The Crimson Tide
Chapter 1 – Essence of Anger
By Black Widow & Sayori
There was no return letter. Cain was satisfied with Cyric's reply. As sad as it would be to lose the only child of his he wanted to keep near forever, if Shido could not learn his place it would be best to put the boy down permenantly. He was tired of pursuading his child, and only getting the stubborn side. It was time to send in someone who had the will to break his obstinate child. He couldn't do it. He, sadly, was too fond of this one.
~~*~~
Across the world, in Tokyo, Japan, Shido, the violet-haired vampire and vampire hunter, stretched and prepared to go out. There had been mysterious deaths near one of the Space needles, and he had the feeling it was one of his kind. The corpses had been drained of blood.
He shrugged into his long coat and adjusted it as he reviewed his facts mentally. There was no blood left in the bodies, there was always a missing body part, the bodies were badly mauled, and the eyes gouged out. It sounded like a perverse serial killer, but the mauling and the blood-less bodies had him thinking it was a vampire. A new breed would make that mistake. Young and unguided; the creature would be careless and messy. He had avoided such growing pains, thankfully.
He exited his office; his fairy staying put for tonight. Something told him not to bring her, but rather to leave her to watch things at the office. She wasn't much of a guard dog, being as small as she was, but she could do some damage. Wreak havoc if it came down to it. The street was barely disturbed by his addition to the slow moving, sparse traffic. There were more cars than people walking, for once. Confident and relaxed still from his slumber, Shido hummed lightly to himself. No one took notice of him, and he avoided notice of any human. He had things to do before he fed, as always. Feeding never made it to the top of his priority list.
One man jostled him, could have been a accident or not, but something else happened. Like a hole in his mind, something sucked it through, the surroundings changing, becoming the harsh, wind-swept desert of Egypt. As if looking through the eyes of another at a bleary TV, a man, almost naked except for the loincloth, stumbled across the hot sand. He fell once, and got back to his feet. As fast as it came, it went nothing more then that tiny vision.
Halting abruptly, Shido gulped air as tried to clear his head. Neither the air nor the effort made much of a difference. What had he just seen? He recognized nothing but sand. Where had that been? When had that been? He asked himself this only because it appeared to be a very different time than the present.
Casting his cerulean eyes in every direction, the young vampire hesitantly continued on his way. His "vision", as he thought of it, had spooked him. He no longer hummed, and he had lost the graceful appearance of confidence.
The ancient vampyre watched the Youngling from the rooftops, keeping up easily, even when he had to jump over streets. A beautiful boy, he could see why Cain would want him to persuade him back. Truthfully, what was he to get out of it? The satisfaction of a job well done? He didn't want that. He wanted something much more substantial. In fact...he would give Cain his Youngling then take him back as payment...yes that would work...
Shido kept his pace to a steady walk, weaving through the people that occasionally disturbed his path and avoiding the streetwalkers. Human beings at there lowest were either prostitutes or druggies, he had always thought. It was terrible what they did to themselves sometimes. They each had such potential, and many squandered it.
Ahead of him, only a few streets from his destination, a woman collided with a running teenager. The teen never looked back, not even when the woman dropped her grocery bags and cried out. Immediately Shido hurried to help, pity in his expression. He was friendly to her, kept up a decent-enough conversation, and finally wished her well when she departed with her things. Not considering his act anything out of the ordinary, he dismissed it in its entirity and continued onward, smiling. She had been very nice, a little startled and nervous from the bump she had received, but very nice. It looked as though she had a young family. There had been diapers among her things.
Ahead of him one of Tokyo's infamous Space Needles glowed fetchingly in the darkness. His destination for the evening.
Cyric stopped, eyes watching the young vampyre and then the woman. Hmm, easy prey...he was getting hungry, the small child from earlier had only taken the edge off his hunger. Swooping down like a bat out of darkness, he quickly subdued the woman and dragged her into a side alley. Her blood was sweet, it bore the tinge of a lifebearer, as all women did after pregnancy, and it made it sweeter.
Oblivious, unfortunately for the woman, the violet-haired vampire continued determinedly until he reached the door. It was locked not only from the inside but with a chain and padlock as well. He almost laughed. Locks were one of the most useless things these days, with all the technology that was out to melt or break them.Grabbing the slender metal handle on the side door, he jerked it open, hinges popping sweetly like corks. The door was only attached to the building by the lock and chain. Perhaps those things weren't so useless after all. Without looking back or around, he took the plunge into the inky pit before him.
The body of the women dropped from his hands, shuddering with quiet sobs. He hadn't killed her, only taking some of her blood. He had plans for her and the violet-haired vampyre. Smiling down sweetly at the dark-haired women, he wiped the blood from his mouth, sucking it off his fingers. "Mmm ...sweet..." The albino bent down and picked her up. "He won't be able to resist." Bunching his legs he leapt to the rooftops, reaching the Space Needle within seconds and entering.
Hands and back against the wall, he climbed the stairs sideways, turquoise eyes forward and searching in the darkness. As his vampiric sense settled into dominance, the blue shifted into gold slowly. His sharp hearing picked up the shuffle of clumsy feet ahead of him, one foot continuously sliding across the ground. The breed was lame, obviously, or deformed enough to be unable to lift a foot enough to clear the ground. Sensing the darkness in the creature ahead as he closed in on it, he settled a hand on the top of his dagger's hilt. He would wait to bring it out until he had the breed in his sight. Suddenly the stairs leveled out. He had reached the top floor of the tower, commonly called the viewing room. There were windows for walls and railings to keep spectators back for the edge. Near the middle of the room his query dragged an unconscious carcass. Shido was overwhelmed by the scent of blood, both hungry and disgusted at the same time. He hadn't been quick enough, someone else had been hurt. But he would finish that tonight. Growling loudly, he waited for the creature to notice him. It did immediately at his utterance, and whirled to face him. The body was dropped unceremoniously to the ground.
Cyric climbed the stairs behind the Youngling, keeping a good 10 feet behind him. He was surprised that he hadn't heard him, or smelled the rich blood of the woman, but that was because the air here was infused with the scent of blood. He watched from the shadows, red eyes the only visible part of him now. How good was this Youngling?
Shido and the other vampire eyed each other for a moment. It was all Shido needed to pick out a few weak spots. The younger creature's ankle was permanently twisted, perhaps even broken, keeping him off balance and stumbling. One of the youngster's eyes was missing, a fight with his sire before he became a vampire possibly. The younger one was snarling and slavering. He had to have gone mad, almost rabid. The creature snarled louder under Shido's inspection, and charged the vampire hastily. Shido was surprised at the haste, but ready. The thing was nearly upon him before he moved. From under his jacket his hand raked out, dagger catching the light and fracturing the beams in a thousand directions, while he grabbed the charging breed's throat. Both of the breed's hands landed on his shoulders, squeezing mercilessly. The pair ended up flipping over backwards. Shido hit the ground first, consequently the hardest, but enough momentum was left to force him back over and bring the younger one to the ground. Straddling the fighting creature's waist, he plunged the blade back down, angling it to sever the head. The breed's hands closed around his throat and squeezed tight before he succeeded in removing head from body. While the arms dropped down limp, he gulped air, hissing slightly from the effort.
That had been too close.
Slow...but not too bad. He chuckled as he stepped out of the shadows, being slow would get the Youngling killed, being slow spelled death for a Vampyre. Kill or be killed, the rule of survival. "Don't humans have a rule against picking on those weaker then you?"
Jumping away from the body and backing up slightly, Shido, immediately recognizing his own kind, switched the bloody knife to his other hand. He was fully prepared to leap at this new arrival. Two in one night was a good accomplishment. As he licked his lips, ready to make a move, he smelled something far more important than blood, vampire or human- Age. And a lot of it. Caught between the vampire and glass windows, he realized not only had he left himself open, but he had no way out now. He couldn't win against this one. It would be like fighting Cain. At the thought of his master annoyance flashed through him, but at himself. There was the slightest twinge of affection still connected to the name, and he hated himself for it.
Reading the others face like one read a book, he only smiled patronizingly. "I thought you might be hungry after such a terrible fight." He extended his arms, offering him the half-dead woman. "I saved you some, she's quite sweet."
"Wha-?!" Shido recognized the woman the second he laid eyes on her. Had he been followed? He hadn't noticed.. It was his fault the woman was dying! Had he not gone near her, not helped her, maybe she would have gotten through the night.
A tortured look contorted his pretty face as he dropped his eyes away from her. He had cost her her life. An innocent. His eyes faded back to the potent tropical blues they were normally. He wanted nothing to do with her or her blood. The gnawing urge eating him from within spoke differently, but he couldn't bring himself to even look at her. And then of course there was this.. thing.. in front of him, holding her out. Where had he come from? Who was he? Why was he here .. and with food?
"Aren't you a rude little thing, Ragazzo?" Cyric took a few steps forward, almost shoving it in his face. "It's rude to refuse such a generous gift."
"Ragazzo?" Confused, he looked at him only to see the woman so very close. He scuttled back a few more steps, shaking his head furiously. "I don't want her." He still couldn't believe he, whoever he was, had brought her to begin with.
The woman was laid down before him, her gasping breaths coming slower and slower with each heartbeat. "Then she dies painfully." The albino took a few steps backward.
He covered his mouth and nose with a hand, the dagger still in the other dripping blood occasionally to the tile floor. Eyes wide, he stared from her to him, stunned. This couldn't be happening! He could hear her heartbeat slow gradually, and he bit the soft flesh between his thumb and index finger in hope of riding it out silently and motionlessly. It didn't work. Her breathing rang in his ears, and the smell was going to drive him up the walls. Dropping suddenly to his knees beside her he took her head, whispered and apology, and snapped her neck hard to one side. The vertebrates broke cleanly, and her breathing stopped. He sighed with both relief and guilt. Essentially he had killed her, and remorse was a pit hollowing his stomach.
Cyric smiled, though it was tainted slightly with insanity. "You killed her...and you considered yourself human..." His tone carried amusement and malice. "How inconsiderate of you."
Shido's hand shook as he pulled them away from her and stood. He had dropped the dagger somewhere near her, but had not the stomach to retrieve it. The older vampire's words bothered him, but he was near to exit. Not wuite a clear shot, but the tempting view distracted him nonetheless.
"You're insane," Shido growled, looking back. There was something-odd wrong about him. He was acting as though he knew Shido, and Shido was positive he would have remembered him. It was hard to forget something that looked like that. The lack of pigment would have startled him into remembering.
That caused the Ancient to laugh, red eyes sparkling in plain amusement. "I know I am...to some extent lovely."
"Lovely?! Who do you think you are, addressing me this way?" Shido growled, obviously forgetting to respect his elders.
"Rude rude, where are your manners? Don't you know how to address your Elders?" Just as those red eyes showed amusement, they quickly turned murderous. "I am Cyric." The vampyre answered.
Shido was half tempted to retort that this didn't make him god, but he kept his mouth shut on that comment. "Cyric.... fine. Lovely name. Now if you'll excuse me," he turned towards the exit and made to leave. He didn't like standing near dead bodies for extended periods of time. People came to think of you as a murderers that way.
"You already are a murderer, lovely. You've spilled vampyre and human blood, yet believe to be pure...how...naive..."
Looking back, Shido stopped. "How did you.." He never finished his thought, he didn't have to. He may suppress every vampire sense he had that went beyond what he already posessed, but others obviously didn't. Cain had had the oddest abilities. He always assured Shido that he would end up with them to.
"I am not naive," Shido hissed, bristling. He didn't like being called young or naive apparently.
Cyric turned to the body, caressing her face with false tenderness. He picked her up and threw her out the window in a cacophony of shattered glass in a deliberate display. "You are naive. One who spills blood is not pure. And you are a murderer."
Stunnned, Shido gaped at the display, his eyes following the body and the glass. "Oh god, please don't hit anybody below," he whispered to himself, dreading the possibility. He didn't even reply to the murdered comment, too distracted by what had just happened.
Cyric smiled at the others discomfort, walking to the entrance. "It did...a small child..." With that he was gone, a lazy chuckle drifting on the air.
In utter distress, he raced to the edge to look out, noting the mess. Angry at not only the senseless waste but the innocent lives taken, he rushed towards the exit. He obviously wasn't thinking clearly, planning on striking someone so much older than he, and weaponless to boot. Not the brightest move he had ever made.
The Elder was gone from the building, his scent fading from the air quickly. The only thing left behind was the chaos in the streets.
Shido kept away from the confusion on the street, taking off in the opposite direction. This was madness. One simple job had turned into a nightmare and cost the lives of two innocent bystanders. And it was all his fault..
