Deadly Desire
XO'MagickMoon'OX
A/N: Woot! Another one done! Again, it's short, but like I said…
The next present-day chapter should be the last. :bites nails: I hope everyone likes the ending… I'd hate to write a story that everyone has thus far seemed to love, only to present you all with a horrible ending.
Anyway, on with the show! :raises curtain:
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Sora sat at his desk, pencil between his lips, and dutifully pored over his Math textbook. Geometry, to be exact. He wasn't particularly fond of Math in general, but he had to admit, Geometry was better than Algebra.
The sky outside his window was turning orange. He could smell his mother's cooking from downstairs, and it was becoming somewhat of a distraction as he tried to figure out the length of a shadow cast by a ten-foot tree. Stupid triangles…
The phone rang. Sora briefly thought about what a nice diversion from his homework answering the phone would be, but lost his chance when the ringing stopped suddenly and his father's voice drifted up the stairs.
Sora sighed and returned to the problem.
"Sora!"
Sora glanced over his shoulder at his open bedroom door and called back, "Yeah Dad?"
"Come here, please!"
He scooted out of his chair and went to the stairs. His father was waiting at the bottom, the phone pressed to his ear. Sora stepped down a little ways, asking, "What is it?"
"Have you seen… or heard from… Kairi lately?"
Sora thought back. "I…saw her in school today."
Sora's father relayed the information to whoever was on the phone. Sora frowned slightly, confused.
"Was she on the bus home?"
"Uh…yeah." Sora nodded.
Again, his father relayed the information to the caller. "Yes, we'll be sure to… Did you call the Nakaharas?"
Sora frowned more. Why was Naminé's family involved? Something didn't feel right…
"Yes, all right… we'll ask around. I'm sure she's fine. Call us back if anything turns up. Yes… yes, all right. Goodbye."
"Dad…" Sora was almost afraid to ask, and hesitated for a split-second, before plowing on. "Dad, what was that about?"
His father looked up at him and offered what Sora believed was meant to be a reassuring smile. "That was Kairi's mom… apparently, Kairi didn't come home after school."
Sora's heart skipped a beat, and then started racing. His throat felt dry, his head light. "…And?"
"She was just calling to ask if we'd seen her lately… if she'd called here or turned up. But don't worry, I'm sure she's fine." His father didn't really look like he believed what he was saying, as he turned towards the kitchen. Sora's hand was frozen on the railing, gripping it tightly. His father faced him again and gestured for Sora to follow as he went into the kitchen. "Come down for dinner."
Sora didn't think he could eat at a time like this, but regardless, acquiesced, his legs shaking with every step he took down the stairs.
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Kairi didn't turn up. She stayed missing for the remainder of the week, meaning Thursday and Friday. By the time Friday night rolled around, Sora was a nervous wreck. He wished that Riku would come by; Riku could possibly have a way of tracking Kairi down, some weird magical…something. Anything. There had to be a way…
Oh, if only Riku had a cell phone.
Maybe he had hyper-hearing, like a dog. Would a dog whistle work?
No, Sora didn't have a dog whistle anyway.
"Aghh…" Sora collapsed on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands. He was going insane with worry. His heart was beating fast as he thought about where Kairi might be. The police had been contacted, posters put up—which Sora hated; it made Kairi seem like a lost dog, not a lost person, not a lost daughter, not a lost friend.
Sora ran his fingers through his hair, his hands trembling now. He got up and started pacing his room. Restlessly, he turned on his computer and opened up his email, his instant messenger, anything that Kairi could use to contact him. Anything that would link him to the world, where Kairi was probably alone and lost…
Or, maybe not alone.
Probably, most definitely, not alone.
That was what worried Sora the most.
Who would kidnap her, and why?
He remembered what she'd told him a few nights ago (and it wasn't the first time that he'd recalled it, either). That had been the last time he'd talked to her via the phone. When she'd told him about her nightmare, when she'd hung up on him, sobbing. He felt guilty. He hadn't talked to her much in school the following day, which was the day she'd disappeared. The guilt clawed at his stomach like a ravenous monster, chewing on his innards, making him squirm in his seat.
There was no sign of her in the cyber world. He got up from his desk chair and began pacing some more.
He picked up his phone from his nightstand and called her cell phone. As had proved true for the past few days, it was turned off. Then he ferreted around in one of his many pants' pockets and pulled out his own cell phone. He knew that it was on, and that if someone called him, he'd feel the phone vibrate, but compulsively, he checked it anyway.
Nothing.
He sighed and sat down on the edge of his bed again, raking his fingers through his hair. He couldn't stand this. He couldn't… He couldn't… He…
He needed to do something. He needed to get out there, to ask around, to search every corner of the island until she was found… He couldn't just sit there in his room and wait—it would drive him up a wall!
"Kairi…" he murmured, his voice tight with distress.
His room was beginning to darken. He hadn't turned on a light, and the sun was going down. He rubbed his eyes as they stung with tears of frustration, of fear. He didn't want the sun to go down yet—he didn't want the night to come. It was more frightening, the thought of Kairi still missing as another day passed. Out there at night, in the dark, alone—
No, not alone. That was what worried Sora the most.
"I know where she is."
Sora nearly jumped right out of his skin. He leapt from the bed and whipped around to face his window, where a figure was leaning against the sill. He had silver hair and aqua eyes, just like Riku—only, he wasn't Riku. He was taller than Riku, for one, and his hair was much longer, and his eyes…
His eyes were downright petrifying.
He was wearing a long leather trench coat, the collar pulled up around his neck, his hands gloved, his legs bound in more black leather and straps and knee-high boots. He was scary. And when he spoke, Sora caught sight of fangs, just like Riku's.
He was a vampire.
He… Did he just say…?
"You know where Kairi is?" Sora demanded, his surprise quickly overcome.
"Indeed, I do." The stranger pushed himself off the wall and slowly approached Sora in a way that reminded him chillingly of a predatory jungle cat.
"Where?"
The stranger smirked. "Just come with me."
Sora took a wary step back. "Wh-What? Wh… No, I mean… how…? How do I know I can trust you?"
"I'm Riku's older brother," the vampire explained. "My name is Sephiroth."
Sora narrowed his eyes. "Riku's never mentioned you before…"
"There's a lot that Riku's 'never mentioned,' though, isn't there?" Sephiroth's lucid, penetrating eyes glinted and Sora felt suddenly naked.
He recoiled slightly at Sephiroth's words, refusing to admit that they stung a little.
"You can trust me," Sephiroth said soothingly. "I know where your friend is, and I can take you to her before it's too late."
"Too late? What're you—"
Sephiroth held out a gloved hand. "Just come with me."
Sora looked around his room, uncertain. His head was spinning with doubt, with fear. He needed to find Kairi, more than anything, but was this person trustworthy? He did say he was Riku's brother, and the resemblance was unmistakable; Riku was trustworthy, so why should his brother be any different? But that smirk, those eyes… How did Sephiroth know where Kairi was, anyway? How did he know that Kairi was missing? How did he know who Kairi was to begin with? None of this sat well with Sora. His eyes shifted to the window over Sephiroth's shoulder, and he caught sight of the still darkening sky.
He didn't have time for doubts.
He had to find Kairi.
And if Sephiroth could take him to her, then so be it.
He sighed. "Hold on." Quickly, he slipped out of his room and down the stairs, where his parents were watching TV in the living room.
His father looked up, concern etched into his soft face. "Sora?" His mother looked up too, her expression similar, if not exactly the same.
Sora smiled reassuringly at them both and faked a yawn. "I just…uhh, wanted to tell you that I was going to turn in early tonight."
His parents' worry sunk further into their faces, but his mother nodded nonetheless. "All right. We'll see you in the morning, Sora." Every word exchanged between them sounded delicate, gossamer, as if they were treading on thin ice, afraid that if they spoke too loudly or too passionately, the ground under their feet would just shatter.
He nodded too. "Yeah. Goodnight." He turned to go, but his mother's next words stayed their feet.
"Sora, we love you."
He glanced over his shoulder at them, their warm, familiar faces lit by the flickering TV glare, their mouths smiling but their eyes liquid-like with distress. He smiled back at them. "I love you too."
And with that, he marched back up the stairs. His heart was pounding painfully against his chest, and his throat felt dry again, his breathing stunted. When he arrived back at his room, Sephiroth was still there, waiting. Sora wasn't sure, but he thought he saw something like relief in the vampire's crystalline aqua eyes when Sora entered and closed the door behind him. That smirk from before made another appearance on the vampire's porcelain face, and he reached for Sora. The movement seemed frighteningly deliberate, as if the world was suddenly moving in slow-motion.
Tentatively, Sora took the vampire's hand.
Sephiroth's smirk widened, and without another word, they both vanished on the spot.
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A/N: Wuahaha, plot twist! Any thoughts? Review please!
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