Dragon Knights Fan Fiction ❯ My Immortal ❯ Justice ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: Hah! Not only do I claim rights to the Evil Christmas Puff - but also to vampire!Kharl! Heh, I wonder if I could actually get away with that...

AN: (shiver) Just remembering is traumatizing. You have no idea how long it took me to write this chapter. First I was stuck, really badly, and stopped writing for like a year... and then BulmaWannabe came along and gave me a really wonderful idea, but it meant I had to change this entire arc of the story... so I was stuck again... (nervous grin) But in any case, thank you, BulmaWannabe! :) And as for the rest of you, yes, blame her, I wasn't going to be nearly so evil... cackle...

Chizz-muffinChik: Hee, I'm glad you like that their relationship is finally moving along. Though I'm afraid it won't get much further for a while... not until... (coughchaptertwelveIsaidnothingcough)... And believe you me, Kharl's problem was not in any way obvious in the last chapter. As evidenced by how nobody was able to guess right ;) I think I might not have even exactly had it figured out when I wrote that part, geez... Things should become clear in this chapter, or at least in the next one.

Hotaru007: XD No, he's not waiting for permission, nor is he BDSM... (snigger) well, his general attitude may be rather masochistic... I'm thinking this chapter should pretty much clear it up. If not this one, then the next one for sure. I'm glad you're enjoying :)

Ronin-N-Gang: (gasp) Y'know, Kharl and Rath are my top two... but I don't know if I've ever actually thought about who my third favorite character is -.-;; It could by 'Fakcy. I really like the other Knights as well, though... “Love is love no matter what gender, race, religion or, in this case, species.” And I love people like you... though, heh, even though most normal, healthy people seem to think this way, it can still be pretty scary when you're in a situation like that... (sigh) Sadly, I don't foresee Rath and Kharl's relationship taking a more physical turn in the manga, which of course is why I had to write this fic... if only I could draw, I could make some killer doujinshi ;) Hee hee, I'm afraid to say that none of your guesses were on the mark, but I don't hold it against you at all, especially considering that no one else got it right either ;) Though one of the things you said will happen eventually... (sweats)... but you didn't hear that from me! Things should become clearer this chapter :)

Aobikari: Thanks for the support, and for reviewing both chapters!

Turtle Kid: (grin) You haven't made an idiot of yourself at all; actually, I think you were probably closest to the truth, when you thought that maybe he was worried about Rath being mortal. I wouldn't say that's exactly the main thing on his mind, but it's part of it. Things should become clear in this chapter or the next. Welcome to the madness, by the way ;)

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Chapter Six: Justice

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It had been just before sunset when he'd told him, and at the time he had just been happy that the older man was talking to him at all. Although, now...

Wednesday evening, five-thirty. Rath was hunched over his textbooks in an attitude of deep studiousness, but really he was staring at the clock out of the corner of his eye. Kharl always left at five-thirty, and Rath used to think it was so he could get safely home before dark. It was something like that, at any rate. The clock showed five-thirty-five before Kharl stood, though, and the uncharacteristic hesitation was not lost on the young boy.

With an odd, light feeling in his stomach, Rath wondered if he would kiss him good-bye. He wondered if he wantedhim to kiss him good-bye, especially considering the deafening and still-unbroken silence the last kiss had led to.

Kharl, being Kharl, had not seemed to have considered the idea one way or the other.

“Rath...” He set about gathering his things as an excuse not to look at his so-called pupil, but Rath still caught the oddly pensive expression that crossed his face. He cleared his throat, and started again. “Rath. Have you ever wondered how a vampire dies?”

After a moment, Rath shook his head. `Random much?' Kharl continued, looking almost as if he was talking more to himself. “We're not nearly as easy to kill as the legends claim, you know. We're harmless during the day, true, but it won't kill us. Eating garlic when we're Changed would be like you eating plastic, but it's no worse than anything else. And as for the cross...” He chuckled softly. “We've been around since before such a thing existed, after all. So I guess it's rather anti-climatic that the legends got one thing right - that whole business of the stake through the heart.” He gave Rath a meaningful look that the boy was almost too startled to catch. “Vampires heal very quickly, you know, since blood is such a precious - irreplaceable, you might say - commodity to us. If you shoot a vampire through the heart with a gun, the wound will heal before it has time to affect him. But flesh can't heal around a stake, and so the blood will stop circulating. If the stake is ever removed, then we will reawaken, just as the legends say, but in the meantime...”

And then, while Rath was still gaping stupidly, Kharl smiled suddenly and brilliantly. “But forgive me for boring you with such trivialities. I really should be heading home...”

“Why did you tell me?” Rath demanded. “Why would you want anyone to know...?”

Kharl seemed not to hear him. He merely leaned forward, with a wisp of a smile still on his lips, and kissed the boy on the cheek - and Rath forgot everything else in the face of the desire to turn his head, just a little bit... But then he was gone, and out the door, leaving nothing behind but a faint smell like a crisp winter night.

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Changing is one of the most painful things a vampire can experience, and it happens every night. Wings the color of the most highly prized ebony ripping through the bones and sinew and skin of your back is the least of one's concerns; much worse is the sensation of all the blood in one's body draining out into nothingness and leaving one with a most terrible craving... Kharl lay on his couch for some time afterward, reaching a shaky hand out every once in a while for a glass that might have held wine, and considered the unsettling possibilities of the night.

Just how many mortals had he killed lately? He wasn't quite sure. Twenty-something... Kharl sighed softly to himself. Generally accepted leader or no, he was amazed that the Council hadn't arrested him when they'd had the chance, at the last meeting. But even after spinning them up even more than he'd meant to, it appeared that they were true bureaucrats to the core - in other words, they'd had to take their time and discuss everything, even when there wasn't really a lot to discuss, as much as Kharl hated to admit it. Kharl took another draught of the red liquid in an absent-minded way. And of course he would never admit it when he inevitably went on trial...

Then, as if summoned, just as Kharl was beginning to feel recovered enough to seriously contemplate what to do with what was possibly one of his last nights as a free man for a while, he was quiet thoroughly scared out of his wits by a business-like rap on his door. He went to it hurriedly, peered through the peephole, and sighed again... and then put on another of his cheery smiles, and opened the door wide.

“Why, Tetheus!” he exclaimed. “What on earth could you want, this early in the evening? And don't you know it's dangerous to come to people's front doors, dear friend? Well, you'd better come in - have something to drink, and -”

Tetheus glared flatly at him. “I don't have time for that, and neither do you. I'm here as a Council member only...” Kharl thought he saw Tetheus's eyes flicker for just a moment, which was about as close as he normally ever came to expressing discomfort. “...and I have strict orders to take you into custody to await an audience before your peers.”

Kharl rolled his eyes. “That's just stuffy language for taking me to court, you know,” he scolded. “It sounds rather silly coming from you, doesn't it?”

Tetheus's scowl was beginning to develop something of an edge. “I hope you adopt a more restrained attitude when you appear before the Council,” he nearly snapped. “I doubt the majority is going to be very sympathetic as it is.”

From inside the cavernous entrance of the one house on the block that already had all its lights off at six-thirty, Kharl's eyes glinted. “Oh, I'm sure some won't be,” he said softly. “Everyone agrees that I am the unofficial leader of our society, and in matters before the Council, my word is final. If I were gone...” He eyed Tetheus appraisingly. “But what about you, eh? Are you... `sympathetic'?”

“I merely want to see justice served,” he said emotionlessly... but he bowed his head slightly as he spoke. Kharl smiled again.

“So... you're really going to arrest me, even so?” he asked, tugging at the edge of the other man's collar mock-fretfully. “What if I didn't cooperate? Old friend?”

“Don't start,” Tetheus said, gritting his teeth and grounding out the syllables so threateningly that Kharl just had to snicker.

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It had been just before sunset when he'd told him, and at the time he had just been happy that the older man was talking to him at all. But now...

All through school on Thursday, Rath once again failed to notice the whispering and pointing. He was too full of a renewed determination to figure out what Kharl's problem was, once and for all. `I will not get sidetracked, or embarrassed, or...' By the time he was in the limo, he was planning out the first thing he'd say, and what Kharl would probably say back - even though there was no way he could possibly predict that really - and what he would say then...

Once he got home, Rath waited practically on the edge of his seat, totally unable to concentrate on any homework. He couldn't understand why he felt so gratingly anxious to talk to him, and he felt a little absurd, but then... then the time that he normally arrived finally came... and went...

And when he went to bed that night, a million years later, he tried not to worry about it. He was sure that his utter inability to sleep was completely unrelated.

And when he went to school on Friday, he tried to keep his mind off it. Specifically, he tried not to wonder why Kharl still hadn't bothered to call and explain himself.

And when he called the cell phone number that was the only means of contact Kharl had given his family, and didn't get an answer, he had had to take a few deep breaths but he'd managed to disregard it. He probably just had his phone turned off.

And when Rune and Thatz asked him what was wrong on Monday, he didn't tell them about it. He was almost certainly getting worked up over nothing.

But when the sun set on Tuesday and his parents started to `talk', he began to wonder...

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AN: Oh no, it's short again! And I was doing so well, too... (nervous grin) But I promise the next one will be much more action-packed :) I mean, when you think about it, how could it not be? Eh, and yeah, that could be taken a couple different ways... But not like that, get yer mind outta da gutter! Unfortunately. Ah well... Also, guess who finally gets a major part! And you thought he was just going to stay a background character... No, really, guess! Cackle.