Chapter 53

After fleeing from the artificial smelling monster, they'd returned to their nest to fulfil their need for each other and sleep. They must have slept for hours and when they awoke the city was suddenly alive with a richly dark scent. They tracked each scent to the source only to discover a toddler or infant, powerful for their age but not enough of a morsel to even bother with. Besides, even if they were a worthy meal they were constantly under the guardianship of a whole host of elders whose scent held no promise of power.

Weak and frustrated from two days without a proper meal, the pair of them returned to their next to sleep. Well maybe sleep was the wrong word for it. It was more like hibernation. Not that the wording really bothered them. All they knew was they were going to sleep until a decent meal became available to them. And then... then they wouldn't stop feeding until they were well and truly satisfied.


She was strong again and it was time for her to take out the three prophesised brats once and for all. She wasn't stupid. She knew by now they would be heavily guarded. But she had a way of dealing with that, along with a little unfinished business she needed to see to. As she entered the palace she could sense them gathered defensively together, as though there was some kind of strength in numbers. Grinning slyly, she moved like a shadow towards the great hall. It was as though they'd lined their children up to be slaughtered; this was going to be easy.

Once outside she stopped and quietly murmured something under her breath. It was late, so the occupants of the room were probably already asleep, but this was to make sure they wouldn't wake up too soon; unless she wanted them to, of course. A sly grin crossed her face, as she let herself into the room. The entire hall was a paradise of curtains and if she wasn't able to sense each and every one of them, she might have spent a lifetime just trying to find the right sectioned off area.

Chuckling quietly to herself, she set out for him. The children could wait just a little bit longer; torture was too much fun to pass up.


He didn't know what had disturbed his sleep and since opening his eyes revealed nothing but a dark blur he couldn't be totally sure there'd been anything at all. As he lay there staring into the indistinguishable mess of darkness, something told him it was late. The same something also told him everyone else was asleep. And what's more it told him Taylor was in grave danger.

It took him a long time, but with great effort he managed to shift himself onto his knees and crawl blindly across the bed towards the crib. Finding the solid, wooden edge of it, he stared down. His body ached in exhaustion and the pain begged him to stop moving; to rest. But he had to know his son was okay. Carefully, he felt his way down the side of the crib towards Taylor. Then, as gently as he could, he lifted him out of the crib and into his arms. The infant stirred without waking and relief washed over him.

With his body already more than at its limit, it was all he could do to sigh wearily and smile down at his son. He really didn't want to move again, but in his exhausted state Taylor felt incredibly heavy in his arms. He needed to put him down, but he had neither the energy nor the will to move.

'It's okay Tay,' he kept his voice soft and soothing, 'I'll just stay like this till your Parto wakes. I just wish I could see you.'

'Oh Kaiba,' a dark and familiar voice taunted, 'you're not blind, are you?'

His blood ran cold. Fear wasn't the word for what he was feeling. Terror froze him to the spot and stopped any voice he had dead in his throat.

'Of course, this is what happens when someone removes an Aknid,' the voice laughed, 'it's the sting in the tail if you like. Only the effects are supposed to be temporary and normally only last a few minutes. Unless the Aknid's been modified, of course.'

'What…' he somehow managed to get the word out, 'what are you trying to say?'

'I couldn't do to you what I was going to do to them, at least not in the same way. I wanted to have a little fun. So I took the Aknid's normal side effect and modified it into a nasty little curse,' the amusement in his voice was dark and twisted. 'If you think your vision is bad now Kaiba, you have no idea what's in store for you. See, your current weakened state is responsible for your non-sight; I didn't plan for that. The plan was for you to think there was nothing wrong with you. Well, apart from a slight brightness in your normal vision. I don't know; have you've had the pleasure of experiencing that yet?'

'I… I think I have.'

'Good, then you know exactly what I'm talking about,' he chuckled. 'See, when you're a little stronger, that brightened vision will take over from the pixilated blindness you've currently found yourself in. Well, at least for ninety percent of the time. Only it won't stay like that,' his voice took on tones of cruel enjoyment. 'See it's a time release curse, as the years go on that ninety percent will become eighty, then seventy, then sixty and so on until it hits about thirty percent. Then a rapid decline will happen. Your vision, both when it's clear and when it's blurred, will darken. And, within the space of two months, you will go completely blind.'

'I don't...' he fearfully breathed the words out. 'But... why?'

'I told you, you were going to escape their fate and I enjoy making people suffer. It's fun.'

'But...' somehow he managed to shake his head, 'you already put me through... why...?'

'Because someone like you could never suffer enough or at least that's what every instinct in my body tells me. Not that I really care why I feel this way, I just know you need to suffer and that's good enough for me.'

'But I... you... you're pure evil.'

'You're only just working that out?' He laughed. 'Oh come on Kaiba, its not like you're never going to see the face of your son; unless they bury him too soon that is.'

He could sense the guy moving towards him. Terrified, he willed up every last drop of strength he had and somehow managed to activate his aura shield.

'Oh Kaiba, really, we both know in the state you're in that won't protect you for long,' his voice dripped with amusement. 'You're too tired to keep it up; it will fail eventually and then what? It's not like you can stop me from killing the other two, everyone else is fast asleep Kaiba and they're going to stay that way until I say so. And by then it'll be too late.'

'Wanna bet!' Out of nowhere Jay's voice suddenly sounded, along with the sound of someone being slammed heavily against the wall.

'How? You should be asleep with the others.'

'You really didn't think they wouldn't have prepared me for something like this, do you? That spell they cast on me was more than just a way of keeping me talking in rhymes; it was a readymade get out of jail free card, which you activated the second you entered this hall. And now I'm going to show you exactly why I was the one chosen to take you down.'

His words were followed by the sound of a scuffle and then... silence. For a few long, everlasting moments Kaiba remained there, stiff as a board, his aura draining every remaining drop of strength that he had. He didn't want to take the chance his tormentor might return. He couldn't. But after what felt like an eternity his head began to swim and his breathing became tight. He was more than exhausted now. He was pushing himself too far and it was killing him.

Reluctantly, he allowed his aura to drop away. Then, with what strength remained, he pulled himself and Taylor into Tristan's arms and willed for his companion's aura to protect all three of them. Nothing. Everything around him remained in blurred darkness. His ears strained for any noise that might indicated the return of his captor, it was all he could really do now; that and pray no one came back.