the pillow. The pain in Riku's back throbbed and he was thinking again.
"Troika. Are we still in their territory?" Riku asked. Instantly he was given an answer but not by Troika.
"Yes. But it is called a house, my house thank you very much." Koji sneered as he glared at Riku in the doorway to the guest room. Kouichi came up behind Koji and lightly tapped him on the head.
"Koji be nice to our guest! That's rude!" Koji looked at Kouichi and rolled his eyes but stayed quiet. Kouichi walked over to Troika and Riku and smiled.
"Good morning Troika, Riku. I hoped you both slept well." Troika stood up and bowed politely.
"Yes we did! Thank you so much for your hospitality!" Troika stood straight up and smiled at Kouichi. Riku glared at Troika in disgust.
"Troika! Don't bow to our enemies! They are not worth our time!" Riku spat as he glared at Kouichi. Troika turned to Riku and frowned.
"But Riku if it weren't for them you wouldn't have survived the night. Kouichi stayed up most of the night making sure you were stable and he had to give you blood since you lost so much." Troika stated. He winced as the scary moment kept repeating in his mind.
'Koji! Give me the first aid! He's losing too much blood!' Koji's eyes widened and he frantically grabs the box and tosses it to Kouichi. He opened the box up and pulled out a large cotton ball, dousing it in a blue liquid that was in a small jar. Kouichi shoved the cotton into Riku's wound before quickly going for the gauze and bandage wraps. The blue liquid foams over the wound, stopping the bleeding. Kouichi squirts a dime size amount of red goop out of a small tube on to the gauze and removes the cotton. Making sure all of the cotton is out he rests the gauze on the blue foam and carefully begins bandaging the wound, going around the wings and torso. Troika watched in curiosity.
"Is he going to be alright now?" Kouichi looks at Troika sadly.
"I don't know. The insulation will only last for so long with this kind of wound. Once the foam goes away he might start bleeding again but he has already lost enough to be more than dead." Kouichi checks Riku's pulse by picking up the limp hand.
"Koji, go get me some blood reserve. He'll need it throughout the night if he's to survive." Koji glares and looks away.
"No. That's MY blood. I am not going to give it to him!" Kouichi frowned.
"Koji, you have plenty of blood in the cellar. I think losing two maybe three bags won't even make a dent in your blood collection." Koji didn't look at Kouichi as he made a hmpf noise. Kouichi glared at his brother.
"I am not asking anymore. I am telling you. Now get me some damn bags." Kouichi ordered as he hissed. Koji looked at Kouichi but sighed and left. Kouichi turned to Troika and forced out a smile.
"I'm sorry about Koji. He is just still a little upset about what you two did." Troika nodded.
"I understand." Troika mumbled. Koji came back with a few bags of blood and tossed them to Kouichi.
"Have fun." He mumbled dryly as he sat back down. Kouichi caught them and quickly hooked one up to an IV, sticking the needle into Riku's wrist.
"There. If you want we have a guest room you two can stay in until Riku wakes up and is better. Just don't let him move when he wakes up. His body still needs to heal." Troika nodded and smiled.
"Thank you."
Riku sneered.
"You think I care? It was their mistake to help us! Once I am fully healed I shall crush you two with my bare hands!" Riku threatened as he glared at the twins. Koji's eyes turned red and he glared at Riku.
"I highly doubt it. It shouldn't take two months for your wounds heal. So when they do you will still be grounded from doing anything." Riku glared at Troika.
"Did you tell them about our suspension?" Troika hesitated but nodded.
"I had to let them know there was nothing we could do to them so they could help us." Riku snarled.
"Please. I would have rather be killed by a human than EVER be help by the likes of these two." Riku hissed as his eyes went red as his glare was mostly directed towards Kouichi. Said vampire frowned and looked at the floor. Koji glanced at Kouichi and snarled.
"Don't you dare throw your insults towards Kouichi. I don't mind if you call me names or spit in my face, if you so much as bark your words at Kouichi I will rip that tongue out of your mouth along with your throat."
"Koji you don't have to be so over protective over me. I can take care of myself." Kouichi mumbled as he kept his eyes on the floor. Troika sighed as he tried to calm Riku down.
"Riku…This was human against vampire. These humans will be Koji and Kouichi's enemy too. We might as well help each other out on this one okay? Please Riku try to be settle until you can walk again." Troika walked closer to the bed but Riku hissed a deadly warning.
" I can walk just fine! I don't even know why I am still laying in this damn bed!" Riku shouted as he pushed the covers off of him and forced himself up. Troika's eyes widened.
"Riku wait!" Troika was too late as Riku instantly fell on to his side and started having a coughing fit. Troika rushed to Riku's side along with Kouichi. Riku pushed Troika away and glared.
"I don't need help! I am perfectly fine!" Troika frowned and carefully shifted one of Riku's braids out of the way.
"Riku…you are not fooling anyone. Please just accept the help. Even if it's for a while. Please, for me?" Troika begged. Riku looked at Troika and pouted.
"Fine. You win this round but I swear to Lucifer that your begging won't go far for long." Kouichi looked over at Koji to see his brother with a disgusted look on his face. Kouichi let Troika help Riku back to bed while he went over to Koji.
"What's with you?" Kouichi whispered as he got close enough to Koji. Koji frowned and pretended to puke.
"Are you kidding me? You don't see it? Koji we have a couple of gay guys in OUR house." Koji hissed under his breath. Kouichi's eyes widened but then he quickly glared at Koji. Quickly looking back to make sure Riku nor Troika heard, Kouichi grabs Koji by the ear and pulls him out of the room.
"Koji! That's rude, you shouldn't say that. I honestly don't think they are gay. I mean you're nice to me all the time and that doesn't make us gay." Koji rolled his eyes.
"Well we are brothers. We get the right to protect each other."
"Well maybe they are brothers."
"They look nothing alike." Koji stated as bluntly as possible. Kouichi lowered his eyes slowly.
"…They don't have to look alike in order to be brothers Koji. I wish you would stop being so narrow minded about things. I mean, even if they are gay, who cares? I don't, and this is my house just as much as it is yours." And with that Kouichi walked back to the living room where Zoe and Takuya were waiting for the twins. Koji sighed and followed Kouichi not knowing what to do.
'Maybe I could ask one of them. Or Kouichi could. No way I want to go near either of them.' Koji thought as he entered the room. Zoe smiled seeing the twins come back to the main area.
"So how is that one guy doing? Riku was his name wasn't it?" Zoe asked in curiosity. Kouichi sat down on the couch next to Takuya and sighed.
"He has a lot of energy and wants nothing to do with us or the idea of staying in bed. His blood level is still too low for him to be doing things but I'd say give him another day or so and he should be just fine." Zoe sighed in relief but then frowned in thought.
"But if he is the one that hurt you guys why are you helping him?"
"Long story." The twins answered in unison. Takuya looked at the twins and shook his head.
"Gosh it is so creepy when you two pull that shit on me. It makes me believe there is an actual truth between the whole twins have a special power bull crap." Koji snickered and glanced at Kouichi. Kouichi looked at Koji and smiled.
"You mean like this?" They both asked in perfect unison. Takuya placed his hands over his ears and barked a couple of times.
"No! I hate it when you guys do this to me! It's so irritating!" Kouichi and Koji chuckled and sighed. Koji and Kouichi were in perfect sync with each other.
"How can you find it irritating Takuya? We are just talking, it's not like we're shouting in your ears or something like that." Takuya howled and jumped off the couch.
"I'm done! I'm out okay? I can't take this anymore." Takuya grumbled as he curled up into a ball on the floor. Zoe's eyes widened.
"Wow you two are good at that! How can you two be in perfect sync and all that crap?!" Koji smiled at Kouichi.
"You would just have to have a twin of your own in order to understand." Koji explained. He walked over to the couch and sat away from the others. Koji grabbed the remote and turned the TV on.
"TV so early Koji?" Kouichi asked as he watched his brother changed the channels every good 2 seconds. Koji shrugged and waited for his brother to continue speaking.
"I mean normally you would be out drinking by now." Kouichi finished.
"Yeah well while those two are here I don't feel comfortable leaving you or this house by itself." Kouichi rolled his eyes. Takuya looked over at Koji.
"But Koji, Kouichi will be fine and the house won't be by itself! I can stay here and watch it. I don't trust those two any more than you do." Kouichi's eyes narrowed as he looked at Takuya.
"Not you too. I see no reason to be hostile towards those two. I mean yes they did do bad stuff in the past but it's nothing to get all upset about. They can't do anything now so relax." Zoe nodded.
"I agree! Plus that Riku guy is pretty cute!" Zoe sighed. The boys looked at her as she giggled.
"Hey I'm a girl! I can think he is cute! His long red hair in two braids! Haven't seen any guy do that with their hair!" Koji rolled his eyes.
"That's typical for vampires though. They like having their hair in braids and crap like that." Kouichi smiled and looked at Koji.
"Koji how can you say that? Your hair is always in a ponytail!" Kouichi joked. Koji glared as he was slightly offended.
"I'm different, I can have my hair in a ponytail, it looks good." Koji stated as he tried to protect his pride. Kouichi rolled his eyes.
"You always had your hair in a ponytail. Even when we were kids you would keep in a ponytail only it would look funny because you had shorter hair then." Koji scoffed.
"It was called a rat tail. It's a type of style."
"Sure Koji call it whatever you wa-."
"SHHHH!" Takuya growled as Koji landed on the news channel. Everyone quickly paid attention to the TV as an up close of a broken building was taken. The twins were quiet as a reporter spoke.
"-So we think it was sometime last night. What we don't know is what could have caused such destruction on this bank. Police say they found a dead body lodged into the crumbled bricks and could only identify this person as Pier Monex. One of the major businessmen in the corporation of energy drinks. One of their greatest energy drinks is Amp. Why a killer, or killers would be attacking a company has not been decided." Takuya and Zoe looked at the twins. Zoe decided to speak first.
"Did you two have anything to do with this?" Koji nodded.
"That man was the one that nearly killed Riku." Zoe blinked.
"What are you talking about? He is just a man from the Amp company." Kouichi frowned.
"That's right. You were a human so you wouldn't know." Kouichi mumbled. Takuya sighed.
"Zoe. All the humans know that Amp is a delicious drink but what they don't know is that is has a special virus in it that can only affect non-humans. It kills anything that doesn't have the simple chromosomes that a human has. That includes us." Koji waited for Takuya to finish before explaining more details.
"During the night their higher leveled men go out and kill vampires and werewolves. And anything else that they don't want living. It's been happening for thousands of years now. Why do you think in the olden days certain people would accuse everything on a witch?" Kouichi sighed.
"Koji is right. There were a lot more vampires in the olden days but they called us witches instead of vampires because it was more believable. Now the same people found an easier way to kill us. Only a handful of us know about Amp while the others are dying slowly." Zoe was quiet as she slowly absorbed the new interesting information.
"But…Are you guys really that old that you would know all of this?" Kouichi laughed at Zoe's question.
"No of course not! Me and Koji are only 96 years old. Takuya is 87 but werewolves age differently than vampires." Zoe pouted.
"Then how do you know all of this stuff!" Koji sighed in frustration.
"Look, when you were in school didn't they teach you certain things so you kids wouldn't do anything stupid?" Zoe nodded.
"Right but as a human were you actually at the events that they said took place?" Zoe thought about it and shook her head. Koji smirked.
"Then isn't it possible that someone who knew told us so we wouldn't do anything stupid?" Zoe smiled.
"Oh I get it now!….But wait Kouichi you said that only a handful knew about Amp's affects. How come you would know but others wouldn't? Shouldn't someone tell them?" Kouichi shrugged.
"That's a good question. It's either nobody told them or somebody did and they didn't believe them." Koji looked at Kouichi.
"Don't forget about the chemicals in Amp. There is a chemical in it so that even if we knew that it kills us we would not be able to stop drinking it. But that's only if a sip has already been consumed." Zoe nodded as she gave it some thought.
"So it is kind of like an illegal drug. You know like cocaine and pot!" Kouichi smirked at Zoe's comparison.
"I guess you could compare Amp to stuff like that. It's kind of a weird comparison but yeah it works." Koji turned his attention back to the screen.
"Kouichi. You do realize that they will be after us now." Kouichi looked at Koji confused.
"Huh? Who Koji?" Koji kept his gaze on the screen."We killed one of their members. They won't like this and they will find who killed Pier." Zoe frowned.
"You mean no one has ever killed a member of Amp before?" Koji shook his head.
"For years they have killed us but only if they wanted to. It was nothing that serious. But now they have a reason to start a war." Kouichi glared at the screen.
"They were planning on killing all of us. It would have happened sooner or later." Kouichi turned his head when he heard footsteps. Troika calmly entered the room and looked at the TV.
"So it was on the news?" He asked as he glanced at Kouichi. Takuya nodded.
"When you smash something important to them like a bank they freak. Funny how without this paper currency these mortals would die and yet they are killing the main resource." Koji chuckled at Takuya's comment.
"It would seem so. These humans are pushing themselves into another depression and it hasn't even been a hundred years since the last." Kouichi ignored Koji and Takuya's conversation as he focused his attention to Troika.
"So how is Riku doing?" Troika sighed.
"I finally got him to calm down and go back to sleep. I'm sorry about earlier. Riku has always been the stubborn type." Kouichi nodded and jerked his thumb towards Koji.
"Same with Koji." Koji's eyes widened and turned his attention on Kouichi.
"What the hell are you talking about, 'Same'?! There is nothing that is the same between him and I!" Koji exclaimed as his face turned red in anger and embarrassment. Kouichi smiled.
"See? You have to admit that is probably the same answer Riku would give you." Troika thought about it and smirked.
"I guess you're right." Koji's eyes narrowed and he stood up.
"I don't have to listen to this! I'm going out to drink!" Koji snarled. He walked over to the front door and opened it.
"Kouichi I will have my cell phone if you need me." Koji said before he left, shutting the door behind him.
