InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Darkangel ❯ To Kill A Vampyre ( Chapter 6 )

Dark Dragon of the Seven Hells: I know! I didn't realize right away when I finished reading the third book. But when I did, I was like, "holy crap!" But don't worry, they're not gonna be cousins in this story. "Dark Dragon of the Seven Hells"....that's a cool name...^^

PhoenixStorm:Wahh!! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I know some sess/kag fics are good, but unfortunately this one isn't a sess/kag...I'm so sorry!!! Please don't abandon my story...

"You must kill the vampyre," said the wraiths. They paced back and forth along the wall near where Kagome sat on a low stool, spinning. The golden spindle flashed deep yellow in the white lamplight. Since there were no longer any garments to make, Kagome merely spun to pass time.

"What do you mean?" asked Kagome as she spun a fine golden thread.

Although her duties to the wraiths were done, she would sit with the wraiths for hours on end now, talking to them, encouraging them to remember themselves and their pasts. Sometimes she would hum a quiet tune to herself. Whenever she sang, the wraiths grew still to listen. Her voice wasn't as clear and sweet as Renko's, but it was soft and gentle enough to be pleasant to the ear. But the wraiths were now pacing, rocking, or uttering little moans.

"What makes you think I could kill the vampyre?" she asked them dully, her concentration on the spindle. "I've already tried and failed."

"You looked into his eyes," gasped one of the wraiths.

"A grave mistake," said another, shaking her fragile head.

"Now he has you in his thrall."

"I can't kill him," said Kagome.

"But he's evil!" cried the wraiths.

Kagome stopped spinning and laid the spindle on her lap. As she stared at it, she felt her heart grow troubled. "I know," she whispered. "I know that he's evil. But I can't help it. Every time he looks at me, I die."

"So has each of us thought," said one of the wraiths. "Now look at us. He has drained our blood and stolen our souls, so we can't die."

"I'm powerless against him," protested Kagome.

"If we had our souls back, we could depart to the heavens."

Kagome shook her head, frowning. "Your souls are gone. I can't help you."

"He keeps our souls in little vials," said the wraiths as they edged closer across the floor. "You've seen them, they're the little lead vials on that necklace he wears."

Kagome looked at them, puzzled. "But I thought vampyres drank souls."

"Oh, no, they do. They do," the wraiths said eagerly, "but he's not a true vampyre."

"Yet," said one wraith. "Right now, he's only half." The others nodded.

"He has fourteen vials on his necklace," said another wraith, "and thirteen are filled with our souls."

"But, if he doesn't drink them, then why does he keep them?" asked Kagome.

"He's keeping them for the water witch."

"A toast for the witch," cried one wraith.

Kagome frowned. "Who's this water witch?"

"His mother," replied one wraith.

"His lover," said another.

"She lives across the desert far away."

"In a lake."

"They call it the Mirror, or the Dead Lake, sometimes. She has seven sons and they all are vampyres, except the youngest, who will be one very soon. She has sent them all out into the world to prey upon the kingdoms."

"But this one is not quite a vampyre yet. She has not yet taught him all her evils. He still has his own soul and he hasn't tasted another's yet."

As the wraiths spoke, Kagome started to connect it with the story she had last told the darkangel. They were so similar...could that story that Chiyako had told her be really true?

"He's drunken our blood, but not our souls. He's keeping them in the vials the witch has given him. When all fourteen of them are full, he'll return to the Dead Lake and give them to her as tribute."

"Then she'll drink up our souls and then we shall truly perish. Our souls will not ascend as others' do. They'll sink into the witch's darkness and be nothing. Though the death of our souls would end our torment, it'll be the lorelai's triumph. Even we can't long for that, Kagome."

Kagome looked up at the sound of her name. She had told them it but they had never used it. She thought they had forgotten since they seemed to forget everything else she had ever told them.

"My name. You...you just said my name," she said, and they nodded.

"We whisper it to ourselves sometimes when you're gone," said one wraith. "'Kagome,' we say, 'Kagome will help us.'"

"Before you came, Kagome, we wanted only to forget our pasts, our present suffering, our fate," said another wraith.

"But you've brought us back to ourselves, little by little. You've lightened our despair. Some of us can remember tiny snatches right now."

"A few of us can even remember our names," said one wraith softly.

"Renko-sama," she whispered hoarsely. "Which one of you is Renko-sama?"

The wraiths drew back, shifting uneasily. "We won't tell you," one began.

"What?" cried an outraged Kagome. "Why not?"

"...unless you help us," hissed one of the wraiths and they all nodded in agreement.

Kagome stared at the wraiths. She wanted her old companion's company so badly though. She didn't realize until now how much now that some wraiths remembered their names. "What do you want me to do?" she asked lowly.

"Steal back our souls," the wraiths cried. "Return them to us!"

"How?" asked Kagome, slightly irritated. "How do you suppose I should get the necklace from him?"

"You must kill him."

"I just told you, I can't!"

"But you have to! Kagome, how long have you been here?"

"Six months..."

"In another six months, he'll bring home another bride. Can you stand it? Can you bear through her screams? Not only that, he will make you weave her bridal gown."

"Her shroud," broke in another wraith.

"And attire her."

"Stop it..." whispered Kagome as her hands clenched into fists, her nails dug into the fabric of her kimono.

"It drove the other one mad," said one of the wraiths. "She was here only for a year. She spun the bridal gown all day before the darkangel flew."

"He paced the halls restlessly," said another one, "He came to us and cried, "All my wives! Why are all my wives so damn ugly? I need a new one. Spin, girl, spin!'"

"And she spun, but it was out of pure horror. It was so sharp, it cut her fingers. The thread she spun was of white terror and blood."

"When the gown was finished, the icarus flew. And the girl wove a long scarf for the bride while the sun descended slowly through the star-littered sky. It was till the sun was nearly down when the vampyre came with his new bride."

"That would've been Renko," said Kagome. Pain and frustration tore at her. "Please, just tell me which one of you is Renko."

The wraiths looked at each other and then at her, then shook their heads. "Help us, and you'll know," said the wraiths.

Kagome stood there stupidly, unsure what to do.

"Then the darkangel returned with his bride," another wraith continued, "Your predecessor washed at her and attired her as she was told to. Then she brought the bride to the vampyre's chamber as she was told to."

"By then, the sun was down," a wraith that sat at Kagome's feet said. "The gargoyles were beginning to howl. The little tiring maid ran all over the castle, trying to find a room where she couldn't hear the screaming. But she couldn't find one. So she went down to the caves and stayed in darkness.

"The duarough searched for her for a long time."

"He told us."

"Searched for her long and when he finally found her, he convinced her to eat. But she was afraid of the light. It took him nearly till sunrise to persuade her to come out of the dark caves and into the air of the garden."

"But they haven't taken twenty steps when the sun cam up and the duarough was turned into stone. And the girl saw the steps that led to the plain beyond; the steps she had strayed from so often. This time she took them since the duarough could not call her back."

"Stop," said Kagome, "I-I know..."

"You know what happened in the end."

"Yes..."

Then you must kill him," said the wraiths, "before others die by him."

"I can't," said Kagome. "His beauty, it takes my strength away--I can't. He's too..." She pounded her lap in frustration. "If he wasn't so freaking handsome..."

"He is now," said the wraiths, "while he still has his soul."

"How can he be both handsome and evil?" said Kagome.

"He's handsome because there's still some good in him." said the wraiths.

"Good in him?" echoed Kagome. Was she hearing things? The words put a little but sudden hope in her.

"Only a little," said one of the wraiths. "Not enough to matter."

"He's been taught not to heed it."

"He's evil," insisted another. "He's still woefully evil."

"But there's still some good in him?" Kagome wanted to know.

The wraiths muttered among themselves and nodded reluctantly. "He still has his soul," said one. "The witch only drunk his blood, but not his soul."

"But she will," said another, "when she has drunk our souls, then she will drink his. We shall die, die utterly. But he will live on since she has left him heart alone."

"But it's lead, not of flesh," one of the wraiths said.

"There will be no left in him, then and he will grow ugly as we are."

"No, uglier."

Kagome sank down on her stool, speechless. A wraith on the floor touched her arm. "He'll start drinking blood, to try to replenish his bloodlessness, then he'll drink souls, in effort to fill his soulessness - in vain!"

"He will become a drinker of souls, a true vampyre."

Kagome touch her throat; it felt dry. "The water witch will do this to him," she choked, "drink up his soul and make him truly evil?" Her throat was tight and sore. Pity and anger rose in her suddenly. "No. I can't let her do that..."

"If you want to save him, you must kill him," said the wraiths.

"No, I-I have to think of something else," she said lamely.

The wraiths gazed at her, hopelessness deepening the hollows of their eyes.

"But there might be another way to save him then killing him," said Kagome.

"It can't be done," replied the wraiths.

"I have to try."

"He'll kill you."

"Then I'll die trying." Kagome felt her voice trembling.

The wraiths turned away from her and started to moan.

Kagome stayed in her stool and said nothing. There had to be some other way to save the darkangel. Now she finally realized. He wasn't evil by his own choice. His soul had been tainted with the water witch's evil. The way he was now was because of her. The way Renko was now was really the witch's fault. She couldn't let the witch take him. She had to save him somehow.

She gathered up her spindle and thread and rose from her stool. "I have to go down and talk to the duarough."

As she left, the wraiths shrieked and wept in defeat.

"The wraiths say that I have to kill the vampyre," said Kagome as she waded carefully across the lighted stream to the far bank where the duarough sat fishing. Kagome came and sat down on the bank beside him.

"Ah, I knew they come to it some time," said Myouga lazily. Looking at Kagome's perplexed face, he explained. "Oh yes, they asked all the others, too, you know. They asked them all and all refused. Well actually, no. One of them actually attempted it. She failed, of course." He shook his head. "The others? Well, one of them took her life rather than face it. Another missed her step on the tower stairs and fell to her death. Another died from loneliness. The last lost her mind and tried to run away." Myouga glanced at Kagome. "Dear me, that castle above is only death and death. Don't spend too much time up there, child. There's only death. Here in the caves is life."

Kagome watched as Myouga fell silent as he caught a small cavefish. The duarough sat baiting his hook again.

"I don't want to kill him," she said at last. "I want to save the wraiths, but not...not to kill him."

The duarough glanced at her with an upraised eyebrows, then back at his fish pole quickly.

"And how would you propose to do that?" he asked slowly, as if not greatly interested.

Kagome gazed off across the lighted water and sighed. She could not see out of the corner of her eye that Myouga was watching her intently as she spoke.

"I don't know," she said, "but there's gonna be a way." Her voice did not tense or rise with frustration now. She spoke softly and with conviction. "And I'm determined to find it." Myouga eyed her for a long moment. She did not turn to him, but continued to gaze off across the water. "I know now, that the way the vampyre is now, isn't really his fault. It's that witch's fault. She tainted his heart and soul, making him evil and do evil things. I blamed him for what happened to Renko. But now, I know that the one to blame isn't him, but the witch. So I have to find a way to save the wraiths and him."

Myouga turned back to look out over the lighted stream. He shook his head a trace. "Ah, daughter," he said, "it's a strange thing for you to do. But maybe it's possible and maybe it's not. But granting for the moment that I might be able to brew a draught that would render the icarus insensible..."

Kagome turned to him, startled. "You can do that?" She asked, "How?"

He smiled a little. "I know a little magic."

"If you knew that this could be done," she cried; it was the first time she had ever found her angry with the duarough, "how is it that you haven't done it yourself?"

The little man shook his head again. "I didn't say that I could do it," Myouga answered gently. "I said that I might - with your help. I can do only half of it. Someone else must to the rest."

"But there were others before him," insisted Kagome, still angry and refusing to soften.

The duarough sighed a trace, very sadly. "But think, Kagome, think," he said. "What good would lie in such a plan? He'd only steal the souls of fourteen other maidens to refill his vials."

Kagome looked away as her anger faded. "But," she murmured, "if he could be prevented..."

"How, child?" the little man inquired, as solemn as Kagome had ever seen him. "Do you think to chain him, like the gargoyles?"

"No! Of course not!" cried Kagome.

Myouga laid his pole on the sandy bank beside him. "Tell me," he said quietly, "why don't you want the vampyre to be killed?"

Kagome drew up her knees and clasped him. She stared off across the water and suddenly felt very cold. "I guess I sort of admire his confidence, his determination, his curiosity, his surety..." Her voice trailed off.

The little man rose, a bit stiffly, and looked down at her thoughtfully. "Do you love him, child?" he asked.

Kagome fell silent. "No. I can't." Slowly thinking about what she'd said about him and the witch, she continued. "There's always a chance that he really is evil. Maybe there was always a darkness in his heart that was just waiting for an opportunity to emerge. Maybe, the witch's magic only encouraged it, made it more powerful. Maybe, everything that had happened really was his fault. If that's true, then he murdered - no, worse than murdered - my friend, Renko and twelve other maidens. No, I don't love him." She closed her eyes. "The wraiths are right. I can't risk it. He has to die."

The duarough said nothing and nodded. He picked up his fishing pole and frowned in thought. "Well enough, then," he murmured, as if reluctant, "he must be stopped, that's been decided. Now, let's see, first task is to fetch the chalice - hoof of the immortal horse...The blade, I think, I can attend to myself. Hm, as for the apparatus..."

He muttered other things for a few moments then, things utterly incomprehensible to Kagome. At first she thought to speak, but then let it go. She sat there and waited for Myouga.

The duarough shook his head a trace as if to clear it and knelt on the bank beside Kagome. He drew out a scaling knife and began to scale his catch.

"There's a rime I should tell you," he said, "one I found in a musty old book lying under dust in the archives. It's a prophecy - not a prediction of what will be, no such things exist, mind you. But rather a foretelling of what may be. A formula for the undoing of the icarus."

Kagome glanced at him, uneasy, surprised. She then looked away, and stared at, well anything that could be stared at. Her mind was torn and she knew that it should not be. She should have longed wholeheartedly for the darkangel's death, like she did those months ago. But now, she did not. "To be honest, I don't know what to do," she told Myouga. "I'll have to think about it."

Myouga nodded, turning the fish over in his hand and scaling the other side. "Think on it, then," he said; his tone was kind and patient. "But you should learn the rime, also. It's a good thing to know. Here's how it goes:

"There, do you have it now?" Myouga inquired. "That's only the first part, but that'll be enough for now. Can you say it back to me?"

Kagome even amazed herself. She recited it perfectly. It was strange though. It was as if she had heard it somewhere a very long time ago.

"Go now," the little man told her when he saw her yawn," and rest."

Kagome rose from the sand and gave her arms a nice long stretch. Her limbs felt heavy and her eyelids were ready to shut.

"Tell me," said Myouga, just before she waded back across the stream, "do you understand it - the rime, I mean?"

Kagome shook her head sleepily. "What does 'hallow him unaware' mean?" she asked him.

Myouga was winding his horsehair line about his pole. "It means to salute, or to challenge, or to pursue him," he answered, "all unawares."

Kagome frowned, puzzled. "But I thought 'hallow' meant to purify or to bless."

The duarough shrugged his shoulders; his lips smiled slightly. "Words can mean different things, Lady Kagome. Maybe it's me who doesn't understand the rime." He gave her a lamp and waved his hands at her. "Go now, and rest. We can work more on decipherments when you return."

Kagome smiled and nodded. She turned and held her lamp high as she waded back across the stream.





End of Chapter 6

AN: Wow! I'm on a roll. It's Wednesday and I got a update! Woohoo! Okay, well please review and hopefully you'll get fast updates like this one! ^^

~Renko-chan