Chapter Thirty-One
Something about the magic had shifted since he'd last met Seishirou, and it unnerved him. As they neared the top of the elevator, the pit in his stomach deepened, until it was felt large enough to swallow him up whole. He shivered.
"Ready, mage?" Kurogane asked him. Fai swallowed back the lump rising in his throat and allowed his claws to elongate again. Downstairs, the mere threat of his natural weapons had been enough to scare away the attendant in the elevator. Fai just wished it would be enough to keep their enemy at bay. "Ready."
The elevator lurched to a halt, and panic jolted through him. What if the attendant had told someone to stop the elevator? How were they going to reach Syaoran in time? Before his sickening dread could spread any further than that, the doors parted.
A heartbeat later, they were both out of the confined space and inside Seishirou's apartment.
"Ah, what a surprise," the dark haired man said, grinning. Before he could say anything else, the tip of Kurogane's sword poked the bottom of his chin.
"Where's the kid?" the ninja demanded.
Fai was not much given to fear, but the way the ninja said the words sent a shudder down his back.
"You're going to have to be a little more specific," Seishirou replied, unfazed by the sword at his throat.
"Syaoran. Where is he?"
"Mm, not here. I can keep an out for him, if you want. Just one eye, though." He gave a conspiratorial wink with his glass eye.
Something's changed since we last saw him, Fai thought. His magic isn't as strong as it was before. Has he left the feather somewhere else? That would only make sense if he'd given it up to fuel some other source. But what? Fai wondered, ignoring the weakened waves of magic coming off Seishirou and trying to pinpoint another magical source. After so many months of traveling, he'd gotten used to the gentle vibrations that came off Sakura's feathers, and he could sense one very close, definitely somewhere in the apartment. But the magic signature was distorted, somehow, as if filtered through another source.
Fai pinpointed the location. "The feather's in that room," he said, pointing to the door across the living room. Kurogane glanced back at him, then edged toward the door, keeping the tip of his sword pointed at Seishirou.
"You aren't going in there," Seishirou said, losing his grin.
"The hell I'm not!"
Faster than either of them could react, the dark-haired man pulled a sword out of thin air and used it to knock Souhi out of the way. Kurogane reacted to the sudden shift, bringing his sword around in an attempt to chop off Seishirou's arm. The man parried the blow, moving fast.
Too fast, Fai thought. It's not natural.
Kurogane seemed to recognize the unnatural speed and grace, adjusting his strategy accordingly. He shuffled back half a step, compensating for the other man's superior range. Seishirou's sword was half again the length of Souhi, probably something meant to be used to decapitate enemies from horseback, rather than face people in single combat. Fai recalled seeing one in the six months they'd spent in . . . Was it Shura or Shara? he wondered idly. He could never remember.
The clang of steel striking steel jarred him out of his ponderings, and he returned his attention to the fight, feeling his fingernails lengthen as he looked for an opening. The two sword-masters fought with unnatural intensity, exchanging blows as fast as his sharpened eyesight could follow.
He saw Seishirou miss a block. His blade, black as a moonless night, rose up to deflect most of Souhi's force, but as the metal edges slid apart, Kurogane's sword carved a deep gash in Seishirou's arm. Crimson droplets sprung from the cut, staining the carpet beneath their feet and scraping over the pale white bone of Seishirou's arm
"Nicely done," Seishirou said in a pause where their swords got caught on each other. The exposed bones seemed not to affect his strength at all.
"Where's the boy?" Kurogane demanded.
So focused, Fai thought. And not just because he wants to defeat Seishirou.
The blades slid apart, and the rapid exchange of blows resumed. Fai watched the black edge of Seishirou's blade tear through the air, even faster than it had been moving a moment ago. Kurogane jerked back, evading this strike only by virtue of reflex.
He's moving too fast, Fai thought, analyzing the dark-haired man's movements. They were smooth, effortless despite the inhuman speed and injuries. It's not natural. He's moving . . . He's moving as fast as I can.
In the other room, the feather's magic shifted. Fai's eyes darted to the door long enough for Seishirou's sword to cut the ninja. A moment later, the sweet smell of Kurogane's blood filled his nose, and everything else in the world ceased to matter.
No! This isn't the time. Fai held his breath, trying to focus around the predatory instincts the scent evoked in his mind. His fingernails continued to grow, tapering down to dagger-like points. He had to refocus his attention on something else. Anything else.
Magic thrummed from beyond the door. Fai slipped around the preoccupied fighters, receiving a sharp glance from Seishirou as he moved by. Souhi came down across the dark-haired man's face, ripping it open from ear to chin. The skin split and poured blood, like a macabre fountain. Fai looked away. Don't think about the blood, he told himself. You have a job to do.
"Get back from there!" Seishirou growled, not looking away from his opponent this time. The entire left half of his face seemed to be smeared in red.
Fai reached the door. His clawed hands coiled awkwardly around the knob, almost ripping it off the door as he yanked it open. Have to get away from the blood . . .
He staggered inside, eyes shut, slamming the door shut behind him.
"Fai-san?" came a startled voice.
Fai didn't turn, still recovering from the overpowering fragrance of Kurogane's blood. In that confined space, under such stressful conditions, his desire for blood had spiked to an unprecedented level. He hadn't just wanted it. He'd needed it. If that's going to happen every time he gets hurt in a fight, I'm not going to be much use.
He heard Syaoran-kun's foot hit the carpet as he retreated a step. The boy must've run into something, because Fai heard the noise of a collision. With what? A dresser? An end table? For a moment, Fai wished his vampire senses weren't so precise. Without even trying, his new senses told him things he didn't care to know. His heart is beating faster, and I can smell the adrenaline coming off him. He's scared.
The constant thrum of magic was starting to wear on his mind, the oscillating pressure waves hitting his eardrums without registering any sound. His forehead wrinkled. It's been a long time since I've felt something so powerful. Did he get Seishirou to leave the princess's feather with him?
The thought relieved him somewhat. If Syaoran had only been doing this to get the feather from his old teacher, that meant he wasn't a traitor after all. Kurogane will be happy to hear it.
Beyond the door, the sounds of a struggle went on. Fai heard someone hit the wall across the living room, heard the resulting scrape of a picture frame sliding down the sheetrock. A beat later, it hit the floor, the frame splintering as the glass protecting the picture shattered. So many sounds. So much background noise.
Behind him, Syaoran's breathing dissolved into ragged, shaky gasps. "Don't. Get out of here, this is my decision."
Fai turned slowly, opening his eyes to take in the room. The walls were mostly undecorated, unlike the living room, and he suspected this chamber didn't get used often. As he spun around, he caught sight of a pallid figure lying under pristine white sheets. Fuuma? he realized with a jolt. They'd run into Fuuma in Tokyo a few weeks ago. How did his condition deteriorate so fast?
He turned, at last, to look at Syaoran, hoping for some explanation. When his eye locked on to Syaoran's face, however, all those concerns fled from his mind. Everything in the world ceased to exist, as it had in the other room, when Seishirou had cut Kurogane. Only this time, Fai couldn't ignore the overpowering fixation.
He had finally met someone with more magical power than him, and his body sprang forward to do the only thing it could do under the circumstances.
Syaoran recoiled, panic shooting across his teenage face as the approaching figure. Before he could react any further than that, though, Fai's elongated claws buried themselves six inches into the boy's chest, piercing his heart in five places.