I'm really sorry it's been taking me a while to update, but uni just finished for this semester and my bro is getting married next week and I'm singing at the wedding for the FIRST DANCE and I need it to be perfect and I also have full time work so I really don't have a life. In other news, long chapter! ;D
Chapter 18: Saints and Sinners – Part II
The night was still young, but the werewolf stifled a yawn. It was going to be a busy day. He looked at the blood stained wooden stake in his hands, the carved sigils darkened with red. The body of a vampire lay by his feet and he kicked it, looking up and scowling at the full moon. Sure, it gave him a bit of strength, but always it reminded of what he couldn't become – a wolf.
His ears flickered in annoyance, his tail swishing silently behind him, the only signs that he was part wolf. Not wolf enough though, if the Pureblood Act had anything to say about it. As he moved up beside his partner, she threw him a distasteful look.
"Your kills are so messy. Is that how the leader of the Crimson Claw trains his recruits?"
"Shut the fuck up, Maya. I wouldn't have had to jump him if you'd done your job properly and finished him off first." The werewolf wiped the stake on his shirt. "And don't you mention that fucker. He's one of the reasons we gotta do this shit."
"You're the one who's supposed to be good at offing vampires, Wataru," she snapped, her fangs glistening in the moonlight. She touched the wooden dagger in her belt. It felt strange to carry it with her, but it had been given to her by someone very important. Their leader. She gripped it tightly, wondering when she would use it successfully. It hummed with some sort of magic, and although Maya despised sorcery, she couldn't refuse the dagger's allure.
She removed a key from her pocket and unlocked the padlock of the shed her and the now dead vampire were supposed to be guarding. "And you're not the only one who feels betrayed by those purebloods." She grunted as she pushed the surprisingly heavy door open to reveal a pristine room inside completely out of place in a shed, its white walls lined with glass cases. And behind every pane lay an assortment of shining silver weaponry. "Welcome to the Aomine armory."
Wataru whistled on his way in, suppressing a shiver. After all, everything in this room could kill him. As he was trailing his fingers along one of the glass containers holding a deadly looking scythe. He grinned. "Oh, one of our scouts just told us. Crimson Claw hit went successfully. We've got enough weaponry to storm them. In fact, they're already on their way back."
Maya beamed back. "Great. Let's call back up and get these out of here."
She looked at the silverware, each one emblazoned with the Aomine sigil. A replica was tattooed on her chest and back, a protection against ordinary weapons.
Her family had served the Aomine for two generations, herself being the third. And the betrayal she had felt of being treated…treated like trash. She would get her revenge.
The snake head at the top of the shield stared at her, eyes accusing.
She scowled and looked away. "Come on, Wataru. Time to start hauling."
Ryuuichirou looked up, ear flicking. "Did you hear something?" Just as the words left his mouth, the house phone rang. He looked at Keiko strangely before picking it up. "Kagami here." His eyes widened. "What? Here? When?" His face paled. "Okay, I'll be there."
"What's wrong?" Hirohito frowned.
"One of my men just called me. T-there's been an attack," Ryuuichirou stammered. "At the Crimson Claw stronghold in Kyoto, just a few miles from here. Apparently when they tried to contact VLSA HQ in Tokyo to report, they aren't getting a response either."
"Attack?" Keiko repeated.
"I need to go check it out. You stay here with the kids," Ryuuichirou grabbed a bag. "I'm going in wolf form since it'll be faster," he explained as he started stuffing clothes from the clothing line into the bag.
"I should check our side too," Yuuki nodded. "If you got attacked, it's better safe than sorry."
"Let me come," Hirohito started but Yuuki shook her head.
Ryuuichirou started shrugging off his clothes. "Yuuki's right, stay here with Keiko. In case of the worst case scenario. Plus we're expecting Isabella and Alexandra soon."
"You don't think the attackers will come here…?" Keiko bit her lip. "I'll get the kids. Better to all stay together."
Ryuuichirou met eyes with Hirohito. "Hopefully we're just being paranoid."
Hirohito grimaced. "Hopefully."
"Just here is fine," Yuuki passed a few coins to the taxi driver and stepped out. It was at the border of a nature reserve, but it was also where the Aomine family hid their weaponry, in sheds all across the forest, guarded day and night by her best recruits. She sniffed the air – her smell wasn't as good as a werewolf's but it was better than a human's. She could smell the faint whiff of blood and crouched low in the bush, running towards the smell, nunchaku out and held in each hand.
She peeked through the bushes to see one of the storage sheds, and saw a female vampire crouched by the open entrance. She recognized the short red-dyed hair.
"Maya!" she yelled, stepping out, and the female stiffened.
"Aomine-sama," Maya stood up and turned around, bowing stiffly.
Yuuki's eyes scanned the scene, seeing the blood on the ground and the empty cases inside the shed. "What happened? Where are our weapons? Where's Wataru? He should be on duty with you, I believe."
Maya hesitated for only a split second. "We were attacked. I heard a noise so I moved away, but when I came back, this is what I saw. Wataru is missing."
Yuuki squinted. Maya seemed uneasy, her fists gripped tight. There was a bag by her feet, and something silver glinted inside. A glance to the left and Yuuki saw it – a pair of feet, peeking from the side of the shed, and they weren't moving.
Surely if there had been an attack, Maya would have heard it, and come rushing back?
Just as realization dawned on Yuuki, a flash of silver in the corner of her eye caught her attention.
It was her fast reflexes that saved her, the blade Maya had drawn on her becoming caught in the taut chain of one of Yuuki's nanchaku as she raised it to protect herself. They stared at each other in position, Maya's angry and fearful eyes meeting Yuuki's confused ones.
"Why, Maya?"
Maya growled, pulling back and making another swipe. The weapon was more of a dagger, drawn from the bag at her feet. She had been looting the shed. Yuuki dodged easily, parrying with her own moves.
"Why?! You dare to ask why!" Maya lunged.
Yuuki's hands moved quickly, and she managed a few hits to Maya's elbows and face, knocking th blade away. Maya stumbled back, bleeding.
I have to calm her, Yuuki thought, a quick sweep of her leg tripping the younger vampire. Yuuki straddled her, her knees digging into Maya's arms to stop her struggling and one nanchaku chain pressed against her neck in a choke hold as a warning. "What's this about, Maya?"
"Fuck you! Fuck you and your pureblood laws!" Maya yelled, squirming. "You cowards!" she spat.
Yuuki frowned sadly. "I know you're a mix, Maya. And I'm sorry about the laws, and if they've wronged you…"
"They drove my family to poverty!" she screamed, heaving. "We have been so loyal to you, and you threw us under the bus. And the day you signed that filthy law, on a blood moon, so you purebloods were at your strongest, and we couldn't even retaliate? Cowards! Bastards!"
Yuuki winced. "Maya, I'm sorry. You should've told me. We…we're trying to make it right now. We'll fix it."
Tears streaming down her face, Maya took a deep breath. "You may be cowards, but we're not. It may not be a blood moon tonight, but it's still full. We'll show you what we're capable of, us Forsaken. The Believer told us. He told us we would win, we'd be happy once more." She spat again, hard enough to hit Yuuki on her cheek.
Yuuki wiped it away with her shoulder. "What are you talking about?"
Maya bared her fangs. "You'll find out. If you're alive for it, anyway."
And Yuuki saw it, the reflection in Maya's eyes. A figure rising up behind her, a stake in his hand.
It happened so fast.
Almost as if in slow motion, her training kicked in. She leaned back onto her heels, tensing her legs. In one smooth movement, she spun around, reaching into her coat for the concealed knife she kept at her waist and pulling it out in a sweeping motion.
Slice.
The werewolf fell to his knees, expression shocked, stake falling out of his hand and blood seeping out of the cut in his neck. He fell down face first in front of her and it took every fiber of Yuuki's being to not throw up there and then.
It was moments like these when she remembered she was a trained killer. It was moments like these when she wondered what kind of monster she was, when she could cut the neck of someone without even thinking.
She turned around to face Maya. Then blinked when a sudden pain bloomed in her chest, and the sound of cracking glass filled her ears. She looked up down to see the tip of an enchanted wooden dagger gripped tight in Maya's hands, with its tip slightly piercing Yuuki's chest. There was a look of disbelief on Maya's face, as if she couldn't believe she had just stabbed her boss.
Yuuki felt a fire burning in her chest, unlike any sort of pain she had ever felt. It felt more like something hot was being sucked out of her, and her vision blurred. "Ma…ya…"
"The Believer told me I could do it," Maya whispered, almost in her own world. "He gave me this dagger. He said it was made for this, for the pureblood vampires. He told me, right inside my head. He said you all had to die."
Yuuki grabbed Maya's hands with one of her own, her knees unsteady. But Maya's grip was unsteady, like she was in a daze.
That dagger, Yuuki had seen it…before…
In a last burst of strength, she gripped Maya's hands tighter and pulled it out, bending her attacker's elbows and shoving the blade deep in Maya's own chest.
Maya's mouth dropped open, and Yuuki felt it. The dagger in her hand buzzed with some kind of energy. It made her whole body thrum and she couldn't let it go. In the next minute, the light in Maya's eyes flickered out before she dropped to the ground.
Yuuki looked down at the two bodies of her making, and the dagger in her hand. Its wood was warm, comforting.
"I'm sorry."
Her eyes drooped, her energy drained, and she fell to the ground, surrounded in darkness.
Hirohito had moved back to his end of the estate. The Kagami and Aomine houses shared the same backyard over a large area of forested land, and he needed to be prepared for any eventuality. He opened the chest at the foot of his bed, picking up the back sheath placed within. He slid out the fine blade, its silver winking at him in the dim light.
He had named it Windcutter, because of its sharpness, when his father had passed it onto him over eighty years ago. One day, he would give it to Daiki, whom he hoped would also giving it a fitting name.
He strapped it on. Speaking of him, I should check where the children are. Keiko left to find them-
A scream cut through the air and Hirohito's blood froze.
His son.
Taiga grappled at the hand holding his neck, white spots dancing in his vision. His claws scraped the man's skin but didn't have any effect to deter him. Then he saw, crouched in the woods, Daiki peering at him with scared eyes.
Run away! Taiga wanted to scream, but instead saw Daiki's gaze hardening.
And then the small vampire was hurtling out of the bushes and jumping on the man's back, little fangs piercing his neck. The attacker was shocked enough to let Taiga go, and the werewolf hit the ground, his breath knocked out of him.
"Fucking brat!" the older vampire growled, grabbing Daiki by the shirt and throwing him off. Daiki struggled back up, glancing at Taiga.
Okay, good, he's alive. His attention turned back to the man, and he let out a scream. That's what he was taught to do, if he was in trouble.
"Shit!" the man snarled, gripping Daiki's hair and pulling him up by it. "I'll kill you first, vampire brat." He sheathed his first knife and pulled out a stake. Daiki's heart fluttered at the sight and he yelled, tears burning in his eyes. "Father! Mother! Help!"
Taiga shook his head clear from the fall, despair filling every inch of him at the scene in front of him. He couldn't help Daiki like this. He had to…he had to change, he had to…
He needed to concentrate. The moon was full. He could do this. He had to do this.
But he couldn't close his eyes. He couldn't tear them away from the stake that rose in the air, aimed for his best friend's heart. He opened his mouth to cry, yell, scream, he had to…he had to…
ROAR!
The trees shook with the sound, a huge black creature slammed into the attacker's body. It sent him into a tree, and Daiki scrambling on the ground. Taiga ran to him, helping him up, looking up at his savior.
A graceful black wolf stood guard in front of him, its black pelt shining in the moonlight and its tail flicking uneasily. Strong muscles shifted as a growl sounded deep in its chest. Golden brown eyes regarded the downed man with a mixture of fury and hatred, softening when they lay on Taiga. It nuzzled the redhead, pushing him into the woods as if to signal him to run.
Taiga patted the soft fur, but the wolf pushed back harder. The man had started to get up.
It turned around, lowering down into a crouch. Its tailed slapped Taiga on the back in urgency.
Taiga nodded, pulling a dazed Daiki behind him. "I'll go back to the house. Let's go Daiki, she'll take care of it."
He hoped.
He threw one more glance at the wolf circling the man before he disappeared behind the bushes.
Stay safe…Mum.
Ryuuichirou pulled on his jacket after turning back into human form, eyes scanning the carnage. The vault had been completely emptied.
"It's all gone, Ryuuichirou-sama," a werewolf reported, saluting. "We believe it was an inside job, as the password would have been necessary."
"Indeed," Ryuuichirou scowled. Truth be told, he wasn't too surprised. He knew there were people in the group that were mixed blood, and he knew about the tension. He had done his best to smooth it out, but his latest actions against the Pureblood Act weren't well known and he knew some of the mixed blood still resented him no matter how well he treated them.
"What should we do?" the other werewolf asked uneasily.
Ryuuichirou shrugged. "You continue investigating. I need get into the office make some calls. Try to get in contact with Tokyo VLSA HQ again." They weren't picking up his calls, and something about that didn't sit right with Ryuuichirou. Akashi Arata usually always had a person hovering by the telephone.
But right now, there were more pressing matters to attend to. He had to get back to his family, and he was expecting a guest soon too.
He prayed that nothing had gone wrong.
A rickety black car screeched to a stop right before the gates of the Aomine-Kagami estate. The back door popped open, and a tall woman clad in an overcoat bustled her way out, shifting her scarf in place. A small girl around six years of age scrambled after her mother, golden pigtails peeking out of a pink beanie.
"Thank you, sir!" the woman said in accented Japanese, handing some notes over to the driver and grabbing the little girl's hand as the car drove off. She went to ring the bell that was by the gates, but paused. Her tanned hand pressed against the metal with some hesitancy and the gate swung open under it. She pulled her daughter closer to her body, her green eyes fluttering as a buzz took over her body.
She felt it. Too many lifeforms in the jungle ahead of her.
"Something's not right," she whispered in Spanish to the girl, feeling tiny hands grabbing her coat. "Stay close to me, Alexandra."
The girl nodded, and the sorceress and her daughter walked forward into the darkness.
