Salvete, omnes!
My most sincere apologies. I am dreadfully late with this update and I know it. Things have been rather different these days. School, I'm used to. Romance, however, is something that is rather foreign to me. A certain someone has been taking up all of my time these days, so if you're going to blame anyone for my tardiness, blame her. :P
Anywho! Personal time is over and now I must revert to being the mysterious author about whom y'all know next to nothing.
I'm glad y'all liked the last chapter. Sorry about the cliffhanger. Again. I do write those quite a bit, don't I? Unintentional, I assure you. These things just happen sometimes. Really! I'm not lying, here! I don't actually mean to put y'all through so much suspense and anticipation...Ahem...Ok, that's a lie. a big fat lie. So what? Sue me.
In any case! On with the show!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Mai-HIME is not mine.
She felt as though she were in a sort of trance. Things moved in a slower, languid pace, all liquid and thick. The light trickled down from the ceiling yet seemed to fade away once it reached the figure before her. Those black eyes burned into her, alive with a dark fire. The hulking shoulders tapered down to a narrow waist, everything about him bladed and aristocratic.
Reito smiled at her, a sharp, edged grin, revealing dagger-like canines dripping over rows of clean, white, even teeth, "You should never have left me, Mai," he murmured, his supple footsteps bearing him smoothly forward, slow and slithering as a winding cloud round a mountain bend.
A whimper died in her throat. She tried to look away, but could not break from his gaze. Like a mesmerizing snake, he pierced her with his eyes, rooting her in place, until she shivered like a soft-furred mouse caught in the slippery coils of this ageless predator. As he approached, he seemed to expand before her, raising his scaly backs, sleek and shining from discarded skin, tongue flickering out like a flame to momentarily taste the air, to savour her fear.
This was a feeling Mai understood well. Entrapment had become a second home to her. It frightened her how familiar a haunt she found it, how easily she slipped into this role of supplication, kneeling before the progenitor of all her terrors made flesh. He had released the floodgates of fear and now they were pulling her in their swirling eddies, their merciless tides; she was drowning in it all.
"I missed you, Mai," his whisper was suddenly a moist breath on her neck, tickling the fine hairs beneath her ear, "Come back to me."
A great cry sounded out and Reito stepped back just enough to not get bitten by Prometheus. The eagle spread its wings wide behind Mai, glaring at him with those fierce eyes, sharp beak gleaming in the light. Reito tilted his head at the animal, tsking at it and wagging a finger as though admonishing an unruly child before turning and saying softly to his prey, "You should really put a leash on your pet."
And then, everything went black.
Lights flickered, making the head whirl and spin. Midori stepped over the body of a fallen soldier. The halls were littered with them, all strewn about, tumbled over one another in careless abandon. Occasionally, there was evidence of the remains of the children of the Keres, piles of ash, streaked across the floor, scuffed from the frantic movement of boots scrambling over them, even smudged within the fibers of clothing. Midori's own shoes, normally a pristine white leather, bore traces of filth, an oily grey-black.
"Jesus..." she breathed, keeping the silvery Glock in her hands steady as she gazed around. Her fingers flexed around it and her olive eyes gained a steely quality. After her world had been destroyed, her family ripped apart, Phaesporia had become her home. To see it in this condition, to witness its downfall...
A growl escaped her. Squaring her shoulders, she continued forward. Camilla padded behind her, heavy head slung low, the strong muscles in her back bunching then sliding free as she walked. Blood stained the lioness' powerful jaws, dripping from her panting mouth, dark and clotted with gore. Two of the soldiers she had come with followed her closely, silent in their blue and grey armour, their faces hidden behind the black, reflective visors of their helms. The others had gone their separate ways at Midori's behest, fanning out through the underground building, trying to salvage what they could. She feared they may have arrived too late.
Damn it, Mai.
Clenching her teeth, she withheld yet another irate noise. She had tried activating the tracking device in every Artemisian weapon, knowing that her District Officer would keep such weapons on her at all times, but Mai, it seemed, was cleverer than that. She'd disabled them, taking apart her weapons in the process and reassembling them. Now, Midori had no idea where she was. She could make a well-thought out guess, though. Mai would need supplies, else she wouldn't have returned to Phaesporia.
They reached the door she was looking for. Motioning with her head, Midori stepped back and let her soldiers step forward. Flanking the door, one of them reached out carefully and opened it.
Darkness.
An unnatural black. It consumed the room within, leeching out the flickering light from outside of it, drawing it in like a plague leads its victims to a cold and early grave, luring like a siren temptress to the wafting, swelling sea, calling to mast-tethered men. (1)
Whispers came from it, shadowy things, deep and resonant. Mesmerizing, they seeped forth, singing their chanting song, a low, lyric lullaby, licked through raven flame, soot and sulfur.
The limbs of the soldiers loosened; their heads lolled. Guns clattered to the floor. The darkness reached out and slowly devoured them in all but an instant until there was nothing left, no trace of their existence, ingested by the hiemal silence of death of a creeping death.
Midori stared. She could not move. She was fixed where she stood. All she could hear, all she knew was the wretched lull, like a frigid breath of wind issuing in a soft wheeze from mountains fresh with snow and rime-riddled pine. Her grasp loosened on her weapon. Her head slowly rose as though to better hear its call. Without knowing what she was doing, her foot moved, then the other, dragging her inexorably forward. Some part of herself rebelled, screaming out in the back of her mind, but the rest was blank, utterly overwhelmed, steeped in the song.
A flash of white appeared before her. It was Camilla, crouched low. A deep snarl rumbled in her throat, contorting her muzzle and baring her fangs.
For a moment, the darkness paused as though somehow sentient, considering this new addition before it until, suddenly, it gathered together, solidified into a single form. The song faded, though it still lingered in the background, clinging to the walls. The lights stabilised, ceasing their rapid, uneven surges, gracing the form of Reito Kanzaki, the Black Prince. He stood before her now, studying Camilla curiously.
"What are these adorable creatures?" he knelt before Camilla and tapped her nose, withdrawing his hand before she could bite it off, as she tried, snapping her jaws and lunging forward, "I knew Tate was experimenting but this..." he grinned, "...this is just cute!"
The lioness reared up, slashing with her broad paws. Faster than the eye could see, Reito batted her aside almost lazily, a bored expression on his face. Camilla's body went skidding along the hall, limp and boneless as a rag-doll.
"Not to mention annoying," Reito murmured, arching his brows and shaking his head, looking at Midori as though sharing a conspiratorial moment with an overindulgent parent. He sped forward, seeming to appear right before her, all manner of playfulness gone from his expression, fled, "Just like you, Artemis."
Midori felt the breath leave her body the nearness of him. She could not say why, but his very presence filled her with a sort of indescribable dread, a revulsion of that she could not put to words. She wished for nothing more than to withdraw, to shrink away from him, but was unable to do so. His very eyes upon her made her feel unclean somehow. It was the deadness of his gaze, the lizard-like quality of them. She was surprised to not see slits for pupils there. His eyes burned a dim scarlet, searing into her, filing through all of her memories, bringing every terrible though she'd ever had to the very fore of her mind. She was not sure if he could actually read her thoughts, but she could not be completely sure. The idea made a small shiver run down her spin, chilling her ribs.
He glared down at her, upper lip curling, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to kill you, Artemis: the thorn in my side," he grasped her left arm and dug his fingers painfully into the flesh there, "And now...Now I will enjoy myself."
In a swift movement, he'd ripped off one of the sleeves of her suit. Crimson eyes studied the flesh of her arm, and his nails, though not particularly sharp, began to cut into the skin just above her elbow. She could not cry out. She could not make even a whimper of pain. She could only watch as he slowly severed the muscles there, fiber by fiber. When he had gotten deep enough to his satisfaction, he lowered his sleek, dark head and bit. A sickening series of cracks and crunches filled the air. Inside of her, something was shrieking, clawing at the cages of her mind to be released, to no avail. Her vision began to falter, fading in and out, from white to black, threatening to drop her into a bottomless pit.
"Not yet, Artemis," the Black Prince was looking into her eyes once more, the lower half of his face naught but a wide smear of blood, "I'm not finished with you yet. And when we're done," he leaned forward and she could detect the scent of her own death on him, "When we're done, I'll have your second in command and Phaesporia will be no more."
A shot rang out. Reito's face twisted in pain and rage. Whirling around, he dropped Midori onto to find a shaky Mai standing where he'd left her, supposedly incapacitated, in the room behind him. Snarling like an animal, he started forward but was stopped by three more rounds in the chest. High pitched wails, unearthly and resonant, like the howls of slavering Bacchantes rushing through a thickly wooded vale to the wild beat of drum and pipe, escaped him and his face transformed, elongating into something unspeakably monstrous, fanged and stained with the blood of his prey in dark rivulets. Hands trembling, Mai aimed the muzzle of her gun higher and shot him right between the eyes.
With a shriek, the wind stirred all about them, and Reito had fled without a trace.
"Disgusting."
A horde of vampires looked up from where they knelt, all clustered around a pile of bodies, dead Cynthians one and all, be they soldiers or innocent personnel just doing their jobs. The metallic gleam of the halls and their flickering lights made the vampires seem hollow, their inhumanity somehow enhanced. Their eyes stared, dead and sightless, barely above the level of sentience required of fish. Mouths gaping, they began to rise, staggering to their feet, dripping gore from their hands and jaws.
Shizuru stood at the opposite end of the hallway, glaring down at them in absolute loathing. Her nose was wrinkled and her eyes flashed with disdain, "You would dare assault me, you revolting creatures?"
Blindly, they made their way forward, over ten and twenty, moving by scent, by external sense, not knowing what it was they sought, only that they craved it, whatever it was. Human blood may have been the main source of sustenance for beings such as they, but to gain power, a descendant of the Keres must devour their kin, to imbibe in their essence and therefore ascend in the great ladder. Little did they know that their adversary was the Source itself. They did not stand a chance.
When Shizuru emerged on the other side of the hallway, she was licking her fingers clean, her gaze like twin gates of horn and ivory that allowed either dream or nightmare from the great depths of Dis. (2) Behind her lay the scattered corpses of her wretched kind, dismembered and lifeless. Seething with black energy, she glided from the hall, the stained hems of her chiton swirling about her legs in elegant bunches, heavy and dark with blood.
Maria Graceburt stumbled back, tripping over her grey dress, "Wh-What are you?"
Veins of light swirled all around. Natsuki felt elated, indeed better than she could ever remember feeling before. Something was swelling within her chest, like a balloon ready to burst under any manner of pressure. She was walking a fine line and were she not careful, all could fall into oblivion and she could be forever lost. Balanced upon a precipice of power with no idea on how to commence, Natsuki allowed her instincts to overcome her until she was awash in a strange and eerie state of no thought. She moved without conscious effort. She spoke without vigilant intention. All was but a plane of absolute void.
She was a being of energy. She was a celestial entity. She was divinity incarnate.
Gravity was beginning to fail. The earth beneath her feet rumbled and groaned, heaving and gnashing its teeth at her very presence. Her feet lifted from the ground until she lingered just a few centimeters above the floor. The crates in the room began to shudder and rise, breaking into pieces, splintering and wheeling around her as though in orbit. Surges of energy uncoiled from her, all blinding white but for her eyes which shone a dazzling emerald, deep and bright, a true green.
Not waiting for the answer to her question, Maria stumbled away, turning to flee. Before she could reach the doors, however, they shut. With a great cry, the vampire queen tried to break her way out, but her fist bounced off the steel doors where before they would have easily traveled through. Desperate, chest heaving, she whirled around and pressed her back against the wall, reduced to a cowering animal.
Natsuki reached out her hand and suddenly Maria was before her, blinking into existence there. Where the veins of light touched her, they burned, searing off her flesh in large strips until she was writhing before Natsuki, screeching in agony.
Face a blank mask, Natsuki spoke, her voice echoing as though through rooms, as though through dimensions, "I am a denizen of the dawn," with a gesture, Maria was lifted from the ground, hovering at Natsuki's waist-level, "Child of the Keres, I hereby mark you. No sunlight shall you see again lest you perish at its touch. Inhabitants of the night and the dark places of the world should know their place."
Slowly, Natsuki extended her hand and cupped the side of Maria's face. It was an almost delicate gesture, yet the effect was anything but that. Smoke rose from the vampire's face and she howled. The flesh and muscle beneath Natsuki's fingers began to melt and whither away, bubbling at her touch. Maria clawed at Natsuki's outstretched arm, but did nothing. Natsuki could not even feel the vampire's grasp.
The earth stilled. The debris swirling around settled to the floor once more. Serene as a
thunderhead, she released her. Still blazing like a cold, distant star, Natsuki gracefully stepped around her stationary body, slowly departing from the room, leaving Maria a smouldering, crumpled heap on the floor.
(1): mast-tethered = the Sirens called to Odysseus with their song. The only reason why he survived was because he ordered his men to tie him to the mast and stop their ears with wax so that they couldn't hear the treacherous song. (also, wow! It's been a while since I've had to give little notes at the end of my chapters! It feels nice educating y'all! If, for anyone, this was merely a nice little easter-egg, then huzzah! I give you a golden star!)
(2): twin gates = in Graeco-Roman mythology, there were two gates from Hell. One was made of horn, the other of ivory. Dreams would go through the former. Nightmares the latter. Dis, of course, is another name for "Hell".