Chapter Seven:
Gohan stood up, not even minding the rain water that had completely soaked him now that his ki had been suppressed. It rolled down his face and arms, until he was just another object out in the rain with water passing over him, like a rock or a tree.
"I'm sorry." Gohan said shortly. "I wouldn't have killed you if I didn't have to. I hope you can see that, wherever your soul has gone."
Having said that, and not wanting to sit next to the body any longer than he had to, he took off into the air, intent on finding his fiends, and then getting them and his own family all to capsule corp. as fast as possible, so they could talk.
Goku sighed with relief as he saw Gohan get up and fly away on the crystal ball that old Kaio-shin had conjured for them. At least this way he could see what was happening on earth.
"I guess he did it alright." Goku said with a smile.
Vegeta huffed. "He didn't do too badly, Kakarott, not too badly. But I'm much more interested in finding out about that thing." he pointed to the crystal ball, where they could still see Osiris' body. "I want to know where he came from, how he's so strong, and how he knows our red-headed mystery warrior."
Goku sighed. "Well, we can't exactly ask him, now can we?"
"But there are ways to find out. And aren't you the least bit concerned that there might be more of them?"
Goku's head shook back and forth. "I don't think there are. If there were, they probably would have attacked by now."
Vegeta shrugged but said nothing.
"I suppose we haven't much time now." Dende said. "The sky has turned black, so that means less than six hours until the gateway into hell opens, right?"
Kaio-bit nodded. "But a lot can happen in six hours. We aren't sure of what kind of back up this Osiris may have brought with him. Don't forget those robots." he shook his head. "Maybe not enough to kill any of you, but the innocent humans are just as much all of our responsibility."
Goku nodded vigorously. Vegeta still sat silently, though he knew it to be true and actually agreed with it.
"This is going to get pretty rough, I think." King Kai said. "We've had reports in the past week or so that word about the Golden Moon has spread like wildfire around hell, and Frieza and Cell are pretty anxious to get out." he looked from one saiyajin to the other. "I've also heard that they're quite a bit more powerful than before."
A snicker broke out from Vegeta, and he smiled. "I'll enjoy this. Listen Kakarott, I want to kill Frieza. You had your chance, and so did my son. My turn this time."
Goku shrugged. "Whatever you say, Vegeta. But I don't think either of them should be a problem."
"No, probably not for you two, or Gohan either." King Kai agreed. "But don't underestimate them. It shouldn't be all too hard, but you guys will really have to watch out for numbers. Don't let people get past you."
Goku and Vegeta gave short, quick nods.
"Oh...," King Kai said hesitantly. "There is one more thing..."
Gohan landed softly on his front lawn, rain still dripping from his in rivers. It was really pouring by now.
He smiled as he saw the little girl's face in the window go from worried to a huge smile in a second, and then vanish as Pan ran toward the door. He could practically hear her yelling, 'daddy's home!'.
Sure enough, the front door opened and Pan rushed out into the rain, absolutely heedless of Videl's cries to come back, to not get herself all wet. She rushed forward, and Gohan scooped her up into his arms.
"Hey, Pan-chan. Did you miss me?" he asked as he squeezed his daughter.
"Yeah, but I wasn't worried at all!" Pan said, shaking her head violently and confirming that she had indeed been very worried. "Sumthin' was wrong, though. I couldn't tell what was going on very well."
Gohan smiled. "That's okay, all of us had the same problem, Panny."
Videl appeared in the doorway and waved him inside, trying to look put out, but not able to hide a smile.
"And what took you so long, Son Gohan?" Videl asked as soon as he was inside and the door was shut. "What happened? Come on, I want to know what's going on."
Gohan smirked and held his hands up in front of him in a mock defense. "Okay, okay. But I'll tell you on the way to capsule corp., alright?"
"Capsule corp.?" Videl tilted her head in confusion. "Why on earth are we going to capsule corp.?"
"I'll explain later, just come on." he said, still smiling, but serious at the same time.
She rolled her eyes and followed Gohan, who was still carrying Pan, out into the pouring rain.
"I'll meet you guys at capsule corp., then?" Goten said.
Piccolo nodded. "You go get your mom, and meet us there. That's where Gohan's headed."
"It'll be safer if you don't go by yourself." Uubu said. "We know Gohan defeated Osiris, but he may not be dead." he shrugged. "You know how Gohan is. He might have let the guy live."
They all were silent for a minute, pondering this. Then Trunks spoke.
"I'll go with you, Goten."
The younger saiyajin nodded, and they took off, Trunks waving slightly. Before more than a couple seconds had passed, they were out of sight, and because of the strange way ki was being blocked, none of the three remaining warriors could sense them at all.
As they took off into the sky, Krillin looked nervously at Piccolo.
"Uh, you don't think Gohan really would have let that monster live, do you Piccolo?" he asked. "I mean, after he... after what he did to Juu-chan, Gohan wouldn't have let him live?"
Piccolo's eyes narrowed slightly, though it was hard to see in the rain that was now pouring down over them as well. "I don't think so. It's very unlikely. But it's always best to be cautious."
The small warrior turned his face away, still a bit worried. "I hope you're right, Piccolo. I really hope you're right."
"I don't think Gohan would have left him alive." Uubu said. "But I think he might still be alive."
The other two warrior's heads snapped around to Uubu, eyes wide.
"What do you mean?" Krillin said. "How could he still be alive if Gohan thought he was dead?"
Uubu's face was unusually thoughtful, bot looking really like himself. "I still have a few memories of... the monster my soul used to belong to. Including memories of hell. And... there were vampires there."
He turned and looked thoughtfully at Krillin and Piccolo. "They were extraordinarily resistant to death when they were alive. I mean, short of incinerating them alive or decapitating them and taking the head out of reach of the body, I don't know if they can be killed."
"You're... are you sure?" Krillin asked. "I mean, you're not exaggerating, are you?"
Uubu shook his head. "Let's hope Gohan did the job. That thing was way too powerful for anyone but Goku-sensei to beat, I think."
Gohan's family arrived by air-car at the same time Piccolo, Krillin, and Uubu landed in front of capsule corp. As Gohan got out of the vehicle, Pan still held in his arms, he nodded slightly to the three warriors, the way men nod when they pass each other in a crowded hall. The gesture seemed very out of place in the situation, but the three fighters answered it without a pause.
"So. Here we are." Piccolo said shortly. "Goten and Trunks should be arriving with ChiChi any second."
Gohan nodded.
"Shall we go in?" Uubu asked. "We're kind of getting soaked. Again."
A slight smile cracked Gohan's face, and Videl rolled her eyes. "Oh, look. A fighter with sense!"
They went up to the door in a line, Gohan in front holding Pan, Videl behind him, followed by the three others in a group.
Gohan reached up to knock, but before his hand had a chance to rap on the door, it swung open. Bulma stood framed in light, Bura at her knee.
"Hey, you guys." she said, her voice thick with worry. "Come inside."
She walked back into the house, or, more to the point, the kitchen. The door they had knocked on led to a back kitchen, where Bulma and Bura had been sitting. The lights were all off.
"The power's out all over the city." Bulma said, moving several candles off of a table so that they would all have something to sit around. "They all went out at the exact same time as those weird clouds came over. We've been sitting in here, because it's the most fire resistant of all the rooms. Have you guys seen some of that lightning?"
"Bulma, we all have to talk." Piccolo said. "We don't know when Goku and Vegeta will be back, but..."
"There stuck somewhere." Bulma said.
"What?" Piccolo's eyes widened. "How do you know that?"
She shrugged, looking at the floor. "I just do. But they're stuck somewhere, and can't get back. At least, not yet."
Piccolo cocked one eye ridge, requesting more information.
"That's all I know." Bulma said. "Ever since Vegeta and I...." she blushed slightly. "You know. Well, ever since, we've both had limited access to each other's thoughts. But that was all I got."
Piccolo looked as if he was about to say something else, when the door opened.
Almost in slow motion, a hand as white as bleached bone, with exceptionally long glossy nails, wrapped around the edge of the door and pushed it open. Then a head peeked through, hair the color of blood, face as pale and strange as the hands. Then the door opened the rest of the way, and the figure in the doorway was framed in the pale light and the rain from outside. Piccolo noticed with some shock that there was a ring of rather bad bruises around the boy's neck.
"Please, I didn't mean to startle you." Arda said, his face a mask of physical pain. "May I please come in?"
"There is one more thing..." King Kai said, but he was cut off by a sharp cry from Vegeta.
"Look! Oh, Kami in heaven, Kakarott, he's alive!!"
Vegeta was pointing to the crystal ball, which was still stuck on the image of Osiris. Goku gazed into it, and his eyes widened in horror.
One hand of Osiris' body was holding the head and putting it back on the shoulders.
Gohan stepped across the room un-hesitantly and looked the vampire in the face.
"Yes, come in." he said.
"Wha... who...." Bulma stammered, startled by the man's pale skin that almost gave off light and the eyes that shined out of his face like fire. "Who are you...?"
He smiled. "I'm Arda." he said. No matter how strange he looked, his voice was kind and pleasant. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
Bulma nodded, but her eyes were still wide. "Oh. Arda. Sure."
He smiled again and stepped into the room, water puddling on the floor beneath him. "I know I'm a little strange looking to you, but trust me, I don't bite." he shut the door behind him, making the sound of pouring rain fade again into the background.
"Here, have a seat." Gohan said, gesturing to a chair.
Arda shook his head. "No thank you. I'm not staying for more than a second. I came to alert you all of something very important, the something I came here for."
The Z fighters stared, waiting.
"I really wanted to tell Goku this." Arda sighed. "But a few things got in my way."
"Like Osiris." Krillin said suddenly.
Arda nodded. "I can't tell you all how sorry I am about that. Trust me, if I had known that he was going to come here, I would have warned you as soon as possible."
"Who is he?" Piccolo broke in. "What did he come here for, and why did he immediately want to kill us with no provocation whatsoever? It doesn't make any sense."
Arda looked at Piccolo for a second, then sighed. "He's a vampire, like me. We were made by the same master, only he was made almost a thousand years later than I was." He stopped, waiting for some kind of response, like he usually got when he mentioned the word vampire. There was none, just the slight sound of Bulma gulping.
"You might say he was my replacement. After so long, our master wasn't satisfied with me anymore, and made Osiris to take my place. He was made with more care and effort than me, so he ended up being more powerful, eventually." he paused. "That and he drinks quite a bit of blood."
"He was here because of the Golden Moon. See, I don't know if anyone told you this, but when it appears, the first person to see the moon is given a huge amount of power. You've all seen enough of his personality, so I guess you know why he's trying to kill you."
They all looked at him, fear and worry crossing Bulma and Krillin's faces, thoughtfulness on Piccolo and Gohan. Videl sat completely still, her expression unreadable. Pan sat on her lap, arms crossed, her child's face screwed into a look of defiance that was almost comical. Bura was crowded up to Bulma, peeking out from behind here legs. Uubu leaned against a wall, simply looking with no clear emotion at all.
"So, why did you come here in the first place?" Piccolo asked.
Arda sighed. "I came to ask for help, and to warn you about something that's going to come out of hell. Something so powerful that all of your combined powers, and mine, are nothing to it."
"Wait a minute." Uubu said. "More powerful than all of us put together? Even Goku-sensei isn't that strong."
"No, you're right." Arda said. "He's not even close. That's why I came to warn you."
A starkly white hand pawed through the dirt, reaching and feeling around for something. This in itself was not very alarming. The alarming thing was that the body it was attached to had no head.
The head lay about two feet away from the shoulders, a slow trickle of blood running from the neck. The flow was so little that it was shocking in itself. Normally, in a complete decapitation such as this, the dirt for several feet around would be red mud, but it was not, only blackened and charred from the ki battle, and not yet made into fresh mud by the heavy rain. A similar slow trickle ran from the neck of the headless body. The blood was a very dark red, and shimmered, almost moving, like something alive.
Osiris at this point was capable of no rational thought, or any thought at all, really. His body was on auto pilot, simply trying to get itself into a position where it could survive. The hand groping blindly in the dirt was searching for the head, trying to put it back on the shoulders.
This was a very, very dangerous spot for any vampire, and probably the closest to dying that Osiris had ever come. There was a matter of perhaps thirty minutes that his vampiric power would keep him alive before his body would shut down. After that, he would simply die.
The hand had been groping about for close to ten minutes now, and had only once come even close to the head, it's eyes and mouth still open and blank in a dying scream. Once back on the body, it would be again animated, but for now, it was as dead as the dirt and ash it rested in.
The hand was clawing close to it, closer than it had come so far, mere inches away. But it's movements were getting slow and sluggish as the blood drained bit by bit from the body. The perfectly trimmed fingernails scraped the dirt a fraction of an inch from the short hair.
The hand's movements were tired, and just when it looked like the body may be ready to give it up, the tip of one finger brushed a strand of hair. Reacting instantly, the whole arm swung over and grasped the short blue-black hair of the vampire's head, pulling it back toward the body.
By this time Osiris' body was becoming far too weak to lift the head into place. It dragged it through the dirt, then turning it when it got to the body so that the neck was pointing towards where it was supposed to go.
(Osiris didn't find out until later, but this was where Goku and Vegeta began watching in the crystal ball.)
What happened then was very strange. When the severed ends of the throat were drawn next to each other, they were immediately and swiftly pulled together as if by magnets. But even before they joined, veins, muscle, and nerves were visible re-attaching themselves and healing.
The second the head was rejoined with the body, the eyes became suddenly aware, blinking. The mouth closed instantly, but for a second the eyes only blinked and retained their blank look. Them, Osiris rolled over onto his back and sat up.
"I'm alive." he muttered in an awed voice. "I'm.... I'm alive!" If the Z fighters had seen him, they hardly would have recognized him. He didn't look... well, as evil as he had.
For some reason, he didn't feel any anger right now. Only strange awe and disbelief. He was sure that Gohan had finally done what whole civilizations of warriors hadn't been able to do in two thousand years. He had been sure when he felt the sharp blade of his own ki sword sink into his neck, that this was the end.
But here he was, less than a quarter of an hour later, his neck slowly healing itself, as he looked of wide eyed into the pouring rain.
But he still didn't feel angry. He felt tired, exhausted for want of blood to help him heal, but he wasn't feeling any kind of vengeful rage like he thought he should be.
He felt that his neck was healed enough for him to move around without his head literally falling off, so he stood up and looked around.
Visibility was cut quite a bit because of the rain that was coming down in sheets, but he could still see further than a human. The dirt around him and for a good fifty yards was charred hard from the battle, so it wasn't a puddle, but past that it was almost a flood. All he could see besides that were boulders. No animals, no people.
"Nothing to feed from." he muttered, the question of his anger at Son Gohan forgotten for the moment in favor of more pressing matters. Such as blood to help him heal and reach his full strength. If the Z fighters were to attack him right now, he would still be able to beat the lesser ones. But Gohan would be a real problem, not to mention if Arda was with them.
The thought of blood was lost for a moment in that. He still didn't feel angry, but a bit puzzled. What in the hell had Arda been doing here? They hadn't seen each other in person for years upon years, but he hadn't expected to meet his rival/friend here.
A pang of thirst hit him, and he pushed all thoughts out of his mind until later. He had to have blood, so that he could fully heal. Preferably blood from someone stronger than these weakling homo sapien.
Then, as if in answer to a prayer, Goten and Trunks flew over his head on their way to Korin's tower.
He smiled maliciously, and let himself float up into the air without using ki, the way only a vampire could. Moving faster than the eyes of even the saiyajin could accurately track, he flew up behind the two boys.
Neither boy heard or sensed his approach, until Goten felt a cold hand close over his mouth.
"NO!!" Goku screamed out, jumping up from his seat on the grass. A huge rush of gold ki blasted along the ground as he went super saiyajin. "Goten!!!"
The crystal ball first cracked under the strain of the rushing ki wave, and then it shattered.
"Kakarott!" Vegeta screamed, but Goku's eyes had suddenly gone blank. His body was still there, but his mind was now uncountable miles away.
Goten felt the hand, cold as stone and just as hard, close over his mouth. At the same time, he felt a very powerful consciousness slip into his mind. He was powerful, but as Trunks had pointed out earlier, he was undisciplined from lack of training. He couldn't resist the psychic power as it probed his brain, locking his muscles and tightening his vocal cords.
Osiris smiled as his head leaned forward and his lips brushed the skin of Goten's throat, the teeth only inches from sinking in. All else was shut out to a dull throb, and he was only dimly aware that Trunks had turned and was rushing back to help his friend.
His mouth opened, revealing the two razor fangs for one instant before they sank into the soft flesh of the demi-saiyajin's throat.
Trunks saw this, and at the same second reached the pair. He didn't have time to wonder how Osiris was still alive, or how he had gotten a hold of Goten. He just attacked.
But before his fist had even left his side, an arm that he couldn't even see for the speed lashed out and rapped him smartly on the temple. His eyes closed, and he fell from the sky, out cold.
And as they always did when he fed, the images came, to Osiris and to his victim.
At first Goten could hear nothing but a roar, like a white water river, and see nothing but red. Gradually, though, pictures began to come through.
In an instant, he knew Osiris thoroughly. He saw many pictures of Arda, and another that was so old his skin actually gave off a blinding white radiance. But they were the only other vampires besides Osiris that he caught more than very brief glimpses of.
Most of the strange images he saw were of things he couldn't grasp, and didn't know. He saw many, many different kinds of beings being slaughtered. Apparently, most of Osiris' life had consisted of killing.
Most of the things he saw were only fleeting images, but even in the swoon, he was able to get two things that he could understand.
The first was a picture of Osiris kneeled in front of a very old namek that was dressed all in colored robes. Though he heard no words and couldn't understand at first, the gist of the image came clear. The namek was a magician, this was very long ago, and he was casting a spell to make Osiris able to live in the sun.
The second was a huge book, even older than the one in Korin's library, open to the legend of the Golden Moon. He felt the lust for power as if it where his own.
Osiris was also seeing images. As with Goten, most of what he saw was unclear to him, he didn't understand. But he didn't really care.
It was a little different though, because he could see many things in these memory fragments that Goten couldn't, such as people's thoughts. A few caught his eye, and he paid attention.
One of these was a memory of learning to fly, which he found slightly touching, but boring after a few seconds. Another was of sex, which he could not experience in the way mortals could.
The last was a memory of Goten's childhood, of first meeting his father.
He saw the boy go running into Goku's arms, crying out in happiness, and the two talking and laughing.
But then, Goku dropped the boy, and looked at him.
In the blink of an eyes, Osiris realized that some how, some way, his mind was being invaded by someone from the outside.
The image of Goku strode toward him, it's hair flashing gold.
"Let go of my son!" it yelled. "Let go of him now or I'll make you pay. I have the power, monster."
Almost in pain, definitely more afraid than he had been for a long while, Osiris snapped back into the real world and pulled himself away from Goten's neck.
When Goten's eyes opened, Osiris was holding him by the collar of his gi, a look that was a mixture of anger, fear, and mostly confusion plastered across his face.
He was having trouble focusing, and he realized dimly that he had lost a huge amount of blood, maybe even enough to kill him.
"What is your father?"
At first, Goten thought he had misheard the question, but he hadn't, because Osiris plowed on.
"What is he that he can do that? No saiyajin has such a power that they can break into my mind when I am feeding. What is he?" fear was imprinted clearly, making lines of frustration on the vampire's normally completely smooth features. The fear was producing anger, as well. "What is he?"
Goten didn't answer at first, but then the answer broke free, almost without him knowing it.
"He's the legendary. He's the super saiyajin, the pure of heart warrior."
Osiris' mouth twisted in a disdainful sneer. "You have served your purpose, saiyajin. You may have enough blood left to live. I really didn't have any desire to bring you harm, only to preserve myself. And for that, I will give you assistance."
Goten suddenly lost all sense of direction as Osiris plunged downward, and landed in the mud next to Trunks. He was dropped and landed on his back in the muck, staring at his unconscious friend.
"Perhaps he can help you." Osiris said, and laid one finger of Trunks' neck. Goten felt a minute flash of some force that wasn't ki, and Trunks' eyes snapped open.
"You!" he yelled instantly, but before he could even move, the vampire had moved too fast for them to see and was gone.