I do not own sailor moon or its characters.
Sorry abuot errors it was a little rushed.
The doors opened automatically as Serena and Cole stepped through and into the lobby of Tula's apartment building. The man behind the desk bowed low to Serena and gave a military salute to Cole as they went to the elevator. "Everyone here knows you are you sure it's safe to be wandering around without protection?"
Serena pressed the call button to the elevator, "Isn't that why I brought you?" Cole gave her a knowing look, "Calm down the staff knows me so what it's not like everyone does. Besides those who work here were extensively background checked and interrogated before they were allowed to be posted, and so were most of the residents. Some of our most prominent Coven members have apartments here, and we didn't want them to be in danger."
"Still we should be more careful about you making public appearances," he said as the elevator doors opened and they stepped in.
"And here I thought you were the analytical thinker, if I announce where I'm going to be all the time it would make it easier for me to be a target." Serena pressed the button for Tula's floor, the doors closed and the elevator began to move.
"Serena you're not as anonymous as you were when you were just the Romulen Queen," Cole said.
"I was anonymous?"
"You the High Queen of the Vampire world, a leader on the council as well as one of the figure heads of our community, Darien and yourself are two of the most…."
The doors opened with a soft ding and both of them instantly knew that something was wrong. The entire floor was dark and there was an ominous chill in the air. Serena and Cole both drew their firearms and pointed them out into the hallway. They shared a look then Cole proceeded forward first, as he walked he counted his steps. "Which door?" he whispered.
"Third one," Serena said, she walked backwards watching behind them her eyes were roaming looking for anything out of place or movement. The other doors were all closed and Serena knew they were dangerous if they were concealing potential enemies, Cole reached the door first.
"It's open," he said. Serena looked, the door had been forced open, the lock had been broken and the door was now standing slightly open. Cole pushed the door gently with the butt of his gun and scanned the hallway and then moved into the apartment, Serena turned and glanced behind her once more before following him inside.
They slowly moved towards the large open sitting room, trying to be as quite as possible, Serena still watching behind them waiting if anyone crossed the door. Cole entered the room first; the curtains were open but the room was still dark, the windows were tinted blocking the moonlight even with his advanced eyesight he couldn't see much, but he did smell blood and a lot of it. He took a step forward and glass crunched under his foot, he looked down right as the light went on. He spun around and dropped to one knee pointing the gun at the light switch.
Serena stood there her hand on the switch, Cole was about to reprimand her when he saw her face. Her eyes were wide with shock and her mouth was hanging open. Cole turned and followed her gaze. The windows were not tinted as he had first thought instead a thick mostly fresh coat of blood had been smeared upon them. Blood was also splattered across the walls and there were some patters on the ceiling. He saw a headless corpse lying at the base of the window his shirt and entire chest had been slashed open and a pool of blood had gathered around him.
"Her bodyguard," Serena muttered her eyes looking from the headless man to the window. "He greeted me last time I was here."
Cole looked around the room and saw a bloody handprint on a door to the right, he raised his gun and cautiously moved towards it. "Serena…." She didn't respond, instead she was standing in the middle of the room staring down at the carpet, "Serena?"
"There was a chair here, carved from wood it's not here anymore," she kneelt down and examined where the chair had stood. The carpet underneath was pristine and untouched by the blood, which meant that someone had removed it after the attack. Serena touched the carpet, she turned to speak to Cole but he was gone and the door to the other room was open, she saw him moving around.
A noise caught Serena's attention, she looked up and saw another hallway leading towards the other end of part the apartment. She stood raising her gun pointing it in the direction where she had heard the noise. "Cole…."
She heard another noise, as if someone was moving around in the room at the end of the hallway, "Cole?" she said a little louder.
She took a few steps forward never dropping her gun, her boots touched hard floor. There was a dim blue light coming from the room. Serena pushed herself against the wall on other side of the hallway trying to looking into the room, she saw nothing at first. Just the edge of a bed and more white carpet, then she leaned a little and saw a figure lying face down on the bed. She saw the dark hair and the silken fabric of the sari. "Cole! In here," Serena yelled as she kicked open the door and went to the bed to check Tula for a pulse. She pressed her fingers to her neck and waited, she didn't feel one she put her ear to Tula's back and heard the fait heartbeat that could have only been detected by her Vampire hearing. "Cole!"
"Tula…Tula?" Serena grabbed her shoulder and rolled her over gently, Tula groaned weakly in response which was more of an exhale of breath. "Tula answer me, come on I need to know….Cole!" Tula had a long gash running from her collar bone all the way down to her navel and a deep slash across her neck, the entire bed was soaked in her blood but Serena saw that neither cuts were very deep. There were however much deeper wounds on her face and legs. "Tula…." Serena brushed her sticky blood soaked hair away from her face.
A giggle from behind her stopped Serena dead and sent a chill down her spine, "Silly Queen you're such a bleeding heart."
Serena raised her gun and turned, in the corner was the same little girl who she had encountered only a few days before. Serena's eyes met the girls black ones and Serena saw nothing but utter glee and triumph in their darkness. "What was the purpose of this?" Serena's hand shook from anger and fear, she could feel the power radiating from the girl.
The little girl smiled evilly at her, "What does it matter, my purpose is to bring you back to my master who gives a damn about the casualties."
"I do!"
"Too bad, bonds make you weak," she said. "Now say bye bye it's time to come with me."
"I'm not going…." But before Serena could finish her sentence the little girls shadow suddenly shot forward and grabbed Serena's ankle. Serena was pulled from the bed on to the floor, "COLE!" she dropped her gun and tried to grab onto the carpet to stop herself from moving.
The bedroom door slammed open and Cole shot twice at the little girl, she glared at him "Oh please." She was sinking into a dark vortex of black shadows in the floor and dragging Serena with her. "Bullets aren't worth anything you stupid Vampire."
"COLE!" he dropped his gun and grabbed Serena by the arms. He pulled trying to free her but it was no use he only ended up being pulled towards the hole himself. "Cole!"
"Serena," Cole dug his heels into the ground and used all his strength to stop her from being fully sucked into the darkness. She stopped for a moment and he actually began to pull her back until another shadow reached out of the dark vortex and struck him. He lost his grip on Serena and went flying backwards into the wall, "COLE!"
He hit the ground hard but shook it off, he pushed himself up onto his hands right as he saw Serena disappear completely and the vortex close. "Serena!"
Darien stood in the incident room staring at the large monitors, there had been another attack on a small Coven in the Western part of China. There had been to human casualties but the list of Vampire deaths was growing every few minutes. The humans had attacked in the midst of the Chinese New Year so the entire coven had been unprepared, after the initial attack they had retreated and used missiles to destroy the structure and those trapped inside. The monitors showed nothing but fire and smoke, every once in a while a charred or bloody person would run in front of the camera.
Behind him again was panic and chaos, phones were ringing off the hook, papers from faxes were rapidly printing, and the radios were blaring with questions and requests for backup. Darien was getting a headache already, a young woman called out to him from somewhere, "Sir Gabriel is asking for a status report."
"Send him all the information that we've been given," Darien said not taking his eyes away from them monitors in front of him.
A few seconds later the same woman spoke again, "Sir he would like to speak to you."
"Did you send him the data?"
"Yes."
"Then tell him to read it and then call me back," he said.
"Sir he….." her voice was full of fear and Darien knew that Gabriel was most likely screaming at her.
"Hang up the phone."
"Sir?"
"This is an order from your King, hang up the phone."
"Yes sir."
"No forward all his calls to my person voice mail, and then erase all of them."
"Yes Sir."
Darien continued to watch and then asked if there was an updated list of the dead yet. A woman informed him that they were printing one out and it would only be a little while longer.
"What's the report?" Darien turned around and saw Malachite standing behind him.
"The West China branch was attacked by the Humans, the total damage is still unknown but we've sent out aid from the recovering branches in Italy and the hospital in the Netherlands," he said turning away from the other man. A young blonde woman came up to Darien and handed him a piece of paper. "Damn it," he muttered staring down at the list in his hands.
"Sir?"
"In the chaos Gam-sing was smart enough to send out a small group to try and follow the humans but they lost them in the desert," Darien crumpled the paper and threw it off to the side.
"Can we follow them with our satellites?"
"No there's a sand storm that's kicked up and we can't get a clear image, we've lost them again," Darien said.
"I hate to say this but this group is very organized, they seem to know exactly where and when to strike, when we are most vulnerable," said Malachite. Darien heard a chime from Malachite's cell phone, and glanced at the man as he reached into his pocket and silenced the phone. Malachite slid the phone back into his inner pocket without looking at it. "Sorry."
"Problems?"
"Mina's was taken to Lita's the other day and ever since she's been….well a little dramatic. She's become paranoid about almost everything despite the extra security that's been placed around the house."
"It's understandable, how is your daughter adjusting to the change," Darien asked. The awkward tension between them was there they hadn't been alone together for a long time. Despite the many years that had passed since Mina had left him for Malachite there was still a strain on between the two men. Not that Darien cared about Mina's betrayal anymore, he had found his soul mate in Serena, there was still a strange feeling in the air whenever he and Malachite were in the same room together.
"She's doing fine, doesn't completely understand but keeps asking if we're going to make a new home soon. I told her that until all of this is cleared up we will probably remain with Lita and Nephrite."
"You could send her somewhere, her and Mina," Darien took another piece of paper that was handed to him and began reading the names.
"I considered that option but I feel that I am needed here and if I was to send them away I would constantly obsess over their safety, while they are here I know Lita and Nephrite can protect them," Malachite turned to one of the women in the room and requested a cup of bloody coffee.
"I have to make a phone call," Darien said turning away from the chaos list in hand. "I trust you can take care of things here."
"I can I'll contact you if there are any changes," Malachite said with a bow.
"Good Ami should be calling soon." Darien walked away from him and nodded to two men in the room. He was descending the steps when suddenly a pain struck him in the heart. He let out a yell, with one hand he grabbed onto the railing to stop from falling, the other hand clutched his heart. The pain only intensified, he let of the rail and slid to the ground, the voices around him were blurred together and pained his ears. Suddenly just it had come the pain was gone, he collapsed onto the stairs breathing hard with sweat running down his face. He felt hands touching his forehead and someone gently shaking him, all he saw were shapes and blurs, the edge of his vision began to darken. Before he collapsed he tried to reach out to Serena but he felt nothing, he whispered her name before descending completely into darkness.
Kain stared at the blonde lying on the cold marble floor, she was lying on her chest her face turned to the side her blonde hair spilling out around her. He stood above her hands casually in his pockets, he titled his head, she didn't look like a killing monster but he knew better. He had seen a docile child turn into a violent killing machine, Vampires were deceptive.
The doors behind him opened with a bang, Kain looked over his shoulder to see Taiki standing there out of breath. "So….she caught her," he said between breaths.
Kain looked back at the Queen, "Yes that little bitch dropped her hear about twenty minutes ago."
"Have you sedated her?"
"No I was waiting for Ashlee to do it if I killed her Seiya wouldn't be too pleased," Kain kneeled down and brushed Serena's hair away from her face. "She really is beautiful though no doubt about it."
Taiki stood behind him watching as Kain touched the Vampire Queen gently, "If Seiya catches you leering over his new woman he may kill you."
"No need to panic, I haven't fall that far from grace," he said. "She still is a hell creature."
"I wouldn't let our little Prince hear you say that," her voice echoed around them sending a shiver down Taiki's back and making Kain stiffen. "Though I do wonder what he plans to do with her, she'll fight him when she wakes and there's no way that he'll be able to tame her."
"I highly doubt our Prince has thought that far in advanced," said a voice from behind them. The three of them turned, Ashlee stood in the doorway holding her medical bag. She was dressed this time, wearing business clothes and a white lab coat, her hair pulled back from her face. As she approached Serena her heels clicked on the marble floor.
"Has Seiya given you orders?" Taiki asked.
"Yes he said to make sure that she wasn't damaged in transport," Ashlee looked up at the demon girl, who growled at her, then began to check Serena's pulse. "I am to sedate her and then have you two move her into more comfortable living arrangements."
"Is that it?"
"They are the only orders I received," she pulled from her black travel bag a syringe filled with clear liquid. "I had to multiply the doseage to compensate for her abnormal metabolism but this should keep her under for about 6 hours. By then hopefully we'll have new orders." She stuck the needle into Serena's shoulder and then replaced her instrument. "Kain take her to the guest bedroom."
"The Prince doesn't want her in the Mistresses room," Kain said.
"I'm sure he does but despite my distaste for Vampires even I can see how sick it would be to put the Queen into her bed," She said.
"You're the boss," he said, he picked her up and carried her out of the room.
Ashlee stood and glanced at the demon girl, "Don't you have cities to topple?"
The little girl growled again but disappeared. Ashlee moved past Taiki and towards the door when he spoke to her, "It was wise of Seiya to put you in charge."
"Yes unlike some he does see me as useful," she said; her demeanor had changed from the previous night, she was no longer the wanton vixen who desired her fiancée, she was stone cold business and out to prove a point.
There was tense silence between them, her waiting for him to speak, and he waiting for her to leave. Finally she scoffed in frustration and stormed from the room.
Lita stepped out of the car and looked up at the large black building in front of her. On the outside all was calm and serene as if nothing was amiss, but when she looked through the windows into the lobby she could see that this was a charade. "We should get in there Ami's already upstairs," Nephrite said as he closed the drivers door.
" Has Tula been taken to surgery?" Nephrite nodded to his wife; the doors slid open and their ears were suddenly assaulted with panic. There were women and men yelling at the security guards, SWAT team members armed and standing around the lobby questioning residents, numerous agents running around trying to take names and statements, while mothers tried to hush their children and husbands tried to console their hysterical wives.
"My Lady," Lita turned to her left a young woman with brown hair approached her. She had on a black suite and her hair was tied back, "My Lady I am Fiona His Lordship sent me down to wait for you."
Lita nodded and followed the girl to the elevators, when the doors closed she, Nephrite, and the young woman were once again engulfed by silence. "How long has the recovery team been here?"
"Almost two hours, we received the call and came as soon as we could, we're flying in two experts from Europe and South America, and Lady Ami has been leading the forensics team."
"And his Lordship?"
"Distraught ma'am but he's trying not to show it but he won't leave the apartment," she said.
"Have you contacted the King?" The young woman looked down at her feet, "What?"
"We've were informed that the King collapsed ma'am, but we told Lord Malachite and he assured me that he would revel this to the King after Lord Zoicite handled the situation at the mansion."
"Is Cole aware that the King collapsed?" asked Nephrite.
"No Sir Malachite told our small team to keep this from him but to inform any members of the cabinet such as yourselves," she said.
"Have one of your men contact the Princess Rei and General Jadeite when the opportunity arises," Lite said. "For now we shall keep this from Cole he doesn't need any more stress."
"Yes ma'am." The doors opened and Lita and Nephrite exited, the entire hallway was filled with men and women. Two men were inspecting the walls with some type of machine, while several others were individually interviewing the other residents of the floor. Nephrite told her to go ahead, he wanted to stay and speak with several of the neighbors.
Lita passed a large man standing at the doorway to Tula's apartment, he bowed to her as she went in but said nothing. People were running around the apartment collecting samples, sectioning off certain areas, and she felt the strong presence of magic from inside. She stepped into the sitting room and saw Ami standing over the decapitated body, Lita's eye were instantly drawn to the large bloody mural that was painted on the windows.
"Ami." Ami turned around and lifted her glasses to rest on her head, "Well?"
"Nothing, no forensic evidence at all, nothing to tell us who the attacker was, nothing that would lead us to even think there was an attacker other than this mess," she said. "We found evidence of Serena and Cole but nothing from the attacker, at least not in here."
Lita heard voices from down the hallway, "And in there?"
"Cole found high traces of sulfur around where he saw the vortex which confirms that it was probably that demon, but there was nothing on Tula's body," Ami told her.
"How is she?"
"Alive, the largest wound wasn't deep I think it was made for show, most of the deeper cuts were on her face and legs she lost a lot of blood but I think she'll pull through. Unlike this gentleman here," she said looking down. "It ripped open his stomach and then painted the windows with his blood…before ripping off his head."
Lita swallowed uneasy, "I really don't know how you're dealing with all of this."
"It's unfortunately one of the things I became used to, First the War, then the uprisings, as well as the human instances where I was deployed, men are a violent race of creatures and though we are a little more reserved than they we have committed our own fair share of atrocities."
"Cole?"
"In the other room with the 'experts', though I highly doubt any of them understand what's going on here, all of them have only agreed on one thing in the last two hours, 'That this is where the Queen disappeared'," Ami kneeled down and touched the wound on the body's neck with her gloved hand. "But we already knew that since Cole saw her disappear there, I swear some of the old crones really need to retire."
Lita fought against a smile, "The woman who brought us up here said he hasn't left since she disappeared."
"No…."
"Ami did you know Darien collapsed at the mansion," Lita asked.
Ami stiffened then looked up at her friend, "No when?"
"Well I wasn't given a specific time but I'm going to assume that it was probably right when Serena was pulled through that vortex."
"I have some interesting news," both women looked at Nephrite as he approached them. "Apparently all the residents were put under a sleeping spell while this whole thing was going on, none of them remember anything and the only memories they do have are of waking up and being confused."
"This was planned well," said Ami, "But the question is how did they know where Serena would be, how did they know that she was coming it was a surprise visit. None of us even knew she was coming here."
"Maybe it wasn't Serena they were after," Nephrite and Ami looked at Lita who was staring down at the corpse. "This group has targeted all the members of this family, Serik, his adopted daughter Gabriella, and now Tula his wife. Maybe Serena just happened to come at the wrong time and this demon took advantage of that."
Ami looked down at the body as well, "It's a possibility."
"It's more probable than anything else, you even said the wounds on Tula's body weren't serious, the cuts on the legs and face were but the biggest wound wasn't meant to kill her. Maybe the demon was in the middle of torturing her when Serena and Cole interrupted. I mean the brutal nature of this," Lita motioned down to the body, "It was made to strike fear into someone, but obviously not him he wasn't going to survive anyways. The only logically explanation would be to scare Tula to ensure her of how serious this demon was."
"I'll have to question Tula but that does make sense," Ami said. "But then the question becomes what did the demon want?"