Title: Retrieving Darkness
Anime: Nightwalker
Pairing: Shido x Cain
Author: Sanyu-Kumiko
Rating: R

Part Four:

"Mr. Shido? Is something the matter? Mr. Shido... Mr. Shido?"

Tatsuhiko Shido simply stared at his desk lost in thought again. Riho stood at the opposite side of the room cradling a mug of coffee and was growing increasingly concerned with Shido's lack of response to her inquiries. Guni, Shido's little pixie-like companion, stomped across the desk and promptly jabbed a pointy little heel into the top of the vampire's hand. The physical contact snapped Shido back into reality.

"Ow! What... what is it?" Shido stammered, staring down at the little fairy who glared angrily back up at him.

"You were off in La-La Land again, Shido! Riho asked you a question." Guni growled. Riho could feel her face flush as Shido stared up at her with a questioning gaze.

"Mr. Shido- I asked if there was anything wrong. You were acting strange again. Are you feeling sick?" Riho asked softly. The violet-haired man's eyes closed for a long moment before reopening again on the young vampire before him. Ever since that night at the hospital Shido couldn't stop thinking about what Cain had done to him and what happened to his client. He felt guilty. If only he had been more alert and more capable of fighting Cain off he could have been able to save Mr. Funikida from his master's thirst for blood. Now another soul was lost to his kind and he could do nothing about it. Shido felt helpless- a feeling he didn't particularly care for.

"You know our kind can't get sick, Riho." Shido answered flatly. "And I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all." Guni gave a small scoff and began pacing around Shido's desk.

"Uh oh, Mr. Soliloquy is thinking again. Everyone watch out!" Guni exclaimed in her overly sarcastic tone. Annoyed with the little imp, Shido grabbed his hat from the corner of his desk and cupped it over her, caging the little nuisance for the time being.

"Why are you so mean to me?" Guni wailed from beneath the hat. Shido didn't respond. He wasn't in the mood for fun and games. He felt strange inside. Something had awoken. It felt as if a caged beast formerly bound by his human emotions had been freed by a dagger wielded by Cain. No matter how much he fought these old feelings they seemed to surface more and more. Memories from times past began to swell into his thoughts and flood out all other things on his mind. He was hungry for things he had tried for so long to forget.

The door to the office burst open and Yayoi, in her familiar skimpy getup, strode inside and sat at the corner of Shido's desk. She tossed a large stack of papers in front of him and brushed her dark hair from her face.

"Something is up. Something big. It's happening downtown. Seven dead bodies have been reported laying in gutters. Oddly there is no sign of the breed. However, all of the bodies like Mr. Funakida were drained of their blood." Yayoi paused for a moment and absently let her hand caress the side of her neck in thought. "The victims seem to be chosen at random. All of the bodies seem to have been left hanging halfway from manholes and gutter slats in the streets, signifying that whatever if feeding from them must be located in or around the sewer system."

Shido felt his body tense. Carefully he opened the files and began sifting through pictures of dead bodies, laying like lifeless husks on the streets with mouths agape in frozen screams. All had two distinct holes on the side of their neck. Cain. He knew it had to be him. Who else could it be?

"Shido. Do you think that..." Yayoi began to ask but Shido didn't give her a chance to finish her question. The violet-haired vampire pushed himself to a stand and took up his hat from the desk, freeing Guni from her makeshift trap. However, rather than stand there and scold Shido for his rudeness the little imp simply stared up at him with a small worried expression.

"I'm on it. Guni, stay here and watch Riho."

"But- Mr. Shido..." Riho began to protest. It was no use. Soon Shido had retreated from his office with Yayoi trailing behind him.

It was time for a little family reunion.

Authorities had taped off a large portion of the downtown market. The area was swarming with media and onlookers who were not informed of the events taking place. All the public knew was that there were a few cases of homicide performed most likely by a serial killer who was at large in the sewer systems. As Shido and Yayoi arrived on the scene they were attacked by packs of men with cameras and television reporters looking to catch a hot scoop. Yayoi managed to curse everyone and anything that came near them as well as threaten the lives of many reporters until they backed off. When the two arrived on the crime scene a head officer of the police station met them.

"Hello. My name is Felix Rogue." The man said. He was rather young for a head officer, Shido thought, but he seemed to have a professional air about him. Shido gladly shook the man's hand.

"This is Tatsuhiko Shido, a private investigator. He is very familiar with the paranormal and supernatural as well as occult crime." Yayoi told Mr. Rogue who simply observed Shido with interest.

"It is good that we have someone with expertise staffed here. Please, come with me." The young man led them to a small mobile crime unit truck. Inside a few police officers sat around computer screens and spoke on radios. "This is our command center. Seeing as this entity is dangerous we have rigged all units who go below with special camera systems and radio units to monitor their progress. We don't want to lose anyone down there. The sewer system is a complex array of tunnels and turns so we needed a place to direct the units through this sub-city labyrinth." The young man pointed to a few things before Shido quickly interrupted them.

"You haven't sent any units down yet, have you?"

The officer was surprised by that question. "Why yes, of course." Shido felt his heart race. Those men didn't have a chance against Cain, high tech gadgets or not.

"You have to tell them to come back NOW!" Shido yelled. Yayoi was just as surprised at Shido's outburst as Mr. Rogue was. "If they don't get out of there right away they all will die!"

Suddenly a loud beeping noise came from one of the monitors and an anxious voice cried out over the speaker system. "Man down! We have a man down!"

Mr. Rogue rushed to one of the speakers and spoke into a microphone. "All men, retreat now!" But it was too late. One by one the cameras on the men's suits went black, followed by the electronic distorted snow of malfunction. The people in the mobile crime unit began to panic. These were men who were used to fighting things of flesh and blood – they had no experience with the paranormal or supernatural.

"What in the hell is going on!" Rogue yelled at the top of his lungs, slamming on a keypad. "What is happening down there?"

Shido gave a small sigh and glanced at Yayoi before speaking up over the din of anxiety from the men in the truck. "I am going down there alone. Do not send anyone else below."

All of the men fell silent. They didn't know what Shido was. He didn't look like a priest and they just couldn't believe that one man would go down to attempt to defeat something that had wiped out eight of their own highly trained officers.

"What equipment do you need to take with you? Do you need anything, guns, ammunition...perhaps we could connect you to the camera system?"

"I have everything I will need, thank you. Give me an hour and please, don't send anyone or anything down there." Shido said, grateful for the man's concern. He knew very well that Cain would not kill him.

They prepared a drop for Shido to set him in the sewer system and slowly he descended standing on a small platform. It reeked of sewage and waste. Luckily he could just block out the sensations he pleased. Armed with only a large flashlight and a hand radio Shido walked down the narrow path towards the heart of the sewage system in search for the vampire Cain. It was dark. Occasionally light would filter down through the open manholes above or through the gutter slots to illuminate small patches of damp concrete. The sound of scurrying rats brushing against walls echoed through the tunnels and the gurgle of reeking water played a steady, melodious tune in this urban underworld. The bodies of the eight men had mysteriously vanished. There was no trace of their presence anywhere.

It was disgusting, far worse than Shido had imagined it. He couldn't believe that Cain would come down here to the level of rats to lure him to the darkness. He was always too classy for that. Suddenly Shido felt strange. His throat began to tighten and his senses began to detect a figure ahead in the inky darkness. Another vampire. However, panic began to set in. It wasn't Cain. He knew Cain's presence and this weaker sensation wasn't his powerful master. No, this was someone else.

"Show yourself!" Shido hollered. There was no need to raise his voice. The shallow sound of his command echoed from the walls and nagged back at him, taunting him. The figure shifted in the darkness but made no attempt to do as Shido instructed.

"Show yourself now, vampire." Shido hissed, growing frustrated. The figure finally began moving towards the light but before it revealed itself it moved with supernatural speed to the edge of the concrete and threw itself into the sewer water with a loud splash and vanished beneath its depths. Shido felt very uneasy. Before he could come up with a plan of action the other vampire lurched out of the water near his feet and tackled him against the wall. Shido dropped the hand radio and the flashlight upon impact. The radio fell into the water and the flashlight spun on the slick cement, casting its pale beam of light in all directions before stopping to shine against the wall opposite of them. The body clung to Shido's coat and a face appeared before him. Two large, golden cat-eyes glowed in the darkness.

"You are the one... Master Cain's prized possession." A raspy feminine voice hissed. Two hands grasped Shido's neck and began to squeeze. Shido felt his anger rise. It was a woman but who was she? How dare she kill those people and how dare she leap on him in such a manner and speak of such things! Shido then released the vampire within. His eyes formed into two cat-like golden slits and his fangs jabbed out of his gums. He hissed back at the female who only laughed at him in amusement. "We have been waiting for you, Shido..."

Rage began to well up in Shido's mind. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't want these vampires to think he associated with them or that he liked them. Shido wanted nothing to do with the darkness. Angry and insulted Shido gave a loud scream and slammed his hands into the female's chest. She was shoved off and fell on the slick ground beside Shido and began snickering with her wicked, creepy laugh.

"You can't deny us, Shido. We are one of the same blood, you and I. Brother- you are my eternal brother..."

"No! NEVER!" Shido screamed again. He jumped up to his feet and rather than summon his sword with his vampiric blood he just pounced on the female and grabbed her by the neck and began shaking her, slamming her shoulders and the back of her head against the hard cement. Over and over again he slammed her. He was enraged. It had been so long since he had been this angry that he couldn't seem to control himself. He kept slamming the female until blood began to pool behind her head and around them like a crimson aura of death. His brown gloves were stained with it and the knees of his pants were soaked with the other vampire's blood. But she did not die. She just lie there and laughed at him as he pounded her head against the ground.

"Die, damn you! DIE! I am not like you! I am not like any of you!" Shido wailed in fury, beating the vampire against the ground as she cackled. He couldn't take it anymore. Frustrated and lost in his wave of violence Shido became frantic to kill her and make her stop laughing and so with a hard thrust with his fist he punched the other vampire in the chest and grabbed her unbeating heart from within and tore it out. The heart, having not been used for many years, was a limp and bloody muscle within his hand. He squeezed it as hard as he could. The female vampire's laughter turned to horrid and pained cries as Shido crushed it and soon she began to grow lethargic and gradually stopped moving all together.

"Shido... my brother..." She whispered. Shido stood up and, shaking, kicked her in the skull. She fell silent, consumed by a final death. Shido dropped her heart on the ground. Just as he did so a swarm of starved sewer rats appeared from all directions and stampeded to her body, consuming her flesh in a frantic feeding frenzy. Shido stepped back and watched in horror. His body shook and his hands, covered with the female's blood, trembled uncontrollably. The violet-haired vampire could do nothing but stare at the blood and gore that had formed by his hand. He was shocked. It had been so long since such anger had overpowered him. That feral side of him had gotten loose and had ripped apart this female's torso like it was nothing. He killed her with his hands and not with the sword. The blood was on his flesh and clung to his clothes.

He was the killer now.