Embarrassment 53: The Real Monster
"Let me out of here!" Tohru yelled, pulling on the chains in the cage.
From the moment Kanon had told him she was giving her hand over to Takeshi, Tohru had been determined to break free. He couldn't allow his cousin to get married to Takeshi, especially not just to save his life. But it didn't matter how hard he pulled. The chains were thick and heavy and even the strongest of vampires would not be able to tear them apart. However, Tohru continued to yank at them until one of the servants of the house came up to him.
The servant was built like a tank and looked like more of a body guard than a butler. He also was holding a shotgun in his hand and was pointing it straight at Tohru's face.
"You should stop struggling, vampire," he said in a deep voice rapping the bars with the barrel of the shotgun. "If you disturb the master, you will regret it."
"I don't care what you do with me. Just let Kanon go!" he yelled still yanking on the chains.
"The girl could leave any time," he said laughing. "You shouldn't be worried about what happens to you. The master will take good care of her."
"Is it alright if I worry then?" a voice said from behind him.
The guard started to turn around, but was immediately struck with a long board. He had only a moment to see that it was none other than Keitaro who had snuck up on him, before falling to a heap on the ground. Keitaro hit him one more time on the back to make sure he wasn't getting up anytime soon before tossing the board to the other side of the room. He then began rummaging through the guard's pockets.
"Keitaro, where the hell did you come from?" Tohru said in utter amazement. Even he hadn't seen Keitaro enter the room. "How'd you know I'd be here?"
"You think I couldn't put two and two together?" Keitaro wondered. "Kanon's body language told me you were here."
Upon searching the guard, Keitaro found a small handgun, which he pocketed as well as a key and a cellphone. Upon standing up to unlock the bars, Tohru could fully see Keitaro's face, and immediately knew something was wrong. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was sweaty. He was breathing hard and in his mouth Tohru could easily make out the elongated fangs. He didn't even have to ask and when Keitaro caught the eyes on him, he didn't say a word. Keitaro was beyond the point of no return.
"You don't have to stare at me, Tohru," Keitaro finally said, unlocking the door to the cell and entering. He started to undo the chains. "It's not worth hiding anymore."
"How long has it been…" Tohru started.
"Too long," he replied immediately in a low tone. He paused for a moment, feeling the vampires eyes on him. Then, without warning, he grabbed onto Tohru's throat, his eyes flaring. "I SAID STOP STARING AT ME!"
It was only for a moment, before Keitaro regained control and he let go of the vampire. But in that one single moment, Tohru knew it was over. Keitaro was already feral, hanging on to his sanity by a mere thread. And the amount of strength was also something to be noted. Even a vampire like Tohru
"Sorry," Keitaro muttered, undoing the last of the chains. "I guess this is it. Tohru… do me a favor and make sure to get Kanon out of here."
"You've thrown in the towel," he said slowly, stating the obvious.
"I'm already lost, Tohru," Keitaro replied. "You have no clue what it feels like… I can hear voices in my head… My body is moving on its own… I know you don't agree with this, but I'm asking you as one family member to another, don't let Kanon see me like this. Please."
Just looking into Tohru's eyes, he could tell that Tohru didn't agree with this one bit. But this time was different.
"What are you going to do then?" he asked hesitantly.
Keitaro motioned to the phone he had grabbed off the guard. "I'm going to buy you some time."
"You can't do that," Tohru said immediately. "You can't take on a vampire in your state. Keitaro… Takeshi will kill you."
But that was the plan, wasn't it? Nothing that Tohru could say would change this.
"She's going to cry," he said softly, before heading for the stairs.
"I know," Keitaro replied.
Tohru remained silent as he moved through the house, taking out the servants as he went. But the whole time, he could help but feel sorry for Keitaro. He didn't want to leave him to the hands of Takeshi. In this state there was no way he could survive. It wasn't long before the fighting began downstairs and Kanon took off down the halls. Tohru could have easily stopped her, but another part of him wanted to help Keitaro. But what he did was the biggest mistake.
Kanon stood on the stairs to the dungeon and watched in horror as Keitaro slowly stood up. The sheer waves of anger she felt coming off of him had caused her blood to rise to bursting point but she didn't even think about it, even when her nose started bleeding. Keitaro's eyes, were glowing dark red and his fangs were bared. He looked more like a monster than a human. It wasn't just Kanon who was nervous, even Takeshi had taken a step back. He had yet to notice Kanon was also in the room. At first, Keitaro didn't do anything. He just stood there sniffing the air like a dog on the scent of something.
"Kei-ta-ro?" Kanon said, softly.
As soon as she said that Takeshi turned to her with a look of shock. "What are you doing here?"
But it was too late. The moment she uttered his name, Keitaro immediately looked up at her. The scent he had picked up was none other than hers, and the moment he saw her, he grinned evil. Without warning he leapt at Kanon with amazing strength, fangs fully exposed. For a moment, all Kanon could do was think to scream. But before he ever managed to get to her, Takeshi appeared in a cloud in front of her and grabbed Keitaro mid-air, throwing him into the wall. It was amazing how fast Keitaro's reflexes were. With little effort he managed to plant both feet onto the wall, kicking off, and lunging back at Takeshi. The Vampire took the full force and was tackled into the stairs. Keitaro dug his claws deep into the vampire's shoulder, drawing blood.
"Get the hell off me," Takeshi hissed, attempting to swing at him.
But once again, Keitaro managed to move faster and grabbed his arm mid punch. With the amount of strength he was using, he was on par with Takeshi and was easily able to pin the vampire down. But Takeshi wasn't his target. Immediately he glared up at Kanon who was just a few feet away. The look on his face scared her.
"Run!" Takeshi said immediately, sensing the situation.
He went for another swing at the half-blood and this time managed to send him flying down the staircase. Kanon didn't know how to react, but she nodded and took off up the stairs, leaving Takeshi alone with Keitaro, whom had already gotten back to his feet in a matter of seconds. Takeshi drew his sword and stood between the feral vampire and the door with a smile on his face and a glint in his eyes.
"I knew it would only be a matter of time, boy," he said darkly. "I'm not the monster, Keitaro, you are. I'm just protecting Kanon from people like you. But all you vampire hunters are the same. You just don't know when to walk away. So let's end this."
With that, Takeshi raised his sword over head and lunged at Keitaro. However, Keitaro's reflexes were faster. In a matter of moments, Keitaro reached out and grabbed hold of Takeshi's throat and lifted him off the ground with just one hand. With his other hand he landed one blow after another right into Takeshi's gut. The force was enough to crack ribs. Takeshi struggled, in his grip but Keitaro just wouldn't let go.
This is impossible, he thought as he kicked Keitaro in the gut, not even phasing him. How can a half-blood be so powerful?
The problem was Takeshi had never dealt with a Half-blood before. It was known amongst vampire hunters and vampires alike how dangerous feral vampires were. They had no thought, pain, and limits.
However, Keitaro wasn't interested in killing Takeshi anymore. He had a sweet scent filling his nose. Because Kanon's bloody nose, there was a heavy scent of blood in the air that was calling to the young vampire. Takeshi was just in his way. With one last blow to the vampire he tossed him aside like a piece of trash and headed for the stairs. Takeshi didn't stand up this time. With the last blow, Keitaro had managed to stun him.
Upstairs Kanon ran for the door and accidently ran into Tohru knocking him on his butt. The look on her face was of fear.
"Kanon, what's going on?"
"It's Keitaro," she said softly.
She didn't have to say anything else. Tohru immediately got to his feet and grabbed her arm, pulling her to the door. "Kanon, you have to leave here immediately. There's a train station just a mile from here."
"I'm not leaving by myself!" Kanon yelled.
"You know I can't leave in the sunlight," he replied urgently. "Kanon, now is not the time to be sincere. Go home now!"
He didn't have time for her to argue with him. With one quick motion, he opened the door to the mansion and pushed her out, before slamming it in her face. Immediately, Kanon turned around and started pounding on the door.
"Don't hurt him, cousin!" she cried. "Tohru!"
"Go home, Kanon," Tohru said. He turned around just in time to see Keitaro enter the main room, following the trail of blood from Kanon's bloody nose. When Tohru saw him, he sighed, reaching into his pocket he pulled out a gun and slowly aimed it at Keitaro. "I broke my promise, and for that I'm sorry. But I also made a promise to your father and I plan to uphold that promise."
Keitaro slowly walked towards him, completely ignoring everything he said. Tohru didn't care though. He continued to speak, hoping that somewhere, the real Keitaro could hear him.
"It's nothing personal," he said softly. "I really do see you as one of the family. You and Kanon should have never gotten pulled into any of this. But I have a job to do, and I needed your help. I hope you will be able to forgive me for this."
Tohru waited. Waited until Keitaro was in point blank range, where no matter how fast he moved he couldn't get away. All that was left was a bang, and then silence from inside the house. Outside, Kanon pounded on the door, begging for him to not hurt Keitaro. When she heard the gunshot, the tears began to flow.
Alright, got something to say here. I AM going to finish the story I just have work and other things. So please stop spamming me about it asking me not to let it die. I appreciate the reviews... I really do. but getting three from the same person on the same day all saying not to let the story die isn't helping. I promise.
