Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ A Vampire's Soul ❯ Mortal Sins ( Chapter 6 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Waset, Khemet, 1503 BC
(Luxor, Egypt)

Chaos erupted as Bakura charged through Waset on horseback, his plunderings from the late Pharaoh's tomb tied securely to the back of his horse. What he had planned was a daring idea, but if it succeeded, he would have the throne of Khemet by sunrise the following day. He smirked to himself and cackled at his horse leapt clean over a pair of guards at the front of the palace. The horse halted, and Bakura climbed off, taking with him the sarcophagus of the late Pharaoh.

At the same time, in the throne room, Pharaoh Atemu was uneasy about the goings on outside. He could hear the noise coming through the glassless windows. He glanced down at his Vizier. "Tjatey… what's happening out there?"

The Vizier hesitated, then spoke. "Someone has robbed your father's tomb."

A look of utter horror crossed Atemu's face. He moved to stand up, causing everyone in the room to flinch a little, but his Vizier laid a calming hand on the Pharaoh's shoulder.

"Let the guards handle it, I'm sure they can-"

The doors to the throne room crashed open, and in their wake stood a young man with wild, white hair, dark brown eyes, and a scar on his right cheek. He was wearing a blood red robe, and carrying…

"Oh, gods," Atemu shuddered. "Father…"

The man was dragging with him the sarcophagus of Atemu's father.

Several guards attempted to stop the man, but he threw them away as if it was nothing.

"Demonic magic," High Priest Set growled, raising the Millennium Rod a little, ready to use it if he had to.

The man smirked, then laughed. His laugh was evil, mirthless. Atemu growled, threatening to rise from his throne again.

"Well, Pharaoh," the man hissed a tenor-pitched, gravely voice. "How do you like my surprise?"

"BASTARD!" Atemu screamed. "Who are you?!"

"Iew-i… Itja-Nesu Bakura," The man said, his smirk widening. (A/N: Itja-Nesu is the Khemetic equivalent of Tozokuou in Japanese. Therefore… Thief-king. XD) "Why don't we play a game…?" He hissed, dangerously.

"Impossible!" Set screamed. "Only-"

Itja-Nesu Bakura cackled and shouted "Hi-i kesi wi kheftey!" The six Priests in the room fell to their knees, but were protected from being knocked, as the spell should've done, by their own Divine magic.

"He's more than itja," Isis grunted as she tried to stand. "He… is Khewew-Hes-Netjer…" She fell to her knees again. She and the other priests soon regained their strength and stood, ready to defend their Pharaoh against Bakura.

"A-ha Kesi!" Atemu shouted, getting to his feet. Everyone but Bakura hastily fell to their knees again, this time out of respect for Atemu. "What kind of game did you have in mind, Thief King? A Shadow Game?"

"A game of… death," Bakura hissed. Atemu was unfazed.

"Ahai? Iew khet metey…?" Atemu responded, an equally dangerous note in his voice.

"Metey!" Bakura shouted to the air. "A'a Apophis, Netjer ne Gereh, Sha-i Tjen set-a'… Seki rehew tepey wi!"

It was over in a split second. The force of the spell Bakura had performed threw Atemu across the room. When he landed, he did not move.

"Pharaoh Atemu!" Isis cried out.

Bakura cackled again. "You know that spell was meant to kill upon impact, right? Your precious Pharaoh is already dead, and he has no Heir to replace him…" He hissed.

"If you're saying what I think you are, out of the question!" Set yelled.

"Now, wait, Hem-Netjer-Tepey…" Bakura said, eyes narrowing with malice. "You saw what I did to the Pharaoh. He's more powerful than any of you… so I could easily do the same to you. I'd watch what you say around me." He laughed again, and smirked. "I'll be in my new chambers," he sneered.

The dark throne room was deserted, but for the High Priest Set, who sat against the throne, not showing any emotion, but certainly feeling it.

Their Pharaoh had died, not even two years into his reign. He could not possibly let Thief King Bakura usurp the throne from Atemu. But there was nothing to be done.

"Death is final…" Set muttered, hanging his head. "I let my Pharaoh die."

"No, Set…" A voice said, harsh and hoarse sounding. "Death is not final…"

Set looked up and gasped. Atemu stood before him, a rather bloody mess, but, for all evidence, perfectly alive.

"Pharaoh Atemu!" Set scrambled to his knees, but Atemu pulled him to his feet.

"Hush, Set. Where is the Thief King?"

"In your chambers…" Set said, quietly. "He sought to usurp the throne from you…"

"I thought that was it," Atemu said, darkly. He swept from the room, leaving Set absolutely bewildered.

As Atemu walked the halls of the palace to his room, he clutched at his head. Something didn't feel right. There was something inside of him, something he couldn't control… in his anger at Bakura, it was threatening to burst free. He was scared, scared of what he would do when it did. This beast within him… he had to suppress it.

Bakura put it there, Atemu thought, angrily. I'll make sure he gets what he gave to me. He'll get this uncontrollable beast, too...

Atemu found his chambers, and, indeed, Bakura was there. Bakura gasped and rapidly stood up when he saw Atemu standing there.

"Impossible! I killed you!"

"Yes," Atemu hissed. "You did."

The beast burst free. Atemu lost all control. He lunged at Bakura, his fingernails growing out into inch-long claws, incisors in to inch-long fangs. The animal instinct within him controlled him. He seized Bakura ad tore into the thief's throat with his fangs, draining the blood and life from him. Atemu then pulled away, and Bakura collapsed.

A soft growl escaped Atemu's lips. How do I give him my curse? Atemu wondered as he stood over the dying Bakura.

The beast seemed to know. Atemu tore the flesh of his arm open with his claws, the wound bleeding openly. He roughly seized Bakura's head and forced his mouth against the bleeding wound. The blood flowed into Bakura's mouth, and he coughed, tearing away and falling against the wall.

Atemu's humanity returned. He let out a hoarse strangled yell and fell against the wall himself, breathing hard.

"Ra almighty… what have I done?" He whispered.

Over three thousand years later, in Domino City, Japan, Atemu-Now known as Yami-and Bakura stood face to face once again, each as surprised to see the other as the other was to see him.

Yami's eyes narrowed. "Bakura…"

Bakura's eyes narrowed as well. "Atemu… We meet again… Sire."

"What are you doing in Domino?" Yami asked, a little perturbed. Another encounter. They'd had too many of them after they'd split paths in Jerusalem.

"I have my reasons. And you?"

"Wandering. Mostly."

"You were looking for something here…"

"What makes you say that?"

"I saw you… with that young boy."

"He's not a young boy, he's 16," Yami said, defensively.

"Yeah, whatever," Bakura scoffed. "You never told me you were homosexual. Centuries we had to work together, discovering what we had become by helping and hurting each other. Could you not trust me with that?"

"It was a Mortal Sin in our Creed," Yami hissed. "You think I felt comfortable with it? I was supposed to be the holiest man in the country!"

"But you weren't then," Bakura hissed, with a grin, jumping off the building, his coat flying out behind him as he did so. He landed with a soft crunch in the soft, fresh powder. "Especially not after what you did to me."

"Why are you making a big deal of this?" Yami asked, throwing his hands into the air.

"Perhaps its because it was a Mortal Sin back in our day," Bakura said, a biting note in his voice. "I'll admit, I've become more paranoid. Back in the old days, I didn't used to care about getting caught. Now, I'm panicking every time I take a little too much. A little more than I need."

"You have changed," Yami said, in awe. "When we were in the Sengoku Jidai you didn't care at all."

"No, I didn't. I think the Dark Ages awoke me to that. That's when the hunters emerged."

"Well, at least you've learned to cover your tracks," Yami said, sounding genuinely impressed. "I'm impressed. Never thought you had it in you."

"Ahai, Seger, Atemu," Bakura hissed. "So it's 'Yami' you're going by now?"

"Atemu isn't a normal name these days."

"Makes sense. Bakura can easily pass off as a Japanese name."

"As we learned in the Sengoku Jidai," Yami noted.

"Yes… So I just kept mine."

"I know." Yami turned his back to Bakura. "There are two other vampires in this city. One wants the other three-including us-out. The other… He goes to Domino High. His name is Ry-"

"Ryou?" Bakura said. "Yes, I know. He's the reason I came."

"Is there a blood hunt for him?"

"No. He's my Childe."

Yami raised both eyebrows. "You? A Fledgling?" He asked, snorting.

"I've had several," Bakura snapped. "They've either been killed or they've split paths with me."

"And Ryou?"

"It's been five hundred years since I embraced him and he's still standing there, faithfully, by my side, with his Lycanthrope sister, Amane. The only problem I have with him is his… how did he put it…? Ah. Modus Operandi."

"What does he do?"

"He likes to find depressed High School students… and then, after he gets to know them, he helps them commit suicide. I'm sure you know what I mean by that. We only just took up our hunting tradition again."

"What's your tradition?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Interested. I want to know what you've been doing in the past few centuries."

Bakura sighed and leaned up against a wall. "On normal nights, Ryou and I… just, go out an hunt. We find humans to feed off of, take enough to knock them out, modify their memories… It's routine, though we often have to find more than one."

Yami snorted. "Your paranoia's getting the better of you."

Bakura laughed. "Wait 'til you hear what happens on the full moon… we let Amane loose in the city, although she always stays close to Ryou. She's learned to differentiate his scent from other vampires. So she knows it's him, and she protects him if he's in trouble. Anyway, we let her loose and let her lupine half get its food while we get ours. We seem to care less about whether we kill… people die anyway, after all…"

Yami stared up at the black sky for a bit. "There's another vampire here. A powerful one."

"What makes you say that?" Bakura said, nervously.

"I was threatened by a Ghoul who called himself Rishid," Yami said. "Surely you were as well?"

"Hmmm… did Rishid have bright green eyes, hieroglyphic script carved into the left side of his face, and an overhanging brow?" Bakura asked, casually.

"Yep, that's him."

"In that case, yes, I was. I tried to get his master's name out of him, he wouldn't say."

"Bakura, you should know by now that a Ghoul will never betray the vampires whose blood he has taken," Yami said, mournfully.

"Do you know how powerful this vampire is?" Bakura asked.

"I have a vague idea, yes. From the feelings I'm getting from being in the city. They KNOW he's here… they just don't know that he's a vampire. They think he's some leader with a lot of power, perhaps a very rich man who has a lot of power in the city."

"How long have you been here?"

"Not long… probably about as long as you have. I've been scoping out this city… there're a few gangs, there's one really major company-They're called Kaiba Corp-But other than that, there's not that much that goes on here."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because," Yami said, locking eyes with Bakura, "I believe it is time that we put our differences aside and work together on this. This could be big. It could affect both of us. And your Fledgling."

Bakura remained silent for several minutes. Finally, he sighed. "Alright. Alright. A temporary truce."

Yami smiled. "Fair enough. I'll be keeping in touch with you through Ryou, I think… It's the easiest way, our vampiric rival might notice if you and I meet too many times."

Bakura nodded.

"I'll stay in touch," Yami said. "But in the meantime… I have something I need to do…" He smiled, meaningfully, and swept off into the shadows.