Chapter 20

He suspected weeks ago that taking that scientist and draining him was a bit of a mistake. Well, not so much of a mistake, but more of something that would spark a new hunger in him. A hunger that could only be sated with the thrill of the hunt, and the satisfaction of a fresh kill.

He firmly believed that he was going from one prison to the next that day that he left the lab, but his rescuers honestly didn't make any effort to restrict him. In fact, they avoided him altogether. He was technically a fully awakened vampire that had the taste for humanoid blood and all of the strong abilities that went with it. There were very few rogue vamps like him. Usually the only time they tasted the blood of a human, was during their unique way of procreation. A bite, a small amount of their own venom, and a drop of their own blood in the wound, leave like a thief in the night, and what's done is done… Just like what happened to him; although, his progenitor had been a bit careless with him. It was a process that took several days and the victim would be completely unaware, most of the time; otherwise, Sho suspected, that if every person that was bit turned, the world would be overrun by them. Of course this wasn't common knowledge, it was something that he wouldn't discover for himself until he was hesitant on the battlefield, many, many months later.

He found that he favored a night on the town, in the large city a few hundred kilometers away. There were plenty of nightclubs and horny women, with pimps, more than eager to provide what he needed. He felt that if he fed on the scum of society (their pimps and the miscellaneous violent criminal elements), no one would have any complaints and he wouldn't draw attention to himself. After all, what hooker wouldn't want to get rid of her abusive owner? Who would miss a serial killer stalking his victims in the dark on their way home from work? He was justifying his actions by telling himself that he was merely doing society a favor.

~xoxo~

"Do you want me to do something about him, Erika?" The raven haired male asked the blonde Bakeneko.

She scowled and waved off his concern. "It's not like you'd be able to do anything to him, Hidehito. He's fed off of them and isn't restricted. You wouldn't be able to put a single scratch on him. Besides, I'm sure he'll notice the drawbacks soon anyway. Don't your kind become sensitive to sunlight once on a steady diet of human blood?" She reminded him.

He rolled his eyes in frustration. "Yeah, but the perks far outweigh the disadvantages that come with something like that." He warned.

She smiled viciously. "Perhaps that isn't such a bad thing, considering the circumstances."

It wasn't like he'd never thought of it before. He knew at some point he would probably turn to feeding off of humans as Fuwa was well known to do. His problem with it was the fact that he still had family that was completely human and he honest didn't see them as food. However, she was right, there would be a moment very soon that he would need that extra added boost. Vampires did not do well as passive feeders, and they definitely thrived off of human blood, and not the prepackaged, prescreened, and processed stuff that looked like something a kid would pull out of their backpack to drink with the provided straw at snack time.

Kanae stood stunned by the changes in the girl since she first encountered her. This being was beyond what she'd been assigned to keep an eye on when they were at the school. She could feel the darkness radiating off the girl. It was borne from the fact that Kyoko no longer trusted anyone completely like she had in the past, especially humans. Fortunately for Kanae Kotonami, she was Kitsune. The only human in their group had been Haruki Asami, but she and Lory Takarada were the exceptions for Kyoko. Dr. Asami was the one most familiar with Kyoko's physiology, temperament, and the new skills she'd developed. There was also the fact that Haruki had nothing to hide from her and kept a completely open and transparent mind. Haruki was well versed in the reality that Kyoko could see and hear her every thought. Kyoko had made that very clear to her from their first day at the estate.

"Try again…" Kanae instructed, and watched the young woman, that she was steadily beginning to see as a friend, change her visage. She was still a bit irritated that something like this took many years of practice for a Kitsune to perfect, yet Kyoko had been at it for a week and now she was able to change her hair and eyes, hide her horns, her tail, and wings almost instantaneously. Almost like she had been born with the knowledge. Well, technically it was somewhat instinctual.

Kyoko groaned a little. She was adapting well. She rarely thought of the men that had significantly altered life as she knew it, but what Sho and Ren caused paled in comparison to what she had gone through in the lab. Then there was Reino and Miroku. Granted Reino was more than a little strange, but both had helped her these few months with her views on men. Not all men were lazy, selfish pigs or rigid, bossy, micro-managing tyrants.

Kyoko sighed before starting again. "Can we go somewhere after all of this practice, Mōko-san?" She whined a little.

Ugh, Kanae hated that moniker, but she was starting to get used to it from the girl that she'd been training in Kitsune magic. She honestly never thought she would be training anyone like this. Kitsune only trained their own children and Kanae had no intention of having any kits anytime in the near or distant future. She was starting to see her as more of a friend than anything else, Chiori and the others had been more of the status of co-workers. She'd always kept them at a distance so that when the mission was over, it would be less taxing on her emotionally. Friendship didn't usually come easy for her due to that.

"Fine, but you need to impress me and fool the facial recognition software three times in a row, and be able to hold it while distracted. If you can do that, I'll let Reino know that we're going out for a break or something." Kanae told her gruffly. Well, not so much. It wasn't like she wouldn't enjoy the time away from the estate. Kyoko had been there since the rescue, without being allowed out and about. She was like a bird in a gilded cage. Kanae, on the other hand, had been to Tokyo and back several times. She'd been bringing various study materials for Kyoko to study, along with any information she could glean about anything that concerned their situation.

"YAY!" Kyoko squealed, lost focus, and now Kanae was staring at a white-haired, golden-eyed female that closely resembled what legend would have referred to as a demonic succubus, covered in various golden, tattooed markings all over her body. "S-Sorry…" She switched back to her raven-haired former human visage. "That one didn't count, did it?" She asked, a little overanxious about how she looked.

Kanae wanted to punch that stupid vamp for what he'd said about her on the day that everything started. Kyoko was insanely beautiful and alluring, especially in this form. It bothered her to see her like this, yet still insecure about herself.

Kanae shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Mo, that one didn't count, but don't think I'll go easy on you. We can't have you accidentally changing just because something startles you or you get a little excited." She started to leave the room to let Reino know of their plans later, then turned back with her hand on the doorknob. "And keep those little creatures of yours under control." Yes, they were the most troublesome thing about her, in Kanae's opinion. Those little spirit creatures were always hovering around her, causing trouble. What made things worse was the fact that they still needed to be trained and Kyoko needed more control over them. That part of her training was Reino's responsibility.