Title: Recollection

Author: Sanyu-Kumiko

Anime: Nightwalker, Midnight Detective

Genre: Drama Shounen-Ai

Pairing: CainxShido

Part 3:

Pitiful. The sight was simply heart-wrenching, even to one who had no human heart left. Cain slowly pulled a heavy, crimson curtain closed on the large canopy bed. After securely fastening it against a post he turned to walk down the hall and out of the room. His servants, two young men who had accompanied and served him for countless years, looked on from the end of the hall with worry. He could not find it in himself to look upon them. With silent understanding the two men turned to walk away to leave their master in peace.

Cain didn't know what to do. He had not felt such passion and emotion in ages, and he was overcome with disappointment, anger, hatred, frustration, love and sorrow at once. It was a blow he could barely endure. First, he would have to deal with his disappointment, anger and hatred. With swift, quick steps he made his way down a corridor and through the labyrinth of halls to the dungeon. The scent of burnt flesh and hair still lingered in the damp, cold air. He growled. His anger, fueled by the memory of the crime just committed, flared. He came upon a large iron-clad door and unlocked the padlock. Effortlessly, he hauled the heavy door open and glared at the prisoner within.

"Explain yourself." Cain hissed, his golden eyes alight with fury.

A now battered figure lay in the corner of the little holding cell, whimpering pitifully. It gave no motion or response.

"Explain yourself!" Cain growled louder, stomping a booted foot to release his frustration. Next time, the boot would hit the prisoner, not the floor.

"M-master..." The figure stammered with a tremble. Adrianne peeked from hiding within his arms to gaze with fright upon the now, very irate Cain. "I did it all for you..."

Another furious growl came from the handsome blond vampire. He rushed into the cell and grabbed hold of his child's shirt before Adrianne could protest and yanked him up to a stand.

"You did this for yourself! You did this, not for me! How dare you tag my name upon such a heinous act!" Cain yelled, shaking Adrianne violently. "Jealousy has brought you to this! There is no going back now, young one..." Then, with a thrust, he shoved Adrianne back into the floor. The younger vampire gave forth a hurt yelp but did not speak otherwise. "To think I am such a fool as to not notice that you would kill my one and only love in my own BASEMENT!? I knew you lacked some qualities, but I did not know basic intelligence was one! Consider yourself lucky, for I am not one to break the vampire code. You shall not die by my hand, but you can count on suffering by it!"

Then, with a furious twirl of cloak and glistening blond he was gone, leaving the young vampire to lie within the belly of his castle, alone and forgotten.

Cain returned to the room with the crimson canopy and sat upon a leather chair at the foot of the concealed bed. He trembled with restrained anger. He would have loved nothing better than to kill Adrianne for harming Shido. However, he was a strict follower of vampire etiquette and it was against the rules to kill another vampire, even a bad seed like Adrianne.

"A bad seed..." He whispered gently to himself, running his cold fingers along his own smooth temples. The more he thought on it, the more he felt guilty. Adrianne, in truth, did nothing wrong. He was being a vampire, a creature of evil. It was in his nature to act as he did. It was just unfortunate that Adrianne acted upon Shido. Despite this, Cain would not let the crimes committed against Shido go unpunished. Adrianne did, after all, try to kill Shido. And, if he had, Cain would have been responsible for killing Adrianne as well. Then that would have been two children wasted. They were the only two he had.

He lifted his head to look at the canopied bed. He had seen the atrocious remnants that were his love. The fire had taken his face and a great deal of the front of his body. He was lucky. It was very close to killing him. Cain knew that he could revive Shido. It would just be a matter of time.

A soft noise came from within the curtains. Shido's voice, a low and anguished sound, penetrated the heavy curtains. He was dreaming. Cain had to force him to sleep. The sound of Shido's screams were too much for even him to endure. It was for Shido's comfort as well as his own that he forced a deep sleep upon him. He could not imagine the pain the violet haired vampire must be going through. The wounds would take a significant amount of time to heal, as well as a significant amount of blood. He would have to find sources to feed his ailing child.

"Hmn..." He said aloud. "That won't be too difficult."

Shido did not know what day it was. It seemed as if he lay in the darkness forever. Every now and again someone or something would touch him. At first, these touches and caresses brought fear and panic to him but soon he welcomed the attentive, careful hands. With those cold hands came relief from the pain of the fire's damage. The more they came, the more he healed. The first few visits felt clumsy. All he could make out were the cold, hard fingers pressing his wounds. They would hurt. His injuries were not limited to sensation of touch, but also of sight. He could see nothing but darkness as he lay alone, but when the hands came to run across his wounds he could see the color of pain. Reds, dark purples and bright yellow and pink splashes raced across the plain of darkness that had consumed his vision.

As the hands returned for their frequent visits he could begin to make out more details on these hands. They possessed long, fine nails that never cut or harmed him. They were slender, too, and smooth and firm. He began to admire these hands. Sometimes, as he was being touched, he would try to imagine what the owner of the hands looked like. But, he could never get past the wrists. The wrists of these hands were something else he had contact with. The owner of the hands had soft wrists that were often cut to feed Shido. The taste of the blood was phenomenal and somewhat familiar. The blood was coppery, like Yayoi's blood tended to be, but had a sweet aftertaste to it. It was powerful too, and was more potent than that of Yayoi's. He would find himself craving this blood. He wondered if the blood was of a virgin.

However, soon Shido could not be satisfied with the presence of the slender hands and wrist alone. He wanted to know who it was that cared for him so. He found himself attempting to ask his new caretaker to reveal their identity to him in any way they possibly could, but it was useless. Every time he raised a hand to touch the face of his savior one of the slender hands would push his fingers away. Time passed. Days turned to weeks and Shido had yet to heal completely, nor did he have any idea where he was or who he was with, or if he would ever see his friends again.