Supernova

A/N: Okay, here's another angst-filled chapter courtesy of yours truly. I don't own Nightwalker, sadly, but I do own a bag of potato chips at the moment.

Telepathy------- blah blah blah

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"I'm in love with Cain now."

Riho was in shock, but it wore off after a few moments, only to be replaced with a red hot, blinding anger.

"Oh, Riho, you don't know how sorry I am. I love you, I still love you, but not romantically. I never wanted to hurt you like this, really, I'm so sorry...," the lavender-haired vampire apologized, arms out, beseeching Riho to forgive him but move on.

"Oh, Shido, I love you," Riho whispered, taking his face in her hands, "I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you forever, love you, love you, love you, love you," but then, her sweet face turned dark as the sky before a hurricane, and she shoved Shido's face away, screaming, "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!"

Shido bowed his head, knowing that he'd brought this upon himself. Riho walked to the door.

"I'm leaving," she spat.

"No, Riho, don't! You haven't finished your training! I don't want you to stay for me, you'll never do that now, but stay here, if only for yourself!," Shido called.

"Hah! For myself! I've learned as much as I need to know now, my love. My pathetic, romantic, all too human-hearted love. I know how to kill, and that will serve me well. As my final exam, let me show you what I've learned."

Riho's eyes began to glow, and her hair began to whip around her face. Shido and Cain blocked the attack, but some of the pain still seeped through.

"I suppose that the weeds in a garden will always be the hardest ones to kill. But we will all die, in time. No one can cheat Death forever, you know. I, however, plan to laugh as I throw your corpses on to a bonfire," Riho said. Her voice cut like a thousand knives.

After her little speech, Riho walked out, slamming the door behind her.

"You see, my Shido? There are failures who accept it, going willingly to their pre-appointed deaths, and there are failures that would blame their makers for every trouble," Cain sneered at the closed door.

"Is it safe now?," Guni asked, popping out of Shido's hair.

Shido jumped; he hadn't known that the urban fairy had chosen his hair as a hiding place.

"She's gone," Shido whispered, slumped against the wall, "and it's all my fault!"

With that, he grabbed a letter opener and began to slice at his wrists.

Cain turned around and saw what Shido was doing.

"NO! Shido! No, don't do that, there are other people in this world for you. Me, that little green...thing..., even that pathetic mortal woman is there for you, as much as I hate to say it," Cain said, sitting down next to Shido and holding and comforting the depressed vampire.

Shido rested his head on Cain's shoulder, and cried until the sun rose.

***************

Night found the two vampires asleep in the coffin that Shido had once shared with Riho. Shido was the first to wake up, and for a moment, he wondered why Riho had grown so much taller and now had thick blonde hair, but then he remembered everything.

"I suppose I'd better go to the office," Shido sighed, waking up Cain, who was a surprisingly light sleeper.

"I'll go with you. Can I be your assistant now?," Cain asked.

"You don't know the first thing about detective work," Shido replied.

"I'll learn!," Cain snapped, "Besides, you badly need someone to replace that pathetic girl."

"Don't call her pathetic!," Shido answered back.

"Oh, forget it, let's just go."

The two vampires walked in to the office and opened up the window, looking out on to the city below.

"The city is so beautiful at night," Shido whispered, looking out the window.

"It is," Cain agreed, walking up behind Shido and holding him.

"Well, let's get to work. Do you know how to make coffee?"

"No, why?"

"Yayoi might come over, and she loves her coffee. But forget it, I know how."

"Okay. I'll just...?"

"You can sit on the couch. Read a book or something."

Shido walked into the small kitchen, and began to make coffee, but after a while, Cain heard muffled sobbing noises from the kitchen, and went to investigate.

"Shido?," he called, "What's wrong, my Shido?"

"This is where Riho used to make me coffee and lunch even though I didn't need any," Shido wailed. "I know, it's stupid, but...but..but...she just cared so much! I don't deserve that, not after what I did to her!"

"My love, some people are just meant to be together. No matter how many times they are separated by circumstances, they are fated to be together in the end. We are those people."

"But- Oh, Cain, I love you!"

The two vampires straightened up from where they sat together on the floor when they heard a knock at the door.

"Come in!," Shido called.

Yayoi walked in, looking slightly ill, with a briefcase under her arm. The slightly nauseated expression on her face turned to surprise when she saw Cain in the office, with his arm around Shido's back, helping him to stand.

"What are you doing here?," Yayoi growled at Cain, thinking that he'd hurt Shido.

"Same to you, mortal woman," Cain sneered back.

"Relax, both of you. Yayoi is my co-worker, and, well, Riho and I broke it off. I'm with Cain now," Shido explained.

"Shido!," Yayoi exclaimed when she saw his tear-stained face, "You've been crying!"

"The circumstances of his and Riho's parting were not the best," Cain told her.

"Ah. Should I come back? We've got a particularly gory case that we need help with, no leads, nothing. I've got pictures here, but you probably wouldn't want to see them," Yayoi said.

"It's fine, Yayoi," Shido murmured, and flopped into his chair.

"No, it's not, Shido. I was sick after I saw these, but the sense of fear that you get is even worse. These were random people that were killed, Shido. We haven't found any connections between them, and we've been searching on our computers all day," Yayoi replied.

Suddenly, her pager went off. "Oh, damn," she said, "more killings."

Yayoi walked out, gently shutting the door behind her.

"Be careful!," Shido called, but by that time, she'd raced down the stairs, and back to the NOS headquarters.

Cain, meanwhile, had opened up the briefcase and was looking at some of the pictures.

"Yayoi was right, Shido. I know, how ironic that I'd say a mortal was right, but she is. You," Cain looked pointedly at Shido, "are not to look at these until you are feeling better. I do really care about you, Shido. I love you, and for you to look at these might drive you mad right now."

"I'm not that delicate!," Shido muttered.

"You'd be surprised, Shido. Besides, wouldn't it be better if we went out and actually saw it happening? Yayoi said that from these pictures, they couldn't get any leads, because the camera was found on a corpse, and there were no pictures of the Breed that's doing this. If we saw it, we'd have a lead."

"But you just said I'd be driven mad if I saw the pictures. Wouldn't it be worse to actually see it happening?"

"I'll cover your eyes," Cain smirked.

Shido smirked back at his love. "You have the weirdest sense of humor."

"It's a blessing, what can I say?"

Cain kissed Shido, and headed for the door. Shido followed.

"So, what are we going to do?," Shido asked, "Just wander around until we see a crowd of people running away from something?"

"Yes," Cain replied. "Do you have a better idea?"

"Several," Shido muttered, but was silenced by a glare from Cain.

The two vampires wandered around until dawn, but they didn't see anything. Cain got lost several times, and Shido had to rescue him, but other than that, the night was completely uneventful.

"I need a nap," Shido yawned, and he and Cain walked back to their apartment, and laid down together in their coffin.

"Let's get an early start tonight," Cain suggested, but the combination of stress and walking around for hours without stopping had caused Shido to fall asleep already.

Cain was the first to wake up that afternoon. The sun hadn't even gone down yet, but he shook Shido awake nonetheless, and the two made their way down to their office.

"Can I look at those pictures today?," Shido asked, a rare hint of amusement in his voice. "I really want to see if we can get a lead on this case. It sounds...odd."

"My Shido," Cain smiled, and buried his nose in Shido's hair.

Cain was so happy now that he was back with Shido. He'd driven the purple-haired vampire away once before, and despite what others thought, they did love each other. This time, Cain was determined to show that love before Shido decided to walk away again. He had changed for Shido, after realizing that Shido wouldn't change for him, and he no longer represented everything that Shido hated.

Cain opened the briefcase, and once again, his face paled when he saw the first picture.

"What is it?," Shido asked, looking at the headline in the newspaper: "Ten More Killed in Bizarre Slayings"

"These pictures...oh, it doesn't change no matter how many times you see them. You can practically hear these mortals screaming for help," Cain answered.

Shido walked over and looked. Each of the victims looked as though they had killed themselves, and that's what all of the clues pointed to; there were no fingerprints other than the victims, no signs of forced entry.

"But Shido...who kills themselves by raking at their own eyes, throat, and head until their heart gives out?," Cain murmured.

"Cain, it's probably another vampire that's doing this, and they're doing it randomly," Shido realized. "We're wandering again tonight."

"Wait, Shido, are there any connections? Any at all?"

"Yeah. All of the victims were at home alone when they were attacked."

"Let's go."

The two vampires walked out into the city. The sun had just set, and they had all night to search. After two hours they heard screams coming from an apartment on the fifth floor of an old and crumbling building.

"Cain, you go in behind me," Shido instructed. "Just in case the vampire's hostile. Keep your shields up at all times."

"Only if you'll be careful," Cain answered.

"I will be."

"Then so will I."

They made their way up the stairs to the apartment that the screams were coming from, and found the door slightly open.

"Miss?," Cain called, and was shushed by Shido.

"We don't know who or what else is in there with her," Shido whispered, "so be quiet."

Cain glared at Shido; he felt as if his pride had been trampled slightly.

They walked in to the apartment, and the screaming grew louder. The vampires were also able to hear a cackling. It was chilling. Finally, they got to the room where the victim was. They finally located her, curled up on the floor in a fetal position and clawing at her face, her throat, her head. Blood seeped out between her fingers, and one of her eyes was already out.

//I know her!//, Shido thought.

Then, he realized where he knew her from. She was the girl that had owned the pendant and had fallen in love with a Nightbreed. A girl Riho's age; Riho had kept up correspondence with her after the case, and they'd become friends.

"STAY AWAY!," she screamed, hearing Shido's and Cain's footsteps.

"It's okay, Miss," Shido whispered, kneeling down to her level and trying to stop her self-destructive behavior, but failing.

"Shido! Look out!," Cain shouted.

Shido rolled out of the way just in time; someone had thrown a knife at him, and it wasn't the victim.

"Show yourself!," Shido challenged whatever it was that tortured the girl.

But both vampires were shocked by what came out of the shadows.

"Riho?!"

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Well, there's chapter 2, and as always, reviews and criticism are appreciated. Flames that say: 'u idiet riho n shido r ment 2 b togeter not shdio n cain cus they r guys' are not appreciated, because if you don't like the pairing, then why are you reading the story?

Love and peace!

Meowiegirl