Chapter 2: A Night for the Living, A Morning for the Dead
In Osaka, Japan
It was midnight in the city of Osaka with the streets flooded with traffic and a police sedan with a siren blaring out loud was heading out to a crime scene. In the police car were two cops, one inexperienced and the other a veteran detective. They had been investigating the disappearance of missing people: more precisely women that were either illegal immigrants working in sweatshops or prostitutes.
"So how many does that make total?" The young cop, Detective Ikeda asked, wondering how many women in total had been reported missing the last couple of months.
"I don't know. There's been so many of these missing person cases in the last few months, I've lost track." The older and veteran cop, Detective Sakomizu answered in a gruff voice while glancing out the passenger side window.
"No kidding, must be at least a dozen. Hostesses, sweatshop workers, prostitutes: all women, all illegal immigrants...it's gotta mean something. Right?" Ikeda stated while pointing out the one obvious thing that all the women whom mysteriously vanished had in common: that they were the 'forgotten ones'; people who went unseen and unnoticed to society, which made them the perfect victims for whoever it was that targeted them.
"Yeah...what it means is that we're not doing our jobs very well." Sakomizu stated in a dull and sallow tone, suggesting that he wasn't in a talkative mood but decided to answer his younger partner back to avoid being pestered by non-stop questions.
They had eventually arrived at the address where the crime scene was, but the young cop had to slow down as the neighbors residing in the neighborhood were blocking the street!
"Police, stand aside please! Come on! Out of the way!" The younger detective shouted while slowly and steadily driving past the civilians, while asking that they get out of the way.
Thankfully, the people crowding the street did as the young cop asked and moved out of the way. After getting past the civilians, the two detectives had parked outside a house with patrol officers and crime scene investigators already at the scene. After stepping out of the car, Sakomizu stopped as he groaned after seeing the lieutenant he answered to already at the house, talking to the responding officer and going over the notes in his notepad.
"Sakomizu, finally." The lieutenant stated, while showing a look of dislike towards the veteran detective after hearing him and his partner arriving.
"Hey there, Lieutenant." The older detective stated back with the same level of dislike while turning around to shut the car door behind him. "Jackass." He muttered softly so the lieutenant wouldn't hear.
"We're here sir, Lieutenant!" Ikeda called out while saluting his superior officer, which went completely ignored.
"How the hell does he keep getting to the crime scenes before us?" Sakomizu muttered to himself, as he found it rather strange that his precinct's lieutenant had made it a rather peculiar habit of showing up to the crime scenes of the previous abductions before anyone else arrived.
As he pondered, the veteran detective had glanced at a neighboring rooftop and couldn't believe what he had spotted: standing on the roof was a humanoid raccoon in a black leather trench coat and shades...who was glancing back at him.
"Huh?" Sakomizu grunted, thinking that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but weren't as the Daywalker had swiftly fled before anyone else had spotted him.
"What is it, partner? Something wrong?" Ikeda asked as he had noticed how his partner had been looking directly at the rooftop where Blade had stood before he swiftly vanished.
"Forget it. It's probably nothing." The older detective answered, attempting to blow off seeing a humanoid raccoon as a figment of his imagination before walking up the stairs to walk through the crime scene.
"The entire apartment building appears to have been a hostel for female undocumented immigrants, all of whom have mysteriously disappeared. We don't have an exact count of how many women were residing here, but the neighbors we've talked to claim the exact number of occupants were between 8-12 female occupants." A crime scene investigator stated to Sakomizu and his partner, along with the other detectives whom were writing down notes in their own notepads.
While the detectives were being informed and taking notes, none of them had noticed the number of black cats that were either lazily watching them, either on the walls of the patio or roof of the apartment complex. After getting the report, Sakomizu had begun searching the bedrooms for any evidence that would help generate a lead that would help locate the missing women...but ultimately found nothing. He had searched a bedroom that belonged to one of the victims and noticed a picture sticking out underneath the rug on the floor. After picking up the photo, Sakomizu stared softly at the girl in the picture, as couldn't have been more than 15-17 years old holding a small birthday cake, with the words 'Sara's Birthday' written in the top left corner and 'In Jan' in the bottom right corner. He had softly gasped as the bedroom lights had been turned on.
"You okay partner? Find anything? You find anything important? Any leads that might help us with the case?" Ikeda asked after stepping inside the room, wondering if his partner had found anything that could point them in the right direction.
"No. Nothing." Sakomizu lied while secretly sliding the photo into his jacket, going completely unnoticed by his rookie partner.
"There's nothing here. Not even signs of a struggle. How about you? You find anything?" He added after thoroughly examining the rooms, noting how all the rooms were in perfect condition and there weren't any signs of a struggle before asking the younger detective if he had any better luck.
"I tried questioning some of the crowd outside. No one's seen or heard anything unusual in here, but most of them did claim to have seen two mysterious figures they had never seen before." Ikeda reported, informing his partner that he had questioned several of the neighbors and how most of them told him about two mysterious characters they never saw before.
"Did you get a description of these 'mysterious figures'?" Sakomizu asked, as he was curious by what these two 'mysterious characters' looked like.
"Yeah...one of the subjects is a woman, Caucasian with short black hair, wearing a black leather jacket and the other is a...humanoid raccoon in a trench coat." The younger detective answered while consulting his notes and informing the older cop what the two mysterious characters looked like.
'A woman, Caucasian with short black hair, wearing a black leather jacket and a...' The veteran detective mentally stated, going over the description of the mystery lady and realized that he hadn't imagined what he saw before back outside.
"A humanoid raccoon in a trench coat, huh? Well isn't that a coincidence." Sakomizu muttered softly, realizing that he actually saw the humanoid raccoon before entering the apartment.
"Hey, why don't you call it a night partner? Didn't you say it was your daughter's birthday today? Why don't you head on home while I wrap up things here?" Ikeda asked, offering to cover for the older cop while he headed home to be with his daughter and celebrate her birthday.
"No, let's canvas the neighborhood while people's minds are still fresh." The veteran detective answered, turning down his partner's offer and wanting to question the neighbors, hoping that they would eventually find a lead that could help them locate the missing women.
The two cops had spent two whole hours questioning the neighbors, victim's co-workers and prostitutes working the area, asking about the mysterious woman and raccoon in a trench coat. Most of the people they spoke to either denied ever seeing either of them or reluctantly stating they only saw the woman or raccoon for just a brief moment before he/she vanished. After another hour of questioning witnesses, they had returned to their patrol car for a short break.
"Nobody knows nothing...amazing. You'd think that a woman with short black hair wearing a black leather jacket or a raccoon in a trench coat would stick out in this neighborhood." Sakomizu stated with a hint of disgust that none of the people he and his partner spoke to hadn't given them a straight answer.
"Well it's sorta hard not to blame them, since the people in this neighborhood are more afraid of us. They probably think we'll have them deported since they're illegal immigrants." Ikeda stated, reminding his partner that most of the residents in the neighborhood are illegal immigrants: how they didn't have the necessary paperwork to be granted citizenship or asylum. As they were catching their breath from all the walking, they heard the radio in their car blare out.
"Attention all units in the Commercial District. Reports of a break in at Sakanizi Industries, possible armed armory. Over?" The dispatcher stated, informing all nearby police cruisers of a possible armed robbery.
"Serves them right. Let's pretend that we didn't hear that...wait." Sakomizu stated, feeling that the true owners of the 'business building' deserved to be robbed and decided to ignore the report, before a thought crossed his mind. "This is car 3-0-5. Copy that Dispatch, we're on our way." He answered, changing his mind and informing the dispatcher that he and his partner would take a look into the break-in.
"Aw, I thought we were..." The young cop complained, thinking that they were finally going to call it a night after getting into the car!
"Those Sakanizi creeps are actually Yakuza. They're connected with everything crooked that goes on in this town. Buckle up, kid." The veteran cop answered, explaining and revealing how the owner's of the building being robbed were affiliated with the Yakuza and how the Japanese Mafia had connections with everything illegal in the city of Japan before buckling, putting the police light on the roof of the car and heading for the industry building.
However, unknown to the two cops, Selene had been listening in to everything the police dispatcher said with a police issued radio she had stolen from an unoccupied police car on the roof of a building parallel from where they had parked. 'Hmm, a break-in at Sakanizi Industries huh? I wonder who that could be...' The Death Dealer mentally said to herself, smiling as she had a strong guess to who the alleged 'robber' was.
Meanwhile, at Sakanizi Industries
A loud banging could be heard echoing out as someone had kicked an office door wide open, surprising four thugs who armed themselves with switchblade knives! "Hey, who the Hell do you think you are?!" A thug with brown hair demanded as the person, who had kicked the office door open and stepped inside silently...was none other than Blade!
"You just made a big mistake...!" The thug snarled while raising the knife and rushed in to stab the Daywalker...only for the raccoon/vampire hybrid to simply grab the hand holding the knife and grabbing a hold of the thug's shirt! The thug had whimpered in fear by the intimidating glare on the Daywalker's face as he looked directly at him.
"Why is it always slime like you I have to deal with? Human losers with weapons instead of brains." Blade asked him while glaring at the cowering thug, whose face had been reflecting off his shades. He then turned his attention to the hand holding the knife...as the gangster wannabe had the Existence emblem tattooed onto his wrist.
"Well look at that. Talk, I want to hear about your associates." He sarcastically stated after spotting the symbol of Frost's organization on the thug's wrist and demanded information for other agents operating in Osaka!
Meanwhile, with the two detectives
After a long drive, Sakomizu and Ikeda had arrived and parked outside the office building...only to hear a window shatter and the brown haired thug being thrown out! The veteran cop stared both shocked and surprised as the thug had been tossed out the window and landed, crashing down on the hood of their squad car! Both cops had grimaced after witnessing the man landing hard on the hood of their car, although the rookie detective was more horrified of the sight while his partner wasn't, as he had immediately rushed out!
""Let's get an ambulance down here, now! He might still be alive!" Sakomizu ordered, instructing his rookie partner to call for an ambulance while he entered the building in order to learn what had happened before they arrived!
"R-Right! Uh, Dispatch, this is car 3-0-5..." Ikeda stuttered while still shaken by what he had just witnessed, but quickly collected himself and did as his partner instructed: reaching for the radio and requesting for an ambulance.
Right after entering the building and running up a flight of stairs to the office floor where the thug had been thrown out the window, Sakomizu was surprised to see four thugs sprawled out on the hallway floor, knocked unconscious with three switchblades and a handgun discarded beside them. He had turned his attention to the office, as the door had been kicked open and people could be heard crying out/groaning as blows were being dealt. The experienced cop had drawn out his Nambu M60 police issued revolver and cautiously approached the office, to see two more people: one on the floor and one leaning with his back against the wall knocked out while Blade was battling a man wielding a katana sword!
'So I wasn't imagining things. There really is a raccoon-like creature in a trench coat!' Sakomizu mentally said to himself, realizing that he was hallucinating seeing the strange creature before. "Police! Hold it right there! Both of you drop those weapons right now!" The veteran detective ordered while identifying himself as a police officer and demanding that both the Daywalker and man drop their swords onto the floor.
Both Blade and the mam, had merely glanced at the human detective...before the raccoon/vampire had ashed the man, whom was really a vampire with a clean and single swipe from his katana! The older cop stared shocked by what he just witnessed and had a surprised look, as the Daywalker had mysteriously appeared behind the human detective and placed the tip of his sword to his throat.
Back with Sakomizu's partner
After contacting Dispatch and requesting for an ambulance, Ikeda remained with the car and waited patiently for his partner to exit the building and couldn't help but worry about what had happened up on that office floor before they arrived. He didn't have to wait any further, as Sakomizu had walked down the stairs and back out of the building...with his hands up for some strange reason.
"So partner, what happen..." The younger detective asked, wondering what his more experienced partner had found in the building...and stared shocked as Blade had followed right behind him, pointing Sakomizu's own police revolver right at him! "T-That's him, the suspect!" He stated in shock after seeing the Daywalker himself holding his partner at gunpoint and drawing out his own Nambu M60 revolver!
"Take a deep breath now kid. Remember your training, steady your aim and make sure to only fire for the furry guy. You can do this." Sakomizu stated, reminding the younger detective to remain calm and mentally prepare to take the shot.
"Um, I-I-I think that I should call for backup. Y-yeah, that's right. I'll call for backup." Ikeda stuttered, quivering, not able to bring himself to take the shot and jumped into the car, while the veteran cop sighed in disappointment. "This is car 3-5, AHH...! The inexperienced cop cried out after reaching for the car radio, beginning to call for backup and screamed as a strong force pulled him out, along with the radio in his hand! He stared surprised as it was Blade who threw him out of the car, forcing Sakomizu behind the wheel in the driver's seat and sitting in the passenger side.
"Go ahead and drive." The Daywalker instructed casually, while pointing the barrel of the .38 revolver directly at the more experienced cop's face while putting the light on the roof.
"Where am I driving you to?" The veteran detective asked, while not intimidated by having his service weapon pointed at him, but curious to know where he was supposed to go before actually driving off.
"You're a cop, take me in." He answered, surprising Sakomizu as the Daywalker wanted him to arrest him while he placed the police light on the hood of the car and they drove off.
"That guy...I've never seen it: a man exploding like that before." The older cop stated while driving them to his precinct, baffled by what he had just witnessed.
"Because that wasn't a man. At least not in any way that you'd understand or believe." Blade stated cryptically, revealing the 'man' the human detective saw him kill wasn't really a human.
"Really? Oh, man. I can already tell that it is going to be one of those nights. So what the hell are you?" Sakomizu stated, knowing by his detective instincts that tonight would be more complex than he thought and asked the Daywalker about his origins.
"Also something you couldn't understand or believe." The raccoon/vampire hybrid answered, wanting to avoid revealing his past to anyone.
"You a mutant? I've heard news reports over the radio and on the TV about humans having super powers: from super strength, speed, flight and shape shifting, taking on the appearance of practically anything and anybody. Is that what you are?" The veteran detective asked, assuming that Blade was a mutant with the power to change his appearance.
"Hahaha, good guess, but no. I'm not a mutant, despite what other humans who've seen me over the past few years think. There is only one thing you need to know: I'm not a human and I'm on your side." The Daywalker answered, chuckling, amused that the human cop thought of him as a mutant and stating that despite his appearance, he was on humanity's side.
"So, uh, why are you having me drive to police headquarters? You're not planning on turning yourself in for the missing women, are you?" Sakomizu asked, curious as to why Blade wanted him to take him to police headquarters, since he knew right away that the raccoon/vampire hybrid wasn't going to confess about the missing women.
"A police officer and colleague of yours is part of an organization responsible for kidnapping all these women." The Daywalker answered, revealing that a police officer was involved in abducting the missing women, which deeply surprised the human detective!
"A colleague? What do you mean by that?" He asked, surprised to hear that one of his fellow police officers and detectives was actually involved in kidnapping all the women that went missing!
"You'll see soon enough." Blade answered, secretly smiling as he knew that him showing up at the police HQ would be very shocking and unexpected.
Later, at the police station
The other police officers and staff workers stared very confused and surprised at seeing one of their own detectives bringing in a walking humanoid raccoon wearing a trench coat, shades and carrying a katana behind his upper back in handcuffs.
"Is, um, is the Chief in his office?" Sakomizu asked, while clearing his throat as he and Blade were slowly growing annoyed by the looks that the staff were giving them the moment they stepped into police headquarters.
"I-I-I think so." The female desk clerk answered, surprised at seeing the raccoon/vampire hybrid along with two desk sergeants.
While the desk clerk was checking if their police chief was still in his office, the lieutenant and a fellow police officer had run into Chief Gondou's office with their boss sitting behind his desk.
"What the hell is going on?" Chief Gondou demanded, as the lieutenant drew out his service revolver and the officer drew out his baton after locking the door behind them!
"It's him, Chief! It's Blade and he's onto us!" The lieutenant answered, while emptying his revolver and placing special bullets meant to kill vampires in the chamber while glancing back to the locked office door.
"Blade is here?!" The police chief asked shocked after hearing that the feared Raccoon Daywalker was in Osaka and already here at police headquarters!
"Those Yakuza rat bastards sold us out...and he's on his way!" The lieutenant stated, knowing that the 'agents' affiliated in the Yakuza told the Daywalker about them and their connection to Existence while loading the final round into his revolver.
The locked office door had suddenly been broken into two halves, which startled the three crooked cops...especially as they saw that it was in fact Blade who destroyed the door with a single powerful kick! He had stoically entered the office with Sakomizu right beside him. "Sorry about the door, sir." The veteran detective stated, apologizing to his superior officer for his office door being destroyed by the raccoon/vampire hybrid.
Instead of aiming for Blade, the lieutenant instead pointed his Nambu revolver at Sakomizu, as had seen and learned too much about the vampires and fired twice! The veteran cop had closed his eyes, thinking that the two bullets had passed right through him, but strangely...he didn't feel a thing. He slowly opened his eyes and stared shocked as the Daywalker had shielded him from being shot and killed!
"Son of a..." Sakomizu muttered softly, surprised at how the raccoon/vampire hybrid protected him and shocked at how he was still standing after being shot in the back twice!
Blade had simply broken himself free from the handcuffs and swiftly disarmed the cowardly lieutenant, by swatting the revolver out of his hand. The police officer had foolishly and blindly charged in, attempting to strike the Daywalker with his baton...only to be knocked out after he landed a powerful and swift kick that sent the corrupt cop crashing into a locked cabinet beside Gondou's desk! The corrupt police chief cowered in fear, after seeing both of his officers taken down by the raccoon-vampire hybrid by a matter of mere seconds!
"See this tattoo? It's the symbol of an organization known as Existence. Your colleague has sold out to them: either hiding or destroying any evidence that could be traced back to them." Blade asked, showing the Existence tattoo on the lieutenant's wrist to Sakomizu, while explaining how his 'fellow cop' had been destroying any evidence that could be connected to Existence and their master before throwing the lieutenant towards the human detective!
"Is that true lieutenant?! So that's why you always show up at the crime scenes before anyone else?!" Sakomizu stated, extremely pissed as everything made sense: why he and the other cops never found any forensic evidence and how the lieutenant always arrived at the crime scenes first before anyone else!
"No, let me go! I was only following the chief's orders!" The lieutenant cried out in terror, as the veteran detective gave him a much further intimidating glare of death and pathetically stated he was simply following Gondou's orders!
"I knew there was something! You're a cop, you stupid son of a bitch! If there's one thing that I hate more, it's a dirty cop!" He angrily snapped back, disgusted at the lieutenant's cowardice and disgracing the force since he didn't deserve to wear the uniform or badge!
While his cop ally was putting the healthy fear of God into the 'lieutenant', Blade had approached the cowering police chief, whom was quivering and whimpering in fear as he drew out his katana. "Tell me what you know." He demanded plain and simple, wanting to know what the corrupt chief of police knew about Existence's plans in Osaka. Gondou had glanced at the tip of the sword pointed right at his face...and the scared look on his face swiftly changed into a smug and arrogant smile.
"Hahaha. Alright, sure, I'll tell you what I know: we're everywhere, that's what I know. We're in places you would never expect or imagine: the government, law enforcement agencies, even terrorist organizations across the globe. All of us, doing our part to make sure the Chosen Ones get what they want...and they will get what they want. You will never stop them, not even with that big silver toothpick of your's." The corrupt police chief stated smugly, revealing that Existence had sleeper agents within the Japanese and neighboring government, law enforcement agencies and terrorist cells across the globe, which shocked Sakomizu as he listened to every word that exited his corrupt 'boss's' mouth.
'These idiots think by helping Frost's agents, they'll prove themselves worthy and earn a place at the table when it's over. But when you make a deal with the Devil...the Devil always wins.' Blade mentally stated to himself, disgusted that there were humans willing to sell their humanity, their souls in order to become vampires and other nightmarish creatures for a madman's 'promise' of power.
"The chosen ones? What a load of crap! These are killers and monsters you're working for!" Sakomizu angrily shouted out, throwing the lieutenant away out of his way and walking up to his former 'boss'. "What's happened to the missing women?" He asked, demanding to know what Frost's agents have done to the women they abducted while lowering Blade's arm down.
"Heh, they're part of the bargain." Gondou sneered while cryptically revealing he made a deal with Existence!
"Bargain?" The veteran detective asked, surprised to hear that the corrupt police chief had made a deal with the people holding the abducted women!
"Of course you fool! In order to buy this country's protection...why not use women who are illegal or trailer trash, who have no purpose existing in our so called 'society'. That sounds like a perfectly good deal." Gondou answered, revealing his true colors by expressing his views on the women whom were targeted and kidnapped: illegal immigrants who had no business being in Japan and street junkies/whores who wouldn't be missed...and his words angered Sakomizu as he grabbed the 'chief' by his shirt and landed a powerful punch to his face!
"You sick son of a bitch! Those women are human beings! Innocent human beings who have families! You're gonna tell me where those women are...but not quite yet!" He shouted with great ire, disgusted by the how 'chief' viewed the women Existence targeted as worthless 'trash that no one cared about', but before he got the information on where the women were being kept...Sakomizu landed another punch, followed by another and another!
1 hour later
After 'interrogating' the 'police chief' for the location of where Existence were holding the women, Blade had offered Sakomizu a clean cloth to wipe off the blood off his hands...which he accepted and discarded after cleaning his right dominant hand that was covered in Gondou's blood. The two of them had gotten into the police car and headed straight to where the women were being kept.
"You sure you're alright? Those shots you took..." The veteran cop asked while driving, concerned about the gunshot wounds the Raccoon Daywalker took for him before Blade cut him off.
"My body armor took most of the damage. Besides, silver bullets have no effect on me." The raccoon/vampire hybrid quickly answered, revealing that his body armor protected him from taking any real damage and how bullets made of silver didn't work on him.
"Silver? Thought that only worked on werewolves in horror movies?" Sakomizu asked with a joking and amused smile, after hearing what type of bullet was used on the Daywalker.
"Not sure if you noticed, Detective, but that 'man' you saw me 'kill' back at the office building wasn't really a human being." He answered, reminding his human cop ally that the 'human' he saw him kill was actually a vampire.
"True. Guess tonight can't get any weirder than it already is." The human detective stated, realizing that what Blade said was true and yet, he still couldn't believe what he had learned and witnessed.
"It was right in front of me the whole time and I just didn't see it!" Sakomizu stated, angry and disappointed at himself as he didn't piece it together himself right away: the lieutenant mysteriously getting to the crime scene first and why there was no evidence of any kind to help locate the abducted women! He always suspected the lieutenant of being dirty and being on the take for the Yakuza...but discovering that he and the 'chief of police' were actually secret members of an organization of vampires...was completely unexpected.
"Now that you know the truth, you may have been better off not knowing...but unfortunately we can't rewind the clock." Blade stated, sympathizing with the veteran cop that he had stumbled upon and discovered the horrifying truth that vampires and other nightmarish monsters exist and that he would never be able to forget this haunting moment.
After a long drive, the two allies had arrived outside the subway tunnel that Gondou claimed was the location of where Existence were holding the abducted women and prepared themselves before setting foot down in the seemingly abandoned train tunnels.
"You have a family, don't you, Detective?" The Daywalker asked while securing a leg strap carrying silver stakes around his left leg and Sakomizu was replacing the ordinary bullets in his service revolver for the silver bullets the raccoon-vampire provided him.
"Yeah, I've got a wife and daughter. Today is her birthday." The human cop stated, confirming that he had family waiting for him to come home and revealing today was his daughter's birthday.
"You should go home to them, be with your daughter and celebrate her birthday. Your wife and daughter would be devastated and heartbroken if they lost you." Blade stated softly, asking the human detective to drive home and be with his family..since he knew what it was like to lose the most precious thing when he was as a little boy and didn't wish for any other child to go through the same anguish he endured.
"I know you're right...but I'd rather go home knowing I did my job by saving those women. Besides, it's not every single day a cop gets to use silver bullets. I'm sticking with you until those women are safe." Sakomizu answered, showing he appreciated the Daywalker's concern for his family's sake and knew deep in his heart that he should go home to them...but felt that he should see his duty as a cop through first by helping the raccoon-vampire rescue the women.
Once they were prepped and ready, the two of them stepped out of the car and walked down the stairs leading into the subway tunnels. Unknown to them...Selene had been hanging back from a safe distance on the roof of a nearby apartment building without being spotted.
'So that's where Existence is holding the kidnapped women. This should be really interesting.' The Death Dealer mentally stated while crossing her arms, as she had secretly followed both the Raccoon Daywalker and human detective from the Yakuza building to Police HQ before landing safely onto the pavement and following them down into the tunnels.
As the Daywalker and veteran detective were walking down the steps, Blade noticed something strange as the only noise he heard were the echoes of his own and ally's footsteps.
"Huh, that's odd." The raccoon-vampire hybrid stated as he and Sakomizu continued walking down the steps.
"What's odd?" His human ally asked, puzzled by what he was referring to while shining a flashlight to help him see the steps so he wouldn't trip and fall to his death.
"There are normally rats in these old abandoned tunnels...and I haven't heard or seen a single one." He answered plain and simple, pointing out that subway tunnels like these were usually infested with rats and yet, he didn't hear any squeaking out or running along the pipes or past their feet.
"That is strange, but you know what's odd to me? How you can see anything with those shades on in a pitch dark tunnel." Sakomizu stated, agreeing with Blade that he was right about it being odd there were no rats crawling in the tunnels and was surprised he could see perfectly fine in the dark like it was daytime when he could hardly see without the flashlight.
They had eventually reached the bottom of the stairs and entered a tunnel with debris covering the rust covered and worn out tracks. After walking two more steps Blade signaled for them to stop. "There's something up there." Blade stated as looked up towards the ceiling and the human detective followed his gaze with a puzzled look as he shone his flashlight towards the dark end of the tunnel...and spotted numerous containment tube like pods.
"What the hell are those?" Sakomizu asked, as he had never seen contraptions like those before in his life!
"A sure sign that we've just stepped into their lair." The Daywalker answered while not fully surprised by what they just found, as he and Noah had found and destroyed numerous Existence lairs just like this one.
"You don't say." His human ally stated sarcastically as the containment pods were an obvious dead give away.
That was when the tunnel had suddenly been filled with light, which came from two searchlights on tripods mounted on a highly advanced device connected to a round glass container filled with human blood.
"Well, well...now isn't this a pleasant surprise. Actually...no it is't." A mysterious male voice called out, which belonged to a vampire who was drinking the blood through a straw.
"W-Who the hell are you?!" Sakomizu cried out while aiming his revolver directly at the 'man' drinking blood like it was a natural beverage!
"Where are my manners? Can I offer you guys a drink? Or maybe you'd like a tour of our little blood farm?" The vampire, known by his master and fellow agents as Tanaka casually answered, offering the human detective and raccoon-vampire hybrid a 'drink' or 'tour' of their base of operations.
"Did you just say 'blood farm'?!" The veteran cop asked shocked after hearing what sort of place the tunnel had been turned into by Existence!
"It's kind of like a dairy farm, only instead of milk we get blood and instead of cows...well, you get the general idea. This ensures the freshest product for our customers, which in return means we can demand the highest price." Tanaka stated and smiled coldly, revealing the true purpose for the kidnapped women: draining them of their blood to create an endless supply of blood for Frost and the rest of their organization!
"All those poor women." Sakomizu stated softly for the women having their blood drained out of them and immediately recognized one of the young ladies as the same girl in the photograph he found and collected from the apartment crime scene; Sara.
"It's not like we killed them. Quite the opposite in fact: we keep them comfortable, clean of any diseases and well-nourished. In my personal opinion...they're better off being used this way since they were completely useless to society." The glasses-wearing vampire stated coldly, showing no remorse for draining the women he had kidnapped dry of their blood and referred to them as 'useless'.
"You sick demented freak!" He shouted back, furious and disgusted that both Tanaka and Gondou held the same views as women: thinking of them as pieces of trash nobody cares about!
"Where's your boss, Deacon Frost?" Blade demanded, wanting to know where the bastard who took everything from him was...which earned a smug smirk from Tanaka.
"You're too late Daywalker: he's long gone, left the country. Appears you came all this way for nothing. But it's not a total loss: the cats haven't eaten anything in days." The glasses wearing vampire answered, revealing that Frost had left Japan, which surprised/angered the Raccoon Daywalker and offering Blade and Sakomizu an 'alternate' prize..as a huge group of black cats had slowly and steadily approached them, revealing yellow glowing eyes and stood up on their hind legs!
From the darkest end of the tunnel, Selene had kept quiet as she heard every word between the raccoon/vampire hybrid, veteran detective and Tanaka...and angrily curled her right fist in a strong grip. She could not believe what she had just heard: how Frost had his agents abduct innocent women who were illegal immigrants and targeted them because no one would ever bother to look for them! 'Why those sick demented bastards! Attacking innocent people and draining them of their blood? That's something no one in our covens would ever dream of doing!' She mentally said to herself while glaring with great contempt towards the Existence agent placed in charge of the blood farm and knew that the facility had to be destroyed so no else could put another innocent soul through that nightmarish experience.
"Oh, great...Monster cats, that's just fantastic." The human detective muttered softly as he and the Daywalker stood their ground with other vampire cats surrounding them!
"Detective, you might want to hit the deck." The raccoon/vampire hybrid stated plain and simple while slowly drawing out his katana and his ally did just that while the cats were about to pounce and tear them apart. Once the cats were close enough, Blade had ashed them all with just a single stroke and Sakomizu, along with Selene were surprised by how quickly he defeated/killed the vampire felines in just one move!
"Hey, you are good! I'm very impressed!" Tanaka stated with an insane smile after seeing the Daywalker defeat his pets with just a single sword swipe and ran deeper into the tunnel with the raccoon-vampire hybrid giving chase!
"I'll deal with him! You free these women and get them to safety!" The Daywalker stated, informing his human friend that he would handle Tanaka while he freed the women and led them out of the tunnel.
"Right. Okay, just hold on." Sakomizu stated, as he had no problem freeing the women sealed inside the containment pods and took aim with his service revolver.
The veteran detective had fired three precise shots directly at the winch anchor, which loosened the cables and lowered the pods onto the ground. He attempted to pry the door open, but after seeing that it was sealed tight he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a knife. He then sliced across the door, while groaning in disgust as the fluid inside poured over onto his arms and pulled the unconscious girl out of the pod. The young girl, Sara, had coughed weakly after Sakomizu had removed the tube out of her mouth and she slowly opened her eyes.
"It's okay. It's alright sweetheart. You're gonna be fine." The veteran cop stated softly while smiling at the young girl...before they noticed more vampire cats had appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them! "I hate cats..." He muttered softly while glaring, showing a great dislike for cats: both normal and vampire.
Sakomizu had drawn out his revolver and fired, killing as many of the demonic felines as he could until he ran out of bullets. The remaining cats had snarled and slowly approached, ready to tear him and the young lady apart. He turned to shield Sara from the cats, but fortunately...the vampire cats never touched them, as multiple gunshots echoed out! Both the detective and young girl glanced up to see the cats being ashed, as Selene had shown herself and fired a barrage of silver bullets that killed the cats.
'It's her...the woman with short black hair wearing a black leather jacket!' Sakomizu mentally stated, as he remembered the description provided by the witnesses outside the apartment crime scene!
"Are you and the girl alright?" Selene asked as all the cats were ashed and was concerned for Sara's well being as she and all the women were nearly drained of all their blood.
"Yeah, we're alright. Thanks...but who the hell are you and how did you know we'd be here?" The veteran cop answered, showing that he and the girl were unharmed but was curious to who the woman was and how she found them so fast.
"Who I am is not important, but for how I got here...let's just say you and I have a mutual 'friend' in common." Selene answered cryptically, revealing that she was following someone and Sakomizu immediately knew who it was she was shadowing: Blade.
"So...you're with the raccoon in the trench coat?" Sakomizu asked as he immediately knew who she meant by 'mutual friend'.
"Yes. Did you see which direction he went?" She answered while already suspecting where the Raccoon Daywalker went: chasing after the male vampire she saw with Frost back at the nightclub/feeding ground.
"He chased after the sick little asshole who was drinking blood out of that machine." He answered, while pointing to the tunnel ahead of them and informing the Death Dealer that Blade went after Tanaka.
"Alright, let's get the women out of these things and to safety." The female vampire answered as her hunch was correct and decided to double back to help the raccoon/vampire hybrid after helping the human detective release the women from their containment pods. After she and the human detective had freed all the women, he led them back to the surface while Selene ran down the tunnel to help Blade defeat Tanaka.
Meanwhile withBlade
The Daywalker had chased after Tanaka and their little game of cat and mouse ended rather quickly, as the tunnel was a dead end and flooded by runoff from numerous storms.
"Quick question: have you ever battled a vampire species known as a Water Tiger? No? Well, you're in for quite a treat. You'll never forget this moment as long as you live...which won't be very long!" Tanaka casually stated, asking the raccoon-vampire hybrid if he had ever faced a vampire known as a Water Tiger and an evil smile crept onto his as he removed his glasses and started to transform into a humanoid tiger like creature.
The newly transformed vampire had tucked himself into a living buzzsaw and rolled towards the Daywalker with insane speed!.Blade had luckily jumped out of the way to evade the attack and countered by throwing two glaives as he turned around...but they bounced off the rolling Water Tiger who tackled and dragged him into the deep sewer water! Once they were underwater, Tanaka had proceeded to land two claw swipes across his chest and a powerful kick to the raccoon-vampire's gut and sadistically smiled as he had the advantage as long as the two of them were in the water.
"There's a reason why we're called Water Tigers: you're out of your league Daywalker. You can't fight in any body of water unless you suddenly sprout gills!" Tanaka smugly stated and laughed as he had the home advantage over Blade since he wasn't used to fighting opponents that could breathe and fight in water.
As the Water Tiger had attempted to push him further deeper into the flooded train tunnel, Blade had kicked him away and swam to an old and wrecked train rail that was somehow separated from the rest of the rail tracks. But before he could climb and pull himself out of the water, Tanaka had bit down onto his leg and attempted to drag him back down! The Daywalker had cried out in pain and glared angrily, as he had just about enough of being fish food for the Water Tiger but before he could counter...multiple gunshots roared out and two familiar Beretta 92FS handguns were pointed directly at the water! Tanaka gasped as he was forced to release his hold of the raccoon-vampire hybrid's leg and glared upward at whoever fired at him!
Blade was panting heavily and glanced up to see the person who had come to his aid was none other than Selene as she withdrew her handguns back into their holsters! "It's you again." The Daywalker stated softly as she offered a hand to help him out of the water.
"Need some help or do you want to wait for Tiger-Boy to drag you back down there?" The Death Dealer asked with a small smirk, demanding to know if he wanted help out of the water or simply preferred being Tanaka's play toy. He simply smiled as he accepted her hand and she pulled him up onto the old rusted and stranded piece of railing.
"Thanks. You may want to take a step back...he's all mine." Blade simply stated, thanking the female vampire for helping him out of the water and she nodded in return, showing she understood that he wanted the pleasure of repaying Tanaka for their 'fun time' from before and assisting Frost with requiring a sample of his blood.
Selene did as the Daywalker asked of her, as she leaped off the railing, landed near the tunnel and watched carefully as Blade had closed his eyes and channeled spiritual energy through his sword for the Residual Moon Technique. The Death Dealer stared amazed by how well trained and disciplined the raccoon-vampire hybrid was with his katana, as his movement and technique was truly superb. She spotted Tanaka leaping out of the water behind him and before she could even warn him, the Water Tiger had impaled his claws right through his chest...or so he thought as it was really an afterimage. Tanaka could only widen his feline eyes in shock, before screaming as felt a sharp blade cut through him lengthwise from behind and was engulfed in flames as he fell and sank into the water! Blade had landed safely on the railing and placed his katana into the sheath behind his back.
"Call me a spoiled sport, but I'm not going down alone! If I die...everybody dies!" Tanaka stated angrily as he activated the self-destruct function to the device used to extract the women's blood before being completely ashed!
After giving off three rapid beeps, the device exploded which caused the abandoned subway station and tunnels to cave in! The women Sakomizu was escorting to the surface screamed and cried out in horror as they felt the stairway shake from the explosion but thankfully, they made it out in one piece while the human cop glanced back towards the subway station worried for Blade and Selene. The two of them had glanced back toward the tunnel they came through caving in from the explosion and ceiling started to fragment and break loose as well!
"There's no way out of here except through that passageway!" The female vampire stated, as she immediately ran towards the water, dived in and swam through the still opened waterway.
"Yes, I know. I'll see you when I see you again." The raccoon-vampire sarcastically stated as he dove into the water first.
"Damn right, you will!" Selene said before the Death Dealer and they both swam to safety.
The next day
The sun had shined brightly as three-four ambulances and multiple police cruisers were parked outside the entrance to the old subway station. Paramedics and EMT's had driven the missing women straight to the local hospitals for immediate treatment. Sakomizu had walked up to Sara and handed the young lady her birthday photo and she smiled softly as she held it in her hands.
"That's a rather nice picture. You should send it your family, let your parents and everyone else know you're alright." The veteran cop stated with a genuine warm smile, as he was glad that he found and rescued all the missing women, even though everything he experienced last night was truly unexpected and hard to comprehend.
"How can I ever thank you?" Sara asked softly at the detective, whom was injured from the ceiling caving in, as a small fragment of ceiling fell onto his forehead and had bandages wrapped around to heal up the injury.
"Hell...I was in the same boat you were. That woman and the raccoon in the trench coat...they're the ones we should thank. Though, I highly doubt we'll ever see them again." He answered truthfully with a soft smile, stating the ones they should thank were Blade and Selene as they made it possible for them to escape and even though they didn't make it out of the tunnel before it exploded...the human detective had a gut feeling they made it out alive.
After the paramedic loaded Sara onto the ambulance and drove away, Ikeda ran up to his older partner and was relieved to see him still alive after last night. "Hey partner, you alright? Sorry about last night." The rookie cop stated while apologizing for not taking the shot when he should've but chickened out and went for the radio instead.
"Don't worry about it. Just think, if you had taken the shot...I would've missed out on all the fun." Sakomizu stated, informing his rookie partner that he wasn't pissed at him for not shooting at Blade...as he rather enjoyed working with the Daywalker and had the pleasure of beating their crooked 'boss' and killing those vampire cats with silver bullets.
"A wild night, huh?" Ikeda asked jokingly and the two of them shared a good laugh at his choice of words. "So...you'll forget all about the vampire angle...right, partner?" The inexperienced cop stated suddenly and the older detective stared confused at what his partner had just said. "You found the women...but none of the rest ever happened. I can tell my superiors that you're on board. Your daughter, you missed her birthday...right? It would be a complete shame if it were her last one...don't you think?" He continued, giving Sakomizu an ultimatum...deny everything he witnessed last night about vampires existing and their operations in Osaka or they would harm his daughter and the veteran cop had pulled the collar of Ikeda's shirt down...revealing that he was a secret agent of Existence as well by the tattoo on his neck! "It's over, partner. It never happened." The rookie 'cop' stated darkly, telling the older cop to forget everything he experienced last night.
"Oh yeah...it happened." The veteran detective answered bluntly, which left Ikeda confused by his answer...and he landed a swift powerful elbow to the younger man's face, which knocked him out cold!
"That happened too! It's ain't over, kid. It's only just beginning...and don't call me 'partner' ever again." He added after knocking the young 'cop' unconscious and stating they were no longer partners due to him being a disgrace to the force before walking towards his police cruiser. "Let me see...if I hurry, I might just have enough time to buy my little girl that bike she always wanted and make it home before she finishes breakfast." Sakomizu stated as he stepped into the car and noticed a folded up piece of paper that was placed on the driver's seat. He unfolded the paper and went over its contents.
"Detective, you don't have to worry about mine and the raccoon's safety. We both made it out of the subway tunnel through a waterway and are alright. Hopefully, you'll see us again one day if the vampires ever resurface in Osaka. Blade and I look forward to that day. ~ Selene" He mentally stated as he read the note and smiled, as his hunch was correct and more importantly...he now knew their names.
'So...the raccoon's name is Blade, huh? Thank you Blade, I hope to see you and Selene again one day as well.' The veteran detective mentally stated, thanking both the Daywalker and Death Dealer in helping him find and rescuing the women Existence kidnapped so they could feed and sell their blood. He inserted the key and drove off to buy his daughter her birthday present.
A few days later in Kobe, Japan at midnight
Blade had walked through a fog filled alley near Kobe Port and stopped as he came upon a man and his pet dog waiting for him, while the dog growled angrily to protect his owner.
"Where's Deacon Frost?" He asked plain and simple, hoping to know where the monster who took everything from him currently was.
"He's in the Philippines." The man answered with a smile...and the hammer of a gun could be heard clicking.