Grace
A Rurouni Kenshin Fanfiction
By the Dragon's Daughter
Summary: In the smoky streets of London, a battle is brewing. Kenshin is a former business man who has just discovered life in all its varied forms. Kaoru, a vampire, is running for her life when a certain red-head stumbles into it. Modern-Day AU.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin. I am making no profit by writing this fan fiction. It is intended for recreation purposes only.
Rating: R for language and violence
Pairing: Kenshin/Kaoru, Aoshi/Misao, and Sano/Meg
Chapter Seven: The Grace Bell
The Grace Bell was older than human history. Superstition had it that the Bell had once been something different, an Ancient Artifact, recast into the shape of a bell to smuggle it into the age of reason. Whatever it was, the Grace Bell was the root of the spell that the Blood Council had entrusted its safety to for millennia.
The Bell was guarded by a single immortal creature known only as the Keeper. No one knew who or what the Keeper was, but it was as old as the Grace Bell. The few fortunate… or perhaps unfortunate enough to actually see the Keeper in person described it as a vaguely humanoid figure in a long white cape and cowl which in some accounts was tattered and bloodstained.
The Grace Bell rang twice very fifty years when the Blood Council met to discuss new laws for the Vampire people and mediate disputes between the many City Masters who did the year-to-year business of overseeing their race. It rang once twenty-four hours before the Council met, awaking the Grace and allowing the Council Members to cross borders and enter London without fear. Twenty-four hours after Council adjourned it rang once more to send the Grace back into slumber until it was needed again.
Historically, the Bell had been rung for reasons other than Council Meetings. The World Wars had been such occasions, when the Council Members had cause to fear from outside influences. The Bell rang often during the Dark Ages when the Hunts and Burnings had still been commonplace.
Few people knew where the Bell was actually located. Hardly anyone wanted to know. Old Creations like the Grace had ways of protecting themselves beyond their Guardians. Actually, the Bell was located deep underground in the subterranean caverns beneath Buckingham Palace.
As the sun set, a crooked being in torn and bloodied robes crawled through the complex series of tunnels where it had spent its existence. It had no name and no purpose except to protect its Bell and ring it when the time came.
Intruders had invaded its home and overwhelmed it. The Keeper had escaped, but at the cost of abandoning its Post. Now it made its dogged way, despite the many wounds that dripped black ichor from its limbs, to the place where the Council would meet.
The Keeper had failed its duty and the Council had to be warned before irreparable damage occurred.
As night eased over the city of London, a lone bell tone rang out over the city sending a chill of fear through the only creature who could hear it.
Kenshin waited in the living room with growing impatience as he waited for Kaoru and Misao to change into their 'Court Garb'.
He'd been dressed and ready to go for over half and hour. His 'costume' was simple and elegant. He wore his black leather duster over a pair of dark blue leather pants and a white silk shirt. Winter Moon and his black boots completed the ensemble. Kaoru had okay-ed him to go. There was a .45 Smith and Wesson hidden under his arm. He didn't think he'd need it, but Kaoru had insisted.
Whatever Kaoru was wearing, Kenshin hadn't gotten more than a peek at it in the garment before she shooed him out of the bedroom. Misao had stayed, because it apparently required a second pair of hands to put on.
"All right, we're ready!" Kaoru's silky voice brought Kenshin out of his reverie with a start. Then he couldn't stop staring.
Kaoru wore a floor length dress made up of layers upon layers of blue gauze. The hues ranged from a blue so dark it was nearly black, to a sapphire gem-tone that matched her eyes perfectly, to the palest ice blue imaginable. Sparkles laced through the garment at random intervals that concentrated around the hems of her gown and her bust.
Her inky black hair had been wound up in the back and fixed in place with two curly silver sticks that had sapphire pendants dangling from the ends. All her jewelry was done in silver and sapphire, from the elegant drops in her ears to the spectacular collar piece that dipped down low between her breasts.
A slit in her skirt revealed tantalizing glimpse of her long sleek legs and the silver sandals on her feet with jeweled thongs that wound all the way up to her knees.
Misao was a dark blue shadow by her side. Her costume was deliberately calculated to enhance Kaoru's, but could easily stand out on its own. The predominating color in her garb was the same midnight blue as her eyes, garnished with black and dark silver accents. She wore a duster like Kenshin's over a dark blue body suit. Silver chains had been wrapped around her hips like a belt, although they weren't supporting anything.
He knew that coat concealed any number of deadly little surprises; spells bound to little slips of paper for quick casting, throwing knives made of silver and wood, vials of magically enhanced poisons and acids, there was a short sword sheathed up her spine, and a garrote hidden in each sleeve.
"Close your mouth, Himura." Misao catcalled. "I know you've never seen such stunning examples of female beauty, but there's no need to stare!"
Kenshin favored her with a glare, which rolled right off her back. "Are we ready to go?" he asked his girls and they nodded. "I'll go start up the car…" he turned towards the elevator, but Kaoru's hand on his sleeve stopped him.
"Oh no, Kenshin, you can't get to the Council Hall by physical means. I'll be handling the transportation tonight. You'll have to trust me." She slid her arms around his neck in much the same way she had that night when they'd first met.
Misao went around behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Don't take it the wrong way, Himura. You'll need our presence between the worlds. You aren't used to traveling that way." She adjusted her grip on him and nodded to Kaoru over his shoulder.
"Brace yourself, Darling." Kaoru's warning half a second too late. The world blinked out like a television set someone had just turned off. It was colder and darker than anything he'd ever experienced in his entire life, but just before the cold started to cut into him the lights came back on and they were standing in the ostentatious foyer of what seemed to be a castle.
"What the hell was that!?" he gasped while clinging to Kaoru in an attempt to leech some of the heat of her body. He felt too cold… like he'd never be warm again. Misao pressed into him from behind and they stood there for a long time until he stopped shaking.
"I'm so sorry, Darling! There wasn't any choice and no way to prepare you for it." Kaoru told him when she and Misao could finally let go. "That was what my people call the Shadow Realm. It's the emptiness between the worlds where even the Beings of Ether cannot go. Only creatures of Darkness can walk there with impunity. You are very much a creature of the Light so both Misao and myself had to pull you through quickly before it absorbed you."
Kenshin carefully straightened his clothes and checked to make sure he hadn't lost anything. If he had he had no idea how he was going to get it back.
The foyer was elegantly appointed with the colors leaning towards the dark gem tones. There was a pair of great double doors directly across from them, guarded by a hunchbacked man in a tuxedo.
Kaoru led their little party to the doors and paused by him. "Hello, Renfield." She said warmly, eliciting a blazing smile from the little man.
"Greetings, Mistress Kaoru." He slurred his vowels and drew out his sibilants, sounding exactly like the screen version of his namesake. There was a glint in his heavy eyes that led Kenshin to believe he was doing it on purpose and a second later his suspicions were confirmed as Renfield continued in a cultured oxford accent. "I don't believe I recognize your party. May I have their names for announcement?"
"The young lady is my sireling, Misao Makimachi and the gentleman is my consort, Kenshin Himura. They've agreed to be my attendants for the evening." Kaoru nodded to each in turn.
Renfield's single weighty eyebrow rose in surprise. "Very good, Mistress, and might I add, about damn time. Your father will be ecstatic that you're finally taking your responsibility to your family seriously."
Kaoru snorted. "Hardly likely, my 'family' has very little to do with it. Announce us, Renfield. We might as well get it over with." A smile touched her mouth right about the same time one appeared on Renfield's dour face. "Smile and show your teeth." They said at once and laughed.
The hunchback turned into the doors and touched a panel on the wall. The Doors opened inward without a whisper of sound to reveal a humongous ballroom inside. Vampires whirled through the old dances within in costumes of every hue and shade. Wings and horns were the most normal accessories that Kenshin could identify. Some wore exaggerated and exotically colored genitalia outside their clothes and others wore nothing at all.
"Now announcing the entrance of Councilwoman Kamiya Kaoru-sama of Edo, Japan!" Renfield's voice boomed across the room, giving every inhabitant cause to pause and turn their attention to the doors. "Her Consort, Himura Kenshin of the Drakenwere stands at her left and Misao Makimachi sir Kamiya stands at her right."
Kenshin almost stared at the little man, but Kaoru gently pulled him ahead with her as she descended into the milling mass of creatures. She held her head high and looked down on the crowd as would a Queen. Misao moved at her right as silent as a shadow, but very much alive and extruding danger from every angle.
"Relax, Kenshin." Kaoru counseled him softly from his left. "Just… look at them like they're a particularly exotic species of bug. They can hurt you and couldn't even if the Grace wasn't breathing down their necks. Just relax, this is just the Party. We'll mingle for a while and get reacquainted all around before we get down to business."
"How did he know what I am?" he hissed back.
"Everyone in this room knows what you are, Darling." Kaoru sighed. "I know you've been trying to be discrete, but your power draws them like fruit draws flies. You aren't a vampire and you aren't an Ethereal Being so that leaves the Weres and only one kind of were-creature has your kind of power."
"So you always knew?" he asked as they neared the bottom of the stairs. "Is that why you sponsored me?"
"Yes." She said shortly. "You could have done great damage if left without guidance. That would have hurt you as much as the people of London. Besides, I was hardly going to let such a handsome man go by without introducing myself." A touch of heat flared in Kaoru's blue eyes, warming Kenshin and making him feel better about the entire mess.
He turned his attention back to the ballroom, which had adjusted to their presence and was whirling back into their dances, drinking, and cavorting. He noticed a side board off to one side of the room that practically groaned beneath the weight of the edibles arranged on top of it. There was a larger selection of beverages than a similar event would have warranted, but Kenshin decided that that more to do with the amount of Vampires in the room.
"Is everyone here a member of the Council?" Kenshin asked Misao. Kaoru was busy meeting and greeting so many different people that Kenshin just quit trying to keep track of them all.
"No way," Misao whispered back. "Most of these losers are hangers on. The Council is kind of the Social Event of the century since it only happens twice every hundred years so no one wants to miss a thing. Problem is that they all get so drunk and high that they usually don't wake up until the day after. So once the Council starts, all these guys are going to get tossed out so that the Council Members can do their business in peace. There will be a general announcement in about a week, detailing what everyone missed."
"So this is just an excuse to party?" Kenshin guessed.
Misao nodded. "Basically."