"What are you thinking?!"
A boy questions his father.

"There is no justice for her there!"
A doctor presses a witness for answers.
"Her abuser what is his name?

"Have you considered?
Yes, this is personal."
A Lord will make his move.

Ascension

Chapter Thirty Eight

Into Realities; The Worse Day Ever, Part Nineteen

"What are you thinking?" Edward yelled. Storming after the man, watching his tense back sway and teeter with his steps, the boy gritted his teeth. He never slowed, the doctor, never stopped. He just kept walking, his gait just as steadfast and as silent as the trees around them. The temperature was cool, the wind brisk as it teased through the branches playing with the edges of his bronze stained hair. It wasn't cold like it was the week before, freezing like the day this all started. Still, Edward noted pacing through the damp woods, it wasn't warm either, like his heart. It was still angry, still raw and open and trembling. So much so that he couldn't think. His worry wouldn't settle, not when he was this confused, this—he growled, "Do you actually want to go with them?"

Carlisle plowed a head trudging determinedly over broken roots and half buried stone. His jaw tightened, his gaze focused while he trekked forward. He was well aware of his son trailing stubbornly behind him, the boy was one of many things vying for his attention. It was aggravating, his stark tenacity. Still. Eventually, the doctor sighed moving to speak, "I am surprised by your question, Edward. You of all people should be able to figure the reason behind my decision."

"I don't know," he said snippily. "With the way you're acting, I've been unable to discern any of your motives." He stopped glaring, his chest heaving with frustration instead of exertion.

Carlisle paused also, his steps halting subtly. "That's funny coming from a mind reader." He looked at him, his eyes searching. Deciding quietly that perhaps he should just spell it out, he put his hands in his pockets. "What are you afraid of Edward, that she will betray us?"

His son crossed his arms and looked away.

The doctor watched him silently observing the way he raised his hand to rub the back of his neck. He only did that when distressed, when worried beyond thought. Carlisle shook his head slowly exhaling, expelling his exhaustion into the cool brisk air. His son's emotions weren't all that different from his own. "I hear your concerns," he began, emphasizing each word, ensuring that his son knew that he wasn't deaf, not to him nor to his opinion on the situation. "And I mirror them. It is why I am going."

Edward stopped moving, his hand freezing as his fingers wrapped around his nape. His eyes shifted. They stared as he sought confirmation.

Calmly, Carlisle met them. "I hear you," he reassured. "And by going, I hope that my presence will curtail any conspiracy she may have against us. I can monitor what she says initially and possibly help tweak the conversation so that it rests in our favor. And if something happens"—now it was his turn to look away—"send you warning, so you all can escape to safety."

Edward slowly dropped his hand and pocketed it. Absently, he felt the dragon's ring snag the inner lining of his jeans. Still, he didn't move. He refused to lower his gaze, although it softened—slightly. "So, you will guard her?"

Guard? Carlisle paused at the word, contemplating it, considering it. He nodded slowly. "Yes," he said. "That is what I intend." It was a turning point somehow. Somewhere, he knew that what he said was damning. That it was a curse, a self-fulfilling prophecy, like the word family was with the cop. It would haunt him. In hindsight, it would do more than that. He could feel it.

The doctor lowered his gaze. "But it's a double-edged sword," he admitted. "I want to protect her too. She is also risking her life in this endeavor, in spite of whatever 'powers' she possesses, but I'm not stupid enough to believe that any influence on my part will sway her from her goal. At the least, I can be there. I can help… I can help." He pushed his hair back. He stopped, then turned, then slowly walked away.

For a moment, Edward just watched him, listening to his thoughts as they rambled on making little sense. Eventually, he started to follow. "And what if something happens to you? What if you die?" The man's thoughts froze and clouded, smeared black with his uncertainty.

Edward sneered, but Carlisle kept on walking.

"I don't wish to speak on it further," he whispered. "Let tomorrow worry about itself. Right now, I'm hunting and I'd appreciate—"

"I thought so," a gruff voice wheedled through the trees. Both men froze. Both glanced through the twilight of the woods zeroing in on the large bulky body stepping out of the darkness, stalking onto their silent trail. Takashi paused and glared, his bright blue eyes glinting harshly in the moon light. "There are better ways to catch my attention, vampire, then dogging me through the forest." He crossed his arms.

Carlisle just stared, his blackened eyes taking in the brute. He had left, Takashi, taking off out of the house once the conversation had ended and the dragon had followed his wife up the stairs. He had watched them silently, she having been coerced to help "fix" the ruined couch in his office. After a moment, though, he snuck away. Carlisle had soon followed hoping to hunt and find him.

"You have questions," the wolf observed. "I can smell them on you."

Carlisle shifted his weight pulling his hands from his pockets. "I will admit it," he confessed.

Instantly, the wolf dropped his arms and stalked into the doctor's personal space. Secretly, he enjoyed the way he tensed, the way the boy began to growl. Without taking his eyes off of the doctor, Takashi fisted the man's shirt and jerked him until their noses were touching.

Carlisle remained still. His hand rose, his fingers spread wide in a silent command for Edward to stay. Grudgingly, he obeyed though his stance tightened, his gaze sharpened on the wolf.

Takashi took a moment. He took a breath smelling the man, memorizing the way his hair was combed, the way he tended to blink voluntarily slower when confronted, the way his cheeks rippled when his jaw clenched firmly, tightly and angrily. The wolf narrowed his eyes. His lower lip protruded threateningly as he bared long sharpened teeth. "I don't like you," he growled.

For a moment, he didn't say anything until Carlisle merely relaxed in the wolf's grasp. "I believe," he answered. "That the feeling is mutual."

At once, the wolf sneered. "I guess it doesn't matter as long as we are straight on that."

Carlisle snorted back, something that made him wonder if it was a mannerism stolen from the dragon. Honestly, he didn't know. "Will you answer my questions anyway?" he asked politely, firmly. He wouldn't be moved. He wouldn't break. Takashi's regard inched higher, but very, very slowly.

He narrowed his eyes. "Send the boy away."

"Carlisle?" Edward asked uncertain.

The doctor lowered his hand and looked toward his eldest, his eyes hard. "Do what he says, son."

"But Carl—"

"Please!" he snapped. "Just do what I ask, Edward."

The wolf let go of his shirt, even as Carlisle stepped away and habitually began to straighten it. "Just do what I ask," he repeated looking at the boy. "I will be fine. I know how to take care of myself."

The boy gritted his teeth watching the wolf begin to stalk back into the darkness. Immediately, Carlisle followed without another word.

Edward stormed home.

"Whatever you're planning, you should stop it."

Carlisle looked up steadily watching a broad back sway lethally in front of him. Clothed in a thick tan trench coat, bound tight in a blue buttoned polo, charcoal grey slacks and heavy black army boots, he looked intimidating, the wolf, was dressed to be so. A soldier in a cop's uniform, the former title was neither hidden, nor concealed. That was done on purpose. The doctor took a breath hoping it would calm him. Unnecessary, unneeded, it didn't work. "And what am I thinking?" he asked. His voice betrayed his impatience, his slight weariness.

The wolf just snorted. "I can smell your anger. I'm a canine, remember? I can smell emotions." He turned back to the man stepping over a route, a half buried stone.

Carlisle paused. "You didn't answer my question."

When he lifted an eyebrow, the wolf just scoffed. Takashi considered him. Stopping also, he folded his arms. "You are thinking of the girl's scars and the person who put them there. It wasn't a hard guess," he explained, "and your mind, no doubt, is traveling the same path mine did once I discovered them, those two in particular." If his tail was exposed, it would have flicked in his smugness, at the disgust smearing across the doctor's face. "You want revenge," he accused.

Yet, Carlisle shook his head. "No," he muttered, moving to lean an elbow against a tree. He looked away. "I just want justice. That's all."

The wolf waved a patronizing hand. "And now, here you are trying to wheedle the information from me all in the purely altruistic hope that you would be able to build her case and push it through the legal system. Am I right?"

Carlisle heard the sarcasm, but deemed to ignore it. "That is preferable—"

"You are such a human," Takashi jeered.

"You are of the police," Carlisle snapped. "That proves there can be justice sought for her through the courts. It is not wrong to think—"

"But you don't know the system the way I do, leech."

"Leech," Carlisle growled then cringed. He was picking up the girl's habits.

Takashi ignored his comment opting to just glare. "I already told you the nature of the system for demons. The police force is practically an execution guild. Do you really think any demon arrested by us survives past the initial interview? Now flip that around. Do you really think they care about the demon victims afflicted in the crimes they investigate?"

Carlisle thought about the serial case down state. He gritted his teeth. "Even if they didn't, at least the monster would be out of reach and punished."

"Not if he's human. The judges are human. The jury are human, and those qualified to attend a trial for a demon crime are bias beyond recall. There is no justice for her there. And besides, no true demon would give the task of revenge to another. It is a demon's prerogative to seize justice for himself and his family."

Carlisle crinkled his eyebrows, his lips twisting into a frown. "What are you saying—no. Back up. The man, he was human who did that to her?"

"Why so surprised," Takashi asked. After a moment, he nodded. "He was indeed human and has been dead for over a hundred years, vampire."

Instantly, the doctor growled. His jaw popped. His fist slammed into the tree. "Tell me she killed him." Takashi shook his head. "You did," he asked again.

"No," the wolf answered. "He died peacefully in his sleep, an honored hero, after living one long and stubbornly productive human life."

"God damn it," he cursed. Again, he slammed his fist into the tree effectively denting it. Part of him knew he should have cringed at being so uncivilized, but part of him just didn't care. The doctor shoved his hand in his hair and started to amble back towards the house.

Takashi just watched him, his eyes brooding. He dropped his arms. "I told you to stop whatever you were planning. It's useless. And what's more, vampire, even if you had the opportunity to take your revenge, the honor has already been claimed. And believe me, you do not want to get in the way of that demon. It is suicide."

Carlisle paused and looked back, his blackened eyes barely visible in the moonlit night. With his fists clenched, his small fangs slightly bared, he looked feral, dangerous even. "What do you mean?" he said.

"You know. Your kind. This side of it," Takashi laughed. "You're not all that different from us in this regard. You want him dead. Worse than that." His smirk widened seeing Carlisle's eyes narrow further.

He looked away. "I'm like this because I'm hungry. It-it's part of the condition."

Sure, Takashi thought. He tilted his head. "You are a hypocrite," he accused.

But Carlisle only sneered. "So says the honest cop who can harshly badmouth his field but refuses to turn in his badge. If it was murder, you would be guilty by association."

Instantly, Takashi snarled pacing into the man's personal space, knowing he was uncomfortable, knowing it made him growl in return. "You know, I ought to kill you for that comment," Takashi sneered.

The doctor just glared. Again, the wolf's regard tipped higher. After a moment, he stepped away, his snarl curling into a smirk—no, a smile. It was nearly genuine. Nearly. Not quite.

Still, it caught him off guard. Carlisle watched him wearily.

"You have balls. I'll give you that, you and that soldier with you." Takashi grunted and turned away. "At least, she isn't wasting her time with imbeciles. You like deer, correct?"

Carlisle blinked and folded his arms not quite sure what happened. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Takashi shrugged and walked away. "You said you were hungry, and I promised to hunt for you. You like deer?"

Surprised, Carlisle tentatively began to follow, another question sprouting in his mind. He caught up with him. "Actually, I prefer grizzly bear or mountain lion." Seeing the spark ignite in the wolf's eyes, he merely shrugged putting his hands in his pockets. "I told you, hunting quells the violence. The more aggressive the beast, the more—"

Predictably, Takashi scoffed, his laughter cutting him off, but Carlisle plowed ahead. He wanted an answer, and preferably before the rapport building between them could be shattered by another round of insults. "Can you at least tell me one thing?"

Takashi lifted an eyebrow.

Carlisle proceeded carefully. "Who did it? Her abuser. What was his name?"

Takashi snorted.

Dr. Abraham van Hellsing. Over one hundred years ago, that man—that beast of a man—lived and died starting in his name an organization established to protect mankind from the supernatural underworld that threatened their safety. The vampire was named its instant and more focused target with the addition of the occasional werewolf, the occasional witch, or other fabled villain born from the split of the earth. Precariously, secretly, their ranks have over this handful of decades risen their fists, their guns and swords to slaughter my own kind in the name of God and country, in spite of the fact that my race, the youkai, the fairy tales, the mythical creatures of old who have chosen of their own violation to stay on this planet, are protected by the Kami and the nations as a whole by their own command. I cannot speak for the other nations, excluding my own native land from which I hail, but for this one I know," the man spoke, his suit folding and crinkling softly as he lifted an impeccably clean hand. Branded with strength and nobility, it danced in the air like a feather, like the rod and staff of a seasoned ruler. "It is the law that our race is entitled to the right of a trial, to be declared innocent until proven guilty, to due process as declared within the bylaws of the constitutional monarchy that is Great Britain. I know this to be a fact for we have our own police force trained to deal with the unique sensibilities and strength required to address youkai crimes, but this organization, even the knights sitting in their designated seats around that table of old, have disregarded this law as if it was nothing but a rule made to be broken, and they are not being held accountable for it."

"I understand your concerns," an elderly voice interrupted, but the man went on.

"Still, you don't understand the magnitude of the situation, your highness." The gentleman raised crisp golden eyes staring unforgivingly at intelligent blue. They were not unlike others he had met centuries prior. He crossed a leg and sat back in his chair.

Tired, crinkled lips pursed slightly. "I am not deaf to the cries of my people, milord." A female voice urged tightly, "And unlike my predecessors before me, you should be well aware of my sentiments for them. The youkai are every bit my citizens as the humans are."

"But your sentiments do not quell the injustices that my people face everyday from the humans you claim as kin. You cannot say that if given the opportunity, what happened two centuries ago would not happen again, and you cannot honestly say that this organization would not lead the charge if it did."

"What about Sir Shelby Penwood," The female objected. "He is a knight, and his thoughts err on the side of equality."

"But he is only one man."

"Not with her…" the voice paused in reaction to a perceived look. It was small, barely discernible. Still, she caught it. A pen dropped on a desk. A chair creaked. "Milord she maybe hard as any other in the ranks, but you can't honestly say that she hasn't acted with loyalty or exceptional skill, with integrity befitting her name and station."

A glare hardened. Long silver hair shifted under thick sharp claws ringed in silver that was not silver. Neatly, the near perfect strands were draped behind pointed ears revealing two lone stripes, two crimson scars etched delicately across chiseled stone cheeks. "She is young."

"Yes, but different," the woman nodded. Her hat, a brightly colored bonnet, bobbed gracefully with the movement. "No youkai has been murdered unjustly while the organization has been running under her leadership."

"That maybe true, but youkai do not measure time in a handful of decades. One human life, one snippet of time measured by this one outlier, doesn't erase half a dozen prior decades filled with unjust deaths nor decades to follow after she has passed on. Have you considered that she refuses to marry and has yet to determine an heir? If she dies, the threat that defined them will be free with no one to quell him, no one human of course. The organization needs to be shut down. Their work should be spread to the hands of youkai trained and best fitted for the work they are accomplishing. I have stated this before."

Gloved hands unfolded, dipping to rest upon the arms of a delicate looking chair that was remarkably uncomfortable. "Indeed, you have done so rigorously through nearly all of my reign, Milord. One would think…"

The voice trailed off as the Lord of the Western lands - Japan solemnly nodded unheedful of how it was viewed. "You implication is accurate, my Queen. This is personal, but you should be well aware of that fact."

Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of Her other Realms and Territories, the Queen sighed and leaned back into her chair nearly mimicking the graceful body resting only a few feet in front of her. She closed her eyes as her hand rose to cover them. "Indeed, I am aware of this Lord Sesshomaru." She glanced at him wearily.

He merely frowned.