Chapter Fourteen

Shopping Horror

The streets were packed, but then again... they always were. The little clothing shop Mao had taken them to luckily wasn't that busy. "Look at this dress, Riku!" Mao exclaimed, "It would look darling on you!"

It was a simple black dress that looked like it came up to the knees, and it was Spaghetti strapped. "I don't know..." Riku raised an eyebrow.

"He'd like it," Mao grinned.

Riku looked confused, "He... who?"

Mao rolled her eyes, "I'm not stupid, and I'm not blind. Who do you think, dear? Karl, of course."

Riku's eyes widened, "What... why would I care what he thought of me in a dress? I don't..."

"Please. You might not be blood related, but you are my niece. I notice things, Riku. Ask Hagi and Kai... and Saya when you get a chance."

"Aunt Mao... am I that obvious?"

"To a woman's eyes. To a man's eyes... not so much. He may not be human, but Karl is a man. You'd have to come right out and tell him. Poor guy."

Riku sighed, "Come right out? I don't think so. I'm not as bold as you, aunt Mao."

"As I said... you are my niece. You can be as bold as you want to be, and I dare anyone to tell you different."

Riku laughed, "It's a shame Lulu can't come out during the day. She would've loved this."

"Unfortunately Lulu reacts badly to the sun. It's been years since she's come to us, and Julia is still trying to find a way around the whole... turn to ashes in the sun thing. So far, we haven't come up with anything. I would love Lulu to be able to enjoy a sunny day."

"Yeah..."

"No sad things, Riku! We're shopping! It's suppose to make us feel better!"

Riku laughed, "Right! Sorry!"

The two continued looking at clothes. Riku suddenly felt weird... she felt as though someone was watching her. She looked around nervously, but didn't see anyone. "Riku, are you alright?" Mao asked.

"I think we should go, Aunt Mao. Something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean..."

Mao barely got the words out, when she was blown back into a dressing room door. She slumped to the ground, out cold. "Aunt Mao!" Riku screamed.

She heard horrible laughter. She saw a flash, and then the woman from the prison appeared in front of her. "Riku... alone at last. Now we can talk girl to girl."

"You're Chera," Riku gasped.

"Yes, that's right. Very good. You remember me."

Riku sneered, "Damn you! Why did you do that?"

"Really... what do we care if some human gets hurt? We are superior to them in every way. They are nothing but cattle, really."

"You bitch, you used to be human. If it wasn't for Mahler forcing my sister to make you into a Chevalier you'd still be human!"

"A technicality," sneered Chera, "I am now a Chevalier. Superior to these ridiculous human beings who think they're still at the top of the food chain. How stupid are they when beings like you and me exist."

Chera backed Riku against the wall. "Don't put me in a class with you!"

Riku shoved her, and she stumbled back several steps. "I've come to take you to the place where you truly belong, Riku. If you refuse to come with me... I'll have to force you. I don't want to hurt you, because then... well... I don't want to think about what he would do."

"Force her?" a voice laughed, "Lets see you try."

Chera was thrown into a wall with such force, that the wall cracked. The store clerk, finally noticing that not everything was quite normal, gave a little squeak, and then ran out of the store. Karl appeared in front of Riku. "Where'd you come from?" she asked, relieved.

He looked back at her, and gave her a little grin, "I can't leave you alone for even a moment, can I?"

She tried to look insulted, but couldn't. So she smiled instead, "No, I guess not."

"What's going on?" Karl asked, serious again, "Why is she here?"

"To take me where I really belong," Riku sighed, rolling her eyes, "Or so she says."

"You belong here with me and your family. Let her try to take you away from us."

Riku blushed. "You," snarled Chera, getting up, "You dumb son of a bitch. Don't you know what he's going to do to you? Don't you understand what kind of power he has!"

"I don't care what kind of power he thinks he has. At one time he answered to someone... the same as you. He's no more than a Chevalier... the same as you. The person you should really be looking to is Georgie. If you're too stupid to do that, then," Karl smirked, "I'm not going to be sorry at all for anything I do to you if you try to take my Riku."

'His Riku?' Riku blushed, again.

"In that case, Mr. Fei-Ong... I respected you. Because you are senior... just like Mr. Mahler. I thought maybe you could be reasoned with. He would welcome you back," Chera shook her head, "I see now that there is no reasoning with you. You're as crazy as belived. I'm going to have to kill you, aren't I?"

Karl laughed. Did this little girl really think she was in the same league? He had decades of experience. "Karl, be careful. Something isn't right. She's... doing something to herself."

"She's changing. She's going into her Chiropteran form. Riku, I want you get Mao out of here. I don't want you to see all of this."

"I'll get Mao out, but I'm coming back."

"Riku..."

"I'm coming back!"

Riku ran over to Mao. She took her underneath the arms, and lifted her up. She drug her out to the sidewalk, and sat her on a bench. She made sure she lay comfortably, then she ran back toward the store. She heard a loud growl that sent a chill up her spine. She stopped, took a deep breath, and then ran back inside the store. She gasped at the scene she'd ran in on. Karl was no longer anywhere to be seen, and nether was Chera. In there place was two very different creatures. They both had red eyes. One was a green/grayish color, and the other was close to being maroon. "Riku," the grayish one looked almost sad, "Keep out of the way."

"Karl?" she whispered, "Is that really you?"

"I'm afraid so..."

The maroon creature launched herself at Karl. However, he quickly dodged the beast, and it slammed into the wall behind him... nearly breaking through it. The creature laughed, "She's afraid of you. Look at the way she looks at you..."

"Shut up!" Riku shouted, angrily, "She's trying to psych you out! Don't listen to her! I'm not afraid! I'm just surprised!"

"Riku!" Karl scolded, "Hide!"

"Right," she gave a quick nod, and then jumped behind the clerk's counter.

Peaking over the side, she watched the Karl and Chera fight like two titans. They were almost matched in strength, but Karl had been doing things much longer. He was smarter... seasoned. That didn't mean Chera wasn't dangerous to him. She was young and full of confidence and ego. 'What could I do against such a thing?'

She saw a cup that held several pens, pencil, and... "A letter opener," she whispered.

She quietly got the letter opener out of the cup, and dug the point into her hand. "I wonder if it will even break the skin..."

She looked up in time to see Karl being slung behind the counter. Riku screamed in horror as he hit the ground beside of her with a sickening thud. "Don't be scared..."

"Are you okay? Are you alright?"

"Yes... I'm fine," he sighed, "She's stronger than I gave her credit for."

"No offense, but you underestimate people all of the time. I'm not surprised at all."

"Now isn't the time for this," he scolded.

"No... look," she showed him the letter opener, "I'm going to try it."

Riku jumped over the counter. "Riku... wait!"

Ignoring him, she ran toward the beast that was Chera. Chera gave her a horrid grin, "You want to try your luck, little queen?"

Just before Riku got to her she baseball slid... right underneath Chera's legs. She jumped on her back, and went to stab her in the neck with the blood-soaked letter opener... it snapped into, not even breaking her skin. Chera laughed, and threw Riku off. She fell to the ground, landing on her back. She looked up to see Karl soaring through the air. He tackled Chera, sending both of them into, and through one of the store walls. Then they burst through again, Chera landing on top of Karl. "I'm going to rip your head off!" Chera growled.

"Riku!" someone called from the entrance, "Use this."

Hagi threw her something... a katana. She looked at him questioningly. "This is..."

He gave her a quick nod, "She would want you to use it."

Riku nodded, unsheathing the sword. She slid the blade across the palm of her hand. The blood instantly began to fill the creases in the blade. "This time... it won't break!" she shouted, as she ran toward Chera.

"Yeah, right!" Chera growled.

Before Riku could bury her aunt's blade into the beast, Chera was gone in a flash. The flash went past Hagi. He made a move to try and catch her, but he was knocked back in the process. "Damn it! I had her!" Riku shouted.

She looked down at Karl. He was breathing hard. He wasn't making any move to try and get up. "Are... you... are you alright?" he asked Riku.

"Are you?" Riku demanded.

"My strength began to give way there at the end."

"But... why?" Riku asked, confused.

"I'll tell you any theory you want... after you find me some clothes I can change into."

She smiled, "Right."

"Um... Riku... after you find some clothes... can you step outside?"

She blushed, "Yeah... sure."

II

"Are you sure you're okay, Mao?" Kai asked.

Mao glared at him. She had a bag on ice on her head. "I told you all I'm fine. Now will you stop asking."

Karl was sitting on a hospital bed, looking thoughtful. Riku was sitting beside of him. "Why did my strength drain so quickly?" he asked no one in particular.

"Do you have any theories... like you said?" Riku asked.

Karl shook his head. "You haven't been back that long, you know," Julia gave him a small smile, "Changing like you did... when you haven't done it in so long... I'm not at all surprised that you were drained of your strength."

"So... I shouldn't change?" Karl asked.

"No, no. I didn't say that. You should... that is if you want keep fighting in that form from time to time. The more you do it... the more your body will get used to it," Julia told him, "How do you feel now?"

"Better... less tired," Karl sighed.

"Good," Julia gave a nod.

"I almost had her," Riku shook her head, "She's damn fast, isn't she."

"Even Hagi couldn't catch her," Karl raised an eyebrow, "He always gave me a run for my money... as the saying goes."

"Oh!" Riku exclaimed, "Saya's sword... you'll be wanting that back..."

"Why don't you keep it safe for her," Hagi told her, "Until she wakes up."

"Really?" Riku smiled, "That's... really cool."

Karl smiled, "Now that you have a good sword, maybe you'll be less likely to complain when we train."

"Yeah..." Riku rolled her eyes, "Maybe."

III

"Damn him!" Chera growled, loudly, "Damn him to hell! I had that girl! She was right there!"

Nathan and the other Chevaliers watched her. Nathan sighed, "Calm down, will you. Throwing a hissy fit isn't going to change anything. My baby brother is a huge obstacle. We all knew this."

"He's..."

"Changed," Nathan smiled a little, "This change has made him stronger in a way."

"You sound almost proud of him," snarled Chera.

"Make no mistake. If it comes down to it, I will kill Karl without even blinking. However... yes. We have history. It's hard not to feel some kind of... joy that he's finally a little sane. We didn't socialize much, but it when I did see him... it broke my heart to see what he was becoming. Finally! He isn't running around in a tuxedo, a cape, and a mask proclaiming a creature that could easily kill him with a drop of her blood is going to be his soul mate in life and in death... so over-dramatic!"

Chera glared, "You be proud of him. I'll just continue to hate the son of a bitch!"

"Like I said... calm down. I can take care him... if I have to. You and the others just focus a plan to get the humans out of the way. That should be simple enough for you to do."

"Fine."

"I really won't put up with many more failures. Let's try to come up with some plans that actually work. My little Georgie is getting lonely... and lonely makes her irritable."

Chera gave a reluctant nob, and then walked out of the room. Several of the Chevaliers followed her out. "This is becoming such a head ache! Now I see why Amshel was always such a buzz-kill!"