"I long for the time of the new moon angel. Then I will have what I desire."
Those words, poisonous and promising had frozen me on an otherwise warm night. Chill after chill raced down my spine at the realization of the threat those words carried. How would I beat such an atrocity when even an aristocrat was no match for it?
"Hey, Yuki, this girl's still alive. Don't you think we should be taking her back to the school?"
Lucas's serene, silver voice gently tugged my back into reality. Away from the horrors of moments past. I turned back to look at him, inspecting the young vampire for any other wounds or signs of a scuffle. Strange, although she had clearly been taken out here, there were no signs that a fight had ensued. There were no scratch marks on her body, no shuffled underbrush, everything looked perfect. Eerily perfect. Lucas looked up at me, I could see the gears turning behind the stained glass of his eyes.
"Maybe she was lured out here? I'm not exactly sure what that thing was just now, but when I saw that girl, it looked like she had been lulled into adeep sleep."
I nodded. That was exactly what it looked like. Lucas stood up, he still wore that thoughtful expression.
"But if that's the case, why was it sucking her blood? Couldn't it have just killed her?"
"It wanted her power."
He turned to me, I think he was more shocked by the emptiness in my voice, than what I had just said. Quickly, he marched over to me, and firmly clapped my his hand on my shoulders.
"What do you mean by that? Are you going into some kind of trance?"
Shrugging his hands off, I went over the Night Class student, and checked her for a pulse. A rhythmic
th-thump met my fingers. Yep still alive, everything was good.. I turned back to Lucas.
"Didn't you hear it? It said 'I need your blood, your life, your power. I need it all!' Don't you see? Blood equals life and power. Level D vampires, or former humans can suck the blood of a pureblood vampire to preserve their human nature and keep from falling to their end. That..that thing was trying to steal her powers to become stronger."
"Yeah, but why?"
"I don't-"
"Yuki!"
We both turned to see two frantic figures running in our direction, one in a Day Class uniform, the other clad in the white common of the Night Class. Anyone want to guess who? The prize goes to contestant number one! Zero and Kaname, you are correct! The two of us stood there, by the body of the still unconscious girl, and waited for them to catch up. Thanks to their inhuman speed, it didn't take long.
"Yuki, what the hell's going on here? First you ditch your duties, then you get into some sort of fight, and now this?! What do you think you're doing?"
"This is no time for explanations Zero. Here."
I told him, handing him the passed out vampire.
"Take her to the infirmary, and be snappy! She's not bleeding anymore, but we don't know exactly what that thing did to her. Go!"
Zero and Kaname stood together a moment longer, glancing at me, then back at Lucas. It was Kaname who broke the silence.
"What thing are you talking about? And furthermore, what are you doing wandering outside the gates with him?"
I sighed. Great, they just had to involve Lucas in this every chance they got didn't they? Before I could say anything, Lucas got in front of me, and glared at Kaname.
"Like it's any of your business who she's with blood sucker. Seriously, she's not your dog. It's time to take of the collar, and let her run free."
Slowly, I watched Kaname's eyes go from dark pools of brown to clashing red daggers. He bared his fangs in a snarl. Zero meanwhile, looked pleased that someone other than him harbored such a hatred for Kaname Kuran.
"What was that you little punk?""
"You wanna take me on?"
Rolling my eyes, I shouldered my self in between the two boys. Zero, I noticed looked highly amused, while Kaname and Lucas still hurled eye daggers in each others' direction. I took a small step back, giving all three a stern look.
"Seriously. Our first priority should be this girl here, not where I'm going and who I'm with. Now c'mon people!"
The two boys faced off for a moment longer, then Kaname turned around and took the student from Zero.
"I'll take her back to the school. Yuki, Zero, Lucas, you should head back too."
And just like that, he was gone. I'm not sure if it was inhuman speed again, or he was that pissed, but I find it better not to dwell. Without missing a beat I turned back to face the angel and the former human.
"Okay, since that student's being taken care of, we can search the area for that thing. Even though it disappeared, it couldn't have gotten far. The hairs on the back of my neck are still standing up so it must be close by."
"Yeah, and my nose is still burning from its' stench."
Lucas replied, rubbing his evidently sore nose. We trekked for what seemed like an eternity, when we turned up at our initial starting point we were as expected ready to give up when a sudden noise in the brush caught our attention. All three of us spun around to find a terrified looking Tani. Her eyes danced with the fear of a madman. The skin of her face was as white as that of a porcelain doll. Each breath was torn and ragged. On her arms there were hideous scratches. These were not your average scratches received by a tree branch, oh no. They covered her arms clear from her wrists all the way up to her neck. The wounds ran deep, and they looked alive. They pulsed and throbbed with the red of her blood that was now just starting to clot.
"Tani! What is it?! What happened?!"
Asked a frantic Zero. He clapped his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently. Tani didn't respond. She didn't even show any signs of knowing that we were even there. Lucas and I came up behind him. Lucas stood beside Zero, and took a good long look at Tani.
"It's shell shock. This kid's got it pretty bad. I'm amazed at the fact she can even move. The thing is what did this to her?"
I raised an eyebrow.
"You're bothering to ask? Look at her, it's obvious."
Lucas nodded. Gently, so as not to frighten the poor kid any further, I took her hand and started leading her back in the direction of the school. As the four of us reached the living quarters which was shared by Zero, the Headmaster, and yours truly. Before we entered, I took a quick peek in the windows, and around the immediate vicinity. Good, the chicken had flown the coop. Waving to the boys, I quickly ushered everyone in. While I sat Tani down in a chair, Zero left to go make up some tea. Lucas and I took a seat on the couch across from her. A little bit later, Zero came back carrying four cups of tea. After giving them to us, he sat down in another chair. I heaved a sigh.
"I don't get it. She's out of the woods, and into a safe environment, so why's she still so out of it?"
Nobody had an answer. Leaning forward, I took a good, long look into her eyes. Nothing had changed. Her pupils were still grotesquely enlarged, and her irises still sparkled with that lunatic light. And yet…
"I wonder…"
Lucas looked at me.
"You wonder what?"
If I heard him, I gave no sign. Placing my hand on Tani's ice cold cheek, I closed my eyes, and began my search.
* * * * *
A vast darkness enveloped me. The first thing I was aware of was the feeling of nothingness., of being robbed of all my senses. Then another horrifying realization came to me. I couldn't move. No! No! I've got to find Tani! what's going on?! Why can't I move?! I've got to! I've just got to! Trying to fight the uprising panic was like trying to get off flypaper. The more I struggled, the more it hung on. No! I wouldn't do this. No matter what I would find Tani, and bring her back from this dark abyss. No matter what I will move from this place! Suddenly, I was hurled across the plain of darkness. When I was able to come to a stop, it hit me. In order to get around I had to will myself to move. It would be easy no doubt, but the problem was where to will myself. If I got lost, then I would be stuck here forever, and that did not appeal to me in the slightest. Thankfully, I could see, when I held my hand up to my face I saw why.I was glowing. My body gave off a strange, yet comforting sort of phosphorescent light. Okay, but there's just one problem, Tani's wearing black, and chances are, since she's human, and letting her fear control her, she's probably not glowing. So how do I find her? The answer came to me in an instant. Light. I need…Light!
Flash!For a moment I was stunned by the brilliance. Shadows, that had a minute ago dominated everything were destroyed by the white magnificence. And there, only a few yards away, lay a crumpled, shaking, but very much alive Tani.
"Tani! Tani! C'mon we've got to get you out of here!"
I shouted as I ran towards her. Her eyes snapped open, clear and life-like. She cringed a little bit when she saw me running at her.
"You…what.."
Her confusion at me turned to over all befuddlement as she took stock in the area around her.
"Where am I?"
Taking her hand, I urgently tugged her back in the direction I came.
"There's no need for that now! C'mon we have to get out of here!"
"Why?"
"My light spell is only temporary! See? Over there look!"
She looked in the direction of my outstretched hand and froze. Beyond us I'd say about fifty yards, the shadows were beginning to gather, coming to reclaim what was rightfully theirs. Tani wasted no time running. As we ran back to the initiation point Tani turned to me.
"Just where exactly are we going?"
"Over there! See that blue light? That's our key out! Hurry! If this place gets dark again, I don't think we'll be getting out any time soon!"
In about two minutes time, we reached our destination, but just as we were about to break through Tani stopped.
"Wait. Why should I trust you?"
"Because you can. Now hurry! Besides, I don't think you want to be trapped here any longer am I right?"
Tani looked back over her shoulders at the slowly advancing darkness, then up at the shrinking passage home. Her shoulders sagged.
"Alright. No tricks?"
"None."
I took her hand, and shoved us through the gap.
* * * * *
We came awake at about the same time. As we sat there gasping for breath, Lucas and Zero exchanged glances. Tani's eyes passed over all of us, then riveted on Zero.
"Z-Zero? Is that you?"
Zero smiled.
"Knew you'd recognize me."
Lucas sat back, and wrapped an arm around me.
"So you two do know each other."
Tani nodded.
"Before he moved, we were in the same class together at grade school. I was smart for my age and was excelled up into Zero's class. But after you moved I never could get in touch with you."
Lucas and I looked at each other. I nodded.
"Oh my god! That was blood on his hands I knew it! B-but when I tried to confront him…he...he…"
"Tani, if you could tell us anything of what you experienced out in the woods about…oh one hour ago, that would help us a lot."
Tani sat back and folded her arms across her chest.
"Why would it affect you any?"
This time it was Lucas who spoke up.
"Because we believe whatever attacked you was the same thing that went after a student here."
Tani's eyes grew large. She began to put his hand on hers.
"Easy. Just tell us what went on."
Taking a deep breath, Tani began telling us everything she knew.
"Well, the thing that attacked me, also masquerades as a human. I don' know his name, other than the fact that he's an accomplished hunter of both vampire and angel species. By day, he's a scientist, he also studies the occult, and dabbles in inhuman experiments. I'm not exactly sure what these experiments are, but they're terrifying. I have reason to believe that he ingests the blood of his victims in order to gain their power. I know he was banned from the Hunter's Society because I did some digging in some old files I found. Apparently, the Society found out about his macabre taste for the blood of those he killed, and fired him. I guess it wasn't long after that when he started taking me and my sister in. At that time, mom was in the hospital because a coma, and dad was doing business as usual, traveling the world making all these business transactions and whatnot. The way I found out about what he is apparently still doing was about, a year ago when I arrived early at his house, because my sister couldn't be there, and I happened to peek in the study, and he…was transformed into some kind of shadowy tube-like thing…that sucked the blood from his victim. I didn't get a chance to see if it was vampire or angel, and I didn't want to. I beat it out of there, and every day I pray that he didn't see me. Tonight was just a case of wrong place at the wrong time. He was luring out more vampires, when I caught him. He wasn't happy."
Lucas whistled, I sat stone still, that poor, poor kid! For over a year, she'd suffered silently at the hands of a monster! Zero cocked his head to one side.
"What I don't understand, Tani is why you don't do something. Maybe tell your sister?"
Tani laughed. It was a cruel laugh of one who has been cheated of all happiness and hope.
"Hah! You think I haven't tried? Taki is a blind fool, who accepts his 'kind' praises, and payment as a 'gift' That's bull. She can't even see what's right in front of her. All she cares about is pleasing the master."
Tani looked at Lucas and I.
"Either way, it's dangerous for the both of you. Lucas I'm not sure about you, but Yuki, you're not safe! He knows you're a pureblood! If you stay here any longer you'll be dead!"
I smirked.
"Fat chance. I go to a school that's inhabited by a separate class for vampires. You think a little soul sucker like that scares me? Don't worry kid. I'll make sure that bastard never endangers any one ever again."
Lucas and Zero nodded. Tani still looked confused.
"If that's true, then you and Lucas could probably take him on, but what about the other vampires here?"
"There's a pureblood vampire here as well. So no matter what, we'll be ready to fight this thing."
Tani nodded. She was beginning to relax. Outside the sun had begun to rise. A bright orange eye that watched us as we went about the daily routine of our lives, traversing the sky, as the Earth spun endlessly around it. We had our information, but there was still one question unanswered: If we won, would we still be standing?
