Chapter Eight: Betrayal

Jian was breathing heavily, his eyes blazing with fury at what he had just been told. Had the screams of his men still not been reverberating loudly in his head he would not have believed it. The Japanese man at his feet had smiled almost victoriously and his earned him another swift kick in the ribs. Shinji groaned in pain at this treatment and yet the smirk never quite left his eyes.

Unsure of his next move, Jian paced up and down, feeling foolish in front of his men. His first thought was to send as many as he could into the building but this would serve no purpose, not whilst that monster was inside. Six more remained inside as it was and the rest were looking to him for orders. Jian, for the first time since the night began, felt at a loss and this infuriated him even more than the loss of his men.

He was on edge and when his phone rang he almost leapt out of his skin. Roughly snatching the handset from the right pocket of his jacket, Jian saw that the caller was his father and he knew that he could not be ignored.

Chan was never one for pleasantries and, in any case, had rarely showed his younger son any affection. He immediately asked if Jian had captured the Japanese men yet and that Jian had to deny.

His father was furious and berated at him again, however, Chan's orders remained the same. He wanted the Japanese punks dead.

Frustrated, Jian got off the phone and saw that the remainder of his men were still looking to him to issue orders. He had to answer them or risk losing respect but what could he do? If he sent them into the building then they would die. They wouldn't achieve anything more than that.

Thinking, Jian couldn't understand why Kei was protecting Sho and the others. If he were a vampire then why would he care about them? What possible reason could he have? This needed more consideration and more time than Jian could give to it. He needed a result now or Chan really was going to lose patience.

"You," he beckoned two of his more trusted men over to him. "Go into the Japanese district and find one of those punks who still owes us money."

"Jian-sama?" The first enquired in confusion, obviously they were wondering why Jian was concerned with small fry at a time like this.

"Make sure the punk you find looks somewhat like the target and kill him. Make as much mess as possible, especially the face. I don't want him to be recognisable when you've finished, you understand me?"

The two indicated that they did and left hurriedly. Then, turning to the rest, Jian ordered that they entered the building. True, he was condemning them to death but the fewer witnesses to his actions the better. If Chan thought that he had obtained his revenge then it would give Jian more time to put his own plan into action.

It was becoming lighter outside. From the holes in the tattered drapes, Toshi could see the first signs of dawn clearly enough. He shifted his position slightly, agitated as he darted a glance in Kei's direction. The vampire hadn't moved and Toshi was unable to tell if he was even conscious anymore. Kei had been weak before and now… Toshi again felt stirrings of fear deep within himself although he had struggled to remain calm for the three of them.

The only sounds in the dark, besides his own breathing, were the shallow gasps coming from the man beside him. Toshi could scent blood in the air and he knew for Kei this would be magnified. Before today, Toshi knew without question that Kei would never harm them. Now, however, he was not so sure.

"Sho." Toshi whispered as he leaned over his friend. The ragged remains of Kei's white shirt hung limply in Sho's right hand, stained red with blood. "You need to keep the pressure on the wound." Toshi insisted, reaching out to take the cloth from him. He shuddered as he recalled Kei's urgent words as they were forced to retreat. They could still hear the raised Chinese voices edging closer and closer. They were still looking for them.

"Shinji…" Sho groaned, only half-conscious as Toshi pressed the cloth to his injured shoulder.

Toshi silently shook his head. When Sho was wounded, it was all that Kei could do to keep the men off of them long enough for them to retreat. Shinji had been captured or he was…

"I have to go. Nii-chan…" Sho tried to stand but he had lost so much blood that he was barely able to offer any resistance when Toshi pushed him back down.

"You can't fight." He whispered fiercely, "You'll be killed."

"What else do you suggest?" Sho replied softly as he gave in and applied pressure to the wound once more. "That we wait until they find us?"

"We don't have any weapons and Kei is too weak. We don't stand a chance against them! Our only hope is to wait until they've moved further away. Then we can make a break for it."

"And what about Shinji? I'm not leaving him."

There was nothing that Toshi could say in reply to this. Shinji was as good as dead and they would be as well if they tried to rescue him. With the dawn almost upon them and Sho too badly injured to fight, Toshi knew that they were running out of time.

Sighing, he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, listening to the voices that were gradually moving closer.

They had retreated to one of the rooms on the third floor and, mercifully, they were remaining undetected. Even so, Toshi was struggling to keep himself calm. Kei was near collapse and Sho was most likely bleeding to death and there wasn't anything he could do for either of them. If dawn broke then it would be impossible for Kei to leave and Sho would never abandon him. Or Shinji, Toshi quickly reminded himself. Shinji was here somewhere, too.

"Kei," Toshi finally moved from his position next to Sho and dared to approach the vampire. For the first time since he had known Kei, Toshi almost felt afraid of him.

The smaller man looked up and gave Toshi a weary smile, but a flash of sharp fangs warned him that the vampire lurked just beneath the surface.

Gunshots again could be heard and Toshi flinched despite himself. "We need to get out of here whilst we still can," he said urgently.

Kei nodded and was trying to gather himself to stand when a voice rang sharply out down the corridor.

"Sho?"

The three of them froze at the sound of the Chinese voice and, when it was met with no response, it continued: "Your friends have killed a number of my men. Only a handful remain but I have sent them outside now. I only wish to talk with you, Sho. If you come out now then you can save yourself and your friends."

"Ignore him," Toshi murmured, as his eyes met Sho's. "He'll kill you if you set foot outside this room."

"So you don't want to save your own life?" The voice questioned again, "but what of your brother? Don't you want to save him?"

"Nii-chan!" Sho gasped, bolting up from the floor.

"No!" Kei moved at the exact same moment that Sho did, his hand closing tightly around Sho's good arm and forcing him to stop in his tracks, thus preventing him from racing outside the safety of the room.

"Get off of me!" Sho hissed as he struggled to break free from the hold Kei had on him.

"I'll go," Kei shot back. "Use the distraction to escape. If what he says in true then you won't have any problem in doing so."

Slowly releasing Sho's arm, Kei moved away towards the door. Toshi watched with baited breath as the vampire left the room, however, no sooner had the door clicked shut did Sho move towards it.

"Sho!" Toshi hissed, hurrying after him. "What are you doing?"

"I can't let him go out there alone," Sho snapped back angrily.

"You're badly hurt! You need to get that arm looked at."

"I'm not leaving either of them. You go. Go and get us some backup."

From the tone in his voice, Toshi could tell that Sho's mind was made up and that there was nothing he could do or say that would change it.

"Be careful," he said with a sigh. Sho nodded and Toshi silently watched his friend leaving the room, wondering if he had done the right thing.

Kei knew that he was barely holding himself together as he exited the room. It had been such a struggle to force the vampire down and even now he knew that the slightest thing might cause it to overcome him. He couldn't recall ever feeling as weak as he did now and this scared and frustrated him. His darker nature certainly wanted, and could, feed, but Kei's humanity still fought against it and now he didn't know if he could. Everything was so mixed up and he felt as though all the different emotions were fast consuming him. When the leader of the Chinese gang had, effectively, thrown them a lifeline, Kei was going to take it. For Sho and Toshi's sake more than his own.

Kei had been able to tell by scent that the man had spoken the truth; that he was alone, but he might well want something that Kei was unable to give him.

He approached the man with caution, keeping his focus on the guns holstered at the man's side. Even though Kei could survive a bullet, they could still do a lot of damage whilst he was so weak. Only movement behind him distracted Kei from this.

His first reaction as Sho's sudden appearance was of anger, both at him and Toshi for not keeping his friend safe. Sho moved awkwardly with his arm and in the light the paleness of his skin was all the more noticeable. Kei stepped slightly in front of his friend, even as Sho demanded to know where his brother was.

"He's safe," the man replied, still keeping to Chinese. "As I said, I only wish to talk to you, Sho."

"Well I'm here now, so talk."

The man met Sho's gaze. He had a confident arrogance about him that Kei did not trust but what choice did they have? His only hope now was that they could buy Toshi some time to get clear.

"First of all, introductions," the man said, taking a step nearer to them as he held out a hand. "I am Jian, Chan's second born."

Kei refused to take the offered hand and Sho evidently had similar suspicions and it was quickly withdrawn.

"You two, however, need no such introduction. You've caused me quite a bit of inconvenience. Inconvenience that I am, however, prepared to overlook… for a price."

"Which is?" Sho tensed and Kei moved further forward, wondering just where this was leading.

Jian chuckled and stepped back. "You're both tired and Sho's injured. My apartment is not far from here. You can rest up and I can have someone look at that arm."

"No way," Sho shook his head. "Why should we trust you?"

Jian looked up sharply and met Kei's eyes. "Because I know things," he said steadily, "I know things that my father doesn't yet know and," he then turned to Sho, "because I have your brother."

Kei felt a chill run through him at Jian's words. This wasn't just about Shinji anymore. Jian knew what Kei was. He knew and he intended to use this knowledge to his advantage.

"Sho needs to get to a hospital," Kei answered Jian, determined to give the man nothing in the way of the panic which was threatening to overcome him. He couldn't afford to confirm that the man already knew but Kei was well aware of the approaching dawn. Soon they wouldn't have any choice at all. "I'll go to your apartment. He walks away right now."

To this, Jian gave Kei a sly smile, "I don't think you appreciate your position. My offer of hospitality is not open to negotiation. You will both accompany me or I shall call my men back."

"If you call them back then you'll all die," Kei replied to this.

Jian shrugged and his smile widened, "That maybe so but don't forget, it's almost dawn."

Kei was silent for a few minutes, fast weighing up their options. Jian's men were just outside and, if they refused to comply, he would call them back. Kei wasn't sure if he could deal with them and Sho was looking paler by each passing minute. Also, this man still had Shinji and, despite the fact that he had betrayed Kei's secret, he was still Sho's brother.

"Very well," Kei finally agreed, "but if you or your men try anything..." he let the rest of the sentence hang, the threat clear in his tone.

Jian nodded, "You have my word," he replied.

Son smiled appreciatively at Yi-Che as she handed him the mug of coffee. He had been awake all night making calls and, through his contacts, he had finally learned the truth. That had been an hour ago and Son had been trying to contact Sho since then but his friend's phone was switched off. Son had also informed Yi-Che of what had happened and his sister had all but wept for she, too, knew the consequences of killing Chan's oldest son.

It would be dangerous for Son to become too active in his search for his friends for most of the Taiwanese had allied themselves with Chan and to do so would mean that he put himself and Yi-Che at risk. Son knew that he would just have to wait until he had heard from them. He could then put them in contact with some of his friends. The best chance they had was if they left Mallepa and he had also explained this to Yi-Che. She had understood this but Son hadn't missed the pained look in her eyes. She had grown fond of them all and she was in love with Kei.

She sat down beside him and gestured that perhaps he should get some sleep. Son shook his head as he looked at the clock on the wall. It was coming up to nine in the morning and he felt wide-awake. He knew he couldn't rest until he knew that his friends were safe. Yi-Che understood this and was about to join him on the sofa when they heard a frantic knocking at their door. His sister tensed at this and Son quietly told her to stay in the front room whilst he went to the door. Before doing so, he un-holstered his gun from his belt.

Feeling more than a little apprehensive, Son opened the door and was stunned when Toshi pushed passed him and raced into the room. Yi-Che stood, hanging back slightly as Son shut the door and hurried over to him. Already Toshi was babbling and Son had to more or less shout at him to get him to gather his senses together again.

"What happened?" He demanded after convincing Toshi to at least sit down.

"We tried to get away," he answered, his voice slower now but not losing its panicked tone. "But we were followed. They got Shinji first and cornered the rest of us. Jian, Chan's second son, demanded that Sho went to talk with him. Kei wouldn't allow it and went instead but Sho wasn't going to leave him. I managed to escape but I don't know what this guy wants with them. I don't think he wanted to kill them but I don't know…" Toshi broke off, shaking, and Son could see that the other man was clearly on the edge.

Thinking fast, Son considered the best course of action to take. If he and Yi-Che got involved then they would be as marked as Sho and the others, but these were his friends. How could he not help them? Son's contacts had stressed that they would help with information only for they had no wish to go directly up against Chan and his men. Son knew that he and Yi-Che were all that Toshi had.

"Look," he said, a glance at Yi-Che told him that she had made up her mind, too. "We'll get some stuff together and then we'll go back to the apartment. If the guy only wants to talk to them then they still have a chance."

"That was hours ago," Toshi answered brokenly, "I tried to get straight here but Chan's men are everywhere. I couldn't risk being seen and my phone is back at the apartment."

"Kei won't let anything happen to Sho," Son said, hoping his voice sounded more convincing than he felt. This was truth but Kei was so weak.

"He might not have a choice," Toshi replied darkly.

Son did not know what to say to this so ended up not responding at all. Instead he repeated that he just had to get some things together and then did just that. Whilst he was locating a bag to put some of their things into, he heard Toshi talking to Yi-Che and when he glanced back into the front room, he saw his sister's silent attempts to comfort their friend.

Fleetingly, Son wondered if he was doing the right thing by taking Yi-Che with them but the alternative was to leave her here on her own and this was something that Son could never do. They only had each other and he wasn't about to abandon his sister. She would be safer with them so that he could protect her. Son had naively thought that he could preserve her innocence, only to find that she had lost this long ago. Now all he could do was look after her the best he could. They had no parents, like Sho and the others, no one outside of the small group cared for them. It was the sad truth and this wasn't something that Son chose to dwell on too often. They had each other and right now he was determined to do whatever he could to help his friends and he knew that Yi-Che wanted this, too.

Still, his mind ran with possibilities and theories as to why Jian wanted them alive. What possible reason could he have? Surely he would want them dead like his father did? Son did not understand the reason behind this and this concerned him all the more. There was something else, something that they were yet to find out and this made Son uneasy.

Just what was Jian planning?

Jian's apartment was painted in stark white, completely in contrast with the dark redwood furnishings. The journey had lasted ten minutes and Kei had felt some fear during this for they had barely arrived before the dawn.

The men seemed to know exactly what he was doing, however, and ushered them both inside and up to the top floor. The men who had been waiting outside had not questioned their leader and so he had been met without opposition. Kei could have concerned himself with contemplating many scenarios for the outcome of all of this but he hadn't. He was struggling and knew that he had to focus on what was happening now, not on possibilities.

He had felt some protest rise up when Sho had been taken away. A man, who claimed to be a doctor, appeared and Sho was told to go with him. Kei had felt a certain amount of reluctance in allowing this to happen but, for the moment, Jian had the advantage and so Sho had left without complaint. Kei himself had been invited into the main sitting room, which, like the rest of the apartment, was painted white.

Jian owned the entire floor and many of his underlings lived on the floors beneath. This was essentially enemy territory and Kei did not like it at all. One man, who appeared to be a servant of some description, had followed them in, however disappearing into the kitchen at Jian's command. The set-up was curiously archaic and yet intermingled with modern ideals and Kei didn't know what to make of it at all. He had tried to gain a measure of Jian's personality but the man had not said much since they had left the apartment. Kei did not like this silence, however, he had lived long enough to learn that he shouldn't push for too much information when at such a disadvantage. Jian certainly knew what Kei was and that he could easily kill him, but he didn't know if, or when, Kei would. He had to be wary of the vampire at least and Kei wondered if he could somehow use this to regain control of the situation. Jian did not come across as well leadership wise as his father or brother did. Being the younger sibling, he would not inherit anything more than becoming a dogsbody, second in command was a glorified name for the position. That's all he would ever be and he surely knew it, too.

The 'servant' returned holding a plastic tray with two mugs upon it. The tray was set down on the low table in front of the sofa. The 'servant' then left them alone.

Jian had been standing beside the window, staring at the closed drapes with an unreadable expression on his face. However, now he approached Kei who was standing just behind the aforementioned sofa, which, ironically, was deep red in colour.

"Why don't you take a seat?" Jian suggested rather than asked as he selected the first mug and began to approach the vampire. Kei tensed a little at this as he caught the scent of blood in the air. He took the mug, unable to conceal his shock at the presence of the crimson liquid, which swirled a little as the mug changed hands. Jian backed off, although his eyes remained fixated on Kei as he awaited his reaction.

Kei felt himself beginning to tremble slightly when temptation was so near and he did force himself to be seated and he looked up at Jian sharply whilst trying to fight down the hunger that burned him from the inside.

"Yes it's human blood," Jian confirmed with a smile as he sat down on the chair opposite Kei. "I can get anything I want. Don't be shy, drink. I already know what you are."

The choice that Kei faced was agonising. Although the blood, normally, would be cold and almost unpalatable, he felt his teeth aching at the prospect of feeding after so long. After much effort, Kei placed the cup on the table, noting Jian's suppressed anger at this action.

Yet the Chinese man did not say anything against Kei for this. Instead he stood again and went to the door, calling for his 'servant' again. The man appeared and it was then that Kei saw the flash of the knife that Jian had kept concealed under his trouser leg. The servant saw this, too, and there was a momentary flash of terror in his eyes before Jian slashed the blade across his throat.

The man crumpled almost instantly as blood spurted from the wound, covering the wall and door in red.

Kei had barely time to feel the horror in these actions before he felt the vampire rising to the surface again. He could feel it surging forth and there was nothing he could do to stop it. For so long it had remained repressed and now he lacked the strength to force it back down.

Jian smirked victoriously as Kei crossed the room in an instant and snatched a hold of the dying man. "I thought you might prefer a live feed," he murmured, having to look away as Kei's teeth locked onto the man's slit throat.

Feedfeedfeedfeedfeedfeedfeedfeed

It was all Kei could think of now and he felt the last of his willpower fade away as blood touched his lips. With the remainder of his strength, he tore himself away from the man so that he could meet Jian's eyes.

"Get out…" were his last words, a plea more so than anything, for the vampire had fully taken control and Kei knew that, having allowed himself to go for so long without a feed, there would be carnage.