Ten minutes later, Turel and Zephon stood outside of the mall, scanning the parking lot.
"So, which way did they go?" Zephon asked his older brother.
"Um . . . let's go . . . that way!" Turel stated, pointing straight ahead.
"Are you crazy!?" Zephon screeched. "We'd be walking into a mass of all of these horseless carriage . . . things!"
Turel sighed. "Fine, little brother, which way do you suggest we go?"
"Right!"
"Rahab, that green thing in the mall scared me," Melchiah whispered as he sought out a hotel with his older brother.
"It wasn't that bad, Mel," Rahab sighed. "You've seen worse in Nosgoth . . ."
"Yeah, but . . ."
"No buts about it! Now, do you suppose that the 'Rest E-Z Inn' has a place to stay?"
"My Lord," Dumah muttered, "How are we to find dinner when this place is teeming with humans? Most of them are in groups and will be missed!"
"A solution will present itself, Dumah . . ." Kain said coolly.
Meanwhile, Turel and Zephon had managed to get themselves lost in a seedier section of town. Neither of them were certain how they got there, although when Turel saw how many bars lined the streets, he suspected that Zephon had chosen to go this way on purpose.
"Maybe they're in here!" Zephon chirped, walking into one of the bars. All of the windows in the bar were painted over with black. One neon sign in the window read "Topless Girls!"
"Oh shit!" Turel muttered, before taking a deep breath and flinging the door to the establishment open.
"ZEPHON!" he shrieked, bringing a silence to the room. His younger brother was seated at a table, surrounded by at least seven beautiful young women. And, as the sign in the window had promised, not one of them was wearing a top. He noticed that none of the other male patrons seemed to mind that Zephon was getting all of the attention from the strippers.
"Hey, bro," Zephon gushed, making a space for his brother, "Come join me!"
Turel looked from the other male patrons, who were obviously charmed, to his brother, to the women, and shrugged.
'What the hell?' he thought.
Dumah glanced up at a sign, the sign that meant the solution to the problem with dinner. The sign above the nondescript white building read, "Podunk County Blood Bank."
"My Lord!" Dumah called. "My Lord!"
"What is it?" Kain groaned.
"A solution!" Dumah whooped, pointing to the sign. Kain looked up, and a smile momentarily brightened his features.
"Brilliant, Dumah," he commended softly. "Let's go in."
"How much for six rooms again?" Rahab asked the blonde woman at the lobby of the Rest E-Z Inn. She couldn't have been older than twenty-five, and she had conveyed to Rahab through her speech and behavior that she was the typical ditzy prep.
"Well, like, how long are you gonna be staying?" was her response.
"I just told you that we don't know!" snapped the vampire, growing more impatient with the woman by the moment. "Just tell us the nightly rate and I'll be happy."
"Well, like, for one room, for one night, it's like, 70 dollars . . . now, what's 70 times six?"
"Four hundred twenty," muttered Rahab.
"Oh, right . . . so, four hundred and twenty bucks a night for an unspecified amount of time . . . man, you must be rich!"
"I don't think I can stay here, miss…"
"Did I mention the swimming pool?" The desk clerk was clearly trying to keep Rahab and Melchiah there.
Suddenly a rich, middle-aged woman stepped out from one of the elevators and stormed up to the desk.
"Excuse me," she fumed, "but in case you wanted to know, your coffee was cold, your food was beyond inedible, the room and the cutlery were filthy, and my sheets haven't been changed!"
"Well," replied the desk clerk, "we can show you the wide open spaces . . ."
"I have NO desire to see inside your head! I'm checking out right now and finding a different hotel!"
Rahab chuckled softly. "Come on, Melchiah, let's find someplace else, someplace more sanitary . . ."
"But, Rahab, they had a swimming pool!"
"If their rooms were filthy, I don't even want to THINK about the pool."
Tansy was hurrying past the Rest E-Z Inn as Rahab and Melchiah were walking out, and she managed to collide straight into them. Tansy was knocked to the ground.
"Hey, watch it . . ." she muttered, standing stiffly. Rahab, realizing she was one of the locals, decided to ask about lodging.
"Excuse me," he began, "but where can I find an inn? A nice, clean inn? With a swimming pool? Preferably one that isn't overpriced?"
"At the Holiday Inn down the street," Tansy answered. "Now, excuse me, I've got to get going . . . my grandparents are going to call their house any minute, and they'll panic if nobody's there!" With that, she hurried past them down the street and was lost in the throng of people passing her.
"Well, she was certainly one of the friendlier locals," Melchiah muttered.
"I think that pink hair dye and the rhinestones got to her head . . . wait, Mel, pink hair dye!? Rhinestones!?" Rahab had now officially entered a state of panic. "Mel, do you know what this means?"
"No, what?"
"It means," Rahab moaned, shaking his younger brother by the shoulders, "that we let one of those twins get away!"
"We're gonna be in deep trouble, huh?"
"Yeah, I would assume so. But let's not tell Kain we lost one until we get accommodations!"
"Hey," Melchiah murmured, "I wonder where Turel and Zephon are?"
Kyviana was running as fast as she could. It was nighttime. And she was running across the tops of buildings at full speed, apparently knowing the labyrinth of the rooftops intimately. It wasn't the first time she had taken the highway. She landed heavily on the top of the blood bank's white roof and kept running, intending to jump to the next roof when her danger sense went off. As it caught her off-guard, she tripped and went sliding across the roof to smash her face up against the small, foot-high wall around the edge of the roof.
"Ow," she hissed, sitting up slowly. She glanced over her body. Her silk, trusty cloth that it was, was in one piece, but her skin underneath it had shredded. She winced and looked around while she waited for it to heal.
A sudden strange scent filled her nose. It was the smell of a creature definitely not human, the exotic smell of a supernatural. She leaned over the building to see two of the men who had been at the mall that day standing in front of the door to the blood bank. Curiosity getting the best of her, Ky felt claws rip through the skin of her fingertips and climbed down the wall, head first. The white-haired man walked in, and the brawny black-haired male stepped in a moment after. Ky stopped at the top of the door so her head was hanging past the doorframe and she could see in. The inside waiting room was much like the one to be found in a hospital, and the elder male headed further in. The younger one stayed out at the door, acting as a guard of some kind, and turned back toward the door. Upon seeing Ky's head hanging down, he twitched slightly in shock, and she cocked her head to the side, giving him a strange expression.
"What in hell are you two doing here?" she inquired.
"My Lord?" the male called into the room. She heard movement and the silver-haired man stepped out where he could see her. One eyebrow rose, and Ky's head shifted to the other side as she looked at him.
"Intro of the head honcho, apparently," she commented blandly. She flipped off the wall and dropped into the doorway, blinking at the two men.
"Well, well, well," Kain chuckled dryly, "if it isn't the demon killer from earlier this day."
Ky's eyes widened and she took a step back in surprise.
"My spell didn't work on you . . ." she breathed.
"No it didn't." Kain stepped passed Dumah and Ky retreated, keeping a good five feet between them both. Dumah followed his lord and moved a good few paces away, creating a half-circle blocking her exit one way. She winced at the predicament she found herself in and took a step backward. She twisted abruptly when she heard light feet smack across the ground and a voice cry, "My Lord!" Behind her stopped one of the brothers, and she recognized the eldest of them.
"Ah, Raziel, please keep this one from escaping toward you, if you would," Kain stated with a cruel smirk. He nodded and fixed golden eyes on her intently. Ky turned and noted silently that the other brother had the same colored eyes. Ky's fingers twitched against the urge to draw out her sword. Dumah noted her gesture and smirked.
"Ah, where is that particular blade of yours, girl-child?"
Ky felt her lips pull back as she fought to not snarl.
"I don't believe I've had the pleasure of finding out your names. I know the immovable wall behind me is Raziel, but who are the walls in front of me?"
Kain's eyes narrowed at the impudent wench's insult, but his face remained blank. Dumah, however, pulled around a blade and pointed its edge toward her.
"You will not speak to our Lord Kain in such a manner."
Ky let her snarl show. "I will speak to anyone however I feel necessary, even if I have to hurt your little baby feelings—"
In a rage, Dumah waited no longer for her to finish her sentence and swiftly flipped the blade about to strike out at her. Faster than a human could ever have moved, Ky pulled back and a longsword made entirely of silver metal appeared in her hand. By sheer instinct, she brought it up, slamming the blade away from her face. Dumah recovered nearly instantly, but an appraising expression was on his face, and he slowly started moving in a circle. She kept her blade to the male, knowing that it was the eldest who was the real threat, but she just couldn't turn down a good fight.
The male quickly spiraled in, sword ripping through the air in a shrieking slash that Ky nimbly dodged out of the way and shot around into his guard. Dumah smirked and easily blocked, pushing her back away from him. Ky watched his motions for a moment, then moved in to exchange slashes again.
'He's incredible,' she thought to herself in awe as most of her attacks were easily rebounded. Each thrust given in turn was beginning to press on her muscles, and she could feel them at the verge of giving out. And yet he still pressed on like a machine.
Ky finally pulled away, chest heaving as her lungs tried to draw in a breath, and Dumah's sword got a lucky strike in, slashing across her upper arm, leaving a thick cut across the skin. Ky hissed as onyx black blood spilled out of the wound, ruby droplets shinning in it. She opened her hand, the silver blade vanishing, and weighed her options.
"It seems like it's time . . ." she hesitated as she curled her fingers slightly so they couldn't see talons breaking through the skin, "to make a strategic retreat!" She twisted, slammed her claws into the wall, and quickly scurried her way up to the roof. She glanced at her watch and saw it read 10:42.
'Shit!' she swore to herself. 'Grandparents call at 10:45! And I'm a good seven, eight minute run from here!'
Shoving the incident of the fight to the back of her mind, she took off racing across the roofs as fast as she could force her body to move, adrenaline fueling her sore muscles. On the ground, Dumah stared after where she had disappeared.
"She's got quite a bit of potential, that one does," he stated to himself more than to anyone else.
In the meantime, Ky finally got home and dropped in one of the windows to hear Tansy talking, "Yes, Grandma, she's on her way home now. No, she didn't get mugged or raped. How do I know? I'm her twin sister— Oh, here she is now!"
Ky took the phone and mouthed to her sister, "Thank you." As she answered her grandmother's questions, Tansy poked at the wounded spot on Ky's arm. Ky winced and waved her away, ignoring Tansy's silent inquires as to what happened. When she realized she wasn't going to get an answer, Tansy sighed and started cleaning the wound so it would heal quickly. Ky finally got off the phone and sighed deeply, looking over at Tansy's progress on her arm. The skin had closed and already the wound didn't show up on her pale skin as strongly as it did before. By the time she got to work, it'd be completely gone.
"Thanks, sis. I need to get out of here. It's almost time for my shift."
"Why do you work at that place?" Tansy demanded. "You know Mom and Dad would go ballistic if they knew."
"That's exactly why I wanted to work there. Besides, if I'm going to learn how to dance, I might as well put it to some use."
Tansy sighed deeply, but Ky was already going up the stairs to get her work clothes. She hopped back down the stairs and quickly headed out the door. Tansy shook her head as her sister raced out.
"Well, I guess I'll just stay here and . . . dust something . . ." she stated to the falling silence. She quickly grabbed her feather duster, her trusty Walkman, popped it in her ears, and started listening to T.A.T.U.