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Take What Is Yours

Ch 40 WELCOME

"Fun?" Bardiel glanced at Akasha, and she shook her head, her pink hair swaying. "Best not to ask then."

"Tsukune, my son," Issah announced, standing on the dais before their guests. "Since the day you were brought before me, by my daughter's hand and by her sister's challenge, you have been a subject of much discussion, debate, and turmoil within our community."

Everyone listened. The vampire lord walked past Bardiel and took Tsukune by the crook of his arm and lead him into the center of great hall. Resting his white gloved hands on Tsukune's shoulders, he spoke with quiet firmness. "I have been fair, perhaps maybe a bit lenient because of the love I have of Moka. While both of our own views have been bent in her favor because of who she is to us in our hearts, I have always had the guidance and wisdom to listen to those who could council me when I may strive too far from the goals as a king, a leader, a vampire, and as a man."

The murmur among the crowd agreed in his favor.

"With that leniency, you have also been tested, as proof of you being here. No human could do so without some skill, proper help by his peers and friends, and my beloved daughter. By my sword, which is still dark from the dragon's blood, Fafnir's blood, you've bested not only myself, but by even my most cunning daughter, Ria. This is not an easy task, for she has even gotten me a few times. So you are not weak, you are not feeble minded, you are not stupid and you are not a coward. Any one of those qualities would have made you either dead or food before you could even be worthy in the eyes of the Akashiya clan and be Moka's husband."

Tsukune nodded, "I know, Lord Father."

"We all know of your issues stemming from my daughter's choices, thus the consequences are laid bare," He gestured high to Moka's suspended form. "Consequences, in our world, in our clan, and to our kind are not little things. You know this, as does everyone here."

"Yes, Lord Father." Tsukune braced himself, the hands at his shoulders started to grip hard and crushing.

"Then is it simply your ignorance that you would lay your hand on my wife, on your queen, and in front of all these witnesses and believe that I can let you walk away without vampire justice?"

Tsukune lowered his head, thoughtful of the disappointment and smoldering rage he could hear in Issah's voice. "I was just thinking about Moka, Lord Father. Her and the baby."

"The baby is not yours."

"That doesn't matter."

"Human instincts," Issah scoffed under his breath, releasing Tsukune. "Sentiment to life, yet what of the consequences afterwards? Will you care for the child? Do you think she will, should she birth it, knowing our kind will actively hunt it down, to the death so that it won't survive? Do you think past the innocence of the moment and the burden it will be? Moka, should she survive this night, will be hounded by every vampire and vampire ally till that abomination is snuffed out of existence."

Tsukune thought about that, quietly turning the future trials she would have to endure over in her mind. "It is what she chose."

Issah nodded, understanding that logic. "You're right, she has. However, where is the father? Your friend, wasn't it? Gin?"

Tsukune stiffened, his fist clenching.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know," Tsukune answered, feeling the once recovering pangs of what had happened between Moka and Gin start to bubble.

"Are you really going to do this for her, for him?" Issah gestured left and right. "Her folly has brought this upon her. Why share in it?"

Tsukune tried to answer, but he couldn't find his voice. He tried again, but only a frustrated sound came out of his mouth. When he could speak, he did so with his head bowed. "I swore to protect her, just as she has protected me these many years. It's still in me, in my heart and in my soul. It also feels so unnatural to me to have this hate in my heart and my body is so used to putting itself in whatever danger necessary to protect her. To me, as confusing as it may seem, is just how I see being a man is about."

"How very human of you," Gyokuro spoke with a bit of poison.

There were guffaws and chuckles from the spectators. They silenced when Issah turned his head their way.

"So be it, my son." Issah spun on his heel towards Gyokuro's side. "My queen, please announce the rules of the duel."

Gyokuro raised both her hands wide and high, "My voracious children, hear me! Tonight, we dine on only the finest bloodbath that only we can offer. Show me your appreciation and cheer!"

It was a chilling sound, the howling dirge of countless vampires raising their voices, joined in with the orchestra tucked away in the back. Ria, Kahlua, Gyokuro, and even Issah raised their voices in a deadly song of the hunt.

He felt it, stirring in his belly, in his lungs, in his mind and in his tainted soul. The voice, one of hatred, rage, hunger, and blood lust. The Shinso blood stirred inside him and he let loose, belting a howl that his mild mannered side would never have known had it been for the vampire blood inside him.

It was a powerful, primal, retched thing…oh, how freeing it was.

When the voices stopped and all that remained of the unnatural howl of the night, Gyokuro's fingertips traced over the front of her neck, raking small red trails of blood down to the front of her collarbone. She shivered in visible ecstasy. "Exquisite. What a delight to be amongst those who are almost my equal. Wouldn't you say, Akasha?"

The Dark Lord had remained silent throughout the howl. Bardiel stood by her side, his hand gripping his spear tightly.

"Our challenger will have the right to reduce Moka's tortures," Gyokuro covered her lips with her fingers, as if to say she Freudian Slipped, "I mean, justifiable corrective measures by one for each victory. Four in all. The poker, the water, the knife, and the doll."

Some booing and jeering at the potential loss of entertainment were stifled when Gyokuro raised her hand for silence. "However, there is just one more measure that must be met. The offense of putting his hand on me."

Gyokuro stared straight at him, daring him to look away. Tsukune bore this, returning the gaze without hate, but without fear either.

"He's such a ruffian, wouldn't you say?" Gyokuro made her way to Issah, placing her blood-stained hand on his shoulder. "A nice corporal punishment is in order."

"Tsukune," Issah strode forward to stop within arm's length of him. "Don't disappointment me, son."

It was just a spot of encouragement; despite he was going to fight five superb combatants. A thought jumped to the front of his mind. "And if I win?"

The uproarious laughter burned his cheeks red.

"If you win?" Ria chuckled into her black gloved hands. "Brother Dear, you're strong but do you even know who you are dueling against?"

Issah voice broke the snickers and burbling laughter, "He has the right to know his reward." Issah raised his arm, gesturing to Moka's suspended form. "Your wife will be returned to you, as is. Defiled, impregnated with her abomination, and free to go with you as you wish."

"Will we still be hunted afterwards?"

"Not from anyone in my name or those who have blood ties to the Shuzen family. Anyone else who wish to act on their own is free to do so." Issah shrugged. "We are not humans, Tsukune. The strongest shall dominate the weak."

It was good enough, Tsukune thought to himself. "Very well."

"Good," Issah turned to Gyokuro. She took over.

"Clear the way, all of you." She shoo'd everyone further away from the center, crowding up the walls. "Now, before we begin, what kind of duel would this be without some music?"

The band began to play, but Gyokuro stopped them. "No, not this kind of music, maestro. This kind."

Gyokuro snapped her fingers. Two huge drapes fell from the vaulted ceiling, unfurling majestically like linen in the wind. An electronic hum filled the silence. The hall darkened just enough to reveal a projector's light on the white drapes, presenting a makeshift screen. In simple text, a phrase was centered in the middle:

GIN WELCOMES YOU TO THE WOLFMAN'S PLAYGROUND

TONIGHT'S VICTIM, THE LONG AWAITED, SUCCESSFUL HUNT OF

MOKA AKASHIYA

NOTE: PUT YOUR HEADPHONES ON, BECAUSE SHE'S VOCAL