Vampire Gemini

Tasuki rubbed his temples and sighed wearily. She’d lied to him… but why? Staring angrily at the only target within striking distance, he slapped the steering wheel with both hands then one more time for good measure. When was Kyoko going to face the fact that he could take care of himself? Well, maybe not as well as she could… but still well enough to help her out in a jam.

He was distracted from his silent rant when he heard a noise close to his car and was about to look around, thinking it was Kyoko. He felt something strike the side of his neck, just behind the ear, making him inhale sharply as stars burst within his eyesight.

Tasuki’s head fell forward on the steering wheel, rendering him out cold.

Yuuhi reached through the open window for the young man but jerked his hand away when an amethyst spark shot between them. The demon child calmly looked down at his fingers, then slowly back to the young man in the driver’s seat. Being told no only made him want it more and the corner of his lip curved upward in the hint of a cunning smile.

Hearing distant footsteps, he pushed away from the car and looked down the street feeling her closeness. Stepping back into the darkness again, Yuuhi waited.

Grandpa hung the phone up with a knowing grin. He tapped his chin wondering when Tasuki was going to get up enough nerve to take Kyoko’s virginity. He had read in the ancient scrolls that as long as the priestess was a virgin, she would be an even bigger target for the demons. But so far, he refused to tell his granddaughter to have sex. He just wished Tasuki would hurry up and hit puberty or something.

Seeing movement from down the block, he focused his old eyes back on Tasuki’s car… wondering if the boy was going to grow a set of balls and get out. There was something outside the driver’s side door but it was too little to be Tasuki, and it was too quick for him to tell what it was. His attention was taken by another shadow on the other side of the street as it came closer.

His eyebrows drew together as her injuries came into view. What had she gotten herself into? Something appeared behind her and his gaze latched on to it.

As Kyoko stepped in front of the house, the motion detector lights came on and she looked up at the window and waved to her grandpa. When he didn’t wave back, she noticed the look on his face and the wideness of his eyes. He was looking directly behind her.

“Well… that’s just creepy.” Swinging around, she sucked in a chilled gasp seeing the eerie boy not but a couple feet from her. He was standing as still as a statue in the middle of the street. The only life within him was his unruly silver hair blowing in the night breeze. She gritted her teeth at her own carelessness… ‘How could she have been so stupid?’

Yuuhi could smell her panic and was surprised by how quickly it was replaced by fearful anger. His gaze curiously rose to the old man gaping out the upstairs window at them. She was protecting him? He let his mind wander throughout the house and detected two more life forces… one was a child. Bringing his gaze back to the girl, Yuuhi wondered if the male child was her brother. She had taken his brothers away… it would only be fair if he took hers.

“Don’t even think about it,” Kyoko warned, seeing his interest in her home. Her eyes narrowed with determination as the spirit dart formed in her palm.

A wicked light appeared within her fist and something Yuuhi had not felt in over five hundred years swept through his lifeless body… fear. His ebony eyes locked with hers; knowing if he tried to take her or her brother… he would die this night.

Kyoko’s mind went into overdrive realizing she’d led the little demon straight to her own house. She had put her whole family in danger and that was something she had always avoided at all cost. She could feel the eeriness of the boy reaching out to her, as he remained silent and unmoving. In looks… he seemed to be the same age as her little brother Tama. Although, she could feel he was so much older than that, the oldest demon she’d ever had the misfortune to come across.

“I will tell him I have found you,” The child’s emotionless voice whispered hauntingly, as if they had just shared a long peaceful conversation.

Hearing the front door slam open, Kyoko quickly glanced over her shoulder and yelled, “Grandpa, get back inside!”

She raised her weapon and turned back to the demon ready to fight, only to cry out because the child was no longer there. She didn’t know which thought creeped her out the most. Seeing him… or knowing he existed and not seeing him.

Closing her eyes, Kyoko let her life force span out in search for the iciness of his aura. Feeling nothing… she let a quivering breath escape knowing everything had changed… and all within an instant. The one thing she’d promised herself she would not do… was put her family in danger.

She felt a heavy hand land on her shoulder and quickly turned… throwing herself into her grandpa’s arms. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry!” Tears sprang to her emerald eyes. “He knows where I live… he will tell.”

Grandpa wrapped his arms around her feeling the heaviness of loss within his chest. He would have to move the family back to their other home near the sacred shrine before the weekend was over. They would be safer there where the ground was blessed. This had already been the plan if anything like this ever happened. His eyes grew sad knowing Kyoko would not come with them. They would lose her.

He held onto her tightly as he asked her the one question he already knew the answer to. “I’ll take them home Kyoko, but what will you do?”

“Say goodbye,” Kyoko sobbed, and then pulled her despair back inside herself. She let the wonderful numbness take hold knowing she had a lot to do before dawn.

Grandpa slowly let her go and watched as she walked into the house before he turned and started toward Tasuki’s car. He heaved a sigh, knowing he would have to make sure the boy was okay.

Seeing that lover boy was unconscious, he mumbled, “You always were more trouble than you were worth.” He opened the door and shoved the boy into the other seat almost grinning when Tasuki’s head bumped the passenger window.

“Looks like I’m the one stuck taking you home,” Grandpa mumbled. “At least before Kyoko finds out you got yourself knocked out.” This time the older man did grin. “We can’t let Kyoko know you got yourself hurt or she won’t call you if she needs you.” Starting the car, he peeled off down the street wanting to hurry and get back to his granddaughter.

*****

The next morning, Tasuki awoke with a start, jerking up in the bed from a nightmare he didn’t want to remember. Something was wrong in more ways than one… he just knew it. Grabbing for the phone beside the bed, he hit the speed-dial clenching his jaw when her grandpa answered.

“I need to speak to Kyoko.” His voice was almost manic as his grip tightened on the receiver. He didn’t remember coming home last night… what had happened?

Mimicking Tasuki’s mood, Grandpa’s grip tightened on the phone as the cab pulled up in front of the house. Kyoko had made him promise not to tell Tasuki or anyone where she was going. It was the only way to protect them. It was a shame.

His voice was softer and wearier than it had ever sounded. “I am sorry Tasuki. Kyoko no longer lives here and there’s no forwarding address.” It really was a shame.

Tasuki listened as the line went dead… hearing his own heartbeat overpower the sound. Kyoko had told him once that if something went wrong with the demons, then she would disappear. “No.” The word rushed from him as his eyes took on the most startling shade of amethyst.

“DAMN IT!” He yelled and threw the phone across the room. Covering his eyes with his hands, he fell back against the lush pillows as he felt his heart fracture and bleed painfully.

He uncovered his eyes after a few minutes… the amethyst color within them still hadn’t faded. Tasuki decided he would bide his time. Just because the old man told him Kyoko didn’t leave a forwarding address… didn’t mean he was ignorant to where she was going.

Unseen to him, the staff Tasuki kept locked in its case by the bed began to glow ominously.

*****

Kyoko opened the taxi door but turned back toward the house when her younger brother came running down the steps and across the yard. She threw her arms around him as he tackled her… barely keeping her feet.

“I don’t want you to go!” he cried, fisting his hand in her shirt.

Kyoko smiled… knowing she was doing the right thing. She loved him so much that it made the decision to leave hurt less. “I will come back to see you soon, and once school is out, I promise you can come to the city to visit me. We will spend so much time together that it will be as if I never left.” She looked up to see her mothers’ gaze lock with hers.

Miss Hogo pulled Tama away from her daughter with an understanding smile. “We will have your room ready and waiting on you. Won’t we Tama?” She brushed the tears from his cheek as he nodded, then looked back up at Kyoko. “See, everything will be fine.”

Glancing up at the house one last time, Kyoko could see her grandpa in the upstairs window. She waved and gave him a smile that almost made her cheeks hurt… then climbed into the cab. If she was leaving home because of the demons, then she was going to go invade their home and wipe them out one at a time.

“The city please,” Kyoko told the driver and refused to look back.

*****

In the heart of the city, Hyakuhei lay in a state of semi-sleep when he heard his twin brother’s voice calling to him. He knew not to open his eyes because there was no use. His brother wouldn’t be there… so he just inhaled sharply and listened to the darkness.

“So, my younger brother still refuses to join me?” The voice held a hint of longing mixed with anger.

Hyakuhei opened his eyes and ran a hand through his long, ebony hair. Without saying a word out loud, he answered the intruding voice. “Younger brother? We are twins Tadamichi, you are no better than I.”

Tadamichi’s voice hardened, “Twins are alike… are we alike? Plus, I am the first born… so that makes you the youngest.”

Sitting up, Hyakuhei let the silk sheets fall from his naked body as he slid from the bed. It was just like Tadamichi to twist events to his liking. “No, we are nothing alike… so enough with the riddles.” He flinched, and then rolled his eyes when the lamp on the nightstand beside him shattered. He would have to learn to keep his temper under control or everything around him would be destroyed. He assumed it was his punishment for losing his temper so long ago with his brother.

“I don’t hate you,” Hyakuhei growled as if trying to convince himself.

“How generous of you,” Tadamichi’s voice took on a melancholy sound as if he didn’t believe the confession. “The last time we were within the same realm… we killed each other. Such senseless acts for immortals… don’t you think?” There was a pause before he continued. “Once the banishment was over, like a faithful brother… I waited on your return.”

“We are destined to be alone,” Hyakuhei cut in with the lie. He knew his brother was no longer alone… Tadamichi had made sure of that.

He could hear his brother’s silent laughter. It made him wonder if it hadn’t been a mistake to think he could come back and face the wicked family his brother had created in his absence. The only way he and his brother were alike was that they didn’t like to be alone… though they had two completely different ways of correcting that problem.

“I knew you would return… here where the night is never dark… here where you will never be alone among so many humans and the children I have created for us.” Tadamichi’s voice had become wishful.

Hyakuhei walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower then whirling to face the mirror. No reflection looked back at him so he just pictured his brother’s face… his own face as he answered. “I want nothing to do with the abominations you have sired.” He backed into the shower as he tore the link apart so he wouldn’t have to hear his brother’s haunting voice any longer.

No… he had not come back to his homeland to join them like some twisted family reunion. His brother was the most destructive of all the demons and the children he sired were disturbing to say the least. Those children where now spawning others and their numbers were growing like the black plague.

Hyakuhei placed his hands on the ceramic walls of the shower… letting the hot water warm his frozen skin. What did it matter to him? The last time he’d tried to stop his brother from infesting the human world with half-breed demons, it had ended in both their deaths… a false death that took centuries to rise from.

Their punishment for that crime was banishment from each other and this world of humans. They had become Shades who walked the realm between realms… casting only shadows of loneliness. That had ended over a century ago. Yet, he’d stayed away from his twin. Even from the darkness on the other side of the world, he had heard this city calling to him until he couldn’t fight the summons any longer.

His brother was right about one thing… he was exhausted from being alone. But now that he was home, he could smell the taint of his brother’s sins plaguing the land. True blood demons he could abide by, but the rape of the city by the half-breed vampires that spawning had created… was provoking.

His twin brother stayed underground most of the time within the lavish catacombs they had once shared during the medieval era… only to resurface once in a while, long enough to bring another victim into the deadly fold.

Hyakuhei looked up into the waterfall of the shower… trying to keep his rage from seeping out, but knew his failure when he heard the bathroom mirror crack.

Tadamichi had accused him of hiding himself away from the world but that wasn’t true.

‘It is Tadamichi who has chosen that path,’ He thought darkly. ‘He cannot see the destruction he is causing. The night is no longer dark nor is it silent.’ Hyakuhei turned off the shower and stepped out, not bothering to wrap a towel around his lithe form. Instead, he grabbed the soft black cloth and began drying his long ebony hair. Within moments he was dressed and ready for the night.

Walking back to his window in the living room, he sat down on the sill and looked out at his view.

Hyakuhei smirked at his own dark humor and looked down at the side of the opposite building.

“The darkness is alive with demons Brother. This city with its high walls has made it so,” he mused aloud.

*****

Yuuhi reappeared within the downtown area of the city minutes before daybreak. He could already feel the sun’s heat on his skin and quickened his pace toward the Grand Hotel in the center of the metropolis. Beneath the massive five star establishments hidden away from the world was his sire’s underground dwelling. It was just as beautiful below ground as what housed the humans above… his sire had arranged it to be so.

Yuuhi stepped through the front doors of the Grand and strode across the lobby. Ignoring the friendly greeting of the human woman behind the desk, Yuuhi stepped through the door that read ‘maintenance’. Making his way down to the basement, he boarded the maintenance elevator that would take him down to the sub-basement level. From there, it was the opening of the hidden passage that would take him to his sire.

Feeling the darkness close in around him like a protective blanket, the platinum-haired child raced through the winding tunnels as though trying to outrun the darkness… or keep up with it.

Yuuhi was one of the privileged few allowed in Tadamichi’s private lair… only the ones Tadamichi had personally sired were permitted. The small boy had been one of Tadamichi’s first and the bond that held him faithful was what led him to warn the master about the girl… and the power she possessed. The bond also allowed him to feel his master’s emotional states, which could prove troublesome at times.

He could sense that Master Tadamichi was angry and knew the cause behind that rage… Hyakuhei. Only the master’s twin brother could provoke this kind of reaction. Jealousy and rejection could be a dangerous thing with one so powerful.

Yuuhi quietly slipped into Tadamichi’s chambers but stayed in the shadows to observe his master. The young boy was patient and knew to wait out the storm of his master’s rage.

Tadamichi glared at his reflection in the Mirror of Souls then looked away with an angry hiss. His brother had broken the link between their minds… banishing him once again. Every opportunity Tadamichi took to speak with his brother was terminated rather abruptly, angering him. He was starting to believe their bond would never return to what it had once been.

Had the centuries away from each other not been long enough of a punishment? Would Hyakuhei forever keep his distance?

Seeing movement within the shadows, Tadamichi angrily waved his hand in its direction… every half-breed within his chamber and within a thousand yards of his solitude spontaneously combusted… leaving behind the scent of sulfur in the air. There would be no witnesses to his brother’s rejection. However, he turned his head in the other direction and laid his eyes on the only one of his children that he would trust with his secret.

Ignoring Yuuhi for a moment, Tadamichi slowly walked across the room and stood in front of a portrait with his hands clasped behind his back. As the screams and flames died down, Tadamichi continued to stare at the painting as if nothing was amiss.

The painting was created long before the medieval wars had taken place… before their civil war. One would assume it was a self-portrait showing two personalities. In truth, it was he and his brother… so hard to tell them apart. How could they be so alike in looks… and be so different? Had his brother never learned the meaning of love… the pain of rejection?

Tadamichi dusted his fingertips across the image of his brother, his brow furrowing slightly before his face contorted in rage. He suddenly lashed out at the painting in a movement so fast it was virtually unseen. The picture held for a moment, then ever so slowly a jagged rip appeared… severing the twins from one another. The cloth of the portrait fell slightly to the side and Tadamichi’s expression suddenly showed sadness.

Placing his palms against the painting, Tadamichi held them together for a moment before letting them drop.

His love for Hyakuhei was fathomless. Tadamichi merely wanted Hyakuhei by his side to share in this wonderful existence. ‘Why do you forsake me and the life we could have?’ he asked silently then felt the chill of having asked that same question to one other than his brother. He drew the memory deep within himself refusing to dwell on her.

Yuuhi stepped out of the shadow behind him, feeling his master’s melancholy. It amazed him that his sire could feel so deeply for his brother when he himself had barely felt a twinge as the girl had killed his brothers only a couple hours before.

“So, you have lost them?” Tadamichi asked, never taking his eyes from the image of his brother.

Yuuhi nodded knowing Tadamichi could see into his thoughts. A flash of marble white appeared in his peripheral vision and he turned his head towards it. His gaze appeared almost thoughtful as he stared at the statues on his left. Slowly turning in a circle, he gazed at each, one by one. They had been here for as long as Yuuhi could remember but he had never asked about them.

“A girl,” Yuuhi whispered, wondering why a demon master would have statues of angels. It was odd… or he had always thought so. The angels were beautiful even to Yuuhi’s eyes and he wondered if creatures like these could have ever existed on this earth.

“I will tell you the story of the statues my child.” Tadamichi slowly glanced away from the painting curiously… “And you will tell me about this girl.” The corner of his lips turned up in the hint of a wicked smile. “Go on and take a closer look,” he coaxed. “Curiosity is an intriguing emotion… is it not?”

Yuuhi slowly walked around the room gazing up into the faces of the men with wings… stopping in front of the one that intrigued him the most. The long hair that reached past the small of his back swung out… as if he was in the middle of battle. The expression that had been on his face was most beautiful… and frightening. What was the angel fighting so hard for? What would have been the prize?

The stone hands held fast to a sword that was in a downward motion and Yuuhi reached out to slide his thumb across it… only to jerk back when a small thin line of blood welled up on his thumb.

Tadamichi was suddenly beside him, lifting the injury to his lips to suckle the blood from the boy’s finger. Knowing Yuuhi was a child of very few words and even less emotions; Tadamichi released his hand and nodded at the statue. “This statue… Kyou, and his destruction sword,” he closed his eyes as he remembered the guardians, “Very powerful adversaries… they all were.”

Yuuhi turned toward his master and waited patiently.

“They thought they could rid the world of darkness… thought they could rid it of me and my brother. They should have known better.” He opened eyes that now had a strange red tint to them. “They were brothers you see.” He stepped closer to the statue of the one who looked the youngest as he added, “Or at least they all thought they were true brothers.”

He reached out and stroked the cheek of the statue, letting his fingers trace the path a tear had left… frozen in time. “My dear Kamui. He knew what the guardians had done was wrong. That is why he looks so sad. It is a shame my brother never really knew him.”

Tadamichi turned to the next sibling. “Kotaro was strong in spirit, yet possessive of what he claimed to be his.” His eyes glazed over as if seeing the past. “He was willing to die if he had to… all for the love of a woman.”

Dismissing the statue with a wave of his hand, he stepped to the next one as his eyes darkened. This one was the most dangerous of the brothers. “Toya… he was a very interesting creature. So full of fire and rage, yet how he could love one woman with such ferocity was beyond me. It led to many battles between him and the other brothers. He was the most possessive of her. I’m surprised they never destroyed one another in their absurdity.”

He turned toward the final statue. The man’s hand was out in front of him as if he was casting a spell. Tadamichi knew the truth of Shinbe’s spell… the void had been in motion as they had cast him through the time portal… sealing it behind him. “Shinbe was wise beyond his years, yet he was foolish enough to alter fate… they all were.” His eyes hardened as he wondered if the priestess was still with them.

“The girl can destroy us.” Yuuhi’s voice held no emotion as he stood in front of the statue that seemed to hold the true meaning of rage. “She reminds me of him, Sire.”

Tadamichi glanced strangely at the guardian the child had indicated, “Toya?”

Yuuhi finally turned his black eyes on Tadamichi as his haunting words echoed, “Toya, this is what is inside her… this is what can kill us.”

Tadamichi’s eyes rose to Toya’s rage and he suddenly felt more alive than he had in a long time. What was life without a reason to live? So… she has returned to this realm. He had missed the wars of old. Angels and demons are one and the same… only one had a better reputation. If the truth were told, they were all killers.

Replacing the stone with the mental picture of what the silver guardian had once been, he lazily smiled knowing the guardian could hear him, they all could. Everything was silent and as still as it always had been. But deep within the souls of the statues… he could feel the power like an earthquake being restrained by thin shackles of time.

“So even in this imprisoned state, you have all found a way to fight.” Tadamichi hummed his curiosity. “Could it be that you feel her? Do you want her?” He lowered his lashes as he felt a wave of power sweep across the room in answer. “Maybe you should have forced her to stay on your side of the time portal… like you did last time.”

He turned away from the statues, leaving them with a haunted warning. “It is too bad you cannot accompany your priestess this time.”

Chapter 2 “City Heat”

Kyoko woke with a start knowing the sun was setting. It was like a biological alarm clock to her and had been since… as far back as she could remember. She pushed herself up knowing it was time to go to work. She just wished she were getting paid for it.

Hearing a siren in the distance drew her attention to the window just in time to catch the last rays of light leaving the city sky. She could hear the faint sound of thumping music from the nightclubs on the strip where she lived. She had picked an apartment right in the heart of the city for a reason.

She could feel the vibration through her bed… The Underground was the name of the club she lived above. Rent was cheap because there was no way someone could live here and expect to get any kind of sleep unless it was during the day. That’s where Kyoko believed in luck.

Where else could she have found a place that had the same hours she did? There were no rude people running up and down the halls… unless you counted Yohji, but he didn’t usually stir up anything unless it was early in the morning when she got home or in the evenings just before she went to work.

Speaking of rent… hers was late. She would have to come up with it soon if she didn’t want to deal with Yohji, the landlord’s brother, who lived right across the hall from her. The last time she had been late with the rent he’d actually offered to work it out in trade with her. He had seemed so disappointed when she’d handed him the rent in full less than an hour later.

She glanced at her cell phone seeing the message symbol blinking and smiled. Clicking the buttons that could connect her with something familiar, she listened to her mom’s voice, not even paying attention to what she was saying. She already knew anyway.

“Hello Kyoko it’s your mother,” Kyoko mimicked the words on the answering machine. “I really wish you would call, we miss you terribly. We’d like to know when you’re coming home again so I can make your favorite dinner. Tama had a great time the other weekend and is already starting to have withdrawals from not seeing you. Are you eating well enough or need any money? Please give me a call, I love you.”

Kyoko shook her head and let the voicemail continue playing the rest of the messages. One was from Yohji reminding her that the rent was due. “Yeah-yeah… sleaze.” She deleted his message. The other was from her younger brother Tama telling her about his latest girlfriend then warned her not to tell grandfather or he’d spread really embarrassing rumors about her and Tasuki. It was an empty threat and they both knew it.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that little bro,” Kyoko said into the phone.

She’d left home to keep them safe. There had been no way around it. Ever since she was little, she had been aware of demons in the world… but that didn’t mean she wanted her little brother to know the monsters from the movies where real and waiting out in the darkness. It was like she was the only one who could see them walking among the innocent… feeding off them.

Demons usually looked like normal people until they had their victim alone. The demons within the city were multiplying at a dangerously fast rate and she was having trouble keeping up and helping to even the odds for the humans. As a matter of fact… she felt like she was losing the war.

Those humans she was trying to protect had given the evil a name through books and movies… vampires. It was just a name though… vampire, demon, to her it was the same thing. She shrugged. With her it was almost like a two-way mirror because although she could detect the vampires… they also knew when she walked into a crowded room. She didn’t think they could detect her power… that wasn’t what seemed to draw them to her… it was more like a dinner bell with her as the main dish.

She’d even gone to the doctor once to see if she had a strange blood type… thinking that was drawing them to her. But the doc had only given her a clean bill of health. What gave her cold chills was that when she was leaving the office, the doctor had stopped her and asked her to donate blood. Twisted… it was just twisted.

For some reason, vampires were always drawn to her and she would have to fight them. Maybe the doctor just hadn’t been looking for the right thing. A sad expression slid across her face knowing that was why she had to remain alone. She’d put her family and friends in danger too many times to live near them. The last time one had followed her home. It was hard enough keeping her secret without having a demon in the front yard.