Fan Fiction ❯ Versailles ❯ Blood Found ( Chapter 2 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Daremyth 
“I’ve seen murders much more gruesome than these last two, believe me.”
CHAPTER WARNINGS: language, gore, squick, implied slash, angst, implied lemon
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Supernatural / Occult / Horror / Hentai / Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.26.2002 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 261 | Status: Work In Progress
“I’ve seen murders much more gruesome than these last two, believe me.”
CHAPTER WARNINGS: language, gore, squick, implied slash, angst, implied lemon
Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Supernatural / Occult / Horror / Hentai / Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 11.26.2002 | Pages: 5 | Words: 4.2K | Visits: 261 | Status: Work In Progress
<html>
Title: Versailles
Claimer: I OWN EVERYTHING!! take and you DIE!!
Series: Original
Genre: fantasy, horror, occult, supernatural
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: slash, dark, gore, vampirism, angst, semi-NCS, explicit violence, explicit language, lemon, het, supernatural-ness, MAJOR squick
Notes: hello! ^.^ mesa was bored a few moments ago, and I finished up the list of Gods and Goddesses for my series "The Chronicles of Nicha". ain't that grand? ^.^ ::sweatdrop:: yes, I know it's not, you don't have to tell me...
Symbols: *emphasis* |thoughts| :telepathy: ~telekenesis/psychokenesis~ +emotions+ _other peoples' thoughts_
Inspirations: er.. ::sweatdrop:: just browsing through the Dark Fantasy, Horror, and Occult sections under Horror on Amazon.com...
Randomness: uhm... ::sweatdrop:: SHEEP!
Music for the Chapter: "Galway no Sora" by Emiko Shiratori, "You're the Only One" from Cardcaptor Sakura
________________________________________________________________ ___________________
<i>"What do you <b>mean</b> it's a demon? They don't exist!"
"Ah, but they do, Louis. You'd be surprised how many mystical beings are actually real. And this...'thing' committing all these murders is a demon. A particular type of demon, as well. It's called an algul, and it eats human flesh to survive."
"But...But... How do you <b>know</b> this?"
"...I have my ways. I'll not reveal them to you just yet."</i>
_______________________________________________________ ____________________________
Chapter 2 - Blood Found
"Did you know that back in the sixth century, warriors used to eat the eyes of their deceased foes?"
Louis looked up at him, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "Really, Verlassen," he murmured, more of a statement than a question. "That's...very interesting."
The German smirked slightly, a quiet, sadistic satisfaction in his silver eyes.
"That's disgusting, is what it is," one of Louis's Council members snapped, lip curled in disgust, half-unseeing, milky eyes narrowed, a slight green tinge around his thin lips.
Verlassen merely raised his eyebrows. "Hm. Yes, I suppose it is." He sighed, shook his head slightly in an attempt at mock-sorrow, before turning away and smirking again. |This is fun to do.|
Louis rolled his eyes at the German's attitude, smiling slightly. "Why, pray tell, did they happen to do that, Verlassen?"
An evil, sinister grin stretched his lips, snow-white teething gleaming slightly, and his eyes darkened slightly. If one looked closely enough from a short distance, they would see small fangs and barely noticeable slitted pupils. But no one liked to get that close to him, except for Louis and Shindeiru, both of whom already knew. "They believed it a way to see through their enemy's eyes," he explained, eyes turning wicked. "They also often ate their brains in an attempt to think like them." He smiled slightly. "It's really quite fascinating."
The king blinked at him slowly, looking somewhat startled.
Then he shrugged, and grinned. "Well, Verlassen, never let anyone tell you you're boring," he said, chocolate eyes sparkling with silent laughter.
Verlassen's keen hearing picked up the sounds of footsteps in the hallway, heading in the direction of the door, and by the weight of the falls, he realized it was Shindeiru. He turned in his seat, silver eyes locked on the door, black eyebrows raised in patient expectation.
A few moments later, there was a hesitant knock on the door, and he stood up with a small, wicked smirk on his face. Silently, he opened the door, face blank and unreadable. "Shindeiru," he said in a flat, stiff voice. His eyes were hooded. "What can we do for you?"
Pale crimson eyes widened in surprise, and the younger Night-Childe took a slightly panicked step backward. "Ve-Verlassen, I-!"
"It's all right, Verlassen," Louis said from his seat, suddenly. "I asked him to inform me when Detective Jaune Bleu[1] arrived."
Silver eyes met chocolate in a long, heavy, penetrating stare, before he nodded sharply and moved to let Shindeiru in. "So, Shindeiru, reduced to the position of glorified messenger boy, hmm?" he asked coolly. Then he snorted in contempt. "Well, I suppose I should have seen it coming..."
A very visible flinch was his only answer.
Louis frowned slightly at Verlassen, but didn't comment, instead turning his attention to the Japanese man standing in front of him. "So he's arrived, then?" he asked, head tilted slightly to the left in question.
Pale eyes fixed on the floor, Shindeiru nodded timidly. With a sneer of disgust, Verlassen turned away and flopped with boneless grace into his chair. He could smell Shindeiru's hurt, but ignored it.
"Well then," Louis said, a mischievous playing at his lips that Verlassen really did not like. "Take Verlassen with you, and let the man in. Verlassen, I want you to show him to the Hall of Mirrors."
He nodded, and stood up.
"Your Majesty, why send Verlassen?" an old, cranky Council member Verlassen remembered belonged to the name of Pierre, or something along those lines, demanded angrily. He smirked. |Oh, this is going to be good...| "Why not one of us?"
"Have you seen the Hall since it happened?" Louis asked evenly.
Pierre, or whatever his name was, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "No, Majesty, none of have seen the Hall."
Verlassen noticed an opening and broke in, grinning savagely. "Flesh and blood and organs splattered everywhere, floor eaten away from stomach acid... Hell, I think I even remember seeing the boy's liver hanging from a chandelier. And the boy's heart is missing, from what I saw." He smirked; their faces were the color of grass.
Louis grimaced. "Thank you, Verlassen, for reminding me of why I have yet to go back in there," he managed, shuddering slightly. "Now go. It's rude to leave guests waiting outside for too long."
With a grim nod, he left, Shindeiru following behind him like a kicked puppy. A few minutes later, they reached the main entrance to the chateau, and Verlassen winced slightly as he walked into the sunlight. |This is going to hurt in a little...| He stood stiffly, giving the man in a detective uniform a penetrating stare.
The man-Jaune Bleu, he reminded himself-frowned at him in confusion. "You can't be the king," he muttered, shaking his head. Then, with an affronted tone, "I wanted to see King Louis XVI, not some stupid advisor of his!"
His silver eyes narrowed as he took an instant disliking to the man. "Those 'stupid advisors of his', as you so gently put it, are too old and are too weak in the heart to look at the mess in the Hall of Mirrors," he hissed venomously. "You should watch your speech, boy, and *think* before you speak."
The man, who looked to be about his mid-forties, glowered at him. "Who the hell are *you* to call me boy?" he demanded. "You look barely twenty-five!"
He snarled in annoyance, whirling to stare with blazing eyes at Shindeiru. The pale crimson eyes widened, and the entire form shook slightly. "Go get Louis!" he snarled, and the Japanese whirled and bolted down the hallway to do so.
Then, eyes flashing silver fire, he turned back to the detective, his entire face stony, eyes like ice. "You're really pissing me off," he warned, lips pulled together in a tight, straight line.
The man's emerald green eyes narrowed at him. "You're on a first-name basis with the king?" he asked, voice suspicious and doubtful.
A thin, onyx-colored eyebrow lifted slightly, and a small smirk played at his lips. "Only sometimes," he replied, wicked glee glinting in his eyes.
His head snapped up and around as he heard Louis' footsteps two corridors away, and keeping a mental watch on the detective, he turned around to watch the king and the Japanese come around the corner. Louis raised an eyebrow at him when he got within hearing range.
"He was pissing me off," he growled, turning sharply to glare viciously at the detective, who seemed to quail slightly.
Chocolate eyes rolled, and the Frenchman sighed and shook his head. "Verlassen, you are impossible sometimes," he sighed, exasperated.
Shrug. "Not my fault."
The king's eyes shifted to the detective before him, and he nodded. "Yes, I suppose it isn't."
"I don't like him," Verlassen stated matter-of-factly, not caring that the person being discussed was standing right before him.
Another sigh. "Yes, well, we need his help," was the retort, and he snorted in contempt.
"Of course, Highness," he muttered, clenching his jaw and glaring at the detective, who was smirking triumphantly at him. "Don't push me," he growled, baring his teeth.
Louis either didn't notice or didn't care. Knowing him, it was the latter of the two. "So anyway," he started, turning and beckoning for them to follow. "Verlassen will have to lead you to the Hall of Mirrors, I'm afraid," he informed them. "I have a very important meeting to be at in a few minutes, and I'm afraid I cannot be late."
With that, he turned and walked in the opposite direction. Jaune made as if to follow him, but Verlassen grabbed his arm in a grip of steel, eyes harder than diamond and colder than ice. "No. You're coming with me."
"Verlassen-"
"You're coming with me, too, Shindeiru." The ice in his voice made the Japanese instantly and meekly nod his head.
A few minutes later, they arrived outside of the doors that had been closed for the past two days. "Brace yourself, children, this is rather sickening for most," he warned, then pushed the doors open and stepped through, letting the others enter before he closed it.
He turned around to find Jaune quite green, and Shindeiru slightly flushed and licking his lips hungrily as he stared at all the dried blood caking floors and walls and anything else in the Hall. :You need to feed, don't you?: he snapped into the Japanese's mind.
A deeper flush confirmed that statement. :Go out and do it,: he ordered. :*Now*.:
The younger Night-Childe practically fled the room.
Jaune turned and frowned after him. "What had him in such a hurry? Couldn't take a little blood?" There was contempt in his voice.
"He had something to take care of," he snapped in reply. "And considering you're green, and he wasn't, I wouldn't talk about not being able to handle too much blood."
Emerald eyes narrowed. "You look slightly flushed," he observed.
Did he really? Verlassen realized with some surprise that he was; and he needed a good lay. He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a sadistic person." He gazed deliberately at Jaune, then glanced around the room, licking his lips.
When was the last time he'd had a roll in the hay? It couldn't have been *that* long ago... But, damn, he needed one right now...
Under the green, the Frenchman's face paled drastically. "Um, right, so, what clues have we gotten?"
He smirked, but didn't continue to push it. "From what I could tell, the boy had been attacked and had his throat ripped out. So he was dead by the time his body was ripped apart," he replied instantly.
Frown. "And how, exactly, do you know the victim was male?" was the suspicious question.
Smirk. He moved over to a farther corner of the room, the detective following him, and reached down to pick something up. He held it out casually, as if he was holding a rose or twig.
Jaune paled drastically, turning even more green.
What he held was the boy's adolescent penis. "It seems that the boy's heart had vanished sometime between the time his throat was ripped out and when he was shredded," he again began a very clinical synopsis of the scene.
Something landed with a wet, sickening plop behind the detective. He let out a very undignified squeak, and whirled to look down. He turned even more green, darted off to the side, and heaved.
A lung had finally slid off of one of the many chandeliers.
Verlassen crouched down beside it, brow creased in thought as he gently prodded it with his finger, frowning as he noticed a pattern in things.
He straightened as Jaune approached him, a frown creasing his brow as he put things together. He moved through the entire Hall, noticing a definite pattern.
All of the organs were in complete, perfect shape, except for the stomach, which had broken open when it impacted with the ground.
"This isn't right," he muttered, shaking his head in confusion. "Why the hell are they all intact?"
"Um, hello? Detective here, confused and needing to know what's going on," the detective snapped at him, but he just ignored him.
|The only thing that could have done this is an algul demon, and they've been extinct for the past 900 years!|
He shook his head again. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. "I need to think on this."
With a last shake of his head, he turned and walked towards the door. A hand grabbed his arm, but he just shook it off, still muttering about how it wasn't *right*.
He left one extremely confused detective staring after him.
"That German man is really very odd."
Louis looked up at the detective, his eyebrows raised. "Yes, I am aware of that," he replied calmly. "He has been in my service for the past ten years."
"Ten years?" There was confusion in the question. "How old is he exactly?"
He shrugged, not knowing himself. "Don't know. I've never asked him."
"He looks around twenty-five..."
He again looked up. "Yes, well, he hasn't appeared to age much since I first met him." He stared hard at the man in front of him, frowning. "Look, is there a reason you came in here? You couldn't have visited me solely to discuss Verlassen's age."
There was a discreet cough, and then the sound of a throat clearing, and Louis rolled his eyes. |Please. Like I don't get enough of that crap every day from my own subjects.| "I don't have all day here," he pointed out irritably. "Get to the point."
Jaune ran a hand through his thick blonde hair, licking his lips. "Highness, have you *ever* noticed anything about Verlassen that didn't seem like a normal human being?"
Louis stood up abruptly, eyes glinted dangerously. "I suggest you leave now, detective, and go back home for the night. I'll be seeing you again tomorrow, if that's all right with you."
Blinking, caught by surprise, Jaune could do nothing but nod in agreement. He soon found himself herded out of the chambers, and then a door was slammed in his face.
Louis turned away with a shake of his head, smiling softly.
"Shit!"
He fell back a step in surprise, grasping his chest as he fought for breath. "Dammit, Verlassen, I wish you wouldn't do that!"
A thin black eyebrow lifted slightly, and the other man cocked his head slightly to the side. "I'll take that into consideration, Highness," he purred, and stalked towards him.
He licked his lips in anticipation, awaiting for what he knew would come next.
And then he was pressed up against the wall, Verlassen's cold lips upon his, tongue prying his mouth open and delving inside.
Within moments, he was reduced to a puddle of quivering flesh, feeling heat consume him and burn him from inside, out. The German's mouth moved from his and onto his throat.
It was a while before they got any sleep.
Louis was running through the hallways again in the morning, another shrill, panicked scream having woken him up. |Please tell me it's not another one..!|
No such luck.
He rounded a corner, and ran right into Verlassen, who barely staggered with the impact. It was then that the stench hit him.
The smell of burnt flesh smacked him right in the face, making his gasp for breath that was knocked out of him.
He peered hesitantly around the German, quite sure he didn't want to see the body, or whatever was left of it. He was right.
He turned green instantly, turned quickly to the side, and threw up. Verlassen's hand, though the silver-eyed man was still looking at the body, swept in slow, soothing circles along his back, comforting him more than words could have.
After a moment, he straightened, swallowing bile and licking his lips. |I need water...| "What happened this time?" he managed to ask.
Verlassen's frown told him it wasn't good. "I'm not sure, but from what it looks like, this girl's skin was burned right off of her muscle." He moved forward and crouched slightly, brow furrowed as he studied it. His eyes stopped suddenly on a hole in the chest, and Louis felt himself growing pale again. "And it appears the heart was ripped out of her chest."
He nodded slightly, having a feeling that if this kept happening, he'd be traumatized for life. "How do you know the skin was burnt off?"
Silver eyes lifted to meet his chocolate. "There are still some pieces of skin hanging on, and they have scorch marks on their edges." He shrugged. "And then there's the smell."
He could taste bile in the back of his throat again, and swallowed thickly. The silver eyes narrowed slightly, and Verlassen stood up and walked towards him, placing a hand on the small of his back. "Come on," he murmured. "Let's get you some water."
A few minutes later found them in the kitchen, Verlassen holding a large glass of water to his lips as he shook slightly. The German, seeing the state he was in, slid into the seat beside him and pulled him close against him, strong arms wrapped around his waist.
Even as he shook, Louis smiled slightly as he buried his face in the German's shoulder. His arms had always felt like the safest place on Earth... After a few moments, his shaking subsided, and he pulled away reluctantly. "Thanks," he murmured, smiling and a little misty-eyed.
The black-crowned head nodded, and then Verlassen stood and pulled him up with him. "Come on," he said. "We have to get Shindeiru and call that damned Bleu person."
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Why Shindeiru?" he asked curiously.
Suddenly frigid silver eyes met his. "Because his family was murdered the same way," he replied stiffly, and Louis blinked.
The German was almost being protective of the Japanese man's past... What the *hell* was going on here? "...Oh."
Then they proceeded to walk through the halls until they reached the corridor with Verlassen's and Shindeiru's rooms in it. Shindeiru was already standing outside his door, his eyes tilted in their direction but fixed on the floor. "What did I do this time, Verlassen?" he asked in a soft, small voice.
His eyebrows flew upwards toward his hairline. What the...?
"Nothing, this time, and stop feeling sorry for yourself," Verlassen snapped. "Now come on; I need your help."
The Japanese straightened sharply, gaping at his ex-lover in shock, a light finally burning in the pale red eyes. But then it damped suddenly, and he slumped as if he had been reprimanded.
Brows furrowed in confusion, Louis glanced between the two, making a mental note to talk to Shindeiru alone sometime in the near future.
Then he turned around, and Verlassen was no longer there. He frowned in annoyance, but knew he was going to get Jaune Bleu. He smiled slightly, just imagining him banging loudly on the still-sleeping detective's door and growling at him they there was another murder and he needed to get his scrawny little ass in some clothes and over to the chateau. Then, when the detective turned back inside for something, he would pull that vanishing trick, and Jaune would let out a surprised shout when no one was there.
Then he looked at Shindeiru again, and he frowned worriedly. "Are you all right?" he asked, moving up to stand beside him.
Surprised eyes lifted sharply to meet his, and then the Japanese licked his lips and nodded slightly. "Yeah, I'm used to it by now," was his almost whispered reply.
"Did he always treat you like that?"
A slow, hesitant nod. "Yeah, but it only started getting this bad the last year we..."
"Were together?" he finished.
A flinch, and then the Japanese cringed as Louis reached over to pat him gently on the shoulder. |It's almost like he expects to get hit,| he noticed.
"Don't worry," he said with a smile. "I already knew, and I don't care."
Crimson eyes, shimmering with confusion, lifted to meet his. "You...You really mean that?"
He raised an eyebrow. Why was he so unsure of himself..? "Yes, I do."
A tongue slithered out to sweep along the full lips, and Shindeiru smiled tentatively at him. "Thank... Thank you, Your Highness," he whispered, ducking his head slightly.
"He really left a mark on you, didn't he?"
A small, hesitant nod.
|Huh. I'll have to talk to Verlassen about that...|
"He'll be at the door in a few minutes."
They both jumped, and Louis glared mildly at the German man standing coolly to his right. "Thank you, Verlassen, for giving me my first heart attack," he muttered waspishly, shaking his head. "Come on then."
When they reached the entrance way to the chateau, Louis could see the detective making his way down the long cobbled walkway. Once he was walking up the marble stairs, Louis nodded and called out a greeting.
Jaune frowned at Shindeiru and Verlassen, both of whom were looking slightly sunburned and standing just inside a shadow in the doorway, but didn't comment, instead bowing before him and nodding. He straightened, his eyes fixed sharply on the two foreigners. "So, Your Majesty, I understand there's been another murder since I last left you," he prompted pleasantly.
He sighed deeply, turning and moving into the chateau as he ran a hand through his hair. "Unfortunately, yes," he replied. "This time, it was in a random corridor."
The emerald eyes sharpened at that. "Was it one near any bed chambers?"
He blinked, faltering slightly as he glanced quickly at Verlassen and Shindeiru. "Yes, it was the one that Verlassen and Shindeiru's rooms are in..." He licked his lips nervously, not sure he liked this new development.
The green eyes grew even sharper, fixed again on the two foreigners.
|Great,| he muttered mentally. |Now he thinks they're guilty.|
"Really," was the nearly purred comment. "That's interesting..."
Verlassen seemed to finally notice that Louis had stopped, and turned, a frown pulling at his lips. "Highness, what did you stop for?" he asked suspiciously.
He shook himself. "Um, nothing," he replied, frowning. |Wonderful. *Now* what do I do?|
Silver eyes narrowed at him, before shifting to Jaune, and a smirk began to play at the German's lips. "Ah. All right then." He raised an eyebrow. "Shall we?"
He nodded, and proceeded to walk in the direction of the hallway the most recent murder had taken place. Finally, Verlassen stopped and pulled a face. "I'll warn you, it smells horrible," he stated, before turning the corner and stopping in front of the body still laying on the floor.
Louis choked and gagged, covering his mouth and nose as he was again smacked in the face with the stench of burnt flesh. |Lovely.|
Jaune grimaced in distaste, squeezing his nostrils closed. "How was this one murdered?" he asked.
"Heart ripped out, skin burned off," Verlassen replied clinically, not looking the least bit sickened by anything about the murder; the body, the stench, the cause...
And Jaune noticed that immediately. Green eyes narrowed, he frowned at them. "You seem quite unshaken by all of this," he observed, tone cold and deadly.
The German merely raised an eyebrow. "I've seen murders much more gruesome than these last two, believe me," he replied. "I am quite fairly sure that pretty much nothing could make me sick."
Shindeiru, head down, nodded in agreement.
The emerald eyes slid over to meet down-cast pale crimson, caught by the movement. "You don't look to shaken by this, either," he commented, voice deceptively quiet.
Again, the Japanese licked his lips nervously. "I've seen worse, too," he replied softly, shrugging uncomfortably.
Verlassen watched that with what could almost be called an approving smirk on his face.
Jaune nodded, not looking like he believed them the slightest bit, but didn't press. "All right then. Who was the first person to find it?"
Verlassen met his eyes firmly. "I was. A girl rounded the corner just after I walked out of my door, and screamed, which is what I'm assuming woke Louis up," he replied promptly, not seeming to care that the statement placed him even further under suspicion.
Louis was about ready to kill him.
___________________________________
1. er... ::sweatdrop:: not sure on pronunciation, here, but I *do* know it is French for "yellow" and "blue", respectively.
___________________________________
::grin:: hey! it's been maybe two or three days since I posted the last chapter. (not including the re-upload I did of it today.) I'm so proud of myself! ^.^
so. ::sly look:: can anyone guess what Shindeiru and Verlassen are? I'd be willing to be you probably won't get it right...
Ethri: ::stare:: uh-huh. right.
::glare:: all right, so maybe they will. what's your point? ::rolls eyes:: anyway.
feel free to send me feedback, if you want to. if you don't, well... ::shrug:: you don't. nothing I can do about it.
Title: Versailles
Claimer: I OWN EVERYTHING!! take and you DIE!!
Series: Original
Genre: fantasy, horror, occult, supernatural
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: slash, dark, gore, vampirism, angst, semi-NCS, explicit violence, explicit language, lemon, het, supernatural-ness, MAJOR squick
Notes: hello! ^.^ mesa was bored a few moments ago, and I finished up the list of Gods and Goddesses for my series "The Chronicles of Nicha". ain't that grand? ^.^ ::sweatdrop:: yes, I know it's not, you don't have to tell me...
Symbols: *emphasis* |thoughts| :telepathy: ~telekenesis/psychokenesis~ +emotions+ _other peoples' thoughts_
Inspirations: er.. ::sweatdrop:: just browsing through the Dark Fantasy, Horror, and Occult sections under Horror on Amazon.com...
Randomness: uhm... ::sweatdrop:: SHEEP!
Music for the Chapter: "Galway no Sora" by Emiko Shiratori, "You're the Only One" from Cardcaptor Sakura
________________________________________________________________ ___________________
<i>"What do you <b>mean</b> it's a demon? They don't exist!"
"Ah, but they do, Louis. You'd be surprised how many mystical beings are actually real. And this...'thing' committing all these murders is a demon. A particular type of demon, as well. It's called an algul, and it eats human flesh to survive."
"But...But... How do you <b>know</b> this?"
"...I have my ways. I'll not reveal them to you just yet."</i>
_______________________________________________________ ____________________________
Chapter 2 - Blood Found
"Did you know that back in the sixth century, warriors used to eat the eyes of their deceased foes?"
Louis looked up at him, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "Really, Verlassen," he murmured, more of a statement than a question. "That's...very interesting."
The German smirked slightly, a quiet, sadistic satisfaction in his silver eyes.
"That's disgusting, is what it is," one of Louis's Council members snapped, lip curled in disgust, half-unseeing, milky eyes narrowed, a slight green tinge around his thin lips.
Verlassen merely raised his eyebrows. "Hm. Yes, I suppose it is." He sighed, shook his head slightly in an attempt at mock-sorrow, before turning away and smirking again. |This is fun to do.|
Louis rolled his eyes at the German's attitude, smiling slightly. "Why, pray tell, did they happen to do that, Verlassen?"
An evil, sinister grin stretched his lips, snow-white teething gleaming slightly, and his eyes darkened slightly. If one looked closely enough from a short distance, they would see small fangs and barely noticeable slitted pupils. But no one liked to get that close to him, except for Louis and Shindeiru, both of whom already knew. "They believed it a way to see through their enemy's eyes," he explained, eyes turning wicked. "They also often ate their brains in an attempt to think like them." He smiled slightly. "It's really quite fascinating."
The king blinked at him slowly, looking somewhat startled.
Then he shrugged, and grinned. "Well, Verlassen, never let anyone tell you you're boring," he said, chocolate eyes sparkling with silent laughter.
Verlassen's keen hearing picked up the sounds of footsteps in the hallway, heading in the direction of the door, and by the weight of the falls, he realized it was Shindeiru. He turned in his seat, silver eyes locked on the door, black eyebrows raised in patient expectation.
A few moments later, there was a hesitant knock on the door, and he stood up with a small, wicked smirk on his face. Silently, he opened the door, face blank and unreadable. "Shindeiru," he said in a flat, stiff voice. His eyes were hooded. "What can we do for you?"
Pale crimson eyes widened in surprise, and the younger Night-Childe took a slightly panicked step backward. "Ve-Verlassen, I-!"
"It's all right, Verlassen," Louis said from his seat, suddenly. "I asked him to inform me when Detective Jaune Bleu[1] arrived."
Silver eyes met chocolate in a long, heavy, penetrating stare, before he nodded sharply and moved to let Shindeiru in. "So, Shindeiru, reduced to the position of glorified messenger boy, hmm?" he asked coolly. Then he snorted in contempt. "Well, I suppose I should have seen it coming..."
A very visible flinch was his only answer.
Louis frowned slightly at Verlassen, but didn't comment, instead turning his attention to the Japanese man standing in front of him. "So he's arrived, then?" he asked, head tilted slightly to the left in question.
Pale eyes fixed on the floor, Shindeiru nodded timidly. With a sneer of disgust, Verlassen turned away and flopped with boneless grace into his chair. He could smell Shindeiru's hurt, but ignored it.
"Well then," Louis said, a mischievous playing at his lips that Verlassen really did not like. "Take Verlassen with you, and let the man in. Verlassen, I want you to show him to the Hall of Mirrors."
He nodded, and stood up.
"Your Majesty, why send Verlassen?" an old, cranky Council member Verlassen remembered belonged to the name of Pierre, or something along those lines, demanded angrily. He smirked. |Oh, this is going to be good...| "Why not one of us?"
"Have you seen the Hall since it happened?" Louis asked evenly.
Pierre, or whatever his name was, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "No, Majesty, none of have seen the Hall."
Verlassen noticed an opening and broke in, grinning savagely. "Flesh and blood and organs splattered everywhere, floor eaten away from stomach acid... Hell, I think I even remember seeing the boy's liver hanging from a chandelier. And the boy's heart is missing, from what I saw." He smirked; their faces were the color of grass.
Louis grimaced. "Thank you, Verlassen, for reminding me of why I have yet to go back in there," he managed, shuddering slightly. "Now go. It's rude to leave guests waiting outside for too long."
With a grim nod, he left, Shindeiru following behind him like a kicked puppy. A few minutes later, they reached the main entrance to the chateau, and Verlassen winced slightly as he walked into the sunlight. |This is going to hurt in a little...| He stood stiffly, giving the man in a detective uniform a penetrating stare.
The man-Jaune Bleu, he reminded himself-frowned at him in confusion. "You can't be the king," he muttered, shaking his head. Then, with an affronted tone, "I wanted to see King Louis XVI, not some stupid advisor of his!"
His silver eyes narrowed as he took an instant disliking to the man. "Those 'stupid advisors of his', as you so gently put it, are too old and are too weak in the heart to look at the mess in the Hall of Mirrors," he hissed venomously. "You should watch your speech, boy, and *think* before you speak."
The man, who looked to be about his mid-forties, glowered at him. "Who the hell are *you* to call me boy?" he demanded. "You look barely twenty-five!"
He snarled in annoyance, whirling to stare with blazing eyes at Shindeiru. The pale crimson eyes widened, and the entire form shook slightly. "Go get Louis!" he snarled, and the Japanese whirled and bolted down the hallway to do so.
Then, eyes flashing silver fire, he turned back to the detective, his entire face stony, eyes like ice. "You're really pissing me off," he warned, lips pulled together in a tight, straight line.
The man's emerald green eyes narrowed at him. "You're on a first-name basis with the king?" he asked, voice suspicious and doubtful.
A thin, onyx-colored eyebrow lifted slightly, and a small smirk played at his lips. "Only sometimes," he replied, wicked glee glinting in his eyes.
His head snapped up and around as he heard Louis' footsteps two corridors away, and keeping a mental watch on the detective, he turned around to watch the king and the Japanese come around the corner. Louis raised an eyebrow at him when he got within hearing range.
"He was pissing me off," he growled, turning sharply to glare viciously at the detective, who seemed to quail slightly.
Chocolate eyes rolled, and the Frenchman sighed and shook his head. "Verlassen, you are impossible sometimes," he sighed, exasperated.
Shrug. "Not my fault."
The king's eyes shifted to the detective before him, and he nodded. "Yes, I suppose it isn't."
"I don't like him," Verlassen stated matter-of-factly, not caring that the person being discussed was standing right before him.
Another sigh. "Yes, well, we need his help," was the retort, and he snorted in contempt.
"Of course, Highness," he muttered, clenching his jaw and glaring at the detective, who was smirking triumphantly at him. "Don't push me," he growled, baring his teeth.
Louis either didn't notice or didn't care. Knowing him, it was the latter of the two. "So anyway," he started, turning and beckoning for them to follow. "Verlassen will have to lead you to the Hall of Mirrors, I'm afraid," he informed them. "I have a very important meeting to be at in a few minutes, and I'm afraid I cannot be late."
With that, he turned and walked in the opposite direction. Jaune made as if to follow him, but Verlassen grabbed his arm in a grip of steel, eyes harder than diamond and colder than ice. "No. You're coming with me."
"Verlassen-"
"You're coming with me, too, Shindeiru." The ice in his voice made the Japanese instantly and meekly nod his head.
A few minutes later, they arrived outside of the doors that had been closed for the past two days. "Brace yourself, children, this is rather sickening for most," he warned, then pushed the doors open and stepped through, letting the others enter before he closed it.
He turned around to find Jaune quite green, and Shindeiru slightly flushed and licking his lips hungrily as he stared at all the dried blood caking floors and walls and anything else in the Hall. :You need to feed, don't you?: he snapped into the Japanese's mind.
A deeper flush confirmed that statement. :Go out and do it,: he ordered. :*Now*.:
The younger Night-Childe practically fled the room.
Jaune turned and frowned after him. "What had him in such a hurry? Couldn't take a little blood?" There was contempt in his voice.
"He had something to take care of," he snapped in reply. "And considering you're green, and he wasn't, I wouldn't talk about not being able to handle too much blood."
Emerald eyes narrowed. "You look slightly flushed," he observed.
Did he really? Verlassen realized with some surprise that he was; and he needed a good lay. He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a sadistic person." He gazed deliberately at Jaune, then glanced around the room, licking his lips.
When was the last time he'd had a roll in the hay? It couldn't have been *that* long ago... But, damn, he needed one right now...
Under the green, the Frenchman's face paled drastically. "Um, right, so, what clues have we gotten?"
He smirked, but didn't continue to push it. "From what I could tell, the boy had been attacked and had his throat ripped out. So he was dead by the time his body was ripped apart," he replied instantly.
Frown. "And how, exactly, do you know the victim was male?" was the suspicious question.
Smirk. He moved over to a farther corner of the room, the detective following him, and reached down to pick something up. He held it out casually, as if he was holding a rose or twig.
Jaune paled drastically, turning even more green.
What he held was the boy's adolescent penis. "It seems that the boy's heart had vanished sometime between the time his throat was ripped out and when he was shredded," he again began a very clinical synopsis of the scene.
Something landed with a wet, sickening plop behind the detective. He let out a very undignified squeak, and whirled to look down. He turned even more green, darted off to the side, and heaved.
A lung had finally slid off of one of the many chandeliers.
Verlassen crouched down beside it, brow creased in thought as he gently prodded it with his finger, frowning as he noticed a pattern in things.
He straightened as Jaune approached him, a frown creasing his brow as he put things together. He moved through the entire Hall, noticing a definite pattern.
All of the organs were in complete, perfect shape, except for the stomach, which had broken open when it impacted with the ground.
"This isn't right," he muttered, shaking his head in confusion. "Why the hell are they all intact?"
"Um, hello? Detective here, confused and needing to know what's going on," the detective snapped at him, but he just ignored him.
|The only thing that could have done this is an algul demon, and they've been extinct for the past 900 years!|
He shook his head again. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. "I need to think on this."
With a last shake of his head, he turned and walked towards the door. A hand grabbed his arm, but he just shook it off, still muttering about how it wasn't *right*.
He left one extremely confused detective staring after him.
"That German man is really very odd."
Louis looked up at the detective, his eyebrows raised. "Yes, I am aware of that," he replied calmly. "He has been in my service for the past ten years."
"Ten years?" There was confusion in the question. "How old is he exactly?"
He shrugged, not knowing himself. "Don't know. I've never asked him."
"He looks around twenty-five..."
He again looked up. "Yes, well, he hasn't appeared to age much since I first met him." He stared hard at the man in front of him, frowning. "Look, is there a reason you came in here? You couldn't have visited me solely to discuss Verlassen's age."
There was a discreet cough, and then the sound of a throat clearing, and Louis rolled his eyes. |Please. Like I don't get enough of that crap every day from my own subjects.| "I don't have all day here," he pointed out irritably. "Get to the point."
Jaune ran a hand through his thick blonde hair, licking his lips. "Highness, have you *ever* noticed anything about Verlassen that didn't seem like a normal human being?"
Louis stood up abruptly, eyes glinted dangerously. "I suggest you leave now, detective, and go back home for the night. I'll be seeing you again tomorrow, if that's all right with you."
Blinking, caught by surprise, Jaune could do nothing but nod in agreement. He soon found himself herded out of the chambers, and then a door was slammed in his face.
Louis turned away with a shake of his head, smiling softly.
"Shit!"
He fell back a step in surprise, grasping his chest as he fought for breath. "Dammit, Verlassen, I wish you wouldn't do that!"
A thin black eyebrow lifted slightly, and the other man cocked his head slightly to the side. "I'll take that into consideration, Highness," he purred, and stalked towards him.
He licked his lips in anticipation, awaiting for what he knew would come next.
And then he was pressed up against the wall, Verlassen's cold lips upon his, tongue prying his mouth open and delving inside.
Within moments, he was reduced to a puddle of quivering flesh, feeling heat consume him and burn him from inside, out. The German's mouth moved from his and onto his throat.
It was a while before they got any sleep.
Louis was running through the hallways again in the morning, another shrill, panicked scream having woken him up. |Please tell me it's not another one..!|
No such luck.
He rounded a corner, and ran right into Verlassen, who barely staggered with the impact. It was then that the stench hit him.
The smell of burnt flesh smacked him right in the face, making his gasp for breath that was knocked out of him.
He peered hesitantly around the German, quite sure he didn't want to see the body, or whatever was left of it. He was right.
He turned green instantly, turned quickly to the side, and threw up. Verlassen's hand, though the silver-eyed man was still looking at the body, swept in slow, soothing circles along his back, comforting him more than words could have.
After a moment, he straightened, swallowing bile and licking his lips. |I need water...| "What happened this time?" he managed to ask.
Verlassen's frown told him it wasn't good. "I'm not sure, but from what it looks like, this girl's skin was burned right off of her muscle." He moved forward and crouched slightly, brow furrowed as he studied it. His eyes stopped suddenly on a hole in the chest, and Louis felt himself growing pale again. "And it appears the heart was ripped out of her chest."
He nodded slightly, having a feeling that if this kept happening, he'd be traumatized for life. "How do you know the skin was burnt off?"
Silver eyes lifted to meet his chocolate. "There are still some pieces of skin hanging on, and they have scorch marks on their edges." He shrugged. "And then there's the smell."
He could taste bile in the back of his throat again, and swallowed thickly. The silver eyes narrowed slightly, and Verlassen stood up and walked towards him, placing a hand on the small of his back. "Come on," he murmured. "Let's get you some water."
A few minutes later found them in the kitchen, Verlassen holding a large glass of water to his lips as he shook slightly. The German, seeing the state he was in, slid into the seat beside him and pulled him close against him, strong arms wrapped around his waist.
Even as he shook, Louis smiled slightly as he buried his face in the German's shoulder. His arms had always felt like the safest place on Earth... After a few moments, his shaking subsided, and he pulled away reluctantly. "Thanks," he murmured, smiling and a little misty-eyed.
The black-crowned head nodded, and then Verlassen stood and pulled him up with him. "Come on," he said. "We have to get Shindeiru and call that damned Bleu person."
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Why Shindeiru?" he asked curiously.
Suddenly frigid silver eyes met his. "Because his family was murdered the same way," he replied stiffly, and Louis blinked.
The German was almost being protective of the Japanese man's past... What the *hell* was going on here? "...Oh."
Then they proceeded to walk through the halls until they reached the corridor with Verlassen's and Shindeiru's rooms in it. Shindeiru was already standing outside his door, his eyes tilted in their direction but fixed on the floor. "What did I do this time, Verlassen?" he asked in a soft, small voice.
His eyebrows flew upwards toward his hairline. What the...?
"Nothing, this time, and stop feeling sorry for yourself," Verlassen snapped. "Now come on; I need your help."
The Japanese straightened sharply, gaping at his ex-lover in shock, a light finally burning in the pale red eyes. But then it damped suddenly, and he slumped as if he had been reprimanded.
Brows furrowed in confusion, Louis glanced between the two, making a mental note to talk to Shindeiru alone sometime in the near future.
Then he turned around, and Verlassen was no longer there. He frowned in annoyance, but knew he was going to get Jaune Bleu. He smiled slightly, just imagining him banging loudly on the still-sleeping detective's door and growling at him they there was another murder and he needed to get his scrawny little ass in some clothes and over to the chateau. Then, when the detective turned back inside for something, he would pull that vanishing trick, and Jaune would let out a surprised shout when no one was there.
Then he looked at Shindeiru again, and he frowned worriedly. "Are you all right?" he asked, moving up to stand beside him.
Surprised eyes lifted sharply to meet his, and then the Japanese licked his lips and nodded slightly. "Yeah, I'm used to it by now," was his almost whispered reply.
"Did he always treat you like that?"
A slow, hesitant nod. "Yeah, but it only started getting this bad the last year we..."
"Were together?" he finished.
A flinch, and then the Japanese cringed as Louis reached over to pat him gently on the shoulder. |It's almost like he expects to get hit,| he noticed.
"Don't worry," he said with a smile. "I already knew, and I don't care."
Crimson eyes, shimmering with confusion, lifted to meet his. "You...You really mean that?"
He raised an eyebrow. Why was he so unsure of himself..? "Yes, I do."
A tongue slithered out to sweep along the full lips, and Shindeiru smiled tentatively at him. "Thank... Thank you, Your Highness," he whispered, ducking his head slightly.
"He really left a mark on you, didn't he?"
A small, hesitant nod.
|Huh. I'll have to talk to Verlassen about that...|
"He'll be at the door in a few minutes."
They both jumped, and Louis glared mildly at the German man standing coolly to his right. "Thank you, Verlassen, for giving me my first heart attack," he muttered waspishly, shaking his head. "Come on then."
When they reached the entrance way to the chateau, Louis could see the detective making his way down the long cobbled walkway. Once he was walking up the marble stairs, Louis nodded and called out a greeting.
Jaune frowned at Shindeiru and Verlassen, both of whom were looking slightly sunburned and standing just inside a shadow in the doorway, but didn't comment, instead bowing before him and nodding. He straightened, his eyes fixed sharply on the two foreigners. "So, Your Majesty, I understand there's been another murder since I last left you," he prompted pleasantly.
He sighed deeply, turning and moving into the chateau as he ran a hand through his hair. "Unfortunately, yes," he replied. "This time, it was in a random corridor."
The emerald eyes sharpened at that. "Was it one near any bed chambers?"
He blinked, faltering slightly as he glanced quickly at Verlassen and Shindeiru. "Yes, it was the one that Verlassen and Shindeiru's rooms are in..." He licked his lips nervously, not sure he liked this new development.
The green eyes grew even sharper, fixed again on the two foreigners.
|Great,| he muttered mentally. |Now he thinks they're guilty.|
"Really," was the nearly purred comment. "That's interesting..."
Verlassen seemed to finally notice that Louis had stopped, and turned, a frown pulling at his lips. "Highness, what did you stop for?" he asked suspiciously.
He shook himself. "Um, nothing," he replied, frowning. |Wonderful. *Now* what do I do?|
Silver eyes narrowed at him, before shifting to Jaune, and a smirk began to play at the German's lips. "Ah. All right then." He raised an eyebrow. "Shall we?"
He nodded, and proceeded to walk in the direction of the hallway the most recent murder had taken place. Finally, Verlassen stopped and pulled a face. "I'll warn you, it smells horrible," he stated, before turning the corner and stopping in front of the body still laying on the floor.
Louis choked and gagged, covering his mouth and nose as he was again smacked in the face with the stench of burnt flesh. |Lovely.|
Jaune grimaced in distaste, squeezing his nostrils closed. "How was this one murdered?" he asked.
"Heart ripped out, skin burned off," Verlassen replied clinically, not looking the least bit sickened by anything about the murder; the body, the stench, the cause...
And Jaune noticed that immediately. Green eyes narrowed, he frowned at them. "You seem quite unshaken by all of this," he observed, tone cold and deadly.
The German merely raised an eyebrow. "I've seen murders much more gruesome than these last two, believe me," he replied. "I am quite fairly sure that pretty much nothing could make me sick."
Shindeiru, head down, nodded in agreement.
The emerald eyes slid over to meet down-cast pale crimson, caught by the movement. "You don't look to shaken by this, either," he commented, voice deceptively quiet.
Again, the Japanese licked his lips nervously. "I've seen worse, too," he replied softly, shrugging uncomfortably.
Verlassen watched that with what could almost be called an approving smirk on his face.
Jaune nodded, not looking like he believed them the slightest bit, but didn't press. "All right then. Who was the first person to find it?"
Verlassen met his eyes firmly. "I was. A girl rounded the corner just after I walked out of my door, and screamed, which is what I'm assuming woke Louis up," he replied promptly, not seeming to care that the statement placed him even further under suspicion.
Louis was about ready to kill him.
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1. er... ::sweatdrop:: not sure on pronunciation, here, but I *do* know it is French for "yellow" and "blue", respectively.
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::grin:: hey! it's been maybe two or three days since I posted the last chapter. (not including the re-upload I did of it today.) I'm so proud of myself! ^.^
so. ::sly look:: can anyone guess what Shindeiru and Verlassen are? I'd be willing to be you probably won't get it right...
Ethri: ::stare:: uh-huh. right.
::glare:: all right, so maybe they will. what's your point? ::rolls eyes:: anyway.
feel free to send me feedback, if you want to. if you don't, well... ::shrug:: you don't. nothing I can do about it.