A.N. Update! I know it's been a long time, but for some unfathomable reason I assumed that my work load would be the same this year as it was last year. This means that I thought nothing of committing myself to music five times a week, going to tutor, getting a part time job and also helping out at home now that Mum's working again on top of all my school work... -headdesks violently- Yes, I'm an idiot. Easter long weekend is the only chance I've had to sit down and write. Anyway, enough of my bitching, here's chapter 12!
Fear tasted sour.
Aiko tried to swallow the lump in her throat but it would not budge, and her sweater suddenly seemed too tight about her breathlessness. She felt shrivelled with dread, sick with it.
Where were those three men?! The Chiropteran girl had been searching for several long minutes now, inspecting every room along the stretch of corridor. But she had nothing to show for all her trouble (except for a handy baton that she'd found lying on a desk and 'borrowed' for the reassurance); and the longer she took, the higher the chance that the three blasted humans would find the loop, even override the loop, discover Haji's presence, discover Saya's escape, and the whole situation was turning into porridge before her eyes… Despite the winter chill that radiated off of the stark corridor walls, Aiko's flushed cheeks were beaded with cold sweat; and the very real danger of someone happening to catch to her snooping was not helping soothe her already dangerously frayed nerves.
It's all right, Aiko, came her sister's voice through the speaker. Julia had gone to assist Kunio and Lewis with the computers hidden out of sight in the back of the van, so Aika had been left to calm her sibling as best she could. Everything will be fine, it's not like you're facing down a horde of Chiropteran. Just keep walking.
"I can't," Aiko said helplessly, trembling hands folding over her face. She hunched her shoulders, bowing under the pressure and stress of being depended upon for such an overwhelming task. She was as pale as a corpse, shaking like a leaf in a high wind, teeth rattling in her shivering jaw. "Oh Aika, I can't do this all alone!" She was babbling but she couldn't stop, her phrases beginning to slur and her sentences becoming disjointed, disfigured and confused as her terror mounted. "Chiropteran will be exposed," she cried helplessly, "and Saya and Haji and you and me, too, will be locked away… And it will be all my fault for not being able to find those three blasted men!" Her eyes darted wildly, the orbs framed by her white-knuckled fingers. Her breath caught in her throat as the full weight of the situation pressed against her mind, and she sunk helplessly against the wall. She was too late, she could feel it, Saya and Aika and everyone would be taken and experimented on, and it would be all her fault…
Pull yourself together, said Aika sharply, taken aback by the intensity of her sister's terror. Then again, Aiko had never been one who responded well to stress. And since she'd never been in such a demanding position before, perhaps it wasn't so surprising after all that she was feeling overwhelmed… But what if that wasn't it? Aika paused for a moment, and when she next spoke her voice had a strange edge to it. Aiko? Is it unsafe in there? I thought you'd be fine with just a few humans, but if they look dangerous…
"No, it's nothing like that," Aiko sighed, her sibling's tenseness passing right over her head. "I-I just have to remember that this is all for Saya…"
Are you sure that no one will harm you? said Aika, and her voice was strained and pitched low.
"It's all for Saya," Aiko repeated softly, ignoring her sister as she calmed herself with the mantra. She swallowed again, and though the lump that pressed against the roof of her mouth didn't disappear, the action settled her slightly. She allowed her hands to fall to her side, and nodded. "For Saya."
Her purpose (and the comforting weight of the baton tucked inside her sweater) lending her strength, Aiko pulled open the nearest door, her heart thundering. Empty. She moved on.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty.
…Locked.
"This room's locked, Aika," Aiko murmured, peering suspiciously at the bolted door.
Can you hear anyone inside? Are the guys in there, or has someone just locked up for the night? Aiko could take care of a few humans, after all. Aika shook her head, her eyes dulling back to their usual soft blue and her canines slipping back between her lips. She was being ridiculous.
Aiko pressed her ear obediently to the set of double doors, and was rewarded with the soft clacking of computer keys. She drew a startled breath. "I think this is the one!" she hissed.
Good job, Aiko. Open it and see what's going on.
"But it's locked!"
You're a Chiropteran, aren't you? Your blood isn't only good for opening stubborn jars for Kai. Open it.
Feeling foolish, Aiko dutifully grabbed the door's handle. With a quick, and thankfully quiet, twist, she snapped the bolt so that the door on the left swung open a crack. Peering inside, she had to stifle a gasp when her eyes were met with the sight of the three human men standing in the unlit room. The only light came from countless glowing computer monitors, the many screens banked on top of one another in long, wall-to-wall rows. Each flickering screen showed a different area within the building, and Aiko breathed a hushed sigh of relief when she noticed Saya sitting desolately on her bed in one of the many panels. Thank goodness for small mercies; the loop obviously hadn't been overridden. That, or Haji hadn't yet arrived… but, she preferred to believe the former.
The one Aiko had previously been told was called 'Kenta' was tapping away at a large keyboard, his forehead creased in a frown and his eyes worried. Behind him, Hojo watched the computer screen unblinkingly, while Yusuke stood off to the side. The younger man had a strange gleam in his eyes, the hard brown irises looking orange in the glow emanating from the cigarette dangling between his lips. Aiko couldn't help but notice that he seemed fatigued: he had bags beneath his eyes, and stubble peppered his chin and cheeks. She felt a brief pang of sympathy when she remembered that he had been the one that Haji had attacked – perhaps it wasn't so surprising that he was having trouble sleeping at night.
A half-full bottle of whiskey sat on the table between the three of them, and as she watched Yusuke removed his cigarette to take a long draught.
"I can't trace the hacker," said Kenta after a short pause, "but it's clear that something's gotten into the computer. I'll have to reboot the lot to get rid of the loop and any other outside corruptions."
The exhaustion faded from Yusuke's eyes to be replaced with growing horror, while Hojo grit his teeth and slapped his palm against the table with a bang. "That'll take at least twenty minutes!" the irate Sergeant barked. "There isn't anything else we—?"
"Don't you think I'd be doing it if there was?" Kenta snapped, his frustration and worry making him uncharacteristically irritable. "Believe me boys, I'm as concerned about this as you. This is a very serious situation; someone obviously doesn't want me to see evidence that your Saya girl might be a vampire. As crazy as this whole thing sounds, I'm beginning to think… Hell, I don't even know what I think." He sighed, running a distracted hand through his hair. "The technology of the hacker is very sophisticated, and it would take even longer to manually override the corruptions," the Chief Detective explained with forced patience. "There are files all over the place. Anyway, while it's rebooting I'll call some people to check on all those in containment and have them stand guard until the system is back on line, and also seal off the foyer exit… It's the only option I can see."
Hojo sighed, but grudgingly nodded his agreement. Yusuke looking incensed, but wisely (if reluctantly) backed down when his superiors gave him a warning glance. Still, his eyes glowed with barely concealed animosity, and Aiko was reminded that perhaps fear was not the only emotion he felt for his attackers… She swallowed weakly, fighting the sudden pain in her stomach that sent a wave of nausea up her gullet. Now wasn't the time to lose her cool.
…But, what could she do?
"Aika?" the Chiropteran girl whispered, and her voice was so soft that she could barely hear her own words. She tensed expectantly as she awaited her orders, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on Kenta as he reached out for the telephone. "Aika?"
Shit, Aika cursed over the speaker, she and her sister both falling silent when Yusuke – who was closest to the door – tensed and looked about suspiciously. Aiko hurriedly pulled the door closed so that not even the barest sliver of outside light could betray her presence, but she still kept her eyes fixed on the spot where, on the other side of the wood, she could hear Kenta beginning to punch in a number on the phone.
"Aika!" Aiko hissed with growing desperation.
And then the lights snapped out.
Hojo took a swig from the half-full whiskey bottle, the silken burn of the liquor as it flooded his chest with warmth a welcome distraction from his frustration. The bottle had already been there, sloppily hidden inside a drawer, when the three had arrived and booted out the guards, giving some excuse that he couldn't even remember now. As tense as they were, no one had objected when Yusuke had claimed it for himself.
"Alright," Kenta breathed, and began dialling a number on the telephone. He cradled the phone between his ear and his shoulder, leaving his hands free to work on rebooting the computers. He had just moved to make the final adjustments when the lights turned off with a hollow bang. The red light on the phone vanished and the computer screens all darkened, leaving the room in pitch black.
There was instant chaos. Kenta jumped from his chair as though he'd been electrocuted, while Yusuke began flailing his arms, struggling to find some familiar piece of furniture to anchor him in the sea of blackness. Meanwhile, Hojo had begun calling for the others, taking a few cautious steps toward where he thought they were. After only a few steps he found himself blindly stumbling backward when a warm body crashed into his chest. Reflexively catching them about the shoulders, he cursed when he dropped the whiskey bottle that he hadn't realised he was still holding so that it shattered somewhere by his foot. Staggering forward and tripping over what might have been wires the Sergeant tumbled face first to the ground, bringing the body he clutched about the shoulders with him.
"Hojo, Kenta, where are you?" Yusuke called, but Hojo was preoccupied trying to figure out who it was that he had landed on. Darkness had ensconced the room in its shroud, and the deep shadows that stained the room could be hiding any number of opponents. With that alarming thought in the forefront of his mind, he was greatly relieved when his blindly searching fingers recognised the form of his superior, glad that he wouldn't have to fight off enemies in the dark.
"Are you alright, sir?" said Hojo.
"Where are you both?" Yusuke called into the darkness. "And what the hell just happened?"
"Can you stand?" Hojo asked tentatively, ignoring Yusuke for the moment and groping blindly until he found Kenta's hand. The Sergeant frowned worriedly into the darkness when he did grasp the appendage – it hung unnaturally limp in his hold.
"You guys?!" Yusuke called out, sounding a little angry now.
"Just stay where you are, Yusuke," Hojo said. To his relief, his eyes had adjusted enough to the darkness that he was able to distinguish between the different shades of black, and he could also make out a tiny point of orange nestled deep in the shadows. "We can see where you are by the light of your cigarette… Say, do you have any more matches?"
There was a brief silence, and then the sound of rustling before a light flared into existence. Yusuke's face flickered into view, his skin bathed yellow where the feeble light landed and his eyes burning gold. Sighing in relief, Hojo made to grab Kenta's hand again, but hissed a curse when he noticed why the appendage had hung so lifelessly.
"Yusuke, bring the light over here!" Hojo barked. "Kenta's been hurt, I think he hit his head when he landed."
Yusuke muttered something crude under his breath but still hurried over, shielding the feeble flame with his hand so that it wouldn't go out. Hojo struggled to push his groaning boss into a sitting position, wincing at the small amount of blood that oozed from Kenta's hairline to slick his hands. "He's regaining consciousness," the sergeant breathed, straining to support his superior.
"Huh?" said Kenta thickly, blinking slowly past the white spots that were fast filling the darkness of his vision. He thought he heard someone say something, but the ringing in his ears had drowned it out. He vaguely felt cool hands press against his bruised skull, and had to bite back a spasm of nausea.
"What happened?" said Yusuke lowly, striking another match when the one he was holding threatened to burn his fingers. He cast a worried eye over the dim figure that lay sprawled before him, unable to assess the damage in such poor light. "Is the Chief…?"
"I'm fine," said Kenta slowly. "Just a little woozy." He slowly raised his torso from the ground, resting all his weight on his elbows while Hojo hovered anxiously over him. His dizziness was slowly dissipating, but he had a throbbing headache and his limbs felt like rubber.
"It was no coincidence that the electricity blew just when the Chief was calling for reinforcements," Hojo hissed angrily, propping Kenta against himself as he worriedly assessed his boss's condition as best he could. "Yusuke, go and raise the alarm! Get some ice and torches if you can, while I try to take care of this…"
"Right," said Yusuke, and after handing Hojo a match and striking a fresh one for himself, he jogged over to the door. Flinging it open, he was shocked into stillness when he almost tripped over a young girl who sat crouched outside, blocking his way.
"Get back inside," she said softly.
Yusuke mutely shook his head, eying her warily as he prepared to dart past her to the exit.
"Inside," she insisted, tapered fingers pushing long strands of dark hair from her pale features. From what little he could make out she was a pretty girl, with eyes that glowed almost pink in the soft light of the flame that danced from between his fingers. Her eyes not leaving his she pressed one hand to her ear, then after a pause nodded slowly. The fingers of her other hand were curled around the handle of a baton, whose polished surface gleamed menacingly. "M-my sister says to tell you that the situation is beyond your authority, and to get back inside, right now."
There was silence for a moment as Yusuke stood indecisively, his eyes continuously flickering from the direction of the exit to the girl's baton. The impulsive but determined young man was just preparing to knock the girl down and make his escape, when he happened to glance into her eyes.
His heart skipped and his blood froze and his mind went cold. Her eyes were wide and frightened and somewhat unsure, but that wasn't the point. The point was the almost palpable wave of power that was buried deep under all her human insecurities. This woman, this girl, was a predator in blood and bone and mind and soul, and the feral wildness that was buried deep in her gaze was similar enough to the eyes of a certain Chevalier that Yusuke lowered his gaze and – albeit with his fists clenched almost hard enough to draw blood and his heart trembling – went back inside.
"What are you doing?" said Hojo incredulously, turning toward the scuffing of Yusuke's shoes and squinting short-sightedly through the darkness. "The boss needs medical attention, now!"
"There's a girl there," said Yusuke darkly, gesturing with a sharp jab of a thumb over his shoulder to where Aiko stood in the doorway. In a moment of inspiration, she was busying herself with twisting the baton through the twin door handles in such a way that human hands couldn't open the entrance. She seemed so collected now – the only evidence that she had ever suffered a breakdown at all was in the light trembling of her hands and in the thundering of her heart, but she forcefully quashed the symptoms. She was determined not to fail.
"She's forbidding any of us from leaving the room," Yusuke continued. "I think she and her people got into our computers, and also cut the power lines."
"What?!"
"It's true," the girl said nervously, turning around to face them once she was satisfied that nobody could escape. She may have snapped the bolt previously, but the handles themselves were still usable. "I've been ordered to keep you here, for… for as long as it takes. My companions have turned off all electricity, so you have no chance of leaving the area and telling people what you know." She shifted her weight to her opposite foot. "I-I can do First Aid on that man," she added hesitantly, taking a step toward the threesome.
Yusuke took an uneasy step backward, his heart trembling for reasons the logical part of his mind couldn't fathom. "Don't come any closer!" he warned, keeping a keen eye on the nervous young girl. Just then, the flame licked at his fingers and spluttered out, so, with a spray of cursing, Yusuke fumbled in the darkness, trying to light a new one.
"I-I'm sorry about all this," said Aiko meekly, her soft features flaring back into view as a fresh match caught. "But we really had no choice."
"No choice?" said Hojo bitterly. Kenta seemed to be fine now, if a little pale, so at his insistence Hojo helped him to his feet before retreating to a respectful distance.
"No choice," Aiko said firmly. "You would have done horrible things to Saya – she would have been taken away and experimented on. She was just living her life like anyone else before you came along. Just being a normal girl. And you would have locked her away in prison when her actions were beyond her control!" The Chiropteran girl looked from face to face beseechingly, pleading with the three men to understand her friend's position. "Saya isn't evil," she insisted.
"She killed people, and her boyfriend almost killed me," Yusuke said hotly. He struck another match.
"She's a wonderful person," Aiko cried, and to her dismay she felt hot tears welling in her eyes. "What she did wasn't her fault! It's been killing her inside, we need her back with us so that we can help her and protect her…"
Hojo walked up to the door, his eyes stretched wide to compensate for the thickness of the shadows. He tugged on the baton that had been twisted through the two door handles experimentally, but wasn't really that surprised when the metal refused to yield. "Tell us everything," he said tiredly. "Please just let us know, what is going on? What is Saya?"
Aiko was silent for a moment, then shrugged, dashing away a stray tear that had slid down her cheek. "Aika says I can, so okay. What will you do with the information, after all?" She began to speak, telling them the highlights of the adventures of the Red Shield.
"That's quite a story," said Hojo as soon as Aiko quietened. He gave a tired smirk. "But at this point I think I've given up on being surprised, since there seems little point anymore. So Saya was the one who took care of 'that business' thirty years ago. I'd wondered…"
"Mm, this does complicate things," Kenta said, nodding as emphatically as his headache would allow. "Still…"
"You should just leave the situation alone," said Aiko quietly.
Yusuke's expression at this was demonic, his features twisting into a mask of rage born of growing fright. "What did you say?" he asked with cold fury, his words ground out from between clenched teeth. "She and her 'boyfriend' almost killed me, girl. You can't tell me that we should just let them walk after that."
Aiko flinched back in face of Yusuke's rage, her eyes downcast as she nibbled her lip. "You should," she said softly, but with conviction. "I told you before, the situation is beyond your control. Chiropteran exist, and have existed for many, many years. They have just as much right to live as humans do. Saya…" Aiko sighed, her gaze becoming distant. "Saya has been through hard times before," she said solemnly, thinking of the strange sheen to David's eyes when he told her about what Saya had done in Vietnam, "but she's strong, and has always been able to leave her mistakes and trauma in the past and move on from it, and grow alongside everyone else who suffered with her. What she did is killing her inside; she needs us to help her move past it like she has before… But besides that," here she turned a beseeching gaze to Kenta, "rather than killing her, don't you think that it would be best to have Saya stay with people who can control her urges? Chiropteran aren't a species that you want to make your enemy, and I can guarantee that after today, there will be no more deaths at the hands of a Chiropteran."
Hojo bit his lip indecisively. What to do, what to do… Aiko made such valid points, but at the same time he couldn't help but remember the demonic glow of Saya's eyes as she threatened to eat him… He blinked. No, now that he thought about it, that hadn't been a threat. It had been a warning. She'd wanted him to leave so that she wouldn't hurt him. She'd become sickly and weak and wracked with pain due to her abstinence, she'd suffered terribly, and it wasn't as though he'd made things any easier for her. The more he thought, the more he remembered how pained she'd looked that first day, how empty her gaze had been, how wracked with guilt. How human her eyes were when she smiled…
And Saya had once saved humanity…
And any wounds, however gruesome, that she inflicted on those boys had been in self-defence, if what the girl standing before him said was true…
Hojo lowered his eyes. While he couldn't condone what she'd done to those boys, he couldn't help the pang of sympathy that sparked within him.
Yusuke looked as best he could from face to face, his anger growing as he saw his comrades' weakening resolve. "What if she isn't telling the truth?" he snarled, both his fury at having been denied his revenge and his mounting terror at the thought of Chiropteran being allowed to run free making his eyes glow with strange light. He jabbed an accusing finger in Aiko's direction. "How the hell could she know all this anyway?" he spat. "She's only a girl, she's probably making all this up on the spot! We could be dealing with inhuman terrorists and mass murderers, and here you two are, sitting here, lapping up her fairy-story like it's the truth!"
"Of course it's truth," said Aiko coldly, glaring at Yusuke through a thin sheen of bitter tears. "I know what happened because I was there for quite a bit of it. Don't kid yourself with your ideas of good and evil; Saya's just another girl living her life according to her own devices. So what that she's a Chiropteran? Can you call those that shoot guns and start wars human?" By now the last traces of tears had vanished, and the young girl straightened her back and looked Yusuke squarely in the eye. "I know what kind of person Saya really is," Aiko said passionately, "and I know what she's going through. We're the same blood, after all. I'm Saya's niece."
Yusuke's retort died on his lips, his face slackening and his eyes stretching wide in response to the unexpected statement.
There was a long, shocked silence.
Suddenly feeling self-conscious Aiko glanced from stunned face to stunned face, her nerves mounting. "Er, that is-" she stammered, but petered off when she could think of nothing else to say. The air was thick with growing tension.
"Saya's niece," Yusuke said slowly, carefully, as though making sure he hadn't misheard. "As in… You're the same… thing as she is?" His eyes flickered to the shadows where she had forced a baton through the doorhandles, and his hands began to tremble.
"I'm a Chiropteran, yes," said Aiko quietly. "But please don't try anything. I'm doing my best to protect you, and I don't want to have to hurt you because of your prejudices."
But Yusuke wasn't paying any attention to Aiko's soft words. "You… You're just like her! And him!" His pupils dilated further in the cloying darkness. It was one thing to stand safe and surrounded by allies in a room and talk of revenge, but quite another to talk of it with the monster looming right before you, staining the room's corners an even darker shade of black. The shadows seemed to bend.
"Please don't get worked up," said Aiko nervously, her eyes fluttering worriedly to the still pale and shaky Kenta. "None of us are out to hurt you, I promise y—"
"You're a monster!" Yusuke burst out, and Aiko recoiled as though she'd been struck. Panic painted the young man's face stark, and he lost all his former bravado as the room seemed to shrink and condense until it was just him and her and the memory of eyes that burned with the same inner fire, a twisted hand and lengthened teeth and the aura of an ancient predator… Yusuke lost his breath and began to panic, not doubting for a moment that the deceptively young-looking girl before him was capable of carrying out all of the Chevalier's unspoken threats, and more. Fear, raw and pure, drove his muscles into knots and he broke.
Hysterical with terror Yusuke leapt at the door, his helpless fingers scrabbling themselves bloody as they tore at the baton wedged there. Releasing the match he still gripped the room was momentarily plunged into darkness, before flames leapt high into the air as the alcohol that lay spilt on the floor fuelled the feeble flame into a blaze. Greedy tongues of fire rushed along the path the alcohol had left on the floor, scorching the roof and searing the walls black, snarling, gobbling and spitting stinking clouds of smoke.
Desperation lending him strength, Yusuke managed to ignore the heat and also the pain in his arm as the tendons strained and snapped as the baton was wrenched away, and then he was flying down the dark walls with a wail of terror. Greedy for oxygen the flames leapt at the ceiling with a triumphant roar, flooding the room with stifling heat.
"Yusuke!" Kenta called, alarmed, and made to run after him, only to collapse when his legs gave out. "Yusuke!"
"Oh shit," Hojo gasped, and began struggling to beat out the flames. He pulled off his jacket and also grabbed Kenta's, throwing the material onto the floor and pressing down on it. His eyes were burned of moisture and the skin of his hands blistered painfully as the alcohol stained garments refused to smother the flames, and after a few moments he gave up in favour of wrapping Kenta's arm about his shoulder and pulling his weakened superior to his feet. Frantic now and gasping for air in the smoky room, he whipped around to face Aiko, who was staring, open-mouthed and motionless, at the orange flames. "We need to leave now!" Hojo screamed over the roar of the fire. "We have to get out of here or we'll burn!"
"Go ahead!" Aiko yelled, gathering her scrambled wits as her eyes cleared and hardened. "I'll… I'll stay and put out the fire, you just make sure that your boss makes it to safety! And keep Yusuke from doing anything stupid!"
Hojo opened his mouth to protest, but Aiko shoved him back violently, out of reach of the greedy flames that had been advancing on his prone form. "Get moving!"
"I can't just leave you!" Hojo called desperately, but even while he spoke he was pulling Kenta toward the door. "Come on!"
Aiko gazed at him wonderingly, her eyes reflecting the flames. "You're a good guy, you know that?" she said sincerely, then shook her head. "Don't worry," she said firmly, and even managed a tight smile. "Fire doesn't hurt me. I'm a Chiropteran."
Hojo studied her for a few moments, bit his lip, then muttered a brief 'Don't you dare burn to death, girl,' before disappearing out the door and jogging away as speedily as he could with the still disorientated Kenta draped limply against his side. Aiko looked after him with a soft smile, before her eyes hardened once again and she turned to face the raging inferno.
What the hell are you doing?! Aika screamed, but Aiko removed the speaker from her ear and flung it into the blaze, doing the same with the camera in her eye.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. She wasn't sure who she was apologising to. Maybe to Hojo, for lying about fire not hurting a Chiropteran. Maybe to Aika and Kai and everyone else who'd miss her if her stupid plan went wrong. "I'm sorry… But I need to do this. For Saya. For Haji. For sister and me. For everyone."
Aika's frantic curses were devoured by the roar of flames.
She was sinking through spinning blackness. Consciousness had died, and cold oblivion was pulling her down, down into a void of unbeing. Silence echoed about her and she was engulfed.
After what felt like a lifetime she was roused, her limbs shaking violently with cold spasms, lights dancing sickeningly before her as the coldness tipped and spun. And then there was light and hunger and feeling, and her slender arms folded around the sensation, embracing it as it flooded her with life.
She easily broke through the surface of soft skin, felt the instant rush of sweet lifeblood fill her mouth and consume her senses. Blinded by blood, overtaken by the power of her thirst, she tightened her hold on the figure that had gently pressed her face to the crook of its neck where the artery throbbed. Bursts of white dotted the darkness, coloured the backs of her lids in a spectrum of bright lights.
The hunger that burned through her flooded her with tremors as her teeth sank into flesh and her lips closed eagerly around the fluid that spilled forth, and she growled her satisfaction as the insanity and exhaustion melted into raw strength. Her eyes widened...
What... Diva was there... Riku... death... pure, unadulterated agony, and so much grief... Diva...
Very slowly, Saya lifted her mouth from Haji's neck, lapping absently at the dribble of blood that escaped the small wound. Diva had... So, that was why she and her sister had fought, why Diva had to die... Saya's eyes clouded with tears but she shook them away, managing to give her Chevalier a tired smile, which he returned.
"Are you well?" Haji inquired softly, pulling her long black hair from where it stuck to the liquid that painted her lips crimson, and tucking it behind her ears.
"Much better," Saya said, and she meant it. "But why are you here, when…" Saya trailed off, but her pointed glance at her blood spattered hands where her feeding had gotten a little messy said more than enough.
Haji said nothing, merely scooping her up and heading toward the exit. "We will deal with such things as they come," was all he said in response to her incredulous look. "I will not leave you alone here."
Saya sighed, accepting his logic. While she wouldn't consider herself 'well-fed' at least with something in her belly she could better fight her 'urges', and she really didn't want to be left alone. All the same, she was careful not to meet his eyes, just in case. She could last long enough to get home, and then after a decent feed she planned on having a very long, very serious conversation with everyone…
After only a few moments of walking, however, Haji tensed.
Saya grew uneasy when Haji paused in mid-stride. "What is it? Why have we stopped?"
"Someone approaches," said Haji quietly, and Saya felt smooth bands of ropy muscle roll and coil underneath his coat as he settled fluidly and almost unconsciously into a defensive stance.
Saya listened hard, and after a while realised that she too could hear some kind of stomping throb, the noise echoing around the corridor from an indeterminable distance. Listening the drumming of disembodied feet spooked her a little, and despite her previous concerns she found herself pressing closer into Haji. The Chevalier pulled her closer against his warmth, and her wide eyes automatically darted up to meet his own.
"Do not concern yourself," he reassured her, "humans cannot see in so little light, we will not be noticed." Saya only nodded faintly, inwardly cursing herself as she nibbled on the inside of her lip in at attempt at retaining some measure of sanity. The pair waited in tense silence for the figure to approach.
Yusuke's feet pounded up the corridor, his harsh breathing the only sound aside from the rapidly fading crackling of fire and the cries of his companions. Delirious with terror, the panicked man never even noticed when the battery-operated fire alarms began to resound, nor did he realise when he passed the two figures standing in the darkness. The only thing that paused his mad charge was when he blindly crashed into a wall in such away that his damaged arm was further twisted. Yelping in pain Yusuke tumbled to the ground but scrambled to his feet not a moment later, once again racing in a wild frenzy along the length of corridor. Further panicked when he realised that he could hear someone following him, whispering in his ear, he was sure, but he couldn't hear the words, he increased his already frantic pace. The cold, the dark, and the memory of glowing eyes were getting to him badly.
Sprinting forward through the thick shadows with his adrenalin racing and his blood singing, Yusuke was taken completely by surprise when he smashed headlong into several hard somethings that stood concealed by the darkness. Screaming in pain as his arm was crushed beneath his weight, Yusuke madly fought to his feet and staggered onward.
"Who the hell was that?" a voice yelled angrily.
"What's going on here?"
Yusuke ploughed headlong into a door and pressed himself into it, hissing as he scrabbled madly at it.
"Who is it?"
"Yusuke? Is that you?"
"Let me out," Yusuke wailed. His fingers smeared thick lines of blood down the door's surface, and he whimpered in fear. He wrenched at the hinges, beat at the glass, hammered, called his wild accusations in choking shrieks, but all to no avail. "She's the same! She tried to hide, but she's the same! Same blood! Same eyes!"
Strong hands pulled him away, but Yusuke panicked and kicked and struggled and screamed until he was released. "Shit, Yusuke," someone yelled. "Settle down, mate, just sit down and breathe for a while. You aren't going anywhere, none of us are. We need a password to get through here, but since the electricity's off and we can't see beyond our own noses we're stuck… Now what's going on with you?"
"Their eyes!" Yusuke screamed, sobbing hysterically as he tore at the inches thick glass that made up the impenetrable door. "The same eyes! Let me out!"
None of the assembled policemen and various forensic workers could make sense of his rambles, nor could they settle him long enough to leave the door alone. His fingers had long since been torn bloody, and he'd managed to grievously wound the arm that he had previously strained in his disorientation. He sobbed and guttered like a child, moaning and clawing helplessly at the glass, never even noticing when a figure loomed over his shoulder… All he felt was a sharp pain in his neck, and then Yusuke slumped forward in a dead faint.
The surrounding people were worried when Yusuke's cries stopped so suddenly. "Yusuke?" someone called tentatively. Saya turned accusing eyes on Haji, who had just unceremoniously dropped the unconscious man to the floor after giving the nerve in his neck a sharp pinch. The Chevalier had the grace to shrug apologetically, but even in the thick shadows Saya could see that he was unashamed. Rolling her eyes she admitted the wisdom of the action, but still. He could have been a little more subtle.
"What's going on?" came a sharp voice from behind them, and turning Saya was surprised to see Hojo standing there, panting lightly and struggling to support a man that she had never seen before who was leaning heavily against the Sergeant. "Why am I hearing so many voices? I thought I told you all to leave, there's a fire, dammit!"
Saya gasped, and flaring her nostrils she was horrified to realise that she could indeed smell the heady tang of smoke drifting on the air. Sickened, she turned helplessly to Haji, who had once again tensed up.
Saya bit her lip. She was still trembling badly, her blood smoking and her beast drooling at the presence of both Haji and a supply of blind, helpless prey. She needed to get everyone out, because she'd made a promise to herself, and she didn't think she could live if she had any more lives on her conscience...
There was only one thing she could think of doing.
"Alright," Saya said aloud, wincing a little when Hojo jumped and stared wildly into the darkness at recognising her voice. "I want everyone to stand back, alright? I have with me…" Saya paused, her brain whirring "…a sledgehammer."
There was a brief silence, which after a pause was broken by someone muttering, "Why is she randomly carrying around a sledgehammer?"
"I happen to like carrying sledgehammers around, thank you very much," Saya snapped, her cheeks colouring. "You never know when they'll come in handy."
"What, you keep a sledgehammer handy in your back pocket, do you?" said the voice snidely.
"No! No, no… I… keep in my front pocket, of course."
Haji only barely restrained himself from bashing his head into the wall.
"Anyway," Saya continued, composing herself, "with this sledgehammer that I just so happened to be carrying around in my front pocket, I am going to break through the door so that everyone can get out already, and away from the fire. Ready?" She waited for everyone to shuffle back, her fingers curling into a fist. "Okay!"
Winding back her arm Saya easily punched her way through the door, feeling a vague elation despite the seriousness of the situation that she was saving lives this time around...
Perhaps it would be all right after all.
Aiko bit her lip, her wide eyes glowing crimson in the firelight.
The fire would never spread from here, though the humans had been too panicked and disorientated to notice. The walls were concrete, after all; and though the flames were thriving on the large square of alcohol-stained shag rug for the moment, there would be nothing to burn when the heat had evaporated the last of the moisture and the rug burnt away. But watching how the greedy flames had gobbled up everything so quickly and thoroughly… Aiko hardened her resolve. What sort of friend would she be if she didn't take this chance to make everything right?
Forcing back a sob Aiko picked up both Hojo and Kenta's jackets, wiping a stray sooty tear away on her forearm before running out the door, clutching the charred material close against her torso. She raced up the corridor away from the exit, filtering the smoke from the air that entered her lungs with a strip of fabric torn from Hojo's jacket that she knotted about her face.
The battery operated fire alarms blared piercingly throughout the area, and beneath the noise of the fire she could hear Hojo screaming for everyone to leave the building that hadn't already. She blinked back a fresh wave of tears, smiling through her mounting terror. Good. She didn't need a broken promise on her conscience on top of everything else.
I can guarantee that after today, there will be no more deaths at the hands of a Chiropteran…
Speeding through the corridor at an unnaturally fast pace, it was only a few moments later that she found herself at the massive garage she knew was at far end of the establishment, where the police cars were kept when not in use. Scanning the warehouse-like interior with her enhanced eyesight, it didn't take long for the Chiropteran to discover where the jerry cans brimming with emergency petrol were kept, stacked one on top of the other inside a fireproof metal cabinet. Her inhuman strength made short work of the locker, and dragging one of the large steel containers in each hand she unscrewed their lids, slopping the pungent black liquid all over the ground.
For Saya.
She ran from one end of the corridor to the other, covering all that she could with the oily slick. When she came to the hefty doors that demanded a password to get through she simply punched her way through the thick glass, ignoring the blood that streamed from her knuckles at the violent action.
For Haji.
She soaked every room she could, paying special attention to those that she found to hold evidence that could incriminate Saya. Tears rolled down her face but still she worked, and though her hands were trembling violently and her legs were so weak she feared she'd collapse, still she sloshed the oily liquid up the walls. She took a deep breath, coughing violently as she inhaled the heady fumes.
For sister and me.
She almost tenderly held the two jackets to her face, and lightly blew on a strip that still glowed orange with heat. She was sobbing openly now. "I'm sorry, everyone," she whimpered aloud. "But I can't… I can't… I have to…" she broke off with a strangled cry. "I don't want to," she whispered. "But…" She closed her frightened eyes, and tears carved a path down her cheeks.
For everyone…
The smoking fabric fluttered from between her fingers.
A.N. Well, I hope that makes up for the late update. I've had a couple of comments about chapter length, so I made a special effort to post a whopper. Almost 8000 words! Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll next get the opportunity to write, but it won't be as long a wait as it was last time. Till next chapter!
Quote of the day:
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ...
- Louis Hector Berlioz