Hello I'm back!
Blood Love by Boogermeister
Chapter 21
Several yards away, Anzu ran quickly towards Mahad's laboratory, followed by Mai, who was carrying Momoya. A moment ago, she had heard what happened to Atem and desperately wanted to see him. "Anzu, wait!" Mai yelled after her, but Anzu continued and burst the doors open when she reached. The entire room was empty aside from the chemical and books. She timidly walked further inside when Mai suddenly gasped.
"He's . . . . he's in there," she said fearfully, staring at the door at the far end of the lab. Anzu jolted across the room. "No, wait!" cried Mai as she ran after her. "You can't go in there!" But Anzu had already reached the door and quickly opened it. Suddenly, she stared in shock at the sight: Atem was drinking greedily on Jonouchi blood. Mana was too busy trying to pull him away from the blonde vampire, who was on the verge of blacking out.
"A-Atem . . . ." Anzu gasped. Hearing his name, Atem let go of Jonouchi, who collasped onto the floor, and glared at her; his crimson eyes was filled with nothing but bloodlust and he growled lowly as blood drooled from his fang-bearing lips. She stared in absolute fear at him. "Atem . . . . what did you do . . . .? Jonouchi . . . . is . . . . is he--"
"Jonouchi!" Mai gasped sharply. Atem caught sight of his daugther, who was whimpering. He breathed heavily as he covered his face.
"Atem . . . ." Anzu tried to take a step forward.
"Don't get closer!" Atem growled as he then gripped at his hair. "Don't come near me!" Anzu stiffened at his reaction. Mana ran to Jonouchi's side and checked his pulse.
"He's still alive," she sighed in relief.
"Get someone here quickly," ordered Atem, who laid back down. Mana quickly rushed out of the room. "Mai, get them out of my sight. I don't want to see them now."
"But Atem--" Anzu said softly but Mai put her hand on her shoulder.
"Best to do what he says, Anzu," Mai said quietly. Anzu sighed sadly as they left the room.
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"Mai . . . ." Anzu said finally after moments of silence; she was in the living room of Atem's warehouse, sitting still like a statue on the couch. "Mai . . . . his eyes . . . . that can't be him."
"He had gone through a truamatic experience, Anzu," Mai replied, appearing stressful.
"But . . . what about Jonouchi? What did Atem do to him?" anzu stared at Mai with hurtful eyes. "Did he fed on him or something?" Mai sighed heavily as she looked anyway. "Mai?"
"It's one of those matters that we vampires don't discuss very commonly," she said quietly. "It's one of those rare behaviors we show each other if we want to. what Atem did to Jonouchi . . . . is if Jonouchi asked him to drink his blood."
"What do you mean?" questioned Anzu.
"Us vampires rarely drink each other's blood, mostly because find it innapropriate and rude unless one is asked for it. If Jonouchi asked him to drink his blood, then, in Atem's case, would have to accept the offer." Mai stopped talking and rubbed her forehead.
"Mai, can you answer this imortant question?" Anzu asked softly and Mai nodded in response. "What was Atem's past about?"
"I can't answer that, Anzu," Mai replied immediately. "You have to ask Atem about that."
"But . . . ." Anzu sighed, knowing she couldn't argue with her.
"It feels like I'm hiding something from you, doesn't it? I can't really you anything except Atem himself." The metal doors suddenly opened and Malik rushed in.
"Mai, it's Jonouchi," he panted breathlessly. "He's . . . . he's okay. He's now sleeping."
"I'm glad to hear," Mai sighed deeply in relief. "Anzu, come stay with me 'til tomorrow. You could see Atem then." Anzu sighed happily as she glanced down at Momoya, who was sleeping in her arms for a while. But her mind was on something else; how Atem had completely changed in front of her eyes, reminding her that he's a blood-drinking monster and doesn't even know much about his past.
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Sun had barely begun to rise when Anzu and her daughter arrived at Mahad's laboratory and walked inside. She reached for the door across the lab when it suddenly opened, revealing Mana. "Anzu, what are you doing here so early?" she questioned surprisingly.
"I want to see Atem," Anzu replied quietly as she walked inside; Atem was fast asleep in the bed. "Is he okay?"
"Yeah, Mahad re bandaged his wound before he left for Jonouchi two hours ago." answered Mana. "I'm not sure if I could let you see him now, Anzu. He had just fallen--"
"Anzu?" Atem muttered, blinking his sleepy eyes.
"Atem, you should be resting," Mana said as she looked back at him.
"How can I rest when you're talking so loud?" Atem muttered, laughing a little. "Anzu, come here." Anzu walked up to the bedside and gazed at his obviously painful face.
"Atem, are you really okay?" she asked softly, caressing the side of his face.
"Of course I am," Atem weakly smiled. "It's just a small scratch and it'll heal in a day or two. Don't worry about me."
"Stop lying, Atem," Anzu said quietly, tears streaming down her face. "You nearly died. I was devastated of what had happened to you." Atem's expression instantly turned into a sorrowful look.
"I know I'm in pain, Anzu," he said. "I hate feeling pain, but I hate more of what you saw last night. I didn't want you to see me like that, as some kind of horrible . . . ." Atem sighed heavily as he glanced at Mana. "Could you leave us for a moment, Mana?" Mana nodded in response and left, closing the door behind her. "Is Jonouchi all right?" he asked.
". . . . Yeah," answered Anzu.
"But something tells me you're for reasons besides telling me that or seeing if I'm okay," he muttered as he sat up. "Tell me, Anzu, what is it you want to ask?"
"Well . . . . a few nights ago, I was wondering who your parents were," Anzu replied quietly. "But then I realized I don't really know much about you, like your childhood and stuff."
"So you want to know about past?" Atem questioned but was not surprised at her request. "So . . . . where do you want me to start?"
"Um, I'm not sure," replied Anzu. Atem sighed softly as he stared down at his hands.
"Do you remember over three years ago when Domino City was ravaged by vicious vampires?" he asked and Anzu slightly nodded. "Thier leader . . . . was my father. He was ruthless and brutal, killing random people in the most cold-blooded fashion, even children." Anzu's eyes slightly widened at the statement, but Atem continued. "He had no feelings for anyone, he didn't care about his followers' outcomes. "He didn't even care about the fate of his only child." He stopped talking as he scratched through his hair.
"and . . . . what about your . . . . mother?" Anzu asked hesitantly. Atem glanced at her and smiled sadly. "She was the most important person in my life," he said quietly. "She was the only one who could care for me.To me, she was an angel but to everyone else, she was . . . . my father's . . . . 'property'."
"You mean . . . ."
"Yes, she was his whore." His face was crestfallen as he talked. "I was born a bastard by their affair. My mother was the only reason I'm alive; she protected me from my father, who actually wanted me dead, thinking I'm a threat to him as I was sort of his successor. But every time she protected me, she gets hurt maliciously. We even tried to escape but we failed when his followers spied on us. Then one night . . . the most horrible event happened." Atem nearly choked in his voice as his eyes became watery. "I was eleven . . . . I witnessed what happened . . . . without remorse, he . . . . he killed her . . . . ripped out her heart . . . ."
Anzu gasped in horror as she sobbed soundlessly. Atem simply had a blank stare as tears flowed down his cheeks. "I couldn't believe it" he muttered almost to himself. "Why did he kill her? Was it because of me being alive? Did my mother deserve it? If she did, then I wouldn't be alive. I wasn't sure why my father let me live until a few a years ago when I took my revenge against him."
"Your revenge?" questioned Anzu and at that response, Atem smiled oddly, as if amused by his memories. "I've tried so many times but always failed, sometimes resulted in near deaths. Then I finally had my chance. At that time, he was so drunk with alcohol that he didn't notice me approaching him. And as he turned around--" He stopped talking and balled up his fists. His smile creepily widened. "I knocked him down and I continued to pummel his face until it became disfigured. I resented that he was still breathing and trying to fight me back so I ended it quickly." His left hand then opened up, extending his clawed fingers.
"I stabbed him," he said darkly, "with my hand and ripped out his sick heart like he did to my mother. I did it; he was dead and I liked it. I actually enjoyed killing him and laughed insanely at the murder I committed." He facial expression then softened a little. "It wasn't long until Jonouchi found me and had said that my eyes had a sinister glint, assuming that I changed completely." Atem stopped smiling and sighed heavily. That's about as much as I can tell you for now, Anzu," he said tired as he gazed at Anzu.
Anzu had stood like a statue while he talked and then finally sat beside him. "I never knew you were suffering for so long," she said quietly as she wiped away her tears. Just then, Momoya woke up from her sleep, blinking at her parents. "She doesn't know what happened to you."
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"I said I'm fine! Now let me go! Jonouchi growled angrily as he tried to get up but Mahad held him down. "Look, if I feel fine then I'm fine!"
"You're still ill from the night before!" grunted Mahad, wrestling down the disgruntled vampire. "Just stay in bed until the next night!" It was the next night since Jonouchi offered Atem his blood. Now the blonde vampire had been having a slight fever due blood lost and forcibly been put on bed rest. "You'll overexert yourself if you don't stop this behavior!" warned Mahad. Jonouchi stubbornly struggled until he suffered another dizzy spell.
"Waah . . . ." he groaned as he saw flashy dots and stars. Mahad sighed in exhaustion as he left the bedroom. "He's finally asleep, I hope," he said as he walked into the living room where Shizuka and Mai had been sitting on a couch. "how is Anzu doing?"
"She's sleeping," replied Shizuka.
"Guess she had heard about Atem's past, right?"
"She wanted to know about it," Mai said. "She has to know it, anyway."
Mahad sighed as he walked towards the door. "I'll see Jonouchi later, I have to check up on Atem."
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"She was going to know sooner or later," Atem said quietly as Mahad unwrapped the already bloodied bandage on his leg. Atem grimaced at the barely healed injury; it almost looked the same when the hunter Raphael had shot him with a silver bullet. He knew injuries caused by silver bullets take much longer to heal. "It wouldn't be fair if she was left in the dark. She understood about my past."
Mahad quickly rewrapped his leg and glanced at the other vampire. "I'm not blaming you," he said. "But does she know the whole story?" Atem sighed heavily as he looked away. "This injury won't heal quickly," Mahad said, changing the subject. "If you drink human blood, the recovery will go by faster."
"With hunters like them around, that would be impossible," Atem replied with disdain. "They want me to suffer."
"Well, there is one option," Mahad said quietly. "You can . . . . drink . . . . . her blood." Suddenly, he was grabbed by his shirt collar and was met with angry crimson eyes.
"Don't you dare make such a suggestion like that ever again!" Atem snarled dangerously. "I should kill you for telling to drink Anzu's blood! Understand?!" Mahad fearfully nodded in response and Atem let go of him. "You're dead if you mention that to anyone, especially her. Got that?!"
"Y-yes, Atem" Mahad replied quietly. "I'm very sorry for saying that."
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i should have finished this chapt sooner. i nearly forgot about it. i'll promise to update faster.