(no subject)
Title: After Dark
Rating: 18
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Band: Mejibray
Pairing: Koichi x MiA
Summary: The sun protects us, a shining beacon that has kept the darkness at bay. Evil fears it, for the light is their weakness and they shun it. Even the sun can't protect me now, nothing can. Except perhaps for the man I know only as 'Koichi'.
Author's Note: New chapters every Monday and Friday. (This chapter posted early as I'm not sure if I can get online tomorrow.)
Previous Chapters:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
New Chapter:
Chapter Eight
As it turned out, staying inside was only an option for a couple of days. Like the power, the water was cut off. The vampire's didn't need it, but I did. The heat was too much and I found myself begging to be allowed to go to the shop for the bottled water I had seen stored there.
“You'll make him sick,” Meto finally informed Koichi, “And I'm tired of his moaning. Let him go. He's proven you can trust him. Hasn't he?”
“You have one hour,” Koichi said with a sigh. “Wear your guards and don't idle. You understand?”
“I'll go straight there, and back,” I promised. I wait impatiently for Koichi to place the collar and wrist guards on me, trying my best not to roll my eyes as he set a timer on a watch and slipping it into the pocket of my shorts. Honestly, it was too hot to wear anything at all.
“Take care,” Koichi ordered. I gave him a reassuring smile and slipped out onto the street.
How long had it been since I last did something as simple as walking to a shop? Such a normal activity, now seemed like a precious blessing. I understood Koichi's warnings now. The further I got from his home, the more I wanted to explore.
I remained on path, stopping only when I found an old man sat on a bench across the street. I shouldn't talk to him, but unlike the other people I sensed no threat. We talk quickly, but he refused any help I have to offer. He's content to just wait. Did he have shelter at night? A group to protect him perhaps? Maybe he belonged to one of the clans?
I was still pondering this as I enter the shop, and helped myself to the nearest bottle of water. I drained half of it, before looking around for a means to take the stock home. I've been lucky to get here first, though perhaps the rest of the city still had working plumbing.
“What do we have here?” a teasing voice asked. I notice the vampire only as I was dragged into the shadows. I screamed, knowing that it would do no good. “A little thief?”
“Who exactly am I suppose to pay?” I asked, noticing then the glowing red eyes. For a split second his pink hair tricks me, but this isn't Koichi. How could it be? “You should get off me, I've been claimed.”
“I see that,” the vampire agreed. “Those are the bands of my clan, yet I don't know you?”
“I belong to Koichi, your Prince,” I informed him, recognition crossed over the vampire's face. He didn't let me go, but his eyes shift from red to grey. His face is handsome enough to be considered attractive, hot even. I pulled my eyes away from his seductive lips, now wasn't the time for distractions.
“Not my Prince,” the vampire answered. Koichi's brother I realised. I think I had known from the moment I saw his pink hair. “He's my little brother. Hiyuu? Is the human telling the truth? I'll break the neck of anyone who pretends to be his. Snap, right in two. Then I'll feed them to the wolves.”
“That's him,” Hiyuu answered, I was given enough room to turn to face the vampire. It's the same Hiyuu who delivered the message for Koichi to return home. There's a third vampire beside him. Handsome like his friends, with long wavy black hair with a top hat perched on top. I learn later that his name is Satoshi.
“Good, I hate liars,” the Prince declared with a smile. His vice like grip on me is released, but the arm around my shoulders makes it clear I don't have the option to leave. “It's all right MiA, Koichi has told me all about you.”
“He has?” I asked. I'm about to ask when, but realise I never had any idea where Koichi went when he left Meto and I alone. Had he been visiting his home?
“Of course,” the Prince answered, “All I hear is how pretty you are and how good you taste. Would you permit me to test my brother's word?”
“I'd rather you just believed him,” I replied, making the vampire's laugh.
“He's scared of you, Yuuki,” Satoshi teased. “I don't blame him.”
“Perhaps,” Yuuki replied. “Well MiA, Koichi may be a pest at times, but I'm not going to damage his property.”
“You're going to use me as a bargaining chip, to make him come home,” I realised. The vampire's are surprised that I had figured this out on my own, but to me it was obvious. Yuuki smiled at me, a slow seductive smile, as he seemed to ponder if he should try to make moves on my blood again.
“Hiyuu, lock him in the office,” Yuuki ordered. The vampire obeys and, with the exception of being scolded when the alarm goes off, I'm left alone until nightfall.
At sunset I'm led straight to a nearby skate park, where my hands are bound above my head to the supports of a ramp. If I hadn't known Koichi, I would have thought this a strange place to lure him. But I did know Koichi, could see how plants reacted to his powers and understood why I was standing in a sea of tarmac and metal. Idly Yuuki wandered the area, fire burning any organic matter he could find. Koichi's magic would be useless here.
“You don't know if he will even find me,” I called out. “You're wasting your time.”
“Am I?” Yuuki teased. He walked over to me, tilted my neck and ran his tongue over the exposed skin above my collar. “Perhaps I should bite you after all? You mean so little to him? He won't look? He didn't bother placing a tracker on you before he left? Not in the collar? The cuffs? The clothes I can tell he wanted you to wear? He never threatened to hunt you forever, should you escape?” Truth be told, that was exactly what Koichi had threatened the day he first let me out in the sun.
Laughing at my silence, Yuuki left me long enough to drag a picnic table over to where I was being held. He did it with one hand, as easily as a child might drag around a teddy bear or a blanket. He took a seat on the table top, one leg placed delicately over the other as he waited. I wondered how comfortable he was, but he never moved.
His friends sat with him, or wandered around the park, until three approaching vampires were spotted in the distance. Koichi was watching his phone, so their was a track chip on me somewhere. Would I be blamed for this mess? Surely he must know that Yuuki's interference was the only reason I hadn't returned.
I turn my eyes to his companions. Meto, to my surprise, seemed relieved to find me alive and unharmed. I didn't realise me missed me, or at least the way I could keep Koichi's moods under control. The third vampire was Tsuzuku, who I hardly recognised at first. He seemed confident and strong, the pains of his human life now gone. It was impossible to tell if he was happy, he hid his emotions well.
“You stole my human,” Koichi complained, stomping his foot on the tarmac as he glared at his older brother.
“I found him,” Yuuki corrected, “You're the one who lost him.”
“I did no such thing!” Koichi protested, “Give him back now. What would father say if he knew what you were up to?” Yuuki smiled slowly, standing up on the bench seat of the picnic table before jumping to the floor. Every movement was filled with grace, so sensual and exotic, I could fall for a man like him. Everyone could fall for a man like him.
“What would father say, if he knew you refused to come home?” Yuuki asked. “Go and pack your things, we'll be waiting. We can return home together.”
“I'm not ready to go home!” Koichi whined. I noticed that the other vampires were staying out of the brother's argument, with the exception of Tsuzuku, they even seen bored. As if Yuuki and Koichi arguing was something they saw every day.
“Too bad,” Yuuki replied. “These are father's orders. When Hiyuu reported to me that you had said no, even I was stunned.” The vampire's glared at each other, but they didn't come to blows. A physical fight would solve nothing.
“Meto, go fetch our things,” Koichi finally relented, much to everyone's relief, especially my own. I was released from my bounds and sent back into Koichi's arms. “You are never leaving me again.” he whispered as he held me. I wasn't at all surprised, just relived.
The limo parked outside of The Royal Hotel, and I stared in awe at the grand building. I'd been stunned that Yuuki had a working car, having not even heard one for weeks, but even more so that this building had become the Meji Clan's base.
I was led towards the front door, noticing the winged heart on the design of the hotel logo. This hotel had always belonged to the Meji clan, probably even built by them. It's never really paid much attention to it before. When you live in a city, you have no need to stay in it's hotels.
The foyer was as equally grand as everything I had seen so far, looking perfectly normal and undamaged. A woman walked past us, smiling at both Yuuki and Koichi as she passed. Vampire, I thought, no humans had that kind of casual confidence any more.
Without explanation Yuuki slipped behind the check in desk, handing Koichi a couple of room keys, whilst Satoshi vanished into the main part of the hotel. Nobody said a word as we waited, standing in perfect silence as one by one vampires slipped into the foyer.
I was admiring a red rose on the desk when he arrived. His hair as red as the petals I had been admiring, his face showing neither kindness or cruelty as he approached. The vampires didn't bow, but I knew instantly that this was their king. I'd been wrong, his hair wasn't as red as a rose, but of blood. It was the colour of danger, nature's warning deliberately watered down in the pink of his two sons.
“At last, you decided to return,” Alden scolded.
“Father,” Koichi began to protest. Growing silent in Alden's gaze.
“I will hear no excuses,” Alden replied, stepping up to me and appraising me, as a farmer might do with cattle. “I understand that a child must seek his freedom, but now isn't the time.”
“You're too soft on him,” Yuuki complained. “Should he not be punished for disobeying you?”
“That's rich, coming from you!” Koichi protested, “Father, he stole my human! He was wearing the collar at the time, there was no excuses!”
“I hardly touched him,” Yuuki reassured his father, “MiA, tell him. Did I hurt you?”
“You scared him!” Koichi retorted. “Right MiA? You were scared with him, weren't you?”
“Enough!” Alden shouted over his son's, much to my relief. I really didn't want to take side's in this argument, especially as I suspected the loser would be servilely punished and hold me accountable. “I spoil both of you. I will not have you arguing. Solve this between you, out of my ear shot. Do you understand?”
“Yes father,” the two princes replied, suitably humbled. They remained quiet as the king wandered slowly around me, making me feel uncomfortable. Especially in the shorts I was wearing. At least they weren't the PVC pair, that would have been mortifying.
“This one looks strong,” the king remarked, “He would be perfect as one of the workers, yet once again I find myself wishing to spoil my son. You won't let me regret it, will you Koichi?”
“I'll be the perfect son,” Koichi promised, “Unlike that one.” he added pointed at Yuuki, who merely rolled his eyes.
“The two of you are enough to give anyone a headache,” Alden complained. “I should have had more children when I was alive. Perhaps then I would have found better heirs.”
“No father!” Koichi exclaimed, “How could you say that about us?”
“Are we really such a disappointment?” Yuuki asked. “Tell me father, how could we do any better?”
“For a start, you should stop these childish games,” Alden replied. Sighing as his two sons looked at him with real anguish. “Regardless, you remain the only children I will ever need.”
As I watched Alden and his son's exchange I remembered what I had been told about Yuuki and Koichi. Both born of different mother's, neither of which was Alden's wife. More than anything in this world, they needed to be legitimised by their father's love. He was their weakness, binding them together with a single goal. I understood why Alden had taught his son's the secret of magic. Not only did it make the clan strong, he knew their would never be a day that these men would betray him. Who was more loyal, than a child desperate for their father's love?
Rating: 18
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Band: Mejibray
Pairing: Koichi x MiA
Summary: The sun protects us, a shining beacon that has kept the darkness at bay. Evil fears it, for the light is their weakness and they shun it. Even the sun can't protect me now, nothing can. Except perhaps for the man I know only as 'Koichi'.
Author's Note: New chapters every Monday and Friday. (This chapter posted early as I'm not sure if I can get online tomorrow.)
Previous Chapters:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
New Chapter:
Chapter Eight
As it turned out, staying inside was only an option for a couple of days. Like the power, the water was cut off. The vampire's didn't need it, but I did. The heat was too much and I found myself begging to be allowed to go to the shop for the bottled water I had seen stored there.
“You'll make him sick,” Meto finally informed Koichi, “And I'm tired of his moaning. Let him go. He's proven you can trust him. Hasn't he?”
“You have one hour,” Koichi said with a sigh. “Wear your guards and don't idle. You understand?”
“I'll go straight there, and back,” I promised. I wait impatiently for Koichi to place the collar and wrist guards on me, trying my best not to roll my eyes as he set a timer on a watch and slipping it into the pocket of my shorts. Honestly, it was too hot to wear anything at all.
“Take care,” Koichi ordered. I gave him a reassuring smile and slipped out onto the street.
How long had it been since I last did something as simple as walking to a shop? Such a normal activity, now seemed like a precious blessing. I understood Koichi's warnings now. The further I got from his home, the more I wanted to explore.
I remained on path, stopping only when I found an old man sat on a bench across the street. I shouldn't talk to him, but unlike the other people I sensed no threat. We talk quickly, but he refused any help I have to offer. He's content to just wait. Did he have shelter at night? A group to protect him perhaps? Maybe he belonged to one of the clans?
I was still pondering this as I enter the shop, and helped myself to the nearest bottle of water. I drained half of it, before looking around for a means to take the stock home. I've been lucky to get here first, though perhaps the rest of the city still had working plumbing.
“What do we have here?” a teasing voice asked. I notice the vampire only as I was dragged into the shadows. I screamed, knowing that it would do no good. “A little thief?”
“Who exactly am I suppose to pay?” I asked, noticing then the glowing red eyes. For a split second his pink hair tricks me, but this isn't Koichi. How could it be? “You should get off me, I've been claimed.”
“I see that,” the vampire agreed. “Those are the bands of my clan, yet I don't know you?”
“I belong to Koichi, your Prince,” I informed him, recognition crossed over the vampire's face. He didn't let me go, but his eyes shift from red to grey. His face is handsome enough to be considered attractive, hot even. I pulled my eyes away from his seductive lips, now wasn't the time for distractions.
“Not my Prince,” the vampire answered. Koichi's brother I realised. I think I had known from the moment I saw his pink hair. “He's my little brother. Hiyuu? Is the human telling the truth? I'll break the neck of anyone who pretends to be his. Snap, right in two. Then I'll feed them to the wolves.”
“That's him,” Hiyuu answered, I was given enough room to turn to face the vampire. It's the same Hiyuu who delivered the message for Koichi to return home. There's a third vampire beside him. Handsome like his friends, with long wavy black hair with a top hat perched on top. I learn later that his name is Satoshi.
“Good, I hate liars,” the Prince declared with a smile. His vice like grip on me is released, but the arm around my shoulders makes it clear I don't have the option to leave. “It's all right MiA, Koichi has told me all about you.”
“He has?” I asked. I'm about to ask when, but realise I never had any idea where Koichi went when he left Meto and I alone. Had he been visiting his home?
“Of course,” the Prince answered, “All I hear is how pretty you are and how good you taste. Would you permit me to test my brother's word?”
“I'd rather you just believed him,” I replied, making the vampire's laugh.
“He's scared of you, Yuuki,” Satoshi teased. “I don't blame him.”
“Perhaps,” Yuuki replied. “Well MiA, Koichi may be a pest at times, but I'm not going to damage his property.”
“You're going to use me as a bargaining chip, to make him come home,” I realised. The vampire's are surprised that I had figured this out on my own, but to me it was obvious. Yuuki smiled at me, a slow seductive smile, as he seemed to ponder if he should try to make moves on my blood again.
“Hiyuu, lock him in the office,” Yuuki ordered. The vampire obeys and, with the exception of being scolded when the alarm goes off, I'm left alone until nightfall.
At sunset I'm led straight to a nearby skate park, where my hands are bound above my head to the supports of a ramp. If I hadn't known Koichi, I would have thought this a strange place to lure him. But I did know Koichi, could see how plants reacted to his powers and understood why I was standing in a sea of tarmac and metal. Idly Yuuki wandered the area, fire burning any organic matter he could find. Koichi's magic would be useless here.
“You don't know if he will even find me,” I called out. “You're wasting your time.”
“Am I?” Yuuki teased. He walked over to me, tilted my neck and ran his tongue over the exposed skin above my collar. “Perhaps I should bite you after all? You mean so little to him? He won't look? He didn't bother placing a tracker on you before he left? Not in the collar? The cuffs? The clothes I can tell he wanted you to wear? He never threatened to hunt you forever, should you escape?” Truth be told, that was exactly what Koichi had threatened the day he first let me out in the sun.
Laughing at my silence, Yuuki left me long enough to drag a picnic table over to where I was being held. He did it with one hand, as easily as a child might drag around a teddy bear or a blanket. He took a seat on the table top, one leg placed delicately over the other as he waited. I wondered how comfortable he was, but he never moved.
His friends sat with him, or wandered around the park, until three approaching vampires were spotted in the distance. Koichi was watching his phone, so their was a track chip on me somewhere. Would I be blamed for this mess? Surely he must know that Yuuki's interference was the only reason I hadn't returned.
I turn my eyes to his companions. Meto, to my surprise, seemed relieved to find me alive and unharmed. I didn't realise me missed me, or at least the way I could keep Koichi's moods under control. The third vampire was Tsuzuku, who I hardly recognised at first. He seemed confident and strong, the pains of his human life now gone. It was impossible to tell if he was happy, he hid his emotions well.
“You stole my human,” Koichi complained, stomping his foot on the tarmac as he glared at his older brother.
“I found him,” Yuuki corrected, “You're the one who lost him.”
“I did no such thing!” Koichi protested, “Give him back now. What would father say if he knew what you were up to?” Yuuki smiled slowly, standing up on the bench seat of the picnic table before jumping to the floor. Every movement was filled with grace, so sensual and exotic, I could fall for a man like him. Everyone could fall for a man like him.
“What would father say, if he knew you refused to come home?” Yuuki asked. “Go and pack your things, we'll be waiting. We can return home together.”
“I'm not ready to go home!” Koichi whined. I noticed that the other vampires were staying out of the brother's argument, with the exception of Tsuzuku, they even seen bored. As if Yuuki and Koichi arguing was something they saw every day.
“Too bad,” Yuuki replied. “These are father's orders. When Hiyuu reported to me that you had said no, even I was stunned.” The vampire's glared at each other, but they didn't come to blows. A physical fight would solve nothing.
“Meto, go fetch our things,” Koichi finally relented, much to everyone's relief, especially my own. I was released from my bounds and sent back into Koichi's arms. “You are never leaving me again.” he whispered as he held me. I wasn't at all surprised, just relived.
The limo parked outside of The Royal Hotel, and I stared in awe at the grand building. I'd been stunned that Yuuki had a working car, having not even heard one for weeks, but even more so that this building had become the Meji Clan's base.
I was led towards the front door, noticing the winged heart on the design of the hotel logo. This hotel had always belonged to the Meji clan, probably even built by them. It's never really paid much attention to it before. When you live in a city, you have no need to stay in it's hotels.
The foyer was as equally grand as everything I had seen so far, looking perfectly normal and undamaged. A woman walked past us, smiling at both Yuuki and Koichi as she passed. Vampire, I thought, no humans had that kind of casual confidence any more.
Without explanation Yuuki slipped behind the check in desk, handing Koichi a couple of room keys, whilst Satoshi vanished into the main part of the hotel. Nobody said a word as we waited, standing in perfect silence as one by one vampires slipped into the foyer.
I was admiring a red rose on the desk when he arrived. His hair as red as the petals I had been admiring, his face showing neither kindness or cruelty as he approached. The vampires didn't bow, but I knew instantly that this was their king. I'd been wrong, his hair wasn't as red as a rose, but of blood. It was the colour of danger, nature's warning deliberately watered down in the pink of his two sons.
“At last, you decided to return,” Alden scolded.
“Father,” Koichi began to protest. Growing silent in Alden's gaze.
“I will hear no excuses,” Alden replied, stepping up to me and appraising me, as a farmer might do with cattle. “I understand that a child must seek his freedom, but now isn't the time.”
“You're too soft on him,” Yuuki complained. “Should he not be punished for disobeying you?”
“That's rich, coming from you!” Koichi protested, “Father, he stole my human! He was wearing the collar at the time, there was no excuses!”
“I hardly touched him,” Yuuki reassured his father, “MiA, tell him. Did I hurt you?”
“You scared him!” Koichi retorted. “Right MiA? You were scared with him, weren't you?”
“Enough!” Alden shouted over his son's, much to my relief. I really didn't want to take side's in this argument, especially as I suspected the loser would be servilely punished and hold me accountable. “I spoil both of you. I will not have you arguing. Solve this between you, out of my ear shot. Do you understand?”
“Yes father,” the two princes replied, suitably humbled. They remained quiet as the king wandered slowly around me, making me feel uncomfortable. Especially in the shorts I was wearing. At least they weren't the PVC pair, that would have been mortifying.
“This one looks strong,” the king remarked, “He would be perfect as one of the workers, yet once again I find myself wishing to spoil my son. You won't let me regret it, will you Koichi?”
“I'll be the perfect son,” Koichi promised, “Unlike that one.” he added pointed at Yuuki, who merely rolled his eyes.
“The two of you are enough to give anyone a headache,” Alden complained. “I should have had more children when I was alive. Perhaps then I would have found better heirs.”
“No father!” Koichi exclaimed, “How could you say that about us?”
“Are we really such a disappointment?” Yuuki asked. “Tell me father, how could we do any better?”
“For a start, you should stop these childish games,” Alden replied. Sighing as his two sons looked at him with real anguish. “Regardless, you remain the only children I will ever need.”
As I watched Alden and his son's exchange I remembered what I had been told about Yuuki and Koichi. Both born of different mother's, neither of which was Alden's wife. More than anything in this world, they needed to be legitimised by their father's love. He was their weakness, binding them together with a single goal. I understood why Alden had taught his son's the secret of magic. Not only did it make the clan strong, he knew their would never be a day that these men would betray him. Who was more loyal, than a child desperate for their father's love?