Dark Demons
by Tapestry
Rated: R (M)
Standard Disclaimer Apply
Elements from 'Dark Series' by Christine Feehan
italics for telepathic convo
1/6/05
"Woman was created from the ribs of man
Not from his head to top him
Nor from his feet to be walked upon
She was made from his side to be his equal
From beneath his arms to be protected
From very near his heart to be loved."
--Anonymous--
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- Chapter 2: Shadows -
Mizuno Ami blinked her eyes blearily as her pager went off, startling her out of a nap she had inadvertently dozed off to. Shuffling the papers strewn on her desk, she finally found it and squinted at the message that appeared flashing on the offending object.
Jumping from her seat, she shrugged into her doctor's lab coat and rushed out of the office. The young patient, Tomoe Hotaru was missing and none of the nurses could find her.
'That girl! She promised!' sighed Ami in her mind, her heels clacking on the hospital hallway tiles.
Extending her senses, Mizuno Ami went off in search of her elusive and reluctant patient.
Tomoe Hotaru stared up at the large man. Large being the defining word. He was definitely a foreigner, his hard sculpted face, eyes that burned like blue flame and dark piercing, no asian features there. Surprisingly, he spoke japanese fluently without an odd accent either, an accent that many foreigners tended to have.
He still had her wrist locked in his fist, and he was staring at her in an odd way that made her feel as if he were staring into the depths of her soul and seeing right through every barrier she had. He unnerved her.
She tried to drag her hand away but his grip didn't budge, she watched his eyes narrow and ceased her attempts to escape, her mind racing and panicking. A presence entered her thoughts and soothed, projecting warmth and security...
Familiar.
Her eyes widened, she recognized the touch... it was the presence she had heard crying out in despair and loneliness in her dreams. The presence she had reached out to and given comfort.
She sucked in a deep breath. It couldn't be...
A smile curved his lips.
"You remember..." was all he said.
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Zachary sensed Geoffrey's presence in the hospital, the demon reared its head but was swiftly buried. It was a dangerous time for him, his mate was here and the presence of another male so close nearby prickled at his demon. But Geoffrey was a friend, and he had probably come to investigate the possibility of human vampire hunters in the city.
His senses told him she was about to turn the corner in front of him. He smiled.
Deliberately, he placed himself in front of that particular corner and waited for everything else that followed.
She slammed into him and bounced off his chest, catching her before she fell to the ground. He watched in interest as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, furtively apologising at the same time.
Ami felt as if she had walked into a brick wall, but the arms that caught her belied otherwise. Rubbing her poor nose, she apologised to the man, not really paying attention he still hadn't released her from the circle of his arms.
Coming back into focus, she looked up to see just who she had run into, and her breath caught.
It was the foreign man from that hallucination she had had on the night of the emergency. The same build and strawberry blonde hair tied back at his nape. He was staring at her with knowing blue-green eyes, a small smile curving his lips.
'So, his eyes weren't just blue...'
"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice rich and fluid, like a dark song gliding over her senses.
"Yes, I'm fine." muttered Ami, trying to calm her wildly beating heart, a first time experience in her twenty-six years.
"This might be an odd question, but, have I seen you before?" asked Ami still staring.
Zach laughed. "Perhaps? But I think I would remember a lovely face like yours."
Zach smiled politely. It wasn't time for her to know what he was yet, he had to tread slowly on this. Scanning her mind, he found with relief she wasn't on her way to an emergency or anything.
"My name is Zachary Selvaggio, and you?"
"Doctor Mizuno Ami." replied Ami automatically. She felt mesmerized, but quickly snapped back to attention.
"I'm sorry, I'm looking for a patient, so I must continue on my way. Good day, sir."
She had to get away... he was wreaking havoc on her faculties.
Zach chuckled to himself. He saw through her ploy easily, she wasn't escaping that easily, not if he could help it. He had waited hundreds of years for her, and now that he had finally made himself known, he wasn't going to let her push him from her existence.
"Actually, maybe you could point me back to the entrance? I seem to be lost." smiled Zach.
Ami blinked.
"Oh." Well, she had nothing she could say to that.
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Geoffrey stared down at the tiny girl-child who was his mate, her emotions running riot from panic to curiosity to attraction, before bouncing back and forth again to the other turbulent and chaotic feelings in her body.
"You wear the dressing of a hospital patient. Why are you running about in the halls?" asked Geoffrey, tilting his head in puzzlement.
"I'm escaping, genius." she retorted, struggling in his arms.
"I think not."
If she was ill, he couldn't allow her to be running off to who knew where. He was about to send himself into her body to assess her illness when a voice called out a command.
"Hotaru! You there, unhand her, this instant!"
Turning his head, he saw a young woman in a white lab coat, her tiny feet marching imperiously towards him. Her short blue-black hair ruffling around her ears, and her blue eyes flashing at him.
And right behind her was Zachary.
"Oh great." muttered Hotaru under her breath.
"Geoffrey." murmured Zach.
"Friend of yours?" asked the doctor.
"Hmm, Geoffrey, this is Dr. Mizuno Ami," introduced Zach easily. 'My mate.' The words shimmered easily into his mind as Geoffrey tilted his head to assess the doctor. She was small sized, and had an air of serenity about her.
'I am pleased to meet your mate for life, my friend.'
'She will be a handful, this one. Already she seeks to run from me.' chuckled Zachary.
"Mizuno-sensei, this is my housemate and friend, Geoffrey Balzac." smiled Zach, turning his attention to the petite doctor.
"Your charge, doctor?" asked Geoffrey smoothly, referring to Hotaru. His tone was mild and complacent, yet Zach could read Geoffrey's body language easily in the unyielding hold the other man had on the pale violet eyed girl. His posture towering over hers, was protective.
Zach blinked in surprise. Could it be...?
"Not exactly. However, I do check up on her once in awhile. She has the habit of trying to escape, this one." muttered Ami, turning a reprimanding eye on Hotaru.
"You promised me, Hotaru-chan."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. But, you know how much I dislike being cooped up here. With my limited time and all..."
"Exactly why you have to remain here, Hotaru. You shouldn't aggravate your condition any further!"
"What would it matter? I'm dying anyway." murmured Hotaru calmly. She would not be bitter, she had long accepted that was to be her lot in life that she would not live to see her 20th birthday.
Beside her, the large man called Geoffrey stiffened and gripped her hand in his firmly.
"What exactly is wrong with her, Mizuno-sensei?" asked Geoffrey politely.
"I'm not a liberty to tell you her condition, Mr. Balzac, nor do I see any need for your interest in this matter." sighed Ami wearily.
Zach moved closer to Ami in a protective stance as he saw Geoffrey move subtly in protest.
"I have cancer of the bone, Mr. Balzac. Terminal."
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Funny how a few nights ago, he had been the one to be staring out into the night while Geoffrey was in his place.
Zachary Selvaggio watched Geoffrey in silence as the vampire hunter said nothing, watching the flickering lights of red, yellow and a myriad of other flashing colours dance in the distance.
He wondered what Geoffrey was feeling?
The joy and ecstasy of finding one's mate only to have that reality plunge into painful realization that she was dying? The heaven and yet hell paradox.
"It's funny, Zachary. She has never had the opportunity to see this sight which I am now watching and have always taken for granted." began Geoffrey as he broke the silence.
"Geoffrey?"
"She has lived her life on the streets in hiding from the evil shadows that lurk in the bowels of every city, Zachary."
"You feel guilty for not being here to protect her." stated Zach.
Geoffrey said nothing and merely continued his silent vigil by the window.
"You want to turn her."
"Yes. That would save her...and yet, I know I am being selfish. Because that is what I want."
"You fear she will reject our way of life?"
"Yes, that and the fact that I could save her without having to turn her. But I know in my soul, I would offer her the choice of becoming one of us without telling her of the alternative. Because I am selfish and want her bound to me for all eternity." murmured Geoffrey, as he bowed his head in shame.
"Then let her get to know you, Geoffrey. And let her choose."
Geoffrey turned to stare at the strawberry blonde man. His blue-green eyes locking with his own blue ones.
A moment of pregnant silence passed between the two men before Geoffrey finally glanced away, breaking the stare.
"There's still the issue of the human murderers, possibly in the hospital. The boy they murdered was definitely no vampire, just a uniquely talented individual." sighed Geoffrey, his hand running through his dark midnight coloured hair.
"I agree. Unlikely as it seems, this boy could just have been unfortunate to have violently vicious enemies, however, all evidence does seem to point to a vampire hunting society here in Japan." said Zach as he quickly sat down in front of the computer and pulling out files.
"Do you believe such a young boy as the one murdered could have made enemies vile enough to stake him?"
"Probably not. These are the autopsy reports from the hospital."
Geoffrey moved behind Zach to read the screen. A few minutes later, Geoffrey straightened from his bent position, frowning.
"I do not like the implications of this report, Zachary."
"Indeed. It is obvious the murderer had medical knowledge, judging from the neck wound. Possibly even one of the medical staff working in the hospital."
Every instinct the two men possessed urged them to snatch their females and hide them away, far from the city. Unfortunately, modern women were not so accommodating.
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Geoffrey materialized in the dark hospital room and watched the figure lying quietly on the bed.
"You are not asleep."
"I knew you would come. I saw it in my mind."
Her eyes glittered in the moonlight, her gaze unwavering as she watched him from her hospital bed.
"Do you fear me, then?" asked Geoffrey softly, his head tilting in question.
"Yes...and no."
Geoffrey prowled closer to her bedside, his movements silent, his clothing not even rustling. As if one moment he was across the room and in the next, he had magically transported himself to her bedside.
He reminded her of a predator, stalking its prey.
But almost immediately, he stepped back into the shadows just as the door to her room opened. The nurse smiled and handed Hotaru her medication.
The moment the nurse left, he was back.
"I dislike the sedatives and painkillers you know. But sometimes, the pain in the bone is so bad, I don't know what to do." murmured Hotaru as she felt her eyelids droop.
"Sleep little one." shushed Geoffrey as he smoothed black violet strands of hair away from her face. His palm brushed her face, brushing the pale white of her skin.
Sending himself into her body as energy, he examined her internal organs and bones. The cancer had started out from the bone and had spread like wildfire throughout her whole body. Steeling himself, he set about to make her more comfortable, eliminating the cancer from her would only draw suspicion from the murderers in the hospital. So he did what he could.
Nearing dawn, he stood from the bed and brushed her forehead with a kiss.
His gut clenched tightly as he heard the blood rushing through her veins and the pounding of her heart. He pulled back and cursed.
Watching her peaceful young face, his heart melted. She was his mate and under his care... he would protect her.
Obsession. And obsession was not love. It was very doubtful she would ever come to love someone like him, but he needed her, and with him she would stay.
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Somewhere in another part of the hospital, in a secluded dark stairwell, a man and woman argued.
"That boy wasn't a vampire and you know it! We murdered an innocent child!"
"And how would you explain his uncanny knack for reading minds?"
"So the boy was psychic, he walked in the daylight for cripes sake!" shouted the man. "I didn't sign up for this outfit to murder innocents!"
"Be quiet you fool! You're in too deep as it is already. Don't you forget that." snarled the woman as she walked up the stairs and yanked open the door leading to the hospital hallways.
The man stood silent in the darkness, staring at nothing. Finally he gripped his head in his hands and gave an anguished moan.
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To be continued...
Mweh, are rather short chapter. Surprising I even got up to do anything at all. I'm a terrible procrastinator. In fact, even now, I am procrastinating on my 3D animation which I should be doing. I am so dead.
11/07/05