Chapter 57: I'm a fan

There had been no indication of danger. No person calling them out, no sight of anyone bearing ill intentions. Maybe it was the absence of all these things that froze Shizuo on the spot for a few seconds as Izaya hissed and rushed to the ground.

Izaya was shot-

Was shot?

There was blood-

His blood?

A soft groan followed from below and as if having started a movie that had been on pause Shizuo unfroze from his stupor-

"Izaya!" Knees rushing into the ground his palms raced down Izaya's body at high speed.

The blood- it stemmed from a wound on his upper leg. Horror defined Shizuo's expression as he remembered the last time Izaya had been shot. Dozens of Shinra's words repeated themselves in his mind in the form of a jumbled mess as he tried to think clear.

"I'm okay-" Izaya suddenly hissed, and Shizuo's gaze flickered up from the wound.

"What?" But Izaya's eyes weren't focused on Shizuo, they looked at the road behind Shizuo's back.

And Shizuo scolded himself for being so goddamn stupid. He had only seen the wound, only thought of treating it. But the person that had caused it was still running around, wasn't he?

Flipping around Shizuo moved in front of Izaya- as protection. Because a gun usually owned more than just one single bullet.

Rain splattered the ground in all areas and for a second Shizuo was confused because he saw no danger.

A car was passing by, another car parking ahead on the opposite side of the street.

There was no maniac to be seen, no police, no person to shoot-

It took a full minute until he noticed there was a man stirring at the front seat of his car. Wearing a suit, blond hair and blue eyes he seemed extremely calm and composed. Had it not been for the gun in his hand Shizuo would have never made him out as the culprit.

"Awfully relaxed, aren't you?" the stranger spoke softly, as if wishing someone a good day while he was passing through as he slammed the door shut. The slightest hint of a smile grazed his cheeks as he played around with his weapon. "I hope you enjoyed your short time in freedom."

"Vincent-" Izaya hissed the name between tight lips and Shizuo's head turned back to the raven. He had been shot- and Izaya was grasping his leg to the point it turned his knuckles white.

But right now, maybe because Izaya was talking and because the danger was still far from dissipating, Shizuo suddenly felt a weird fake calmth that raged down his veins.

The wound. He had looked at it earlier, but not really seen it- but right now he did. It was just a graze.

The bullet had entered the outside of Izaya's upper thigh roughly two centimeters below. Shizuo was sure it hurt like a bitch, and that definitely needed to be treated, but it was not immediately life threatening.

Not yet.

Adjusting his position he extended his arm in a way that blocked all vision on Izaya as he glared at the bastard.

"Who is he?" Shizuo asked quietly without turning and Izaya frowned.

"The officer-", he hesitated, "The one who gave me the drug."

"Correct!" Vincent cheered, almost as if having given the correct answer to a question on a game show. It was unsettling, weird and unfitting for the situation in a way that made Shizuo's skin crawl.

This guy was nuts.

And that fact alone worsened the danger that radiated from that gun.

Circling to the back of his car as if he didn't have a single care in the world Vincent whistled a soft melody before opening the trunk.

Relaxed and chill, he suddenly pulled out the corpse of a woman. Torn from her midsection down he spilled quite a few organs in his attempt.

Blood splattered the ground as well as Vincent himself, but none of that seemed to even catch his attention as he threw the woman to the side like a used tissue on the way.

"What are you-" Izaya whispered horrified and Shizuo felt his own stomach do a pretty backflip at the side.

A quick smile flashed towards the couple before Vincent shrugged, "You aren't the only incubus here," he suddenly announced, and Izaya froze. "But sadly, you are an inferior version."

An incubus.

He was one-

That's why he had been so dead sure about Izaya being one. Was there a way for one incubus to recognize another? Did only Vincent know of it-

If he was an incubus, then what about his genes? What kind was he? Did he have an ability?

Pointing towards the dead corpse on the ground Vincent spoke again and interrupted the massive trail of speculations. "I'm going to get you locked up tight and nice, for the violation and murder of this poor woman of course."

Feeling his guts do a skydive Izaya tried to not look at the woman in question as the way too vivid images of this man raping and tearing his victim apart afterwards were shown to his mind with mind blowing creativity.

And yet Izaya was still confused. Vincent's actions made no sense-

"Wait, why are you doing this? Shouldn't you try to survive?" he started slowly.

After all, if Vincent was an incubus there were only two fates that waited for him. One being that he suffered the same fate as Izaya, fighting his very own race against time threatening to make him disappear. Or the second kind that left his life vastly unaffected just like Shizuo. Neither of those called for the necessity of killing or locking other incubi up-

Trailing to the front of the car, Vincent pulled a tissue from his suit's pocket before mindlessly wiping some of the woman's blood that had splattered onto his wrist.

"I'm not really a fan of only trying to survive, you see. Incubi have been treated like inconvenient pests for too long. It is high time the wheel is turned."

Shizuo frowned, "What wheel?" He couldn't follow half of what this bastard was going on about, but he knew how to recognize bullshit based on thwarted ideologies when he heard them.

And Vincent laughed.

But the question was nothing but a distraction. Shizuo couldn't care less about the bastards reasoning, about his sick goals and manic intentions- but he cared about Izaya.

And there was no saying what this bastard was going to do, and so Shizuo's palm searched for Izaya's wrist. He found it behind his back, and squeezed in softly.

The message was clear, probably to only the two of them at that exact situation, but it was.

This guy- they needed to knock him out.

And Izaya just happened to have the right ability to do that. Their eyes didn't meet, no glance was cast, no words spoken and Shizuo moved.

He moved with trust.

The goal was simple.

Izaya just needed to stop time for a few seconds. Five would probably be enough already as crossing a street was not a great feat asking for spades of time. Shizuo just needed to tear that gun from the bastard's wrist and bash his face in.

And Izaya did as told.

The moment Shizuo moved he focused on the road, focused on the falling rain-

It was easy. Having practiced on his eraser there was no easier feat to be accomplished than stopping time by hindering an object's fall.

And so he gazed at the drops.

One circled his attention and-

Stop.

Izaya ordered the rain just as he had with everything else so far.

It was easy it was straightforward-

And yet the drop defied his command as it fell faster than the shot that suddenly rang through the air.

Blood splattered the ground and parts of Izaya's face as a bullet raced through Shizuo's shoulder and embedded itself into the wall.

"Shizuo!" Izaya called, forced himself to his feet despite the pain screaming in his leg. Teeth were grit and lips bit as his hands circled the blond's arm.

A low groan followed. Shizuo's body had come to an immediate halt. Glare sitting deep on his expression he stared at Vincent.

The bastard was still aiming at him with his gun ready.

"Izaya-" Shizuo hissed between harsh intakes of breath and shoved the raven behind his back.

This wasn't the time to fret over an injury.

Barrel aimed at the two of them Vincent laughed a laugh only possibly owned by a maniac. The weapon was retracted and spinning in his palm as his shoulders shook.

"Ah. Too bad. These bullets are specifically made to suppress abilities caused by intercourse. Not too long, rest assured, but long enough," he filled the two in and Izaya's mind froze.

That's why he couldn't stop the rain- that's why he shot him out of the blue earlier-

It had been a precaution-

Eyes narrowing to slits he seethed. "You damn bastard-"

Quicker than expected Izaya found the barrel of the gun aimed towards him once more and Vincent chuckled, "Careful, I still have some bullets left, you know."

Frustration, anger and rush of adrenaline filled Izaya's veins as he clicked his tongue.

"I don't get it, why are you doing this? If you wanted to lock me up then why didn't you just leave me at the cell? Why release me in the first place?"

It made no sense!

If Vincent had been aware of his genes, of Izaya being an incubus, then why the hell had he let him go? Why did he not kill him on the spot if that was his goal?

A soft hum followed and with a quick flick of his wrist Vincent glanced at a watch he was wearing.

Tilting his head as if counting the minutes to a certain event, he shrugged.

"It appears we have more time than I initially thought," he suddenly announced, and the grin on his face only increased in its eeriness. "Very well. A well served explanation is probably the best I can pay you in exchange for your genes."

Izaya frowned, "Genes?"

Vincent grinned as he leant his back against the carframe. "Siblings share the same abilities," he announced, and Izaya froze on the spot. "Judging from your expression I take it you didn't know."

Izaya's expression grew sour. He had been looking into incubi for most of his life. There was barely anything to be found out. And his goddamned father had never bothered with their genes or research either.

"I have been searching for power that's actually useful. Most incubi develop mediocre bullshit. Weak. Slow. Frail," Vincent continued. A tired expression marked his face as he repeated what had probably been years of failure. But then his expression lit up and his features turned to one of joy. "Not you. Time stopping is quite the overpowered feat," and Izaya froze.

"How do you-"

"You thought I gave you my blood to blow your cover, didn't you?" Vincent suddenly asked, and it took Izaya second to draw the connection he insinuated.

His blood.

Izaya couldn't remember a single instance where he saw Vincent bleeding. So instead he backtrailed all actions possibly connected to the bastard, and within half a second Izaya arrived at a single nauseating conclusion.

"Your-" he mumbled, but his expression already gave away that Izaya had figured out what Vincent was talking about.

Laughter followed from the bastard as he nodded.

"Ah, yeah, it was no drug. I'm not stupid enough to give you anything detectable by human science," Vincent announced, revealing Izaya's thoughts as correct.

The drug he had been given inside his cell, it had been a bit of Vincent's blood diluted in water- Just the idea made Izaya want to throw up on the spot but he suppressed the need as Vincent continued.

"You see, I own an ability myself," he smiled, "Take a little bit of my blood and your body goes into withdrawal mode. You won't disappear, don't worry, but your body thinks you might, and sends you into a frantic search for sex." As if to present a visual Vincent grazed the side of his wrist with a key from his pocket.

A droplet of blood collected on the surface and he smiled at it in a loving fashion before his eyes darted back to this prey. "A bit more than that and well, you will temporarily lose your powers as a natural response to conserve energy. The first couple minutes will act like a state of shock to your whole body, until your survival instincts slowly kick into gear."

Shizuo frowned at that- the explanation was simple enough for him to follow and his eyes trailed to the freshly caused wound on his shoulder by one of Vincent's blood infested bullets.

Vincent seemed to follow his trail of thoughts as he laughed.

"This only affects true blood incubi like Izaya is, you my friend will suffer from blood loss only if I were to shoot you with this." The rain falling served like a soothing blanket slowly freezing them to the bones. It only added to the sense of loss and frustration that started to gnaw at Izaya.

"I hate to say it but you missed the point. I still fail to see why you know of my ability," he quickly hissed- part of him wanted to stall this situstion, the other wanted answers. Why did he have to experience this?

Why?

All life long he had put up with more bullshit than reasonable and now this? How in hell did he deserve such a fate?

A shrug followed on Vincent's part as he answered, "A side effect if you will. As long as my blood is coursing through your body in the proper amounts I know everything you are doing. From fucking to time stopping." His voice sounded as nonchalant as the reveal probably was to him as he snickered, "Put me a bit off guard I gotta say. I knew you had intercourse at the police station and yet not a single second had passed. If not for a time stop then what else could it be?" And suddenly he laughed.

Just laughed.
As if having been told the funniest joke in the universe- "And what can I say? You won!" he announced and his body stopped shaking for a second to reveal a face of satisfaction. "I am very much a fan of yours."

At that moment Izaya found himself sympathizing with idols being harassed by stalkers. He had often heard famous people complain about the torment it put them through, now having that same manic reaction brought to himself Izaya's body shook with disgust.

"And now you are going to take that ability from me…?" he asked, but to his surprise he seemed to have reached the wrong conclusion as Vincent shook his head.

"Don't be stupid, there is no way to transfer abilities," he paused and raised a finger instead with a smile, "Except for one. Down the family tree, that is."

"What?" and suddenly Izaya realized what Vincent was talking about and his blood froze. "My siblings-"

A sick grin crawled along Vincent's expression as he nodded.

"I'm sick of incubi being the outcasts of society when most of us could snap their heads if we so wished," he paused and smiled, "Once there are more of us than them we will get to decide. But don't worry, I will take good care of your nephews."

Disdain and rage radiated from Izaya's expression as he glared at the sick bastard. He wanted to abuse his sister's as breeding machines. Exploit them for their genes-

Why?

Just why did his family have to go through this? His sisters, Shizuo and now his sisters were being dragged into this bullshit as well.

"My sisters will never cooperate. You won't find them-" he announced with a determined hiss.

But to Vincent Izaya looked no more dangerous than an angry kitten tousling its fur, it seemed as his expression only mimicked amusement.

"Oh, I don't need to," he announced quickly, "I see you still failed to realize why I am keeping you locked up and not dead." Something that almost seemed like light disappointment grazed his face.

"I am a fan of forcing myself on my prey. In order for abilities to sprout there has to be a certain kind of connection. A deep relationship if you will." Realization dawned on Izaya and Vincent's expression served praise as he spoke, "Love and hate are very close to each other. If I killed you now they would just hate me, and leave the continent at some point, but if I keep you in my grasp…" Izaya swallowed-

"You see where this is heading, right?"

That meant-

Moving quickly Izaya moved in front of Shizuo.

"Izaya-" Shizuo complained with a frown, failing to realize just who was at immediate danger to lose his life.

Vincent couldn't kill Izaya for his blackmail, but he could kill Shizuo and he would, to get rid of any possible witness or unnecessary interference.

"Ah, you are smarter than I thought," Vincent announced and the barrel moved towards Izaya. "Move."

to be continued~

Oh yes, the good parts, the answers to all of your questions, everything is coming together- next chapter

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See you on Saturday~ C: C: C: