About three miles out from Sanguinem, Guren and Shinya pulled their car over, causing Kimizuki and his car to do the same. Yoichi decided it was best for him to wake up the girls, as they might not welcome the methods that Kimizuki might employ. The girls woke up quite peacefully and quietly, with smiles on their faces.
The same could not be said for Yuu, who was woken up by Guren.
"Argh! Seriously, Guren? Why couldn't you have had Shinya wake me up, or Yoichi? I'm gonna have a bruise there now!" Yuu asked as he rubbed his shoulder. Guren promptly hit him again. "What was that for you big jerk?!" Yuu screamed.
"You're making too much noise, brat. Do you want the vampires to know that we're here already, we haven't even reached Sanguinem yet." Was Guren's reply.
Shinoa had her usual smile on her face as she looked up at, but yet down upon Yuu at the same time. "Well, knowing Yuu, he probably thought it would be more fun, and wanted to bring them all here so he could act as bait and we could make it into the city safe to kill the queen."
"That's not it all, but when you're so rudely awoken like that, it's hard not to get riled up. You're lucky, you and Mitsuba were woken up by Yoichi. He probably asked you politely and shook your shoulder, but NOT GUREN!" He shouted this last part, earning Guren to clasp his hand over Yuu's mouth.
"Shut up already, Yuu! You do know that vampires have incredible hearing, right? And with the amount of noise that you're pouring out of your mouth, they'll be able to hear you halfway around the world. It'll be like you're shouting in the ears of those who are only three miles away." Guren whispered into his face. "Now, if you'll be quiet, I'll let you go and you can complain while whispering."
Yuu stopped struggling and within moments Guren let him go. Yuu Continued to rub his shoulder and mouth, and spoke, quietly this time, "Anyways, we're going to walk the rest of the way, correct? Or are we going to camp here during the night, and continue on during the day, when they should be resting? Both options seem risky to me."
They were all gathered in a circle, the sun was high in the sky and while he and the girls had gotten plenty of sleep on the way over, he couldn't say the same for the others. Shinya stood next to Guren, probably leaching heat off of him and the girls seemed to be doing the same, Kimizuki pulled a shivering Yoichi closer to himself, leaving Yuu to shiver by himself, but that was okay, he was used to it.
"The plan is to rest here, all of us, and each of us taking our turn to stay up. There will be no fires so bundle up, close and tight." Shinya said, nuzzling closer to Guren. "Yuu will take the first watch, as he got plenty of sleep on the way here, as we could tell from his snoring, then it will be Shinoa, Mitsuba, Yoichi, me, and then if we run out of people, Kimizuki then Guren. Are there any objections?"
The five all shook their heads and Guren grunted in agreement, as if it had been his idea all along, which thinking about it, it probably was his idea and Shinya said it to make himself look important like he was supposed to be.
Despite it being noon, and then just waking up, the girls went to sleep right away, muttering something about the need for "beauty sleep". Yuu retaliated, muttering something about "needing more of it". Kimizuki fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes, arms protectively surrounding Yoichi, who fell asleep soon after Kimizuki. Guren and Shinya fell asleep looking at each other, at arm's length, they had whispered to each other before finally asleep. The girls fell asleep next to each other sharing a cape for warmth.
Yuu grumbled about having to have the first watch, of course, it was fair, but the girls had also slept on the way here, so why was he the one who actually had to keep watch? Just because he slept on the way here, didn't mean that it was a restful sleep, or a sleep that was effective in rejuvenation. Seriously, what was up with that dream, he hadn't had that dream since the night Ferid killed his family, that was his new nightmare.
He aimlessly wandered around in circles around the group. There was no danger here, and he knew it. It was high noon, the vampires might not be asleep right now, but they didn't like going out in the sun, even if they were protected by the bands on their wrists.
He waited for a couple hours, walking around and around, finally stopping to rest in the shade of one of the cars. He leaned back, closed his eyes and listened. He could hear the subtle breathing coming from the rest of the group, and the slight whistle of the wind as it blew around the car. He could hear a slight rumble in the distance, and he could hear his own heartbeat. There was a skittering of a small animal outside, and the footsteps of someone coming towards him, probably one of his friends going to yell at him about trying to sleep on the job. It was quite a peaceful time.
Shinoa was awoken by someone shaking her shoulder, it was her turn to keep watch, she guessed, just to play with Yuu, she didn't move at all. She held her breath and made sure that her entire face was lax and that her body was limp. Yuu shook her shoulder more violently, causing one of her hands to fall on the cold ground.
Wait. Why was the ground cold? It should have been past noon, but not dark, unless Yuu forgot the order and woke someone else, that must've been it, Yuu was always irresponsible and forgetful.
"Oi! Shinoa, wake up!" said a voice that was definitely not Yuu's, "Shinoa, I know you're awake, something's happened." Shinoa's senses went on high alert, that was Kimizuki's voice, and he sounded worried. Kimizuki never sounded worried. Kimizuki shouldn't even be awake, he was one of two people who should've gotten as much sleep as possible.
Shinoa's eyes snapped open, something was wrong, the warmth that had been next to her was gone. She had probably gotten up before her. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up to look at Kimizuki, she could see Guren in the background, but Shinya was nowhere to be found, Yoichi wasn't anywhere either.
"Where's that idiot Yuu? Where's everyone else?" She demanded. Kimizuki's eyes fell and he began to shake ever so slightly. His breathing becoming erratic, and small drops of liquid coming from his eyes.
"They're gone, Shinoa. Everyone's gone. Mitsuba, and Shinya, and Yoichi, and even that idiot who was supposed to be keeping watch!" Kimizuki shouted. He squeezed his fists in frustration. "How did they get them? Yoichi was with me, I'm a light sleeper! How could I have let them get him? Why is this happening to me?" Kimizuki had lowered his voice, it was now barely audible, but she was still able to hear the hurt in his voice.
Shinoa could feel something that was making its way out of her eyes. She tried to hold them back, she tried to hold them in, but they came anyway. They came pouring out of her eyes, down her cheeks, leaving trails of water down her face. They took different paths on their way down, some coalescing on her chin, only to drip down to the ground, and some made their way to her mouth. She could taste the salt working its way onto her tongue.
She hadn't cried in years.
"There's a small pool of blood near the first car, I can only assume that Yuu was caught unawares. The blood is dried, so it happened a while ago. That's probably when Shinya, Mitsuba, and Yoichi were taken as well." Guren said. His voice was cold and calm. His voice was devoid of all emotions that he could possibly feel. He couldn't show his emotions. Not now. Shinoa had to as well. She just had to stop. She couldn't believe that Mitsu was gone.
"I'm going to get them back," Kimizuki promised. "I don't care what you say. I'm going to get Yoichi back. I'll get them all back. Even if it kills me, I'm going to get them all back."
Guren nodded his head, "We're going to get them back. There is no way in Hell that I am going to let them get away with this. The procedure would be to abandon this mission. But just this once, I am saying screw the procedure. We're going to get our friends back, even if it takes us to Hell."
Mika was following Yuu-chan. He was following that beautiful smile and those breath-taking green eyes. They were taking him through the twists and turns of the city, they went past the house that they had stayed at when they were children. They went through the back alleys of the city. There were sometimes when Mika lost sight of the raven hair that he loved, but then he could always follow the melodious sound of Yuu-chan's laughter.
The laughter faded as they came back to the chapel. Yuu's form became increasingly transparent, eventually becoming non-existent once more. He moved back to the pew that he had been sitting at before he saw Yuu-chan.
Why is this happening to me now? Why is all of this happening to me? I never wanted to hurt anyone, I never wanted to hurt them. Mika held his head in his hands, trying to block out anything else that would try and talk to him, anything else that would open old wounds.
Even though the flesh of his hands, he heard the clack, clack, clack of heeled boots on polished tile. The sound was sharp and staccato, a sound of power that echoed through the halls. He could hear the swish of fabric against fabric as someone approached him. The two sounds as different as night and day, one short and sharp, the other soft and quiet, but they both went hand-in-hand with each other.
"Mika-kun. Oh, Mika-kun. There's something that I think you might find interesting." Internally, Mika groaned at the voice. He quickly removed his hands from his head and gave the appearance that he was rubbing his head in frustration, anything to make sure that Ferid wouldn't find out about these hallucinations.
Mika straightened and stood up, to shoot his usual glare ar Ferid. "What is it now, Ferid? I'm not going to join you for a drink like you always ask." Mika turned his body and walked past Ferid, with any luck, Ferid would drop this topic and never talk to him again.
Ferid, sped up his pace and began to walk in front of Mika, leading the way.
Of course, it was too much to ask for him to leave him alone and never talk to him again. Mika followed Ferid in silence, he figured that it was pretty much expected of him, and if he was going to fight it, it would be futile. Ferid seemed happier than usual, a bounce in his step and a smile on his face. Mika wondered why he seemed so ecstatic, but there was no way that he would lower himself to actually ask anything of him, no matter how curious.
"What's wrong, Mika-kun? Aren't you wondering where I'm taking you?" Ferid asked, turning around so that he was walking backward and looking at Mika. "I could be luring you to my home so that I can kill you, I could be taking you to see your precious Yuu-chan, I could be taking you to Krul, or I might even be taking you to gain information from the humans."
"So, which is it then?" Mika asked.
Ferid's smile grew mischievous. "Now, now Mika-kun, we don't want to spoil the surprise? Do we?" Ferid turned back around and quickened his pace. Mika knew that there was nothing that he would get out of him, he had only named off those things to get him thinking.
Mika followed Ferid to a door that he had never been through before, I guess this rules out Krul, and Ferid killing me in his home. Mika thought.
With an ostentatious flourish, and a pompous bow, Ferid opened the door and entered. Mika made to follow when the smell hit him.
It was the smell of fresh blood. It was the smell of blood in the air, almost like if he walked in, he would become a full vampire just by breathing. Mika was on his knees, he could hear the rush of his own blood in his ears, he wasn't ready for this. The smell was too strong, it was overwhelming. He had to cover his mouth and nose, biting his hand to make sure that he stayed outside, and under control.
The light flickered on inside. The light was weak and cast a yellowish glow on the entirety of the room.
He saw red, at first he thought it was just his imagination, but he soon realized that he was actually seeing red. The floors and walls were painted with blood, there were splatters everywhere, even on the ceiling. But what really made his heart stop were the three figures in the middle.
They were all dressed in a similar fashion, with black jackets, and black pants. Well, except for the one blonde haired girl, who wore a black skirt. They were all strung up, crucified, with their arms spread out as far as possible. Their feet were above the ground and they were all unconscious. They seemed to be lined up from tallest to shortest, the tallest being on the left. Their heads all hung forward, displaying their hair, but not much else. He saw silver hair, black hair, brown hair, and blonde hair.
Off to the side, he could see bodies piled high, rotting and devoid of any blood. Ferid stood off to the side and tapped a pattern into the pipes, it sounded like a message to Mika, but he couldn't decipher it. Instead, he approached the unfortunate humans who had been strung up.
Starting at the right, he looked at the blonde girl. She wore her hair in pigtails off to the side of her head. Her legs were bare from her knees to her thighs and she wore the same uniform as the men, only with a skirt. Her skin was free of any blemishes, whether natural or created by whoever had brought her here, and she had a cute face.
The next human in line was the one with brown hair. It was slightly curled and appeared to be quite soft. When Mika looked at his face, it reminded him of some of the children at the orphanage, he looked small and fragile. He looked innocent like he could never hurt anyone in the world.
Mika walked on to the next man, this one had raven colored hair, and it appeared to be slightly sticky with something, with a jolt, Mika realized it was blood. This one wasn't taken easily, He thought. He took a better look at him, if it wasn't for the boy being elevated, he would have been about his height, maybe even shorter. The boy's face was somehow similar, but Mika couldn't put his finger on where he might have seen it before, and his judgment was slightly impaired by the blood that was streaked down his face.
The last man in line was taller than him, and he also appeared to be awake, not processing the new information, but awake nonetheless. His silver hair was straight and hung down in front of his face. "Where…? Where… Gu… ren? Is… safe? Watch… happened… Yuu?" The man whispered, even if it was plenty loud for Mika's heightened hearing.
Who was Guren? Was it one of the other humans here? Maybe one of them was a little brother of his? Did he say 'watch'? Maybe the one with the wound had been in charge of the group. What else did he say after that? He said something else after that. Was it part of another word? Or was it… a… name…?
It all suddenly clicking into place, he walked back to the last boy, the one with the raven hair that suddenly seemed so familiar. He looked at the boy's face once more, wiping the blood from his face as gently as possible, so he wouldn't disturb him. The face was one of striking resemblance to the one he had chased around the city earlier.
Mika stumbled back, almost tripping over himself. He heard Ferid's voice echoing in his ears. I could be taking you to see your precious Yuu-chan. Mika clasped his hands over his ears, but to no avail, the words echoed in and out of his head, bouncing around. But then, he remembered something else that Ferid had said. I might even be taking you to gain information from the humans.
He looked back at the boy who he hadn't seen in four years, to the boy that had made him genuinely smile for the first time. The boy who had been accused of demon-spawn and beaten by his father. The boy that he had looked up to. The boy who swore to kill the vampires that did this to him, the boy who probably hated him for what he was. "Yuu… chan?"