BLOOD MOON RISING

Youkai Fire Fox

I

Forget everything that you were told…

Vampires exist

Dawn of the modern age is the setting of this old classic tale of the Nightwalkers. They are known by mortal man as vampires, the hunter and the hunted. They are the beasts of the night stripped of their souls and innocence lost. The eternal darkness has rhythms of its own. These rhythms resonate in the flesh, blood, and bones of all earth's creatures. Humanity alone has forgotten them, forgotten they ever mattered, forgotten they ever existed. But it is not that they don't believe, it's only that they choose not to believe.

Watching the brutal occurrence through eyes afire with curiosity and wisdom is Seiji Date, a mortal unaware of his future. However, the fearsome samurai is about to be reborn from his ruins.

He will embark upon horror farther than he can imagine, to the gates of his mysterious past, to the gates of his very soul…

Beware of the Blood Moon Rising

"You will regret this, Seiji," she had told him on what he had thought would be their last night together. He did not believe her and went home to his apartment. Then one night by some sorcery she appeared in his room.

"I came to give you what only I can give, and the price is very dear, Seiji; my Gabriel," she promised in her soft, silky voice.

He stared at her, too confused and startled to say anything at first. "Jacqueline, I don't know how you got here, but I want you out. It's over, there's nothing between us, and there never will be." Seiji had managed. He was amazed at how cool he was behaving; he always was one to control his temper but he wondered for how long he would be able to control his composure.

"My dear Gabriel," she merely smiled.

Swearing Seiji tore away his sheets and stood, rising above the small woman. "I don't know why you insist that I'm Gabriel, but I want it to stop! I am not him! Never was and never will be!"

"Cara mia, it's not too late," she had said, "Only, say you will be mine for one night. I will restore your dreams, Gabriel, and revive you from your dark sleep."

"Too late," he had snapped and pointed to his door, "Now get out before I throw you out! And I won't be gentle!"

As soon as he had given Jacqueline his last words, a change had come over her. All softness seemed to vanish from her face; her eyes now glowed with a fierce and terrible shine.

She raised her hands to his shoulders and shoved him backwards so he would land upon his bed. She leaped on the bed, pinning him down before he could struggle and kissed him with a deadly force. Her lips had been cold as the grave, and then when he tried to pull away her arms tightened around him. She laughed coldly against his lips, a dry sound, like old bones rattling. He had thought to call his armor, but something prevented him.

Fear shot through him as he realized Korin would not respond. He wrenched his mouth away and struggled harder to escape her. He was unsuccessful. His strength was nothing compared to hers.

With ease, she held him down as her body covered his; she kissed his cheek, his mouth, her lips burning a path to the side of his neck.

He gasped when he felt her teeth prick the skin, the sensation one of horrifying pain. Then he had felt himself sinking, suffocating in darkness and dread. His skin grew cold as a winter night, and he knew his breathing had grown shallow and labored. He felt as though something had swallowed him up and covered him in terror unlike anything he had ever known or imagined.

He looked at her blankly; not grasping what had took place as she bit her own wrist and pressed it to his mouth.

As if from far away, he heard her voice whisper.

"Drink, cara mia."

He had been too weak to resist when she pressed her bleeding wrist to his mouth. "Drink, Seiji, drink my Gabriel," she urged again.

He obeyed because he lacked the will to do otherwise. Like a river's tide, life flowed back into him, filling him. He closed his eyes tight, as he suck and drank. When she took her wrist from his mouth, he opened his eyes wanting to ask for more. Then he saw Jacqueline move closer to him, her lips stained with his blood.

He stared at her in horror. "What have you done?"

"I have fulfilled my promise," she said while she licked her sharp canines. "I have given you more power with immortality and the ability to gather the knowledge of the world. You will be mine for eternity… I will not repeat the same mistake twice… you will be mine." Rising to full height, she pulled a white handkerchief from her pocket and delicately wiped the blood, his blood, from her lips. He shuddered with revulsion when she used that same handkerchief to wipe blood from his mouth.

He crumpled over in pain with his hands clasped over his head. His mind was being torn apart, his eyes were burning and his senses were going haywire. She had remained at his side while his body cast off the last of his humanity. His senses, now sharper than before, were bewildering and frightening at first. Colors had been brighter, even the small light from the moon hurt his eyes and the slightest sound bruised his ears.

She told him, in a voice empty with emotion, that he must have blood to live, food would sicken him, but he refused to believe her.

With amusement she slit her wrist with her fingernail and forced the bloody hand to his mouth again. He refused by turning his head away. She rose from the bed and left, returning a short time after with a handful of juicy strawberries she had found in his fridge. She eyed the food with an ill expression and handed them to him. To prove her wrong, he took a couple and plopped them in his mouth. A moment later, pain knifed through him and he dropped to the floor on his knees, his stomach retched violently.

"It's almost dawn," she said, her gaze darting to the window and back. "You can go out in the sunlight, but you must be able to control your atoms, make sure they are under control. Our minds can cause them to separate while you stay intact. This will permit you to walk in sunlight. However, you must take a rest now and then, or you will be too weak to move, and you will not be able to control your atoms. If that happened, then yes, you would burn in the fires of the sun.

He stared at her, not believing her words.

"You are a nightwalker now," Jacqueline explained. "You can not die. However, there are some ways to shorten your life. If you forget to control your atoms, the sun will kill you. Holy water will not burn your flesh. Crosses do nothing, those are fairy tales, but it is fun to pretend that they have some affect on you. What fools these mortals are." Her laugh was cold and vicious. "Cara mia I promised you would pay, my dear."


_________

Now Seiji stood in the shadows of a small café in Japan, watching Nasuti. He needed her help, if no one else could, she could. He had not seen her in three years; he never wrote or called. This was the time to put an end to it. She might be frightened, so he will not tell her about his circumstances to the full extent, unless it is necessary. There will be time for that later. She would be curious and confused but will respect his wishes. That is what he needed.

He could have contacted the guys if he did not fear the consequences. He had not even seen them for a while, except for Touma. Thank God that Touma was out of the country.
Ryo is a grand leader, but too hot headed to listen. Shu is strong as no other but Seiji didn't need strength, he needed a miracle. Shin would comfort and assist but would question Seiji's motive. Touma would have been helpful, his knowledge and patients probably could figure a way out. However, Seiji could not bring himself to tell him. If he told one then the rest would find out and that is too dangerous for them. He might be able to protect one, not all. That is why Nasuti was his final hope. He needed to figure things out, find a way out of this mess he dug himself into. More important, he needed to get away from Jacqueline. He knew she would kill him and anyone who came to his aid for she had told him. He hoped her jealousy would be the end of her. Hope. Hope no longer existed for him. He has to stop Jacqueline before something awful happens. She said she would go after his family if she had too, and he knew she would if she wanted.

Nasuti was all he could look to for hope. She was smart, understandable, helpful and most of all, she was his savior. How she would have loved to hear that. He smirked inwardly.

He remembered how angry she would get during the wars with the Dynasty. They would order her to stay away; telling her she could only make it worse if she tried to help. Her reaction was to give them a full lecture about how wrong they were. Those speeches were a mouthful and none of the men wanted to hear them. She would winkle her noise at them for treating her as a distraction; now was her chance to prove herself.

He will come to her, but not now. He needed rest and a meal. God … a meal!! He could not kill an innocent human. It was hard enough to live off live rats and chickens, but a real human. There had to be a blood bank nearby, which would work. They are filled with fresh blood. He could sneak in unnoticed. That was one of the grand's about being a nightwalker. People did not notice you for all they saw were shadows.



That was what he was, a shadow of the night.


Authors Notes: I do not own YST/RWs, blah, blah; yata, yata and you don't even care what I say and neither do I. This fiction is under a supernatural category, not your average YST/RW plot. I don't have all the characters from YST/RW in here, maybe a guest appearance, but that's all. Main charter is my Seiji-baby! =0_o= Not much action, but there is plenty of mystery. I hope you enjoy my writing, don't be afraid to send replies, good ones or baddies. Though if I get a flame, I'm sending a cannon flame ball right back at you. *G * cara mia . (That's the only word I know in Italian…)