It took a while for Tekeshi's head to clear completely. A banshee shouldn't have been able to harm him, if he was still a vampire. He just had to face the fact that he was no longer a true vampire, and was closer to being a human. It was strange, but it was a simple fact now.
When he could function he stood and looked at the room. The doors were open, and the remains of the golem were still there. There wasn't any signs of life that he could feel, at least not any yokai life. There was a chance that there might have been humans there. Military or police, food stocks, or experiments, but as far as he knew Tekeshi couldn't feel humans like he could his own.
"Dammit. Dammit. GOD DAMN IT ALL," he reached down and grabbed his dropped hammer and threw it through the solid steel wall.
To say he was angry that he had lost a chance at killing that slut, was putting it lightly. There was no one he hated as much as her. Both for shooting his mother, even if that ended up being very minor, and almost killing Utsuki. For giving him a reason to have to leave her behind
He walked through the formerly closed maglock doors. This must have been the actual research level, given the number of offices and filing cabinets. He had to wonder what they were researching given the security he was seeing. Sadly it looked like most of it had been moved while he was disabled.
There were remains of some experiments, but nothing that would give him enough to figure it out. It was something intensive though. Something that bothered him greatly. He didn't have as great of knowledge as his parents regarding the goals of the organization, but he knew enough to know they didn't do anything without a modicum of a reward at the end of the tunnel.
He eventually came to the area where the actual experiments were done. He looked through the observation windows at the scenes. Most of it looked like it was mechanical experiments, many resembling the golem he had fought. Though it looked like there was an organic component to some of them. The sights were bad enough to start his stomach rolling.
While there were human remains, there were also the remains of yokai. These people were getting sicker and sicker as time went on. To use your own, was beyond barbaric.
He looked through one window, and he saw the desiccated corpse of a vampire. He stopped. Something new seemed to rise in him. Utter hatred and indignation. He couldn't understand it, but he knew it was due to him now being the source of vampiric power. This was one of his people, and they violated the man. Used him as a simple component.
He pushed through the thick poly-carbonate that made up the window. Something that was strong enough to possibly resist a twenty millimeter round. It was like it really didn't exist to him. He then knelt next to the corpse. They had been dead for a long time, but they must have kept the humidity so low, that they had begun to mummify.
"I don't know who you were, but you didn't deserve this. Even if you were one of their soldiers, or their leaders, nobody deserves this. I can't make a promise of vengeance, but I can promise I will take every one of their lives that I can. They will feel yours, and the pain of everyone they have harmed," anger flared as he broke the corpse free of the machines it had been connected to.
He found a sheet and covered the body. Tekeshi closed his eyes and took deep breath. The battle was supposed to be the end of this kind of pain, and senseless death. Yet here was the evidence of it still being there.
Returning to the hallway he continued around. So many bodies, many that showed they were freshly killed. He wanted them dead, every one of them. Then he found her.
He was a little surprised, given that he had expected her to have thrown herself in front of a train, or put a bullet in her own head. He wasn't really sure what he was going to do about her, but he probably needed to do something.
"Hello, Akui," he said into the intercom.
The woman looked up at him, seemingly out of her mind, but her words showed how much of her was left, "You? Great, first they lock me up in this hellhole, and now you show up. What sin did I commit?"
"Well, you raped your underage cousin multiple times, and tortured him. You shot me in the head with no provocation. You also abducted your adult cousin's daughter, and mentioned killing her. I think you also mentioned raping yokai you killed, or engaging in necrophilia with their corpses," Tekeshi listed off what he knew of.
"I wasn't actually asking asshole. I can't even die now for some reason, so I guess you get to torture me as much as you want. Can't you at least come in here and bang me stupid so I can get some sleep," she rolled her eyes in anger.
Tekeshi looked at the woman closer. It was strange, the first he had ever seen her face she had looked like an older Utsuki. She had been starved and beaten in her captivity, that much was obvious, and it had left its mark. Her face was somewhat slack, and what had been very toned muscle was now almost skeletal limbs. Her hair was patchy, and dull.
"What happened to you? How, and why, did they even capture you," Tekeshi asked.
She didn't answer. She just seemed to draw herself up, almost like she was afraid of the answer. It surprised the man that she had been so aggressive and evil, and now she was this.
"Do you know what all she did to me? Does she even," were the eventual words that came from her mouth.
Tekeshi looked over at the door. He didn't know why he was about to do this, but she didn't pose a threat to him now. So, why not?
He entered the room and sat next to her, "Maybe not. 'Suki doesn't really understand the power she held then, and I don't know how it was effected."
Akui looked over, "Did something happen to the bitch?"
"Do you actually care," he asked.
"Maybe not personally, but she is still family. Even if I planned to kill her, we are of the same blood," it was apparent the woman had time to think about her past.
"There was a major battle against these people. Close to the end of it, she was shot and nearly died. I, turned her into a vampire to save her. I didn't have any other options."
Akui looked down, "Oh, I... I wish I could apologize to her."
"So you could try to convince her to remove whatever she did so you can get off again," Tekeshi asked cautiously.
"I don't care about sex anymore. That part of it, it had an effect. I don't know if that was the source of what made me such a twisted piece of shit, but that whole extreme orgasm thing, I guess it fixed whatever was wrong with me there. But, I think she made me immortal somehow, unintentionally I think. She probably hoped that I would kill myself," the woman said, sounding really tired.
"Yeah, she thought you would. I, can't believe I am thinking this, given what you were like before, but you actually have changed," he said.
"I'm a thirty two year old woman stuck in a box. I haven't eaten anything in three months, I was beaten anytime I tried to exercise. I can't even feel sexual pleasure, and was used as rapebait most of that time. I look like this, but my mind, I understand and have to deal with everything," she started crying.
Tekeshi was a little surprised when she suddenly wrapped her arms around him and started sobbing into his shirt. He really didn't know what to do in the moment. His Aunt Ruby had been in the same position for ten years, but she had been strong enough to keep herself sane, for herself and her daughter. Akui didn't have anything like that.
"I can't leave you here, but I don't know what to do with you. Let's get you out of here, and see if the mess hall has anything left, or at least find a vending machine," Tekeshi said.
"You, are going to help me," the question seemed to be in utter shock.
Tekeshi looked at her in better detail. Her "clothes" weren't hiding much, not that there was really much left to hide in her condition. He wasn't sure if she could even walk like she was. He was really going to have to help her a lot.
"Look, me and 'Suki are a thing. Even if she utterly hates you, you are her family like you said. Family isn't something that we get to choose. You changed, actually changed, to some degree of better. I love 'Suki so much, that I can put anything I have against you to the side, and help you. OK. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't even know you exist. Just don't put another slug in my head, that didn't feel good," he pulled his plate carrier and shirt off, and placed the shirt around her shoulders.
"Wow, I guess I didn't really realize how big you were. So, she is, ok," Akui drew the shirt around her a little tighter.
"Yeah, I guess. I haven't seen her in about seven or eight months now. At least not awake. I felt her wake up, and I can still feel her. Makes it hard to keep this up," he said as he picked her up.
She felt concerningly light. Even his Aunt had more weight to her, though Akui had said that she hadn't eaten anything in three months. He also noticed that she didn't have the embarrassed reaction that girls tended to have when he picked them up like this.
"I guess I am glad. He really is dead, isn't he," Tekeshi didn't understand her question.
He looked down at her, "Who?"
"Daddy. It's been over a year, and, I guess it really hasn't sank in. Mamoru, cut his throat. Why wasn't I killed then? Why did I have to survive to deal with this Hell," the woman descended into sobbing again.
Tekeshi took a deep breath, "As much as I love her, I have never been able to predict 'Suki. I don't know if it still exists, but I used to have a connection with her, that gave her a large amount of control over me. That was the only reason I didn't kill you that day. Right now, there isn't a point dwelling on the past. I can tell you are truly repentant for what you have done. Like I said, let's get you something to eat, and see if we can get you cleaned up."
A couple of hours later the woman was asleep in a real bed. Tekeshi watched her for a moment before he stepped out of the room. Despite his misgivings he had helped her bathe and found decent enough clothes. He really couldn't understand how he was able to do so, but it may have been the resemblance she held to Utsuki.
He walked over to look over the city of Derry. Amazingly it seemed like the human's hadn't noticed anything, which may have been for the best. It would be difficult to explain the wholesale slaughter.
"I'm proud of you," he heard his grandmother behind him.
"For what?"
"Tekeshi, part of growing up, and truly becoming an adult, is learning how to forgive. So many people forget that, and they become like Fairy Tale. It is amazing how many grown men and women, are children inside. It took me several hundred years to understand it myself. That you can do it at so young, gives me so much hope for your future," the ethereal woman said as she joined him.
"I never thought about whether I forgave her for anything or not. I don't guess I really have anything against her. Me and 'Suki are ok, so anything she did doesn't really matter. It wasn't like a bullet to the head was all that dangerous to me, at least a regular full metal jacket or hollow point. I don't know that I have ever seen anyone that, actually regretted what they were, or what they did. I don't know what I should do with her. It will take a long time for her to recover, and I don't have the time to do anything. I also can't take her with me," he continued to look over the city.
"I know you are hesistant to talk to your family. It was almost an act of God to get you to see your Aunt Yukari while you were close. However I think you should talk to your mother about this one," Akasha said.
Tekeshi looked down, "I don't know. Dad took it well enough, but I don't know how she will react."
"She will be happy to hear her baby's voice. I know her far better than you, I was a part of her for so long. You will make her happier, than anything else on this earth could. I know that she will enjoy giving you advice. Plus, I would want the same," Akasha gave a sad smile.
Tekeshi was silent for a few moments. It was getting harder and harder to even pursue this one last objective without running home. He missed everyone, and he really wanted to see them. He just didn't want to waste this chance.
He walked into the room that he had placed Akui in. The woman was still asleep, and seemed much calmer than she had earlier. He looked at her face, and he started to see Utsuki again. It was amazing what a person feeling safe could do for them. He pulled his phone out of a pouch on his plate carrier and then stepped back out.
Moka rolled over in bed. She noticed that the other two occupants were missing, which wasn't a concern. They were adults, and were capable of taking care of themselves. Moka however, was not as formidable as usual. While she loved children, and was excited to have her second child, pregnancy and her were not copacetic.
Listening she heard some noises from the living room of the suite. It took her a moment to realize that they were of a very intimate nature. Oh well, she didn't care that much at the moment. Like with Tekeshi, her sex drive was extremely damped in the early days of pregnancy, and was mostly likely going to explode in another month or two. So him having Mizore to turn to, made her feel better that he was being taken care of.
She started to go back to sleep, but her phone lit up on the nightstand. She started to ignore it, but something in the back of her mind told her to pick it up. When she did, she sat straight up.
"Tekeshi," she said as she answered it.
"Yeah Mom, it's me," was the reply.
"You don't know how great it is to hear your voice. What's going on, is everything alright? Are you coming home," she quickly asked.
"I'm not coming home yet. I was almost there, but the problems with what I am now threw a wrench in that. I do have a problem though. An, interesting problem."
"Is there any way I can help," Moka didn't care what it would take.
"Maybe so. Do you remember me telling you about 'Suki's cousin when we returned after her rescue? Well, I just found her," Tekeshi said.
Moka had to think back, "The one that abused 'Suki's child uncle? That shot you in the head? That nearly killed you both with a car? That cousin?"
"Yeah. What 'Suki did to her, it did what most prison systems wished they could do. I haven't been able to get her to tell me how they came to have her imprisoned in an experiment pod in Northern Ireland, but here she is. She isn't in really good condition. Apparently, when 'Suki did the whole extreme orgasm thing, she accidentally made her immortal. She literally hadn't eaten anything in three months. Not avoiding how Fairy Tale often treats female captives," Tekeshi didn't have to expound on that last part;
"I see," Moka replied, understanding what he meant.
"I know that she won't have anyone in her corner right off, but I want to help her, but I don't know how. I can't take her with me, not chasing down what I am. I also can't stay in one place, or leave her alone in the condition she is in. I don't think that leaving her in human custody is an option either, not given what 'Suki did to her. I don't know what to do," the uncertainty in his voice was strange to the woman.
Moka had to think. She didn't know the woman, and she didn't have a good impression of her. She had shot her son in the head, so that was a big detractor from her wanting to help. Yet, Tekeshi wasn't wrong very often when it came to judging a person for who they were. If he was convinced that she changed, considering that he at one point was going to kill her...
"Do you think that 'Suki would hate her enough to kill her if she was brought here?"
Tekeshi didn't answer for a moment, "I don't know. I don't know what 'Suki is like right now. How her personality has changed becoming a shinso. I might be more worried about Deesseedra trying to harm her, but I just don't know."
Moka almost corrected him on Karasu's name, and then remembered she had changed it after he left so it would be less confusing if she left it alone, "I think that she might be safe enough. How is she holding up, with the..."
"Being raped repeatably. Not great. She was a spoiled child before that day. She was never going to be as strong as Aunt Ruby mentally, and I don't thing that she really would have come to terms with it like her. She has broken down a few times, completely sobbing for five or ten minutes at a time. She is going to really need some help to get over it, if she ever can. With not knowing how her immortality works, or it's limits, she may have to deal with it for years, or centuries," Tekeshi wasn't a delicate person, nor did he like to dance around things more than necessary.
"Where are you." Moka asked.
"I'm holed up in an abandoned hospital that Fairy Tale had been using as a base, in Derry, Northern Ireland. I won't be here for much longer. I have to keep moving, before it gets too hard to chase down the people who have what I am looking for," he said.
"Don't leave until I get there. I am going to come get her. I also want to see you, if only for a moment. Please, don't leave before I can," Moka pleaded.
The line was silent for about five minutes, and Moka was almost afraid that she had dropped the call, "Ok, Mom. I, will stay long enough to see you. And Mom."
"Yes, Tekeshi?"
"I love you."
