Vampire

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Nunquam lamiae morde me dice.

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January couldn't run any more.

She had all but collapsed a good two miles away from where Yù-Lōng's friend Shen had ordered her to run, exhausted and gasping for air, completely unaware of the dark shadow watching her. However, another shadow was looking out for her that night.

As the rogue vampire prepared to strike, a slim hand grasped its shoulder, turning it to face a grinning Tiger. "Mine," he purred. The vampire hissed and struck at him, but he was no longer there; he was behind it, grasping its head and giving it a sharp twist. The sound of snapping bones alerted the small-statured blonde to his presence; she turned in time to see him drop her would-be attacker's paralysed body to the ground.

Tiger watched her brown eyes widen in fear, so he offered her a reassuring smile, taking care not to let his fangs show. "I'm not going to hurt you, little one," he said, the tone and volume of his voice carefully calculated to project friendliness and some concern. "Yù-Lién sent me to make sure you and Shen got out all right."

He was grateful for his Asian shell; it lent credibility to his lie about the female assassin. Seeing her relax, he almost felt bad about the lie. Almost. She was far too trusting; it was too easy to take advantage of her. No wonder Vlad wanted her. "Who are you?" she asked, taking the hand he offered her. "Tiger," he answered, helping her to her feet. At her confused look, he added, "A nickname," and smiled. Amazing, what a mere smile could do to assure this girl He would just have to be cautious not to show her his fangs.

Being the vampire he was, he could not help but notice her neck. Pale and slender, it looked quite attractive to him... and he was hungry... no, not yet. If he was going to claim her, he would certainly not do it Vlad's way. He would win her over slowly, whether or not the two assassins liked it....

Of course, if the Twins had their way, those two would not be a problem. "I'm January Mitchell," the girl introduced herself shyly. Tiger blinked; what sort of parent would name their child January? It was worse than naming one's child April. "Pleased to meet you, January," he said smoothly, offering her his arm. The girl flushed, and he concealed a smirk. It never failed; act the gentlemen and naïve girls blushed. Causality at its finest.

Hmmm, perhaps he would drink from her tonight. No more than a sip, of course, he had fed well off the human Asmodeus; just a taste, see if she was worth claiming. If he didn't like the taste of her blood, there would be no point in claiming her, even to annoy Vlad.

She slid her arm through his, and Tiger grinned; all together too easy. "I'll walk you home," he offered. "You live in the dorms, yes?" She nodded, and he began to walk with her, wondering what it was about this girl that intrigued him so. It could have been her looks, she had a sort of girl-next-door air about her... but it was more than likely her naïveté, her innocence. The college was looming just ahead; he made his decision swiftly. He paused, removing his sunglasses and turning to look at the girl. "Tiger?" she asked, looking up at him. "What is it?" She was lost the moment their eyes met, caught in the vampire's thrall.

"Shh," he whispered, reaching forward to stroke her face as her eyes became glassy. "This won't hurt... I promise." Her compliance assured, he leaned forward and sank his fangs into her neck.

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Wings glared at the albino who had caught his glaive for an instant before sweeping the bottom of the weapon down and around to try and trip him up. That didn't work either; the older man simply smirked before his body changed, becoming greenish, transparent, and, Wings quickly found out, insubstantial. The Japanese adolescent nearly overbalanced and hit the floor, but he recovered in time to receive a deep slash from his opponent's straight razor.

He winced, but slashed back at the ghost, who phased again, still smirking – until Yù-Lién cut him deeply from shoulder to hip across his back as he solidified. He growled and whirled, backhanding her sharply across the face with enough force to knock her to the ground. She scissored her legs through his, but he had already phased; Wings watched with wide eyes as the deep wound on his back healed, his trench coat patching itself together. And the weird thing was, this somehow seemed familiar to him. The albino's phasing ability had startled Wings, but surprisingly hadn't surprised him. It was almost as if he'd been expecting that in the back of his mind.

And he didn't like this. Almost-memories that weren't his? This only served to add on to his notion that something was wrong with the world. Of course, those twin things only screamed that out in big blinking bold letters.

Aa, kusot! he thought, leaping back from the albino's swing at his chest. He wasn't fast enough, the razor cut him deeply again across the chest. Yù-Lién was back on her feet, shukusen snapped open and slashing at him again. Snarling in anger, the one twin whirled so that Wings and Yù-Lién were on either side of him, then took a step forward before swinging his arms out and around to slam into their stomachs, knocking the pair of them onto the ground. Yù-Lién was fast enough to get out of the way, but Wings was not; the twin had him by the shoulder, hauling him off the ground, pressing a razor to his throat.

"Desist, or your friend dies."

Wings rolled his eyes, did this albino actually think that he, a bodyguard-in-training, was friends with a pair of assassins? The club was simply a place where they could drop all professional rivalry and have a good time. He knew it, Yù-Lién knew it, they all knew it. Yù-Lién smirked. "He understands, don't you, Mr Tenou?"

Wings blinked, she knew his name? The twin hesitated for a moment, confused, but it was already too late. Li was back on his feet and had a gun in his hand, firing three shots at the albino's head, triggering the phase. Wings leapt away, feeling blood trickling down his neck; Li had timed that real close. Almost too close. "Thanks, man," he said to the shorter Korean. "Had to help out a brother guard, right? No 'Sassin would."

"I owe you one."

"Damn straight you do," which was probably the real reason Li had helped him. Ah, well. He was still alive, that was what mattered. "Yeah, whatever." The boys stood back from the double battle, watching Yù-Lōng strike at the other albino. "They won't win," Li commented. "I know," Wings replied.

"Should we help the 'Sassins?"

"Hmm… I dunno…"

"She did abandon you to die."

"Any of us would have."

"I wouldn't."

"You're the strange one."

"True enough."

"These others, however… they broke the Rule."

"That's true, they did."

"Shall we?"

"We shall."

Li raised his slender pistol as Wings drew his own handgun, each drawing a bead on a different twin and opening fire. "Move it, Dragon!" Li yelled when the assassin turned to glare at him. "Use the opening while you still have it!"

"Go!" Yù-Lién yelled, snapping her fans shut and slipping them… wherever it was she kept them before grabbing her brother's arm and dragging him after her. The four Asians fled from the strange albinos. Before they parted ways, Yù-Lōng grabbed Li by the throat and dragged him close so Yù-Lién couldn't hear. "Never interfere in my fights again," he snarled. "I'll kill you next time." He pushed the Korean away and followed his twin. "Get in shotgun!" he yelled at her. Yù-Lién didn't argue with him for once; strapping in as he slid into the driver's side.

Yù-Lōng wasted no time in getting them the hell out of there.

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Tiger gently stroked the girl's neck as he carried her limp body inside. Finding the suite of rooms belonging to the human assassins, he broke in and gently laid the girl on the couch, brushing a strand of her dirty blonde hair from her face. He smiled and murmured, "The sweetest fruit is often the most plain…," fingering the marks he'd left on her neck. Deftly, he smoothed some more of her hair over the double slashes, hiding the evidence of his little taste-test. Vlad definitely would not be claiming this one.

"Sleep well, little January," he whispered before exiting the Sun twins' rooms via the Industrial Hallway. Minutes later, Yù-Lōng's Maserati pulled into the parking lot. "Fucking albinos," he muttered as he stepped out of the car. Yù-Lién exited and started running towards January's dorm room. "I want to make sure Jan's okay!" she yelled as she ran. Yù-Lōng shrugged as he sauntered towards their room. It was all the same to him.

Yù-Lién was frightened for her new friend. Shen was responsible enough to let her know if he had gotten Jan home safely, and she'd not heard from him. She didn't bother with the elevator, instead running at top speed up three flights of stairs to Jan's fourth-story dorm room. "Jan! Are you there!?" she yelled, banging on the door. When there was no answer, she swore and contacted her brother via their personal comm frequency. Before she could speak, Yù-Lōng's voice said calmly, "Relax, Lotus, she's on our couch, asleep – or at least unconscious. Come home, I don't want you on your own until I'm sure those damn albinos didn't follow us."

"On my way," she replied, unaware that Yù-Lōng had discovered the slashes on January's neck and neglected to mention them. This did not, however, stop him from musing about them. Had the thing that had given January those marks gotten Kun Shen as well?

No, he decided, the hacker had received the same early training as himself and Yù-Lién. Kun was more than capable of handling himself. This did not keep the assassin from wondering, in the most private recesses of his mind, what he had gotten himself and Yù-Lién into.

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"Asmodeus!" cried LCD, running towards the older man. "Are you all right?" The man grinned at him, reaching up to ruffle his hair. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired, is all. Damn vampire. What do you want, kid?"

"Word just came in from the Hammer. Their new guy, Kahr, was just ejected from the Matrix by a pissed-off Exile."

Asmodeus arched an eyebrow. "What'd he do, insult its programmer?" LCD shook his head. "No, he got between a vampire and its prey. The vampire drained him completely and somehow ejected him from the Matrix." The Demon of Zion frowned. "Further evidence towards my theory. It would seem that the vampires have picked up a new ability from somewhere… but where…?"

Asmodeus tried very hard to ignore the adoring look on LCD's face. He was going to have to talk to him about this… crush thing eventually, but now was not a good time. "Hey, kid, I need you to go talk to the doctors for me. Tell 'em there's a chance Danaë is spawning." At the kid's blank look, he sighed and translated, "She might be pregnant." LCD's eyes widened and he ran off immediately. Asmodeus smiled and looked towards the cavern's ceiling, high overhead. "Your move," he said softly.

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Never say bite me to a vampire.

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Oh, my God, it's an actual update! Go me!

Yeah, sorry about the hiatus, y'all – I've had some major Issues with writer's block, and my internet connection has been spazzing worse than dial-up AOHell. Anyone know where I can get a cable modem cheap? Preferably one that ISN'T Motorola? It's kinda hard to update when one's internet isn't working, yes?

Thank God for AOL free trials. I hate becoming an AOL whore, but damn it, I owe you guys updates! So, I'm going to be an AOHell bitch for the next few months. Shoot me now.

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Dragonet: Stop being late for homeroom. And I had to do something for poor Archangel; I mistreated him in Program.

Heavens to bikini kill: Glomp away, I don't mind. And no, not exactly Archangel…

Quietly Making Noise: Like I just said, he isn't exactly back… more on that later. And no worshipping allowed, I am but a vessel.