by Julie Wetzel
Kusanagi laughed as he slowly rolled over and got up from the floor. He wiped his hand across his mouth and pulled it back so he could look at Darien’s blood. He raised his eyes and gave Darien an evil smile. “Now, you’re mine,” he said with a confidence Darien didn’t like.
Brandishing his staff, Darien held his shoulder and watched his opponent, expecting him to advance. Kusanagi stayed back, lightly swinging his staff. Unsure what the other man was doing, Darien dropped his hand away from his shoulder to get a better hold on his staff, but releasing the pressure from the wound made it burn. Raising his hand again, he grabbed at it.
“And so it begins,” Kusanagi said with a smile. He placed the tip of his staff on the floor and leaned on it. He gave Darien a smug expression. “Tell me something. Do you remember my master? You did, after all, help hunt down and murder her.”
Darien shifted his shoulder in pain as the burning sensation worked its way down his shoulder and into his arm. “How could I not?” he said and lowered his staff. The pain in his arm made it impossible to hold the weapon up. “She was a vile creature that took the lives of only the most innocent.”
“She was a goddess!” Kusanagi roared taking one angry step towards Darien.
Darien lifted his pole between them in defense, but the pain in his arm screamed at him. When Kusanagi didn’t advance more, he dropped it back to the floor.
Having caught his temper, Kusanagi eased back into his relaxed position. “Do you remember her special ability?”
“You mean that disgusting way she would fly around without her body?” Darien asked, revolted by the memory. He grimaced as the burning in his shoulder radiated down into his chest. Just the movement from breathing hurt, so he stopped and willed himself to heal whatever Kusanagi had done to him.
Kusanagi made a noise of desire that boarded on the obscene. “She was amazing.” He leveled his eyes on Darien and because more serious. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. She could kill with just a touch.”
Darien glared at him, trying to remain upright; the pain had spread to most of his body. He pulled the staff in to lean on it before answering. “I remember.” He had a very nasty feeling he knew where this was going.
“Her venom was so toxic she could destroy almost anything she wanted,” Kusanagi bragged. “But your hunters killed her before they found out her venom wasn’t strong enough to kill vampires.” He flashed an evil smile with snake-like fangs. “And they let me go before they discovered mine was.”
The burning sensation in Darien’s body had reached an agonizing level and his knees buckled, dropping him to the floor. He pushed his system to heal the damage, but the poison was breaking his cells down faster than he could repair them. His vision blurred as Kusanagi strolled over to stand in front of him. Closing his eyes, he called on his special ability to heal the damage being done.
Kusanagi squatted down in front of Darien. “I only gave you a little, so your death will be slow and painful as all of your cells burst one by one. But you will die, screaming in agony.” He reached out and brushed Darien’s hair back from his face so he could see the grimace on the injured man’s face. “Your punishment for trying to take over my world.” Standing up, he turned and faced the rest of the Council.
Darien opened his eyes and glared at the man’s back as best he could. The pain was starting to lessen, but he still could not move.
Stepping away from Darien, Kusanagi circled the floor, glaring at other members of the Council. “Take this as a lesson. None can stand against me.” He walked back over to Darien. “Even an Ancient.” He landed a swift kick in Darien’s gut that made him grunt. He turned away to face his people once again. “Does anyone else care to challenge me?” A wave of negatives passed over the room.
“Yes!” Darien said as he pushed himself up from the floor. “I do.”
Shocked, Kusanagi spun around to face Darien.
Reaching out, Darien grabbed him by the shoulders of his kimono and dragged him in close. He sneered in his face as he opened his power and poured it into Kusanagi, paralyzing him. “First, never turn your back on an enemy until you are sure they are truly dead.” He paused for dramatic affect. “Second, never boast about the things you have done. It makes you sound arrogant.” He changed the focus of his power and overloaded Kusanagi’s cells, bursting them the same way the poison had worked on his. “And never claim to know everything about someone, no matter what kind of research you’ve done on them. No one ever plays all of their cards out for the world to see.” Unwilling to cause the man the same, slow agony that he had gone through, Darien forced his power out and liquefied most of Kusanagi’s flesh all at once.
Energy flooded the room as Kusanagi let out a weak gurgle. Blood and fluid gushed from the man’s body and flowed out over the rush mats.
Holding him out, Darien dropped what was left of the body to the mat and stood tall to face the Council. “I claim the rights to the Hawaiian Council. Does anyone else challenge me?”
The only response was Kou turning and leaving without a word.
Darien watched them for a few moments before addressing them once again. “Very well. By the right of combat fairly won, I claim everything this man had to offer.” The energy that had been released by Kusanagi’s death snapped into place and settled on Darien, marking him as the new Grand Master. Bending over, he grabbed the two large pearls at the corpse’s throat and ripped them away. He had intended to break the leather thong, but the vertebra in the exposed spine snapped, decapitating the poor man. Darien grimaced, but stood up and slid the jewels into his pocket. Looking out at the crowd, he caught Shuri’s eyes. “Take me to Victoria.”
Shuri glared at him for a moment before turning on her heels and storming from the room.
The Council parted as Darien followed her out. She was a good distance down the hall by the time he set foot on the nightingale floors, but he refused to run to catch her. After a few strides, the incessant squeaking irritated him. The noise grew to a deafening level as the members of the Council followed him out. Walking across the floor going to the fight had been tolerable, but now the high-pitched noise added to the pain left from the fight and brought him to the end of his last nerve. As it snapped, he stopped dead in his tracks.
The group following him stopped in response.
Drawing power from the world, Darien worked up a spell and cast it on the floor freezing the boards in place so they would not move. Stepping forwards, he smiled as his footsteps sounded on the wood, but the chirping was silent. It was a petty thing to do, but he didn’t care at the moment. Without that annoying squeaking, he was able to relax a little and let his power clean the remaining poison from his system.
As he came to the end of the hall, he was glad to see that Shuri had stopped and was staring back at him. He shrugged without saying a word as he climbed down the short steps and crossed the stone floor to the wooden bridge.
When he reached her, Shuri let out an amused snort before turning and leading the way across the bridge to the other side of the room. As she stepped onto the second nightingale floor, it squeaked out its tune.
Darien cringed and cast the same spell on this floor, silencing it.
Shuri gave him an amused glance. “You don’t like the floors?”
He glanced down at the wooden planks. “I’m not that paranoid,” he answered. “They are a novelty, but hell when your head hurts. Besides, it’s only temporary.”
This drove a snicker from the kitsune. She walked about halfway down the hall and held her hand out to a door. “Your lady is in here.”
Darien pushed open the sliding door and looked into the room. It wasn’t what he had expected at all. Instead of the wooden floor and oriental feel of the rest of the place, this was open and airy with a thick carpet covering three quarters of the room. The other quarter was the same gray stone of the main hall. On the far end of the room was a sliding glass door that led out to the garden. The couch and chairs were quiet
modern and nice. Stepping into the room, he looked around for Vicky, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Nalani entered from a door on the side of the room. She paused and looked from Darien to Shuri. “Is it done?” she asked.
Shuri nodded. “He is dead.”
“Mahalo,” she sighed to no one in particular. Ignoring Darien, she rushed past him and out into the hall.
Polunu caught her when she jumped at him. His eyes flashed up to Darien as he whispered soothing words to his lover, but Darien just stared at them without comment. After a long moment, Polunu lowered his face to her shoulder and held her close.
Darien turned away from the touching sight and looked at Shuri. “Where is she?” he asked.
“She’s in there,” Shuri said, pointing to the doorway Nalani had just come from.
Turning away from everyone, Darien went to the door. The bedroom beyond was dim, but he could clearly see Vicky curled on her side on the bed. Going over to the mattress, he sat next to her and brushed his hand over her hair, pushing it away from her face. “Victoria,” he called softly.
“She will not wake,” Shuri said from where she stood in the doorway with her arms crossed.
Darien turned his eyes towards Shuri. “Release her,” he ordered.
“Give me back my jewels,” she countered.
Darien stood up and leaned towards her in an ominous way. “I have killed your master and freed you from his hold as per our agreement. You will abide by your promise,yōkai, and release what is mine.”
The muscle in Shuri’s jaw tightened as she dropped her arms, but she could not argue with him. He had held up his end of the deal and freed her from Kusanagi, so she was honor bound to release Vicky from her hold. But she never expected him to claim her jewels in the bargain. Throwing her hand out, she lifted the spell she held on Vicky.
Vicky drew in a deep breath as she woke from her sleep.
Sitting back down on the bed, Darien brushed his power over her, checking to make sure she was okay. “Victoria?” he called again.
Smiling, Vicky wiggled closer to his side. “I had the weirdest dream,” she mumbled. “We’d gone to Hawaii and someone tried to kill me. Then there was this cat thing that was trying to get me to go away with it.”
“It wasn’t a cat thing,” Darien said. “It was a fox.”
Opening her eyes, Vicky saw the seriousness in his expression. The smile dropped from her face. “So I wasn’t dreaming?”
Darien smiled at her and shook his head. “No, you weren’t.” He brushed his hand down her side to soothe her. “How do you feel?”
Vicky laid processed this for a moment. “Pretty good, considering.”
Laughing in amusement, Darien patted her side. “Come on and get up, love. We have a lot of work to do.”
Drawing in a deep breath, Vicky stretched and sat up.
Darien stood up from the bed and went back out into the other room. A small crowd of people waited for him, but he had no idea who they were. The only people he knew were Shuri, Polunu, Nalani, and Makani. Since Polunu and Nalani stood folded together and Shuri was clearly mad at him for holding onto her jewels, Darien turned to the only other person he knew. “Makani, tell me what I need to know.”
Makani looked at him in confusion. “Haku?”
“I don’t know what that means,” Darien admitted.
A smile turned Makani’s face. “It means lord. What would you like to know?”
“Of course,” Darien said sarcastically. He should have known what the word was. He’d always hated to be called ‘my lord’. Shaking away his irritation, he got down to business. “I’m going to need to know everything, but is there anything that needs addressing right now, besides the body in the dojo.”
Makani shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“Good,” Darien said and surveyed the group. “Is this all the Council?”
“No,” Makani said as he cast his eyes over the people. “Master Kou and Kim are missing.”
Darien gave him a confused look. “Kim as in Kimberly Hunter?”
Makani nodded.
“But Kusanagi said he killed her,” Darien said still uncertain. “He told me so when he gave me her signed confession.”
“A lie,” one of the other men said. “And the confession was probably forged or forced.”
Turning to face him, Darien studied this new man. He was a small man with dark hair and eyes. His pale skin was kissed with olive tones, making Darien think the man had some Mediterranean decent. “And you are?”
“Gabriel, my lord.”
Darien held his hand out to properly greet him. “It’s a pleasure.”
Gabriel stared at Darien in disbelief before looking down at his hand warily. Slowly, Gabriel reached out and took it for a good, solid shake.
After the introduction, Darien dropped his hand and gave the man a hard look. “And how do you know it was a lie.”
Gabriel fidgeted. “Kusanagi would never kill Kimberly. She was his plaything.”
“Then where is she?”
“Probably locked in his quarters.” And other man answered. “That’s what he did when someone upset him.”
Darien turned to the last of the group and held out his hand. This man was slight in build with skin so pale it was almost translucent. His short, dark hair was very oily and slicked away from his face.
He took Darien’s hand with both of his. “Dexter Reid,” he said, pumping Darien’s arm. “I just want to say, the way you killed Kusanagi. That was amazing. Just melted him right on the mat. Wow!”
Darien pulled his hand back from the man shocked by his behavior. “Death should never be taken lightly,” he scolded.
“Of course not, my lord,” Dexter said, shaking his head and backing up a step as if he expected Darien to strike out at him. “I’m sorry, my lord.”
The man’s behavior concerned Darien, but he let it go and got back to the subject he had been on. “So where are his quarters?”
“This way,” Dexter said as he turned and scurried out of the room.
Darien caught Vicky’s eye before following the man.
Hurrying, Vicky caught up with Darien. “You killed Kusanagi?”
Sighing, Darien nodded. “It’s a long story.”
Grabbing his hand, Vicky leaned into his side, giving him support. “Are you okay?” she asked softly, looking up at the bloody tear in his shirt.
“I’ve been better,” he admitted. The fight had left him tired, but his healing powers were chasing the last of the bone-deep ache the poison had left from his system. “I’ll need to rest later, but ten minutes should see me healed again.”
Vicky nodded.
Darien held her to his side, taking comfort in her presence while they followed Dexter down the hall and into the main room. As they climbed onto the wooden bridge once again, Darien looked down at the orange and white fish darting around. “Who cares for the fish?” he called back over his shoulder.
“Master Kou deals with them,” Makani said from just behind him.
Glancing back, Darien wasn’t surprised to see the entire group following him. He was, after all, their new leader. “Where is he?” Darien asked, thinking back on the way the man turned and left after Kusanagi was killed. He slowed so he could speak with Makani easier.
“I don’t know,” Makani said, coming up next to Darien so they could talk. “Master Kou was Kusanagi’s fledgling and vassal. He never left his master’s side.”
Darien considered this for a minute as they crossed the bridge and climbed the steps into the adjacent hall. “Do you think he could be plotting revenge?” he asked with concern.
Makani thought for a moment. “I don’t know. Kou kept to himself when Kusanagi didn’t need him.”
“I don’t need any nasty surprises,” Darien said, thinking about all the things Kou might try. “Can you send someone to find him, please?”
A surprised look crossed Makani’s face. It wasn’t that Darie
n had asked him to do something; it was the fact that he had done it so politely that astonished Makani. That common courtesy was an unusual characteristic to find in most older vampires. Even his former master had been prone to ordering people around before Kusanagi had come and taken over the Council. “As you wish,” he said, stepping back to go find Kou.
“Thank you,” Darien called as the man retreated. He pulled Vicky in tightly against his side and let his senses reach out to the world around him. If Kou was out there preparing to ambush them, he wanted to have some kind of notice.
“Here, my lord,” Dexter called, breaking into Darien’s attention. He stood in front of a closed door not far from the end of the hall.
“Thank you,” Darien said. He released Vicky and reached for the sliding door. Pushing it open, he stepped over the wooden sliders into a mostly empty room. Now this was what Darien had been expecting from the other apartment. This room had the same feel of an old Japanese home with its woven rush mats and sparse furnishings. He looked around at the low table that took up the center of the room. There were a few low shelves that held small items, but nothing really exciting. “Where is she?” he asked, turning back to Dexter as he hung onto the side of the doorframe staring into the room.
“Over there.” He pointed to another door in the side of the room.
Darien went over and slid the door open to expose a large bedroom. A futon mat was folded up against one wall, but there wasn’t much else. On the other side of the room was a closet with a knob-style handle. Since Kim wasn’t in this room, he went over to the closet and tried to turn the handle, but it was locked.
“It won’t open,” Dexter said from behind him.
Darien turned around to listen to the man.
“That’s where Master Kusanagi kept his most personal things,” Dexter said. “The door’s reinforced so you can’t break in.”
“Who’s got the key?” Darien asked, turning to look at the door again.
