Chapter 15! Read and enjoy!
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
"I never would have thought there are so many rituals to do…" Kazuhiko commented looking at the Bible's size.
"You would be surprised." Niko said, carefully placing a book on the table.
"What's that?" Kazuhiko asked looking at her curiously.
"It's a ritual guide written in Esperanto." She answered.
"You speak Esperanto?" Kazuhiko and Seras stared in awe. Niko shrugged.
"I've had quite a lot of free time since the war ended until I was called to serve in the army… I studied many languages."
"Well what languages do you speak?" Kazuhiko asked.
"Mmm… besides Japanese I speak English, French, Romanian, of course," she smiled at Alucard, but he was focused in the book he had in hands. "Chinese, Latin and Greek were taught in my days as a Geisha, Esperanto and German because I was curious and I'm learning Spanish now."
"Wow…" Seras blinked. "That's incredible!"
"If you think you're done blushing Nagisa" Gingetsu interrupted dryly. "Maybe we could keep working."
"Yes Sir." Kazuhiko said sheepishly to his superior.
"I have heard of girls disappearing." Gingetsu said. "According to my sources, Hell opening rituals use, as gates, pure maidens, mirrors or clean water surfaces. Considering that and the vast space they will need for the ritual we can rule out some of the old warehouses in London and limit ourselves to a few we will have to go check personally."
"Pure maidens are the usual treat… how many have disappeared?" Kazuhiko looked at Gingetsu seriously.
"Twelve have been reported, but I doubt they are all involved in our business."
"Alright." Kazuhiko sat up straight. "But from now on I'm staying tuned to any disappearing of girls that might be virgins. I'll check that thing on the warehouses too."
"Yes go now." Gingetsu ordered. Kazuhiko complied immediately. The Lt. looked at the other people in the library. "How are you on the Bible, Walter?"
"Not good." The butler answered. "It is a strange mix between various old languages, some of which I'm not even familiar with, so I have some blank spaces. So far I haven't reached the Hell opening ones." He shook his head, a little frustrated.
"Niko and Alucard can help you." The Lt. said naturally. Niko nodded her head and approached Walter to look at the Bible. Alucard said nothing. "Hey." Gingetsu marked coldly.
Alucard raised his eyes from the book he was reading, eyebrows arched. "Yes, or do I have a choice?" he said as if remarking the most obvious thing.
He was sitting very relaxed, balancing on the back legs of his chair, booted feet crossed on Seras's lap. He wasn't helping in researching. He was reading a novel. Seras, on the other hand, was being as helpful as her little experience and knowledge made her able to. At least she tried.
break+
Kazuhiko sat in a chair next to Seras. The little vampire looked at him with a dim smile and he returned the gesture.
Walter, Alucard and Niko were working on the book together. The three of them were making good advances. The facility with which Alucard had agreed to help them amazed them all. Maybe he was curious.
"Are they getting anywhere?" he asked in a whisper to the girl.
Niko caught his voice and decided to take a little break. "We already found the section of opening rituals." She said. "We're getting close. But somehow I think the ones that wrote this book didn't think anyone would use the rituals they were making official, like our demons is."
"Ah, how naïve people can be…" Kazuhiko said mockingly, placing his chin on his hands.
"Nobody said this book was written by people." Niko replied. Kazuhiko and Seras stared. Niko sat down on a chair and toyed with a long, black lock of her hair. "This book, The Bible of Clair, was written, the legend says, by a Council of Angels and Demons, messengers of God and the Devil that accepted to follow certain rules to the world to keep some kind of balance. They call it the Equilibrium. The Bible of Jesus and its apostles deliberately left unsaid an important piece of information, that it's included on the Hell's' Bible. This Bible includes an explanation on the way heaven and Hell are divided. According to this book they are divided in Seven parts. Each part has a ruler, in Heaven, Angels, and in Hell, Demons. Each part of both Heaven and Hell has a meaning, and a mission. Though Angels are limited to their kingdoms on Heaven as Demons are in theirs, Archangels, and lower demons or half demons are allowed to travel from one dimension to the other. The damage they can do is very limited, almost unnoticeable. They are called hybrids by those who are experienced, like mediums or other kind of creatures… the Bible of Clair is a guide on the rituals and things that Angels and Demons accorded not to do to keep the Equilibrium. Another war between Heaven and Hell would result in the end of the world…"
"Another?" Seras interrupted. "There was one already?"
"Yes," Alucard said raising his head and leaning back in the chair. He was very serious. "Thousands of years ago, before man had a memory. It is a well kept secret. They call it War for the Rise, because the sons of the Lord of the Nightmares tried to rise to the Earth. It was a massacre… it ended in the Angels descending from their kingdoms to Hell's domains and virtually eliminating anything that moved… until God took them back into his light. That's when the Clair Bible was written. God and the Devil decided that the war between them had to reach an end before they destroyed everything alive…" He shifted in the chair and moved his fingers over the page of the Bible. "This book contains a fraction of both God's Bible, the one we know by Jesus, and Hell's' Bible. I believed every tome of it had been destroyed during the Inquisition… I use to keep one in my library in Romania but it was burned down… I'm amazed that you found one."
"Catholic Church had less reach than what they like to think." Kazuhiko answered. "You seem to know a lot of this."
"Devoted centuries to study…" Alucard replied lazily. "I had a lot of time in my hands and I needed to search for answers about what I now was."
"Well if there was a Council, something's bothering me." Kazuhiko said. "How the hell did this Demon cross over?"
"Hell… exactly." Alucard said, sitting up straight. "Thousands of years ago God almost provoked a new war… because he sent his messengers down to earth when he had agreed not to directly participate in human's development. The Devil got angry, he sent his own messenger up to earth…and God sent Jesus to guide humanity. The Devil insisted in God breaking the rules first… so God agreed to take Jesus back. Thinking God had broken the rules first, the Devil… neglected them a little, letting hybrids pass, and provoking the existence of creatures such as vampires and the rest… now apparently he decided to completely overrule them."
"Well if the Devil plays wrong God will intercede right Master?" Seras looked at him with bright big eyes, full of hope.
Alucard arched an eyebrow and slowly shook his head. "This doesn't technically enter God's jurisdiction, as the Devil didn't, apparently directly participate and this Demon of ours is being helped by Humans. God doesn't interrupt in Human behaviour remember?"
"But if our friend here has an Angel, surely he's doing something to get him back, correct?" Kazuhiko asked lighting a cigarette.
"I wouldn't keep my hopes on that…" Alucard said low.
Kazuhiko stared. "Catholic is a crappy religion huh?"
"They have somehow managed to keep the world at peace for the last sixty years, so… I would give them some credit." Niko replied dryly. "And just so you know, Angels are not exclusive of the Catholic Church." She added closing her eyes and raising her eyebrows in an arrogant gesture.
Kazuhiko glared at her. "Ask me if I care." He said harshly. Niko glared coldly. "Thing is, we have a demon on our hands, a possible new war and no God to help us. Seeing it coldly what we have is three half demons, a Clover, and some human soldiers. I think we're having a hard time ahead of us my friends." He said, sounding pretty laid-back.
"Before worrying about how we are going to deal with our problems, we need to find the ritual we are going to face." Walter said rising his head. "Time is running out quickly. Where is the Lt.?"
"Gingetsu is talking to General Kou." Kazuhiko answered, frowning. "The Magis are getting impatient about our visit to London and Gingetsu is getting the worse part."
"They're scolding him?" Seras asked, looking like she felt sorry for him.
"They never have a chance to do it, so when they have it, they pull the best out of it… Gingetsu never misbehaves so this has been the first time in years that he gives them the chance."
"But, that is unfair…" Seras said frowning. "Doesn't anybody help him?"
"Nobody ever has…" Kazuhiko answered. "But he has Kou, that at least backs him up, probably out of guilt for what she did…"
"What did she do?"
"She was one of the founders of the Clover Leaf Project."
"She sends you greetings, too." Gingetsu said heading for the table.
"Oh thank you." Kazuhiko answered getting up. "How did it go?"
"The usual." Was the reply. Gingetsu looked at Walter. "How is that going?"
"Nothing useful yet." Niko answered.
Gingetsu nodded. "Take a break. You'll work on it later. Get some rest, Walter."
The butler moved his head slowly. "No, I wish to get the ritual as soon as possible. The time is slipping out of our hands. We cannot afford to lose it."
"You will be of no help whatsoever if you are exhausted Walter." Gingetsu said, somewhat softer. "Go sleep, we will gain the time back later."
"C'mon Walter." Niko touched his arm softly. "Alucard and I will keep on going, don't worry."
Walter nodded finally. He got up and stretched as gracefully as a cat. Niko admired him a little. Then she turned back to the book. She saw Alucard looking at her, grinning, and turned to him inquisitional.
"I see you taking interest in the Angel of Death." He commented to her mind, teasing.
Niko narrowed her eyes. "Please… don't tell me you are jealous thinking I could get what you never could…"
Alucard chuckled darkly. "I have moved on into different tastes… although I will admit, he used to be a beautiful boy. And he had quite a lot of potential."
"Vampire hunters don't usually turn onto their preys, so I understand he rejected you, hmmm?"
"Yes… and we found a comfortable relationship as friends. "
Alucard watched Walter leave with something close to a fond look that Seras caught by mistake, and made her smile.
He, who so much pride took in saying he had no human emotions, definitely did not only feel care for her, but surely also for Walter and Integral.
Thinking about it, Kazuhiko observed Seras and Alucard, he decided he had made a mistake. Walter's life was anything but lonely. Who could be lonely having so many people caring about you?
break+
Gingetsu sat in a chair next to Kazuhiko, that was silently scanning the internet in the search of old warehouses big enough to have the ritual performed in them, considering the information Gingetsu had gained from his sources.
Most of the abandoned buildings in London were back from the time of the World War II. Nobody seemed brave enough to either reform them and make them habitable, or simply tear them down and build new ones.
Scars are deep, the Japanese girl thought bitterly. Even after sixty years.
So: a) Big; b) close to a lake or something; c) far from most of the people; d) abandoned.
Easy treat. How many of those building could be in the metropolitan area of London?
15. Great. Guess who was going to go revise each and every one of them in the search of this damn demon and all his procession of monsters. If you said "Kazuhiko", you won a prize.
"You should get some sleep, too," Gingetsu interrupted his visor that was downloading information. "I got it from here."
"You sure? I can be of a lot of help, you know." Kazuhiko said, repressing a yawn.
"Yes, go." Gingetsu touched his shoulder. "Sleep until I go wake you."
"Will you be nice?" he asked pouting.
Gingetsu looked at him.
"Yeah, right… too much to ask."
break+
Kazuhiko dropped the coat on the chair and let himself fall, back to the mattress, on the bed. He hadn't known how tired he was until Gingetsu told him to go rest. He always knew thing before Kazuhiko. Maybe it was some other trick on his visor… he had absolutely every little stupidity you could find in its files. Apart from being able to connect to a world wide network. No one would ever know how much money he could have made out of blackmailing…
Stretching his arms and the muscles of his chest, Kazuhiko yawned, too lazy to actually get inside the bed, and curled into a ball over the blankets.
He was just so child-like when sleeping. Niko smiled to herself and appeared close to the bed. She stretched and took a blanket off the chair near the table to cover him with.
Alucard had taken Seras to drink their blood, so she had a little time free. Niko carefully extended the blanket over Kazuhiko's body.
"Mmm…" he purred softly and she chuckled. He opened one chocolate eye to look at her, sleepy. "Usually, I wouldn't tell a woman she reminds me of my mom, but…"
Niko laughed and sat beside him, stroking his hair. "You're tired?"
"I guess, a little." He answered, getting sleepier under her ministrations. "You?"
"No, it's the best hour for me." she answered.
"Mmm…" she wasn't sure he was listening anymore, his breathing slow and rhythmic, his body completely relaxed. Men are so sweet when they sleep… even Alucard. Smiling gently, Niko left his hair and moved to get off the bed and leave him to his rest.
"You can stay… if you want to." He said in a sleepy whisper. Niko froze.
"Oh…" she said low, surprised. She wondered if he was sleepy and thinking of someone else or seriously talking to her.
"Yeah… stay, Niko." He whispered.
She smiled, touched. Slowly, she laid herself beside him, facing his sleeping face. He was a handsome young man, maybe not as sexy as Alucard or as breathtakingly beautiful as Gingetsu, but he had his very personal charm.
Sighing as sleep overcame him, Kazuhiko moved his hand to grab hers softly. Niko laughed gently and put her forehead against his.
Feeling the touch, Kazuhiko instinctively moved towards her face, softly kissing her lips without actually thinking.
Niko opened her eyes, surprised, and stared at his closed ones. She moved her lips to return the kiss, but it wasn't a good idea, because, feeling no rejection, Kazuhiko deepened the kiss into her mouth, and moved his hand to her waist.
Niko moaned softly and that turn him back to reality. He opened his eyes abruptly and seeing what he was doing, he broke the kiss and sat up in the bed, blushing from embarrassment.
Niko lingered a little on the bed, then sat up next to him, getting a grip of the growing irritation she was feeling out of this constant game of cat and mouse. He always retreated in the most important parts!
"I'm sorry." He said finally, simply. "I don't know what came into me. I haven't been in bed with someone in some years and I guess it was a reflex. I sincerely apologize to you."
"Maybe when you're done apologising you'll realise you're wasting your breath." Niko said coldly. He turned to face her, surprised and confused. "And apparently you'll never be brave enough to actually kiss me, so obviously I'm wasting mine!" she snapped at him, got up and went for the door.
Kazuhiko lingered yet a second, looking into space, processing what she had just said.
He unexpectedly got off the bed and intercepted her before she got to the door. Using his much larger body he trapped here between himself and the wall, effectively pinning her to it. In an attitude much more dominant than she had expected he leaned in for a firm kiss, coaxing her mouth open without ever waiting for resistance.
Niko thought of shoving him off, but then… ah, his kiss. He was so good! His body against hers was so warm, his taste so sweet… she started returning the kiss gently and he calmed down to a softer, tender kiss that actually made her knees feel like jelly.
Suddenly he turned more passionate, and Niko reacted instinctively. But it was a mistake. He cut his tongue deeply with one of her fangs. Not having ever kissed a vampire he wasn't very accustomed to avoiding them…
Moaning a little he pulled back and straightening he took his thumb to the cut that bled quite a lot, looking at her sideways with his eyes bright.
She felt mortified by his expression and his blood. She moved to the side, sliding on the wall to get to the door, but Kazuhiko showed to be much faster than she had expected.
He put an arm around her slim waist and again pressed her to the wall. "Where are you going?" he demanded, and without even waiting for an answer leaned in for another kiss.
Niko hesitated, but his lips were just too irresistible, especially as they were tinted in his own blood. Niko insistently sucked at the cut in his tongue, coaxing the most blood she could out of it before closing it with her own tongue.
Kazuhiko gently broke the kiss and straightened to look at her, one eyebrow raised, obvious amuse in his chocolate eyes. "Is that what you wanted?" he asked.
Niko glared. "You're spending too much time with Alucard. You're starting to behave like him."
"No way, I'm just teasing you." Kazuhiko gave a step back to free her. He looked at her speculatively. "Well I think we pretty much cleared our doubts about this matter…"
"You could have done that before!" she said, irritated.
"So could you!" he answered. They glared a minute and then both laughed softly. "OK, look, this is anything but the right time to start a relationship… we should wait to get back home."
"Well, we did wait a whole year already…" Niko said smiling.
"Great. It seems like our mission here is coming to an end soon, so we don't have to wait too much. You think you're up to it?"
"Please, I'm a vampire." She said arrogantly.
"Right…" Kazuhiko muttered. Niko looked at him, a little worried.
"Is that…?"
"No, no, no problem" Kazuhiko caught her thought. "Just somewhat freaky."
"Oh." Niko smiled lovingly and kissed his lips lightly before disappearing to go back to the library.
When she sat back on the chair she saw Alucard flash a mischievous amused look at her. She looked at him, curious.
"You have his smell all over you." He commented chuckling, and then turned his gaze to the page of the Bible they were now in.
Niko smiled to herself.
break+
It was four o'clock in the afternoon.
Kazuhiko opened the window and leaned against it, back to the bright blue sky outside. He exhaled the smoke of his cigarette, frowning. It didn't seem like they were reaching any conclusions. They had been studying the damn Bible of Clair for hours now. Niko and Alucard had gone to sleep several hours ago at noon. They had the rest of the day to rest, although he thought that maybe that wouldn't be quite enough for them…
Gingetsu was speaking to General Kou. Daily report apparently. Walter was standing near a shelf, reading a book with all his concentration. It seemed to be an old Rune dictionary. Kazuhiko didn't know for sure who had written that Bible, but whoever did it sure knew a lot of languages… and how to mix them.
Kazuhiko crossed his arms. He shook his head, worried about the time running out if their hands as they tried to find in the Clair Bible the ritual that demon was going to use.
A warm breeze flowed form behind his back, form the sky and in the room. The sun seemed to shine brighter for a second, light falling over the table and illuminating the Bible. The soft wind moved the thin pages, flipping them, until it extinguished, leaving one open.
Kazuhiko arched an eyebrow as the sun apparently got dimmer again. He turned and looked at the sky, hands on the window. Not one single cloud in the sky. Yet, the sun had shone brighter, like uncovered for a second… Kazuhiko felt the air. No wind either.
Frowning, he flashed a mischievous look at the sky. He got in, closed the windows and went for the table.
"Hey, Walter," he called out. "Come take a look at this."
The butler lingered a second near the shelf, and then he approached the table. He scanned the page slowly, understanding as much as he could.
His eyes widened slowly as he read. He raised them to Kazuhiko.
"Dear God, Kazuhiko you found it. How?"
"Um… I guess a little touch of divinity…" Kazuhiko answered eyeing the window.
Walter looked at him arching an eyebrow for a second, and then he started reading the book again. So, now they had the ritual, all they need was to translate it, find the place and… well, the hard part: stop it.
break+
"Two days?" Integra snapped getting up. "What do you mean two days?"
"The Bible says very specifically that it needs a long period of darkness in the middle of the day. That means an eclipse. Kazuhiko found there will be one in two days, at noon. That is the time they will use. They can make the eclipse longer by the magic of the ritual, and having all they need they will start it."
"Well what are they missing?"
"Probably just you. Sir Integra." Gingetsu answered coolly.
"They'll have her over my dead body." Alucard growled.
"Yes, that is probable." Kazuhiko thought to himself, darkly. He knew Alucard had read his mind when the vampire wildly glared at him. Kazuhiko, far from intimidated, fixed his glasses on his nose, by the centre, with his middle finger, in a very explicit gesture.
Alucard bared his fangs at him, furious of his insolence. But Kazuhiko was just unreachable.
Niko glared from behind the Captain and Alucard decided to calm down before she got angry with him. He looked at his Master.
Standing near her desk, Integra calmly lit up a small cigar. She then raised her eyes to meet Gingetsu's. "So what is next, Lt.?" she asked coldly.
"Obviously Alucard, Victoria and Nagisa will remain here to your protection. I will take Kazuhiko and Walter and a large part of your men, always keeping an important force here, to find these Necromancers that hurt Nagisa. With them plus my own men I should be able to take them tonight."
"Very well then."
"Yes." Gingetsu took his visor off the desk and putting it on, he left the study with Walter and Kazuhiko.
A/N:
How about that for a first kiss? I just thought I had this little couple a little forgotten and decided to give them some attention. I mean, who knows what could happen in incoming chapters? Maybe there won't be another… (mmmwwahahahahhhahha) (Um, that's an evil laugh, yes)
Namariel out!