Hello again everyone! I hope you've all been well. Sorry again for the long wait. I was out of town for four days, and got exactly zero words written during that time.
Mayb: Zero's dreams last chapter were mostly like the ones from chapter one, just fears combined with bad memories and imaginings. They don't really have any significance. And he's not losing his powers; the Ancestress warned him that they might change now that he's no longer just a Hunter. I'm glad to hear you liked the dates! And it's fine if you don't like Kabuki; it just seems like the sort of thing Kaname would like, so I went with that. Yuuki was politely bored, if that makes you feel better. This chapter has some Yuuki for you, but next chapter is going to be really focused on her.
Chapter title refers to Hades, the realm of the underworld, rather than Hades the Greek god.
WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: explicit graphic violence and borderline torture
XVII. Crossing Hades
"You'll be fine tonight, Zero," Yuuki says, fussing with his clothing. "Kain-sempai only invited our allies and a few unaligned families sympathetic to Kaname's goals. This is the friendliest crowd you'll ever face at a soiree. They'll be curious, but they should be polite about it," the pureblood continues, as though she's trying to convince herself.
Zero catches her anxious hands. "Yuuki, I've attended these things before. As a Hunter monitor, not a Consort, but it's not that different. I'll be okay, and if I do get cornered, you and Takuma-sempai will help me. Besides, the worst these people will do is talk."
"That can be the most dangerous thing of all," Kuran remarks offhandedly, leaning against the doorframe in his formal suit.
Yuuki's mouth tightens. "Stay next to one of us, or Ichijo-sempai, okay? Just in case."
When Zero acquiesces, Yuuki threads their arms together, leading him to the door where Kuran stands, observing them. The pureblood takes Zero's other arm, bookending the Hunter in between his spouses, a visual message of support and unity.
When they enter the ballroom, the gathered nobles bow in respect. The gesture isn't meant for him, but to Zero, a Hunter raised in a society of relative equals, simply observing the act discomforts him, and he can tell from Kuran's glance he isn't hiding it as well as he should. Zero focuses on smoothing his expression; it seems to satisfy Kuran, who turns his attention elsewhere. The weight of all these eyes feels like a heavy touch bearing down on his shoulder. His Hunter's instincts shout warnings, sensing ill-intent; not all of these gazes are friendly.
Kuran accepts a few greetings, but guides the trio over to where his inner circle is gathered in a loose knot on the edge of the crowd. Zero surveys Kuran's nobles, curious and wary both, and they return his scrutiny more unobtrusively. Both sides have a history of conflict, but this is new territory between them. Kuran has kept Zero away from his supporters thus far, preferring they not meet until Zero was less likely to offend someone or break important social rules. Neither side seems willing to do anything but observe, except Takuma, who effortlessly breaks the ice with one of his wide, cheerful smiles as he comes forward to take Zero's hands and welcome him.
With the acceptance of one of their own, the other nobles in Kuran's inner circle relax and offer their own short greetings. Thirty years is nothing to a vampire; every one of them, like Zero himself, doesn't look more than a year or two older than they did in school, their maturity visible in their eyes and bearing more than their faces. Touya's changed her hair, and Aido's filled out so he doesn't look quite so gangly anymore, but if not for that, they could be meeting at Cross Academy's student ball.
Zero thanks Kain for hosting them his evening, and the noble accepts with his characteristic laid-back manner. The Hunter suspects that Kain's fiancee Souen was the real organizer of tonight's event, but Kain shouldn't be discounted. According to the Hunters' best information, Kain and his cousin are Kuran's highest lieutenants, and all vampire nobles play games of influence. Speaking of Kain's cousin-
"Dance with me!"
Zero gives Aido his most unimpressed look; the noble stands blocking his path with his fists clenched and feet planted, refusing to move or take no for an answer.
"You're an alpha. Wouldn't that be inappropriate?" he asks, refusing to go quietly.
"I'm sworn to both the Kurans, and I already danced with Yuuki-hime," Aido says, like that answers his question.
Zero exhales; Aido will pester him all night if he refuses. Zero can outlast him, but he's not in the mood to waste that kind of effort. "Fine."
The weight of unfriendly eyes follows him as Aido puts one hand on Zero's wrist, and the other on his shoulder, leaving plenty of space between their bodies, and starts to lead him around the dance floor. An omega vampire like Zero never leads, and an unbonded alpha like Aido never touches him below the waist or skin to skin. Thus the strange dance hold and the very slow, measured dances common at vampire gatherings.
"You're weirder than I ever thought you were, Kiryuu" Aido says, peering at him closely. "I can't believe that I went to school right next to you for years and never tried to study you before. So much time wasted," Aido mourns.
Feeling like one of the noble's science experiments, Zero raises an eyebrow and says nothing in reply. Is he supposed to thank Aido? Was that some kind of compliment?
Casting around for a different topic - any topic at all - and still rather new to the art of making conversation, Zero stumbles and asks,"Do you admire your mother?"
Aido's surprise is obvious; he misses the dance's timing and startles hard enough to jerk Zero's upper body.
"You have similar hairstyles," Zero observes, surveying the crowd. Yuuki's assessment had been basically correct; most of the nobles are either supportive of their pureblood leader's decision to marry Zero, or respect the Kurans enough to be polite in public and restrain their disagreement to private conversations. There are a few, though, staying at the edges of the crowd, who glare venomously when his gaze sweeps over them, finding himself already the target of their stares.
"People say I get my looks and my loyalty from my father, and my brains from my mother," Aido observes, following the direction of Zero's gaze, and spinning them around so they dance out of sight.
"Don't mind them. They're loyal, and they'll come around to Kaname-sama's decision sooner or later," Aido speaks in a low voice just above a whisper.
"The ones you really need to look out for belong to the Senate's faction. We're already monitoring a couple of nasty plots in their ranks against you. But it's nothing for you to worry about," Aido rushes, like he's just realized telling Zero people are out to get him isn't a good idea. "Kaname-sama has it well under control," the noble tries to reassure him.
Zero, about to disagree, feels a tap on his shoulder, and Yuuki cuts in to steal Zero for a dance before Aido can say anything more.
"Tell me who this is," Takuma invites Zero, holding up a photo of a curling, dark-haired, brown-eyed man with a haughty expression.
"Senator Abe's husband Juan, one of the three omega 'queens' of the Senate. He's proud, and has a vicious tongue. His wife is the most influential party leader in the Senate, and they have a reputation as a power couple."
"Good, now this one," Takuma prompts, tapping another photo of an unusually tall, thin blond woman wearing expensive, slightly tasteless clothing.
"Kaneko Madeline. She's related to Shirabuki Sara. Her wife is the wealthiest person who currently holds a Senator's seat. Known for her love of expensive anything. Her influence is based mostly on her wealth, and she'll follow whoever's most powerful, but I shouldn't discount her."
"And last, but not least," Takuma flips over a photo of another dark-haired woman, with a round face, a small, neat nose, and black eyes narrowed in a sharp, calculating expression.
"The queen bee herself. Noguchi Sada. She's mated to the vice-chairman of the Senate, and she's the unofficial leader of the omega vampires who support the Senate's faction. Her husband's position is owed in part to her skills and backing. She's almost as old as Azai-san, and I need to be the most careful of her."
The blond noble claps. "Very good, Zero-kun. The Jeweled Court isn't being held for another two weeks, and you're already off to an excellent start. You'll be ready with plenty of time to spare," he praises, taking a sip of his teacup.
A Jeweled Court is the formal name for the omega gatherings Takuma's tea group had warned him about. The next one, the first one Zero is expected to attend, is set for the last week of June. Zero isn't looking forward to it, but Takuma and the other tea group omegas have helped him prepare extensively for the event, and Zero is reasonably certain he knows enough not to screw up without realizing it.
The hair on the back of his neck stands up, and his Hunter's senses tell him that someone dangerous is watching him. Zero tries to conceal his examinations of the terrain surrounding the cafe patio they're sitting at, concentrating on pinpointing the direction of the presence, but can't find a strong enough sign.
"Takuma-sempai," asks Zero quietly, "has Shirabuki caused any trouble for you lately?"
Takuma leans back in his chair, cradling his cup, "No, not at all. Isaya caught one of her spiders, and he insisted on going to speak with her. I was terrified, but whatever my husband said to her, she hasn't sent anything else since. I'm so glad you convinced me to speak to him - it's been a weight off my shoulders. Why do you ask?"
"No reason," Zero lies, and ignores the prickling feeling of constant malice in between his shoulderblades.
Kaname shifts in his chair, careful to pretend he's paying attention to the figures and charts projected on the screen as the presenter drones on. Truthfully, he'd looked them over before the meeting, and the man hasn't said anything in the past forty minutes Kaname didn't already conclude on his own. Keeping up the illusion of interest is a struggle; it's late afternoon, and Kaname's body clock insists that he's meant to be asleep right now, but the pureblood can't avoid occasionally attending daytime meetings like this when interacting with humans.
The pureblood stifles a sigh, and gives in to temptation, settling more deeply into the mind of his raven familiar, looking for entertainment. The bird is perched outside an ice cream cafe, in one of the mixed human-vampire shopping districts closest to Rosehill, with enough human customers to be open during the day, and enough vampires around that Kiryuu must wear his Hoseki and be properly covered for propriety's sake.
Yuuki and Kiryuu must have stopped to eat before continuing their errands. She's gotten into the habit of taking Kiryuu with her as company when she leaves the house, as long as it isn't for social events. This morning his wife had insisted on rising at the same time he did, and she likes to go out during the day occasionally, so he isn't surprised to find them here.
Kaname is glad to see her enjoying herself, and with Kiryuu around, he doesn't have to worry so much about Yuuki. Kiryuu, Kaname has discovered, is a bit of a mother hen, and his Hunter training has only exaggerated that characteristic by training him to be ridiculously prepared for any possible situation. Before taking Kiryuu with her, she'd frequently forget her parasol and come home with painful sunburn after going out during the day. Now Kiryuu will bother her until she remembers to bring it, and he sneaks a spare sunhat in the boot of the car anyway.
The pureblood's new resolution to treat Kiryuu as an ally, rather than an enemy, has been easier to enact than Kaname thought it would be. Putting aside his old role as Kiryuu's rival and accepting Kiryuu's presence has been nearly painless. If he's being honest, Kaname's relieved he doesn't have to force himself to act on those expectations anymore, and his behavior toward Kiryuu is much improved.
Kiryuu throws minor insults at him, and gives the pureblood odd looks when he expects abuse that Kaname doesn't provide, but the Hunter is carefully polite otherwise, treating Kaname with a neutral, guarded air that is starting to relax the more time passes and Kaname doesn't act spitefully. The current situation with Kiryuu satisfies the pureblood. Kiryuu is tolerable, even when Kaname is in his own body rather than Nightshade's.
On the cafe patio, Yuuki claps her hands together in excitement as the waiter delivers a parfait and a coffee to their table. Kaname hides the twitch of his lips behind his steepled hands. Yuuki's enthusiasm is always endearing. Kiryuu sips his coffee, eyeing the mountain of whipped cream, fruit and custard-like ice cream askance as Yuuki digs in. The Hunter has little taste for sweets, while even Rosehill's staff know about Yuuki's ravenous sweet tooth. As his spouses eat, Kaname watches the crowd of shoppers flow past the ice cream shop, idly amusing himself guessing their backgrounds. Kiryuu gets up from the table after finishing his coffee, glancing at his phone's clock before pausing to speak to Yuuki, who licks the spoon in her mouth and nods, waving her hand in a gesture to go ahead.
Kaname's raven flies after the Hunter even before Yuuki shoots it a meaningful look, the pureblood's curiosity getting the better of him. The Hunter walks quickly and purposefully, some destination already in mind. The little shop, tucked back from the main thoroughfare, has a plain wooden storefront and gold lettering that says 'Uyeda Jeweller.' The shop's bell tinkles when Kiryuu presses the door open and slips inside.
Curiosity only heightened, Kaname's raven can't enter the building itself, and he's forced to take a post on a nearby streetlamp instead, growing more interested as the minutes tick by. Perhaps ten minutes later, Kiryuu comes out with a small bag, a froth of tissue paper tucked on top hiding whatever it is he's bought. Taking out his phone, the Hunter dials and puts it up to his ear; Kaname flutters closer to overhear what's being said.
"It's a surprise, Yuuki, I'm not giving you a hint." A pause, and Kiryuu's voice drips with sarcasm. "You're not going to die of curiosity."
The Hunter covers his eyes, stepping into the shade and rubbing at his temples. "No, you go ahead. I feel a little nauseous and I'm getting a headache. I'm going to head back to the car. Finish your last errand and then meet me there. I'll call the driver to let her know I'm coming back early. No, I'll be fine already, quit worrying. I've got Kuran's creepy raven. Okay, I'll see you later. Enjoy yourself."
Kiryuu tucks his phone away and starts to walk, more slowly this time, keeping to the shadows and avoiding the main roads. A few times he touches his head and winces; Kaname himself doesn't get headaches, so he can't relate.
Kiryuu walks far slower than a bird can fly, so the raven glides along over the rooftops until it's slightly ahead of the Hunter, lands to wait until Kiryuu catches up behind it, and then flies ahead to find a new perch, repeating the pattern. Going from perch to perch, Kaname's raven, shadowing Kiryuu, is slowly traveling the most direct route to the car park.
Then, Kaname's raven perches on the head of a statue, past a short tunnel where the surrounding buildings arch over the street, just out of the Hunter's sight, and he waits for Kiryuu to pass by.
Kiryuu doesn't come.
Kaname waits a little longer. Kiryuu doesn't come. Kiryuu's headache must be making him slower, the pureblood thinks.
And he waits a little more. Kiryuu doesn't come.
In his real body, Kaname sits forward, concerned, attention no longer split between the presentation and his familiar. He takes flight, circling back to the street behind the tunnel, swooping down to land on the pavestones.
The road is deserted. There's nothing but empty air - Kiryuu is nowhere in sight.
Kaname debates with himself. Kiryuu has deliberately avoided being followed by his familiar before. Perhaps he abandoned the raven on purpose now. But Kaname has an uneasy feeling he can't shake.
The pureblood hesitates a moment longer, then takes wing to find Yuuki. She has a cellphone; she'll contact Kiryuu and scold him for losing Kaname's raven. The disquiet in his breast is nothing but paranoia. Kiryuu is probably fine.
The world is shaking. It makes his head throb and his stomach roil.
Why is the ground under his cheek moving? The ground doesn't move.
The movement is important. It means something.
So does the ache in his head, concentrated on a sharp point at the back of his head. Zero fights the unnatural slowness of his thoughts, clawing for vital clarity.
There are voices, above his head. And a low thrumming noise, matching the vibration in the floor. He shifts minutely, and his shoulders feel oddly stiff. He can't move his hands.
I'm tied up, Zero realizes, and that insight is enough to kick his fight or flight response into high gear, the rush of chemicals dousing his brain like a bucket of cold water.
Memory rushes in. Walking back, a tunnel; inside the tunnel, a door in the wall that opened as he passed by, hands that dragged him in, muffled his mouth to quiet him. He'd felt too sick, been too slow to fight. Someone had struck him in the head to stun him, and then there'd been a prick in his arm.
Drugs of some kind, Zero realizes grimly. Some kind of sedative. And the convenient timing of his illness is too much of a coincidence. He's been drugged twice - probably his coffee - and Ancestress knows what they gave him.
The vibration is from an engine; he's in a car, being moved. That's bad. If they move him from the scene of his abduction, whoever comes to look for him may not be able to find him. Yuuki, at least, will try to find him.
All of this took planning and preparation. Zero feels sick, and not just from the drugs. Those feelings he's had lately, of being watched...a suspicion, more like a certainty, rears up in his mind. The Hunter kicks it down with professional ease, practicalities asserting themselves; think, don't feel. Feeling doesn't help him right now.
Master's training had kicked in the moment he woke in unfamiliar circumstances; Zero hasn't given any sign to his captors that he's awake, and they aren't paying him any attention. They're not professionals, then. Very strange.
It does him no good. His body's so debilitated by their drugs - his muscles like water, limp and unresisting, and his head a vise of pain - that he couldn't do anything if he wanted to. Whatever they slipped him before the attack is growing stronger, the nausea and lightheadedness settling into his cells. It feels almost alive, like a snake worming its way deeper in his veins, tunneling through to his core. Zero cracks one eye open the tiniest bit, and immediately closes it, regretting the attempt as his vision skews crazily. He lies still and tries to breathe through the dizziness, concentrating on not throwing up and not letting his captors know he's awake.
The cool, hard weight of the Bloody Rose is gone, he realizes. And the holster for Artemis Rod isn't strapped around his thigh. They've stripped him of his weapons. Zero spares a brief moment to worry about what they've done with them - a Hunter's weapons are an extension of their own body - before he wrenches himself back on track. He doesn't have time to worry about them when he needs to worry about himself first.
How long has he been unconscious? Zero wonders, with a cold feeling creeping through his limbs. Minutes? Hours? A day or more? It matters, because the longer he's been out, the farther they've been able to take him from his abduction site. The farther they've been able to take him, the bigger the area Yuuki have to search. And the smaller the chance she'll find him.
Before he has a chance to think further, the car's vibration changes, and the ride becomes bumpier. Gravel, they're on some kind of gravel drive. A pit opens in his stomach. Wherever they're taking him, they've arrived.
The van - it has to be a van, the back is large enough to hold an adult man lying on his side - grinds to a stop. Rough hands grab his bound arms, heedless of the white hot strain it puts on his shoulders, and begin to drag him out of the car, uncaring if his head or knee hit the side of the van.
When he feels sunlight warm his face - is it the same sunset, meaning he's only been unconscious a little while? Or the more frightening possibility, it's a different day's sun and he's been unconscious over twelve hours? - Zero makes the mistake of opening his eyes. The world spins and warps, and he panics enough to thrash, or offer some kind of resistance, because one of the people dragging him strikes his temple hard enough to leave a ringing in his ears; his body goes limp, and he's dragged unresisting back into cooler shadow.
A building - large and cavernously empty, because the sounds of his captors' footsteps echo. Some kind of warehouse? The gravel had ripped the fabric of his skirts and then torn through his loose trousers, and now the concrete flooring they're dragging him along is scraping his bare knees and shins, releasing a faint blood scent in the air, a dangerous lure for any vampire. The dread in the pit of his stomach deepens as his captors slam him into the ground, abrading a new scuff on his cheek. Zero curls in on himself under a rain of blows, further disorienting him.
"Has the first dose been in his system long enough?" a low male voice queries.
"Yeah, should be reaching peak efficiency," replies another male voice, obnoxiously self-satisfied.
"Then cut him loose!" urges a third, eager voice.
Footsteps, then someone is sawing at the duct tape wrapping his lower arms together. A snap, and a release of pressure; Zero brings his arms in close, underneath himself, glad to be relieved of the persistent strain.
That's the only good news; they're confident enough to release him, and they're letting him hear their voices. Zero could identify them now. Fear bubbles up like tar in his belly before he buries it down deep. These people don't intend to give Zero the chance to identify them.
He lies where he is, taking a moment to catch his breath before trying to lever his torso upright. But his hands shake, and he can't maneuver his hands underneath his body to push upwards at the right angle, or keep his arms straight, or convince them to bear his weight. Frustrated, Zero tries again and again, each time slipping back clumsily to hit the floor, and someone in the background laughs.
Zero grits his teeth. His muscles aren't responding properly. His chances of surviving this are looking slimmer and slimmer. Whatever poison is floating in his blood, it's stripping him of any chance to fight back. They're amateurs, but with first-rate tools and meticulous planning. Incongruous and unlikely; at least one of them must have experience doing this.
He angles his head toward the voices and risks opening his eyes again; Zero needs to see what the odds are against him. The dizzy lurching is just as nauseating, and the colors warp and and bleed, turning his stomach, but Zero grits his teeth and waits for his vision to clear. Every time his moves his neck, his vision tilts and his head spins, like his brain has to realign itself.
As his sight returns to him, the vague blurs finally resolve themselves into the shapes of people, watching him closely with ugly emotions twisting their faces, clearly waiting for him to respond. There's five of them; his stomach sinks a little more with each new enemy. All of them are male, and all of them are very young, around his own age. Zero's last hope dies when understands they're freely letting him see their faces.
These people are here to kill him. That's the undeniable conclusion of everything Zero's seen so far. They've poisoned him and taken his weapons so he can't physically fight back. They've taken no precautions against Zero identifying them, and they've kidnapped him and removed him to a remote location far from witnesses or help. No one would be foolish enough to kidnap a pureblood's Consort for ransom. Omegas are supposed to be inviolate, protected from harm. All except for him, Zero thinks bitterly.
But these people don't just want to kill him. If they only wanted his murder, Zero would have died as soon as they pulled him through that door in the tunnel. No, these men went to all this trouble because just killing Zero isn't enough. They want Zero to die in a way that satisfies the disgust and hate in their eyes, exacting his pain as their price. The bile rises up in his throat. Their eyes don't promise him an easy death.
Weaponless and crippled by their drugs, Zero has nothing to fall back on. He is going to die, and the grim certainty spreads through his limbs like ice, but he'll do what he can to avoid making it easy for them. His body may be unable to fight, but he still has a few Hunter charms he can use.
Zero reaches for his Hunter Arts - only to rebound as though he's hit a glass wall between him and his power. Increasingly frantic, Zero tries again. And again, and again, but each time he finds his power slipping out of his hands like water. Panic clouds his thoughts. The vampires have invented a drug that blocks Hunter powers. His people are in danger, and he's going to die without being able to warn them, he thinks frantically.
"Realized it yet, you filth?" taunts a cruel voice.
Zero raises his head with difficulty, horrified.
There are five vampires in front of him, and he can't sense a single one.
Yuuki lays a hand over her heart; through the bloodbond, she can feel Kaname's concern and unsettled worry. Something is not right, says her husband's emotions, and Yuuki's mouth tightens in worry, her meal sitting heavy in her belly. Those particular feelings are rare; Kaname is always so controlled, and he cares for very little.
She taps the empty parfait glass with her spoon, a hollow chiming ring, and jerks in surprise, dropping her spoon with a clatter when Kaname's raven lands like a thunderbolt on the table next to her. It mantles its wings and caws loudly, catching her eye, then flutters a few feet away, turning to look at her again. 'Follow me' it means, so Yuuki does, shoving a handful of bills on the table without looking to see the amount, grabbing her purse and slamming the door open in her haste.
As Yuuki hurries after her husband's familiar, nearly running, she tries not to think about how she's heading in the same direction as the car, where Zero is supposed to be waiting for her. It could be a coincidence, she reminds herself, but the raven...
The familiar finally stops in a deserted street, quite close to the car park.
"Where is Zero?" Yuuki demands.
The bird caws again, and Yuuki's fumbling in her purse - when did her hands start shaking? - until the cool plastic of her phone smacks her palm. It takes her a few extra seconds to dial, with the tremors in her fingers, but soon the pureblood's putting the phone unsteadily up to her ear, listening to the dial tone and tapping her fingers on her arm.
There's faint ringing, like the sound of a phone, coming from the tunnel ahead.
Yuuki lowers her phone very, very slowly. In the white silence in her head, the dim noise echos like the tolling of a bell.
When the ringing stops, she numbly enters the number again, and staggers toward the sound on heavy feet. It leads her to a wooden door; the work of a moment and Yuuki's torn the thing off its hinges with her bare hands, splinters lodging in her skin. In the back of her mind, someone is talking about property damage, and breaking and entering, but that voice is very far away, behind glass that won't break, under a layer of ice a hundred feet thick.
She doesn't feel anything when she slides bonelessly to the ground, fingers reaching out to hover above the shining barrel of Bloody Rose, speared in a shaft of light cast from the broken door.
Behind her, Kaname's raven has become a man; he's intently examining the scene with a clinical detachment and coolness Yuuki wishes she could imitate.
But she can't take her eyes off the Bloody Rose, abandoned and cast away, a glowing silver beacon in the darkness.
Kaname comes up to stand at her shoulder, something clenched in his hand so hard the knuckles whiten. The set of his shoulders has snapped tight. "He's not here."
"Zero," she says, and her voice cracks, "Zero would never leave Bloody Rose behind."
"No," Kaname agrees, some leviathan swimming underneath his hollow tone. "He wouldn't."
Yuuki pries his hand open. Glittering gold in the low light is a small, flat rectangle, pierced with a ring at one end. In elegant cursive, someone has inscribed the word 'Nightshade' and a tiny Kuran crest.
Just like that, a dam inside her bursts. Yuuki doesn't know what this tag means, but Zero meant it as a present for her. She presses the heel of her hand to her chest, hard. Something is swelling inside her, rising like magma. The cold and the numbness are mixing with volcanic heat, churning and bubbling.
Yuuki takes a fold of her dress and picks up the Bloody Rose, carefully storing it in her purse, and then finds Artemis Rod before doing the same. Zero will want these returned to him.
She walks to the center of the street. The setting sun has turned the sky a bloody red; everything is creeping shadows and russet light. Kaname is watching her from the shelter of a building. Let him watch.
The anger, the fear, the abominable pain of Zero's absence - Yuuki lets herself feel all of it, and thinks about how Zero could leave her, forever, and the molten mass builds and builds and builds, and the power in her blood bubbles and burns hotter and higher, and she lets it, she feeds it on the meat of her body and the flesh of her soul, she fans the flame higher, ever higher, until she feels like an incandescent flame, and then she boils over -
- and in her hands is a butterfly. At night, in the darkness, its wings look a soft velvet black, and its hard chitinous body shines obsidian. But under sunlight, you can see the wings' real color, faint ghost markings like a black leopard, veins and eye spots of deep red-black shining like stained glass.
Another butterfly, identical to the first, lands in her hair, fanning its wings slowly. And a third flutters past her face, brushing her cheek with its wings. And then one more, and one after that, and another, and another, and another; the air is choked with them, the street and the walls and the buildings are covered in them, there's not a speck of stone or concrete left without crawling darkness, everywhere are black and red-black leopard butterflies, a living carpet of wings and feelers and eyes, thousands and thousands of eyes.
"Find him. Find the heart that was stolen from me," she commands, hands knotted into fists with effort, mind brimfull of tiny pinpoints of light, her vast power partitioned out into these tiny extensions of herself.
Kaname is looking at her through the sea of butterflies, black powder on his cheek and hands from the brush of their wings. Shock and new awe rests in his face, and part of Yuuki feels grim satisfaction. The rest of her doesn't care, not when she doesn't know if Zero is alive or dead.
The vast flock of butterflies takes wing, turning the sky black, a streaming darkness sent off into the gathering night. And Kuran Yuuki bends her power to this task, and hopes.
Breathe, Zero reminds himself, stomach clenched with fear at this revelation and his helplessness.
Inhale. Exhale. Keep your breaths long and even. Ignore the stone settled in your throat, choking you. Maintain control. Keep a level head.
Whatever you do, don't panic. In a fight, the first one to panic dies. Zero gives himself one more breath to put aside his terror, settle lightly into the battle-calm, right on the edge of slipping into mushin, and then he can look evenly into the faces of his abductors. He can still think. His Hunter abilities may be impaired, but he is not helpless yet.
"I didn't think the Senate would act so recklessly," he comments, finally propping his upper body on his hands.
Immediately, Zero knows it was the wrong thing to say when the vampires' expressions turn to enraged fury. The blow to his cheek comes as no surprise, knocking him on his belly and sending pain through his jaw. A rough hand in his hair drags him upright, forcing him close to one practically foaming at the mouth; Zero's eyes are still having trouble focusing, and the sudden movement makes his stomach turn.
"Do we look like those greedy Senate lackeys to you?" the vampire demands, the same eager voice from before laden with anger. "Watch your mouth and keep your filthy insinuations to yourself, D!"
Zero can't tell any difference, but is careful to look contrite and beaten, and the vampire drops him to the floor. He can't brace his body, so the impact jars through his bruised frame and makes his head throb.
"Who are you, then?" Zero questions cautiously when he's sure he won't vomit.
The same vampire who grabbed him by the hair, clearly the leader, gestures to the other vampires with a proud air. "We are the devoted servants of the purebloods, the true rulers of our society, and of the monarchy that Kaname-sama will surely restore."
Disbelief spreads in his mind. These are monarchists - Kuran's followers? Did the pureblood order him killed? For some reason, Zero's instincts tell him that Kuran isn't behind this.
"Then if you're not Kuran-sama's enemies, why have you kidnapped me?" Zero asks, mindful to speak of Kuran more respectfully than usual.
"For Kuran-sama's sake, of course," a weedy, nervous vampire bursts out, looking at the leader for reassurance. A lackey of some kind, following the leader's stronger will.
The leader nods emphatically, lacing his hands behind his back and pacing back in forth, dangerous gaze never wavering from Zero. "Kaname-sama is so noble - he took something like you, a dirty-blooded Level D, into his home for the sake of keeping the Hunters satisfied."
"We may not know how you did it," sneers a tall vampire who oozes smarmy, self-satisfied confidence, "but somehow you managed to fake an omega's status. You're a D, and D scum are always betas. This is some Hunter plot against us to sully our bloodlines. You're just a false omega, made to infiltrate our world and work against us by taking advantage of your nature. That's the only way Kaname-sama would lower himself to touch you, trash."
The leader turns sharply, rounding on Zero. "And then, you slut, you couldn't even keep your whorish nature from dishonoring the Kuran name! You spread your legs for anyone who looked at you! We've all heard about your exploits in depravity," he accuses, revulsion layered thickly in his tone.
"Kaname-sama can't even stand to touch your dirty body," the lackey vampire spits, eyes trailing down Zero's form, expression disgusted.
Beginning to pace, the leader gestures expansively, turning his back on Zero and facing the other vampires. "We saw you at the soiree, prancing around so self-satisfied, showing yourself off to every alpha in the room. Proud of how you'd gotten away with everything. We knew then, that whatever the cost, we couldn't let Kaname-sama be victimized by you any longer," the leader rages, speaking to his followers more than to Zero, whipping them into a frenzy. There's a chorus of agreement, a rising emotional pitch feeding between the vampires.
"You, a filthy Hunter, and a lowly Level D, joining the bloodline of the purest and greatest vampire kings? Never! The nobles can never allow such a taint to spread." The leader stalks closer, threat in his eyes, "So we need to cut it off, right at its source."
Zero freezes, feeling ice sliding down his back like the fingertips of Death. Very calmly, keeping his face impassive, he says, "There will be diplomatic consequences for your actions."
The lackey vampire scoffs. "Getting rid of you won't end the treaty, D. You're just one Hunter. Would the Association President really risk the lives of his Hunters for a vampire? You were just a vehicle for the concessions they wanted. They'll abandon you now that they can't use you anymore."
Zero clenches his jaw, but tries a different tack. "Kuran-hime will be displeased if you kill me."
A low-voiced, muscular vampire answers calmly. "Kuran-hime is confused by her upbringing among the humans. Kuran-sama will show her this is for the best."
The smarmy vampire speaks up, slightly patronizing, "Poor Kuran-hime. It was one of you Hunters that taught her to be so weak, compared to her brother."
"Yuuki is stronger than any of you," Zero spits, incensed by their dismissal.
The fifth vampire, a barrel-chested monolith, thus far silent, beats Zero down for his cheek with one ham-sized fist and a spark of glee in his eyes. Angry on Yuuki's behalf, Zero doesn't feel the least bit sorry, and levers himself onto his hands and knees with the help of his rage, spitting blood where he's cut his cheek on his teeth.
"You must know," he tells them, pushing aside the Consort's docility and letting the grim, implacable Hunter rise, staring them straight in the eyes, one by one, "that the Kurans and the Senate will have to execute you if you murder me. They will need to save face in front of the Hunters and the other nobles."
"They will," agrees the leader, the sick light of fervent conviction shining ghastly in his face, "but seeing our world cleansed and the purity of our blood and society protected are more important than our lives. We've committed ourselves to the judgement of history and doing what's right."
The narrow, uncompromising, uncritical moral purity of youth. Zero is unpleasantly reminded of himself, thirty years ago, before he realized that there were bigger, more important things than his own pain. Though he would never have contemplated killing Kuran this way.
Well, that's it, he realizes, closing his eyes, a hollow feeling sinking in his gut. Zero has nothing left to try. These people will not be bargained with. They don't want money, or fame, or power. They want nothing except his death. They are devoted to their cause and cannot be convinced that they are wrong - a pack of young radical fools who have already accepted their own deaths as glorious and necessary to protect the vampire race from the scary, dirty D and his Hunter cronies. He's too crippled by their drugs to defend himself. He has little hope of rescue; Yuuki will try, but she doesn't even know he's been taken, and Kuran - well, Zero expects little help from him, however polite he's been recently.
He will die. Zero breathes out, and calmness settles over him. When he opens his eyes slowly, an impassive expression firmly in place, he raises his chin and lifts his gaze to meet the eyes of his killers.
He is a Hunter, and the last of the Kiryuu - a more ancient lineage than any of these nobles can claim - and he will not give them his fear. He will meet his death with dignity, and without yielding to the blood-drinker who kills him. That is a Hunter's pride.
Zero's stoicism unsettles and angers his killers, who shift uneasily as his gaze passes over them, or narrow their eyes and clench their fists. Their leader is one such person, angered perhaps by Zero's denial of his control, and eager to reclaim the flow of power in the room. He needs Zero to conform to his narrative, and rather than begging and crying like the base, lying whore they tell him he is, the Hunter has instead chosen silence and serenity, and refused to play his villain's role. Zero can see the muscles in the leader's jaw jump, and fury burning in his eyes rises higher.
"Unrepentant to the last," the leader snarls, shaking his head. "We'll just have to teach the D his place ourselves."
The smarmy vampire gives a half-smile. "I know just where to start. We can't let a pretender steal the marks of a rank he doesn't deserve, right?"
A tendril of fear squirms in Zero's belly, and he fights to keep his face blank, and not to shy away as the vampires close in, chuckling with nasty smiles.
Hands grab at his clothing, ripping and tearing, and the instinct to curl in on himself grows too strong to ignore. It just spurs them on more. A vulgar hand snatches his Hoseki, still clipped to his hair, and yanks; Zero cries out once, pain shooting through his scalp. He thinks the vampire might tear a chunk of his hair out, but the fragile gold chain snaps first, a blessed release from the sharp sting.
The vampires leave him in rags, the remains of his trousers just barely preserving the last of his modesty. Zero was born a male human, but the way they look at him, leering and staring at his half-naked form - the meaty giant crudely licks his lips - makes him want to scrub his skin off, and never let another human being touch him again. He just barely stops himself from trying to cover his bare skin with his hands. If he survives this, he doesn't think the sick feeling inside him will ever go away.
"Is this the part where you rape me?" he asks, going for disinterested, like he's watching this happen to someone else from deep inside him.
The smarmy vampire sneers. "Spoken like a true whore, you filthy D. Eager for anyone's cock no matter what."
Zero bites his tongue, and lets his hair fall over his eyes. They've stripped him and stared at him with undisguised lust. What else is he supposed to think?
The biggest vampire looks toward the leader, his whole body perking up at the suggestion. Zero is disgusted by the idea of being touched by them, and very pointedly avoids thinking about Yuuki. The vampires have always done as they pleased with his body, he bitterly reminds himself. Rape of his body can't be worse than rape of his humanity.
The calm vampire with the low voice, who has spoken very little, moves forward and places a hand on the biggest vampire's shoulder. "We're not going to rape you, Hunter. Whatever your conduct, you belong to Kuran-sama, and we respect him enough not to usurp his possessions."
Zero, offended but seeing the offered escape, bites his tongue again and says nothing, eyes flicking to the leader, who nods, reinforcing the command. His shoulders relax the tiniest bit. He's about to die, but at least they aren't going to shame him first. Pain is far easier to face.
"Besides," drawls the smarmy vampire, "I'm not fond of putting my cock where everyone else's been. I can buy cleaner whores. Probably tighter too."
The others laugh, but the lackey licks his lips, looking at Zero with unabated hunger. "Hey, if we can't fuck him because he's Kuran-sama's, what about his blood? It's not like Hio Shizuka-sama didn't drink him first. And he's a Hunter. That's a taboo for them, right?"
Zero's stomach drops, and ice floods his veins. No. He'd almost rather they rape him.
Something of Zero's fear must shine through his eyes, because his face is a rigid mask, and the leader leans forward with a considering look. "Hunters don't willingly let anyone feed off of them. And Kaname-sama wasn't the first."
"They say the filthy Hunter's drank Kuran-sama's blood," adds the biggest vampire, and Zero holds very still as they all pin him with sharper, hungrier stares.
The lure of even secondhand pure blood is too strong; Zero can see the leader cave to the temptation, prowling forward. "We can't let the D keep blood he stole and doesn't deserve," the leader rationalizes. In his peripheral vision, Zero can sense the other vampires draw closer, circling like predators.
"No mess. We can't afford to draw attention with too much blood," cautions the calm, rational one, as they draw closer and Zero's memories flash winter and bloody death. He digs his nails into his palms, weakly, still without much control over his own body.
And the vampires descend in a pack, snatching and pulling at his limbs, fighting over choice spots. Everything's a blur of limbs and teeth to his unsteady vision. He fights as much as he can, but his training is useless when his limbs won't heed his brain; the poison's done its work too well.
He shouts as the first vampire's teeth drive deep, scraping bone, careless and sloppy, like he doesn't merit better. And another, a third, a fourth a fifth in all of his limbs ripping open his skin and tearing unwilling gasps and cries from his throat. It's a waking nightmare for Zero, reliving his greatest fear again and again, the obscene yield of his flesh to fangs sinking into his skin. Some of them withdraw and push back inside, just to cause him more pain and wring out more noises. Zero bites through his lip just to silence himself. None of them feed from his neck - a courtesy to the Kurans, no doubt.
They force him to bear the violation for long minutes as the vampires feed greedily, pinning him down under their weight so Zero can barely move, all the breath crushed from his lungs. Staring up at the ceiling with blank eyes, the memory of his pollution playing in his brain, Zero's breath whistles from his raw throat like quiet sobs. He can hear them breathing, hear the swallows of their throats, the quiet moans, smell their rank sweat and cologne, feel their weight pressing down on him. Dry heaving, he chokes on bile.
It goes on forever - he can feel his psyche coming apart at the seams. It's only his imagination that conjures the phantom pain of Shizuka's virus spreading and burning in his blood, but it drives him to thrash and flail anyway. His attackers' grips won't slip, and he earns himself more blows and bone-deep bruises from their hands.
Finally - finally, because he feels he's gone mad during the eternity - they release him when his blood pressure drops too low, when his thoughts crawl and his heart struggles to pump what little fluid they left in his body through his veins. Their fangs tear out big chunks of his flesh as they withdraw, ragged gaping holes that barely bleed because he's so drained. Zero's vision swims, and he pitches to the side, barely holding himself up, reminding himself to breathe.
He can feel the holes, all of them, like brands in his mind. Zero stares dully at the aching, open punctures on his forearm, to tired to move. Zero's healing has been boosted by Kuran blood, but the missing chunks of flesh don't heal. They don't even scab over. Why isn't he healing? The drugs, he realizes dimly, nausea building in his gut. This time Zero gives in, turning his head to the side and spitting up the liquid in his gut.
Voices above his head, distant, like noise heard through water. "I did the research. The masks should work. As long as we can't smell an omega, our instincts won't react, and we won't feel the urge to protect this trash."
Sunk in his own horror and despair, it's almost a relief when they begin to beat him.
Vampire strength can crack concrete. Zero's seen what it can do to flesh. It pulps soft tissues, turns bone into splinters, makes bodies into crushed meat. He can feel fluids pooling in all his cavities, a slow steady drowning in his own body, robbing him of breath. It will kill him soon, now that he's reduced to human healing. The wet, fleshy sounds of his tissues caving in, the crack and snap of his bones - they can't even rouse him to fight.
But he wants to, Zero discovers with surprise. A few months ago, Zero would have fought to live only for the sake of his duty, so he could keep Hunting. His own life had no intrinsic worth, except what he could use it for. But Zero has things he wants to do now - things to live for. Zero wants to live for himself. Yuuki has taught him to want such a thing, the Hunter realizes with a tinge of warmth in his chest that doesn't come from ruptured organs. Such a shame, to discover such a precious truth when he's already run out of time, he thinks regretfully
Zero clings to his pride as long as he can. Eventually, he screams when they start bending his joints backwards, tearing them free of the cartilage. The big vampire takes Zero's back in his hands, and bends and bends it, horribly, and Zero can hear the sound his spine makes when it breaks in two. He doesn't think he'll ever forget it. He screams, suddenly lifeless below the waist. Vampires can heal, but Zero was born human, and he instinctively fears mutilating injuries. The big vampire gives him just enough time to catch his breath, take deep gasps of air, before he does it again, higher. Zero's scream, an agonized animal sound, could shatter glass.
They get bored when he can't feel pain anymore. He's almost grateful to the vampire that broke his back. The edges of his vision are starting to blur as the vampires withdraw. Zero doesn't have long left.
No one has come for him. He'd expected that.
"Should we blind him?" questions one of the vampires.
Zero's hearing is too far gone to tell which one, but he discovers unpleasantly that some things can still make him afraid, the terrified chill blending with the natural coldness of his dying body.
"No," decides another - the leader, probably - "I have better plans," and a hand fists itself in his hair, pulling his head back painfully. A noise escapes his throat. "Can you still hear me, D?"
Zero blinks rapidly, the only answer his body has enough motion left to make. They already broke his jaw and ripped out his tongue.
A face comes close, forcing Zero to meet their eyes and see their ruthless smile. "Good. I want you to know what's going to happen next. We're not going to kill you ourselves. That would be too good for you."
The vampire gives Zero's head a shake, and his hearing blinks out for a moment. The vampires have left his head and skull mostly intact, so Zero could process the pain of what they did to him. It wouldn't do if he passed out or died before his punishment was complete.
"You see," says the vampire, "my comrade here has a useful power." He smiles cruelly. "Fire. We're going to set this building on fire, and then we're going to leave you inside to burn alive.
"Hunters are buried when they die. But you, D - you won't leave a body. You'll turn to ash like the rest of us. But you'll never be buried next to your precious family, not even as ash. When this place burns to the ground, they'll be so much ash that nobody will be able to tell you died here at all."
Zero's empty mouth makes a noise that might have been 'Ichiru.' The leader smiles again, rakes his claws through the ruins of Zero's face, and drops him.
He blanks out for a while, mercifully, waking up to the crackle of flames and the smell of burning plastic. The darkness at the edges of his vision creeps wider. Hot gusts of air singe what little of his skin he can still feel, and his lungs can't find any air.
His dying brain plays tricks on him, makes shapes out of the shadows and flickers of light cast by the fire. There's a roar as part of the building collapses, little more than a meter from his supine body. Zero wishes death would come collect him already, and as his eyes slip closed for the last time, he imagine he can see Death's black form looming out of the smoke.
Forgive me, he thinks, and Zero's heart beats once, twice, and then -
-stops.
Velvet blackness. Stifling silence.
A heartbeat, nearby, strong and fast.
Movement.
The taste of volcanic, liquid heat. The warmth spreads and chases away the cold, but it hurts. It hurts so bad, the agony of a soul being torn in two, like a living death, a howling, screaming loss.
And love. Such rich, deep love. He could weep, because it's meant for him.
(Faintly, the sound of two heartbeats.)
I hope everybody came out okay?
I lulled you into a sense of security last chapter, and now I'm punching you in the gut with feelings. I'm so sorry guys.
As always, remember that whatever I break I promise to fix, and as an added incentive, after this arc (2-3 chapters) we're finally getting to what I've been referring to in my head as the 'sex arc.'
Alright, the hurt is mostly done. Let the comfort begin. I promise cuddles, Kaname reconsidering his priorities, Yuuki's berserk button being repeatedly smashed, and Zero meeting a guide of sorts.