Chapter 6 “Seductive Wounds”
Kyoko was limping by the time she finally found a cab. Getting into the back, she gave the cabby the address and curled up into a ball on the backseat making sure the coat was wrapped as tightly around her as she could get it, but she didn’t cry… she would never cry. When the cab pulled to a stop in front of the club, Kyoko blindly handed the driver the fare and got out. The bouncers at the door quickly moved aside when she rushed by them without acknowledgment.
Amni was smiling at a pretty ebony-haired young woman celebrating her twenty-first birthday. She was trying to decide what drink to get but kept giggling whenever she noticed him smiling at her. He stiffened when he suddenly smelled blood and looked up. His blue eyes widened when he saw Kyoko run through the club and slip upstairs.
Motioning for the other bartender to cover for him, Amni apologized to his customer and raced after her.
Kyoko reached the top of the stairs, nearly falling to her knees on the last step. She walked briskly toward her apartment door and pulled out her keys with shaking fingers. She barely had the key in the lock when the door behind her flew open and she screamed for the second time that night.
Yohji was actually too shocked to say anything when he noticed the wounds on Kyoko’s body and the fact that her clothing was almost ripped to shreds. He reached his hand out to turn her around so he could ask her what happened but Amni was suddenly there in front of him, pushing him back inside his apartment with one strong-as-hell shove.
Amni growled inwardly as he wiped the boy’s mind clean of the sight of Kyoko. His eyes flashing briefly at the spiky haired man as he slammed the door in Yohji's face. In about five seconds the scumbag wouldn’t remember a thing about what just happened.
The blonde vampire slowly approached Kyoko and extended a hand toward her but didn’t touch her just yet. He looked her up and down and wanted to snarl in rage at her appearance. Forgoing etiquette, he swept her up bridal style and started toward his apartment instead of hers.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered tenderly as he choked on his rage.
Kyoko let him carry her. She didn’t have the will to fight anymore and it felt so safe in his arms. Once they were inside with the door bolted behind them, he released her and she immediately fell to her knees.
Amni knelt down in front of her and gently pulled her arms away from her chest where they were crossed protectively. The jacket gaped open a little and he saw she wasn’t wearing anything underneath it. Moving slowly, Amni pushed the leather jacket off of her shoulders and pulled her arms free of the garment so he could see the wounds that were causing the smell of blood to surround her like an aura.
Kyoko just sat there on the floor not bothering to cover herself up. Her sight was focused on his long blond hair as it swung down in front of her from his movements. She knew Amni was only helping her and wouldn’t let her go until he saw for himself that she was okay. She couldn’t control the flinch when he cursed loudly.
“Damn all seven hells!” Amni exclaimed as his blue eyes turned almost neon.
Kyoko’s body was a road map of claw marks and bruises. As his gaze traveled down her, he noticed the trail of blood running from two puncture wounds at the hem of her miniskirt. His blue eyes sparkled violently as his mind tried to pull up images of what must have happened.
“Who did this to you?” Amni demanded, running his hand through his hair in agitation. The urge to suddenly start a vampiric civil war thundered through him.
Kyoko finally looked up at him. “It didn’t work,” she whispered looking completely miserable.
“What didn’t work?” He had seen her come home injured before but never to this magnitude and he could almost swear she was in shock right now. He reached for her hair, pushing it out of the way so he could check and see if the mark that had been there this morning was gone yet… it was. Surely the vampire lord hadn’t done this to her… it didn’t make any sense.
Kyoko looked at her right hand as if still in a daze, “The spirit dart… it didn’t stay. I was scared Amni…”
“Your spirit dart didn’t work?” Amni asked, even though he had never really understood why she had such a thing to start out with. Why would the gods give such a strange weapon against demons to a little girl in the first place? Not waiting on her to explain, he leaned forward and whispered, “I can make all of it go away for you Kyoko… if you let me.”
Her emerald eyes shot up to meet with his in confusion. “What? Make what go away?” Either she was still addled or he wasn’t making any sense.
Wanting her to understand… not wanting her to remember any of it, Amni reached out and grabbed her upper arms, giving her a shake before stopping. “This Kyoko… everything that happened tonight. I can make it go away for you, if you will just trust me. I’ll use my powers to make you forget.” His voice had grown harsh but his eyes gave away his need to protect her.
Kyoko’s shoulders slumped and she turned her face away from him knowing he was only trying to save her. “No… I do trust you, but… I want to remember so I don’t make the same mistake twice.” She felt his grip loosen and she added in a quiet voice, “You don’t have to save me.”
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I want to?” Amni let go of her arms and blinked, seeing the imprint of his fingerprints slowly fading from her skin. She had already been bullied enough for one night and he would not add to that. “Just tell me what happened out there tonight.” He tried to keep his voice calm, although he felt like tearing the city apart.
Kyoko swallowed hard. “I… I found a gang of vampires… or they found me, I think. They attacked me… too many of them. They were going to… and this one vampire just appears out of nowhere to join the fight and I tried stabbing him with it… the dart… but my power failed.” She knew she was rambling but she couldn’t help it. Instead of shaking on the outside… she was shaking on the inside.
Amni closed his eyes… not wanting her to see the redness creeping into them… not wanting to see the vision of what she had just said, but seeing it within his mind's eye anyway.
Who had showed up? Tadamichi… or the brother? Was one of the vampire lords now stalking her? Last night… he should have just closed down the bar and took her upstairs… given her what she was wanting so badly… before someone else had. If he had… maybe he could have saved her.
He shook his head before standing up and getting a bowl of warm soapy water and a soft washrag. He sat back down in front of Kyoko and took her left hand in his; cleaning the blood off her smooth skin… it didn’t belong there.
“Kyoko,” Amni said trying to block out most of what she’d just said. There was one thing he was curious about. His eyes glanced down at the leather jacket lying on the floor around her. “Did the weapon work before the other vampire showed up?”
Kyoko shrugged, “Yeah… but there was too many…” she frowned thoughtfully feeling like something was wrong with the picture she had just given. At first she’d thought the tall dark vampire was there to save her but he couldn’t have been. When he’d looked at her… she could feel his anger seething out of him like a living entity. No… she had been wrong. He was probably just trying to steal a meal.
That vampire was more dangerous than all the others put together… she could feel it when he’d touched her. His power had been stronger than all the other vampires combined.
“I would have lost either way,” she whispered as if talking to herself. Kyoko lifted her right hand and clenched it into a fist. Her expression lit up when she saw the spirit dart appear like the gods had turned it back on or something. “Wow.” For the first time since the fight her voice showed emotion, even though it was still muted.
Amni quickly backed away from her, looking at the dart a bit suspiciously. All his senses screamed danger at him and he had to fight his own urge to run. “Damn it, Kyoko,” he hissed as he glared at the white light.
Kyoko looked up at him with a genuinely innocent expression. “What?”
“Put that thing away unless you want me to reenact the Wicked Witch of the West here.” He sighed when the glowing dart vanished. Seeing the look on her face as she stared at her empty hand then down at her bleeding chest was his undoing. Without warning, he reached for her and pulled her protectively into his arms.
“Kyoko… before last night, nothing like this has happened… right? Why did you have to go and do it? It doesn’t keep vampires from sensing you… I should know. You thought losing your virginity was a way to hide from them… but there is no hiding what you are.” His voice broke, “They will still feel you coming! I still feel you coming. Damn it… I can even taste you in the air.”
Kyoko frowned against his shirt, knowing in a way he was right. “Tonight was just a fluke Amni… I messed up.” She felt his arms tighten around her but she didn’t care… it felt soft and warm after almost being killed. Without him… who would be holding her right now? Oh yeah… no one.
“Why don’t you take a break for a couple days?” Amni asked, desperately wanting to hide her away from the city… from whatever was coming for her.
Kyoko sank into his protection. How had things gone so wrong? “They weren’t supposed to feel me coming any more Amni… that’s why I slept with…” Kyoko cringed knowing she didn’t even have a name to give the man she had spent the night with.
“Who Kyoko? Who did you sleep with?” Amni again looked at the jacket lying on the floor beside them already knowing the answer… or at least he feared he did.
“I danced with him before we left the bar. Didn’t you see him?” she answered his question with a question of her own.
“Yes… I saw him Kyoko. What color eyes did he have?” The muscles in Amni’s jaws flexed as he gritted his teeth. As many long island ice tea’s as she had drank, it’s a wonder she wasn’t seeing double. He needed to know the truth. If he had to, he would go to Tadamichi himself and plead for her to be left alone.
“Blue,” Kyoko closed her eyes and remembered looking up into blue eyes while she danced. As she watched, the man’s image grew taller… his dark hair longer, but she couldn’t see his face. Suddenly the vision was poised over her… thrusting forward.
She pushed herself out of Amni’s arms. “Brown… his eyes were brown.” She felt like everything was spinning out of control and she looked around the room wanting it to stop.
Amni placed his hands on her shoulders so she would have no choice but to look at him and hear him. “Kyoko… that’s not the same person you left the bar with.” When their gazes locked and hers grew wide, he could see the tears lingering just beyond her lashes. He slowly let her go, not wanting to be the reason they spilled.
He dipped the rag back in the water. “Just for a couple days… Kyoko. For me… don’t go hunting.” He pressed the rag tenderly against her cheek. “You can even hide in here if you want to.”
Hide? That sounded nice. Running also sounded like a good idea. Seeing the rag pull back from her face stained red with her blood, she knew what she needed more than anything else at the moment. “I just want a shower.”
Amni nodded toward his bathroom, not ready to let her go just yet. He could still see her shaking and it was slowly killing him inside. “Do you need me to help you? Because I will you know.”
Kyoko wiped a tear from her cheek hearing the strength in his voice and realized just how weak it was making her feel. She was not weak… had never been weak. Just because one of them bit her didn’t mean the demons had won. She was still here… right?
She smiled up at him hoping he would understand… she couldn’t stay.
“Are you asking me to take a shower with you?” She winked at him as she pushed herself up off the floor and started toward the apartment door, placing her hand on the handle but not opening it. “I promise not to go out tonight Amni… maybe not tomorrow night either. You can come and check on me if you want to, but I promise… I’m okay now.” She raised her chin a notch hearing the steadiness in her voice that she didn’t feel.
Amni quickly stood up, bringing the jacket with him. Striding toward her, he stopped when he noticed her quick step back from him. The action hurt the blonde, but at the same time, he understood why she was reacting this way. Reaching the jacket out to her, he knew she wasn’t in any shape to be by herself… she hadn’t even noticed she still wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Kyoko stared at the jacket, suddenly wondering just who it belonged to. Realizing she needed it for covering so she could make it to her room, she slowly took it and slid it on. Opening the door, she felt Amni’s hand on her shoulder.
“I promise,” she whispered as she took off down the hall. She could feel Amni’s eyes on her back all the way to her door. She paused for a moment when she saw her keys still stuck in the lock. Very slowly, she unlocked the door and stepped inside the apartment. She sighed in relief when she didn’t see anyone inside and closed the door behind her.
Her hands moved frantically over the locks as the shaking returned full force… causing panic and paranoia to escalate. Only once she was behind the relative safety of her bolted door did she finally let her anger loose. The power behind it pulsed outward in a blind rush and she glared at her reflection in the mirror beside the door.
Raising her fist, she screamed in rage and anger before punching the offending sight. As the pieces of cracked mirror fell to the floor, her gaze followed its descent and she watched tiny reflections of herself mingle with drops of blood from her bleeding knuckles.
***** Hyakuhei stood on the roof of Kyoko’s apartment building. A bright red neon sign blinked beside him, casting his features into stark shadow before lighting them up blood red. The Underground… the name was fitting considering a vampire made his home and place of employment in such an establishment.
Looking up, Hyakuhei could feel the lingering storm and see the darkening of the sky above him. He knew it wouldn’t be long before everything changed and the dawn would shower across the skyline, bathing its children with warm, soft light even overpowering the storm. He’d watched the beginning of sunrise many times only to vanish before its completion… unable to gaze upon something so bright for too long a time.
A cool breeze came out of the north, caressing him intimately. Closing his eyes, Hyakuhei inhaled deeply. Her scent drifted up from somewhere below him… within the walls of the building. It was time.
As the last lightning bolt from the dying storm flashed, the rooftop lit up bright as midday. Unfortunately, there was no longer anyone there to witness the finale of such a beautiful spectacle.
Kyoko pushed the jacket off her arms, hissing when the leather would brush against the still bleeding wounds covering her body. She let it fall to the floor, followed swiftly by the rest of the tattered clothes that had survived the night. She stood there nude for a moment, inspecting her body and nearly jumped out of her skin when the lights flickered.
Thunder boomed loudly in the distance… followed a few seconds later by another bright flash of lightening, making the lights flicker again.
Wanting to make the unbearable, vulnerable feeling go away, she raced to her room and found her white silk wrap. Slipping it up on her shoulders, she sighed at the cool weightless feel of the material. Standing in the middle of the bedroom, she placed her hands over her face and breathed deeply… taking a moment to pull herself together.
Hyakuhei materialized in front of her, his hands clenched into tight fists. He could feel the confusion and fear coming from her and reached out for her. Just before contact, he stopped and took a silent breath. His hands ghosted over her body, never touching a hair on her head. His gaze drifted down to the open robe and abruptly pulled back when he saw the still bleeding wounds on her chest and belly.
The soft white silk was starting to stain with blood but the woman didn’t seem to care. He would not have been surprised if she’d broken down right then… it would have been the human thing to do. His hands returned to his sides and he quickly vanished, reappearing behind her when her hands lowered from her face.
“Maybe I should have taken Amni up on his offer and just stayed with him,” she said out loud to make the silence go away.
Hyakuhei’s eyes narrowed as the bartender’s face swept through his mind’s eye. She was just attacked by vampires but then she is close to one… close enough to stay the night with him?
Feeling a little calmer, she whispered, “No… not that.” The last thing she needed was to give in to the sympathy Amni was offering. What she needed was to find out what had gone wrong… then she needed to get mad about it.
Her eyes widened in shock as she remembered what she’d been doing before the attack. “Tasuki!”
Not bothering to tie the silk housecoat around her, she rushed into the living room and reached for the leather coat. Sticking her hands frantically into the deep pockets, she started searching for a very important item. Her cell phone… where was it? She needed to call Tasuki back and let him know everything was okay. There was no telling what was going through his mind right now.
Afterward, she planned on calling grandpa and see if he knew why the spirit dart didn’t work. THEN, she would give him hell about that load of bull he’d given her about her virginity.
“I must have dropped it in that alley.” She wrapped her arms around herself knowing she would have to go back for it. Looking out the window at the darkness, she decided to wait till daylight to go searching for it. “It’ll be safer that way,” she said trying to convince herself.
Hyakuhei remained silent in the doorway behind her and frowned wondering who this Tasuki was. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the cell phone and flipped it open. The last caller was listed under Tasuki.
Kyoko jumped when the living room light above her shattered, sending a rain of sparks down on her.
Finally snapping… Kyoko yelled, “That’s it! If one more thing goes wrong tonight… forget it! You can’t break me!” She glared up at what was left of the light bulb and growled feeling completely disturbed.
Seeing her anger at the inanimate object had a calming effect on Hyakuhei as he leaned against the doorjamb watching her. She was the most fascinating creature he had ever seen and he didn’t want to take his eyes off her. Hearing her growl shot spirals of heat through his loins and he growled back in return.
Kyoko spun around in the darkness seeing nothing, then gave herself a mental shake, writing it off as an echo of her own insanity. Knowing there wasn’t anything else she could do for now, she took off for the bathroom, flipping on the light. Instantly closing her eyes against the harsh glare, she pulled out a drawer and lifted a lighter from it.
Lighting the three candles on the shelf, she flipped the overhead light back off and sighed in relief. After what had happened to the living room light… it was for the best anyway.
Turning to the mirror, she let the robe hit the floor. It was amazing how in the right light… things didn’t look as bad. She traced the claw mark that ran across her left shoulder and breast. She could tell it was already trying to heal, but if she had been a normal girl… this was why she would continue fighting the vampires.
Backing into the shower, Kyoko pulled the glass door closed; glad it was see through enough to let plenty of the candle’s light into the shower as she turned the water on. Not that she was scared of the dark… that was the last thing to be scared of. Now, what was in the dark… that was totally another topic. That was the dark that had touched her… she could still feel it touching her. All she needed to do was wash it off… all of it. Tonight… last night.
Hyakuhei stood only inches from the glass watching as her body arched with her motions and the soapy rag made it across her skin.
‘She is fighting a vampire.’ The voice taunted his memory. ‘This is what she does.’ He reached out and put his hand against the glass separating them. ‘You have no control over her… let her go.’ That was what his brother had said… but he was wrong.
Last night he’d controlled her by placing her under his thrall. He closed his eyes calling to the connection that should have been there but wasn’t. He pushed his mind forward trying to invade hers. Why wasn’t it working? His power had never failed him. He had used his thrall on humans and demons alike and it’d never wavered.
His eyes snapped open knowing his brother wasn’t bluffing… he’d known it tonight when she had tried to kill him with that strange light. He hadn’t believed such a thing existed but he’d read about it in the old scrolls before they had been lost in the wars. The light weapon was called a Soul Stealer and only worked on weak demons… humans that had been turned… half-breeds.
He hadn’t wanted to face it… he had only wanted her. His eyes darkened seductively with the knowledge that she had wanted him too. If the thrall really didn’t work on her… then she had chosen him of her own free will.
Kyoko dropped the rag as she stepped back under the water. Her skin tingled all over due to the vicious scrubbing she had just given it but it felt good… clean. Not wanting to exit the shower just yet, she closed her eyes and silently wondered about the man she’d given herself to barely twenty-four hours ago.
Running her hands over her body, she felt the trails of water follow her like soft caresses and sighed. She could still feel his touch and welcomed the memory. Why not… it was her memory to keep if she chose to keep it. All she’d wanted to do was make love with him… to let him inside her… just for one night.
The only thing she regretted was that she couldn’t remember his face… only his eyes as he moved over her… as he entered her. He was dangerous, dark, and seductive.
Hyakuhei inhaled her scent and knew she was remembering… he could smell her desire. Why then had she tried to kill him? Was it because she had slept with the enemy and was now trying to erase it from history? He wouldn’t allow her to just walk away. He had been inside her and he wanted back in.
Where his fingers touched the glass door of the shower, a crack started to form.
Kyoko’s eyes snapped open as a sound made it through the echo of rushing water and she turned to look, watching the crack as it slowly formed little by little as if walking across the glass surface. Turning off the water nervously, she made a fist and instantly felt safer when the spirit dart formed. At the same time that it appeared within her palm… the crack stopped.
Seeing the proof of what she was… he inhaled sharply and the glass shattered, sending the scent of the desire she’d just been feeling throughout the room. She had wanted him last night and she still wanted him… just as badly as he wanted her. She couldn’t kill him and he couldn’t control her. His eyes hardened at the thought of what was to come. Just like she had said earlier tonight… they would have to do it the old fashioned way.
Kyoko didn’t scream when she saw him standing between her and the mirror… the mirror that did not show his reflection. It was him… the vampire who had threatened her. What he’d said rang loud and clear within her mind. “Did you think you could escape me by trying to kill me?” Without thinking, she raised the spirit dart and lunged forward.
He shot forward so fast, she wasn’t even sure she had seen him move, his hand now gripping her wrist as she was slammed back against the shower wall. She found herself staring at her hand… watching the weapon once again disappear like the traitor it had become. Almost in slow motion, she turned to face him… a face that was now only inches from hers. Those dark, captivating eyes searched hers suspiciously.
“That won’t work on me… remember?” His sudden anger vanished now that she was pinned to the wall.
Hyakuhei's gaze raked over her naked body, taking in every tiny detail. Her hair lay flat against her head and across the skin of her neck and shoulders. The tips of it were slightly dry already and curling upward just a bit with droplets of water slowly traveling down her body.
He inhaled silently, watching the moisture gleam on her skin, giving her a luminescent sheen. Hyakuhei pushed his tongue against the back of his teeth fighting the urge to sample the clean taste of her. The water, he noticed, was slowly running down her body and pooling on the floor around her small feet.
His gaze became heated when he realized she looked even more delectable than she had the night before. This woman was a drug... a highly addictive drug. It was no wonder the half-breeds he'd encountered trying to take her in the last twenty-four hours wanted to sample her charms before bleeding her. He would never give them the chance.
Kyoko’s lips parted as she watched his eyes fade from deep ebony to a soft brown… his long dark hair framing his perfect face. Her heart stopped for a second in time, then kicked wildly in her chest and sped up as if making up for lost time.
“No…” The word left her lips like a prayer. She started to struggle against him and found she was stronger than she had thought as she shoved him backwards and darted around him.
Hyakuhei let her have her freedom for a moment but turned his head in the direction she was running. “No?” he echoed her word angrily. Just as she made it to the living room, he grabbed her from behind and pulled her back against him… reaching around her to grab her by the throat so she would quit fighting him.
“You didn’t say ‘No’ last night,” he growled darkly in the face of her rejection.
Kyoko squeezed her eyes shut trying to shake her head… trying not to understand him. “Are you here to kill me?” she breathed, almost wishing he would say yes.
Hyakuhei leaned forward placing his lips next to her ear. “If I had wanted to kill you… I would have killed you last night while you were under me in my bed.”
She cringed away from the feel of his hot breath as it caressed her neck. “You’re lying… it wasn’t you… I wouldn’t,” she felt her knees trying to buckle but the hand around her throat was steady. “I would never sleep with someone like…” She hissed as she was shoved forward and turned, only to be slammed back into him, this time face to face.
“Like what!” he yelled, glaring down at her. “Like me?” His hand came up her back to tangle in the hair at the nape of her neck as he slashed his lips across hers.
The kiss was hot and branding. Kyoko started pounding on his chest, trying to push him away as he deepened the kiss. Her mind reeled as the memories of last night came rushing back. She pushed against him, at the same time her fingers dug into his shirt, trying to hold on… she had kissed him before and she’d liked it.
Feeling her strength return with her guilt, she gave one hard push and was rewarded when he released her.
Hyakuhei showed no expression as her forearm came up in front of her mouth as if to bar him from another kiss. But, he had felt it… she still wanted him.
“What have you done?” Kyoko accused as her bottom lip trembled and she childishly closed her eyes.
Hearing the rejection in her voice left him cold and his gaze turned to the window knowing he was out of time. “What have I done?” his unforgiving eyes turned back to hers… placing the blame where it belonged. “I did what you asked of me.”
Kyoko’s lips parted to deny his words, but when she opened her eyes… he was gone.
