It's Not That Far Away - Chapter Eleven | Something Sacred To Me
(This is a sequel to Mercy Me - We suggest you read that first.)
NaNo Book Cover
Rating: R (solid)
Pairings for Chapter: Mention of: Nao/OFC, Shou/OFC
Overall Pairings: Tora/Saga, Nao/OFC, mention of OMC/OMC & others
Genre: Drama, Action, Adventure, Chapter, Fantasy, Supernatural, Romance, Angst, Dark, Horror
Summary: Months of living on the edge of danger is enough to drive anyone to behave irrationally. Though there comes a point in which sitting on the fence, watching both sides, is no longer feasible and a decision must be made. How can one know they are making the right choice? What causes one's perception of good and bad, right and wrong? How does one choose? More importantly, how does one know they picked the right side once they’ve chosen?
Insanity has nothing to do with morality - are you right or....wrong?
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“Will they be back? How long…how long will they be gone? How will we know if they are in trouble-if they need us?” Shou asked, sitting lightly on the edge of his chair as his eyes moved over to Joey who had her hand pressed against the wood door. His eyes were frantic and full of worry, hoping for some sort of answer from the woman. She hadn’t even turned to him and he wondered if she knew he was speaking to her at all. Shou was entirely focused on her and therefore, he jumped slightly when he felt a hand on his kneecap.
“You don’t look good Shou-san.” It was Hiroto who spoke and whose hand was perched on his friend’s leg. There was worry in his voice as the guitarist’s thoughts lingered on their battered states. It was an unnerving sight to see. “Sit back. Be calm. They’ll be back…I…they’ll be back, I’m sure of it. Shiro’s crazy but he’s good; he’s really good at what he does. I don’t think she can understand you.”
Shou’s eyes frantically searched Hiroto’s before he obliged, letting his tired body lean back against the chair’s cushions. It took some time for him to relax even the slightest bit. There was a time, months ago, that he would have easily tried to relax if one of them suggested it; however, lately relaxing was something that was out of the question for Shou. After being the prisoner of a vampire and his clan for nearly a week, bearing the physical scars and emotional wounds to show, it was all enough for Shou to be less trusting than he’d been before, even to those he knew wouldn’t steer him wrong.
“They will be back.” Kisho confirmed with a soft bow of his head. Shou’s eyes flickered to him for a moment. “In time. What you must understand is that time doesn’t react the same in dreams ,or in the Dreaming, as I’m sure you understand from those subconscious thoughts you have in which time isn’t linear. An hour here may be but a minute there or years depending on its whims. It’s not physical or tangible. They will return…in due time.” He assured them and the conviction in Kisho’s tone was enough to keep Shou’s shoulders less tense.
“What happened to you two?” Koko interrupted, kneeling before Shou and looking over the cuts on his naked chest before she glanced over at Tora. His head was hanging back, resting against the back of the futon as his breaths came in steady little rise and falls of his chest. “What caused such afflictions? Something dreadful it seems. Kisho-san, won’t you help me?” She asked as she reached in her pocket and retrieved a small pouch. Carefully, she untied the leather strings that kept it shut and dipped her fingers into the actual baggie.
When she extracted her fingers, they were covered in a thin sheen of purple powder. Shou’s eyebrows knitted together as he watched her, unsure of what it was she was doing. He had witnessed the effects of mage magic before but never had he seen it performed. He had the urge to squirm away from her though he couldn’t muster up the energy to scramble up from his spot.
Gently, she reached forward and ran her fingers along the length of one of the exposed cuts. As she did so, Shou hissed at the sudden pain that washed over him but he was surprised to see that her mere gesture was cauterizing the wound, healing it to a solid scab just as her finger ran down the large, gaping cut. He had been certain he was going to need stitches for it and yet now his chest was sealed in such a way that it could heal properly. In awe of what he had witnessed, Shou fought the urge to touch his now scabbed wounds. He was fearful that if he did, they would spring open in that same second. Hiroto scowled at her for the whimper that escaped Shou but didn’t try to intercede as she closed the wounds up entirely.
“Vampires.” Shou said after a moment, realizing he hadn’t answered the question she asked. His eyes were still focused on her moving fingers. It was strange to say the word and it felt weird admitting it as simply as he did right then; no matter how true it was. She hummed thoughtfully and offered no opposition to his confession; she merely kept working.
“Koko-chan…” Hiroto bowed to indicate her, but was speaking to Shou, “is Aiko’s sister.”
Koko glanced up briefly and Shou looked down at her. Their eyes met and his mouth fell open slightly, but she simply went back to working without offering any words. A shiver had run up the length of his back, making the tiny hairs across his arm stand on end. The very name was enough to instill a certain amount of sadness in Shou. Tora, however, lifted his head and tipped it in her direction as if he was about to speak. “It’s okay.” She told them both generally and without being prompted. “She made her own choices.”
Shou swallowed hard; Aiko had been an anomaly to him simply because she was a mystery that tried so hard to remain unsolved. The fact that he hadn’t the chance to understand her-to learn of her-before her death had been one of the saddest losses he had felt in a long while. She wasn’t an old friend but a potential friend-a potential lover as he found himself attracted to her-yet he had missed that potential too. He was sad for what could have been. “Are you…one of the visiugo too?” Shou asked carefully. Part of him was reluctant to hear the answer because he didn’t know how well to trust the visiugo anymore.
“Me?” She looked up to him again. “No. It’s genetic but not absolute. In fact, it’s rare, a recessive trait as it were. Our grandmother was. Two of us were and two of us kids weren’t. Aiko, was my older sister, and my older brother were both raven visiugo. My younger brother is - like me. He studies magic as a craft. None of that matters though, it’s just…details.” Her voice was short, husky and assertive. She was a no-nonsense sort of person; Shou could certainly see the similarities between the two sisters though he was more saddened by it than he was endeared.
Tora was still watching her as she worked on Shou’s wounds and Kisho bowed his head briefly in respect for the dead. If the guitarist could have brought forth words, he didn’t know what he would say to the family of the woman he was responsible for killing. He found himself entirely responsible for Aiko’s death, it had been for him that she was there at all, and he often couldn’t bare his own guilt let alone the pain he had caused Shou-and now Koko. “Why…are you doing this?” Tora finally found his voice. “Why don’t you hate us?” In that, Hiroto and Shou both knew, was implied ‘me’ rather than ‘us’.
“Who said I didn’t?” Koko’s head lifted and she glanced at him before she looked over at Hiroto. “I don’t, but you assume that because I help, I don’t hate you. There was a time I did hate you but not anymore. It’s not worth it.” She explained. “My hating solved nothing except to hate and it’s not a pleasant thing to feel. Furthermore, as I understand it, your friend here was the last thing she held dear. I figure…well, I figure that if you meant that much to her, than I owed it to her memory to offer what I can.”
Shou thought to argue that the woman he’d known hated him, or so she seemed to no matter how hard he tried. However, when Koko spoke of the late visiugo, he wondered if he hadn’t been winning her affection. He certainly liked to believe it was possible. “Thank you.” Shou dipped his head down.
There was a moment of silence that passed between them; Shou’s thoughts wandered to the words Koko had spoken. There was little value in hating someone and he knew she was right when she spoke of it. Therefore he wondered how much hate he could truly harbor for Tora-for Hiroto too-when it was an emotion that did little good. He certainly didn’t want to hate either of them, on any level of the word, and he endeavored to find a way to purge himself of that instinctive feeling in the near future.
Shou’s thoughts were broken by the woman’s voice. “She called you songbird, ne?” Koko was fixed on Shou’s wounds as she kept working.
“She did.” He nodded, a small and almost goofy smile crossing over his face. He moved to hide it, unsure of its appropriateness considering the topic at hand. But it was a memory he had with Aiko-a fond one too-that he was glad to be reminded of.
“She reserved that for only those that she held dear-or could care for that much.” Koko explained simply. “You probably took it a different way and I’m sure she played it off as a nod to your profession because that’s how she was; but really, that was a way for her to admit she was fond of you without saying it. I don’t think she’d mind my telling you of it now. I had hoped…” Koko trailed off for a moment before she shook her head and furrowed her brow, “well, I had hoped that you would tell me about her - the last few times you saw her. I never got to say goodbye, you see, and I thought maybe you could remind me how we should celebrate her life and not live in regret.”
The knot in Shou’s throat grew and the smile seemed to slide smoothly off his lips. He tipped his chin in against his chest, saddened by her words. “I didn’t get to say goodbye either. I have little to remind you of.” Shou’s face was stormy as he spoke.
She stopped what she was doing to look up at him. “I suspected you’d say that. Clearly, you’ve missed my point. I just thought, as you were the last to see her, that we could share in what we remember of her. Not today or tomorrow; but someday, just so that we could both get some closure on her death. In the meantime, I’d really like to educate your friend too.” Her eyes flicked to Hiroto. “His prejudice troubles me greatly. Clearly you had no problem embracing magic.”
Hiroto felt his cheeks get hot and he held his jaw tight as not to say something he’d soon regret, though he didn’t think to fight her on the matter of her actual accusation. He had, however, been lingering on her words from earlier just as Shou had. She didn’t hate them and they had cost her a family member, yet he had hated them and all they stood for without so much as a batting of his eyes and, when he looked at it, all his closest friends were still alive. He had acted brashly and perhaps out of turn in immediate defense of his friends and his own sanity. It was, likely, too quickly. Much of the trouble could have been his fault, it was difficult to say at this point- though his guilty conscious decided otherwise. He hated Koko for the simple fact that she made him question how closed minded he had become from his jaded perspective - she had made him question himself from the first time they met and she only continued to challenge that perception.
“Yes, he can be difficult.” Shou snickered softly as he offered his friend a shiningly bright, toothy smile in jest. Though that jest didn’t seem to reach his eyes entirely, his mind still stuck on Aiko and the sadness it brought him to see her sister. Tora seemed oblivious to their conversation as he was still fixed on the small woman as she worked on Shou. He knew full well that he was next to be healed. He wasn’t sure he could accept her aid, not at what he’d cost her-surely his body was unworthy of her healing touch. Tora lingered on the silent assertion that he would rather die than accept help from a woman his actions had hurt.
Hiroto wrinkled his nose at Shou in defense and opened his mouth to speak but Joey beat him to it.
“Did you hear that?” She asked in a hushed whisper. They had not been speaking in a way that she could understand, or that she had any desire to try and decipher right then as she was distracted by the fact that Shiro had taken Nao into the most dangerous place she knew. She was drawn away from the door by something she identified as unsafe. The Dreaming was a predator all its own and she had been afraid that neither would come back, that they would be seduced by the Dreaming for forever.
Her eyes suddenly went wide. “GET DOWN!” She sprang forward and threw herself into Kisho. Both crashed to the ground, smacking hard against its surface. Kisho’s head bounced off the mat floor and Joey landed heavily on top of him just as the door was burst open. It splintered entirely off its hinges and the glass window that overlooked the kitchen shattered showering the floor with sharp shards of glass. A screamer soared through the air, slicing the vacant spot in which Kisho had just been standing, and lobbed itself in the wall with a thump that echoed throughout the room.
It was suddenly as if all the spots that protected the inside of the house from the outside were breeched. Windows broke and doors came off hinges as vampires descended on the residence with ease and agility. Joey scrambled to her feet and Koko grabbed Hiroto by the arm, abandoning Shou’s wounds. “Get up.” She said hastily to the guitarist. “You wanted to kill them, now’s your chance. You’re healthy enough to fight.” She said, pouring some of the powder in her hand and dropping the bag on the small table after which she slipped her palms against one another.
Hiroto stood petrified as he watched Joey grab the long metallic spear, of which he recognized immediately. The sound was still ringing in his ears from the grooves which made the weapon wail as it soared through the air. Shou’s face had gone stark white at the noise, a wave of fear washing over him as he knew it just as well-if not better-than Hiroto did. The thing gave both of them chills as it marked their first real experience with fear of death. Hiroto could easily remember Shou being lanced by one that looked exactly like it. After tugging hard on it several times, Joey dislodged it from its prison.
“Hiroto!” Koko snapped sharply, giving him a nudge with her elbow. “Now is not the time for indecision!” She snapped at him as he spotted two of the pale face beasts as they lunged for Kisho who was just standing up. Hiroto turned to Koko, with the intent of asking her what he should do, though he stumbled backward when he saw that her hands were on fire.
He was terrified for a moment and was trying to think of a way to help her, suddenly oblivious to what it was that would stop a fire. In his frantic panic, he couldn’t comprehend that she had done it herself and even as she hauled back and wheeled a ball of flames at one of the night creatures, he still couldn’t fathom that she was performing magic. The vampire who took her attack went up in flames like old, dry newspapers and Hiroto was suddenly aware why they were terrified of flames. As it stood, some of them were already receding away from her.
“HEY!” It was Joey’s voice that got his attention. He realized in that second that he didn’t know her name and assumed she didn’t know his. “Yeah you! Nao’s friend. Take this!” She whipped the screamer at him, holding one end. He was unprepared for it so the other end smacked him in the abdomen and knocked the wind from him. Clutching at his stomach, Hiroto tried to gasp for breath that couldn’t be found. “Perfect.” Joey muttered. “Never done this before huh?” She said, ducking down closer to him.
“Look it, you need something to keep them away and to attack them with. For now, this’ll have to do.” She explained as she grabbed his elbow so he didn’t fall from the hit he’d taken from her. “Do you understand?” He merely nodded but when he didn’t take the weapon she sighed, exasperated. His head was swimming from the sudden pain and was so clouded that even if he could understand her normally, there was no chance of it then. She reached out and scooped up his hand and placed it on the shaft of the weapon. “Hold it. Stay here. Protect your friends. Shout or something if one them gets close.”
“I can help!” Shou’s voice rang over the dim and Joey looked back at him. There was still terror in him but there was a newfound energy too. Unwilling to be the victim of the vampires yet again, Shou wanted nothing more than to see each of them go up in flames. At whatever cost.
“Not a chance, slick.” The second she said it, the shadow he was casting on the futon crept up the side and latched tightly onto his wrists. It was as if his shadow had taken life of its own and was physically holding him in his spot, keeping him from disobeying Joey. Shocked and befuddled, he merely looked down at the gray, blob that resembled himself pining him from underneath of himself. It was awkward too and he was baffled by it, unaware of what it was he was experiencing.
“It’s for your own good. Trust me. And it’ll save you from being a pain in my ass with an attempt at the hero routine.” Joey patted his shoulder before physically climbing over the back of the furniture he was positioned on and disappearing from his view in the bedroom beyond. He could hear sounds behind him, as could Hiroto, but neither chanced a glance backward as they knew that Joey had gone in to where Saga and Evie had been. Shou swallowed hard, his eyes moving to Tora; he hated how helpless they both were.
Hiroto ducked slightly and cringed, but didn’t abandon his post, as he saw a vampire slam his fist into Koko’s side. The small woman took the blow hard and was flung backward but only for her fiery hands to catch another one of the vampires, her finger tips pressed firmly against its cold skin. It immediately went up in flames, licking every limb of the vampire as it engulfed it in a matter of seconds.
Kisho was actually pressed against the furthest wall. His back was pushed there and his lips were moving, his eyes narrowed, and his head was bowed slightly as he watched the events unfold as if a predatory cat planning a strike. Hiroto realized a moment later that Kiso was already attacking. He was clearly controlling two of the vampires as they attacked their own kin. Kisho’s hands were moving in small gestures and as he did so, his lips continued to move, and the twin vampires would act on queue of his hand movements, tearing their brethren limb from limb.
He was focused as evidence by the determined look in his eye. The creatures seemed to be contained by the two magic-wielders; which had Hiroto both relieve and frightened all at the same time. He was jerking back and forth between the two as he pointed the screamer’s pointed tip in each direction he looked. Just as he was about to let the weapon down, when one of the creatures sprinted passed Koko and ran directly at him.
Hiroto lost all sense of his mind and self awareness as the thing came for him at speeds which seemed impossible even for a magical creature. He stumbled backward and his foot caught on the table so he slipped and fell backward in his fright. He landed with a heavy thud against the futon, between Shou and Tora. His back hit the edge and his elbow awkwardly caught himself on the matress while the other hand held fast to the silver weapon that had lodged itself at an odd angle against the base of the futon. It was braced by his body's weight from where he’d fallen.
He had closed his eyes, heart beating wildly at the death that awaited them, but couldn’t find his voice to scream for Joey as he’d been told to do. However, when his eyes squinted open, he was shocked to find that the vampire had lanced itself on the spear that was poking up from where he’d landed and braced it against the base of the futon. It was flailing silently as its blood oozed down the grooves of the weapon accentuating them in vibrant red. Shou watched in horror, his breath caught in his throat and his lips parted in disbelief. Even Tora’s eyes had grown wide and shocked, the gruesome sight forever imprinted in all of their minds.
Hiroto, with all his might, gave the lance a hearty shove forward. It inched further in the dead meat of the creature and caused him to meander backward. Hiroto’s breaths were coming in hard and large gasps as he gulped the air greedily. His heart, however, stopped when he watched the vampire wrap it’s pale hands around the shaft and start to pull the screamer from his chest. He finished extracting it, with much effort, and lifted it over his head.
When he got the weapon out of his body, the wound poured out more blood than he had been ready for and he sank to his knees. As his body was unlike that of a living human, the vampire’s wound acted like a broken pipe, spilling out the blood that kept him alive in his undeath. As it spilled, he collapsed in a heap, gasping for life-or undeath-before the creature remained still. The screamer thumped heavily against the ground as it fell from the vampire’s finger tips and it rolled away from them on the wood.
Though he had no need for breath, he had need for the blood that kept him upright and functioning. As long as he was empty of blood, he would not be animated. Hiroto was frozen with fear and continued to suck in frantic breaths but let them out with relief as he realized the creature couldn’t come for them now. Though it did little settle any of their paralyzing fright.
When his eyes lifted up, Hiroto noticed that Kisho and Koko were both looking at him, having rid themselves of the few vampires left. Koko was panting just as he was, her hair was askew and her clothes were singed from the real fire. Perhaps she could protect her skin with magic, but her clothes had not been as fortunate. Kisho, though still entirely composed, had signs of the fight in his slightly ruffled hair and barely rumpled clothing.
“Are you okay?” He asked Hiroto but before he could respond, Koko kicked the body of the fallen vampire and swore at it under her breath. She dumped some of the magical components from the small leather bag on it and with a few short and eerie words, the body of the vampire went up in flames which died quickly leaving only a pile of ash.
“Well then…as I was saying,” Kisho looked back to Hiroto. “Are you-”
A shout rang out, followed by a thud that turned out to be Joey’s body as she was slammed against the wall of the living room. All heads snapped to the sound only to see Bastien grasping tightly to Joey's neck. “You needn’t bleed to die. I’m much cleverer than that.” He growled, tightening his grip on her throat. She was hoisted off the ground and her feet were moving as she tried to get free from his strong grasp. “None of you move or I will crush her throat.” The vampire prince threatened; Shou frowned deeply as he was certain Bastien would do such even if they didn’t move. He didn’t know Joey but she was important to Nao and that meant she was important to them and Shou didn’t want to see her-or Nao for that matter-hurt by these creatures; furthermore she had saved their lives mere hours before. Joey’s hands were tugging at where his fingers closed around her narrow neck.
“Wait…” Kisho stepped forward and held up a hand.
Bastien’s head turned to the mage and a frightening smile crossed his lips. “I see, now there’s time for negotiation. How effective a persuader death can be.”
All eyes were on the vampire in horror. The shadow that had been holding Shou was lifted, the magic dissipating as its owner was slowly losing consciousness. He dared not to move, however, caught between his desire to help and his fear of being right beside Joey in Bastien’s clutches. Tora could see little Evelyn as she stood in the doorway looking droopy eyed and sleepy while Saga remained still on the bed behind her. A pang of fear rushed through him to for the safety of his lover and the innocent little girl. Koko’s hand slipped onto Hiroto’s shoulder in order to keep him from moving and doing something rash.
The smile on Bastien’s face fell away and his face twisted into something that could be described as feral, perhaps out of control. His eyes burned dangerously and his head flicked back over to Joey. Her lip was bleeding from two teeth marks in her bottom lip where she’d pierced it with her own incisors while he was distracted by the others. She smiled at him tauntingly despite the pale look on her face from lack of air.
Crimson ran down her chin and had gathered on his hand, warming and staining his skin. Hiroto felt Koko’s fingers dig into shoulder, clutching him to keep him in his spot.
More blood ran from the wound, and before any of them could move, Joey crumpled to the floor as Bastien released her. He didn’t bother licking the blood off his hand. In his frenzied state, he was much too eager to get the treat-to her blood-and nothing would stand in his way. He descended on her, unable to stop himself as his teeth sank into any exposed flesh.
The scream that echoed against her throat rattled the walls. It was mirrored by Evelyn as she was horrified by what she was seeing. It didn’t last long, Joey’s voice turned into a gurgle and Bastien released her entirely, blood dripping down the sides of his mouth. He was jerky and fell back clumsily as if he were unable to control is motor functions. Joey pitched forward and what had caused the sputter became evident as she spilled a mouth and throat-full of blood onto the floor before collapsing, cheek first, into the red, sticky pool of her own blood.
Bastien’s hands went into his hair and he started to shake uncontrollably. It was certainly undignified as he convulsed and flopped around haphazardly. It was as if he started to bleed from the inside out as, in his fit, blood poured from his mouth openly as his entire body seemed to swell, puffing up gruesomely. His skin had no elasticity as it was long since dead and as it ballooned against his body it broke, causing angry looking slices across the surface of his skin. They only grew with each passing minute, pouring more bits of blood from his body that splashed onto the floor. It seemed, suddenly as he continued to expand, that his meat had been sliced into ribbons. As the blood poured from him, he deflated entirely.
Slowly the convulsions stopped but so did his unlife, leaving the body he had been nothing more than a husk. The bones that had kept him up disintegrated and it was as the bits of Bastien that were left were the discarded pieces of a broken water balloon wafting in the pool of its own remains.
Shou’s head fell forward and his eyes shut in pain at the mess that laid before him. His churned with the mere smell in the room and he felt bile creeping up his throat as the image of them was still vivid on the back of his eyelids.
No one had had a chance to move when one of the kitchen cupboard doors swung open and Nao fell out, followed closely by Shiro. Both landed hard on the kitchen floor below but Nao let out a laugh, as did Shiro. Their laughter, however, died quickly as the metallic smell of blood hit their noses. The now benign pen, which had been in Shiro’s hand, skidded across the floor and stopped in the fresh pool of blood.
“Joahee…” Nao murmured in horror from his hands and knees on the kitchen floor where he was perched.
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Authors' Note
Mandy & Jackie: Thanks for all your patience--that is those that understand our delay. :D We are slower but no less dedicated to the story. We hoped you enjoyed this chapter and are still looking forward to what comes up next. :D And in case you were wondering, Joey's hands are covered in blood on the chapter graphic. ^.^
Thanks again!!