Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Children of the Night ❯ Dust to Dust ( Chapter 7 )

DISCLAIMER: Just to let all of you guys out there know that Sailor Moon still doesn't belong to me, but the situations in this story do…enjoy!

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Children of the Night

Chapter 7- Dust to Dust

By: Hime

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"The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead."

-Thomas Jefferson

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Walter Sidney was walking home late. He shivered in the cool air and pulled his jacket closer to his body. 'Damn subways.' He thought darkly. As he walked by a shadowed alley, he heard the sounds of mewling and then a sucking noise. "Ah, hello? Anyone there?" he called out nervously into the dark alley. He listened closely and was rewarded with a wheezy, high-pitched voice calling out, "Father?" Sounds like a young girl, he thought to himself. "I'm not your father, sweetie," he called out soothingly, "come out and we can go find him." He strained to hear her and heard her shuffling toward him. As she walked out from the shadows, he noticed with shock that it wasn't a child; it was a young woman, naked and hunched over. Her hands clutched around some sort of bundle, her head bowed, hiding her features. 'My God,' he thought to himself, 'was she attacked in the alley?' When she stopped lurching forward, Walter told himself to stay still and not rush too her as he didn't want to scare her if she had been attacked.

"Not father?" the question came out with a breathy sound. She still didn't look up at him. Walter worried if she was in shock or just mentally retarded. He reached into his pocket slowly to retrieve his cell phone when he remembered that it had been stolen on the subway. 'Dammit, I hate the subways.' He thought distractively. He stared at the figure before him and watched her hands knead the object in them. 'Must be her clothes.' He stepped closer to her, going slow, without making any sudden moves. "Why don't I help you put your clothes on." His voice cut off as he realized that what she held was a dead cat, it's blood staining her hands a brownish red. Staring in disgust at the cat's corpse, he didn't notice that she had lifted her head and was staring at him with an unnerving look in her eyes.

"Not father," she said and dropped the cat, "then food." And she lunged at him, hands closing over his shoulders propelling them to the ground. He screamed, a burst of harsh sound escaping from his throat as he finally saw her face. She looked at him with hunger, a gray film covering her eyes as if she was looking out from behind a gauzy veil. Smeared blood around her mouth, gaping wide, showed blood stained teeth. And on her throat, as if decorating it was several large x's crisscrossing, keeping her slit throat together. He realized then in a burst of thought that the reason her voice sounded so breathy was because of the air escaping from the hole in her throat that the cross-stitches could not seal. The monster, he couldn't think of her as human anymore, nuzzled along his throat and gave it a short lap with its tongue as if tasting him. Walter shuddered in revulsion and fear. He struggled against it, pushing up with his shoulders and legs, trying to buck it off, but couldn't move the creature. He wanted to scream; cry, and shout out loud, but nothing came out of his open mouth. He couldn't seem to breathe and began to see odd black spots, obscuring his vision. 'Please God, let me pass out before it kills me.'

"Food." It wheezed out happily and drew back its head to bite down on his exposed throat. But before it could complete its strike, a silver dagger came flying through the air to land in its forehead. The monster fell over to its side, but it wasn't dead as it began to struggle with the hilt, pulling it out of its forehead with a sickening squelch. The creature looked at the blade before looking at the person who threw it. It's attention off of Walter; he crawled away on his back slowly. Suddenly he felt a presence by his head and looked up with alarm only to see a young man kneeling beside him.

"Great going. Give it a weapon why don't you." The man all but snarled at one of his female companions. The woman with her hair in a braid snarled back at him, "Fuck off. If you had gotten the time right when that thing would rise, we would have killed it already and we wouldn't be here now. So kiss my ass." She ran her hands down the sleeves of her leather jacket, pulling out two more silver daggers.

"I told you," he began, not bothering to hide his irritation, "it's difficult to be certain as I've never really dealt with creatures like this." He helped the man to his feet and sent him toward the opening of the alleyway.

The woman's braid flew as she whirled to face him, her teeth bared. "This is your fifth creature. You've had enough time to practice."

"Silver. Darien." Finally, the quiet one of the trio stepped forward, her crossbow held up in case of an accidental release. The two looked at her and then looked at each other. Darien could feel a slight blush coming on. 'Dammit,' he thought, 'I'm older then Dawn, but she still has to remind me to behave. I know better then to fight with Silver, but she's so damn irritating.'

"Stop your bickering, we have yet to kill it." They all looked at the creature who, surprisingly stared back at them docilely. "Father?" it asked curiously.

"Do it," was the blue-haired woman's command.

Darien stepped forward, arms outstretched as if he was about to engulf the creature in a hug. "Father!" the creature trilled happily and lurched forward. When it stepped within Darien's reach, his hands seemed to blur and as if he had plucked them out of thin air, were two rectangle pieces of white cotton paper with black-inked Japanese kanji written on them. He lightly tapped them in place, one on the forehead of the creature, the other over it's heart. The creature stopped in its tracks, and though it couldn't move it's limbs, it still managed to get out a confused, "Father?" Darien nodded at Silver. She put her knives back into their custom-made arm sheathe and reached behind her neck. Out came a beautiful short-sword, silver and one-edged like a katana. She gave it a good swing above her head, gaining momentum when she struck the creature at its neck, taking its head off cleanly. The body stood up for a few seconds before collapsing to the ground. Silver kept her blade out, ready to hack the creature to pieces if it should even twitch. Darien came forward, his hands stretched out before him and felt for the creature's aura. "It's gone," he said finally, opening his eyes, "whatever force that was letting it live is gone, though a trace of the creator's energy remains."

"Can you follow it back?" came a quiet question from Dawn, her eyes focused with an almost scary intensity. Darien concentrated again, before shaking his head. "No, the trace has already disappeared. But I do have his energy signature memorized. If I felt it again I would know that it was the same one as this creature." Silver snorted.

"Um, excuse me." All three turned to the alleyway opening, each moving instinctively into a defensive position. It was the man they had saved earlier. He drew back immediately, but regained his composure. "I don't know what that, that thing was but you saved me. Thank you." Darien stepped forward. "It's okay. Go home now."

"Yes, yes of course." He said and stumbled over his own feet in his haste to leave.

"Burn it." Dawn said firmly, walking away from the other two. Silver made a face at being ordered around but she reached into her pockets and pulled a bottle of lighter fluid and a matchbook. She kicked the head toward the body and dumped the liquid all over it. After tossing the empty bottle into a trashcan, she struck a match. It leapt to life and illuminated her face for a moment, throwing her features into light and shadows. She threw the match down and watched with a grim satisfaction as the flames ate the body quickly. The creature burned up, literally, within minutes. Silver didn't really need to use the lighter fluid-the body would have burnt up by itself. They had learned that the creatures would burn easily as if they had been made of paper. As the flames died down, Silver began to kick the ashes, spreading them around the dirty alley. She did this with an almost malicious glee that Darien had to look away. As he turned away, he realized that it felt as if someone was watching him. He looked around, Dawn was looking out into the street, watching for people and Silver was grounding the dust into the cement with the toe of her sleek black boots. On a hunch, Darien looked straight up and was rewarded with the sight of someone pulling their head back over the side of the roof's outer ledge.

"Shit." he said out loud, quiet but with feeling. A small part of him was a little surprised at how easily the obscenity slipped out of him. He was definitely spending too much time in the company of Silver. Dawn rushed over to him, her voice low and urgent, "What is it?"

"I saw someone watching us from the roof."

She immediately looked up too and scanned the roof for anything. "Human or otherwise?"

"Looked human." He shrugged. Sure it looked human but that didn't mean it was human. Dawn looked up at the top of the building, scanning. Silver joined the two of them. "What is it?"

"Nothing." Dawn said, looking at Silver. "We should go back now, there's nothing we can do." Darien watched as Dawn and Silver turned and walked to the entranceway. He gave a drawn-out sigh and followed, with one last glance at the spot where he had seen the shadow of the watcher. Crap, things were beginning to get complicated.

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"Damn." Faye whispered under her breath. Coming back from her errand, Faye had heard a man screaming in the alleyway below. She rushed over to the side of the building, preparing herself to jump down and help him but saw that Darien and two other women had done the job for her. Turned out Darien's business in the city was to do a little slaying. 'Crap, he better not be after him. Darien's going to get himself killed if that's true.' Even though Faye wasn't sure if he was still alive after all this time, she saw the news report and that "ritual killing" could only mean one thing. 'Serena's gonna flip when she hears about Darien and his roommates.' Faye tilted her head in thought. 'Or perhaps I shouldn't tell her-she might get involved and I don't want her hurt.' Faye brought up her left thumb to worry and made a face as the bitter taste of nail polish filled her mouth. She looked at the teeth marks on the glossy red surface. 'Shit. My manicure's ruined.' She cautiously looked over the side of the roof and found the three gone. 'Probably ran back home. Hmm, speaking of home, how am I going to explain to Serena and Sahra about me rushing out? What am I thinking? I don't need to tell them anything. I'm my own person and they are not my parents.' Satisfied with her answer, Faye shook her head, the black strands of hair fanned about her form like living ink before settling against her body. Faye took one more look down into the alleyway. Things were about to get complicated.

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"Are you sure she doesn't know we're following her?" Serena asked Sahra in a whisper. Sahra gave her a look as if to say, 'It's alright.' Serena gave out a small sigh. They had been following their roommate after seeing her sneaking out of the apartment at two in the morning. When Faye had come back that night she ran out on them. She just said she had to run an errand and wouldn't answer any more questions. Figuring that this late night excursion had something to do with her "errand" of three nights ago, they decided to follow their friend and find out just what was going on. Serena crept alongside of Sahra and they quietly followed after Faye, relying heavily on Sahra's nose to lead the way. As they scurried deeper into the night, Serena realized something. She pulled on Sahra's black sweater and hissed as quietly as she could, "Is she going to the cemetery?" Sahra turned to her and said with a shrug, "Won't find out until we get there." They both began to hurry their steps; cutting the three-block lead they had given to Faye to just one. As the sign, "New Haven Cemetery" came into view; Serena gave Sahra a pointed look to which Sahra just shrugged in reply. They watched from behind a conveniently abandoned car and saw Faye enter the cemetery grounds and wait under a huge tree. Faye turned her back from the entrance, and looked as if she was waiting for someone. A minute later, a person dressed all in black joined her.

"Let's see if we can get closer." Sahra said with a grin and began to glide out on all fours. Serena made a grab for her and missed her jean-covered leg by a few centimeters. "Sahra! Get back here! You're going to get caught!" Serena yelled in a whisper, her throat getting sore by her effort. Serena fumed for a moment before following her friend. Sahra always had to make things more complicated.

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"Hello Faye. I see you're looking well. Living in the human world suits you." A female voice, low and husky came from the beneath the black hood of her cloak.

"And living in the vampire world has saved your life." Faye said smartly.

"Yes it has, hasn't it?" The unknown stranger lifted the hood off of her head, revealing an exquisite face of an angel; deep black hair softly framed her heart-shaped face of porcelain skin, silver eyes, and ruby-red lips. She smiled at Faye, flashing two white fangs that reflected the light from the moon.

"Speaking of Vampires, where's Dev?"

"He's on another job."

"And sent you here all alone?" A question voiced with quiet interest, said with a raised eyebrow.

"He trusts you." A beat later, "I trust you." A true smile, one a friend gives to another.

"Thank you." Faye smiled back, "Now that all the requisite vampiric B.S. is done, can you tell me if--"

"If he's still alive?"

Faye gave a small shiver before answering, "Yes."

"Why don't I tell you after we get rid of a couple of eavesdroppers."

"Huh?"

"Two people followed you here, a were-creature and a human."

Faye whirled around and saw Serena trying to run on all fours toward the cemetery gates. After falling, she gave up, stood up straight, and sprinted to where Sahra crouched down. "Shit."

"You didn't know about them?"

"If I did, you think I would lead them to us?"

"Maybe living in the human world isn't so good for you after all. You're losing your edge."

"I want to be a normal person. I don't need an "edge" anymore."

The woman looked at Faye with her beautiful eyes filled with concern. "You're a vampire. You will always need your edge." When Faye didn't answer, she asked, "What should we do to those two?"

"I'll deal with them. They're my roommates."

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"Fall on your ass, did you?" Faye's voice asked as suddenly as she had appeared in front of Serena and Sahra.

"Well Serena fell, but she didn't land on her ass. It was more like a belly flop." Sahra said with a smile, unconcerned at getting caught spying on her friend.

"Look, I know you're upset-" Serena began quickly, a preemptive strike before Faye had a chance to yell at them.

"If you knew I would be upset, why did you follow me?" Came Faye's question, sliding with cool ease over Serena's hasty explanation.

"Because, because we were worried about you!" Serena shouted. "You didn't run out of the apartment because you forgot to pick something up on the way home. You looked as if you had seen a ghost."

Faye stared at her with impassive eyes.

"You're our friend." Sahra's quiet statement caused the two to look at her. She smiled backed at them before repeating, "You're our friend."

Faye shook her head in bemusement. Something so simple had just taken the fight out of her. 'Well, you wanted to be friends with them and now you have it. Might as well let them in on the meeting with Moonlight.' Faye thought to herself, 'They will need to know if I put them in danger just by being their roommate.' Faye began to move toward the other woman, standing under the tree branches. "Well if you want to know what's going on, I guess you better come along."

Serena stared in shock at Faye's retreating back. "Why did we go through that whole spy business if Faye was going to let us in on whatever she's doing?"

Sahra turned to Serena with a grin, "I only did the 'follow the leader' bit because that's what you decided we should do." Sahra followed Faye into the cemetery, before looking over her shoulder to say, "You just like to make things complicated."

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Author's Notes: I am so sorry this chapter took so long to come out. *sigh* I told myself I would be posting regularly but well…

At least school is over, though I do have two more finals this Friday. At least it'll all be over by Saturday.

Hime *^_^*

12/19/01