Chapter 6

Kotaro and I left the park where we last saw Jiro. Firing commenced and I needed to get Kotaro out of there safely. I was a little angry at Jiro for leaving us to go fight that idiot, August but I knew that he was just trying to help us get away. We walked through the city, trying to figure out what we were going to do next. I wondered if we should try to find Mimiko's apartment. Though I was a little frightened, Kotaro wasn't scared at all. There were many things to be afraid of at this point. Zelman had told me that "although the Special Zone may seem safe, it is still infested with rogue vampires and even criminal humans." That alone, made me feel uneasy.

" Aya, I'm hungry." Kotaro whimpered. His stomach rumbled.

"I'm sorry, Kotaro, but I'm broke." I grumbled.

"Awwwwww."

"We can find the Company building. If we do that, we can find Mimiko." I suggested.

"Yeah." Kotaro began to start to run ahead of me.

"Wait Kotaro! We're not even sure if we can find it!" I chased after him.

Come on Aya! We can find it!" He shouted happily.

I couldn't keep up with him. He could easily wriggle through the crowd because of his size. I soon lost him. This made me incredibly nervous because now I really was by myself.

I knew no one on the streets, which made me reluctant to ask for directions. I continued through the crowd, growing tired of the constant shoving and pushing. Today sure was busy. I escaped into a narrow empty alley. I was sure someone from the crowd had pushed me though I was glad to be out of that mass. I didn't really know what I was going to do. The people who were supposed to be with me weren't. I couldn't even find a way back to Miss Mimiko's house. I felt hopeless. Maybe someone would come find me. I thought on that. I missed Kashu. I wished she was here with me. I wished she could help me. God help me.

"Excellent." A sly voice hissed in my ear. I felt cold. A cloth was pressed to my mouth and I was blindfolded. My heartbeat raced and I was held still. Then, I was taken.

I awoke in a dark place. Was I still blindfolded? I couldn't see anything, not even my hands. More or less I couldn't move my hands at all. They were tied behind me. I couldn't scream. My mouth was still tightly bound by a cloth. I couldn't tell because of the pure darkness. I tried to move my body but I ended up slamming my head against a wall. I realized my feet were tied too. I tried to move again. This time my feet hit a wall. Don't tell me. I struggled to sit up but my head bumped hard into another wall above. I was in a box! I realized. Those kidnappers put me in a box! This made me frightened and angry. What are they going to do with me? Sell me? Suddenly the box abruptly tipped, causing me to tilt roughly. I slammed into something else this time. It wasn't a wall. It was something soft with a beating heart. It was a living being!

"So they're in there?" A voice said. It was male and was coming from outside the box.

"Yeah, I think this will be good, don't you think?" said another voice.

"Miss Cassandra knows he is powerful. This may draw him to our side." The voices spoke loudly, and they were all male. Cassandra? What's going on? My thoughts raced. Who's "he"? Do they mean Jiro? Are they trying to blackmail Jiro with me?

"The Silver Blade will come soon" The voice was August's. He must have escaped from Jiro. Suddenly, I heard cracks and splinting noises around the crate. The top of the crate broke off and two men looked down at me. I couldn't see their faces clearly because of the dim light. Suddenly I saw their grins. Fangs protruded from their lips. They were vampires! They smiled at me with evil looks. One of them removed my gag and covered my mouth with their hand. Another removed my blindfold. The two vampires grabbed the side of my collar and hoisted me up in the air.

"This one's awake." They said. I squinted down at them, while their grip pained me. I saw their faces. One had spiky black hair, brown eyes, and an angry expression. The other had blue eyes that peered at me through a sinister face. I was afraid of them.

"You sure are one pathetic human, getting lost like that." One said.

"You two, don't be too rough. We need her." Another vampire, a bit older than the other two said. The two vampires shoved me to the ground where I hit my head on the crate. The older vampire grinned.

"Easy… you two." He said.

I felt the back of my head bleeding. These vampires were not like Jiro and Zelman. They were weak compared them.

"You weaklings don't stand a chance against Jiro!" I shouted, angrily.

"Who are you calling a weakling?" hollered one of the vampires. He kicked me in the side. I was a weak powerless fragile human who couldn't defend herself. How could I? They're vampires. I couldn't throw away my life like this. I had to do something. But what?

Suddenly, one of the vampires struck me on the back of the head. My vision began to falter as I began to slip asleep in great pain. The vampire didn't hit me hard enough. My mind was half-asleep but my vision was still there. I saw them all. The vampires stared at me, smiling, grinning, and laughing. I was tired and I wanted to fall asleep but somehow I couldn't. I was waiting for someone, anyone but I knew no one would come. Jiro might. He's after August. I couldn't see August. I wanted to fall asleep.

"So….this is where you've all been hiding?" A familiar voice broke through all the commotion in a split second. Everyone was silent. The faces of the vampires were all afraid. Did Jiro come to kill them? I pondered painfully.

"Why….Why…are you here?" One of the vampires stuttered, nervously.

"How rude…And it seems I am not the only one you are being rude to." The voice said, menacingly.

"Lord, we have prepared two humans for you. Please take them." The old vampire spoke softly.

"You order me?" The voice scoffed.

"But Lord…!" The vampires shouted.

There was a shock of intense heat that warmed my face. Cinders burnt my skin and woke me up from the dizziness.

"I have no use for accursed weaklings. You set up this whole thing just to provoke Silver Blade. How pathetic." The voice said, irritated.

I gazed around, feeling the heat disappear. There were ashes around the room, where each vampire had stood. My skin trembled. "Who?"

"Miss Aya." A warm hand touched my cold arm. My blurry vision was faint but I saw Zelman. He stared at me with his crimson eyes. His gaze made me feel even more tired. My head throbbed and blood trickled down the side of my neck. "You're supposed to be with the Compromiser." Zelman grinned. I didn't speak. My head hurt too much. I was too weak. Zelman continued to stare at me. There wasn't much he could do.

"Zelman…" I whimpered.

"The Kowloon Children are such a pest…. using me and Silver Blade like this. The Black Snake must have staged this."

Cassa must have used the Coven to try to get Zelman on her side. Jiro would have arrived and thought Zelman was on her side!

I stared up at Zelman. He smiled, smugly.

"Mr. Zelman, please change me." I whispered.

Zelman fixed his eyes to mine. "Hmm?"