Koushiro looked over at his mother and father, and then at the S.W.A.T team. What did he do?
"Koushiro Izumi you are convicted of the murder of Iori Hida and attempted murder of Jyou Kido—," an officer began to announce but then was interrupted by a man who whispered in his ear. "And you will be burned at the stake!"
Mrs. Izumi quickly looked over with horror at the officer, "Burned! Why?"
"Why does our son have to be burned?!" Mr. Izumi yelled.
"For being a vampire," the man said.
"A vampire!?" Koushiro's father bellowed.
"Our son is NOT a vampire!" Mrs. Izumi cried.
Koushiro turned his ear away from the yelling and looked over at Iori and Ken whose mouths gaped. The red head walked silently to them.
"What's going on?" Ken asked.
"I have no idea! But what I want to know is why my mother and father are here?" Koushiro looked over to his parents. They had loved him for so long that, he couldn't bare to see them get hurt to find out he was in fact a vampire. So how did he get out of this mess? Amnesia. Pretending not to remember his parents might work. "What if I claimed amnesia?" he whispered to Ken.
"With your parents?" Ken raised his eyebrow.
"Yeah, what if I can't remember them? Then I wouldn't be considered a vampire—or something like that."
"You already revealed that you know them by calling out to them before," Iori looked over at the bickering group. "It might be worth a try; they maybe didn't hear you."
"But it's risking a lot! So be careful!" warned Ken, "Or you could start running at high speed, they won't be able to catch you."
Koushiro thought it was a good idea but then they would know he was a vampire. He didn't want his mother to go through any more pain then she already had.
"Koushiro, tell them you're not a vampire," his mother pleaded.
"I'm not a vampire. But how do you know my name?" he lied.
"What? But, Koushiro, don't you know me?" Mrs. Izumi looked at him but he shook his head. She fell to her knees, in tears, which hurt Koushiro. He wanted to go and comfort his mother and tell her everything would be okay.
"You mean you don't remember me or your mother?"
"No—are you my parents?"
"He is clearly a vampire! They forget their human lives." Koushiro's eyebrow, rose at the officers statement. The officer signaled his troops to seize Koushiro.
"I'm not a vampire! I can prove it!" No, I cant, he thought, "Why do you assume I'm a vampire?" Koushiro looked around at the troops while he waited for a reply.
"Everytime you're seen, it's at night. Vampires can't come out in the day," one man said.
"I have a job from ten in the morning to seven at night, everyday of the week!" Koushiro lied.
"You carried two men. Normal men can hardly carry one!" another stated.
"I had a car. I dragged them up to the doors," he bluffed again.
"Then why are you here? Found out your prey wasn't completely dead?"
"No! I found them like that! I just got out of work and my friends and I wanted to see how they were doing."
"Liar!" Koushiro couldn't believe his luck. He tells lies and they believe—maybe—but he tells the truth and is called a liar! He was about to turn and run but the S.W.A.T team had him surrounded and were closing in on him.
"I'm not a vampire! I swear! You have to believe me." He looked over at his parents, "You believe me, right?"
Mr. and Mrs. Izumi started fighting with the S.W.A.T team to save their son. Koushiro was kicking and screaming to get out of the grasps of the officers, but without using any strength, afraid to ruin his act. He looked over at Ken and Iori. Ken just stood there looking dazed and a bit confused. Iori was nowhere to be found. 'He really does hate vampires; I thought I could change his mind. Some friend!'
Iori ran to help Koushiro, "Let him go! He's telling the truth! I'm not dead! See? I'm Iori Hida." A solider just brushed past him without paying any attention. "Stop it! Don't hurt him! STOP IT! HE'S MY FRIEND!!" The solider that had brushed past him turned to look over his shoulder and saw nothing but air.
( () Mother, [] Father, {} Grandfather, "" Cody)
(You finally made it!)
[You are finally able to join us, son.]
"What? Mom? Dad? But how?"
{Well, duh! You befriended a vampire, little man.}
"Izzy? Oh no! He's going to die if I don't help him. I have to go back. I have to save him! Please send me back."
(Back? When you're finally going to join us? Cody, honey, you are dead after all. You really can't go back.)
"But there is a way? Right?"
[Well, there are loopholes. But there will be consequences attached to them.]
"I'm prepared for that! I'll do anything to save my friends' lives."
{I don't want to make you choose but choose now: Your family in heaven, forever, or your friends in hell, for eternity?}
"Heaven or Hell? Family or friends? People I can no longer help or people I can still hopefully save?"
[Take your time, Cody.]
"Send me back. I'm prepared to never come back here and see all of you again. I'm prepared to face the fire pits of hell."
(But—)
[He's decided. He shall become the being he loathed for so long, the being that destroyed his life, and the same being he has finally befriended. Good-bye Cody.]
It felt like a ton of bricks all piled on his lungs. He tried gasping for breath but each time he inhaled, the air felt heavier. He started to panic, hitting the top of his prison as hard as he could, making dents. He kicked and punched in the small dark prison. He even screamed but he couldn't hear himself. Finally a small opening appeared but below his feet. He kicked harder expanding the opening just enough to squeeze his body through.
When Iori got out, he fell to his knees gasping for air. He quickly scrambled to his feet, "Eh! What's that horrible stench? It smells like death!" He raised his brow at his own statement. How did he know what death smelled like? He turned around he was in the hospital morgue. Iori looked at the lid he had first kicked off '1818' was the number he had been given. He looked up to the top, 'Huh! It's like a library of dead bodies. Cool!' He stopped dead at his own thought, 'cool?' When did he like dead bodies?
"Hey! Who's in here?" Someone was turning the corner.
"No time to talk to self! Must run!" He found an empty trash bin to hide in as he watched the man examine the broken lid. Iori slipped out of the trashcan and picked the bin up, raising it above his head.
"Hello? Is anyone in here? —" Down came the trash bin and crashed on to the man's head before he could react.
Iori looked around at the damage he had just done. He couldn't stop staring at the man's neck, couldn't stop thinking of the man's blood flooding through his mouth. He grabbed his head. "Stop that!" He ran as fast as he could away from the unconscious man.
Iori ran up the stairs and busted through the door. People stared awkwardly at him. One woman covered her children's eyes and a baby started crying. Then the baby's mother finally yelled, "Dear god, boy! At least but some pants on!"
Iori's face reddened like a tomato. He looked down and there wasn't a strip of clothing on his body at all. He covered his body with his hands and ran off to find clothing. He ran down a long hall and found a room to hide in. He scanned the room and seeing no one, he looked for clothing. He went to the bed and ripped the sheets off using them to cover his lower half. "What the?" His own clothing was under the sheets along with his bomb belt. The door swung open and in walked a familiar blue haired man. "Joe!"
Jyou was startled. "Cody? But how? You're dead—right?"
"No time to really explain. I was given a second chance to save Izzy." Iori slipped his underwear on and then dropped the sheet. "How are you feeling anyway?"
Jyou was still in shock. 'What the hell was going on?' "They're finally letting me go. Ken came here to pick me up. Down stairs, though when he went all that commotion started, but—" Jyou looked at Iori changing. "I asked the nurse to give me your clothes and belt. They would have thrown them out."
"Thanks." Iori buckled his belt. He felt whole again. He rummaged through his pockets and took out his brown hat. His hat fell over his ears and covered a bit of his forehead, leaving a few wisps of hair to curl out. The hat complemented his long-sleeved cream-colored shirt with a bomb in the middle and his brown pants; the bomb belt slumped around his hips. "I feel whole now! Let's go" He walked out of the room. "Which way to Ken?"
Jyou pointed. "That way. He's in the main lobby."
"Great! Let's go!" Iori pulled Jyou in the direction he had pointed.
They had chained Koushiro's arms to the back of their truck. "Sorry, boy, but we can't risk you trying to kill us when we're driving."
"This is insane! What are you going to do to our son? Let him go right now! He's not a vampire!" Mr. Izumi tried convincing the officers to let Koushiro go.
The truck started up. "What are you doing?!" Mrs. Izumi panicked.
"Test, to see if he's a vampire or not."
Koushiro perked up, "A test?"
"Yeah, all you have to do is lean away from the truck and pull as hard as you can," the officer said with an evil smirk.
"Doesn't sound too hard." Koushiro pulled at the truck with human strength so the thing didn't budge an inch—in his direction anyway. The truck moved forward at high speed and Koushiro gripped the chains to pull himself up. But it was no use. His legs couldn't keep up and his body was soon getting torn apart by the pavement and small rocks.
"Stop it!" Mrs. Izumi started hitting the officer. "Tell them to stop that, right now!" Mr. Izumi started after the truck as fast as he could but with a swift turn the vehicle drove out of sight.
The truck quickly turned another corner sending Koushiro's body over a curb, into a planted tree, and through a bench. "Ow! I'm definitely going to feel that later!" The truck stopped suddenly sending Koushiro's body—once again—under the massive vehicle.
"Alright, vampire boy, let's put you through the ultimate test."
Koushiro felt the pulling of the chains but there was no pain when his body was dragged out from under the truck—he was too numb. Two men grabbed Koushiro's arms and dragged him up on a stage, chaining him again, but to a pole with hay and straw encircling his feet. He looked up to see a bright light that blinded him forcing him to look down at the large crowd surrounding him. He noted his mother and father fighting through the crowd to get to the front. Koushiro winced and looked at his stomach—his shirt had been ripped off during his ride through the streets—He noticed a large gash that seemed to be burning a hole inside of him.
"This is the moment of truth! If you are a vampire, you will crumble to ashes, if you're a normal human, —you will die as a corps."
Iori ran up to Ken who was on the phone with Miyako. "Hurry, Yolei—Cody! What the hell—how are you—what the fuck is going on!"
"No time. Let's go!" Iori grabbed Ken's arm and his phone. "Yolei, meet us at the town square. Quickly!" He hung up the phone and tossed it over his shoulder to Ken. "They're going to burn Koushiro at the town square stage. They've been burning all assumed vampires there."
"Question? How many of them were ACTUALLY vampires?" Jyou asked.
Iori and Ken's eyes rolled up as they thought of the answer. "Two out of twenty" both said in unison.
"And there will be three if we don't get there fast!" Iori added.
Ken and the others quickly found the large crowd surrounding Koushiro tied up on stage. "Hey! Hurry, we have to beat the crowd to the top!" said a particular blond who was waiting for the trio.
"All right, T.K, go in there and start beating them. We'll follow," Miyako chirped. She heard a grunt from Takeru as he turned and started working the crowd. "Did someone call Davis?"
"No. He might not even be home yet." Iori remember Daisuke getting transported someplace.
Daisuke entered the training room to see Yamato asleep on the floor, "If I didn't know any better, I would've thought you had just gotten your ass kicked." Daisuke nudged Yamato's side.
"I did. By a woman!" Yamato opened his eyes to see Daisuke's grinning face. He stood up to meet Daisuke face-to-face. "What do you want?"
Daisuke's grin widened at the thought of Sora beating Yamato down and Taichi on the ground dying with laughter. "Nothing. Just wondering what happened to our love birds?"
"They went out—" Yamato's eyes shifted, "you sense that?"
"Sense what?"
"I don't know but I don't like the feeling—I think Takeru might be in danger. Or he's around some sort of danger," There was a panic look in Yamato's eyes.
Daisuke sighed. "By all means, hurry and go after him, find out what's wrong. You don't want to lose your brother, do you?" Daisuke looked at the ground but Yamato couldn't help but notice something dark in his eyes.
'Could he still be holding on to something—from his darkness?' Yamato didn't want to stay to find out. He ran out of the sewers straight into town with Daisuke's dark expression engraved on his mind.
Takeru finally shoved his way to the front of the line next to the sobbing Mrs. Izumi who cried 'Stop it' over and over. Ken got up on the stage and decided to use the facts to save Koushiro.
"Hey. What do you think you're doing? Don't you realize he's a normal human being just like the rest of us? It seems out of the twenty people you have burned at the stake, only two of them were really TRULY vampires. Do you want to make it two out of twenty-one now? You have to stop this madness now! I'm a vampire hunter and I can tell you right now that this man is NOT a vampire." 'That is evil,' Ken added in his head.
Mrs. Izumi added, "He's not. He's a nice, sweet boy that wouldn't hurt a fly."
'Might not hurt a fly but will massacre an entire army—and brutally!' Ken shuddered at the memory. "So good people of Odaiba, should we kill another HUMAN person or put a stop to this right now—so you—or your children—or your close friends WON'T be the next one up here convicted of a crime you never committed?"
There was silence from the crowd, a few murmurs and gasps, and then the chanting started:
"BURN HIM, BURN HIM, BURN HIM!"
"I think the crowd has spoken!" The leading officer came up and pushed Ken back down with his comrades, he signaled his officers to guarded him and the others so they wouldn't interfere with the burning of Koushiro Izumi!
The flames were lit...
Flames were devouring his body but he didn't cry, he didn't speak, he didn't move. He let the flames explore his body with their burning caress.
Mrs. Izumi cried harder as she fell to the ground. Miyako tried to reach out to Koushiro before the fire was lit but the guarding officers stopped her. Iori fell to his knees; his mission had failed. Yamato then walked up, missed everything, and looked at Takeru. "Who's throwing a barbecue? It smells good?"
Takeru looked over, shocked, at his naïve older brother, "Um, Koushiro is..."
"Eh? But? Wha...?" Yamato pointed at the large flame as he turned and fainted.
"Matt?"
Daisuke's dark eyes were focused on the scene below him. Standing up on the roof, he smirked as he waited.
TA-DA! DONE!! With the chapter anyway! At least the wait wasn't as long as the last chapter! I left it at a cliffhanger, aren't you proud of me? lol
Marth: There was supposed to be a spy in this chapter, what happened?
Me: Izzy's on death row, that's what happened. And the plots all set already although Griffin doesn't find out until the next chapter.
Ken: All right next time on The Vampire King: What happens to Izzy's ashes—or is he a corpse? Tai and Sora's walk in the dark isn't exactly paradise. And what's Davis hiding and what's he waiting for?
Mayako: Well duh! Oh course, Davis and Tai rock.
Please review I was happy with the last chapter and I'm proud of this chapter! I like it, wee!
Tai