Rei sucked in a deep breath and tried to listen for anyone coming but her breathing made that all but impossible, that as much as the rapid beating of her heart. She was sure they hear that miles away it was beating so furiously. She heard nothing and that caused her to tremble almost as much as hearing them. When they made sound she could at least track them. She desperately wished for a full moon instead of the sliver that gave almost no light, she was desperate for anything, really. Rei started to move again just because she had to do something this standing still was driving her crazy.
Rei moved along the stream she found and wondered were she was. How in the world had she gotten this far into the forest anyway? Rei froze when she heard the cracking of a stick. Biting down on her lip she drew blood to keep herself from bursting into tears when she heard the first growl. Wolves were not something she could deal with right now, in fact she didn't think she could even handle a baby in her condition. She sensed some type of being coming her direction and could only imagine what it had up its sleeve. Shuddering slightly at the thought, she looked around and saw the shapes moving rapidly to surround her. Rei made a fast decision and took a head first dive into the river.
Rei frantically struggled with her skirt before she managed to tear a good portion of it off. Luckily for her it was late summer and the water was relatively warm, but she had to get out of it soon. It would only hold them back for so long. Rei spotted an alcove in the side of the bank and painfully swam over to it.
Pulling herself out of the water she repressed her shivers, the cool night air was enough to chill her. Looking around desperately for a place to hide she made her body move. Daylight could not be all that far away, could it? As she moved she heard a hiss, her only warning, before something grabbed her wrist. Turning she met the gaze of the largest she had seen yet, using the only option left to her Rei screamed.
The vampire's eyes widened and as fire shot up through his arm, it dropped her, howling its pain to the night air. Rei watched with horror as the fire consumed the creature, before she mercifully fainted into the brush.
~*~
Ami moved out of the tree and headed to the body of the girl that was killed after the vampires had taken off after Rei. She wanted to go after her but knew it was futile. How could she have helped anyway? If she became a free meal herself she would not be able to help anyone. At least right here she had the opportunity to help someone.
Ami felt sick as she moved close enough to the girl to realize that the girl was definitely dead. But then again what had she expected? Her to be alive and happy? Ami froze when she noticed the girl had started to glow. The whole myth that once eaten by a vampire you turned into one was not real was it? But then again she had never seen someone be eaten by a vampire before. And if what she had been taught was real then they did not take the time to do what they did. They just bite and ate and then went off to find the next victim.
Ami backed up and tried not to whimper as the girl's eyes opened and began to glow.
'Shit.'
Ami turned on her feet and ran. She heard the girl's whimpers but could care less. She had fangs; fangs meant bite in the neck, and die. She didn't want to anyone's meal just yet, thank you.
Ami quickly picked her way through the forest aware that she was doing a supremely stupid thing. Like it was a good idea to run in the forest by yourself when you had absolutely no idea where you were, or where you were going. Real smart, she credited herself on having more brains than the average human but her body just would not listen to the rest of her. And quiet frankly she was just too scared to put out the effort it took make herself stop. Running into a tree didn't sound too appealing either.
Ami screamed when she ran into something, she was in a forest and it was dark it could not be good. Forcing her self to look up she met a pair of brown eyes and a confused expression. Ami backed up and then realized with great relief that she had run into a group of soldiers. But before Ami could open her mouth she was grabbed from behind.
" So my Lord, do you think Lord Greg will be pleased with this one?" Ami felt any the idea's of safety that she had been entertaining fade from view. Lord Greg was a Duke to some Prince Daemon or another. He was also a ruthless womanizer. She had just gone from the frying pan to the fire, and she was about to get badly burned.
~*~
Minako woke up with a sigh. It was just now early dawn and her mom was going give birth to a litter of kittens if she was not down stairs and cleaning in about oh five minutes. Minako rolled over and promptly fell out of the tree. "Ohhhhhhh." Minako moaned holding her ankle. " Just great, fall out of the tree. What a minute, a tree?" Blinking upward she looked around in puzzlement before the nights event's came rushing back to her. Quickly looking up at a snicker she blinked again. Makoto was up there but no sign of Ami or Rei.
" Mako-chan, are you awake yet?" Minako questioned as she looked around for the other two girls. Something was wrong, she wasn't sure what but it was bad.
" Yes, and let me tell you that was one of the most graceful swan dives out of a tree I have ever seen." Makoto teased another snicker emitting from her mouth, as she moved down the tree.
" Ha ha, very funny. How about you get your lazy butt over here and help me up? Then we need to find Ami and Rei who seemed to have disappeared." Minako rolled her eyes at Makoto's mock bow and allowed her friend to help her stand. Only to fall right back down. " I think I sprained my ankle." Minako whinnied as she looked at the offending object. Yep it was starting to swell. "Just great how are we going to explain this one?"
" I think this puts a damper on our trip, ne?" Makoto questioned as she studied the ankle. " I guess I have to carry you."
" Huh?" Minako questioned stupidly. "Carry me?"
" Carry you." Makoto repeats a slight smile on her lips. "You know, piggy back style?" Makoto said in an irritated voice as she helped her blond friend stand up and then swing onto her back.
" And by the looks of thinks we don't want to know where Rei and Ami are."
" WHAT?" Minako questioned loudly. Her blue eyes were round with disbelief. " What do you mean I don't want to know where they are?"
" That's we, and check out the pile of blood over there. Now do you know if that is there's or someone else's? And just how do we go about finding them? There our two set of foot prints going two different directions. What are we supposed to do split up? I don't think so, the best we can do is try to find our way home and hope for the best." Makoto surmised.
" I don't like it Mako, its like we are abandoning them." Minako quietly argued.
" I don't like it either, but what else are we supposed to do?" Minako stayed quite, for she did not have the answer to that question, she didn't think anyone did.
~*~
Jason heard the scream and exchanged looks with Zavier. It looks like they were running to the rescue again. Until it felt like he was being hit with a cannon. Jason stopped at starred at nothing just feeling the fire, it was a slow rhythmic dance slowing intoxicating him. And, just as quickly, it stopped. His eyes narrowed that could mean only one thing, Aurora.
He moved quickly tracing the hint of fire that still clung to the air. It was almost like he could taste the feel and texture of it on the wind. It was more than just knowing it was there. He could practically see it. After 45 hundred years it still amazed him as to what he could do.
He looked around loosing he scent of it once they came to the water. Dead-end for him, damn. He looked at Zavier as his friend stared at the water. This is where his friend showed his worth he had no luck with water it canceled him out. Zavier on the other hand knew how to handle it with ease. Thanks to Athena.
" Who ever she was hit the river. We should cross it and move down stream, we should be able to pick up the trail." Zavier said after a moment. Jason shrugged, and floated over the stream. A neat little trick that Kris had taught them all long ago.
After some searching they found a body that had been burned badly. Well if you could call it a body. It looked to him that whoever had done had done a pretty descent job but had failed to finish the thing off. It looked like over cooked lamb chops, or his failed cooking attempts. It was pretty disgusting, which was why he never cooked.
Looking around he saw no sign of the girl. He sighed and ran a hand through his slightly long blond hair. He did not know what made him think it was Arorua that had been in danger. Maybe it had been the fire? Fire had been her main attack and what had connected them together at first before the soul bond had taken effect.
He was about to give up when he spotted the broken branches. Scowling slightly he moved towards them he was losing his touch if he just now saw them. Getting closer, he peered at the shrubs, which had a scorched look to them. Leaning in as close enough to see in them, he felt the wind sucked out of his powerful lungs.
~*~
Kris looked at the body of the vampire in front of him; someone had interrupted the ceremony it appeared. It looked as though she had woken up and then died of starvation. He felt no pity for the women. It was better to die then to have to live the life of one of them; he did feel sorry for the way she died though. Dying like that could not be pleasant, no death was, that particular one though had to be gruesome.
Finding a set of tracks he followed them to a tree. Hoping up it, easily he noticed the crushed leaves and branches. It must have belonged to the same people who had lost the horses. He glanced at the rising sun and was glad the he could walk about during the day, for it was the best time to be able to find clues such as this one.
Hoped down he noticed another set of tracks, following them he blinked when he realized they were headed in the direction of the village whoever they were they weren't dumb. One must have been hurt because the two soon became one. If they were headed back to the village they were safe. It was the two single pair that bothered him.
One was being chased by a group of vampires, more than likely it was the person who had interrupted the vamps earlier. The other set though headed in a crazy direction, for Kartz borders. Whoever they were they could be in danger, and most likely were. He turned his back and was going to dismiss it when a pair of golden eyes stopped him. He would report it to Endymion and then possibly go after the person. Why did he have to care anyway? But he knew it was something he had to do, he just couldn't let whoever they were fall into those people's hands. That was worse than death itself.
~*~
Nathan sighed as he watched the sun reach its peek in the sky. He could normally go at least three days without sleep and four without food, but he was so exhausted right now it surprised him. Maybe he was pushing himself to hard. But then again Makoto's life was in danger, and he had been accused of that before.
Just the thought of her brought a smile to his lips. He wanted to look into her green eyes and loose himself in there untold depths. He wanted to laugh, cry and cook with the tall women. None of that delicate female stuff for him, his ideal women could beat him to the ground. He did not mind the fact that she was a strong or fast as him. He preferred it that way. With Juno he had never been scared of hurting her like he had been with tiny women.
His only problem was he wondered too much at the changes that were going to be in her. He did not think that the others has thought much about it, how could they? They had just found out 24 hours ago, had it only been that long since he had delivered such earth shattering news to his friends? It seemed like years, years that slowly went by.
He had had the time to think and he had begun to doubt. Could she still love him? It had been four thousand years, and he had changed so much since then, his personality and a whole lot more. His shoulders slumped. If he could barley win her love then, how could he do it again, this time with her knowing nothing? This time he wasn't the same man. He had changed physically as well as mentally. His body had filled out more, he wasn't fat but all the extra training that all of them had been putting in had added more muscle. And he knew things and had seen things since her death that still haunted him. So how could he expect her to move past them if he couldn't?
Last time she had at least known a little about what they were before they meet. They had not known about Drakens, the only person who had known anything about them had been Ami. She had quickly informed them though that her expertise laid only in vampires. They had excepted Zoisite's quick explanation, but it had been under very desperate circumstances, and he had no desire to repeat them. He just wondered if last time would seem like a easy go it compared to what fate had in store for them. He prayed it wasn't, he didn't know if he would survive it.
~*~
Beryl starred at the image before her and cursed. She ran a finger down the scar on her face, the one no amount of magic had been able to cure. It ran from her temple to her lip. She closed her blood red eyes and hissed like the snake she resembled. She remembered it all to clear, had it been only four thousand years ago?
Beryl laughed as she watched the frail porcelain blue hared girl take her final breath, she had lasted longer than she thought she would. Her laughter was short lived though as she saw the destruction that had been dealt to her home, and family. She screamed as she felt the death of her older brother, felt him go up in flames. Which was how Ianna had found her.
" Going somewhere snake face?" Ianna taunted as she stepped into the room Beryl looked into the golden haired beauty's golden eyes and knew. Knew that Ianna knew she was the only one left standing, knew that Ianna knew she had no chance, and knew that she knew she was going to loose.
Her fuku was shredded and she was covered with blood but she walked forward like she was covered in silk and diamonds with thousands of on lookers bowing not the blood of her family. Moved as if she has not just fought with her very soul but had spent hours pampering and dressing herself.
" You will die, Ianna." Beryl had taunted. " I will kill you just as I killed Athena."
" Your more than welcome to try. But know this, if you do manage, just when you get comfortably, just when you start to get you hands back on everything that we have just stolen from you, I will come back and steal it all again. Over and over if I must."
" And what about your darling Kris?" Beryl demanded mockingly knowing he was her only weakness, besides Serenity, that accursed brat.
" What about him? You know he will never let you have your cards back anyway." Ianna had said in an off hand tone of voice, but the love still shone through. It infuriated her, how could someone have that total dedication to someone. That mindless commitment that no mere mortal could ever break. A connection so deep, that the stars would be singing of it for a millennia.
Snarling Beryl attacked, what happened next was the most desperate battle that Beryl had ever fought in or witnessed. She had won but Ianna had pulled a last second move. She had pulled a knife from her boot, and sliced her face wide open. As the light faded from her golden eyes she had smiled and winked at the women.
" Remember Beryl I will be back, and next time, I will win. You death is the price you shall pay." Her words rang the sound of a hammer beating upon a nail. It had the sound of a vow and vow that would not be broken, even by death.
Starred at her in shock, Beryl screamed for her guards. As she ordered for the golden hared girl's death, even looking at her from he safety of her castle, she felt the first stirrings of fear course through her body. Of all the time she had battled that girl and her guards Ianna had never been denied her oaths. And she had the sinking feeling, as she stood on balcony shivering for all she was worth, that little snippet of a women would not be denied this one either.
