Chapter Four: On the run
(One day earlier)
Toshi had returned about fifteen minutes later and the four of them had wasted little time in leaving. Thinking ahead, Toshi had mentioned to his friend that they wanted the car for a trip across Taiwan and mentioned the capital. This foresight was a wise move, for inevitably, Toshi's contacts would be questioned and Sho was a little surprised that Toshi was being so calm about everything.
The car that Toshi had borrowed was a foreign make and was black. Seeing as most of the cars on the road nowadays were black, Toshi had figured it would help them blend in better. Toshi also insisted on driving, as he didn't want Sho's lack of regard for the Highway Code attracting unwanted attention.
In honest truth, Sho was actually glad, as his head had started to hurt again. The pain started out centred where the cut was but now had lanced out from there and his entire forehead was aching. He had, on Kei's insistence, taken time to clean the wound but nothing more. Ordinarily he knew that he should get it checked out at a hospital but they just couldn't risk that. Instead Sho had taken a couple of Aspirin before setting out and was hoping that the pain would go away.
He had climbed into the back of the car next to Kei and Shinji had taken the front passenger seat. In a bid to dispel the tenseness in the atmosphere, Toshi switched the radio on as he drove the car away from their apartment. He took one of the back streets and drove within the speed limit but well at the upper end of it.
For a while, Sho tried to concentrate on the rock music but his mind kept wandering. He glanced in the rear-view mirror every now and again worrying that each car that came too close to them was Chan's goons. The fact that everyone in the car was in danger because of him was gnawing away in the back of his mind and Sho just couldn't shake that, despite his resolve to be strong.
"Sho?" Kei finally broke the silence. "You look tired. Why don't you sleep for a while?"
"No." He shook his head and turned to look at the vampire. If anything, Kei looked tired but Sho knew that the vampire would not sleep until they were safely away. Sho felt the same way but appreciated Kei's concern anyway. Feeling that familiar ache inside of him whenever he looked at his best friend, Sho struggled to think of something else to say. He didn't want to bring up the subject of Kei's weakness but it was all he could think about.
"Where are we going?" He asked instead, directing this question at Toshi.
"A friend of mine has a place where we can hide out for a few days. It's about an hour and half away, on the very fringe of the city. It should be safe."
"An hour and a half?" Sho glanced down at his watch and his anxiety increased. They had an hour and forty-five minutes until it would start to get light. Even though the car offered Kei some protection, Sho wasn't sure that it would be enough.
"Give or take." Toshi allowed, sensing Sho's worry.
"And this place is secure?" Kei asked, "I take it we can trust your friend?"
"Of course," Toshi nodded. "We can trust him."
"Good." Kei sounded relieved.
"And then what?" Shinji asked, the sneering edge to his voice more than a little noticeable as he spoke.
Kei did not reply. Sho knew that the vampire had something in mind and he was becoming increasingly convinced that he wasn't going to like what it was. Shinji, on the other hand, did not know this and took it to mean that Kei didn't know.
"Great," he replied bitterly. "That's just great."
"You wanted to run, Nii-chan." Sho pointed out defensively.
"Yes, but I at least hoped that he might have a plan! This…" Shinji gestured to the car, "This isn't going to work at all."
His panic was catching and Toshi was at least starting to look both doubtful and nervous. Sho knew that he had to do/say something quickly but Kei beat him to it.
"It will." He assured them calmly, "All we need to do is get to Toshi's friend's place."
"And then what?" Shinji pressed, even forgetting his dislike of Kei, for the moment at least.
"You don't need to worry about then." Kei answered him; "I will deal with things from there."
It was clear that Shinji was far from satisfied with this answer and Sho wasn't exactly happy with it either. He was about to press the matter further when his phone started to ring.
"Son." He said, remembering the Taiwanese's request that they call him to let him know about Kei.
"Don't tell him anything." Toshi advised as Sho answered the call, "There's no point in putting him and Yi-Che in danger, too."
Sho nodded in agreement and answered the call.
"Where have you been?" Was Son's immediate question. "I tried the landline and couldn't get an answer."
"We're still out." Sho lied quickly, "Kei woke up and was feeling a bit better so we decided to drive around for a little while."
"That's good that he's feeling better. If he's feeling up to it tomorrow night would you like to come round for dinner again?"
"Tomorrow?" Sho repeated, "I'm not sure. We have a couple of things to sort out. Shall I call you when we're done?"
"Sure, whatever. I tell you what, Yi-Che's receiving a reward for all the regeneration work she's been doing in the park on Friday. Why don't you guys come to that? I was thinking we could have a small celebration back at our apartment for her, too."
"Sounds great." Sho did his best to sound enthusiastic but he obviously wasn't very convincing as Son's next question was:
"Are you okay? You sound a little stressed."
"Yeah, just a little worried about Kei still that's all."
"That's okay. You guys are practically family, aren't you."
"We are." Sho glanced at Kei as he spoke. It was true, he was still very worried about the vampire but he knew that he had to put this to the back of his mind and focus as Kei had asked him to.
"I'll let you go." Son said at last, "Just take care okay? And be careful. I don't know what's up but word on the street is that the Chinese gangs are riled by something."
"Yeah?" Sho asked, doing his best to sound only casually interested. He hated lying to his friend but it was much safer for Son and Yi-Che this way.
"I don't know the details but it sounds big. I wouldn't get mixed up in any of that if I were you."
"Thanks for the advice. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Okay then."
They went through the pleasantries and Sho hung up, feeling even more stressed than he had been before Son had called. It was only a matter of time before his Taiwanese friends were dragged into this too now. Chan's men were bound to question them and Sho at least wished that he could warn them but Toshi was right. The less they knew then the safer they would be in the long run.
Sighing, Sho again glanced in the rear-view mirror as he lit a cigarette. That black convertible had been behind them since he started his phone call with Son, he noted and, purely on a whim, he requested that Toshi take the next turn off.
"Why? We'll be going the wrong way." Toshi questioned, clearly not having noticed that car.
"Just do it." Sho didn't want to explain his fears and alarm them unnecessarily but, when Toshi did as asked, his heart sank when the other car turned as well.
Sho's heart was hammering in his chest when he turned to Kei, knowing that his friend had noticed the car as well. They couldn't afford to take too much of a detour and lose it because they were so close to dawn breaking.
Toshi took another turn onto a side street. Again the car made the same turn. There was no doubt about it, it was definitely following them. Swallowing hard, Sho tried to think of a way out of this. At the moment there could only be five of them at the most but more could arrive very quickly. They had to do something now or else everything was lost.
"Toshi, pull over," Kei suddenly requested.
"What?" The younger man asked in shock for he had now realised too that they were being tailed.
"Pull over," Kei repeated as he unfastened his seatbelt and then Sho's. "Stay down." He ordered when the car came to a standstill.
"Where are you going?" Sho demanded, feeling a twinge of fear for his friend.
"I'm going to see what they want." Before Sho could protest further, Kei had opened the door and got out of the car.
"What the hell is he doing?" Shinji hissed, the fury evident in his voice. "He's going to get us all killed!"
"Just shut up and keep down," Sho snapped back, echoing Kei's words. "He knows what he's doing."
This quietened his brother, but didn't mean that Sho felt any the more reassured. They sat in silence for a few minutes and it was an agonising wait for them all. In the end Sho just couldn't bear it. What if they had hurt Kei? Or worse? Even though Kei appeared to have forgotten the events previously that evening, Sho had not.
"Where are you going?" Toshi hissed when Sho, making his decision, opened the passenger door.
"I'm going to see if Kei's alright," Sho explained in a tone that would hear no argument but this didn't stop Shinji from taunting him snidely by saying:
"I thought he knew what he was doing?"
"Shut up, Nii-chan." Sho snapped as he slipped out of the car.
His heart was beating painfully in his chest as Sho moved quickly towards the other car. The gap between the two wasn't very long, probably a couple of metres at the most, and the fact that he couldn't see Kei at all caused him to speed up, to close the distance between them faster.
Sho already had one hand on the gun hidden underneath his jacket as he continued his approach. He didn't know whether he should call out or not. He could now make out the shapes of two people sitting in the front of the car and, as Sho drew nearer still, he realised that they were both slumped forward in their seats, not moving.
Feeling a sudden surge of adrenaline, Sho walked round to the passenger side and opened the door. He knew immediately that the two men were dead. Staring at them, Sho swallowed hard at the sight of the neat bullet holes in the backs of their heads. Only Kei could take someone completely unawares like that and they probably hadn't even had time to realise what was about to happen. Even though he loved Kei, the idea of this cold-blooded slaughter had shaken Sho and he took a step back. Kei was also the only one of them to use silencers on his guns. They wouldn't have heard a thing.
"I told you to wait in the car." Kei's voice was behind him suddenly and Sho trembled when he felt Kei's breath on his shoulder.
Turning around, he struggled to keep his expression relaxed as he answered to this: "I got tired of waiting." He smiled afterwards but it was very much forced.
"I was checking that these two hadn't been followed also." Kei explained quietly, "They weren't but we should go now. Someone's bound to miss these guys sooner or later."
"Kei?" Sho caught the vampire's arm as a sudden thought occurred to him, "You should feed before we go."
This statement took Kei aback and the pained expression on his face was quickly masked by something unreadable, as he shook his head 'no'. "There isn't time."
"We can delay a few minutes," Sho, against his better judgement, decided to press the issue.
"I'm fine." Kei insisted and, at this, Sho felt his concern and anger flare up again.
"You need blood. How can you fight if you're weak?"
"I'm fine." Kei reiterated stubbornly, "Sho, this is not the place to be having this conversation. We have to get out of here."
"Not until you feed."
"I can't!" Kei suddenly cried out, abandoning all composure. "Do you have any idea what this does to me? Being what I am?"
"Not this again." Sho felt his temper spiking in a combination of frustration and fear. "Kei you only do what you do to survive. I would rather you killed a hundred men than be without you and these guys…" he gestured to the dead men, "They deserve it."
"And what gives you the right to decide that?" Kei answered angrily.
"If you won't do it for yourself then do it for us. We need you Kei, we need your strength. Please."
Utter desperation was quickly entering his voice now and, for a moment, Sho actually dared to hope that he had gotten through to Kei, especially when the vampire took a step towards him.
It was then that it happened but this time Sho recognised the warning signs. Slowly Kei's moss coloured eyes started to go in and out of focus and then his legs buckled beneath him. Anticipating this, Sho had already run forward and had caught the vampire round the waist. Seconds later he became a deadweight in Sho's arms.
"Kei…" Sho felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes as he looked down at his friend. All of this… it was too much for Kei and this was all his fault. If only he hadn't of been so stupid…
"Sho?" Toshi's voice broke into his thoughts and Sho glanced up as his friend approached. Toshi's expression turned to one of alarm and panic when he saw what had happened. "Not again…" He murmured, the fear evident in his voice and then louder, "Come on, we need to go."
Sho nodded and, without another word, followed Toshi back to the car.
"What are we going to do?" Toshi asked quietly once Sho had settled down in the back of the car. He had laid Kei across his lap and hadn't taken his eyes off of the vampire's pale face since. They had been sat in the car for a few minutes, each one of them at a loss as to what to do next. "Without Kei…" he didn't finish his sentence; there was no need to.
"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."
"We need to get to your friend's place," Sho said as he recalled Kei's words. Both Toshi and Shinji were looking to him now to get them out of this and Sho knew that he had to take charge, he couldn't afford to waste anymore time.
"What's wrong with him anyway?" Shinji asked, his voice slightly unfeeling, as he nodded to Kei's still form.
"He can't feed," Sho admitted quietly as he recalled, with a shiver, Kei's desperate words during their last job and then, just now, before he'd collapsed.
I can't…"Can't?" Toshi echoed, "What do you mean he can't?"
"I don't know! He won't talk to me!" Sho snarled out. He knew that getting angry with Toshi wouldn't help but he was feeling more frightened by each passing second. He was losing Kei and he didn't know what he could do to save him. Sho had seen Kei depressed before but this was different. It was as though Kei needed something and Sho just couldn't give whatever it was to him.
Drawing a sharp breath, Sho managed to instruct Toshi to continue on their way. It was all they could do now. They had to get away and to the safe house before any more of Chan's goons found them.
Thankfully Toshi did as requested without a word and the three of them lapsed into a subdued silence. Sho continued to hold Kei tightly, frightened at how cold the vampire was becoming and, as dawn approached, the idea that Sho might lose him became all the more real and this terrified him much more than their current situation.
As Son hung up the phone to Sho, he had vaguely been aware of a knock at the door of their apartment. Yi-Che had already moved to get this and he let her, as he was a little troubled by the degree of tension in Sho's voice. As he had continued his conversation with his friend, Son had come to the conclusion that something was wrong. Of course, he could just put it down to the fact that Sho was worried about Kei. The two of them were very close, much closer than any of the others and it was painfully obvious to Son that Sho's feelings for Kei were much more than just friendship.
This did not bother Son in the slightest. It was the 21st century after all and such feelings weren't uncommon, especially as Kei had cared for Sho for so many years. Deeper feelings were bond to have developed along the way. Kei's emotions were more difficult to read but occasionally Son would catch sight of Kei looking at Sho in a way that gave him reason to believe that Sho's feelings weren't as unrequited as perhaps the younger man believed.
In a way, Son felt sad for them for Kei would never be human and so a relationship was out of the question. Son was also aware that Yi-Che harboured feelings for Kei and he was trying to find the right way to explain to her that there was more than just the obvious reason as to why Kei had never shown any romantic interest in her but Son was a little reluctant to say anything for Yi-Che had been through a lot and he didn't want her to have her heart trodden on again.
He was in the process of going through to the kitchen when the door was slammed loudly and this caused him to turn around.
Yi-Che ran to him, terrified, as the two men entered the room. Son recognised them as being from Chan's gang although he could not recall their names.
They advanced quickly and before Son could react, the bigger one grabbed him by his shirt collar and slammed him painfully into the wall behind. Yi-Che immediately tried to go to his aid and the second caught her a blow round the cheek, sending her sprawling to the floor. Rage welled up inside of Son at this treatment of his sister and he struggled to break free but it was clear that the men weren't interested in her.
Son had, had some dealings with Chan before, after all the Chinese Mafia Boss practically ran Mallepa so, of course, Son couldn't help but get involved from time to time. His first thoughts were that Chan had somehow found out that he was assisting Kei and Sho with jobs and this was almost confirmed when the men demanded to know where Sho and his friends were.
Son would never betray a friend and claimed that he did not know. Angered, the man holding him released him. Son ran to Yi-Che, helping her to her feet as they tore through the apartment, checking every single room.
After doing so they came storming back into the front room. Yi-Che's eyes went wide with fear when the man who had held Son before grabbed hold of him again.
"Well when you see Sho next," the man began furiously, "perhaps you could pass on a message to him for us?"
Son said nothing to this, steeling himself for the blows that he knew were coming.