Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ To Remember ❯ Reality ( Chapter 13 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Cousin D 
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.15.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.7K | Visits: 318 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 10.15.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.7K | Visits: 318 | Status: Completed
Chapter 13: Welcome to Reality
Earth-
Rajura-
Rajura cursed after closing his mind to Naaza and Kayura. Why didn’t anyone ever listen to him? He was the oldest. He was a seer. Didn’t they think he knew what was best for everyone? Then again, he hadn’t had a single vision since the one where he’d seen Sedari and even that one hadn’t done anyone much good. ‘Why do thy call it a blessing? I see what will happen, but it’s not as if I can affect anything.’ The vision was all making more sense, though that didn’t reassure Rajura at all. Standing outside the Yagiyu mansion he recalled that vision that had appeared to him just before this mess began.
Vision-
It struck hard.
“Give them back!” Rajura found himself shouting. There, at the far end of the room, was a very familiar figure. A woman who made Rajura’s skin crawl.
Sedari reached out her skinny arms to him. “I’ll have you back one way or another, Ari. We‘re meant to be together.”
“No, Sedari. Never. Give me back my brother.” He knew Anubisu was near, afraid and in pain. But he also knew it wasn’t Anubisu alone who suffered from Sedari’s sadistic treatment.
“He’s the bait. You wouldn’t have come without him being my guest.”
“Guest?!” Rajura thundered, furiously. “You’ve tortured him! I felt it! Every moment of it! I saw his pain and felt what you did to his body. Give me my brother!”
“Ari…”
“Ari is gone. I am Rajura!”
Wolves and tigers with cold eyes.
Twin dragon swords clashing in the dark.
Blood.
Anubisu crying.
Lovers.
Death.
Naaza holding the body of a dying Rekka.
End of Vision-
Parts of the vision were becoming clearer, but this was hardly the time to be pondering it. One lesson Rajura fully understood - visions were never wrong and the future could not be changed. All he could do was make the best of it and try to get everyone out with as little pain as possible.
Naaza holding Rekka’s body meant that Naaza was caring for the boy when Rajura had left him at the hospital.
The lovers were Ryou and Anubisu.
Wolves and tigers referred to the Wyrm that had been with them all along.
Anubisu crying was because of the torture.
The twin dragons…another reference to the Wyrm, though Rajura wasn’t sure why he saw two of them.
Finally, death. He’d seen death in the vision, but not who would die. That was the part that disturbed him the most. The way things were going, it seemed that Anubisu would be the one to die and Rajura knew he’d be ill if he thought too much on that point.
Rajura pushed the thoughts from his mind to focus on the ‘now’. He had to take care of the present and the future would happen whether he liked it or not. So he started for the large house, trying to ignore the vampires he knew were in the forest all around. Of course, he couldn’t sense them as Anubisu could, but it would have been foolish for Abraham NOT to call them and Abraham seemed far from foolish to Rajura.
“You need a nice soak in a hot bath.”
Rajura stopped walking and turned to find Sh’ten sitting in the grass smiling at him. He looked very much at ease and very real. “Good evening.”
“Good evening. What have I told you about getting too tense? You’ll get wrinkles on that pretty face. So…how are things here?”
“It’s been better. You do know that you’re dead, don’t you?”
“Yes. Won’t you sit with me?”
“I haven’t time.” But it hurt Rajura to admit it. He wanted nothing more than to just sit and talk. To find out if Sh’ten was pleased or shamed that he’d given up his life for them. He wanted to know if the final act of death had hurt and what the after-life was like. “My past has come to hurt us. Anubisu has been taken. He’s hurt.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I’m dead. I know pretty much everything, even if I can’t tell you. Damned rules.” Sh’ten gave that glorious smile that had lured so many lovers to his bed over the centuries. “I’ve been watching. It’s all very exciting.”
Rajura bit his lip to stop himself from reprimanding Sh’ten, just as he always used to. Why did Sh’ten have to think such serious matters were amusing? “Why are you back?”
Sh’ten laughed and leaned back to prop himself up on the palms of his hands. “I tried to warn you, didn’t I? Your dream.”
“You showed me a freckled man with a gun. Who was that?”
“A friend of one of those trooper boys, I think. Now,” He hopped lightly to his feet and gave Rajura a serious frown. “In all honesty, I think there‘s only one important task I can accomplish here.”
“And that is?”
“Don’t blame Kayura for my death. You keep going on about how you’re the oldest and you’re responsible. Act like it, then. I don’t blame her, why should you?” Sh’ten ran a hand though his hair and looked at the mansion. “Ah, I think you’ve been discovered.” Indeed, there was little Abraham making his way from the house towards Rajura. “I want you to live through this, ‘Jura. Don’t let yourself be killed.” Sh’ten’s voice softened, sadly. “I don’t think I can speak to you, again. I have to go. I do love you, big brother.” Then Sh’ten was gone and Rajura felt a renewed pain in his heart.
“That little bastard.” Rajura managed a half-hearted laugh. “Came back just to cause a little misery. I’ll bet he enjoyed it, too.” He had no time to muse on Sh’ten. He could do that later. Naaza and Kayura had disregarded his orders and Kayura was feeling out her new position as empress, seeing how far she could push her authority. He didn’t have much time before they would appear and he’d have more family at risk. If he could deal with Sedari before they found him, the danger wouldn’t be quite so vast.
“Are you ready?” Abraham asked when he reached Rajura. He was looking less and less like a harmless child. Though outwardly, he still looked the same, his eyes were hard and angry and hadn’t changed since he’d first discovered his grandchild’s abduction. They were both outside of the Yagiyu mansion and Rajura was acutely aware of the vampires Abraham had called, gathering around them. “My people are assembled and ready. They’re hungry. I wouldn’t keep them waiting too long, if I were you.”
“There was family business to take care of.” But Abraham was right. Time to stop fooling around. The hope that Naaza would be sensible enough to keep everyone out of the way had been dashed. “Just keep your leeches away from me and I’ll give them a feast they’ll never forget.” Rajura spoke loudly enough so that not only Abraham would hear him, but that all the other vampires would hear, also. He was in no mood for games.
“My leeches,” Abraham grinned, showing off his long canines. “Have a taste for something exotic, this night. I’m afraid you just won’t do in this instance. We’ve always had a taste for fae.” He made a sweeping gesture with his arms and asked, expectantly, “Well?”
There was one certain way to attract Sedari’s attention and, fortunately, Rajura knew how to do it. He dismissed the Gen yoroi and stood under the moon in a simple kimono. Without the protection of the yoroi, he knew he looked vulnerable. He also knew very well that there would be spies around. There were always a few and for the first time since he’d left the mortal world behind, Rajura was counting on the spies to relay his message as quickly as possible.
“Sedari!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. “Show yourself! I am Ari!” He said no more. That was all that was needed, if his estimation of Sedari’s ego was even close. A few minutes ticked back when not a single sound could be heard. There was no movement at all. Then he heard a whooshing sound, like a gale of wind though there was no wind. In front of him, between himself and the mansion, a portal opened almost as soon as the words had left Rajura’s mouth and he braced himself.
Sedari stepped through the portal with all the grace and elegance that Rajura remembered, a proud smile of her face. Sedari looked very little like Rajura remembered her. Then again, the last time he’d seen her, he had only been twelve and what does a twelve-year-old know about anything? Once, he’d thought Sedari was beautiful. He remembered her sweet voice and her soft hands when she would touch his face. The sweet memories didn’t last long. Sedari had proved manipulative and possessive. She began to demand more and more of his time, jealously trying to keep him so close that he could barely leave her side. The day he’d escaped her had been the biggest relief of his life.
The portal Sedari stepped through was like a hole of light in mid-air and when he saw her Rajura found that his half-pleasant memories were overshadowed by reality. And it was reality that he saw. She was middle-aged, for a fae. Lines were developing on her face, in the corners of her eyes and mouth. Her hair was thinning on top with strands of gray streaking through the blonde. Her eyes…her dreadful eyes…were wide and shining too brightly.
“Ari.” She beamed joyfully as she stepped towards Rajura. “I hurried here for you. For so many years I’ve looked for you. I began to think you dead. Oh, but that terrible thought was just a nightmare. You stand before me. You haven’t changed.”
Haven’t changed? If nothing else, Rajura had grown about three feet since he’d last seen her. “Where is he?” Rajura kept his voice steady even as the fae soldiers began to march through the portal. Sedari hadn’t been fool enough to walk to the mortal world alone. There were eight soldiers, each armed with spears and small shields. Rajura had known it would happen, but part of him had been hoping she wouldn’t bring reinforcements. Not that it made any difference.
The portal behind her was still open and inviting.
Abraham was waiting, patiently for the last of the eight soldiers to get fully out of the portal.
“He who?” She asked, distantly.
“You know very well who I’m talking about. The boy, Ryou.”
“Boy? Oh. Is that his name? He’s safe. I’m taking care of him. You’d be so proud of me, Ari.”
It was then that Abraham’s people struck. The attack was not honorable and couldn’t be called a battle by any means. Abraham’s vampires swarmed on the fae soldiers like maggots to a carcass. They appeared out of the darkness hissing and growling, teeth gleaming and eyes shining with bloodlust. Several of the vampires caught spears, but only one of the fae’s weapons managed to find a vampire’s heart. That unfortunate vampire fell to dust almost at once, but the others fell upon his murderer. It wasn’t long before all the soldiers were dead the vampires bloated on blood that left them grinning and even laughing as if they were intoxicated.
The victory was short-lived. More soldiers began to pour out of the portal, like ants out of an anthill.
Ryou-
The thirst was overwhelming, nearly crippling. Ryou felt like he’d never had a drink of water before.
Even when the others called their yoroi and leapt into the fray of vampires and fae, he felt suddenly both weaker and frantic with unused energy. The contrast was so violent that he fell to his knees and could do little more than stare at the battle. His jaws hurt and when he ran his tongue along his teeth, Ryou found two sharpened incisors had grown very quickly. Just the touch of his tongue made a bolt of pleasure run to his brain like a lightening strike. Most terrifying and exhilarating was the beat.
A pulse.
A drum pounding.
Some indescribable throbbing, a steady rhythm that only grew stronger and stronger until it wasn’t just in his ears but echoed in his head and filled his whole body. A heartbeat. No. It was more than that. It was a hundred heartbeats all resounding at once and all of them inside Ryou. It was painful and wonderful all at once and made the thirst unbearable. His vision sharpened so vastly that he could see every blade of grass whether it was lit by the moon’s light of not. He could see every hair on the head of every person in the battle. Ryou felt as though he were being crushed and he loved it.
“Kuj…Ryou!” Nasutei was at Ryou’s side and put her arm over his shoulders. “Blazes! Oh, blazes!”
“Stop shouting!” Ryou cried, pressing his hands against his ears. “It hurts! Why does it hurt!?”
BECAUSE YOU’RE ME. The voice Ryou now knew was Anubisu answered. YOU’RE DHAMPIRE. LIVE WITH IT TILL I GET BACK.
MOVE FAST! Ryou ordered.
With strength Ryou hadn’t believed possible for such a little woman Nasutei pulled him close to her side and held him tightly. “Of all the foolish…when did he feed last? You’re starving!”
“What’s wrong with me?” Ryou forced the words out, but it was hard to talk, harder to concentrate. All he could think of was the sweet smell of something he didn’t recognize. It was like oatmeal all around him and filling his nose, he could practically taste it. “I feel…I feel…” There were no words for it, it was just a need.
He felt the touch of Anubisu’s mind push through the hunger, trying to subdue it. DON’T GIVE IN. YOU WON’T LIKE IT, I THINK.
WHAT’S WRONG?
MY BODY NEEDS TO FEED. DO AS MOTHER TELLS YOU, SHE’LL PROTECT YOU.
Mother? Ryou blinked away the tears and looked up at Nasutei. “Mother?”
She smiled and Ryou didn’t think he could pass it off as his own imagination when he saw two long fangs peeking over her lips. “I’m here. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll protect you.” She pulled Ryou close and kissed his forehead.
Though there was chaos all around and Ryou was dimly aware that more and more of the fae were pouring out of the portal and that his friends had already jumped into the battle.
ANUBISU? THAT’S YOU, ISN’T IT? Ryou didn’t need to hear the answer. There would be plenty of time for answers when this was all taken care of. WHAT’S GOING ON?
Anubisu didn’t answer for a minute. I’M DHAMPIRE. THE BODY YOU’RE IN, I PRESUME IT’S MINE, WANTS BLOOD. YOU DON’T REALLY NEED IT, BUT MY BODY’S GETTING HUNGRY. IT’S NOT WISE TO DENY IT. He was in pain and the more he spoke to Ryou, the more obvious it was becoming. Ryou could feel it like a phantom pain in his chest.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY BODY? WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?
YOU’LL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH.
Just at that moment, Ryou’s eyes happened to fall on Kayura, dressed in the Oni yoroi, fighting for all that she was worth.
“No.” Nasutei had a firm grip of Ryou and forced him to look at her, putting a hand on the side of his face to turn him away from Kayura. “You mustn’t. Not her. It’s forbidden to take from children unless you mean to kill them. I don’t think you could live with yourself after that.” Her words had the desired effect of stalling Ryou and Kayura moved on to another fae to battle with. “You don’t want to hurt children.”
The hunger wasn’t to be denied just from Nasutei’s words and he clutched at her arm, desperately. “It hurts!” Like claws trying to rip apart his insides, not just his stomach, but his throat and his brain. Everything was centered on the thought of blood and what he would do to get the blood. There was Seiji, not far away, looking so concerned when he saw Ryou on the ground, half laying in Nasutei’s lap. Seiji had been injured, though not seriously. His lip had been busted and his mouth was covered in blood. Unconsciously, Seiji lapped the blood off his mouth and continued on with the fighting. With that one lick, Seiji brought about the first, guilty, surge of lust Ryou had ever felt looking at him.
‘Oh…’ Ryou’s thought couldn’t quite move beyond that when he stared, entranced. ‘Xiu’s gonna kill me.’ He was thankful, for the first time, that the others couldn’t tell what he was thinking. That couldn’t bring anything but trouble. No matter the danger, no matter how much Ryou loved Seiji, it was impossible to tear his eyes away from the blood. Seiji was looking less like a friend and brother and more like dinner.
“Control yourself.” Nasutei pinched Ryou’s arm and, strangely, bit Ryou on the ear. It was enough to get his attention away from Seiji’s bloody lips - and Ryou’s growing fascination - but when he looked at Nasutei he stared. “My eyes?” She laughed. “Don’t look so shocked. Yours are red, too. It’s just the hunger.” She looked up then and her face grew hard. “Ahhh…there she is, that fae bitc…Ugg!” She grunted when Ryou suddenly swung his arm and caught her across the chest, sending her flying back several yards.
He just couldn’t stand it any longer. Ryou surged to his feet, then straight to the object of his craving. Seiji was too involved with swinging his sword against a fae, but one of the others must have seen Ryou’s attack because Seiji turned at the last minute and dodge Ryou.
“What are you doing?!” Seiji demanded. His eyes widened when he saw Ryou.
“Hungry!” Though Ryou was almost getting used to speaking in Anubisu’s voice, the way that one word came out frightened Ryou. It didn’t frighten him much, though. In fact, most of Ryou’s brain didn’t seem to be working. All he could think about was the warm red on Seiji’s lips.
Seiji-
Seiji tried to concentrate on everyone during the battle, to make sure everyone he cared about was safe. Xiu seemed alright, but Ryou was having problems. Probably something to do with being stuck in Anubisu’s body. Shin, when Seiji glanced at him, kept looking at the open portal. It wasn’t hard to figure out what Shin was thinking about, even if Seiji wished he weren’t. BE CAREFUL. Seiji thought.
Shin smiled at him just before he and Touma rushed to the made a dashed for the portal and threw themselves through. They would rescue Shin’s mum or they wouldn’t return. As much as Seiji had wished he could persuade them to wait for help, he knew they wouldn’t. He wouldn’t have, if it had been his grandfather on the other side of that portal. The best solution was to end the battle quickly, then go through to help.
Seiji thoughts were cut off when Ryou charged him. It was terrible timing. No only did he have to defend himself against Ryou, but against a fae, as well. Seiji bent to let the fae’s spear swing over his head instead of into it, then lurched forward to impale the fae on his sword. There was no time to check the enemy to see if he was dead, Ryou was still attacking.
“What are you doing?!” Seiji demanded.
“Hungry!”
Whatever was wrong with Ryou, Seiji didn’t like it. He believed. After all, Shin believed that Ryou was currently in Anubisu’s body and Shin didn’t lie to them. But to see scar-faced Anubisu, with bright red eyes and fangs bared, charging towards him made Seiji doubt that it was Ryou inside that body. He knew with great certainty, that Ryou would never hurt him, but…well…there was no sense in taking chances.
Seiji dodged aside when Ryou made another lunge for him. He swung his sword in an attempt to ward off Ryou, but it wasn’t as if he could actually use the sword. It was only another thing to irritate Seiji. There was no time to even think of a spell to use because of all the enemy and they couldn’t even use their attacks so close to the mansion. It was home, after all.
Apparently, Kayura and Naaza didn’t feel the same restraint. It wasn’t their home, after all.
Kayura flew into the battle like a madwoman with her jitte raised and her sweet voice screaming over the din. Her attacks felled dozens of fae, but also took down vampires who swarmed towards her. No matter what the reason for them being here, the vampires didn’t have much in the way of self-discipline. Not one of them could lay a hand on Kayura and the one who did manage to grab at Naaza’s arm found himself headless thanks to Naaza’s whip of blades.
Ryou was faster in Anubisu’s body and that body was faster than any of the vampires Seiji had seen in the battle. There was no trace of reason on his maddened face. Seiji just had to try, though. “Ryou! Wake up! Ryou!”
A growl was the only answer Ryou gave him before one last attack which Seiji couldn’t avoid. He found himself pulled to the ground and pressed onto his back. Even in full yoroi, Anubisu’s strength was unbelievable. It occurred to Seiji that in all their battles, Anubisu hadn’t fought all out. With this kind of strength, he must have been holding back all that time. If Naaza had been telling the truth back at the hospital, maybe it had been some kind of lingering memory of Ryou that had made Anubisu go easy on them.
The struggle was fierce, but Seiji was handicapped by not wanting to hurt Ryou and it was a sever disadvantage. Ryou lowered his face to Seiji, but was pulled off at just the last minute with such force that Seiji feared Ryou would pull off his arms the way he was holding on. It was Nasutei who’d pulled Ryou off Seiji, but she was thrown aside, not by Ryou but by another vampire.
“At last!” The vampire holding Ryou shouted. He seized a hold of Ryou’s hair and pull his head aside, just like in any old horror movie. No matter how must Ryou struggled, the vampire had a good hold on him. Not to mention the fact that several other vampires clustered around Ryou holding his arms and legs to stop him from moving. “Dhampire!” The vampire shouted the word with triumph before he bit into Anubisu’s thick neck. Ryou jerked and thrashed, but the vampire didn’t let go until yet another savior jumped in to help.
Kayura used her sharp jitte to slit the throat of the vampire at Ryou’s throat. Though the vampire didn’t die, it was enough to irritate him. The vampire fell back, holding his hands to his throat and making ugly gasping sounds. He didn’t know what hit him when Jun came up behind him with a fierce look on his face and rammed his fist through the vampire’s chest. Seiji felt his stomach churn when he saw - clenched in Jun’s little fist - a still beating heart.
How terrible Jun’s face was when the vampire fell away from him, dissolving into ash before he hit the ground. Jun glare at the pile of ash and snarled, “I told you not to touch my grandchild!”
Ryou, splattered liberally with the vampire’s blood that had been spilt after Kayura had slashed its throat, hungrily lapped it up. He wiped the blood off himself with his hands then licked his hands clean like a starving man. It obviously wasn’t enough, though. When he was cleaned of the blood, Ryou rose his face and looked around for more. His eyes fell on Kayura, standing just a little too close. Ryou leapt to his feet and grabbed Kayura by the hair.
Ryou-
NO! Anubisu screamed through whatever connection he and Ryou had, managing to break through the bloodlust that filled Ryou’s mind enough for Ryou to understand him. YOU’LL NOT HURT HER!
Ryou could hear the words clearly enough, but the hunger won out and Anubisu’s voice was pushed aside, no matter how powerful and insistent it was. It was about that point that Ryou completely lost his reason. To sate his hunger was all that mattered.
Kayura was no match for him and she was at more of a disadvantage as he’d come up behind her. She struggled and kicked when Ryou grabbed her wrist and bit deeply. Kayura screamed, but it only lasted a minute before Ryou was pulled away from her. Nasutei, again.
“Stop!” She ordered. “You want to sate that thirst? Then go! There!” She spun Ryou around and aimed him at the throng of fae. “Go! Go!”
Ryou took off as told and unthinkingly threw himself into the battle.
Tintagel-
Miko-
It was a great relief to see her son feeding, again. All this time she’d worried about Kujuurou not getting enough to eat, but it seemed that her worries were not unfounded. The desire for blood was driving him, but not as strong as it was for pure vampires. In fact, before Abraham had given Kujuurou his first taste of blood, he hadn’t any want for it at all.
At least she was relatively happy when she died.
It was such an anti-climatic way to die, too. Worthless. She didn’t even die in defense of her child or her sire.
One minute Miko was fondly watching her son drag yet another disgusting fae to the ground and rip into its throat…then she had a spear through her chest. It took her completely by surprise, yet the urge to laugh was so overpowering that she let out a low chuckle even as she put her hands on the bloody, wooden spear protruding from her breast.
‘Should’ve paid more attention…Abraham would scold me.’ Even as she thought that, she looked up and saw Abraham flying towards her. ‘Oh, now he’s upset. I’m sorry, daddy.’ She wished she could have turned to laugh at the fae who’d killed her, but she felt weak very suddenly. The sounds of the battle faded around her until she thought she’d gone deaf. At least the spear didn’t hurt when her murderer yanked it to the side, right through her heart.
Death didn’t seize her as quickly as Miko had hoped it would. She’d seen dozens of vampires die in her long, all of them fading to dust almost instantly. It seemed to take a long time for Miko, though.
She felt her heart being crushed by the deadly wood of the spear. She felt her body being to disintegrate. When Abraham drew closer, Miko reached out a hand to him only to see her fingers fall to dust followed by her hand, then her arm. It was a nightmare, a slow-action horror movie. But she saw her son feeding. She saw all her boys in their yoroi alive and fighting. She saw Ryou’s body with another man who bore the body of Shin’s mum run through the still open portal. All was well. Miko was happy when her vision and consciousness faded completely.
There was darkness everywhere. Darkness, then warmth and comfortable arms holding her. A man who’d died long ago, who’d been waiting for her to join him. At long last, after so many years, Miko let herself relax into complete happiness with pleasant dreams and happy memories of long ago filling her being.
Tintagel-
Shin-
Wherever they’d ended up, Shin just didn’t care. The army of fae showed no signs of letting up and only when Shin saw how many of them there were, did he realize how bad the odds were. Unless they were to call down their greatest attacks, fighting them hand to hand would prove exhausting. The room was crammed full of the soldiers, so full that Shin and Touma could barely move.
“Stay behind me.” Shin ordered, nearly shoving Touma behind him where he could defend his friend with his yari. The trident was a better weapon for such up-close and personal battle. There was hardly any room for Touma to pull his bow.
“Damn it!” Touma cursed, letting himself be pushed back. They were in a bad position. Their backs to the portal, they could be forced back at any time, further away from Shin’s mum. “Clear a path!”
“Gimme a break! You do NOT want to be in an enclosed room when I let Suiko loose.” Shin shouted back, swinging his yari as quickly as he could to keep the enemy away from them. Their spears had a longer reach than swords, though, so it was harder to keep them at bay. He couldn’t even take time to stab one with the barbed hooks of the yari as the others would crush them. If he dared to take the thirty seconds to shout out the words that would activate Suiko’s power, they would surely be overwhelmed. “If you’ve got any ideas…”
Apparently he did.
Touma kicked Shin’s legs out from under him, knocking him on the ground, and shouted, “Shin Ku Ha!”
It was Shin’s turn to curse, but he did so laying flat on his belly in front of Touma with his hands protectively over his head and his eyes squeezed closed. He’d never been so close when Touma had shot off the Shin Ku Ha and there was good reason. There was a wave of air, a vacuum, that surged just above Shin, so close that he could feel his hair moving in the wind and couldn’t hear anything at all. All at once, he felt as if his whole body would lift off from the ground - he could actually feel his legs start to be picked up from Touma’s vacuum. Fearful that he’d actually get caught up in it, Shin shot out his arms and grabbed hold of Touma’s legs to anchor himself.
Then it was over and Shin glared up at Touma. “Give me some warning, will ya?” He turned to look around and found the room empty. “Though I guess it worked out pretty well. I can’t feel you, Touma.” He said the last in amazement and stared at his friend in horror. He couldn’t feel anyone. Luckily, it wasn’t like when Ryou had disappeared. He was prepared for the shock and was able to deal with it, but it was still unpleasant.
“Yeah. Weird, isn’t it? Reminds me of what it was like before. I don’t like it. Let’s get Mum and get out of here fast.” Touma frowned at the empty room, then down at his bow. “First time I ever killed anything that was…you know, alive.”
Shin put his armored hand on Touma’s shoulder. “We’re on our own here. We have to be more ruthless than before.” Indeed, he couldn’t feel any of the others, but he was glad that Touma was with him. How awful it must have been for Ryou to be alone in this place. A look around the room they were in showed that it was some kind of throne room with a raised dais and a throne. There were tall windows and large double doors at the opposite end of the room. “Now, where’s mum?”
“Dungeons.” Touma answered, heading for the double-doors. “Look at this place. It’s a castle and all castles have dungeons.” It was as good an idea as either of them had, so Shin followed Touma. Next time, Shin decided, he would use his attack first. No point in Touma having more guilt laid upon him, even if it was necessary. It was a coincidence that they found Michael, Xiu’s friend. Running down one of the dark passages, they were guessing led to the dungeons, Shin and Touma turned a corner to come face to face with a human, peering into a doorway.
“Xiu’s friend.” Touma said, probably louder than he’d intended. The foreign man turned at his words and clutched at his gun, suspiciously. His eyes narrowed and he took a step back from the door, his eyes darting between the door and Shin and Touma. “Look,” Touma started to say, but stopped when Michael - that was what Xiu had called him - put a finger to his lips to silence them. He pointed to the doorway, urgently.
Puzzled, Shin crept up to the doorway with Touma at his back, ready to fire on the man if he proved to be yet another enemy. He saw red almost at once. His mum laying on a plush bed with several of the fae standing around the bed, talking in hushed murmurs. A touch on his shoulder made Shin look up and he saw Touma, grimacing and starting to raise his bow.
“No!” Shin hissed, put a hand on Touma’s arm to stop him. If Touma were to let his arrow loose, he would kill Shin’s mum, too. Instead, Shin found the gun he’d gotten from papa Faun and aimed, wondering which one to take out first. That problem was solved when Michael made a sharp gesture, drawing Shin’s attention to him. He pointed with his own gun to one of the fae, then pointed to Shin. It was clear enough. Shin aimed at the fae Michael had pointed out while Michael aimed for the other. They fired in unison and both fae fell, dead before they hit the ground.
There was a tense moment when the three of them looked around, expecting more enemy to have heard the shots, but no one came. “Hey,” Touma gave him a gentle shove. “Since when have you been such a good aim?”
“Do you really want to know?” Shin didn’t wait for an answer before he went into the room to his mum’s side. “Mum? Come on, mum!” He shook her shoulder and patted her face as hard as he could without actually hitting her. “Oh, man!” There was no help for it. She didn’t move at all, though thankfully, it didn’t look like they’d beaten her.
“Carry her!” Touma told Shin sharply from the doorway. He hadn’t gone into the room with Shin, but stayed at the door to watch for more of the soldiers. “We’ll get her to a hospital back home, let just get out of here.”
“Good idea.” Michael, like Touma, hadn’t left the doorway but he seemed to be getting more nervous by the moment. “You know how you got here?”
“Yup. Stick with us and we’ll get you back to Earth.”
Michael closed his eyes for a moment and swore in English. “I knew. I just knew it. I KNEW that thing wasn’t from Earth.”
“What thing?” Touma asked.
A new voice interrupted them, a soft, sinuous voice that sounded the way silk felt. “Me. And here I thought you’d run off, human.” It wasn’t a youja, Shin was sure of that, but the creature that stood in the doorway between Michael and Touma was definitely not human, nor was it a fae. Most importantly, it had Ryou. Or, supposedly, Anubisu inside Ryou’s body. Touma was quick to pull Ryou away from the insect like creature, putting an arm under Ryou’s arms to hold him up.
“So,” Touma grinned at Ryou’s pained face. “You’re borrowing my buddie’s body?” He looked down at Ryou’s naked body and the terrible scars and burns. “Doesn’t look like you’re taking too good care of it. He’s gonna be cross with you.”
Anubisu, it must have been him, rolled his eyes in a very un-Ryou like way. “You have no idea. Let‘s just get out of here. Don’t worry about Lightfoot.” He looked tiredly at the insect creature. “She’s…it’s a friend of mine.”
Just when Shin thought it was all over - everyone had been accounted for, after all - there was a terrible scream. The first thing that sprung to Shin’s mind when he moved to shield his mum was that a banshee had come to haunt the halls of the unreal castle. The scream grew worse, louder and louder, but when Shin turned, expecting to see the three people at the door ready to fight, he saw both Michael and Touma sagging against the doorframe. Their eyes were half-closed and Touma’s hand had grown so limp that his bow had fallen to the floor next to him. The insect creature had moved into the room and was half-hiding behind the door, ready to strike.
Shin would be no help to the insect creature at all. He, too, felt a dreadful lassitude spreading through his body. He sank to the floor, by the bed, completely helpless, though he was screaming at himself to wake up and move.
When the screamer scurried into the room Shin saw that it was the woman Rajura had faced off with outside Nasutei’s mansion. Her eyes were wild and livid. She came to a stop just before the bed and looked at Shin’s mum with something caught between hate and desire. Her throat was torn, ripped open savagely, spilling bright blood down the front of her gown.
Earth-
Rajura-
“Sedari,” Rajura kept his voice low and his body as still as he could. “I don’t l love you. I never have and I never will. I despise you. The very thought of you makes my flesh crawl. What can I do to convince you? How long has this nonsense...”
“Nonsense?!” Sedari‘s eyes grew wide, outraged.
“How long has this nonsense gone on?” Rajura continued, refusing to give her the respect of being listened to. “Two thousand years, when I was little more than a child clutching at my mother’s skirts you came to me with sweets and stories. I ran from you. I left my home and my family to be rid of you. Haven’t you grown tired of this chase after all this time?”
“Time is nothing.” Sedari said, calming herself down almost at once. “An illusion, which you should understand better than anyone.”
“Not to a human and, despite my power, I AM human. I am a man, not one of your fae courtiers. I do not lust after that body of yours just because you command me to.”
She smiled arrogantly and leaned back in her throne. “Yet you are here as a result of my command. I think you would do anything I please to ensure the safety of the one that is my guest. Am I right, Ari?” She was too sure of herself. “I really don't know why you fight me so hard. All this I can give you.” She spread her arms, indicating her own glorious body. She was beautiful, no one would deny that. Her hair was golden, like wheat field in the light of the morning sun. Her skin was fair and nearly glowed. The gown she wore left little to the imagination and showed off all her best attributes. Unfortunately, for her, Rajura’s eye was fixed on the cruel little twist of her lips. A mockery of a smile.
Rajura returned the smile, but made it as cold as he could. “But I already have what I want.” He waved an almost negligent hand at the battle where his brothers and little sister fought all of them striking and as magnificent as Rajura always saw them. “The one you have taken is not my beloved, if that’s what you think. He’s nothing but a boy I fought once in a minor skirmish. My dearest ones fight your people even as we speak. I have come only because I am weary of hiding myself from you.”
“Your dearest ones?” Sedari’s nose wrinkled. “A half-demon and a dhampire. One sheds his skin and spits venom, the other drinks your blood every night. The last one? A child?” She showed more anger in her expression at the mention of Kayura, but still managed to control herself fairly well. “I’ll kill her once I have you somewhere safe. She isn’t worthy of you. None of them are. You made such a point of being human. Are these dark things so much more appealing than the queen of Tintagel?”
“Yes.” He didn’t need to explain anything. To him, Sedari couldn't complete. He'd rather couple with any of the children warriors, the Samurai Troopers, than Sedari. He’d rather bed a werewolf. In all honesty, he’d much rather be forced to breed with a mushroom. “I don’t need your power and I don’t want your body. You have nothing else which to entice me into your bed.”
“Give them back!” Rajura found himself growling. He’d worry about self-control when everyone was safe.
Sedari reached out her skinny arms to him. “I’ll have you back one way or another, Ari. We’re meant to be together.”
“No, Sedari. Never. Give me back the boy.” He knew Anubisu was near, afraid and in pain. But he also knew it wasn’t Anubisu alone who suffered from Sedari’s sadistic treatment.
“He’s the bait. You wouldn’t have come without him being my guest.”
“Guest?!” Rajura thundered, furiously. “You’ve tortured him!”
“We are so alike, Ari...”
“Rajura.” Rajura snapped, far too tired of hearing the name he’d long ago left behind. “I am Gen Ma-Sho Rajura, general of my Lady Kayura. Ari vanished long ago.” He was rapidly losing his temper and fought to regain it. There was no profit in letting himself go at this point. “Your glamour has little effect on me, but I expect I have a great deal of effect on your world. Do you really want to pit your glamour against mine?”
Sedari hesitated at the threat, as Rajura had known she would. She wasn’t stupid after all. Her people weren’t fighters and without their magic, they were helpless.
“Tempt me, queen of the Fey. Just once and I will unleash my power upon Tintagel.”
Sedari was not easily cowed. “Your esteemed power is nothing more than glamour. Glamour made solid, but glamour nonetheless.”
“True. But I am real and I am, by far, more fearsome than my dear brothers.”
“You bluff, Ari.” She stubbornly refused to use his preferred name. “Even in Tintagel we have heard much of the war your former master waged against Midgard. We know you are made less by the death of the fire-haired brat. The Oni child. How can you fight my world with less than full power?”
She obviously didn’t realize that while Sh’ten was gone, his power had been transmitted in full to Kayura.
It angered Rajura a great deal more than he’d expected to hear someone like Sedari call Sh’ten a child. “More good fortune to you, then. If I were able, I would let Sh’ten loose in your kingdom and nothing would stand in his wake. That bothersome child was walking chaos just waiting to be set free. He would bring your splendid city to ruin and your people would be no more.” He was distracted, during all of the argument. Not only did he have to contend against Sedari, but he was busy masking the battle around them and, most vitally, hiding Kayura from Sedari’s sight. Though he knew Sedari had already seen Kayura, it was best to keep the girl out of sight for the most part.
It would have been far too dangerous to invite Sedari to make a personal enemy out of Kayura. While Kayura was immensely powerful, if Sedari were to dislike her, Rajura wasn’t sure they would be able to protect her. Sedari ignored the men in Rajura’s life, but had a passionate hatred of all women.
Ironic, really.
“You boast too much of your comrades.” Sedari laughed, but it was true that she didn’t seem happy. “They are not the only people who love you. I will do anything for you, my Ari. Let your Sh’ten loose in Tintagel, I no longer care. Soon, it will not be my home. I will live in Midgard with you by my side. Don’t look at me so crossly. It is the humans who will make me their queen, I do nothing by violence. How can they help loving me?”
That was the end of Rajura’s patience. He opened his mouth to speak when he saw what she was talking about. Yet another vision, though fleeting, flashed before his eyes. He saw a pregnant woman laying helplessly on a bed and knew that Sedari would use the unborn child to become human, displacing the infant’s soul. He saw the Wyrm Ryou and Anubisu loved so well kill Sedari with its awesome blades in one quick movement.
When the vision had ended, Rajura waved a hand placing before Sedari he a large mirror. “Your arrogance is unbecoming, Sedari. Take a good look.” He walked around the mirror to stand next to Sedari, the closest he’d been to her in a very long time. “Time to cast off your illusions and see reality. We all must deal with it, in the end.” A wave of his hand and Rajura caused Sedari to believe her glamour was gone.
Sedari’s reaction was immediate. The smile slid off her face and she stared in horrified fascination at her own reflection. Just at that moment, she was aware of nothing but her reflection. “Who is this woman?” She asked in a hoarse whisper, raising her hand as if she would touch her reflection. “That can not be me.”
“But it is. That is what you truly look like. Without your glamour and without deception, see how ordinary you are? How do you like it, dear Lady-Queen?” Rajura looked at the reflection from behind Sedari. “You look very…plain.”
She did. Her skin was sallow instead of the porcelain pale. Her eyes were gray instead of blue. Her hair, which had been the color of gold, was a rather dishwater color. Her long-admired curves were less than inspiring and her long arms and legs were nothing less than bony.
“No.” Sedari put a hand to her thin face and ran her fingers along the line of her chin. “This can’t be me. I’m beautiful.”
“You are a vain creature, like all of your species. Without glamour, you are so ordinary.” Rajura’s eyes went to the battle, though he knew Sedari wasn’t thinking of the warriors. Sh’ten’s glorious hair…Naaza’s hypnotic eyes…Anubisu’s powerful hands…how beautiful they all were. Even little Kayura’s sweetness was lovely. How could she ever think he would leave their company for her mindless raging? “Compared to humans, you are a mouse.”
“NO!” She lashed out and smashed her fist into the mirror, shattering it. The glass shards showered to the ground like raindrops. “It’s not real! I’m beautiful!”
“Welcome to reality.” Rajura made no pretense about what he’d done and it was all the more cruel when he smiled at her horror. He picked up one of the larger glass shards and held it before her. “This is you. Without magic. Without illusion. You’ll never have it again, either. I’ve destroyed your glamour.“ Of course it was a lie. Rajura could no more destroy a fae’s glamour than he could destroy a human’s imagination. But, he could make Sedari believe it was gone. “For the rest of your live, you’ll be a dandelion in a field of orchids.”
“Why?” She turned on Rajura with tears streaking down her cheeks, making her face flush with ugly blotches. “Why would you do this to me?” Her eyes flickered away from him down to the glass in his hand. She took it from him, not noticing when the edges cut her hands and blood started running down her arms. “My face…my lovely face…”
“It’s your punishment. You’ve hurt my family. I can think of no greater evil. I thought about killing you for your dim-witted actions, but that would be too kind. I think you’ll suffer more like this.” As a last gesture, Rajura took her wrists and brought up the shard of mirror she’d been holding as close to her face as he could. “Look closely. This is the face that everyone, all of your adoring subjects, will see for the rest of your life. I wonder how the fae will take to having a homely Lady-Queen?” Then he stepped back and fell silent. He didn’t have to do anything else.
Sedari was so lost in her own misery, the loss of her greatest treasure, that she no longer saw Rajura. “To live…like this? No. I can’t.” She gripped the shard more tightly until the blood was spurting out from her hands, staining the front of her gown. “This isn’t me.” She shook her head, the horror in her eyes growing by the second. “This isn’t me! I’m beautiful! I’m beautiful and my Ari loves me!” She pulled the mirror shard to her in one sharp, quick jerk, piercing her throat. The blood spurted like a geyser from her throat, but Sedari didn’t die instantly. She pulled the shard away from her and looked down at it, looking confused. “Loves…me.” She stabbed herself again and this time fell to the floor.
Sedari muttered and moaned, staring into space. Rajura didn’t worry too much, even when she turned and ran for the portal. She wouldn’t die from the wound, no matter how terrible it looked. Something more sever was needed to for that final job and that ‘something more sever’ was waiting for her in the room where she’d imprisoned Suiko’s mother. He’d already seen the outcome. He watched Sedari until he couldn’t see her any longer, then turned to the rest of his companions. The fae were all dead, slaughtered by the warriors and by the hungry vampires.
The after-effects of a battle were never pretty. There was the dead to clean up and the wounded to tend. Thankfully, they’d only lost one ally to the battle. Sadly, it was the young woman Abraham called his daughter. Even more heartbreaking, there was no body left to mourn. Abraham was kneeling on the ground, wailing in grief at the moon overhead. Nothing would soothe his pain but time.
Naaza stood near Kayura, his hand covering the bite on her neck as he was no doubt healing it, with his eyes on Ryou in Anubisu’s body. There didn’t seem to be any great worry. Kayura, though wounded by Ryou’s unthinking attack and exhausted from the battle, seemed to be unscathed. She was trembling and had both hands on the staff to support herself, her eyes a little wild and her face sweaty. All in all, it was pretty good for her first real battle not being possessed by a demon. When they went home, it would be time to start her training. He had been a fool. He’d nearly rejected his only sister.
Ryou looked bloated with blood and lay half-asleep on the ground, his face and chest drenched with blood while a smile rested on his lips and both Korin and Kongo stood guard over him. Undoubtedly, they’d seen the vampires trying to get a hold of him during the battle, too, and they wanted to protect him against the lingering members of Abraham’s family.
All in all, the battle had worked out rather well. All that was left was to wait for the rest of their people to come back through the portal. It made Rajura look again at where Sedari had vanished through. “I hope you’re happy with Ari. He’s dead, too.”
Shin-
“Nonsense!” The woman shrieked, sending another wave of whatever kind of power she had out to hit Shin. “It’s not nonsense! I’ll be what he wants me to be! I’ll be mortal and young, I’ll be dhampire! Anything he wishes, I’ll be!” She grabbed her long with her hands, pulling at it madly. “He must love me! Everyone must love me!” She shoot out her hands over Shin’s mum. “Spirit unknown. Soul disregard. Mine! By the glory of Lord on High, by the grace of Lady Beneath, displace…” Her words were cut off abruptly.
The gray insect creature leapt out from its concealment with the two dragon swords held in front of it. It let out a cry that was more than the fury the woman had shown, but less manic. “Foul thing!” It cried. “You’ve dirtied my pets with your hands!” It raised the swords and made a slashing movement as it leapt towards the woman. The move was fast, as fast as Ryou had ever been. Shin could hardly see when the blades of the swords had cut into the woman, slicing her clean through from shoulder to hip and shoulder to hip.
She looked shocked for a moment, one of those frozen moments one always sees in dramatic movies, then she fell. Her head and chest fell first, then her right side, then her left side. Four even cut pieces of the mad woman plopped down like a squishy, bloody jigsaw puzzle thrown on the floor.
“Shin?” Shin looked up just in time to see his mum’s hand twitch as she began to wake. “Shin?”
“Mum!”
Continued…
Earth-
Rajura-
Rajura cursed after closing his mind to Naaza and Kayura. Why didn’t anyone ever listen to him? He was the oldest. He was a seer. Didn’t they think he knew what was best for everyone? Then again, he hadn’t had a single vision since the one where he’d seen Sedari and even that one hadn’t done anyone much good. ‘Why do thy call it a blessing? I see what will happen, but it’s not as if I can affect anything.’ The vision was all making more sense, though that didn’t reassure Rajura at all. Standing outside the Yagiyu mansion he recalled that vision that had appeared to him just before this mess began.
Vision-
It struck hard.
“Give them back!” Rajura found himself shouting. There, at the far end of the room, was a very familiar figure. A woman who made Rajura’s skin crawl.
Sedari reached out her skinny arms to him. “I’ll have you back one way or another, Ari. We‘re meant to be together.”
“No, Sedari. Never. Give me back my brother.” He knew Anubisu was near, afraid and in pain. But he also knew it wasn’t Anubisu alone who suffered from Sedari’s sadistic treatment.
“He’s the bait. You wouldn’t have come without him being my guest.”
“Guest?!” Rajura thundered, furiously. “You’ve tortured him! I felt it! Every moment of it! I saw his pain and felt what you did to his body. Give me my brother!”
“Ari…”
“Ari is gone. I am Rajura!”
Wolves and tigers with cold eyes.
Twin dragon swords clashing in the dark.
Blood.
Anubisu crying.
Lovers.
Death.
Naaza holding the body of a dying Rekka.
End of Vision-
Parts of the vision were becoming clearer, but this was hardly the time to be pondering it. One lesson Rajura fully understood - visions were never wrong and the future could not be changed. All he could do was make the best of it and try to get everyone out with as little pain as possible.
Naaza holding Rekka’s body meant that Naaza was caring for the boy when Rajura had left him at the hospital.
The lovers were Ryou and Anubisu.
Wolves and tigers referred to the Wyrm that had been with them all along.
Anubisu crying was because of the torture.
The twin dragons…another reference to the Wyrm, though Rajura wasn’t sure why he saw two of them.
Finally, death. He’d seen death in the vision, but not who would die. That was the part that disturbed him the most. The way things were going, it seemed that Anubisu would be the one to die and Rajura knew he’d be ill if he thought too much on that point.
Rajura pushed the thoughts from his mind to focus on the ‘now’. He had to take care of the present and the future would happen whether he liked it or not. So he started for the large house, trying to ignore the vampires he knew were in the forest all around. Of course, he couldn’t sense them as Anubisu could, but it would have been foolish for Abraham NOT to call them and Abraham seemed far from foolish to Rajura.
“You need a nice soak in a hot bath.”
Rajura stopped walking and turned to find Sh’ten sitting in the grass smiling at him. He looked very much at ease and very real. “Good evening.”
“Good evening. What have I told you about getting too tense? You’ll get wrinkles on that pretty face. So…how are things here?”
“It’s been better. You do know that you’re dead, don’t you?”
“Yes. Won’t you sit with me?”
“I haven’t time.” But it hurt Rajura to admit it. He wanted nothing more than to just sit and talk. To find out if Sh’ten was pleased or shamed that he’d given up his life for them. He wanted to know if the final act of death had hurt and what the after-life was like. “My past has come to hurt us. Anubisu has been taken. He’s hurt.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I’m dead. I know pretty much everything, even if I can’t tell you. Damned rules.” Sh’ten gave that glorious smile that had lured so many lovers to his bed over the centuries. “I’ve been watching. It’s all very exciting.”
Rajura bit his lip to stop himself from reprimanding Sh’ten, just as he always used to. Why did Sh’ten have to think such serious matters were amusing? “Why are you back?”
Sh’ten laughed and leaned back to prop himself up on the palms of his hands. “I tried to warn you, didn’t I? Your dream.”
“You showed me a freckled man with a gun. Who was that?”
“A friend of one of those trooper boys, I think. Now,” He hopped lightly to his feet and gave Rajura a serious frown. “In all honesty, I think there‘s only one important task I can accomplish here.”
“And that is?”
“Don’t blame Kayura for my death. You keep going on about how you’re the oldest and you’re responsible. Act like it, then. I don’t blame her, why should you?” Sh’ten ran a hand though his hair and looked at the mansion. “Ah, I think you’ve been discovered.” Indeed, there was little Abraham making his way from the house towards Rajura. “I want you to live through this, ‘Jura. Don’t let yourself be killed.” Sh’ten’s voice softened, sadly. “I don’t think I can speak to you, again. I have to go. I do love you, big brother.” Then Sh’ten was gone and Rajura felt a renewed pain in his heart.
“That little bastard.” Rajura managed a half-hearted laugh. “Came back just to cause a little misery. I’ll bet he enjoyed it, too.” He had no time to muse on Sh’ten. He could do that later. Naaza and Kayura had disregarded his orders and Kayura was feeling out her new position as empress, seeing how far she could push her authority. He didn’t have much time before they would appear and he’d have more family at risk. If he could deal with Sedari before they found him, the danger wouldn’t be quite so vast.
“Are you ready?” Abraham asked when he reached Rajura. He was looking less and less like a harmless child. Though outwardly, he still looked the same, his eyes were hard and angry and hadn’t changed since he’d first discovered his grandchild’s abduction. They were both outside of the Yagiyu mansion and Rajura was acutely aware of the vampires Abraham had called, gathering around them. “My people are assembled and ready. They’re hungry. I wouldn’t keep them waiting too long, if I were you.”
“There was family business to take care of.” But Abraham was right. Time to stop fooling around. The hope that Naaza would be sensible enough to keep everyone out of the way had been dashed. “Just keep your leeches away from me and I’ll give them a feast they’ll never forget.” Rajura spoke loudly enough so that not only Abraham would hear him, but that all the other vampires would hear, also. He was in no mood for games.
“My leeches,” Abraham grinned, showing off his long canines. “Have a taste for something exotic, this night. I’m afraid you just won’t do in this instance. We’ve always had a taste for fae.” He made a sweeping gesture with his arms and asked, expectantly, “Well?”
There was one certain way to attract Sedari’s attention and, fortunately, Rajura knew how to do it. He dismissed the Gen yoroi and stood under the moon in a simple kimono. Without the protection of the yoroi, he knew he looked vulnerable. He also knew very well that there would be spies around. There were always a few and for the first time since he’d left the mortal world behind, Rajura was counting on the spies to relay his message as quickly as possible.
“Sedari!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. “Show yourself! I am Ari!” He said no more. That was all that was needed, if his estimation of Sedari’s ego was even close. A few minutes ticked back when not a single sound could be heard. There was no movement at all. Then he heard a whooshing sound, like a gale of wind though there was no wind. In front of him, between himself and the mansion, a portal opened almost as soon as the words had left Rajura’s mouth and he braced himself.
Sedari stepped through the portal with all the grace and elegance that Rajura remembered, a proud smile of her face. Sedari looked very little like Rajura remembered her. Then again, the last time he’d seen her, he had only been twelve and what does a twelve-year-old know about anything? Once, he’d thought Sedari was beautiful. He remembered her sweet voice and her soft hands when she would touch his face. The sweet memories didn’t last long. Sedari had proved manipulative and possessive. She began to demand more and more of his time, jealously trying to keep him so close that he could barely leave her side. The day he’d escaped her had been the biggest relief of his life.
The portal Sedari stepped through was like a hole of light in mid-air and when he saw her Rajura found that his half-pleasant memories were overshadowed by reality. And it was reality that he saw. She was middle-aged, for a fae. Lines were developing on her face, in the corners of her eyes and mouth. Her hair was thinning on top with strands of gray streaking through the blonde. Her eyes…her dreadful eyes…were wide and shining too brightly.
“Ari.” She beamed joyfully as she stepped towards Rajura. “I hurried here for you. For so many years I’ve looked for you. I began to think you dead. Oh, but that terrible thought was just a nightmare. You stand before me. You haven’t changed.”
Haven’t changed? If nothing else, Rajura had grown about three feet since he’d last seen her. “Where is he?” Rajura kept his voice steady even as the fae soldiers began to march through the portal. Sedari hadn’t been fool enough to walk to the mortal world alone. There were eight soldiers, each armed with spears and small shields. Rajura had known it would happen, but part of him had been hoping she wouldn’t bring reinforcements. Not that it made any difference.
The portal behind her was still open and inviting.
Abraham was waiting, patiently for the last of the eight soldiers to get fully out of the portal.
“He who?” She asked, distantly.
“You know very well who I’m talking about. The boy, Ryou.”
“Boy? Oh. Is that his name? He’s safe. I’m taking care of him. You’d be so proud of me, Ari.”
It was then that Abraham’s people struck. The attack was not honorable and couldn’t be called a battle by any means. Abraham’s vampires swarmed on the fae soldiers like maggots to a carcass. They appeared out of the darkness hissing and growling, teeth gleaming and eyes shining with bloodlust. Several of the vampires caught spears, but only one of the fae’s weapons managed to find a vampire’s heart. That unfortunate vampire fell to dust almost at once, but the others fell upon his murderer. It wasn’t long before all the soldiers were dead the vampires bloated on blood that left them grinning and even laughing as if they were intoxicated.
The victory was short-lived. More soldiers began to pour out of the portal, like ants out of an anthill.
Ryou-
The thirst was overwhelming, nearly crippling. Ryou felt like he’d never had a drink of water before.
Even when the others called their yoroi and leapt into the fray of vampires and fae, he felt suddenly both weaker and frantic with unused energy. The contrast was so violent that he fell to his knees and could do little more than stare at the battle. His jaws hurt and when he ran his tongue along his teeth, Ryou found two sharpened incisors had grown very quickly. Just the touch of his tongue made a bolt of pleasure run to his brain like a lightening strike. Most terrifying and exhilarating was the beat.
A pulse.
A drum pounding.
Some indescribable throbbing, a steady rhythm that only grew stronger and stronger until it wasn’t just in his ears but echoed in his head and filled his whole body. A heartbeat. No. It was more than that. It was a hundred heartbeats all resounding at once and all of them inside Ryou. It was painful and wonderful all at once and made the thirst unbearable. His vision sharpened so vastly that he could see every blade of grass whether it was lit by the moon’s light of not. He could see every hair on the head of every person in the battle. Ryou felt as though he were being crushed and he loved it.
“Kuj…Ryou!” Nasutei was at Ryou’s side and put her arm over his shoulders. “Blazes! Oh, blazes!”
“Stop shouting!” Ryou cried, pressing his hands against his ears. “It hurts! Why does it hurt!?”
BECAUSE YOU’RE ME. The voice Ryou now knew was Anubisu answered. YOU’RE DHAMPIRE. LIVE WITH IT TILL I GET BACK.
MOVE FAST! Ryou ordered.
With strength Ryou hadn’t believed possible for such a little woman Nasutei pulled him close to her side and held him tightly. “Of all the foolish…when did he feed last? You’re starving!”
“What’s wrong with me?” Ryou forced the words out, but it was hard to talk, harder to concentrate. All he could think of was the sweet smell of something he didn’t recognize. It was like oatmeal all around him and filling his nose, he could practically taste it. “I feel…I feel…” There were no words for it, it was just a need.
He felt the touch of Anubisu’s mind push through the hunger, trying to subdue it. DON’T GIVE IN. YOU WON’T LIKE IT, I THINK.
WHAT’S WRONG?
MY BODY NEEDS TO FEED. DO AS MOTHER TELLS YOU, SHE’LL PROTECT YOU.
Mother? Ryou blinked away the tears and looked up at Nasutei. “Mother?”
She smiled and Ryou didn’t think he could pass it off as his own imagination when he saw two long fangs peeking over her lips. “I’m here. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll protect you.” She pulled Ryou close and kissed his forehead.
Though there was chaos all around and Ryou was dimly aware that more and more of the fae were pouring out of the portal and that his friends had already jumped into the battle.
ANUBISU? THAT’S YOU, ISN’T IT? Ryou didn’t need to hear the answer. There would be plenty of time for answers when this was all taken care of. WHAT’S GOING ON?
Anubisu didn’t answer for a minute. I’M DHAMPIRE. THE BODY YOU’RE IN, I PRESUME IT’S MINE, WANTS BLOOD. YOU DON’T REALLY NEED IT, BUT MY BODY’S GETTING HUNGRY. IT’S NOT WISE TO DENY IT. He was in pain and the more he spoke to Ryou, the more obvious it was becoming. Ryou could feel it like a phantom pain in his chest.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH MY BODY? WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?
YOU’LL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH.
Just at that moment, Ryou’s eyes happened to fall on Kayura, dressed in the Oni yoroi, fighting for all that she was worth.
“No.” Nasutei had a firm grip of Ryou and forced him to look at her, putting a hand on the side of his face to turn him away from Kayura. “You mustn’t. Not her. It’s forbidden to take from children unless you mean to kill them. I don’t think you could live with yourself after that.” Her words had the desired effect of stalling Ryou and Kayura moved on to another fae to battle with. “You don’t want to hurt children.”
The hunger wasn’t to be denied just from Nasutei’s words and he clutched at her arm, desperately. “It hurts!” Like claws trying to rip apart his insides, not just his stomach, but his throat and his brain. Everything was centered on the thought of blood and what he would do to get the blood. There was Seiji, not far away, looking so concerned when he saw Ryou on the ground, half laying in Nasutei’s lap. Seiji had been injured, though not seriously. His lip had been busted and his mouth was covered in blood. Unconsciously, Seiji lapped the blood off his mouth and continued on with the fighting. With that one lick, Seiji brought about the first, guilty, surge of lust Ryou had ever felt looking at him.
‘Oh…’ Ryou’s thought couldn’t quite move beyond that when he stared, entranced. ‘Xiu’s gonna kill me.’ He was thankful, for the first time, that the others couldn’t tell what he was thinking. That couldn’t bring anything but trouble. No matter the danger, no matter how much Ryou loved Seiji, it was impossible to tear his eyes away from the blood. Seiji was looking less like a friend and brother and more like dinner.
“Control yourself.” Nasutei pinched Ryou’s arm and, strangely, bit Ryou on the ear. It was enough to get his attention away from Seiji’s bloody lips - and Ryou’s growing fascination - but when he looked at Nasutei he stared. “My eyes?” She laughed. “Don’t look so shocked. Yours are red, too. It’s just the hunger.” She looked up then and her face grew hard. “Ahhh…there she is, that fae bitc…Ugg!” She grunted when Ryou suddenly swung his arm and caught her across the chest, sending her flying back several yards.
He just couldn’t stand it any longer. Ryou surged to his feet, then straight to the object of his craving. Seiji was too involved with swinging his sword against a fae, but one of the others must have seen Ryou’s attack because Seiji turned at the last minute and dodge Ryou.
“What are you doing?!” Seiji demanded. His eyes widened when he saw Ryou.
“Hungry!” Though Ryou was almost getting used to speaking in Anubisu’s voice, the way that one word came out frightened Ryou. It didn’t frighten him much, though. In fact, most of Ryou’s brain didn’t seem to be working. All he could think about was the warm red on Seiji’s lips.
Seiji-
Seiji tried to concentrate on everyone during the battle, to make sure everyone he cared about was safe. Xiu seemed alright, but Ryou was having problems. Probably something to do with being stuck in Anubisu’s body. Shin, when Seiji glanced at him, kept looking at the open portal. It wasn’t hard to figure out what Shin was thinking about, even if Seiji wished he weren’t. BE CAREFUL. Seiji thought.
Shin smiled at him just before he and Touma rushed to the made a dashed for the portal and threw themselves through. They would rescue Shin’s mum or they wouldn’t return. As much as Seiji had wished he could persuade them to wait for help, he knew they wouldn’t. He wouldn’t have, if it had been his grandfather on the other side of that portal. The best solution was to end the battle quickly, then go through to help.
Seiji thoughts were cut off when Ryou charged him. It was terrible timing. No only did he have to defend himself against Ryou, but against a fae, as well. Seiji bent to let the fae’s spear swing over his head instead of into it, then lurched forward to impale the fae on his sword. There was no time to check the enemy to see if he was dead, Ryou was still attacking.
“What are you doing?!” Seiji demanded.
“Hungry!”
Whatever was wrong with Ryou, Seiji didn’t like it. He believed. After all, Shin believed that Ryou was currently in Anubisu’s body and Shin didn’t lie to them. But to see scar-faced Anubisu, with bright red eyes and fangs bared, charging towards him made Seiji doubt that it was Ryou inside that body. He knew with great certainty, that Ryou would never hurt him, but…well…there was no sense in taking chances.
Seiji dodged aside when Ryou made another lunge for him. He swung his sword in an attempt to ward off Ryou, but it wasn’t as if he could actually use the sword. It was only another thing to irritate Seiji. There was no time to even think of a spell to use because of all the enemy and they couldn’t even use their attacks so close to the mansion. It was home, after all.
Apparently, Kayura and Naaza didn’t feel the same restraint. It wasn’t their home, after all.
Kayura flew into the battle like a madwoman with her jitte raised and her sweet voice screaming over the din. Her attacks felled dozens of fae, but also took down vampires who swarmed towards her. No matter what the reason for them being here, the vampires didn’t have much in the way of self-discipline. Not one of them could lay a hand on Kayura and the one who did manage to grab at Naaza’s arm found himself headless thanks to Naaza’s whip of blades.
Ryou was faster in Anubisu’s body and that body was faster than any of the vampires Seiji had seen in the battle. There was no trace of reason on his maddened face. Seiji just had to try, though. “Ryou! Wake up! Ryou!”
A growl was the only answer Ryou gave him before one last attack which Seiji couldn’t avoid. He found himself pulled to the ground and pressed onto his back. Even in full yoroi, Anubisu’s strength was unbelievable. It occurred to Seiji that in all their battles, Anubisu hadn’t fought all out. With this kind of strength, he must have been holding back all that time. If Naaza had been telling the truth back at the hospital, maybe it had been some kind of lingering memory of Ryou that had made Anubisu go easy on them.
The struggle was fierce, but Seiji was handicapped by not wanting to hurt Ryou and it was a sever disadvantage. Ryou lowered his face to Seiji, but was pulled off at just the last minute with such force that Seiji feared Ryou would pull off his arms the way he was holding on. It was Nasutei who’d pulled Ryou off Seiji, but she was thrown aside, not by Ryou but by another vampire.
“At last!” The vampire holding Ryou shouted. He seized a hold of Ryou’s hair and pull his head aside, just like in any old horror movie. No matter how must Ryou struggled, the vampire had a good hold on him. Not to mention the fact that several other vampires clustered around Ryou holding his arms and legs to stop him from moving. “Dhampire!” The vampire shouted the word with triumph before he bit into Anubisu’s thick neck. Ryou jerked and thrashed, but the vampire didn’t let go until yet another savior jumped in to help.
Kayura used her sharp jitte to slit the throat of the vampire at Ryou’s throat. Though the vampire didn’t die, it was enough to irritate him. The vampire fell back, holding his hands to his throat and making ugly gasping sounds. He didn’t know what hit him when Jun came up behind him with a fierce look on his face and rammed his fist through the vampire’s chest. Seiji felt his stomach churn when he saw - clenched in Jun’s little fist - a still beating heart.
How terrible Jun’s face was when the vampire fell away from him, dissolving into ash before he hit the ground. Jun glare at the pile of ash and snarled, “I told you not to touch my grandchild!”
Ryou, splattered liberally with the vampire’s blood that had been spilt after Kayura had slashed its throat, hungrily lapped it up. He wiped the blood off himself with his hands then licked his hands clean like a starving man. It obviously wasn’t enough, though. When he was cleaned of the blood, Ryou rose his face and looked around for more. His eyes fell on Kayura, standing just a little too close. Ryou leapt to his feet and grabbed Kayura by the hair.
Ryou-
NO! Anubisu screamed through whatever connection he and Ryou had, managing to break through the bloodlust that filled Ryou’s mind enough for Ryou to understand him. YOU’LL NOT HURT HER!
Ryou could hear the words clearly enough, but the hunger won out and Anubisu’s voice was pushed aside, no matter how powerful and insistent it was. It was about that point that Ryou completely lost his reason. To sate his hunger was all that mattered.
Kayura was no match for him and she was at more of a disadvantage as he’d come up behind her. She struggled and kicked when Ryou grabbed her wrist and bit deeply. Kayura screamed, but it only lasted a minute before Ryou was pulled away from her. Nasutei, again.
“Stop!” She ordered. “You want to sate that thirst? Then go! There!” She spun Ryou around and aimed him at the throng of fae. “Go! Go!”
Ryou took off as told and unthinkingly threw himself into the battle.
Tintagel-
Miko-
It was a great relief to see her son feeding, again. All this time she’d worried about Kujuurou not getting enough to eat, but it seemed that her worries were not unfounded. The desire for blood was driving him, but not as strong as it was for pure vampires. In fact, before Abraham had given Kujuurou his first taste of blood, he hadn’t any want for it at all.
At least she was relatively happy when she died.
It was such an anti-climatic way to die, too. Worthless. She didn’t even die in defense of her child or her sire.
One minute Miko was fondly watching her son drag yet another disgusting fae to the ground and rip into its throat…then she had a spear through her chest. It took her completely by surprise, yet the urge to laugh was so overpowering that she let out a low chuckle even as she put her hands on the bloody, wooden spear protruding from her breast.
‘Should’ve paid more attention…Abraham would scold me.’ Even as she thought that, she looked up and saw Abraham flying towards her. ‘Oh, now he’s upset. I’m sorry, daddy.’ She wished she could have turned to laugh at the fae who’d killed her, but she felt weak very suddenly. The sounds of the battle faded around her until she thought she’d gone deaf. At least the spear didn’t hurt when her murderer yanked it to the side, right through her heart.
Death didn’t seize her as quickly as Miko had hoped it would. She’d seen dozens of vampires die in her long, all of them fading to dust almost instantly. It seemed to take a long time for Miko, though.
She felt her heart being crushed by the deadly wood of the spear. She felt her body being to disintegrate. When Abraham drew closer, Miko reached out a hand to him only to see her fingers fall to dust followed by her hand, then her arm. It was a nightmare, a slow-action horror movie. But she saw her son feeding. She saw all her boys in their yoroi alive and fighting. She saw Ryou’s body with another man who bore the body of Shin’s mum run through the still open portal. All was well. Miko was happy when her vision and consciousness faded completely.
There was darkness everywhere. Darkness, then warmth and comfortable arms holding her. A man who’d died long ago, who’d been waiting for her to join him. At long last, after so many years, Miko let herself relax into complete happiness with pleasant dreams and happy memories of long ago filling her being.
Tintagel-
Shin-
Wherever they’d ended up, Shin just didn’t care. The army of fae showed no signs of letting up and only when Shin saw how many of them there were, did he realize how bad the odds were. Unless they were to call down their greatest attacks, fighting them hand to hand would prove exhausting. The room was crammed full of the soldiers, so full that Shin and Touma could barely move.
“Stay behind me.” Shin ordered, nearly shoving Touma behind him where he could defend his friend with his yari. The trident was a better weapon for such up-close and personal battle. There was hardly any room for Touma to pull his bow.
“Damn it!” Touma cursed, letting himself be pushed back. They were in a bad position. Their backs to the portal, they could be forced back at any time, further away from Shin’s mum. “Clear a path!”
“Gimme a break! You do NOT want to be in an enclosed room when I let Suiko loose.” Shin shouted back, swinging his yari as quickly as he could to keep the enemy away from them. Their spears had a longer reach than swords, though, so it was harder to keep them at bay. He couldn’t even take time to stab one with the barbed hooks of the yari as the others would crush them. If he dared to take the thirty seconds to shout out the words that would activate Suiko’s power, they would surely be overwhelmed. “If you’ve got any ideas…”
Apparently he did.
Touma kicked Shin’s legs out from under him, knocking him on the ground, and shouted, “Shin Ku Ha!”
It was Shin’s turn to curse, but he did so laying flat on his belly in front of Touma with his hands protectively over his head and his eyes squeezed closed. He’d never been so close when Touma had shot off the Shin Ku Ha and there was good reason. There was a wave of air, a vacuum, that surged just above Shin, so close that he could feel his hair moving in the wind and couldn’t hear anything at all. All at once, he felt as if his whole body would lift off from the ground - he could actually feel his legs start to be picked up from Touma’s vacuum. Fearful that he’d actually get caught up in it, Shin shot out his arms and grabbed hold of Touma’s legs to anchor himself.
Then it was over and Shin glared up at Touma. “Give me some warning, will ya?” He turned to look around and found the room empty. “Though I guess it worked out pretty well. I can’t feel you, Touma.” He said the last in amazement and stared at his friend in horror. He couldn’t feel anyone. Luckily, it wasn’t like when Ryou had disappeared. He was prepared for the shock and was able to deal with it, but it was still unpleasant.
“Yeah. Weird, isn’t it? Reminds me of what it was like before. I don’t like it. Let’s get Mum and get out of here fast.” Touma frowned at the empty room, then down at his bow. “First time I ever killed anything that was…you know, alive.”
Shin put his armored hand on Touma’s shoulder. “We’re on our own here. We have to be more ruthless than before.” Indeed, he couldn’t feel any of the others, but he was glad that Touma was with him. How awful it must have been for Ryou to be alone in this place. A look around the room they were in showed that it was some kind of throne room with a raised dais and a throne. There were tall windows and large double doors at the opposite end of the room. “Now, where’s mum?”
“Dungeons.” Touma answered, heading for the double-doors. “Look at this place. It’s a castle and all castles have dungeons.” It was as good an idea as either of them had, so Shin followed Touma. Next time, Shin decided, he would use his attack first. No point in Touma having more guilt laid upon him, even if it was necessary. It was a coincidence that they found Michael, Xiu’s friend. Running down one of the dark passages, they were guessing led to the dungeons, Shin and Touma turned a corner to come face to face with a human, peering into a doorway.
“Xiu’s friend.” Touma said, probably louder than he’d intended. The foreign man turned at his words and clutched at his gun, suspiciously. His eyes narrowed and he took a step back from the door, his eyes darting between the door and Shin and Touma. “Look,” Touma started to say, but stopped when Michael - that was what Xiu had called him - put a finger to his lips to silence them. He pointed to the doorway, urgently.
Puzzled, Shin crept up to the doorway with Touma at his back, ready to fire on the man if he proved to be yet another enemy. He saw red almost at once. His mum laying on a plush bed with several of the fae standing around the bed, talking in hushed murmurs. A touch on his shoulder made Shin look up and he saw Touma, grimacing and starting to raise his bow.
“No!” Shin hissed, put a hand on Touma’s arm to stop him. If Touma were to let his arrow loose, he would kill Shin’s mum, too. Instead, Shin found the gun he’d gotten from papa Faun and aimed, wondering which one to take out first. That problem was solved when Michael made a sharp gesture, drawing Shin’s attention to him. He pointed with his own gun to one of the fae, then pointed to Shin. It was clear enough. Shin aimed at the fae Michael had pointed out while Michael aimed for the other. They fired in unison and both fae fell, dead before they hit the ground.
There was a tense moment when the three of them looked around, expecting more enemy to have heard the shots, but no one came. “Hey,” Touma gave him a gentle shove. “Since when have you been such a good aim?”
“Do you really want to know?” Shin didn’t wait for an answer before he went into the room to his mum’s side. “Mum? Come on, mum!” He shook her shoulder and patted her face as hard as he could without actually hitting her. “Oh, man!” There was no help for it. She didn’t move at all, though thankfully, it didn’t look like they’d beaten her.
“Carry her!” Touma told Shin sharply from the doorway. He hadn’t gone into the room with Shin, but stayed at the door to watch for more of the soldiers. “We’ll get her to a hospital back home, let just get out of here.”
“Good idea.” Michael, like Touma, hadn’t left the doorway but he seemed to be getting more nervous by the moment. “You know how you got here?”
“Yup. Stick with us and we’ll get you back to Earth.”
Michael closed his eyes for a moment and swore in English. “I knew. I just knew it. I KNEW that thing wasn’t from Earth.”
“What thing?” Touma asked.
A new voice interrupted them, a soft, sinuous voice that sounded the way silk felt. “Me. And here I thought you’d run off, human.” It wasn’t a youja, Shin was sure of that, but the creature that stood in the doorway between Michael and Touma was definitely not human, nor was it a fae. Most importantly, it had Ryou. Or, supposedly, Anubisu inside Ryou’s body. Touma was quick to pull Ryou away from the insect like creature, putting an arm under Ryou’s arms to hold him up.
“So,” Touma grinned at Ryou’s pained face. “You’re borrowing my buddie’s body?” He looked down at Ryou’s naked body and the terrible scars and burns. “Doesn’t look like you’re taking too good care of it. He’s gonna be cross with you.”
Anubisu, it must have been him, rolled his eyes in a very un-Ryou like way. “You have no idea. Let‘s just get out of here. Don’t worry about Lightfoot.” He looked tiredly at the insect creature. “She’s…it’s a friend of mine.”
Just when Shin thought it was all over - everyone had been accounted for, after all - there was a terrible scream. The first thing that sprung to Shin’s mind when he moved to shield his mum was that a banshee had come to haunt the halls of the unreal castle. The scream grew worse, louder and louder, but when Shin turned, expecting to see the three people at the door ready to fight, he saw both Michael and Touma sagging against the doorframe. Their eyes were half-closed and Touma’s hand had grown so limp that his bow had fallen to the floor next to him. The insect creature had moved into the room and was half-hiding behind the door, ready to strike.
Shin would be no help to the insect creature at all. He, too, felt a dreadful lassitude spreading through his body. He sank to the floor, by the bed, completely helpless, though he was screaming at himself to wake up and move.
When the screamer scurried into the room Shin saw that it was the woman Rajura had faced off with outside Nasutei’s mansion. Her eyes were wild and livid. She came to a stop just before the bed and looked at Shin’s mum with something caught between hate and desire. Her throat was torn, ripped open savagely, spilling bright blood down the front of her gown.
Earth-
Rajura-
“Sedari,” Rajura kept his voice low and his body as still as he could. “I don’t l love you. I never have and I never will. I despise you. The very thought of you makes my flesh crawl. What can I do to convince you? How long has this nonsense...”
“Nonsense?!” Sedari‘s eyes grew wide, outraged.
“How long has this nonsense gone on?” Rajura continued, refusing to give her the respect of being listened to. “Two thousand years, when I was little more than a child clutching at my mother’s skirts you came to me with sweets and stories. I ran from you. I left my home and my family to be rid of you. Haven’t you grown tired of this chase after all this time?”
“Time is nothing.” Sedari said, calming herself down almost at once. “An illusion, which you should understand better than anyone.”
“Not to a human and, despite my power, I AM human. I am a man, not one of your fae courtiers. I do not lust after that body of yours just because you command me to.”
She smiled arrogantly and leaned back in her throne. “Yet you are here as a result of my command. I think you would do anything I please to ensure the safety of the one that is my guest. Am I right, Ari?” She was too sure of herself. “I really don't know why you fight me so hard. All this I can give you.” She spread her arms, indicating her own glorious body. She was beautiful, no one would deny that. Her hair was golden, like wheat field in the light of the morning sun. Her skin was fair and nearly glowed. The gown she wore left little to the imagination and showed off all her best attributes. Unfortunately, for her, Rajura’s eye was fixed on the cruel little twist of her lips. A mockery of a smile.
Rajura returned the smile, but made it as cold as he could. “But I already have what I want.” He waved an almost negligent hand at the battle where his brothers and little sister fought all of them striking and as magnificent as Rajura always saw them. “The one you have taken is not my beloved, if that’s what you think. He’s nothing but a boy I fought once in a minor skirmish. My dearest ones fight your people even as we speak. I have come only because I am weary of hiding myself from you.”
“Your dearest ones?” Sedari’s nose wrinkled. “A half-demon and a dhampire. One sheds his skin and spits venom, the other drinks your blood every night. The last one? A child?” She showed more anger in her expression at the mention of Kayura, but still managed to control herself fairly well. “I’ll kill her once I have you somewhere safe. She isn’t worthy of you. None of them are. You made such a point of being human. Are these dark things so much more appealing than the queen of Tintagel?”
“Yes.” He didn’t need to explain anything. To him, Sedari couldn't complete. He'd rather couple with any of the children warriors, the Samurai Troopers, than Sedari. He’d rather bed a werewolf. In all honesty, he’d much rather be forced to breed with a mushroom. “I don’t need your power and I don’t want your body. You have nothing else which to entice me into your bed.”
“Give them back!” Rajura found himself growling. He’d worry about self-control when everyone was safe.
Sedari reached out her skinny arms to him. “I’ll have you back one way or another, Ari. We’re meant to be together.”
“No, Sedari. Never. Give me back the boy.” He knew Anubisu was near, afraid and in pain. But he also knew it wasn’t Anubisu alone who suffered from Sedari’s sadistic treatment.
“He’s the bait. You wouldn’t have come without him being my guest.”
“Guest?!” Rajura thundered, furiously. “You’ve tortured him!”
“We are so alike, Ari...”
“Rajura.” Rajura snapped, far too tired of hearing the name he’d long ago left behind. “I am Gen Ma-Sho Rajura, general of my Lady Kayura. Ari vanished long ago.” He was rapidly losing his temper and fought to regain it. There was no profit in letting himself go at this point. “Your glamour has little effect on me, but I expect I have a great deal of effect on your world. Do you really want to pit your glamour against mine?”
Sedari hesitated at the threat, as Rajura had known she would. She wasn’t stupid after all. Her people weren’t fighters and without their magic, they were helpless.
“Tempt me, queen of the Fey. Just once and I will unleash my power upon Tintagel.”
Sedari was not easily cowed. “Your esteemed power is nothing more than glamour. Glamour made solid, but glamour nonetheless.”
“True. But I am real and I am, by far, more fearsome than my dear brothers.”
“You bluff, Ari.” She stubbornly refused to use his preferred name. “Even in Tintagel we have heard much of the war your former master waged against Midgard. We know you are made less by the death of the fire-haired brat. The Oni child. How can you fight my world with less than full power?”
She obviously didn’t realize that while Sh’ten was gone, his power had been transmitted in full to Kayura.
It angered Rajura a great deal more than he’d expected to hear someone like Sedari call Sh’ten a child. “More good fortune to you, then. If I were able, I would let Sh’ten loose in your kingdom and nothing would stand in his wake. That bothersome child was walking chaos just waiting to be set free. He would bring your splendid city to ruin and your people would be no more.” He was distracted, during all of the argument. Not only did he have to contend against Sedari, but he was busy masking the battle around them and, most vitally, hiding Kayura from Sedari’s sight. Though he knew Sedari had already seen Kayura, it was best to keep the girl out of sight for the most part.
It would have been far too dangerous to invite Sedari to make a personal enemy out of Kayura. While Kayura was immensely powerful, if Sedari were to dislike her, Rajura wasn’t sure they would be able to protect her. Sedari ignored the men in Rajura’s life, but had a passionate hatred of all women.
Ironic, really.
“You boast too much of your comrades.” Sedari laughed, but it was true that she didn’t seem happy. “They are not the only people who love you. I will do anything for you, my Ari. Let your Sh’ten loose in Tintagel, I no longer care. Soon, it will not be my home. I will live in Midgard with you by my side. Don’t look at me so crossly. It is the humans who will make me their queen, I do nothing by violence. How can they help loving me?”
That was the end of Rajura’s patience. He opened his mouth to speak when he saw what she was talking about. Yet another vision, though fleeting, flashed before his eyes. He saw a pregnant woman laying helplessly on a bed and knew that Sedari would use the unborn child to become human, displacing the infant’s soul. He saw the Wyrm Ryou and Anubisu loved so well kill Sedari with its awesome blades in one quick movement.
When the vision had ended, Rajura waved a hand placing before Sedari he a large mirror. “Your arrogance is unbecoming, Sedari. Take a good look.” He walked around the mirror to stand next to Sedari, the closest he’d been to her in a very long time. “Time to cast off your illusions and see reality. We all must deal with it, in the end.” A wave of his hand and Rajura caused Sedari to believe her glamour was gone.
Sedari’s reaction was immediate. The smile slid off her face and she stared in horrified fascination at her own reflection. Just at that moment, she was aware of nothing but her reflection. “Who is this woman?” She asked in a hoarse whisper, raising her hand as if she would touch her reflection. “That can not be me.”
“But it is. That is what you truly look like. Without your glamour and without deception, see how ordinary you are? How do you like it, dear Lady-Queen?” Rajura looked at the reflection from behind Sedari. “You look very…plain.”
She did. Her skin was sallow instead of the porcelain pale. Her eyes were gray instead of blue. Her hair, which had been the color of gold, was a rather dishwater color. Her long-admired curves were less than inspiring and her long arms and legs were nothing less than bony.
“No.” Sedari put a hand to her thin face and ran her fingers along the line of her chin. “This can’t be me. I’m beautiful.”
“You are a vain creature, like all of your species. Without glamour, you are so ordinary.” Rajura’s eyes went to the battle, though he knew Sedari wasn’t thinking of the warriors. Sh’ten’s glorious hair…Naaza’s hypnotic eyes…Anubisu’s powerful hands…how beautiful they all were. Even little Kayura’s sweetness was lovely. How could she ever think he would leave their company for her mindless raging? “Compared to humans, you are a mouse.”
“NO!” She lashed out and smashed her fist into the mirror, shattering it. The glass shards showered to the ground like raindrops. “It’s not real! I’m beautiful!”
“Welcome to reality.” Rajura made no pretense about what he’d done and it was all the more cruel when he smiled at her horror. He picked up one of the larger glass shards and held it before her. “This is you. Without magic. Without illusion. You’ll never have it again, either. I’ve destroyed your glamour.“ Of course it was a lie. Rajura could no more destroy a fae’s glamour than he could destroy a human’s imagination. But, he could make Sedari believe it was gone. “For the rest of your live, you’ll be a dandelion in a field of orchids.”
“Why?” She turned on Rajura with tears streaking down her cheeks, making her face flush with ugly blotches. “Why would you do this to me?” Her eyes flickered away from him down to the glass in his hand. She took it from him, not noticing when the edges cut her hands and blood started running down her arms. “My face…my lovely face…”
“It’s your punishment. You’ve hurt my family. I can think of no greater evil. I thought about killing you for your dim-witted actions, but that would be too kind. I think you’ll suffer more like this.” As a last gesture, Rajura took her wrists and brought up the shard of mirror she’d been holding as close to her face as he could. “Look closely. This is the face that everyone, all of your adoring subjects, will see for the rest of your life. I wonder how the fae will take to having a homely Lady-Queen?” Then he stepped back and fell silent. He didn’t have to do anything else.
Sedari was so lost in her own misery, the loss of her greatest treasure, that she no longer saw Rajura. “To live…like this? No. I can’t.” She gripped the shard more tightly until the blood was spurting out from her hands, staining the front of her gown. “This isn’t me.” She shook her head, the horror in her eyes growing by the second. “This isn’t me! I’m beautiful! I’m beautiful and my Ari loves me!” She pulled the mirror shard to her in one sharp, quick jerk, piercing her throat. The blood spurted like a geyser from her throat, but Sedari didn’t die instantly. She pulled the shard away from her and looked down at it, looking confused. “Loves…me.” She stabbed herself again and this time fell to the floor.
Sedari muttered and moaned, staring into space. Rajura didn’t worry too much, even when she turned and ran for the portal. She wouldn’t die from the wound, no matter how terrible it looked. Something more sever was needed to for that final job and that ‘something more sever’ was waiting for her in the room where she’d imprisoned Suiko’s mother. He’d already seen the outcome. He watched Sedari until he couldn’t see her any longer, then turned to the rest of his companions. The fae were all dead, slaughtered by the warriors and by the hungry vampires.
The after-effects of a battle were never pretty. There was the dead to clean up and the wounded to tend. Thankfully, they’d only lost one ally to the battle. Sadly, it was the young woman Abraham called his daughter. Even more heartbreaking, there was no body left to mourn. Abraham was kneeling on the ground, wailing in grief at the moon overhead. Nothing would soothe his pain but time.
Naaza stood near Kayura, his hand covering the bite on her neck as he was no doubt healing it, with his eyes on Ryou in Anubisu’s body. There didn’t seem to be any great worry. Kayura, though wounded by Ryou’s unthinking attack and exhausted from the battle, seemed to be unscathed. She was trembling and had both hands on the staff to support herself, her eyes a little wild and her face sweaty. All in all, it was pretty good for her first real battle not being possessed by a demon. When they went home, it would be time to start her training. He had been a fool. He’d nearly rejected his only sister.
Ryou looked bloated with blood and lay half-asleep on the ground, his face and chest drenched with blood while a smile rested on his lips and both Korin and Kongo stood guard over him. Undoubtedly, they’d seen the vampires trying to get a hold of him during the battle, too, and they wanted to protect him against the lingering members of Abraham’s family.
All in all, the battle had worked out rather well. All that was left was to wait for the rest of their people to come back through the portal. It made Rajura look again at where Sedari had vanished through. “I hope you’re happy with Ari. He’s dead, too.”
Shin-
“Nonsense!” The woman shrieked, sending another wave of whatever kind of power she had out to hit Shin. “It’s not nonsense! I’ll be what he wants me to be! I’ll be mortal and young, I’ll be dhampire! Anything he wishes, I’ll be!” She grabbed her long with her hands, pulling at it madly. “He must love me! Everyone must love me!” She shoot out her hands over Shin’s mum. “Spirit unknown. Soul disregard. Mine! By the glory of Lord on High, by the grace of Lady Beneath, displace…” Her words were cut off abruptly.
The gray insect creature leapt out from its concealment with the two dragon swords held in front of it. It let out a cry that was more than the fury the woman had shown, but less manic. “Foul thing!” It cried. “You’ve dirtied my pets with your hands!” It raised the swords and made a slashing movement as it leapt towards the woman. The move was fast, as fast as Ryou had ever been. Shin could hardly see when the blades of the swords had cut into the woman, slicing her clean through from shoulder to hip and shoulder to hip.
She looked shocked for a moment, one of those frozen moments one always sees in dramatic movies, then she fell. Her head and chest fell first, then her right side, then her left side. Four even cut pieces of the mad woman plopped down like a squishy, bloody jigsaw puzzle thrown on the floor.
“Shin?” Shin looked up just in time to see his mum’s hand twitch as she began to wake. “Shin?”
“Mum!”
Continued…