A quick clarification: Zero is the Hunter equivalent of a pureblood, yes, but remember that in vampire terms, he equals a very high-ranking noble. He is the most powerful kind of Hunter they can possibly produce, but vampire power rankings have an even higher category - a pureblood is simply so powerful no single Hunter could hope to match them. A pureblood casually killed Zero's parents, who were supposed to be the strongest Hunters at that time, without any effort, which should tell you what kind of terrifying opponents they are.
My gratitude to those of you who offered palace name suggestions last chapter, consensus seemed to be 'something with roses' so I went with that. I hope you don't mind, Sancti Rei, your suggestion didn't get chosen but it did end up repurposed in a significant place. :)
Thanks to last chapter's reviewers, I also accidentally gained a new subplot. huh.
VII. A Covenant Sealed in Blood: Prelude
"How many can you sense?" Ichijo's hushed voice whispers by his ear.
"Over eighty, maybe a hundred," Zero quietly responds. "They stayed just out of my sensory range, and they're coming on fast. If we fight that many alone, we will lose. Can we call for help?"
Glass shards clink as Ichijo feels around himself. "I've lost my phone."
The Hunter passes his cellphone over and unlocks it; Ichijo starts to dial. Isa whines contritely and licks Zero's wound in apology for biting him earlier. Oddly, the pain fades, and Zero pats his head in thanks. The driver from the car who hit them - a C-Rank - is still alive, and he is coming over to investigate, hearing the sound of someone still moving inside.
Pulling Bloody Rose from its holster, Zero doesn't bother worrying about stealth; their attackers already know where they are. A single shot to the head and the vampire is ash. Then he starts to haul himself out of the shattered side window, going gingerly to avoid jagged broken glass left in the frame. Ichijo has gotten through to the security team, and Zero can hear him speaking as he circles around to the front of the car, where something is leaking acrid fluids into the dirt.
"Ichijo-sempai," Zero calls, "we need to get out of the car. I don't know if it's safe."
A pause in the conversation, and the sound of more shifting glass means the noble heard him, so Zero goes to check on the guard and the driver. Zero is most worried about the guard. The front passenger side where he was sitting is bent around the tree they collided against, but the severe damage could keep Zero from reaching him.
Both the airbags deployed, and the air is thick with white dust when Zero breaks the cracked driver's side window, and reaches inside to feel for a pulse. The vampire groans at the touch - alive, thankfully, but bleeding heavily from a head wound - and Zero leans further through the window to find the seatbelt release. The driver's body thunks down onto the roof of the car, and Zero drags the vampire out after him by his jacket, laying him out a safe distance away if the car catches on fire. From Zero's quick examination, the driver has a broken left leg from being hit by the attacker's car, and a serious head wound from the crash, but he'll probably live.
Ichijo comes up behind him, lowering Zero's phone from his ear, Isa at his heels. "It will take at least half an hour for help to get here. They're tracking the GPS tag in your phone to our location."
"We don't have half an hour," Zero says, shaking his head, "maybe a minute and a half until they're on us. If they coordinate their attacks we won't last five minutes. Can you get the guard out if I keep them occupied?"
"I'll try. The damage is worst there. Isa will help you buy time, but what do we do after that? It's too dangerous to stay near the car, but it offers us more protection than running through the forest carrying injured men."
Zero eyes the hound doubtfully, but continues on. "The map says there's a village half a mile down the road. We should retreat that way; I'm less effective with these trees restricting my gun range and there's probably a clearing there. I don't want to endanger humans but it's the only strategy I can think of."
Ichijo nods decisively, and worms back through the driver's window, just as the first pair of red eyes appears through the trees. Staying clustered together will help Zero's ability to defend all four of them, so Zero grabs the driver by his shirt and pulls him backwards toward the car, firing as he goes, so precise that each shot equals one kill.
Despite the certainty of their loss, a hot streak of joy wells up in the Hunter, with familiar weapons in his hands and a battlefield full of targets before him. At least he'll get to kill a bunch of vamps before he dies. Threatened by imminent death, Zero feels better than he has in months.
The enemy forces are strange; a few Level Es, yes, but mostly unstable D Rank ex-humans and almost as many C Rank commoners, all acting starved by bloodlust, or else the instinctual drive to protect not one, but two omegas should have kicked in.
Quickly, Zero realizes that their current position is dangerous. The car is right against the treeline, and while plenty of vampires are charging straight across the open road, the cleverer ones are circling around the sides to attack from the cover provided by the trees.
"We need to move, Ichijo-sempai!" Zero calls behind him as he squeezes the trigger and another Level E turns into ash.
"He's trapped - I have to destroy the car to free him. I need another few minutes, and he's badly injured," comes the muffled reply.
There's a snarl, and a strangled scream as a vampire who made it past Zero meets its end at Isa's jaws. Zero falls into a pattern, picking off most of the vampires with long range shots, while the grey and white hound, thick fur now spattered with blood, falls on the few who make it past the Hunter with his size and sharp teeth. Never has Zero been more grateful that Ichijo's dog isn't a natural animal.
Encircled, outnumbered, and forced to the edge of his abilities, Zero confronts an unending stream of enemies; with no safe direction, the world spins too fast for anything except reaction.
His training surfaces, the state of mind the Hunters call mushin, no-mindedness, free from thoughts of anger, fear, or ego, where actions flow without direction, and the body freely responds to intuition's call. In mushin, time is irrelevant; only the present moment exists; your opponent moves, you perceive it, and react without hesitation even before the strike ends. The division between Hunter and weapon is an illusion; both are one instrument, forged from the same vampire's blood, for the sake of one purpose: to kill all vampires who believe themselves unkillable.
The vampires are massing in the trees, Zero registers calmly; when they attack, all will end.
At that moment, something strange happens. The tattered pieces of Zero's mark burn; the world freezes. And just like that, the Hunter knows precisely where every vampire in this clearing is, what path they will take when they attack, and the perfect trajectory to end them, if Bloody Rose could break the laws of nature and fire quickly enough. Peaceful inside mushin's serenity, Zero readies himself for one last stand - when Isa steps in front of him.
The hound, who seems suddenly larger, turns his head silently to meet Zero's gaze with eerie luminous grey eyes. Shaken, mushin shatters, thought rushes back in like a wave, and the moment is broken; Zero's perception returns to normal just as their attackers sweep forward.
Isa stands firm, and the dust at Zero's feet begins to swirl, faster and faster, as the mass of snarling, red-eyed vampires - around forty of them - charges forward. Perhaps the hound barks, but Zero feels it in his bones like the sound of thunder, and he covers his ears. The wind shrieks, slicing forward like a hail of arrows, and before it parts flesh, bone, metal, wood - the air fills with shrapnel. When the dust clears, the treeline starts a full ten paces back, a wreckage of sheared stumps and ash. The car with Ichijo inside is untouched.
Even the attacking vampires are silent. Isa sighs, suddenly normal size again, and the light in his eyes goes out.
"Thank you," Zero says politely, and the hound nods back. In the trees, the vampires watch but move no closer, fear of death overriding their hunger, though it fades minute by minute.
Finally, the guard is free, and Ichijo reappears from the wreck, a bruise purpling his cheekbone and his blond hair dusted with fragments.
"I don't need my hands to fight, I'll carry them," he gasps, vampiric strength proving useful as the noble slings the guard over his shoulder and hooks his arm underneath the driver's belly. Many of the eagerest attackers are dead; there's a lull as the more patient ones watch from the trees and circle around their target.
"Can you use your power to break through, Ichijo-sempai?"
"Yes, that way?"
Zero nods, still catching his breath, and keeps scanning the trees for the next attacker. Ichijo makes no gesture or sign, but suddenly begins to run forward at a blurring speed, and Zero follows, scattering the vampires behind with a few parting shots. Four or five vampires leap into the road ahead of Ichijo, before freezing with looks of horror as layers of skin, muscle, fat and bone crumble away in a powdery dust, limbs slowly losing cohesion and breaking off, fully aware as their bodies dissolve around them, before the head and core finally collapse inward as though they were made of loose sand. Zero feels a shiver run down his spine - matter disintegration, what a terrifying way to die. Ichijo-sempai was a kind person, to prefer the sword instead.
They run following the road, trailing the scent of blood behind them as a lure, like an injured gazelle fleeing a pack of hyenas. A small, abandoned barn surrounded by overgrown fields and a dirt yard provides them shelter and refuge; Zero takes a shooter's perch on the roof and Ichijo guards the injured vampires from below.
Stymied, the pack of hungry vampires and the two omegas hold their stalemate for long minutes, but eventually their attackers find confidence again in their greater numbers and surge forward to storm the building. Zero can hear Ichijo fighting below, and a sound like a gust of wind as Isa's deep bark rings out, but the Hunter is too busy firing at his own opponents to help them, long out of bullets and relying on Bloody Rose to siphon off his energy into petal-bladed attacks that tear through the low ranking vampires like a scythe through wheat.
Something crawls across his foot, but Zero doesn't look down, furiously fighting for his life and possibly his freedom. Then another, quite heavy and large. And one more. The Hunter dares to take his eyes off the battle for a millisecond.
A spider, the size of his spread hand, and colored black with a red hourglass on its abdomen, is standing by his right foot. Then a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye; Zero raises his gun and fires at the oncoming Level D, but not before he realizes - the roof is covered in spiders, a black, many-legged carpet of them.
They surge forward, crawling up his trouser legs, clinging to his shirt, climbing over his face as he screams and struggles, trying to dislodge them, but the world turns black.
A soft, sweet voice asks him, "Are you alright, Kiryuu-kun?"
In what seems like no time at all, Zero finds himself clinging to a thick blue rug in a warm room lit by a flickering fire. In front of him is a woman dressed in a pretty pink gown with long, wavy blonde hair and light blue eyes, lit with concern now. She could be mistaken for an angel with the ethereal beauty of her delicate features - if Zero could not sense that she was a pureblood.
Zero runs through the catalogue of living pureblood vampires in his head.
"You're Shirabuki Sara."
"Yes," she smiles gently, "I saw through my familiars that you and Takuma-kun were being attacked by vampires, and I was able to rescue you."
Zero's suspicious nature is not dissuaded. "Where am I, and where is Ichijo?"
"I could only reach one of you, but Takuma-kun's security arrived soon afterwards to help. You're in a small retreat I own, about fifty miles away."
"Thanks for your help," Zero says, aware that the threat in front of him is far more dangerous than any pack of lesser vampires, "but I think I'll be on my way. The Association will know by now that I'm missing, and I need to go."
"Kiryuu-kun," Shirabuki says, her voice hurt and face sad, "have I done something to make you distrust me?"
"I'm a Hunter. I don't like any vampire." Zero gets to his feet, observing that the room is rather...frilly and girlish. "And I really do need to leave."
"Oh, that's such a shame...I'm not a patient woman, little Hunter."
Zero finds himself pinned to the wall by one delicate hand tipped in razor sharp nails, painted red as blood.
"You really should have played along. It would have been better for you."
The Hunter grinds the muzzle of Bloody Rose deeper into her side. "I'd let me go, if I were you."
Something like anger mixed with satisfaction twists her pretty features, and Shirabuki lets him go very slowly, slicing her claws through his neck so thin rivulets of blood trickle down the skin. She turns away, but makes a show of cleaning her nails with little kitten licks.
"I thought about killing you to ruin Kaname-kun's efforts with that treaty," she tells him, like they are friends discussing the weather. "Or maybe raping you, and sending the mess I made back to his sister, dear Yuuki-chan. A male omega's second virginity is quite the prize, you know; I'd love to ruin one of Kaname-kun's things he hasn't even gotten to enjoy yet."
"You're mistaken," Zero retorts, voice thick with anger, "I'm not one of Kuran's things."
The beautiful pureblood settles herself in a wicker chair decorated with ribbons, arranges her skirts, and smiles pleasantly at the Hunter. "Which is why I think the two of us can work together after all. Come sit down with me, and we'll talk about it."
"What goal do you imagine we have in common?" Zero refuses to move any closer to the duplicitous pureblood, and stays in the center of the room.
Shirabuki claps her hands and nods with approval, "You are as resistant to a pureblood's control as I've heard. You'll work perfectly." Taking a sip of tea, she smiles over the cup's rim, showing her fangs. "The goal we have in common is that we both wish to bring down Kuran Kaname."
"I may be a Hunter, but what makes you think I want to destroy Kuran, or that I'd help a pureblood with anything?" Zero asks sarcastically.
"Because you hate him more than anyone. I can offer you the revenge you want for how he's treated you."
Zero crosses his arms. "If I was still a teenager, I might say yes. But Kuran is the head of vampire society. He keeps the rest of you bloodsuckers in line. Killing him would destroy that balance. Not to mention I just promised, in writing, I wasn't going to harm him."
"Who says we're going to kill him?" she says archly, "There are other ways of destroying a man."
"Like what?" Zero demands suspiciously.
"You're going to marry him. Just by being near him, Kiryuu-kun, you'll have access to many of his secrets, things he doesn't want others to know. You'll be in a position to learn his weaknesses, the moments he's vulnerable. All you need to do, Kiryuu-kun, to take revenge on the pureblood who has belittled you, hurt you, and now trapped you in this sham of a marriage you don't want, is to tell me what you learn, and I will take care of the rest."
Shirabuki spreads her hands, and smiles her most saccharine smile, "And if you decide you want to kill Kaname-kun after all, then I promise you I will let you drink my blood and gain my power."
"Oh," she says, giggling behind her fingers, "it looks like your watcher came faster than I expected. Such a pity, but I think we'll have to say our goodbyes. Do remember what I've told you, Kiryuu-kun."
Then Shirabuki dissolves, nightmarishly, the pretty blond girl becoming a pile of hairy spiders that scuttle every which way, escaping through cracks and holes, until Zero is left standing alone in the room.
In through the doorway flies a raven the size of an eagle, with eyes like dried blood.
"Was that supposed to kill me?" Kaname inquires nonchalantly as a bullet embeds itself in the doorframe where his head used to be.
Kiryuu Zero lowers his gleaming gun, "We both know neither of us is capable of killing the other. I did find it very satisfying."
Kaname's raven familiar takes flight from its perch on the mantel, unspooling itself into ribbons of sheer black smoke, the piece of power embedded inside merging with its master and sinking back into his skin with a shiver like the touch of fog.
"That's twice I've saved your life since you presented. I suppose I can't expect someone like you to be grateful."
"Grateful?" Zero spits, incensed. "What do I have to be grateful for? That you saved me because you would look bad if you didn't? Because you need me alive for your plans? Don't feed me that bullshit and expect me to believe it! You saved me for your own goals. You have never saved me because my life meant anything to you on its own!"
At the end of Zero's outburst, he faces flushes and his chest heaves with the force of his anger. How nice - Kaname almost smiles.
"Why have you come back to meddle in my life, after thirty years of being happy to leave me alone?! Don't you get it? You! Won! Yuuki chose you, and I was one one left alone! Why did you damned purebloods have to come back into my life?!"
"You've proven you have new talents, Kiryuu, and you helpfully put yourself right at my feet. Otherwise I was content to let you disappear."
"Oh, how could I forget. You used me and threw me aside, and now that I'm useful again, here you are!"
"Of course. Why else would I tolerate you?"
"You liar. You jealous bastard, you've never 'tolerated' me, you just refrained from killing me because Yuuki would hate you if you did. Even after she chose you, you stupid fool, deep down you are so afraid of losing her -"
Kiryuu chokes helplessly for air, the plaster broken and shattered from the force when Kaname threw him into the wall. The pureblood squeezes tighter, feeling the cartilage of his windpipe creak beneath his fingers, and lets the Hunter suffocate satisfyingly for a few more seconds before loosening his grip, letting the insolent boy gasp and sputter.
His instincts scream at him - no no no omega omega no hurt no hurt protect protect protect - ruining the image of Kiryuu sagging in his grip, his neck decorated with a collar of bruises from Kaname's hand, unspoiled except by the barest remnant of the ex-human's taming mark, a nearly invisible ink wash. He had done well to order it removed.
To cover his confusion, the pureblood immediately lets Kiryuu drop to the floor, still coughing painfully, and steps back to gain some distance from the cause. It disturbs Kaname to find himself genuinely distressed by his alpha nature; he is never at the mercy of his instincts - Kaname rules every part of himself with flawless control, tested only by Yuuki's blood.
Kiryuu glares weakly up at him with watery eyes, shifting in a way that brings the scent of the Hunter's blood to his nose, and something else.
Someone else.
Striking like a snake, Kaname crowds the Hunter back against the wall; Kiryuu shouts and tries to attack him, slicing his forearm open shallowly with a hidden dagger before the pureblood can disarm the Hunter and pin his arms against the wall above his head, gentler this time. The silver-haired Hunter struggles futility, but Kaname ignores him, caught up trying to identify that stranger's scent. Kaname knows this person's smell, and Kiryuu is covered in it from head to toe.
He accepted us. He is ours, snarls the alpha. We drove off the spider woman who wanted him. How dare she touch him!
Shirabuki. Kaname's eyes flare red before settling back to their usual rusty color, and he lowers his head to nose against Kiryuu's throat, scenting the tender, soft skin there. The open wounds brought the fragrance of blood close to the surface, but the pureblood could tell Shirabuki had placed her bare hand on Kiryuu's neck.
Kiryuu was supposed to be bait for her. He planned for such a circumstance to happen. This scenario was expected, positive even. Kaname can use this.
Her scent still enrages him.
"Did you just smell me?" forces Kiryuu, tone incredulous, with great difficulty from his broken voice.
"Why did Shirabuki Sara plan your abduction and leave you unharmed?"
"She rescued me. We chatted," the ex-human rasps out.
A portion of truth, but not the whole. There will be time later to pry it out of Kiryuu.
Kaname considers for a moment. "You stink. Before your escort arrives, you will bathe."
"No!" the Hunter croaks, and begins to struggle again.
Kaname slams him against the wall, stunning him - his damned instincts wail traitorously. "You will clean her stench off your skin, or I will strip you naked and do it myself!"
Kiryuu recoils, a little fear in his eyes, and nods resentfully.
The brunette drags the Hunter roughly through the house, hand clasped around his arm like a shackle, past room after room filled with lace, floral prints, velvet upholstery and irritatingly quaint landscape paintings.
The alpha protests unhappily, Gentle, must not hurt mate.
He is not mate, Kaname thinks viciously. He is a tool.
We gave him our blood, didn't we? And alpha-mate gave him her blood too. We watched over him for so long, just to keep him safe, make him strong. Pretty, sweet-smelling omega accepted our courtship and promised himself to us. We will make him ours when we mount him and fill his belly with our offspring. He is mate.
Gritting his teeth, the pureblood pushes down the alpha and ignores his ridiculous, irrational instincts.
Finally Kaname discovers what looks like a guest room furnished neutrally enough to avoid offending his sense of taste, and shoves Kiryuu through the door ahead of him.
Still moving from the force, it takes Kiryuu a few more quick steps to keep from falling, and the Hunter turns to glare over his shoulder. Kaname, of course, ignores him to search the suite for a bathroom through the adjoining door. Shirabuki must meet her lovers here; the full bath almost equals the size of the bedroom next door, and it's fully stocked. Stubbornly, the Hunter hovers in the doorway with his arms crossed in front of his chest and refuses to enter.
"Kiryuu, it is your choice how this happens, but one way or another you will do as I wish."
The pale face twists indecisively, lavender eyes measuring the distance between them and the hallway door, before Kiryuu's expression becomes cooly impassive and he approaches Kaname and the enormous pink and white marble tub in the dead center of the room.
"Maybe I will, but not with you watching."
"Why not?" says Kaname, just to see how far this obedience goes. "We're going to be married. I'll see the little you have sooner or later."
"But not yet," replies Kiryuu, eyes steady, and he patiently watches without budging until the pureblood closes the door, leaving a gap between the door and the frame.
There's the rush of running water, and Kaname calls over the sound, "You won't be wearing those clothes back to the Association. I'm going to look for something else while you bathe. And I will know if you aren't thorough."
Searching through the wardrobe and dresser tells Kaname more than he ever wanted to know about his fellow pureblood's tastes, but he does find a silk robe and matching pajamas in wine red that Kiryuu won't throw a fit about wearing.
Kaname pauses in front of the door, pajamas in hand; the bathroom is quiet, except for a faint splash. Without examining his motives too closely, and without knocking, the pureblood swings the door open and goes inside. Kiryuu is just sliding under the water, surface opaque from bath salts - Kaname catches a slip of white back before his rival is up to his neck in milky water. The room smells like jasmine and the blood Kiryuu is washing off his neck.
"You did understand the purpose of this was to make you not smell?" the pureblood remarks, as Kiryuu startles, splashing water over the sides, and narrowing his eyes in a glare.
"Have you never heard of knocking, Kuran? Get out!"
"Gladly," he drawls, "as soon as I ensure I won't have to endure your nudity before I have to. You don't imagine that I find your skinny body attractive, do you?"
Much to Kaname's chagrin, now that Kiryuu is an omega, the pureblood is in fact hardwired to find him attractive. But interest is not desire, and just as he never gave a thought to Kiryuu's body when the boy was young, he doesn't care to sleep with him now.
"I don't give a damn whether you do or not, now leave!"
Placing the clothes conspicuously next to the bath towel laid out on the counter, Kaname withdraws under a lavender glare.
While he waits for Kiryuu to finish, Kaname dials the head of Takuma's security, learning that the cleanup took longer than expected, but the security team is on their way following Kaname's cellphone beacon, minus Takuma, who has been returned to the Shouto estate in his bondmate's care with a non-threatening injury to his side. The Hunters have been informed of the situation, and are sending their own team to rendezvous with the vampires and provide extra protection. Kaname will still send a familiar, of course. Yuuki will be distressed to learn they had such a close call.
A cloud of steam, jasmine and orange blossom soaps - Kaname does not turn around, finishing his call. Kiryuu is wearing those ill-fitting pajamas with the ends of his wet silver hair sticking to his flushed skin.
Kaname circles the ex-human speculatively, surveying the Hunter's form. He looks for the vampire blood; it's not hard to find, flowing close to the surface. Other Hunters have been turned before. None are like Kiryuu. Containing the power gained from drinking from three purebloods would have ripped them, and any average Level D, apart. Kiryuu thrives, his skin warm with the power humming beneath.
He will have to endure Kiryuu much longer than the lifespan of a mere Level D, perhaps as long as thousands of years, though eventually Kaname will outlive him. And the likelihood he will be fertile has increased. That means Kaname's plans have had to change. While he can still ignore Kiryuu, a modicum of cooperation is necessary.
"Takuma has a mild injury, and is on his way home. An escort is coming to collect you, but we have some time before they arrive. I had planned this conversation for after we married, but shall we discuss our options now?"
"Options for what?" Kiryuu inquires, almost pleasantly, the lassitude and warmth clinging from his bath making him compliant.
"I despise you; you loathe me. We will be married within days. We must live with each other, for Yuuki's sake, as peacefully as possible. Therefore, you and I must come to an arrangement."
"I don't see why we can't avoid one another."
"Tempting, but not always practical. You will, of course, abide by the terms you have agreed to regarding your public behavior. I will punish you if you misbehave in public, I promise you, and you will regret your actions. I wish to make that crystal clear."
Kiryuu glares, insulted into anger, "I keep my word once I give it. You don't need to remind me what I've agreed to."
"Then that leaves our private life. In order to begin the bonding process, the three of us must spend a significant amount of time together. How will we deal with that?"
"I'll behave if you do, Kuran. No more choking me, or ordering me."
"You'll be mine to order, Kiryuu, but think I can agree to a reciprocal agreement. Civility, and noninterference in each other's matters beyond what is necessary. The details will come later, once we speak with Yuuki."
"Now, I cannot send you to the Hunters looking like this." In a flash, Kamame catches Kiryuu by the elbows and pushes him down on the canopied bed. Kiryuu shouts and fights, tangling himself in the bedsheets, real fright giving him an eelike slipperiness and tenacity.
"Hush, Kiryuu. Hush! I am not trying to force you -" but the Hunter only shouts louder and redoubles his efforts. The pureblood gives up and lets the Hunter exhaust himself, unaffected by his struggles and futile fight against Kaname's greater weight and strength.
"Kiryuu," he says with exasperation when the Hunter finally stills, "I swear to you, I will not force you unless it is necessary or you leave me no other choice."
"What are you doing then?" Kiryuu demands.
"Your bruises haven't healed yet, and a pureblood's saliva has healing properties. It may surprise you to discover, but I do in fact have some limits."
"I don't need it," insists Kiryuu, trying to throw Kaname off again.
"It doesn't matter; I can't have the Association see you injured like this."
"Says the man who strangled me!"
But Kaname allows no more protests, and using one hand to hold the Hunter's wrists still, the other bends Kiryuu's jaw back to expose his neck.
A truly impressive collection, the bruises darkening his throat in greens and browns bring the scent of blood close to the surface, though the surface wounds have closed and Kiryuu washed the clotted blood away. A pity Kaname must erase them.
This is merely business, as it was when Kiryuu drank his blood, so Kaname doesn't draw it out, lapping broad strokes over the dark handprint across the center of Kiryuu's throat. The Hunter freezes like a rabbit pinned by a wolf when he feels the first wet touch, face crumpling in disgusted consternation. Fresh from the bath, the skin is clean of the Hunter's taste, except for a hint of the soap he used. Kiryuu's adam's apple bobs when Kaname licks over it, the only sign he makes until the pureblood draws away, the colorful marks already lightening as his saliva encourages healing and regeneration.
The alpha croons, violence earlier erased and forgiven, pleased after being allowed to care for and heal the omega. Now he smells like us, as he should. Next time we should scent mark our mate properly.
Kaname cannot wait to dump Kiryuu on someone else and leave here.
"I hear car doors. Try not to make any more trouble for the next few days until after the wedding; I won't allow you to leave the Association until then. I have too much work to do already."
The vampires come to collect Zero at precisely five in the evening on the night of the new moon.
He fell into an exhausted sleep a few hours ago, mind relentlessly turning in circles from terrified distress and apprehension. Nightmares have haunted him for days: himself, stripped naked in a circle of Hunters who spit on him and throw stones while they shout things like whore and slut, some where Master, Cross, his parents reject him, call him vampire and turn their faces away. Sometimes a bundle is placed in his hands, and a voice tells him it's his child, but when he lifts the swaddling, a hideous monster lies underneath. Most are of Yuuki - she stalks and shows her fangs, sometimes he catches her murdering humans, other times it's her face he sees instead of Shizuka's, slaughtering his family (and some where she pushes him down on his back, naked, and he fights, and she - he hurts, while her brother watches).
He will see her soon. He will be married to her soon. What will he do? Will she be anything like the human he remembers? Or will only the pureblood be left?
Maybe if he could think, he would know, but he has been sick to his stomach frequently, his terror feeding his nausea, his head aches, and he just wishes he could sleep. Worries follow him into the daylight, biting his heels. When he joins the night of the vampire forever, what will his life be like? Will the vampire eat the Hunter, and leave nothing left? What is he supposed to do if he turns out to be fertile after all? And blood and ashes, Zero cannot help but fear tonight, after he belongs to them, and they can do as they like. He did not trust Kuran's promise for a moment; the vampire would break it when it suited his plans. (There are rumors, among the Hunters, about a pureblood's tastes in bed - animalistic, bloody and violent, with talons and teeth. Sometimes, whisper the Hunters, they break the lower classes they take to bed, like children with dolls, rip off limbs, shatter hips with their strength.)
Zero feels like a coward, so disturbed by something as silly as a marriage. His marriage. He rests his forehead in cold, shaking hands. Please, let this be a dream. Let him be mad, let everything be a delusion, let this not be happening!
The tile of the bathroom stays the same, and the water from the showerhead still cascades over his head. Reality, then.
Zero steps out of the stall, towel wrapped around his waist, and the three female beta attendants sent into Headquarters by his escort outside avert their eyes.
"Kiryuu-sama, please allow us to assist you as you dress," requests the eldest as she curtsies, an ancient vampire by the lines on her face and the grey in her hair.
"That's fine, as long as you don't touch me without warning me first. And you don't have to call me that. Kiryuu-san is fine."
Breaking into a flurry of movement, one of the women begins to comb his hair, while the other has a nail file and a determined look on her face.
"I'm sorry, Kiryuu-sama, but I cannot follow your request; as an omega, you outrank nearly all other vampires, and it would offer you disrespect to call your name as I would an equal. We will be quick, sir, this is just to neaten you for our arrival to the palace; you will be readied in your wedding clothes there."
The eldest woman brings a large white cardboard box, tied shut with a ribbon; when Zero opens it and folds back the tissue paper, there lies his first set of clothing for today's ceremonies.
There's no fooling anyone - it reminds one of a dress. But it's also the most expensive garment Zero has ever worn, including the coat Cross and Yagari bought him for his betrothal. It's colored a deep blue-black, with swirls and clusters of tiny golden beads the size of strawberry seeds forming an abstract pattern Zero can't quite make out. The thin, translucent material leaves nothing to the imagination, clinging to his upper body, then flowing in luxuriant folds to his feet, and pooling in an expansive train that fans out behind him. Underneath - thankfully, given the February weather - is a jumpsuit in the same color made of a warm, soft material, cut to match the rounded square neckline just below his collarbone, and brushing the ends of his shoulderblades, leaving the top of his back bare, as well as showing glimpses of his pale arms through the beaded netting of his full-length sleeves. The supple leather of the thin-soled, matching shoes is dyed the same deep blue.
They clip a new diamond Hoseki into his hair, and apply a little paint to hide the circles underneath his eyes, some blush to liven his pallid cheeks, and a layer of concealer on the remnants of his taming mark.
"Wait," says Zero.
By the door, his possessions sit packed in a set of brown leather suitcases, one more gift sent by his betrotheds, the cardboard boxes thrown away. Zero goes to the smallest case, cracking open the lid, and retrieves Yuki's betrothal gift, the diamond ring.
The head attendant nods approvingly, like Zero is making some gesture when he slides it on his finger, but it does match his Hoseki, and that's all.
The maids gather up his trailing dre-...the train's material. More vampires come to take his luggage, and then they urge him outside, leaving his temporary lair for the last time. What seems like every Hunter in the Association is lined up in the entry hall; most of them are attending tonight either for work or as guests, dressed in their best clothes. Zero ignores their gazes for the most part, eyes firmly fixed ahead of him.
"Zero-kuuuuuun!"
Even hampered by his clothes, he neatly sidesteps Cross' flying tackle hug, and glares down at the man sprawled in a dirty pile of slush.
"So mean to daddy! What is a parent to do when their cute children have all flown the nest? Today the last of my babies is getting married" The President breaks down in noisy, messy tears, loudly drawing the attention of everyone close enough to hear. Zero tsks and moves toward the circle of cars where more vampire signatures wait. Cross does it on purpose, Zero knows; better to inject levity and laughter into a scene and distract everyone watching than let the real doubts and unhappiness in.
Ahead, Zero spots a familiar blond head, speaking to a woman with his back turned, and nearly breaks into a run; the maids have to rush to keep up with him. "Ichijo-sempai!"
Green eyes search for the caller, and catch Zero's form approaching; Ichijo breaks into a crinkled smile. The Hunter gives the noble a quick worried once over, searching for lingering injuries.
"Ichijo-sempai, are you alright? I'm so sorry, I would have come to see you, but I wasn't allowed to leave the Association."
"No, no, Kiryuu-kun. I knew what I was getting into, and Isaya made sure my wound healed days ago. I'm perfectly fine," and his eyes dance with cheer. "In fact, it was quite exciting."
There's an absence by Ichijo's side, Zero realizes with worry. "Where is Isa? He wasn't injured, was he?"
"A guard was unnecessary today," answers a calm, unfamiliar voice from over Zero's shoulder, "but you will see him again."
Zero spins on his heel; nobody ever sneaks up on him, especially not a pureblood, even one examining him so serenely with an inoffensive air. He's as tall as Master Yagari - much taller than Zero - and has a cool, dark blond hair color, but somehow in the way he holds himself, Zero observes a resemblance to Ichijo's hound. And those eyes - the same pale grey eyes.
Zero follows his instinct. "Thank you for saving us the other day, with that wind. I apologize for getting your bondmate into a dangerous situation."
"You are most welcome. I am glad to see you safe. But Takuma makes his own decisions, and if anyone is to blame, it is those who planned it."
Zero can't hold in his curiosity any longer. "How does it work? Are you Isa or - ?"
"Isa is a piece of my power taken form; he has autonomy, though I am faintly aware of him at all times, even without looking through his senses. Please be assured, your conversations with Takuma were as private as I could make them; I had no intention of invading your privacy, but your safety and Takuma's safety were paramount."
Zero's expression when he gives a flatly disbelieving stare at Ichijo says, 'where did you find him and is he real.'
Ichijo can't help himself, and bursts into a peal of laughter. "It was an accident, technically, but Kaname's actions were the catalyst."
"Somehow, I'm not surprised. You are Shouto Isaya?"
"Yes," affirms the blond man evenly.
"Does he treat you well?" Zero questions Ichijo, pointedly looking away from the pureblood.
"Better than my family ever did."
Zero scuffs his foot in the snow, and examines Shouto with his arms crossed. "Then you're alright in my book, for a pureblood."
"Thank you, Kiryuu-kun. That is high praise, coming from you."
"Oh," exclaims the woman Ichijo was speaking with, as though she realized something, "You're the one Hana-chan fought with at school".
Hana-chan? Zero looks to Ichijo, hoping for an explanation.
Ichijo's mouth quirks to the side. "Kiryuu-kun, please let me introduce Aido Madoka, who will be your other double today."
Aido Madoka is a tiny, petite woman with elfin features, strawberry blond hair and Aido's energetic nature emanating from every pore of her body. She looks Zero up and down like she's cataloguing every feature for future study, then smacks her fist on a flattened palm.
"Well, Hana-chan always did leap without looking. He's my only son, and Nagamichi and I spoiled him too much. I can't dislike someone who helps my son correct his flaws." Aido curtsies. "Nice to meet you, Kiryuu-kun."
Like Ichijo, she is dressed in the same blue-black color of Zero's clothing. Both of them will assist in the first wedding tradition Zero must take part in today, leftover from the ancient days of vampire kind. Before the law protected them, unbonded omegas were always in danger of being snatched, even on their way to their own wedding. So in ancient times, they were brought to their new partners escorted by other omegas, so that if the wedding party was attacked, the attackers would be confused which omega was the desirable one, and which were the decoys trying to lead the pursuers on a false trail. The tradition has no practical purpose anymore, thankfully, but the vampires still practice a ceremonial version. The three of them wear similar clothing, and travel in separate cars - like a shell game, Ichijo explained - just as though they were really trying to fool watchers.
"You too, Aido-san." Zero nods his head in return.
One of the Kuran servants, with the purposeful bearing of one in charge, approaches the four of them. "I'm sorry to interrupt, Shouto-sama, honorable omegas, but we must depart in order to remain on schedule."
Aido Madoka rocks back on her heels, gives Shouto her respects, and bounces off to the last car in the line.
Shouto rests a hand on his mate's shoulder; standing intimately close with their bodies turned toward one another, he whispers something into Ichijo's ear. Ichijo murmurs an answer to the pureblood's bent head, covering Shouto's hand with his own, before they untangle themselves and Shouto moves toward the front of the caravan.
The sight leaves Zero with a pang in his chest as Ichijo comes closer, concern etched on his face.
"How do you feel, Kiryuu-kun?"
"Tired. I just want this to be over already." Zero raises a hand to scrub his eyes, but remembers he's wearing makeup just in time and settles for flicking his bangs out of his face.
Ichijo reaches out to Zero, giving him a moment to accept the intention and chose to remain still, then takes Zero's hands in his own. "Whatever happens today, or tomorrow, or the next day, Kiryuu-kun, I have faith that you will overcome it. And I will help you if I can."
Zero bites his lip, but voices none of his doubts. "Thank you, sempai."
As the noble is turning away, Zero makes a split second decision. A Hunter always follows their gut.
"Ichijo-sempai!" Zero calls.
A questioning expression on his face, Ichijo pauses.
"Among Hunters, we have a saying. A man who risks his life to save yours, without gaining anything, is someone you should trust. I wouldn't mind if you called me Zero."
Ichijo smiles, slow and genuine. "Thank you, Zero-kun. I'm honored. Please use my name too."
"Takuma-sempai," Zero tries it out on his tongue, "I'll see you when we get there."
The blond nods, still smiling, and follows Shouto's path. Zero goes to the car in the middle, followed by the maids holding the train of his clothing. The eldest woman opens the car door for him, and takes out one last item from the back seat. "This was sent along for you, Kiryuu-sama," she says, and shakes it out.
The cloak's dark material resists the wind, plain but thick, and the maid has him stand still while she throws it around his shoulders and fastens it with a brooch. The inside is lined with soft, warm black fur - rabbit, the maid informs him - and just like that Zero knows Yuuki had this made for him. She knows how much Zero dislikes the cold, but not because he was sensitive to it - in fact, Zero was rather indifferent to cooler temperatures - but because he hated winter, and the memories the cold brought with it.
As the maids help him into the car, arranging the skirt around his feet, Zero draws up the hood, and turns his cheek into the soft fur. He has the whole backseat to himself, with the maids sitting across from him.
"If you would like to rest, Kiryuu-sama, we have a long drive. We'll wake you in time for to straighten yourself before we arrive."
Carefully, Zero eases himself down to stretch his upper body out on the seat. Nestled in the warm fur, the cloak's weight feels like an embrace. Without meaning to, Zero drifts off into a restful sleep, and for the first time in days, he dreams of nothing.
…..
"….Kiryuu-sama."
He stirs, not quite waking, unwilling to leave his gentle rest.
"Kiryuu-sama, please wake. We will arrive at the palace in twenty minutes."
Petting the cloak's fur one last time, the Hunter shakes off the last of his grogginess, and gets up; the maids immediately swoop in to tug his clothes back into place, fix his hair, and retouch the paint on his face.
"The palace is coming into view, if you will look out the windshield, Kiryuu-sama," calls the driver.
They're still fifteen minutes away, so at first Zero thinks the driver must be mistaken. The cars are passing along a wide, two lane road cut through thick forest in a valley encircled by mountains on three sides.
Then, Zero spots it - a low, flattened hill with steep sides, rising above the treetops in the distance, encircled by a stone wall, with a large building rising behind it. The true scale becomes apparent as they come closer; the enormous size of the hill and the buildings atop it which keep looming larger and larger the closer they come.
"The Kurans were raised here?" Zero asks.
"No," answers the elderly maid, "Kuran-sama and Kuran-hime were born and raised at the White Orchid Residence, the oldest and smallest of the three royal palaces, which was traditionally the heir's home. The Residence's grounds also contain the Rose Sepulchre, the crypt housing the Kuran mausoleums and the resting place of those who choose Sleep. Kuran Haruka-sama and Kuran Juuri-sama closed the main residence when the rule of the monarchy ended, but Kuran-sama had it reopened."
The road broadens in the last stretch as the gatehouse comes into view, made of concrete foundation and mortared grey stone walls, and roofed traditionally in tile. The wooden eaves and lintels are carved with roses, and in the center of the gate is the nine orchid Kuran crest. Then the gatekeepers wave the cars ahead of them through.
"Welcome to Rosehill Palace, Kiryuu-sama, the former government seat and residence of the vampire monarchs. It's nearly ten thousand years old."
Watching through the car windows, Zero can't help but feel impressed. The grounds spread out in every direction, dotted with gardens; ancient trees line the road, and water splashes from fountains in the rectangular lake leading to the courtyard of the main building.
Made of grey stone, the palace has a shape like a three-sided rectangle, with the square main building as the shortest, widest side, and two longer arms framing a sunken inner courtyard with lighter grey pavestones. The palace is two stories high, and has terraces on the second floor; posts and lintels support the large, gently sloping traditional roof of fired tiles, with eaves that extend to cover the upper floor's terraces. A wide staircase takes visitors from the inner courtyard to the ground floor's high-roofed entry hall.
"This is the administrative state palace," explains the woman. "The residential palace is farther back on the grounds, separate from the state palace, with the famous rose gardens in between them.
At least it's a beautiful cage, Zero thinks.
Please, keep asking me things you don't understand! I know there's a lot of worldbuilding in this. As the author, I know all the answers, but sometimes I forget that you don't and I need to explain things. You guys make this story better when you point out holes I've left unfilled.
Rosehill Palace, by the way, is based on the two main Japanese imperial residences (particularly the mixed style of the Tokyo palace) while the look of the state palace in particular was based on the Tokyo National Museum.
This chapter got so long it was split in two, but I hope I've made up for it by updating a day quicker than usual. Things to look forward to in part two: finally Yuuki's POV, what are Hunters anyway?, married married married.