Chapter Three: Mistakes

(Two days earlier)

For Sho, it was as though one of his worst nightmares was playing out right before his eyes. He held onto Kei, unsure of what else to do whilst struggling to remain calm when, inwardly, he was feeling anything but.

Kei's eyes were wide with agony and he strained so much against his internal pain that Sho was terrified that he might do himself further damage. He hissed and writhed in Sho's grasp and all the younger man could do was hold him whilst ignoring the panicked cries of his friends. The sounds that Kei was making were far from human and it was almost a relief for Sho when Kei slumped into his arms and went still.

Exhaling the breath that Sho didn't realise that he was holding he cradled Kei to him, almost as though he were afraid to let him go.

Just what the hell had happened? Sho knew it had to be one of the side effects from Kei going without blood but what did it mean? Was he… was he dying? This thought almost caused tears to spring into Sho's eyes and he remained still, holding on tightly to Kei's limp form until the others approached him.

"Sho?" Toshi broke the silence between them. "What happened?"

"I… I don't know." Sho turned his head to look up at his friend. "He… he hasn't been feeding." He admitted quietly.

"How long for?"

"A couple of weeks."

"We need to get him home." Toshi, being uncharacteristically serious, took charge.

Sho nodded and pulled Kei to his chest as he stood, paying no attention to the deep scratches on his shoulders. He walked swiftly back to the car and deposited Kei on the back seat.

"Can you get yourselves home?" He asked of Son and Yi-Che.

"Of course." Son replied softly. "Will he be okay?"

Sho couldn't help but feel some jealousy when Yi-Che bent over Kei and gently stroked his cheek.

"Yeah he'll be fine." He answered, saying this to convince himself more than his friends.

"Call us." Son requested as the two of them hurriedly started to leave the beach. Sho agreed that he would and then got into the car. Toshi sat in the back with Kei and Shinji climbed into the front. Sho's brother hadn't said a word since Kei collapsed and almost had a guilty look on his face, although this was quickly disguised when Sho turned to him.

"I'll drop you home first."

Shinji shrugged, seemingly uncaring and Sho almost felt like rounding on him but he knew that this would serve no purpose. Looking after Kei was much more important.

However, when he put the car into gear, Shinji broke his silence and spoke. "Why are you doing this, Sho?"

"Doing what?" Sho feigned innocence when in reality he knew exactly what Shinji meant.

"Helping him. Why not leave him on the beach until the sun claims him?"

Sho was appalled by the venom in his brother's voice and had to concentrate very hard on keeping his temper.

"Kei saved our lives." Toshi came to the vampire's defence quickly before Sho could say anything that he might regret. "You should be grateful to him."

"Grateful?" Shinji snorted with his usual contempt. "To him? Why should I? He'll turn on us as soon as he wakes."

"Why do you say that?" Toshi asked, his voice suddenly going quiet and unreadable.

"Think about it." Shinji shrugged, "He hasn't fed and collapsed. He'll wake and go into a frenzy, killing the first person he sees. Do either of you want to be that person?"

"He wouldn't." Toshi replied immediately although Sho could hear a tremor of doubt in his voice and he, too, found himself wondering what exactly would happen when Kei woke.

Sho shuddered as he recalled the pained expression on Kei's face. Kei wouldn't hurt them that he knew with unwavering certainty. Kei would never hurt them but what would happen? Would he be maddened by hunger or perhaps he was passed that point now? Maybe he really was dying?

Not wanting to think such thoughts, Sho said no more on the subject. The roads were pretty clear this time of night and they reached Shinji's apartment block quicker than he thought that they would.

However, when they got closer, Sho saw four guys hanging around outside. He frowned, wondering if they were just teenagers, but as they got closer, Sho saw that they were better dressed than the small time gangs and that they were armed.

"Nii-chan? What's going on?" Sho asked, noticing how uncomfortable Shinji had suddenly become.

A shout went up from the men before Shinji could reply.

The men drew their guns and, without any warning, they began to fire. Sho immediately did a U-turn in the road but was distracted from the road when a bullet whizzed passed his head to shatter the windscreen. Glancing in the mirror, he saw that Toshi had already ducked down flat on the backseat, pulling Kei down with him. Shinji had flattened himself against the passenger seat, his eyes wide with fear but no shock. He had been expecting them.

Recovering himself, Sho struggled to put the car into a higher gear for escape but he accidentally knocked it back into neutral and it stalled.

"Sho!" Toshi shouted as the engine died. "What are you doing?"

"Shut up!" Sho yelled back as the gunfire drew closer and another bullet took out the right wing mirror. Panicked, Sho put the car into reverse, forcing the men to retreat to avoid being hit. They swore furiously in Mandarin before recovering themselves enough to start shooting again.

The events that followed happened in a complete blur. Sho managed to put the car into first gear, the tires screeching in protest at his heavy treatment of the car as he pulled he steering wheel round hard to the left to get them on the road again. They had just left the curb when there was a loud bang. Then he lost control of the car. It took Sho seconds to realise that they had shot the front right tire out. Still moving and going faster than they should have been, Sho fought to regain control but he was an inexperienced driver and this proved impossible.

It spun out of control and seconds later smashed into the low wall surrounding the opposite apartment block.

Sho guessed he must have temporarily blacked out for when he next became aware of his surroundings he was slumped face down on the steering wheel, blood trickling from a gash on his forehead. Keeping his eyes closed, Sho forced down nausea as he struggled to focus on the voices around him.

"… two unconscious or worse… no matter though… got one we need…"

Allowing only another couple of seconds to go by, Sho opened his eyes. The voices had moved away and a quick glance to his side confirmed that Shinji was no longer in the car with him. Toshi was gone too. Full of fear for his friends, Sho started to move, carefully inching his hand towards the glove compartment and the gun stashed inside. His movements had, so far, gone unnoticed and again snatches of the conversation came back to him.

"… what's owed to me…" Came an angry voice in Mandarin and then Toshi's terrified reply:

"… your money… just give him a little more time…"

"He's had plenty of time… Chan's patience is wearing thin…"

There were some more words uttered and then Toshi's voice became panicked.

"… do that and you won't get anything!"

"… set an example… don't want others thinking Chan's gone soft."

Fear for his friend and brother gripped Sho and he abandoned all caution as his hand closed around the gun. He snatched up the weapon and leapt out of the car, firing two shots in quick succession before the men even knew what was happening. His first went wild but his second struck home. The man in the centre of their group, nearest Shinji, fell down with a cry of pain. As soon as he fell, Sho vaulted over the hood of the car, putting the vehicle between him and the remaining men. During the gunfire, Toshi and Shinji had managed to retreat there also.

It was strange, Sho thought fleetingly, how one of the men dropped down beside the fallen one whilst the other two opened fire. Most usually the Chinese thugs didn't care if one of their comrades was hit, instead always focusing on the mission at hand. However, he soon dismissed this when bullets struck the car.

Kei…

Sho swallowed hard, full of fear for the unconscious vampire who was still inside. He had four shots and then his gun was spent. If he didn't kill these men then he and the others were as good as dead. Feeling terrified and also a rush of adrenaline at the pressure he was under, Sho silently counted to five. On five he moved away from his friends and left the shield of the car. The two men shouted angrily and took aim but Sho was quicker. He fired off another two shots. His first one struck another man in the chest and he went down, his gun skidding underneath the car and safely out of reach of the remaining men. The other bullet again went wild but caught the second gunman across the back of the hand. He cried out and, too, dropped his weapon. Seeing that the third was still knelt over the fallen man, Sho realised that he had the advantage. He opened his mouth to speak, with the intention of ordering them to surrender when a stab of pain shot through his head. Sho stumbled as, momentarily, his vision turned to black. When he was next aware of what was happening, Toshi had him by the arm and was ushering him back into the car.

"Toshi? What are you doing? We've got them."

"Baka!" Toshi snarled out, much to Sho's surprise. "Just get into the car."

"Toshi?" Sho tried to pull away, not understanding where his friend was coming from. They could easily kill the remaining men without putting themselves in any danger so why were they pulling back now?

Toshi opened the car door and forced Sho in beside Kei and Shinji climbed into the front passenger seat.

"What's going on?" Sho demanded angrily as Toshi pulled the car away from the curb and they sped off down the street as fast as they could with the tire blown out.

"Do you know who that man you shot was?" Toshi demanded once they were clear.

"No. One of Chan's goons I expect." Sho snapped back furiously.

"The man you shot was Xiong, Chan's right hand man."

"So what? If it means we've actually struck a blow against him that will hurt then that's good so what's the big deal?"

"Xiong is also Chan's son."

Somewhere deep down inside Kei knew that the scene that he was reliving had taken place long ago but still he took comfort in his memories, even the painful ones, for, of this particular person, they were all he had left.

Kei had met Luka long ago, back in the nineteenth century when he was still human. Their meeting in a bar had been a chance one and they had soon become friends. However, Luka's true nature was not something that he could hide forever and, once Kei knew the truth about his friend, his days as a human were numbered.

It had been a street robbery and Kei had foolishly tried to escape them. Luka had found him bleeding to death in an alley and had made the decision to change him. This was a decision that Kei had never quite forgiven Luka for making.

Yet, in the end, they had stayed together be it out of fear of being alone and something deeper. Kei and Luka had been lovers and had been before Kei was turned. Back then it had been innocent, Kei had been innocent but once he was turned it had all changed. Kei had changed and he had often wondered what his life would have been like if it had been allowed to run its natural course. It was the same for Luka, too, he supposed but there were moments when he was glad of his immortality and this was one of them.

Kei limped along, keeping his gaze focused on the vampire in front of him, even as his broken body struggled to heal. They had been disturbed whilst feeding and had been forced to make their escape out of a fifth floor window; a drop straight down onto concrete. Luka had landed on his feet with practiced skill and was unscathed but Kei hadn't been so fortunate. It had only been a few minutes before that Luka had been carrying him whilst his broken back mended but even a vampire had limits, especially one who hadn't fed in a while.

Luka had a rule that when they arrived in a new place they did not feed for a few days or people would start to become suspicious. It was a wise move but the hunger was still something that Kei couldn't quite get used to. They had been in Taiwan for four nights and hadn't been able to feed much before then so Luka had taken a chance and they had been caught. Now they were running for Luka hated to kill when it wasn't necessary but Kei didn't feel that he could go on.

He heard a horrible crack as he was forced to dodge the bullets that were fired. Handguns in those days were primitive compared to the present but could still do a lot of damage and Kei couldn't risk another injury right now.

The crack, he soon discovered, was another of his ribs breaking and he almost choked as blood welled up in his throat. Swallowing hard, he tried to speed up but the pain was nearly to the point where he couldn't stand.

He stumbled again and struggled to keep going. Kei focused on Luka who was moving further and further away. His mentor hadn't realised that Kei was in difficulty and was leaving him behind.

Gritting his teeth, Kei tore his gaze from Luka and glanced wildly around him. There was a side alley, almost invisible to the human eye in the dark and Kei ducked down this, throwing himself painfully back against the wall to conceal himself as much as possible and, as he predicted, the men raced by, still after his mentor's retreating form.

Sighing, Kei slumped down onto the wet concrete. Minutes for a vampire were a mere blink of the eye but for Kei right now they seemed to stretch on for a lifetime. He sat still and took the deep breaths as he felt his body begin to mend. The bones knitted back together and his cuts and bruises vanished from sight. Soon all Kei was left with was a feeling of weakness and a dull ache in his lower back where his spine had broken.

He felt a few rain droplets splash down onto him but Kei didn't feel fully able to move just yet. There was a while yet until dawn so he could take his time. Luka would be fine, this he knew with certainty. Most likely his mentor would lead them away and then come back to look for him. Moving further back into the alley and taking shelter underneath a fire escape, Kei settled himself down to wait for Luka's return.

The first emotion that Kei felt when he slowly began to come round was sorrow. He swallowed hard to dislodge the lump that had formed in his throat. It was the same, whenever he had dreams about his dead mentor. He was felt feeling empty inside and with a sadness that he couldn't quite shake. Thinking of Luka also made Kei feel terribly guilty, guilty that he had not stayed with his lover until the very end.

Taking a sharp inhalation of breath, Kei forced his eyes open. He was lying on his leather sofa bed back at home. He could hear voices in the background and he quickly made out Sho's as being the loudest. The second was Toshi's and the usually laid back and humorous young man was almost as riled as Sho was and Kei realised that they were shouting at each other.

"I don't care!" Sho was declaring stubbornly. "I'm not going to run from a fight!"

"Sho, will you listen to me! This is serious! You cannot fight this time. We have to go. Now."

"This is your fault to start with! If you had just let me kill them instead of running then we wouldn't be in this situation now!"

"I panicked. I'm sorry, Sho, but we cannot afford to argue about this. We need to leave."

Toshi's furious tone must have surprised Sho as much it did Kei for he suddenly fell silent. Encouraged, Toshi continued: "We've already wasted enough time as it is. I have a friend who will loan us a car. Pack what you need and no more and wait for me."

Very much concerned by the fact that Toshi was taking charge for once, Kei struggled to move, thus making his return to consciousness known.

"Kei!" Instantly Sho was at his side, kneeling worriedly down by the sofa bed and placing his hands on Kei's shoulders, forcing him back down. "Take it easy."

Kei frowned until he recalled the details of his sudden collapse and the hunger… the hunger that had long since faded but his weakness had not. Shivering, he was still determined not to appear helpless and pushed himself up into a sitting position, despite Sho's protests.

"I'll be back soon." Toshi said, exiting the apartment without another word. Kei's concern instantly turned into out right worry. Toshi was never this serious and this afraid. Never.

"What happened?"

"You fainted at the beach." Sho explained, pretending to misunderstand Kei's question. "We brought you back here to rest up."

"No." Kei shook his head. "What happened to you?" At that moment he looked up at Sho, scenting blood in the air as his gaze locked onto the still slightly bleeding gash on Sho's forehead and the ugly purple bruise that was forming around it.

"I had a little car accident, that's all." Sho dismissed him stubbornly. "You should take it easy for a few days. Stop worrying about me."

"No." Kei shook his head, "That's not it at all. Tell me what happened."

Sho sighed, "We had a little trouble with some of Chan's goons, that's all, but don't worry it's all taken care of now."

"No it's not." Shinji startled Kei by interrupting. Kei was having trouble concentrating in his weakened state but he was slightly alarmed that he hadn't sensed Shinji's presence before the man spoke. "Toshi's right. We have to get out of here."

"Shut up!" Sho snarled, jumping up from his place at Kei's side. "He can't travel! Not in his state! We'll never get far enough away by dawn."

"Then we leave him behind."

"No."

"He can't be killed so what's the problem?"

"No." Sho repeated stubbornly. "We're not leaving Kei behind."

As the seconds passed by, Kei was becoming more and more concerned by the situation, concerned and frustrated as he sensed Sho's fear. Sho's front had been nothing more than him putting on a brave face. Something had happened, something bad enough that they wanted to run from the city and the only reason that Sho was refusing was because of Kei.

Feeling angry and helpless, Kei stood up and grabbed Sho by the shoulders as he snarled out with more fury than he intended: "What did you do?"

Very much taken aback, Sho's gaze darted away from the angry vampire and to Shinji. Shinji limped over to them, regarding Kei with a mixture of loathing and fear as he said: "Let him go, Kei."

Startled, Kei realised that he was holding Sho far tighter than he had intended to. He also noted some deep scratches in his shoulders, scratches that Kei regretfully recalled causing.

"I'm sorry." He muttered, his sudden exertion catching up with him again and Kei was forced to sit back down.

Sho nodded silently, accepting this. Then, sitting down beside Kei and lighting a cigarette, he spoke again.

"After you fainted we decided to take you back home. We were going to drop Shinji off first but we were attacked by some of Chan's men. I took them out but…" Sho drew a breath, again betraying how scared he really was. "One of them was Xiong."

Kei was well aware of who Xiong was and he cast a pained look at Sho. The younger man was as good as dead. Chan would never let this go; never.

He also felt a terrible wave of guilt wash over him. The fact that Sho had got into this situation to begin with was Kei's fault. Had he just forced away his self-pity and fed then he would have been in a position to stop any of this from happening. As it was, Kei knew that he couldn't take on Chan in his condition. Toshi was right; they had to leave Mallepa.

Forcing down his weariness, Kei softly instructed Sho to pack some of their things. "What?" Sho asked in disbelief. "Kei--"

"Don't argue, Sho." Kei snapped as he again dragged himself off of the sofa bed and made his way into the kitchen. In the drawer under the sink they kept a selection of weaponry and Kei opened this now. He chose a couple of guns and made sure that they were loaded. They had several boxes of spare bullets and Kei took those too.

Coming back into the front room, he gave one gun to Shinji and kept the other two for himself. "Keep this on you at all times." He instructed before going through to the bedroom where Sho was in front of the open wardrobe furiously tearing clothes off hangers and tossing them into a suitcase.

"Sho--" Kei started but trailed off when the younger man looked up and Kei saw the tears that had welled up in his eyes.

"I've killed us all haven't I?" Sho asked softly, the quiver in his voice almost broke Kei's heart.

"No." Kei shook his head, trying his best to reassure Sho. "I'll protect you. All of you."

"You can barely stand!" Sho cried out, slamming the suitcase violently shut as he spoke. "We're dead, Kei."

It was hard to believe that only a few hours ago they were all over at Son and Yi-Che's having fun and just relaxing. It was a stark reminder to Kei that nothing ever remained the same. He thought again of Luka at that moment and his heart ached at the thought of losing Sho, too.

"Sho, listen to me." Kei said firmly, "You need to focus. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes. At the moment we have the advantage so we need to act quickly."

"How? What do you have in mind?"

Kei shook his head and refused to elaborate. He had thought of a way out of this but he didn't want Sho involved at all. At the moment they had to get away. Sho was right, Kei couldn't fight in his condition but there was no time to feed now. Firstly he had to concentrate on keeping Sho safe. That was Kei's main focus at the moment.

Sho was still shaking, even after Kei left the bedroom. He had finished packing and had sat down on the bed trying to regain his composure before he faced his brother or best friend again. Never before had Sho felt fear like this. His one mistake had most likely cost them all their lives. Kei was trying to reassure him but he knew as well as Sho did that they were as good as dead. That was why he hadn't wanted to run. Sho had wanted to stay and face Chan so that his friends might be spared. He just couldn't face living in fear for the rest of his life. Every time one of them was late back they would worry. It was no way to live but if Chan got to Sho then perhaps the others would be spared.

I'll protect you. All of you

Kei would try to help them but how could he? He wasn't anywhere near full strength and Sho was still very concerned about his friend. Kei looked as though he was going to collapse at any moment. He needed blood very badly; no matter how much he tried to hide it. It was only a few hours until dawn and true they could cover a good distance in that time but traffic going out of the city was always bad and they would have to take a scenic route to avoid being spotted.

Sho stood up, feeling desperation welling up inside of him again. This was hopeless… they were going to get caught and then… Sho shuddered at this. What if they found out about Kei? The vampire was risking more than his life by coming with them. Perhaps he should stay behind? Sho dismissed this in an instant. He was not leaving Kei and, in any case, he felt a lot safer having the vampire with them. If it came down to a fight, they would need Kei more than ever before and Kei himself knew this too.

No… Sho told himself, trying to regain some of his confidence. It wouldn't come to that. Kei had never failed them before now and he was right, they had the advantage. If they could just use this then they had ever chance of getting away. Forcing himself to think positively, when deep down he felt anything but, Sho finally found it within himself to go back and rejoin the other two. Kei was once again seated but Shinji was pacing anxiously back and forth, occasionally looking out of the window.

"Any sign of Toshi?" Sho asked, breaking the silence.

"Not yet." Shinji replied flatly.

According to Shinji, he had gotten behind on his payments for drugs and that was why Chan's men had been waiting for him. Sho had initially felt anger that Shinji would deliberately endanger them but he knew that Shinji was so messed up at times that he didn't know what he was doing. In any case, Sho knew that they couldn't argue about it now. As soon as Toshi came back they would be leaving.

"You need to focus. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes. At the moment we have the advantage so we need to act quickly."

"How? What do you have in mind?"

Kei's words echoed in his head and Sho couldn't help but wonder just what the vampire was going to do. A part of him was glad that Kei had thought of something but part of him was also very concerned.

Kei… just what do you plan on doing?