I'm spoiling you all so much. ;D Take it as an apology for taking so long to update earlier!
Enjoy :D
Chapter 16: Broken Words
Himuro woke with a gasp, disoriented. He slapped a hand against his bedside table, lifting his phone to turn off the alarm.
He blinked. It was just 6:30 in the morning. And a Saturday. He didn't have alarms on the weekend…
He froze, wrapping his hand around the warm metal of the usually cold ring. Then he remembered it, the snippet of a dream, just before he was jolted awake.
Taiga. Choking. Dagger.
That was it. The protective spell on the ring's twin had activated, and it only activated when Kagami was in mortal danger. The spell was designed to send out a burst of high energy power, enough to overload the sense of any nearby enemy and doing extra damage to sorcerers. It was a last resort, the third most powerful spell on that ring.
The ring was layered. Once an object was enchanted for the first time, it became easier to add more spells on top, but the downside was that all those enchantments were linked. If one was damaged, they would all be damaged.
And if the third most powerful spell had just been exhausted, then the second and first would come soon after.
No! That's not important! Taiga…Taiga was nearly killed… Himuro closed his eyes tightly, focusing on the magical link.
He felt it, Kagami's now regular beating heart, and the tension left his shoulders.
What are you up to, Taiga?! He grit his teeth, rolling out of bed, still shaken with worry. Kagami would have noticed the spell go off, and would have probably made the correct conclusion that it was Himuro's doing.
And if he expected Himuro to explain, then Kagami would have to explain too. And if the reason wasn't good enough, then Himuro would take matters into his own hands.
Kuroko was doing one last lockup before turning in for the night when he noticed it.
The rest of the pack were sleeping, but Kagami's door was ajar and his room empty. A drawer was open, a few articles of clothing pulled out as though he had been looking for something. Kuroko smiled softly, walking inside and kneeling down to close it for him. He would probably try calling Kagami's mobile, it was about time he came back…
Kuroko tilted his head as he stood up. Kagami's mattress was off, like it had been lifted off the bed but not slotted back in again properly. He shook his head at the messiness, moving to push it in place.
Clatter!
The short boy froze. He crouched down, peering under the bed to see what had fallen between the bedframe planks. His night vision was fairly good, but it was still too dark to make out the oblong object. He reached for it, his fingers brushing hard wood before getting a grip and shifting it into the light filtering in from the hallway.
A wooden box?
Kuroko felt uneasy. Why would Kagami hide a wooden box? Against his better judgement but unable to contain his curiosity, he popped it open.
Cash. Okay, that made sense to hide, but…
Kuroko's breath came out short, his palms sweaty, and he nearly dropped the box. He shifted the notes apart, pulling out the wooden dagger from underneath.
"Kagami-kun…" he breathed. "What the-"
Kuroko heard the gunshots, slicing through the silence of the night. Quite a few, in fairly quick succession, and they were surprisingly quiet. A silencer, then. Perhaps only a pureblood werewolf like himself would have heard it.
What is going on?! He hesitated, but put the box under the bed again. No time to lift the mattress, and he'd need to question Kagami about why he was carrying something so identical to a murder weapon with him.
Don't panic. Don't panic until you know everything.
He quickly pulled on a hoodie, crouching low and extending his claws as he quietly left the building, making sure to lock the door behind him. The moon was nearly full, and bright enough to light the way down to the main gate.
He saw then, something moving like a quick shadow. It opened the gate hastily and ran outside, but the crimson hair was unmistakable.
Kagami-kun… Kuroko sighed. So he's okay. Then what were the shots? He felt that uneasiness stir in his stomach again. Was Kagami…really involved? No, no don't jump to conclusions. Question first.
He followed the redhead outside, but lost sight of him. Then the smell hit, thick in the air.
Blood. Vampire.
Aomine.
He took off in a run, stumbling through branches and scrub, bursting into the clear where he saw Aomine's blood soaked form hunched over Kagami, his mouth at the werewolf's neck, one hand in his crimson hair and the other pushing against the redhead's lower back to press their bodies closer together.
Any other day and Kuroko would have been embarrassed to look at something that seemed so intimate, but this wasn't some lovers' embrace.
The arms that Kagami had thrown around Aomine's neck were slowly slipping off, and although Kuroko couldn't see his face from here, he was sure it was paling.
He opened his mouth to say something, anything, to stop this, when-
"Daiki!"
It was all a haze in Aomine's mind. One second there was pain, then there wasn't, and then something sweet and beautiful was slipping past his lips and down his throat, and he felt like he had been wandering a desert and had drunk water for the first time in ages.
But it wasn't water, it was thicker. Sliding like honey in his mouth, pulling away, but he wanted more.
And the man under him, those fiery eyes, he knew them from somewhere, but then his face was being pushed down and he could smell that ambrosia just under a thin layer of golden skin and he wanted it, needed it, for so long, for years, and so he took it.
"Daiki!"
He growled, licking the broken skin as he lifted his head. It had already started healing once his fangs left the wound, but it wouldn't take much to start feeding again.
There was a man in front of him, swishing robes shimmering in the moonlight as he held out his hands. Navy hair framed a worried face, and he was saying something, but Aomine couldn't care less.
The man in his arms was more important. He could feel the fluttering heartbeat as he pressed his lips against the smooth skin.
Aomine knew somehow that this man was important, so he wouldn't kill him. But just a bit more…
He was too distracted to notice movement behind him. He felt the pain in his head too late, and his vision blacked out along with his consciousness.
"What?" Riko snapped into the phone, her heart thundering.
Kuroko's voice was steady over the line. "It's okay, I knocked him out with a log. Kagami-kun is going to be fine too."
The image of Aomine being hit by Kuroko swinging a piece of wood would have been funny on any other occasion, but Riko felt like she was one more shock away from a heart attack. "Kuroko-kun, I can't…"
"We don't really know what happened either, but we have to wait until they're both conscious to do anything about it," Kuroko sighed. "Anyway, I'm sure you're busy over there as well. Aomine-kun's father is helping me. We will be at the Aomine household, so come when you can. They won't be waking up for a while."
Riko pinched her nose. First a murdered werewolf, and now a vampire nearly sucking another one dry. Riko wondered how Aomine was okay. If he drank enough for Kagami to pass out, then he would most definitely be poisoned. Argh, they'll take care of it. I've got to wrap up here. She looked up as a brunette werewolf approached her.
"Nijimura-sama isn't in his room, Aida-san."
"Thanks, Akane-san," Riko frowned. Nijimura wasn't picking up his phone either. She crouched down beside the dead werewolf, the white sheet thrown over the body already showing signs of blood.
Stab wound to the heart. Modus operandi eerily similar to the death of the vampires. Revenge killing? Possibly. But something doesn't feel right.
She'd been told the vampires had been killed with a wooden dagger, most likely enchanted to break their protective seals. Werewolves didn't have protective seals, but their instincts and speed made them hard targets to kill. Either the killer was very skilled, or they had help.
"I'm going to head back," she called over her shoulder. "Let me know of any updates." It was a little pointless of her to be here without the Crimson Claw head around, so she started making her way back to the train station.
It was around ten minutes into her walk that she glanced across what she assumed to be a homeless man curled up near the corner of a building.
Her eyes widened.
She ran over, rolling the man onto his back and trying to shake him awake. "Hey! Wake up! Nijimura-kun!"
The werewolf groaned, his eyes opening. "What the fuck…? Aida? What are you doing here?"
"That's what I should be asking!" Riko hissed, helping him sit up. She couldn't smell alcohol on him, so he wasn't drunk, but there was something off. His face was pale and his eyes were red, with a light smear of blood on his upper lip as though he'd had a nosebleed. "What happened to you?"
Nijimura blinked slowly, looking around him. He swallowed audibly. "Where…where am I?"
"Close to Harajuku station," she peered at him carefully.
Nijimura looked down at his trembling hands, bringing one up to his nose and wincing when he touched it. "I…I thought I was sleeping in my room…fucking Haizaki, told him to keep watch…" He cradled his head in his hands.
"Sleepwalking?" Riko asked with some disbelief.
Nijimura shook his head. "I…that's what I thought initially, but now…"
Riko bit her lip, and the feeling that something was really wrong here just wouldn't leave her alone. "Are…are you okay?"
Nijimura looked at her, and for the first time, she saw fear in his eyes. "I don't know."
The first thing Aomine realised was that his head hurt. A lot.
The second thing he noticed was that his throat was parched.
And third, he was lying down on something soft…but how did he…?
His eyes snapped open, and the light of a single lamp was enough to send a sharp pain up his head. He groaned, and a cool hand placed itself on his forehead and combed his hair back for him.
"Kagami?" the word was out of his lips before he could stop himself.
"No, honey," a familiar female voice said gently. "It's me."
Aomine opened his eyes with more care this time. He was in his room, lying down on the futon underneath a heavy blanket. The woman who had spoken was sitting cross-legged by his shoulder, her dark hair falling down in gentle waves over her shoulders. There was anxiousness etched in the barely visible lines of her forehead, and the wrinkles by the corners of her worried eyes were one of the few signs she had showing her true age.
She smiled when he looked at her. "Good morning, cupcake. Or well, evening, I should say."
"Mother?" Aomine rasped, and his throat was drier than he thought. She tried to hand him a glass full of thick red liquid as he sat up slowly. He scrunched his nose at the revolting smell. "I don't want-" his words died in his mouth as memories began returning to him. Kagami! "Mother, where's-?"
"He's fine," she said, somehow understanding exactly what he meant. She pushed the glass towards him with more force. "Please, Dai, you need the energy."
Aomine accepted the glass with some hesitance. "What time is it? What happened exactly?" His head still hurt, and he realised when he shifted that he was shirtless and torso had been bandaged up. He laid a hand against the cloth. There wasn't any pain.
"You've been out for just less than a day. And as for what happened, we were hoping you would tell us that. Hiro brought both of you back, but let's hear your side first." Yuuki sighed. "What do you remember?"
Aomine closed his eyes, thinking. "I was attacked…by…Hanamiya…! That bastard! Where is he?!" he went to stand but a strong hand on his shoulder stopped him.
Yuuki was tougher than she looked, and she levelled him with a serious stare. "Hanamiya? Okay. That's news. Then what?"
"I was…I was stabbed," Aomine recalled. "I felt the seal break, but after that, I…"
And then the realisation hit him.
Blood. Sweet, delicious, wonderful blood. Everything he ever wanted and didn't know he needed. The glass dropped with a loud clank, spilling blood – not his, not the only blood that mattered – onto the white sheets. His breath caught in his throat as he felt the panic set it.
Did I…did I…not again…not like last time…
"Dai!" Yuuki slapped him across the face and the sting brought him back to reality. "He's okay! Calm down, he's going to be fine! It's just some anaemia, it's okay, you didn't hurt him, you didn't hurt him…"
Aomine only realised she was hugging him when he wrapped his own arms around her. He fought back his tears, breathing in her scent. She could be a little strange at times, often terrifying, but she was his mother, and right now he appreciated the comfort more than anything. "I…I have to see him, Mother…" his voice shook.
"Not now," she whispered back, her fingers scraping gently across his scalp. "Let him rest. Tell me what else you remember." She pursed her lips, her shoulders tensing. If the seal broke, then of course that spell must have too… But how long were we going to hide it?
Aomine tensed, pulling back.
Yuuki knew before he even said anything, her face reflecting a mixture of both defeat and relief.
He looked out the window. The moon was reflected in his eyes, but his gaze were dark with memory. "Everything. I remember everything."
