Disclaimer: Yea yea, you know the drill; let's get on with the story already, no?

Note

Sorry for the delay, I know I need to work on my timing when it comes to updating, my mother always used to tell me I had no concept of time, look at me now…… she was right hahaha….. Ok I'm shutting up now, enjoy…

Chapter 11: Blood lust

Mavrick was the first to walk into the building. He looked around sharply to make sure no one would jump them from the shadows. He signaled the rest of the group to come in after him, saying that there wasn't anyone to be seen or heard.

"Damn, why couldn't anyone just attack you?" Lauren said pointing to Mavrick, who gave her a rather pointed look, "Gee, thanks, it's nice to know you care," he snorted and Lauren giggled.

"Well at least it would give me a good chance to grab them," her eyes flashed red again; "I'm still famished y'know."

Mavrick crossed his arms and glared at her. She ignored him and walked forward a few more steps, a small snicker caught her attention and she turned to the corner where a pair of bloodshot grey-brown eyes met her crimson ones.

"Hello missy, you and your friends lost er somethin?" the man chuckled.

Lauren hissed at him. Suddenly, the room seemed filled with people, men and boys, here and there, staring down at them. Mavrick scowled at the sight.

The eyes that first greeted them stood and moved closer. They belonged to a tall man that was balled and wore a heavy dark-purple jacket that reached the floor. He walked up to Lauren and grabbed her face, tilting it up to look him in the eyes.

"You're a fine looken lady aren't you…?" he chuckled; Lauren pulled away and hissed again. He laughed at her attitude and took a few steps back, observing the other females of the group. He nodded as though making a decision and called forth the men in the room.

"Kill them but bring me the women," he said in a low and heated voice.

Sade groaned and Daine snorted.

"Don't even think about it…" Ayanna growled.

She hadn't liked the way those men were looking at her or any of the other girls.

Daine raised her six wings but this time they seemed larger, they were huge and dragon-like that seemed to even make her look bigger and that much more frightening.

A big man approached Ayanna. He had on jeans and a vest with a tattoo on his arm that said tiny. He smiled with a glint in his eyes and some teeth missing on the left side of his mouth.

Ayanna smiled at the disgusting look he gave her and crossed her arms in front of her defensively when he advanced on her.

When he made his attempt to touch her she disappeared before his eyes. The dumbfounded man stared at the spot the feisty young woman stood and then was hit from above without warning.

He was not out for the count however. He picked himself back up and advanced again, but this time Ayanna brought out her claws, slashing vigorously at him until he was backed up into a corner; she chuckled at him and let her body slowly change to its halfway demon form, her ears turned up and furry, like a pair of cats ears, her claws grew longer and that much more sharp, and her tail grew long and fluffy behind her, she hissed at him and his back met the wall.

Tiny's eyes widened and he froze where he stood. Ayanna stood close to him and purred; smiling up at him, she punched him hard in the stomach then in the face, breaking his left side rib cage and his jaw, evening the missing teeth on one side of his mouth with the other. He slumped to the floor and Ayanna sauntered away from him with a pussy-cat/Catwoman walk. (Since I had to rewrite this chapter I thought I'd add that in for her cuz my friend loves cats obviously and I just like the Catwoman walk )

Lauren's patience and carefree continence had disappeared completely. Now she was a vigorous and ruthless killer, looking for pray.

She spotted the lusty man in the corner still giving his orders to his men and she swiftly glided her way over to him, though her face and approach was flirty, her mind and intentions were set on predator. The man smirked at her heated eyes and body language and considered himself lucky to find such an easy wench to take advantage of.

He stood and grabbed her by her cape, pulling her close to him. He smirked and she smiled, her fangs glistened in the moonlight and the man's eyes widened. Lauren took his fear as a sign that he no longer was the big man here and she bit hard into his neck at the pulse point.

His fear made his blood run faster and warmer with adrenalin, making it even sweeter. His screams of terror brought a gleeful smirk to her lips as they rang in her ears.

Daine batted the men away like they held absolutely no strength whatsoever, the occasional man came behind her with a chain or other weapon and lashed at her but again, they had little affect on her.

She became bored with it and decided to take them all out with one shot. Putting her hands together in front of her, she set a high balance of power into her hands and prepared to fire. Sade noticed Daine's intentions and pulled off the large hoops that hung from her ears, whispering soft words unto them and throwing them at Daine.

The rings then expanded and encircled Daine's arms, pulling them down to her waist so she couldn't fire her blast.

Daine looked at her hands in shock and glared at Sade. "Hey, what are you doing?" Sade walked over to Daine and commanded the rings to release her, then placed them back in her ears.

Sade explained to her that that kind of blast would not only destroy everyone in this building it would destroy the building and maybe some of the street depending on where she fired it, a thought that had not occurred to Daine before.

Sade rolled her eyes, knowing her friend was strong, but was also a little dense to the fact of how strong. Sade sighed and rushed to Mavrick's side, who of which was fist fighting most of the men off, he didn't really need his powers to defeat such men but Sade considered the fact that Mavrick was black and came from a place where this sort of thing was a game, so she guessed he was having fun.

Sade let him alone to his 'game' and went off to check Lauren who had nearly drained four guys. Sade wasn't the squeamish type, but the sight of seeing her friend almost devouring these men made her a little uneasy. Sade new Lauren would be back to herself in no time but she would just leave her alone as well until then.

Sade noticed her friends actually having a good time beating these men to a bloody pulp. Sade watched Ayanna stealthily beat down each man with an assassin's skill, and Daine had Ranjitzu by her, though he didn't have to do much anyway.

Lauren was now on her sixth guy and was just about done, while Mavrick fought with his bare hands and was winning, much to Sade's surprise.

Sade stood back, not caring whether she had gotten any action or not. She stared up at the full moon above and blinked up at the roof of one of the other buildings. There was someone there, but whom? Was it Hiei? Sade had to find out.

She jumped on one of the windowsills and began to slowly phase her way up the wall, a stealth trick Shanna had taught her about her power awhile back.

She made it to the fourth story window and noticed the figure was no longer there. She blinked at the spot where it had sat and then noticed a flash of black, jumping over the rooftops in the other direction. Curiosity loomed in her and ate at her mind until she couldn't take it any longer and gave chase to the mysterious creature that had most likely followed them there.

Still inside,

Mavrick had noticed Sade's departure and had a sudden rush of bad feelings sent shivering up his spine, he yelled to her and that's when they jumped him. The four largest guys of the group grabbed him and mercilessly punched and slammed him into the wall and hard wooden floor.

Mavrick could handle that sort of dirty play, but the instant they brought out large sticks and knives and started mercilessly beating him with them, that was it. He was down for a few minutes at a time and Ayanna and Daine had been too caught up in their 'fun' to notice.

Sade ran with lightning speed as she struggled to keep up with the stealthy figure. She bounded from roof to roof and slid along wires that crossed the buildings' edges.

She came to a halt when the figure disappeared again. She looked left and right and even in the alley below, but nothing. Not a trace of the shadow she had chased for the last fifteen or twenty minutes. Sade mentally kicked herself… shadow, it was a shadow, and where there were shadows there was Hadrian or Nerorson.

She cursed below her breath at how stupid she was, her curiosity had gotten the best of her again and now she was most likely in deeper trouble than she could handle.

A sound resonating from below her caught her attention and she looked down into the alley beneath her again.

Sade's eyes widened then she was gone in darkness.

Kurama ran back to his house, hoping Sade had returned, but to his dismay, she hadn't. "Where…where could they have gone…?" he knew she was going to be gone for awhile, but he would have expected them to be back by then. It was nearly 2 in the morning and he was exhausted from running from Genkai's back to his place, and now he would have to run all over town looking for Sade and her friends, or what was left of them.

He started from the corner store and down, moving from street to street; the strange thing was that he couldn't sense any of them normally. Each one felt like they were jumping towns or something. Hiei's signal was the only one that regulated normally. Maybe if he followed it, he could find Sade, Kurama was almost positive, though he knew Hiei couldn't be found if he didn't want to be, it might be slightly harder than he imagined.

Sade shook slightly at the loss of her composure and location. She kept her eyes closed, half expecting to be chained down and surrounded by her step-father's little shadow minions, not to mention being in a torture chamber or something... Trevino always was a sick bastard of the disturbing sort.

Sade quivered with fearful anticipation until she opened her eyes and got an eye full. Indeed she had been taken by a creature of shadow, but this creature that stood before her was the one little shadow she had no problem with getting caught by…(take a wild guess people).

Sade gaped up at him as she lay in his arms. "H-Hiei…?" Sade whispered his name in an almost hopeful tone.

Hiei glared down at her then dropped her to the pavement. Sade sat up and rubbed her sore backside, "Hey what…" Sade was about to go on a rampage of insults until she noticed the disdainful stare he shot her way. She suddenly remembered her last actions toward him and she bowed her head in embarrassment, "Hiei… I'm sorry."

Hiei looked down upon her, he had such an urge to slice her head off for stealing his power like that, but something held him back, something that lingered in the back of his mind. Sade stood and dusted herself off, keeping her eyes averted as she did so.

She started for the mouth of the alley. Hiei still had that nagging feeling in the back of his head, but he considered it the empty space where the last bit of his energy should have been.

Sade brought her right hand to her face to wipe away her tears, but as she did, the sleeve of her sweater lingered on her arm, exposing the all too familiar tattoo of the black flamed dragon.

Hiei nearly choked as he spotted the mark. Hiei stared dumbly at her arm, it couldn't be, there was no way.

Hiei shook his head and pulled off the bandage that shielded everything around him from the power within his arm. As the last of the bandages dropped to the ground, the kurumi's eyes dilated, his arm was void of any mark or even any source of intense power.

"How…how could this be?" Hiei's fists shook with disbelief, Sade looked up at him, confusion evident in her expression. Hiei stepped to her and grabbed her arm. Sade winced at the pressure and tugged back her arm. "What are you doing?" Sade started for the alley entrance again.

Hiei growled low in his throat, grabbed her arm and whirled her around, pushing her back against the brick wall of the alley. Sade's eyes shot wide with shock, she stared into his eyes and watched as his face seemed to get even closer to hers.

Sade reached out a hand to stop him but he pushed it away and grabbed her sweater, pulling her even closer to him. Sade didn't know what he was doing but she didn't like the way he looked at her.

She pushed him away and slid out of her sweater to make a jump away. Hiei blinked as she did so and growled as he got a complete look at her arm.

He grunted and went for her again, grabbing her arm once again and pushing her against the wall, but much tighter this time and with his hands holding tight over her wrists.

Sade stared nervously at him as he inspected the mark that had encircled itself around her arm. Sade blinked and followed his gaze to her arm and squeaked slightly.

"Where…ho… how, why?" he questioned her while tightening his grip on her wrists. Sade hissed at the pressure, "I… I don't know," she closed her eyes and wished he'd just let her go. Hiei couldn't comprehend why the dragon had empowered Sade with itself.

Hiei tightened his grip even more and Sade whimpered. "Let me go, I don't even know what it is, just let me go, I have to get back to me friends!" Sade finally pulled away from him and sighed.

"I'm sorry I took your power, but I needed it, I was going to give it back." Sade finally met his eyes, "…but I'm not ready to give it back yet!"

"You will give it back or you will not live past this morning." Hiei growled.

Sade felt his coldness from where she was standing; he really was unfeeling. She felt like an idiot for believing he felt anything for her.

Sade guessed it was a phase…she had felt the same way about Mavrick awhile back.

Sade felt the all too familiar heat rise to her cheeks as she blushed through her fear, but it didn't last too long as she felt pressure on her wrists again. She winced and looked at his scarf to avoid looking at his face.

Was he going to kill her, or rip off her arm? Sade could feel his intense gaze on her and she brought her eyes to meet his.

He was reading her thoughts again, trying to pinpoint a weakness, a flaw… a damn dent… but the only thing that made her weak was doubt and an emotional wall that had to be miles long and high with a lot of cracks. But what was it about her that made it so hard to kill her? What was wrong with him?

Sade licked her lips and started to nervously bite her bottom lip, which was a strong habit of hers he noticed, and for some odd reason, in the back of his mind, he thought she looked…… cute.

Sade wondered for a minute why he wasn't moving, and then noticed the prying eyes that explored her thoughts. She thought inwardly, and then took the opportunity to pull her arm away from him, strangely enough; he didn't make a move to take it back.

Sade looked at the bruises on her arm, and then looked at the tattoo underneath them. 'What a mess…' she thought.

Hiei shook his head, what was wrong him? It was all that girl's fault that he was feeling all those things? Hiei looked up at her again, his eyes widened to find her walking up to him.

"What are you doing?" he breathed.

Lauren had just finished draining her last victim and was now back to her giddy, nearly idiotic self. She bounced around and twirled with glee, but gasped as a group of guys charged at her.

She quickly dodged a couple of weapons that were tossed at her and then charged at them herself, taking out three of the four men. "Yeah! Take that hell scum!" she yelled while jumping up and down. Unfortunately for her, the last man that still stood took her down from behind.

Lauren kicked him off, regaining her freedom, only to be hit again by the three she knocked out first. "Wha…What's going on? Hey I knocked you guys down, get back on the ground," Lauren yelled at them before she was lunged at again.

Ayanna was using her more than sharpened claws to rip through every man that came near her and when that didn't keep them down, she pulled out two swords, both identical in size and deadliness when in her hands. She cut through each and every one of them; none near her were left unscarred.

Lauren was being tackled left and right until she was under a dog-pile of thugs. Unexpectedly the pile of men was thrown every which way and in place of Lauren was a large werewolf howling with frustration and rage. "You wanna play…grrr let's play!" Lauren slashed and snapped at the thugs, biting off hands and other limbs as she did so.

Mavrick coughed up blood; his sides throbbed and bled from the wounds, inflicted by the gang members. His eyes flashed red as his temper and confusion ascended. Why couldn't he move? This couldn't happen to him, not now. Sade had gone and he had to find her, whatever it was that she was doing, she was almost certainly going to get into trouble

Lauren halted her mutilating when she smelt the blood of one of her friends, she turned and sniffed the air and gasped when the scents identity was revealed. She was nearly frozen with confusion at the merciless beating of Mavrick, that's when she noticed the situations of all the girls.

What was happening? She couldn't believe her eyes, how could guys such as these be so much of a challenge for them, considering their greatest strengths, humans should be pushovers.

Something was amiss in this building and it wasn't that Sade was missing. A great evil of some sort was lingering in this broken down place and she wasn't the only one who felt it.

It was so obvious that there was something not right about this place, but the fact that kept gnawing at the back of everyone's minds was, what the hell was going on around there?

Daine couldn't understand why they kept getting up, they were human but they were strong enough to withstand her blasts, it made no sense. Sade was the only exception.

Daine found out long ago that she could take a blast from Daine and still stand back up, but Daine could also tell that these men were no stronger than any ordinary human man. There must be someone pulling the strings.

Ranjitzu had been standing by Daine the entire night, and his position hadn't changed, even now. He watched her relentlessly and unsuccessfully blast and bash (for lack of better words) each person who attacked him or her.

Ranjitzu smiled at Daine and he thought of how his life with Daine would be like if he was closer with her, suddenly a soft and seductive voice made its way into his thoughts. It spoke of rebellion and following his master. Ranjitzu fell to his knees as the voice got louder, 'Listen, follow my command… kill her…KILL HER…KILL HER!'

Ranjitzu's eyes widened as he realized who the voice was talking about, sweat rolled down his face as he struggled to resist it. "No…NO...! Please stop it!" he yelled as he stood and ran towards Daine.

Daine turned around and gasped as she saw a flash of red.

Kurama had made it to the diner down town where he stopped to take in deep replenishing breathes. That's when he caught Sade's sent and a few others as well, not to mention the scent of a great deal of fear.

Kurama gazed through the darkness and caught the smell of something burning. He caught his breath about ten minutes later and continued his search till he came to a smoldering tree; he didn't really have to guess who did it, but it was a clue, meaning he was on the right trail. (Uwww…Sherlock Kurama.....I think he'dlook good in that costume, maybe not in the color brown though)

Sade had closed the distance between her and Hiei, "What are you doing?" Hiei glared at her untrustingly.

Sade put her hand to her neck and pulled her necklace out over her shirt. It started to glow and pulsate uncontrollably, a bright radiance emanated from it, nearly blinding Hiei.

Hiei jumped back, but the light seemed compelling. He stopped his action and stepped toward her again. "This power…this power isn't mine…" Sade gripped her right arm painfully.

"What is this power that you possess? What is it? Inside me, it courses and burns," She hid the necklace back under her shirt.

Hiei snorted, "It's too complicated for you to understand, that's why you shouldn't take what doesn't belong to you," he glared at her intently.

Sade exhaled deeply, "If you hadn't been so cold toward me I wouldn't have taken so much as all your power, it isn't as useful to me as it is to you, but…I…well…" Sade twittled with a couple of braids in her hair that lay over her shoulder.

"Shut up already…that's all you do is talk…" Hiei yelled in her face, Sade bit her lip again. "You yourself probably have no power; you steal others' power to boost your own…" Hiei crossed his arms, seemingly pleased with his rational clarification.

Sade frowned; his accusation of her was completely off. How could he be so satisfied with that statement?

She snorted "You're wrong!" she yelled out impulsively.

Hiei blinked in confusion as Sade shook before him, "You know what…? If you think that you're so powerful and that I'm such a weakling, then prove it…" she sniffled.

Hiei's eyes widened as she stood against the wall with her arms spread out. "C'mon oh powerful one, do me in right now. You know what, do whatever you want, I don't give a damn anymore!" her face was shaded by her thin bangs, only her long lashes from her closed eyes shown through them.

Hiei kept his distance, at first she was talking of understanding and now she was giving up again?

Sade placed her arms at her sides and cursed under her breath, feeling foolish at her reaction. She opened her eyes and looked at different places on the ground, trying to find something to leave her sight on.

She looked down at her feet, and then her eyes wondered forth to Hiei's boots and a strange thought came to her, 'Wow… he has such small feet.'

The thought made her giggle. Hiei froze as a look of utter perplexity screened on his nearly childish face.

"Wha-what's so funny?" he growled.

The fire-demon watched her display as though she was insane, though the notion wasn't too far off.

Hiei was bewildered as any male would be trying to figure out a woman that didn't even know her own angle.

Hiei blinked several times at her, what was her angle?

'She changes moods faster than a pregnant ningen in a theater built of drama,' he thought to himself.

Sade smiled as the small bit of amusement, lightened her spirits.

Hiei glared and yelled at her to stop being an idiot; trying to get her to snap out of it, but she had found something about him that was amusing, it would take more than empty threats to faze her.

Sade quieted herself and walked up to him with more than doubtful confidence. (Is that an oxymoron? ;)

"You win; you want your power back?" she smiled slightly, and he nodded solemnly.

"Fine, but if you want it back…" she leaned forward slightly to make sure he was listening.

"You have to kiss me…"

Daine gasped as a flash of red hair clouded her vision as her dear Ran-chan charged at her with his eyes closed.

Ranjitzu knocked her down, but since she had been floating she landed rather hard, her butt hit the floor with her legs slightly spread and Ranjitzu lying in her lap with his head on her stomach, still holding his head with both hands and his eyes closed.

Daine was about to pull him off but stopped, when she noticed his distress. She placed her hand on his head and said his name frantically, "Ran-chan, Ran-chan, RANJITZU!"

Daine continued to call his name and shake him till it occurred to her that something must be trying to do something to his mind.

Daine lifted him off her body and put her hands over his quickly rising chest and chanted a spell to exorcise and block the problem from his body.

Ranjitzu's breathing slowed and he opened his eyes, he was sweating profusely and his eyes were contracted. Daine held him close to her with her hands now placed on his back and she growled, "I'm gonna murder whoever did this..." She said crossly with her eyes glowing a menacing red and silver.

Daine concentrated on Ranjitzu's recovery with her energy coursing through her body into his; suddenly she was interrupted by the sound of rustling. She turned and her eyes narrowed at a figure standing over Mavrick's limp body...

Note

I'm sorry…. it did take me long enough, and I'm sorry it's not so long, it was but I decided to cut it in half so I can have something to post. My mother just recently had surgery and was just released yesterday. I'm very tired from staying up with her, but I had some time to think to myself and managed to throw this down so I hope you enjoyed it, and the other half will be done, soon as I finish a battle scene, which I'm not so good at mind you. So please R&R. Thanx.