"Fallen Angel" by Ichigo-bankai

Yyuusei started to walk back home after one long day at school, and it was already late. As he walked a light flickered on next to him. The moon was shining brightly that night. Suddenly he heard a scream pierce the dark night. He looked around for the source of the noise and saw someone being attacked in an alley. He ran down quickly to help the person being attacked. While in full stride, Yyuusei slid and kicked out at the enemy's shin to break the bone. It seemed to have no real effect, but instead the Vampire turned around to look at Yyuusei. Yyuusei reeled back and and looked at the ghastly figure. Yyuusei saw that his enemy was not a normal one, perhaps not even human.

He stood towering over Yyuusei, fangs with blood dripping off. Eyes which seemed to shine a dark ruby red. Then he noticed the figure on the ground for the first time clearly. It appeared that it had died some time ago, a worn body, not clearly distinguishable to be man or woman, seemed as if it was deflated. Yyuusei realized that he probably wouldn't make it out alive, so he brought his fists up and spread his feet, ready to spring at any second to dodge or to hit.

Suddenly the Vampire sprinted at him teeth bared and claws extended. Then with inhuman speed the vampire seemingly disappeared and reappeared behind him. Yyuusei could do nothing and was overwhelmed as the Vampire ruffly grabbed Yyuusei's hair by the scalp, and yanked back towards the side, while the other hand pinned Yyuusei's arms to his side in a vise-like grip. Slowly the vampire opened his mouth and brought it to his neck. Yyuusei screamed as the teeth pierced his skin. Suddenly a bright light was shined down the alley and a volley of bullets punctured the Vampire's skin hitting the him all over.

The speed of the vollley of bullets thrust the vampire back against a wall and caught where it caught aflame. Yyussei passed out as he saw a woman block out the night

The TV was flashing with the most recent update. "A fault in the cooling system at the nuclear complex, results in a chemical explosion and the release of an estimated 70 to 80 tonnes of radioactive materials into the air. Thousands of people are exposed to radiation and thousands more are evacuated from their homes. It is categorised as Level 6 on the seven-point International Nuclear Events Scale (INES). " The news continued to go on, but Yyuusei couldn't hear. His mom had left an hour ago to the very same powerplant. Some one had called out sick and she had gone in to take his shift. His dad was already working there. Yyussei had no idea what to tell his sister, May.

Yyuusei had no idea why this memory suddenly came to him, but it flooded in without warning and suddenly left. The sun was shining brightly through the window onto Yyuusei's face. The light caught his hair and made it glint in the light. Yyuusei flinched away. "just a dream" he muttered. Yyuusei got up and stretched, as he did so, he noticed he looked a bit more muscular. "Wow, must be those push ups..." Yyuusei looking confused went to take his daily shower. When he got back his happy mood fell as he looked at the clock, he was late for school.

"Aaah! not again! Have a good day at school May!" Yyuusei fled down the stairs grabbing a piece of bread on the way. However it seemed that the bread had lost its taste. And again he had this weird feeling; he felt lighter, that if he jumped he wouldn't come back down. His feet hit the ground faster than he could see. Sooner than he expected, he arrived at school and surprisingly not out of breath. He wasn't late and all the students had started to arrive at school. They crowded in through the gates trying to get to their classes. As a girl walked by, he caught her scent, she smelt of fresh rain, it seemed that he could see every strand of her hair.

He seemed ensnared by her beauty. It was as if some spell had been cast upon him.Then she was gone. And the feeling vanished. The tardy bell went off and the remaining students started to run to their classes. Yyuusei now broken from his trance, bolted off up the stairs and into his class. He walked slowly and quietly trying not to be noticed to his seat. "YYUUSEI!!. Late again as usual, i shouldn't have expected you to come on time, but a person can dream cant they? This is your 9th tardy, one more and we will see what the headmaster has to say." Shouted the teacher. "Just take a seat", she said in a more quiet and controlled voice, which seemed even more scarier.

She was a somewhat attractive woman. Green hair, squared glasses, and a very firm mind to the point of stubbornness, in fact some would argue that it would require a tractor to move her, and even that is debatable. "Well, aside from this interruption, lets get back to the announcement. We have a transfer student, she has come from out of country, so please make her feel at home." Then, she stepped into the classroom....

She stepped slowly into the room with her hands clasped in front of her resting on her skirt. “Now, how about you introduce yourself,” said the teacher. “Hello, I am Rin Hayaku. Rin said this is all in a beautiful voice “Rin, how about you sit in that open desk in the back. Yes, next to Yyuusei. Right, well now we will be getting back to our lesson. So let’s get back to the history of ...” Yyuusei wasn’t even paying attention, he had already begun to fall asleep.

“Psst! Yyu-kun. Psst!” Yyuusei began to stir from his slumber. Sado was shaking him. “finally you are awake, I am surprised the teacher didn’t catch you. Or maybe she just doesn’t care at this point. So what do you think of the new girl?” “O, Rin?” responded Yyuusei. “No, your mom. Yes Rin, who else.” stated Sado sarcastically. Yyuusei yawned. “Nothing really I guess. Dang it, I got to run, I promised May I would be home sooner than usual.”

After that being said, Yyuusei slung his school bag over his shoulder and took off running down the flights of stairs and out of the gates. Running down the sidewalk, Yyuusei glanced over his shoulder and saw someone slip down an alley way. Yyuusei was downwind from the figure and the strong scent of perfume flared up his nose. All of a sudden he was overtaken by a feeling he had never experienced. It seemed that he had lost all control over his body, but for some reason it didn’t seem to phase him.

When he came to his senses, he was standing in the same alley that the figure had just slipped into. Whoever it was was crouched over as if wounded. Yyuusei bared his fangs and lept forward, claws outstretched. Blood flew in the air along with a terrible scream. Yyuusei flew back through the air clasping his shoulder with blood pouring out of it. The figure had taken off its cape and a gun shone in the air. It was another vampire. His teeth glistened in the pale light of the alley as he smiled.

Yyuusei, taken over by rage, let out a roar and jumped forward, avoiding the bullets. Yyuusei cut the vampires leg as Yyuusei flew by. The vampire fell onto one leg and let loose a shot. This bullet seemed faster and hit Yyuusei at full speed in the torso causing another hole for blood to pour out of. Yyuusei tried to stand but failed. Again he tried to only slip on his own blood. The vampire now stood next to Yyuusei with a gun to his head. Yyuusei tried to swipe at his foot, but instead got a boot on his own hand breaking his fingers and wrist. Yyuusei had no strength to scream and saw his end coming.

A crack split the sky as the shot was fired.... The vampired fell coughing up blood. Rin has jumped from a roof top and landed next to the vampire with smoke coming out of her gun's barrel. "Rin, Rin you dare?" shrieked the vampire. "Who is it who saved your life?!" he continued.

Then he started to laugh, "This is great." Then his smile turned to a snarl and he spat. "You wont get away with this. I will see you dead. You hear me? I will see you dead!" Rin had helped Yyuusei up and was helping him to walk out of the alley. Yyuusei was barely conscious. Then the world spun around and darkness crept into his vision. Then he collapsed...

He was laying in a bed, his wounds had been dressed and he had the worst head ache. It all seemed like another nightmare. He had become a monster, a vampire. He turned to look around the room and the first thing he saw was Rin. She was asleep with her head on her hand sitting in a chair next to his bed. Yyuusei couldn't help but smile. He then went back to sleep knowing he wasn't alone...

Yyuusei panicked and jumped on his bed, checked his wounds then felt a sharp pain in his abdomen because of all the commotion and fell down off of his bed hitting the hard wooden floor. Rin just looked at him with her disappointed look, and said, “Ya’know jumping up and down won’t make you wounds heal any faster!” Yyuusei looked up embarrassed noticing Rin was still in the room with him and asked her, “Who are you”... she replied by saying “I’m the one who saved your life.”

Yyuusei still really confused and dazed said, “Aren’t you a little small to be saving me?” Rin enraged that he called her short, got a dangerous twitch in her eye and smacked him across the head. “I AM NOT SHORT... just compacted!” Rin realized she has no time to spare filled him in on what was happening. Yyuusei asked her many questions and every time she told him to shut up and focus, and to stop interrupting. She smacked him across the head again which sent him flying to the floor.

Yyuusei annoyed by this tried to act tough and bolted up in front of her, but only to be brought back down by the pain in his body. “Finally, and most importantly, stay inside for the night. You still haven’t become fully aware of yourself and may do more damage to yourself than them. And they are surely on the move.” Yyuusei hurt too much to argue. Rin got up and walked out of the room shutting the door softly behind her. A sigh escaped Yyuusei, what had happened. Most of it was just a blur.

He still remembered the curses shouted, the strong smell of fresh blood, the wounds, and then Rin. Standing their like an angel with moonlight flowing in from behind her; the sun had set and the moon was rising. That was the only part that stood out clearly. Who was she? Yyuusei had made up his mind, he wouldn’t get her any more involved as dumb as it sounded. He didn’t want her to get hurt, although he had a feeling she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

But he didn’t care, he couldn’t stand the thought of being responsible for her being hurt. Yyuusei turned off the lights and retrieved his stuff from the corner of the room. Then he opened the window and looked at the starry night sky. He took one last glance around the room, and then hopped out of the window onto the lawn below. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was, but he figured he could find out by the location of the stars. Yyuusei looked over his shoulder to see the house disappear as he entered the woods.

Many creatures were out in the night, he could hear many various sounds. However he was not frightened, he felt as if nothing would frighten him now. Then he was struck by panic. May, his sister, is she alright? Yyuusei started to tear through the woods giving no heed to obstacles in his path. Then a great wall crossed his vision, had to be more than six meters. Yyuusei without thinking jumped into the sky tearing up the ground beneath his feet.

He soared over it clearing it by another meter. A great light came over his face making him look away. He jumped backward and raised his hands expecting a fight or bullets to rain over him. “YYU-KUN! Where you been!? We have been looking everywhere for you. When May said you hadn’t shown up, we got worried. And seeing how late it is, you know strange things have been happening.” Then Sado punched Yyuusei full in the face. Yyuusei staggered back from the blow, then winced and fell down to the ground. His wounds were hurting.

“Yyu-kun... You alright?” “Yeah, I am fine, don’t worry about it,” replied Yyuusei. “How is May, she is alright?” “What, May? Yeah she is fine, why shouldn’t she be?” “I don’t know,” said Yyuusei, then he thought of an excuse. “Just thought that she might be scared because I didn’t come home. Not sure, you know how she gets. So where is she?” “Well, I thought she was right behind me, maybe she went to back to your house?” Sado paused. “Yeah, that is probably what she did. Well lets go, I am sure she is worried about you.” Sado got on his bike and revved the engine.

Yyuusei got on the back and the both clipped on their helmets. Sado floored it and the bike shot forward almost knocking Yyuusei off. Sado laughed as they raced back to Yyuusei’s house. His laughter soon ended. The house was not a pretty shape. The door was busted down and the windows were shattered. Curtains were torn down and it seemed as if everything that could be opened was, and everything that wasn’t meant to be opened, was torn open. Yyuusei didn’t say anything, he couldn’t say anything. He just walked up the stairs tracing the wall with his hand.

His hand would sink into holes as he walked. The banister had been broken. The door to his room was open, but he ignored it. He continued on down the hallway, picture frames were on the floor shattered. The burgundy carpet was littered with various items. The door to his sisters room had been torn apart board by board. Yyuusei looked into the room. It was all he could do to stay in control of himself....
To be continued.

The moon was shining a pale light across the street when a black portal appeared in a side alley. Two figures stepped out following a third, all were hooded and wore black robes. They walked out of the alley making no noise at all, and then turned to walk down the street. A motorcycle flew down the street; wind gusted toward the figures, but did not disturb their robes.

They continued to walk as the roar of the motorcycle dimmed, and then couldn’t be heard. “Raid, we should probably hurry,” a rough voice said. “Otherwise we might miss our chance. And he wouldn’t want that.” “You are probably right,” agreed another. Soon a house was in view, and the door just closed as someone walked inside. “That’s our cue,” muttered another.

The light in the hallway turned on, and footsteps could be heard going into the kitchen. Then they made their move, the door crashed down as one kicked through it, a window shattered as another flew through it, and Raid waited outside. An agonized scream echoed throughout the sky.Raid decided he would see how things were going. He stepped lightly over the broken door, and his black boots crunched as he walked on the shattered glass.

He walked slowly to the kitchen, and stopped as his boot hit a body on the floor. He looked down and saw one of his followers, his mouth still in an endless scream, but the light had left his eyes. A knife had pierced his heart. Raid looked around expecting anything, but nothing stirred. Again Raid relaxed and stepped out of the kitchen. Bloody foot prints out of the dining room, into the hallway, and up the stairs.

Raid followed them slowly and silently so he wouldn’t alarm the target. Raid looked down the hallway to see another door busted down at the end of the hallway. Raid skulked down the hallway and stepped over the busted door. She was standing in the middle of the room over another one of Raid’s comrades.

This one suffered a similar fate to the other, however, the cause was unknown. He was sprawled out on the floor, but was not breathing, and did not appear to be injured. She was shivering and had her back toward him. The pale moonlight drifted in through a shattered window. It appeared as if a knife had been thrown at her and she had dodged it. She was wearing a black hood, red ginger hair spilling out beneath it. He stepped forward lightly, trying not to alert her. She suddenly turned around. Her eyes were silver and as sharp as daggers. It didn't look like she was aware of what was going on, she was in a trance.

She started to mutter something, but before she got any further in her incantationt, Raid flew towards her and struck her in her chest which knocked out all of her air. She gasped, then toppled over. Raid caught her before she touched the ground, and then slung her over his shoulder. He walked out of the room, down the stairs, and outside the house.

A bright light suddenly shined down the road, Raid jumped to the side and got behind a tree. The bike suddenly stopped, and the two people on the bike jumped off, and ran inside the ruined house. Raid smiled, and then stretched forth his hand and conjured a black portal out of air. Raid glanced back once, and then stepped through and was swallowed by the darkness.

A body lay on the floor which seemed to be uninjured. Apart from that and a shattered window, the room

was untouched. But a very essential part to the room was missing... May. Yyu-kun fell to his knees, and put his

face in his hands. She was gone, they had taken her. Yyu-kun wasn’t exactly sure who, but he knew they had

to be related to the vampires.


Who else would have gone through so much trouble to take her. If it was your common thief, why was nothing

valuable taken. Sado walked in silently. He looked confused and sad. “Yuu-kun, I have called the cops, I

didn’t know what else to do.” Yyu-kun remained speechless and remained kneeling.


Sado looked at him one last time, then turned his back and walked outside of the room, trying to avoid the

splinters of the door. Sado wandered the house looking for clues. He ambled toward the kitchen where his

foot struck a dead body. Sado looked down to look at what he had hit. He then saw the dead vampire with the

knife imbedded in his heart. He searched the pockets of his dark cloak.


He found nothing. He pulled back the hood to get a better look. His hair was silver, his eyes were losing their

brilliant red, his razor-sharp fangs were retreating into normal teeth. He had a pair of shining silver earrings

which were pentagrams. Sado’s eyes drifted up the vampire’s face to his forehead where a sigil was

branded on his skin.


Sado’s eyes flashed, a flash of pain was sent through Sado’s skull. Then it was over, as if nothing had

happened. “Just imagined it, you can imagine anything at a time like this”. Sirens could be heard rushing

towards the house. Yyu-kun walked down the stares with a look of determination. “Sado, we are going.”

“Going? Going where Yyu-kun?” replied Sado. “We are going to see a friend of mine., you coming?” asked

Yyu-kun. “Of course I am coming, lets get out of here.”


Sado tossed Yyu-kun a helmet and strapped on his own. Yyu-kun caught it in the air with one hand, and put it

on quickly. Sado hopped onto the bike with Yyu-kun getting on behind him. Soon they arrive at the house in

the forest thanks to Yyu-kun’s directions. Yyu-kun walked up to the door and knocked. “Rin.... I need your

help...”


The door opened, Rin stood fully equipped. Her silver hair flowing in the wind. She smiled. “I know Yyu-kun.

So what is it you need help with?”. Yyu-kun responded, “It is my sister, they have taken her. I am not sure

where they went, not even sure why they want her. Is it revenge?” “How about you come in, I will explain it

more in there, your friend can come too, I suppose it is too late for him to turn back.”


Yyu-kun walked in hesitantly, Sado followed behind silently. Neither of the two bothered to take off their shoes.

“It is nothing big, just a little something the organization put together for me on short notice. We didn’t really

expect her to be here.” “Who didn’t you expect to be here?” asked Sado. “And what is going on here? Those

weren’t some petty thieves were they?” “We didn’t expect May to be here, the key. A lot of things are going on


here, but I think you are referring to the incident. They weren’t petty thieves, they were vampires, and they

discovered the key a little faster than we did,” stated Rin calmly. “The key? What is the key?” asked Yyu-kun.

“The key? The key is your sister Yyuusei. The key, is May. And if we don’t hurry, there will be no chance of

getting her back. The only chance of getting her back, lies with me. I know where she has gone, and I know

how to get there. However, I will only take you there and help you on two conditions.” “Name them and they

are done,” Yyu-kun exclaimed. “Be careful of what you say Yyuusei, you don’t know the weight of these


conditions. First, you mustn’t leave before the day I say you are ready. Second, you must”- “I don’t care what it

is I must do, I will do it for May under any condition,” interrupted Yyuusei. Rin spoke, “Sado, do you wish to

help also? There are no conditions for you. You don’t apply to his situation.” Sado replied, “There is no place

where Yyu-kun can go without me, and there is no place May will go that I wont follow.” “Ok then, lets get

training!” exclaimed Rin.

“Ok then, lets get training!" exclaimed Rin. “The house doesn’t look like much,

but all the money and time was spent on the basement. Our training ground.” This is where

you will be for the next week. You aren’t allowed to leave under any condition or

circumstance. Consider this another part of your training. I will provide you with your food and

dink. I will tell you in advance, I am sorry for what must be done.” Rin fumbled around the

floor for a second until she jumped up with a key in her hand. “Alright, lets get started now,”

said Rin again. She then walked back outside towards two great oaks, but not before she

grabbed a pan from out of the kitchen. In the ground next to one of the two oaks was a very common and

inconspicuous rock with a crack in it. She inserted the key in the crack and twisted and was responded to

with a satisfying click. Nothing happened....

"Is something supposed to happen." asked Yyuusei.

"It did," replied Rin. "It unlocked the barricade which prevents you from opening a portal from here to the training grounds."


Then Rin closed her eyes and the wind blew around them, slowly, a portal was growing in midair right before

them.

Rin smiled, then she spoke, "There, perfect. Wasn't as hard as i thought it would be."

Rin then stepped through the portal followed by Yyuusei and Sado. Suddenly all the light vanished around

them, and they were at the top of a dark stone staircase leading down into the darkness with only a small

light from a nearby

torch. “Well, they didn’t really make it cozy did they?” said Yyuusei. Sado was gaping at the

new found door. “Well you cant have everything can you?” responded Rin. Rin then picked

up the torch which was emitting a very unusual light, and started to proceed down the stairs

with her heels clicking behind her echoing in the dark passageway.


“Spooky,” commented Sado referring to the

passageway. Rin let out a small laugh and continued downwards. Cobwebs stuck to the

corners and cracks of the walls, spiders could be seen scurrying away from the sudden and

unexpected torch-light. The staircase was drawing to a halt, you could tell because the steps

weren’t as steep and a small distant light could be seen near the end. They all stopped at the

end of the passageway. There was a big tall steel door with many symbols engraved. Light

was stealing through the cracks of the door. “What do all those symbols mean?” asked

Yyu-kun.


“That symbol there,” Rin pointed at the middle of the door where a gryphon could be

seen tearing at a gargoyle trapped in its talons, “Is the symbol of our clan, the Vampire Slayer Organization, or the VSO. The one beneath it

and to the left,” Rin pointed again to another symbol, “is the faction which represents my

faction of the clan. We use cold weapons and other engineered weapons unlike the other

faction. They use magic and alchemy. They are represented by this symbol,” Rin pointed to

another symbol, bottom right of the clan’s insignia. “We don’t always get along the best, but

we do have the same goals, sometimes I think that is the only thing that keeps us from falling

apart.


There is a lot of tension, and sometimes it feels like something is about to break out,

but we have managed to avoid the worse. Enough with my history though, it is time that we

get training.” Rin then touched the symbol of the clan which emitted a soft glow at her touch,

then the insignia of the weapon user faction which reacted in the same way the first did, and

then she touched the last symbol of the magic faction. The door then shone with a bright light

which quickly winked out, and the door swung outward. Bright sunlight shone all over the

place.


The terrain was mostly rocky and hard. However you could see grass and hills, rivers

and valleys, and even small mountains. It seemed like a whole new world. Yyu-kun and

Sado-kun gaped. “But why is it so bright?” they both asked in unison still keeping their

dumbstruck look. “To be honest, I am not entirely sure myself. But the magic faction came to

help because they figured we could both profit from it. But I wont question it, it works and

that’s enough for me. Sado, I cant work with both of you at the same time, so I am sorry, but

you must wait. I will be training Yyu-kun first, then I can help you train yourself.” “Alright, I need

to think anyways, I will be waiting over there,” Sado gestured towards a grassy spot in the

near distance as he finished speaking.


Rin took Yyu-kun by the hand and led him by the

hand to a rocky wall next to the door from which they had previously come. Rin took a chain

which was imbedded deeply into the wall, and tied back one of Yyu-kun’s hands in it. It was

almost tight enough to draw blood. “Hey! what do you think you’re doing??” exclaimed

Yyu-kun. “Safety precautions,” replied Rin. “From?” asked Yyu-kun again. “Yourself,” replied

Rin while she finished chaining his legs and other hand to the wall.


“Alright, all finished.” said

Rin happily. Now, it is time for you to learn how to willingly change stages. To change from a

human, as you are now, to one of the fallen, a vampire. At first it will be difficult and irritating,

and once you do become one, you will lose most control over yourself. But you gain more

control over your body and thoughts with each morph. In the beginning it is easier to morph

when you are angry, and after you have morphed a few times, you will become more familiar

with it, and will be able to do it on more of a whim. So, Lets get you to morph.”



To be continued....

(sorry, the sentences wouldnt seperate at some points)

... So, lets get you to morph” said Rin. “I am ready, what do I do?” replied Yyuusei. “Your first turn, or what you would call a morph, will be excruciatingly painful. But you must bear with it. Once you have turned, there wont be much left of your conscience, only a small part will remain. However, after you revert back, you will remember everything that you have done while you were a vampire. Understand?” “Yeah, I think so. So how do I morph? or turn?” responded Yyuusei. Rin Replied, “You must create a void in your mind, once you have the void established, you must think of all the worst moments in your life. Bring together all your hate, your envy, your loathing, even your fear, and once you have done so, let those feelings encompass you. Let yourself be swallowed in the darkness, let it consume you, then, you will see a burning fire. Grasp that fire, let the heat incinerate you, and then you will turn while feeling all the agony your body can stand. Then when the agony has ceased and you feel a cold sensation run through your body, you will have completed your first Turn. You might not be successful on your first attempt, but it will come with time. Patience is another key to this first step of your training.

Yyuusei closed his eyes and tried to remember the things which he had spent most of his life trying to forget. This first memory that came was that TV, broadcasting the news of the explosion of the power plant which his parents were working at. Second was the police coming to his door to tell him his parents did die in the explosion. Then he thought of how his sister May had been so sad, that she wouldn’t stop crying for weeks. Then he remembered the first vampire, how it had easily beaten him, how it had slowly brought its teeth to his neck, and slowly pierced his skin. He had felt so weak, and it infuriated him. Finally, to drive home all of his other thoughts, he remembered his sister May. How had gone home to see it wrecked, how he had gone upstairs to not see her there. To know, that she had been taken by vampires. He saw the flame, it was burning in the center of his mind. It was the only source of light and it had the heat of a blazing inferno. He flinched back from the heat, then he knew what he had to do. He plunged towards it, ignoring the heat. Rin saw him suddenly scream, eyes still closed. He couldn’t move but only scream. Then it was as Rin had said, he felt a cold shiver go down his spine. He looked up, and saw Rin standing in front of him. He felt thirsty, so thirsty. And there she was, standing in front of him, taunting him. He could almost taste her blood in the air. He tried to remain still, hoping she would come within reach. She took a hesitant step forward, Yyuusei lashed forward only to be pulled back by his chains. Then Rin, pulled a frying pan out of nowhere and slammed him over the head with it. “No blood for you!” she shouted. Yyuusei dazed and tired slowly lost consciousness, as his eyes closed slowly, he saw her smiling down at him.

Yyuusei’s eyes opened slowly, at first everything appeared hazy and blurry. He was lying down in a patch of grass with Rin sitting not sitting too far away. She had a contemplative look on her face. She obviously had something on her mind. Yyuusei tried to get up, but he couldn’t even get one knee under himself. Rin saw him stir and got up slowly from where she was sitting, and walked slowly over to him. A mark was left imprinted in the grass where she was sitting, it seemed that she had been there for a while waiting for him to wake. “How you feeling?” she asked. “Great! I am in lots of pain, and I mostly remember a frying pan making contact with my face.” Yyuusei laughed, but then regretted it and winced in pain. A look of concern flashed across Rin’s face. Her hair caught the light and blew softly in the wind. It made Yyuusei remember how beautiful she was. Rin missed the look which crossed Yyuusei’s face, and sat down next to him. Rin then took a wet cloth out of a bucket which was positioned behind Yyuusei. It appeared that she had been tending after him for a while. “You had a fever,” answered Rin to his inquisitive look. “It comes when you first turn, it is your bodies reaction to the sudden change. It isn’t only your external features that are changed when you Turn y’know.” “Where is Sado?” asked Yyuusei. “O Sado? He is training. There is an obstacle course in the mountains over there. I sent him over there to complete it. I just hope he is careful, it is dangerous. But I am sure he will be fine. He seems amazingly adept with the fighting style of Baguazhang. In this style, you must be really quick on your feet as well as quick with your body. You must be able to twist your body around easily and be amazingly agile. Sado fit all of these requirements and is also a lot more stronger than your average Baguazhang user. I wouldn’t be surprised if he came back any minute.

Sado slid under the rapidly closing door. He made it, but just barely. His shirt was torn in several places, and his shorts had several tears. He had borrowed the shirt from Rin. It bore the clan’s insignia of the gryphon tearing at the gargoyle in its talons. This insignia was black on his silver shirt. While sliding, Sado set one foot forward hard into the ground flipping him up, then he sprinted the last remaining patch of ground and placed his foot into the edge of the precipice and pushed with all his strength. He soared though the air and started to run on the side of the wall avoiding the long drop beneath him. Dirt slid down the wall, and his footing gave out. But before he fell, Sado saw a branch not too far away, he kicked off of the wall and grabbed the branch with both hands and started to swing. The branch began to rub off the skin on his palm. Sado let go of the branch while he was near the top so he would fly to the next branch. Two more branches remained between him and safe ground. He repeated the process until he just had to swing over a three yard gap to the safe haven. Sado flung off of the branch with all of his strength and flew through the air. His heart skipped a beat as he realized he hadn’t gotten far enough. He banged into the wall hard with his hands digging into the dirt at the top. He dug the front of his shoes into the side of the wall, and began climbing very slowly up. His waist in up were now lying on solid ground. He gave one final kick with his feet, and pulled with his arms ignoring the agonizing pain being sent through his body telling him to stop. Then he stopped, he had made it. He smiled knowing he had done the impossible. His eyes began to close and he was unable to prevent them. Slowly, he gave way, and went unconscious.

Sado’s eyes slowly opened and flinched away from the light. He was in a grassy area and both Yyuusei and Rin were sitting in another patch of grass no further than 2 meters away. His clothes had been mended, and he had been bandaged. He managed to get up, but not before alerting both Rin and Yyuusei. They both started to get up, but he just shook his head and smiled. They both sat back down while Sado stumbled over to them and sat heavily down to the ground. A small wince escaped Sado as he landed roughly to the ground.
“Which of you” started Sado, but was interrupted by Yyuusei.
“Rin got up and was a little worried about you. She went to where you would have finished, and found you there. She then took care of your clothes and got you bandaged up.”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” said Rin slightly embarrassed.
“Well thanks, all the same,” said Sado. How did your training go Yyu-kun?”
“Eh, I was able to turn,” said Yyuusei with a weak smile. “Truth is, I don’t really remember it too clearly, it’s all really hazy”
“I am surprised you even turned on your first try,” Rin said looking a little puzzled.
“Is it that unusual?” asked Yyuusei.
“Yes, actually, it is,” replied Rin still looking puzzled.
“Oh... Well, I am amazing, I thought you knew” replied Yyuusei sarcastically.
Rin laughed,” I am beginning to figure that out. Anyways, we cant be celebrating now, your sister is being held captive and who knows what is being done to her. We have made a huge step in your training Yyu-kun, but there is still much for you to learn. And you Sado, you learn really quickly. But you can always train more, and it is time you pick your class of fighting. Yes, I know you use your hands and feet quite well, as completing your course successfully has proved that. But you wont be able to beat vampires with that alone, I have weapons which have been enchanted to fight them. You must pick from what you see, then we can advance in your training.”
“Alright!” shouted Yyuusei, “Lets get started!”
Sado couldn’t help but laugh, but quickly returned to his solemn mood as he thought of Rin. His look caused both Rin and Yyuusei to turn grave. It seemed that the lights had dimmed and a heavy blanket had been thrown over them, suffocating their radiant light of hope and happiness.
A moment passed while they all thought of what was lying ahead of them. Sado broke the silence first, “Rin, where can I see those weapons that you spoke of?”
“I will show you, Yyu-kun, I will be back after I show him the choices, get ready for what we have next, it wont exactly be fun.”
Rin walked to the giant door that they had come from with Sado following closely behind. Sado jumped ahead to open the door for Rin, she looked at Sado and smiled as she walked past. Sado let the door slam shut while he again followed Rin. Sado followed her through the portal which led to the house. Rin was already waiting inside. “I know it is here somewhere, they should just have a book that says Press me!. It would make things much easier, but then again I guess that would defeat the purpose, but it could be so abnormal, that they would never think of pressing that book.” Sado chuckled while Rin continued to search among the books sending dust into the air. “Aha! I found it!” Rin exclaimed” A loud crack filled the air, and then Rin went out the door leading outside. Sado followed behind her a little confused. He had been expecting something to open inside, but it wouldn’t be the first time he had been wrong about something. A great gaping hole was outside with a staircase leading down into the earth. Rin walked down it with Sado looking around making sure no one was watching. When he was certain that they were safe, he hesitantly walked down the stairs after Rin. A gasp escaped Sado as he looked at all the weapons. Bows, flails, num chucks, swords, spears, lances, axes, katana, scimitars, and many more weapons. All the weapons glowed with an eerie silver and blue. Sado let his hand run among the assortment of weapons.
“You’re adroit with your hand and feet, and you are also very agile. I would advise you a pick a weapon that compliments your skills,” advised Rin. Sado walked further down and his eyes came upon a set of knives. He took it carefully from its holder. He grasped the handles with his hands, they fit perfectly. He twirled the knives around on his fingers and then sheathed them.
Rin looked a little surprised, “Those are the same knives that my father used. It is weird that you would pick out the very same weapon type of all of them. I have his old suit too, you should use it, I think it will fit you just fine. And it isn’t doing anything but collecting dust sitting in the house.”
“I would be honored to dawn the same attire as your father,” replied Sado meekly. Rin hurried up the stairs with Sado jogging up behind her. She then turned down a hall and opened the door at the end. The room looked untouched, the bed made, and everything put away. She strode to the end of the room and opened the closet. Hey eyes sparkled at the verge of tears as she beheld her father’s suit. Sado didn’t see as he was behind her, but he knew it was bringing back nostalgic memories. The suit was as black as the nigh sky when the moon was hidden and the stars were gone. There was a scarlet gryphon on the front of the shirt and an insignia of on the back. Their were slots on the belt for shuriken, and slots on the pants which was also a deep black, for throwing knives. Rin removed it from its place, and gave it to Sado to wear. Then Rin silently left the room while Sado said his thanks.
“I will be outside while you dress,” said Rin in a small voice.
Sado quickly undressed revealing scars and bruised skin on his back. When he finished dressing, he stepped outside of the room to ask Rin how it looked. The clothing fit him perfectly, his red bandana on his forehead, his knives in their sheathes on both of his sides, shuriken on his belt at easy reach of his fingers. And his throwing knives not fair from the reach of his hands. Rin looked on him and began to tear up and quickly turned around.
“It suits you well Sado,” she said in a muffled voice. “I need to start Yyu-kun’s training, now that you have your weapon. Then I will begin your training.” Rin walked outside, and stepped through the portal. The portal disappeared behind her leaving Sado all alone to think about what had just happened.

By the time Rin had gotten through the portal and down into the training grounds, she had wiped away all her tears. Yyuusei was oblivious to what had just recently happened.
“Alright Rin, what do I do now?” asked Yyuusei in his jumpy mood.
“We are going to practice endurance, the amount of time you can maintain sanity and consciousness while you’re are a vampire. And don’t worry about me, I can assure you, I will be able to take care of myself,” replied Rin.
Yyuusei reached once more for that void in which the fire dwelt. Abruptly, the fire flashed in front of him, it had a cheery heat to it. It looked inviting which made Yyuusei more cautious of it. Slowly, Yyuusei reached out for it, and the fire leapt at him which was completely different from before. Before, he had to grab at it, and struggle with it, this time there was no struggle, no pain, but there was the familiar chill down the spine. Yyuusei’s eyes slowly peeled open. He looked at Rin, felt an unusual urge to jump at her, to bring her to the ground and drink her blood. The urge was stronger than he anticipated, and he staggered as he resisted it.
“Attack me!” Rin commanded.
“No,” responded Yyuusei weakly, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“If you don’t attack me, I will attack you,” responded Rin sharply.
“I don’t want to hurt you, it takes all my strength just to stand here, looking at you. I don’t know what would happen if I let go.”
Rin looked sharply at him, and then leapt forward and began to circle him. Yyuusei couldn’t help but to take a defensive stance. Finally Rin saw a weakness in his defense and leapt forward only to dive downwards and kick up at his arm. With amazing speed he caught her foot in hand and threw her away with amazing strength. Rin skidded across the dirt bleeding from her arms. Then Yyuusei went ballistic, it was all he could do to not follow up on his counter attack, but now that blood had been spilled into the air, his thirst could not be contained. He jumped forward into the air, twisted in the air and brought his foot down quickly towards Rin’s face. Rin barely dodged the powerful kick, and dodged to one side rolling along the ground to avoid the aftershock of his blow. The ground cracked where he kicked leaving a small crater and dirt flew in the air. But Yyuusei didn’t stop there, he was already moving again towards Rin with his fangs showing and his claws itching to draw blood. Yyuusei jabbed to the left and right, his punches almost impossible to see, Rin blocked all of the vicious jabs and bent backwards almost making a bride, and sent her right foot flying up cuffing Yyuusei in the neck. The force of the kick sent him flying in the air and back to the ground where he rolled to avoid breaking anything. Yyuusei again flew at Rin unrelenting and was gaining speed in his attacks. He was beginning to lose whatever control he still had over himself. Rin noticed this and began to become more determined to stop Yyuusei, but with the unrelenting attacks Yyuusei was giving, she didn’t have time to counter. She began to be pushed back by Yyuusei’s attacks, and then Rin suddenly looked helpless, and Yyuusei didn’t miss the look. He dived forward like an arrow from a bow, ready to tear through her. As he was within no more than a foot away, Rin pulled out a pan out of nowhere and crashed it into his face.
“That is the second time you have made me use this!” Rin screamed in frustration.
Yyuusei’s vision dimmed, and his eyes closed.
A crash echoed outside, Sado jumped awake. He had dozed off, he had had a dream, but he couldn’t remember it. He knew it was important, but no matter how he tried, he could not recall it. Sado began to go back to sleep, but he heard voices. At first he thought he as simply still tired and was imagining things, but then he heard movement outside. He still had his new suit on, however he had taken off his weapons. Quickly, he inserted his shuriken and knives into their proper place, and then he strapped his knives to his belt. He cautiously peeked down the hallway, then he heard the patter of rain drops, followed by lightning and a booming crash of thunder. Sado quickly and quietly skulked down the hallway where he stopped and looked about the kitchen. He was aware of no one inside the house, so he then slowly went to the front door where he stopped and peeped out the window. He saw two figures, both wearing dark cloaks, and both looking very mysterious and ominous. However, he was afraid that they may just be two random kids. He was about to open the door and confront them when he heard one speak to the other. I know it is here, my sources are very reliable, the portal must be around here, we just need to find it. A grave look passed over Sado’s face, and then he knew what he had to do. He kicked the door open and flew out the door throwing shuriken from his belt. One of the two figures reacted quickly and dodges the oncoming projectiles, the other one wasn’t so lucky. He had been distracted as he thought he had found the way into the portal, and was unable to react as quickly. Three shuriken struck him down the front, one pierced his heart, another his shoulder, and the third in his hip. He fell down screaming, the more lucky one had jumped and swung off the bough of a tree to avoid the shuriken. Sado then grabbed a throwing knife in each hand which he spun around his finger. Then Sado jumped forward throwing both knives simultaneously and rolled out of his dive while the two knives soared through the air. The figure brandished a short sword and struck one of the knives out of the way, and ducked to avoid the second. The first knife clattered against a tree uselessly while the second pierced the hood of the figure and tore it off. Lightning lit the heavens to reveal a small smile, blood red eyes, and fangs. Sado gasped, he had never seen a vampire, he had only heard Rin and Yyuusei talk of them, he didn’t understand until now how terrifying they could be. Sado pushed away his fear, and pulled out his two tantos and slowly crept forward. The rain was beginning to pour down and dark grey clouds began to race across the sky. The vampire suddenly shouted something but was lost in the rain and raced forward brandishing his sword. Sado charged forward and met the vampire parrying the sword stroke with one tanto, while bringing the other one under cut the vampire’s forearm. The vampire jumped back but not before Sado left a wound which bled and mixed with the rain. The vampire hissed and charged again. Sado again met the sword, this time with both hands and kicked out and was responded with a grunt as his foot made contact with the vampire’s stomach. The vampire was lifted off the ground and flung backwards. The vampire screamed again, this time it was audible to Sado. “How can you hurt me!” The cold red eyes darted around and settled on Sado’s tantos. His smile turned grim, and he gave an angry shriek as he saw the eerie silver and blue steel. The vampire, overcome with rage, charged again. Dirt flew behind him as he ran with all the speed he could muster. He swung the sword down in one last attempt to cleave Sado asunder, but Sado dodged to the side and plunged a tanto into the vampire’s heart. The two figures stood there in the rain, one slumped over, the other hardly able to stand. Sado staggered backwards pulling out the short sword along with him, letting the vampire drop without the support of Sado. Then suddenly, the vampire bursted into flames.

Yyuusei looked up to see a blurry looking Rin. She appeared vexed. Then Yyuusei became cross; she had no reason to be angry, she was not the one who had been smashed, not once, but twice, in the face with a frying pan! Of course however, Yyuusei didn’t voice his thoughts aloud. Instead he just sat their not knowing how to break the silence. He didn’t even think that Rin was aware that he had awakened. Yyuusei tried to rouse himself, and was able to do so, but not silently. Rin jumped, and she looked scared, really scared. Yyuusei was surprised, of all the emotions, fear was not on the top of his list. She couldn’t wipe the look off fast enough, she was scared of him. Yyuusei was taken aback—he felt hurt; besides the face, he felt a sharp pain in his heart. He usually severed his emotions from people, Sado and May being the only exceptions. However, he had made a new bond with someone, and that was Rin. And her look was painful; it made him fearful of what he had done. It made him sorrowful, and she tried to look happy now, but that look could not be erased out of his memory. It was there as if it had been branded their, he could see her face perfectly in that one moment of true fear. The one thing that pierced him the most, were her eyes. They were sad, lonely eyes, and had fear mixed in the midst. They were cloudy, indecisive, and apprehensive.
Rin tried to recover, “Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah, I am feeling better thanks,” replied Yyuusei a little hesitantly.
“I am worried about Sado, he has been by himself up there for a while now, I am going up there now to check up on him. I just didn’t want to leave you here all alone when you awoke. Would you like to come with me” asked Rin
“Yeah, I’ll come,” replied Yyuusei again still a little hesitant, but recovering his usual disposition. Rin then turned around, and retreated back to the great door which led out of the training grounds. Yyuusei followed a few steps behind than usual, keeping his distance so that he could think about everything which had happened. Images flashed through his head, him attacking Rin, Rin’s sorrowful face, a frying pan, the alley in which Rin saved his life, the vampire who cursed Rin, his house in disarray, the vampire which bit him. All of a sudden, he couldn’t take it anymore, he fell to his knees screaming in frustration, in pain, and in grief. He put his face in his hands, and sat there for a minute. Rin had gotten on her knees beside him, she put her hand on his shoulder, and then whispered in his ear, “Everything will be alright.” Yyuusei dropped his hands slowly, and turned to look at her face, she had a sad smile, full of sympathy and kindness. She then stood back up and lent him her hand. He took it slowly, and got up with Rin helping him. No words were said, and none were needed. Rin just continued back the path with Yyuusei trailing behind her closer than before.
They emerged out of the portal as lightning arched across the sky and thunder echoed in their ears. The first thing which caught their attention was a motionless body on the ground, then a pile of ashes, and finally, Sado, who was sitting down propped up against the house. Rin grew very alert looking for surrounding enemies, while Yyuusei charged forward and slid the rest of the way through the mud to Sado. He then lifted his hair to see if he had been wounded on his head, then he looked for any signs of a wound. Yyuusei gasped as his hands seemed to have been submerged into a puddle. He was bleeding badly through a gaping wound in his hip. Yyuusei pulled off Sado’s shirt despite his moans and the caked on blood that offered some resistance.
“Rin! Help me! He is bleeding badly,” shouted Yyuusei as his hands slipped in the blood trying to get Sado up.
“STOP! Don’t move him, you will only make it worse,” warned Rin.
Yyuusei froze and leaned Sado back against the wall. Rin gave one last look to survey the area, then she dashed down to help Yyuusei with Sado. Rin rested her fingers along his neck to feel for a pulse.
“It is fading,” she muttered to herself.
“What can I do to help,” said Yyuusei almost frantically. “I cant lose him here.”
“I just need you to be as quiet as possible, and put pressure on his wound. I am going to begin healing it, I only have basic schooling in that department.”
Yyuusei quickly put his hands onto Sado’s wound and applied pressure. The wind stirred and kicked up mud, the clouds swirled angrily into a mock hurricane formation. Lightning struck in circles, and thunder boomed all around. A green aura encompassed Rin as she chanted. Then everything froze, not one bird cried, not one leaf stirred, and then the moment passed. Sado stirred, and looked up with eyes which were glazed over. Yyuusei flinched at the sudden fever which took Sado. Then it dropped dramatically, and he felt like an ice cube, freezing to the touch. Finally, his temperature reached equilibrium, and his eyes became clear and focused. Sado then gave a weak smile, “Miss me?” He then coughed and regretted his words.
“We got you now,” said Yyuusei.
“I know,” replied Sado.
Then Yyuusei crouched down, and got under one of his shoulders while Rin got the other. She tried to help, but her size didn’t help the situation. They got Sado into the house, then they put him in a bedroom. Rin left while Yyuusei stayed to help him dry and get out of his bloodied clothes.
“Thanks,” muttered Sado.
Yyuusei didn’t reply, instead he started at a scar on Sado’s right hip. It seemed as if it had happened years ago. Only two things remained, a scar and a bad memory. After Yyuusei had gotten Sado into new clothes which Rin had supplied, they stepped outside.
“Rin! That was amazing, there is nothing left, just a scar. Can you believe it? Just a tiny scary!” exclaimed Yyuusei.
“If I had had the proper schooling, there would be no mark left, just be thankful that we got there in time. At first, I wasn’t so sure that you were going to make it Sado-kun.”
“Thanks,” muttered Sado again.
Yyuusei laughed, “Don’t be so modest Sado.”
“Sorry,” replied Sado looking down.
“Seriously Sado, why are you acting so weird?” asked Yyuusei.
“Sorry, just have a lot on my mind,” said Sado.
“Well I can understand that, I think it is safe to say we all do,” stated Rin. “Well I am tired, sorry. But I need my rest, I am sure you do too Sado.” Rin staggered toward the door and almost fell. Yyuusei rushed forward and caught her in his arms.
“Steady there,” Yyuusei smiled. “That spell must have taken a lot out of you. I will get you to your room.”
“Thanks, don’t hurt yourself though,” teased Rin.
Yyuusei got her into her room and laid her on her bed. As he laid her down he whispered, “Thanks. I know it wasn’t easy, and I know you were scared. I am in your debt, I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t there. Just take it easy alright? We aren’t going anywhere. You just sleep, we will take care of the rest.” Yyuusei smiled, and quietly left the room, closing the door silently behind him. He looked for Sado, and saw him already asleep in his room. Yyuusei smiled and sat in a chair in the hallway with his back to both Rin’s and Sado’s rooms, keeping watch.

The sun peeked over the horizon stretching out its light to everything in sight. Soon everything was bright and shining. Flowers of all colors were out, leaves turning more green, and suddenly, it all changed. Twelve dark portals appeared in a circle on top of a hill. Twelve figures clad in black from foot top walked out of these portals. Then the portals winked out as soon as there was no further need for them. On top of the hill, in the middle, was a stone altar with loose chains attached. No doubt these chains were to hold poor victims so that they couldn’t offer any resistance.
“I sent two men to ascertain Rin the Slayer’s position along with the ones staying with her. I have heard that they died in battle. The wounds were made by Ancient Steel, otherwise it wouldn’t have been as deadly. We have underestimated her, that is for sure. Also, rumor has it, that the key’s brother is with Rin. I am under the impression, that he was the one who was bitten by the rouge vampire. We know he had some attachment then because, Rin saved his life again when Rin’s brother tried to kill him. However, we do not know whose instructions he was acting on. And we do know that he was not acting alone. However, we can not interrogate him, because we do know, who ever he is following, has power. He may be one of us, or he may be even higher. So, if we were to interrogate her brother, we may bring down his leader’s wrath. We do not want that, we just need to focus on killing Rin and whoever may be with her. She is too much of a danger now that we have the key. If she finds out our specific location, then she will undoubtedly call the VSO to come in. Then we will have a large scale war on our hands.
Usually, I don’t think we would mind, but now we have the key, I don’t think we should take any unnecessary risks,” said one of the figures in black, with a 1 on his face and the back of his cloak.
“I agree. There isn’t much else to be said, so lets move on to what is happening in our society. The ____ are doing fine, but the ____ are rebelling and giving problems. Also the government is trying to get Vampires and humans to cooperate with each other. They hope that we will be able to live together in harmony. But maybe they forgot that humans are our food. What other purpose do they serve?” replied another with a 3 on the left side of his face, and on the back of his cloak.
Yyuusei roused from his chair and looked about. It was bright, and both Rin and Sado were still asleep. Yyuusei then went into Sado’s room and looked at his scar. It was just a pale thin scratch. It was still hard to believe that he had been so badly injured the previous night. Sado stirred and looked up to see Yyuusei.
“Hey man., what time is it?” questioned Sado.
“Don’t know, but it is pretty bright out, some time in the afternoon. Rin is still asleep too.”
“Who is asleep?” asked Rin standing in the doorway behind him. Then she yawned, and smiled.
“Well it looks like we have all finally gotten up. So Rin, what training are we doing today?” asked Yyuusei yawning.
“Training? We are done with training. For now anyways, we need to get on with rescuing your sister. If we wait much longer, it might be too late. Don’t get the wrong impression though. There is still much more than you and Sado can learn, but rescuing May is a higher priority. Just be really careful, we might run into the B.O.T.A, or Blood of the Ancients. It is a group of 13 vampires, it is hard to mistake them. If we run into them, run, and run far away. There is no way any of us will be able to beat them. The only way is if the three of us gang up on one of them. And that will only be possible if there is one by himself. So basically, this is a stealth mission, go in quietly, and leave more quietly is the idea,” said Rin.
“Lets get prepped,” said Yyuusei.
Rin walked into the kitchen towards the microwave. She then pushed “2..2.6.” in, and an audible click could be heard. She then opened the fridge, where instead of food, there were rows of guns and bullets in packages. She pulled out two semi-automatic pistols along with three packages of bullets. Then down a row, she pulled out Sado’s weapons and gave them to him.
“Wow! What is all that doing in there? I thought refrigerators were for storing food, not weapons,” exclaimed Yyuusei surprised.
Rin laughed, “refrigerators are just for keeping things good. Besides, the refrigerator is enchanted believe it or not. It is used to keep the bullets in good condition to kill vampires. Sado, I mended your suit, it is in the closet in your room. “Thank you,” replied Sado.
“Don’t mention it,” Rin said as Sado walked to retrieve his repaired suit.
When Sado returned, Rin had equipped herself with her semi-automatic pistols which were now loaded, and Yyuusei had put on his bandana, jacket, and a kunai had gone in its sheath.
“Looks like we are ready to go,” commented Yyuusei.
Rin then stepped outside into the nice afternoon air.
“Alright, lets get going. Sado, you will ride your own motorcycle, and I have two in the back, one for Yyu-kun and one for myself. Sorry, no helmets.” Rin said as she smiled.
Sado and Yyuusei laughed at her last remark. Sado, now also fully equipped, hopped onto his motorcycle and brought to the back of the house. Yyuusei hopped on the one which Rin had given him, solid black with red streaks down the sides. Rin’s was solid blue with silver streaks down the side. And Sado’s motorcycle was solid red with black streaks down the sides.
“Lets do this!” shouted Yyuusei.
“O yeah!” exclaimed Rin.
“Alright,” said Sado calmly.
All three revved their engines and shot off of the gravel into the woods. Sado and Yyuusei followed Rin through the terrain. Trees shot by along with brush and bushes. Animals took off in every direction startled by the sudden noise. All three laughed as they shot off over a natural dirt ramp. They dodged and weaved throughout the country landscape until they flew out of the forest and back onto the roads of the city. There they weaved in and out of traffic trying to go faster. It dawned on Yyuusei that they were going further and further downtown, not the nicest place of the city. New buildings became old ones, cracking down and withering away from the blunt force of the weather. Dogs became rats, owls became vultures, and people became beggars and thugs. Eventually they got to an old department building, and they slowed down as they went down into the parking area. The sun was beginning to go down, and it darkened around them. They hopped off the motorcycles and their smiles turned grim. Rin started to cast a small enchantment on their bikes.
“What is that for?” inquired Yyuusei.
“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I would be really sad if my bike was stolen. As you guys have noticed, this isn’t a place full of lawyers and school teachers. And these are nice rides. I wouldn’t put it past anyone down here to try to hotwire one. Now they wont see the bikes, they are too dumb to see anything of any magic proportion. I am surprised you can see them Sado,” said Rin.
Sado didn’t say anything, and instead just walked forward and leaned against a wall.
“What now?” asked Yyuusei again.
“Shush,” whispered Rin. Rin closed her eyes and felt the air with her hands. She walked towards the center of the parking garage when her eyes opened and she halted. “Here.” She then began to chant as she did before to open the portal to the training grounds.
All of a sudden, a knife flashed in the air, and a voice said, “Either of you there boys move, she dies.”

Rin cursed under her breadth as the knife cut into her skin and drew blood. Yyuusei turned away.
“Can’t handle a little bit of blood can you, you rich little snob you. Well it is alright, there doesn’t have to be any blood. Just hand over your money, and you lot go free. Well... I might spend a little time with this little girl here. If you know what I mean.”
It was as if something in Yyuusei snapped. Maybe it was the fact that he didn’t like being told what to do, or maybe it was of what the cutpurse had just implied. Yyuusei’s eyes glowed red like the embers of a fierce fire. He spun around on his heel and kicked off of the ground causing dust and nearby trash to scatter. He flew towards the thief with blinding speed passing columns of pillars and rusting cars which creaked as the wind from his wake hit them. Yyuusei grabbed the thief’s hand in a cold vice grip and pushed back snapping his wrist which sounded like the breaking of celery. The cutpurse howled in pain dropping his knife which clattered to the ground uselessly. However the man didn’t have much time moan about hit pain. Yyuusei grabbed the man’s throat while still flying through the air. With all of the momentum behind Yyuusei, he picked the crook off of the ground easily and slammed him through a corroding pillar and crashing into the next sturdy concrete pillar leaving a crater like impression. Yyuusei released his grip on the unfortunate man.
“What... are... you...?” then the man gasped as his beady eyes flickered towards Yyuusei’s own eyes. “Vampire... Never thought... you monsters... actually… lived,” uttered the robber with his last sharp breaths. Yyuusei looked horrified with the sudden realization of what he had just done. Blood began to ooze out of the back of the man where the pillars had cut him slithering across the floor making a great puddle, and his eyes filmed over. Yyuusei’s eyes turned back to their deep baby-blue. Yyuusei stepped backwards confused, looking at what he had just done. Rin was staring in surprise while Sado took it all in calmly.
“What.... What did I do? How? I... I don’t ... Rin... What have I done?” asked Yyuusei. Yyuusei staggered forward and backwards light-headed. He then leaned against an unbroken pillar staring away from the dead crook.
“Yyu-kun... What... It is alright Yyu-kun. We are here, it was just a reaction” began Rin.
“-I killed him!” interrupted Yyuusei sharply. “He had a knife to you, I just lost control. Please.... Tell me it will be alright...” pleaded Yyuusei weakly.
“It is alright. Everything will be fine,” said Rin in a soothing voice. She slowly took hold of him and embraced Yyuusei. “Everything will be alright,” she muttered quietly in his ear. And in that moment, everything was alright. Yyuusei’s pain, fear, and anxiety fled as he felt her arms embrace him. He closed his eyes hoping it would never end.


Sado has lost sight of what had just happened and was caught in a memory of his own. He was young, how young he could not recall. He was holding an army knife in a dark ally. The blade was stained with fresh blood. Sado looked down; a man lay there cradling his stomach. He looked up, and inhaled, wincing at the pain caused by breathing. The man cursed Sado, but Sado couldn’t hear. He couldn’t hear anything. He was dumbfounded as he tried to think of what he had just done. He then looked at the blood-covered knife which he was holding, and back to the man who had ceased his moving, lying still in a puddle of his own blood which glinted with an eerie light as the moon shined down on it. Memories flooded into him without warning. His mother had told him to wait in the store as she ran across the street to buy the daily paper. He didn’t mind waiting, so he sat down on a bench inside the supermarket. But as she crossed the road he got scared; he hated being alone, it terrified him. He was scared he might lose sight of her, so he stepped outside next to the bustling street where cars zoomed up and down. But he couldn’t see her, his mom wasn’t at the newspaper stand, but one of her shoes was next to it. He then heard a muffled scream coming from the side alley next to the store. Sado ran across the street not caring to look both ways before crossing. He almost got hit by someone who honked the horn and cursed at him, telling him to get out of the way. Sado stepped into the alley to see a man dressed poorly wearing nothing but rags and a hat with too many holes in it striking someone at the end of the dark alley. Sado didn’t need any more convincing to know that his mother was getting hurt. He charged down the alley pulling out his knife as he did so, plunging it deep into the man’s back up to the handle and tore down with all of his strength, tearing the man’s back open. Blood spattered Sado’s face as he withdrew the knife. The man reeled back screaming in pain to look at who was attacking him. Before he could notice the little boy who had stabbed him, Sado had plunged the knife into the man’s stomach and tore to the side spilling his guts on the street. The guy screamed and fell to the ground dropping a butcher knife which clattered to the street now covered in blood. Sado then stepped back and looked over at his mother who was lying face down next to a trashcan which was knocked over. Sado dropped the knife and ran forward and stumbled over himself falling down to the ground in his haste to get to her more quickly.
“Mom.... Mom... Mom get up! Mother please, don’t leave me here.” whispered Sado as he pushed and tugged her body willing her to move. “Don’t leave me....”
She was covered with wounds which had stopped bleeding made by a sharp blade. She had been hacked and slashed. Sado then turned to look at the fallen man. He went over to him and pushed him over roughly, the man made no attempts to ward him off. Sado then saw the knife which had killed his mother, a large crude knife unlike his own Swiss army knife which was used for just cutting kindling. Sado took hold of it gripping it so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He raised it high above his head to stab the man, but his arms weakened and he let them drop. The bloodied knife clattered to the ground uselessly. Then, a very sad young boy, looked up to the skies to see rain begin to fall. It was late, and the clouds rushed to cover the moon and its luminous light. Sado let his head fall into his hands, and then he himself fell over uselessly. And there he cried for quite some time.


“....Sado! Sado snap out of it!” shouted Yyuusei.
Sado gazed upwards to stare at Yyuusei. He then began to wonder what he was doing on the ground, and then he remembered what had just happened.
“Are you alright Yyu-kun?” asked Sado.
“Yeah, I am fine. Are you alright? You look like you have just seen a ghost.” replied Yyuusei unsure of what was going on.
“Yeah…. Something like that” said Sado almost inaudibly.
“Time to open the portal,” said Rin, eager to change topics. “Technically you can open a portal anywhere if you are wondering. But there are points or dimensions where the spiritual energy is stronger, and seeing as I am not the best mage, I need to use these spots of spiking spiritual energy.”
Rin began to chant while both Yyuusei and Sado stood by quietly and unmoving. The air began to stir around them; loose garbage and trash blew in the mysterious wind. A black image began to come out of the air as if it was blending out. It blurred as if it wasn’t completely there like a mirage. Then the wind stopped, and the portal took on a fuller appearance. Black mist swirled around it and the surface looked almost like glass.
“Come on! I can’t hold this thing forever, get in.” said Rin anxiously.
Yyuusei stepped through and the portal shimmered like the surface of a lake when a pebble is dropped into it. Sado looked at it once more before stepping through. He could see nothing except for a diminishing light behind him. All of sudden, even that winked out.
“Wow, where are we?” asked Yyuusei in awe.

(Intro scene)

“We are in…. actually I am not too sure as to the exact location of the vampire realm. Well you see, the vampire realm isn’t as it used to be. For one thing, the barrier separating this realm from yours has diminished considerably. That is why more and more vampires are appearing in your world. But even that isn’t really correct. The vampires don’t live in a separate world or anything… it is more like they live under a shroud of mist, and at some places the fog vanishes letting a vampire or more out. You humans could see it as a prison for vampires, but to the vampires, it is just like the world they would imagine. However, some vampires are coming to understand that there is more to their world, that they are not limited to this small desolated place. Also disappearances which have been occurring more often bring attention to themselves,” Rin said.
“If you know where they live, why don’t your clan and you just come over here and kill them all,” asked Yyuusei curiously.
“It’s simple, it is because a pact was made forbidding us to kill any vampires here. In return, they cannot attack us in our haven. The pact was sealed under sacred and ancient magic. If it were to be broken, the breaker of the deal would die slowly but surely. They would be rendered paralyzed and would be subject to the most terrible pain. After a day to two, their heart would stop beating,” said Rin almost gravely.
“Has this happened?” asked Yyuusei, almost afraid to speak the question.
Rin’s hair fell, covering her face, hiding her emotions.
“Yes…” replied Rin. “My brother… he knew the consequences, but he didn’t care. He wanted revenge. He said he didn’t fear death, and that it would come to us all in time. He said that he would make his death useful, taking down the leaders of our enemy. He died for nothing… He only killed decoys. Someone had tipped them off…. And to this day, I don’t know who it was who betrayed my brother.”
A tear slid down her face as she finished her tragic story. She sniffed as she wiped away her tear and turned around.
“Let’s get going, I dont want to be here any longer than I have to; this place gives me the creeps," said Yyuusei, trying to break the silence and get Rin's thoughts off of her brother.