Vampire Gemini

Chapter 2

Tasuki had been helping her fight the demons almost as long as she’d been fighting them. They had even bought him a weapon awhile back and it seemed to suit him well. She had taught him many moves that helped during a fight, but still… if he got hurt, it would be her fault.

She had lied to Tasuki saying her grandfather would be there any minute to pick her up. The truth was her grandfather wasn’t coming at all. But if she hadn’t sent Tasuki home, then the demon would have found them in a compromising position and killed them both… and the more her feelings grew for Tasuki, the less she wanted to risk him getting hurt.

She knew he would stay with her and fight. But lately she’d had recurring nightmares about Tasuki being bitten by one of the monsters, and it robbed her continuously of sleep. Kyoko didn’t think she’d be able to live with herself if Tasuki became one of them … because then she’d have to kill him… right?

Inhaling softly, she started walking in the direction of her house… knowing it would take at least an hour to get there. Whatever was stalking her, she hoped it wouldn’t wait that long to show itself.

After walking a couple of blocks without being attacked, Kyoko started to get annoyed. She even flipped her hair over one shoulder to expose her neck like a dinner plate… hoping the demon would hurry and make its move because she was tired, and wanted to go home.

Tasuki had probably already called to check on her… or at least she hoped he had. She had a flashback of being between his car and his body… making her groan in frustration. She was going to kick this demon’s butt for interrupting her, if it ever got around to attacking.

Her walk took her down another neighborhood street, and she heard a dog growling deep and low from somewhere close by. Her lips thinned, knowing dogs hated vampires. They probably hated them because if a vampire couldn’t find a human to feed from, then the dog would suddenly make the menu. Her teeth clenched when a high-pitched sound followed the growl… the same sound you hear when a dog gets injured really badly.

The sound made her stop… and Kyoko felt cold knowing the poor thing was dead.

She frowned as she kneeled down and placed her books on the ground pretending to tie her shoe. “Come on already,” She added like the statement was directed at the shoestring she was jerking on.

The demon would probably come from behind her because most of the vampires she had fought were cowards by nature… and didn’t want to give their victim a fighting chance. That’s why she made a good target with her petite figure and her 110 pounds… if she had been a normal human girl, she wouldn’t stand a chance.

She rolled her eyes when nothing happened. Standing up, Kyoko turned full circle trying to find her target… and flinched when she spotted him. She stared across the street into a shadow, where a small boy stood staring at her. The lifeless dog lay at his feet. The child’s skin and hair were white as snow, but even from this distance she could tell his eyes were solid black.

How unusual… most vampires looked exactly like humans. That was what made them the most dangerous out of all the demons that secretly roamed the earth. This boy didn’t look human at all. As she watched him, she was caught between the sadness of one being turned so young… and the knowledge that it no longer mattered.

Yuuhi locked eyes with her… almost wishing he were the one who was going to drink her. He liked the pretty ones. He called to his half-breed children, wondering how long she would last against them. He inhaled but couldn’t find the scent of fear that normally heated his cold blood. He did however find her scent to be a mixture of purity and danger… and wondered at it. Yuuhi watched as the vampires under his t****l came from the shadows behind her.

Feeling a tingle of warning sweep across the back of her head, down her neck and spine, Kyoko swung around knowing it had been a setup to get her attention and sure enough… she was surrounded. She’d been waiting for a vampire, not three… four if she counted the boy.

“Well, I guess I got what I asked for,” Kyoko mocked herself as she tried to focus on all of them at once.

One preppy-looking vampire sneered, which really ruined his good looks. “Got what you wanted, huh? I got what you want baby.” He flashed his teeth at her as he tried to capture her gaze and put her under his t****l.

Kyoko knew what he was doing… and felt instant satisfaction that no vampire had ever been able to take her will away during a fight. She looked him up and down. “I doubt it,” she taunted as she wondered if the loudmouth would make the first move. “The sexually frustrated ones really are not my type,” She smirked when he growled.

At least these vampires looked normal. Well… about as normal as three young men that looked like they belonged on the college debate squad, wearing fangs could look. It wasn’t every day you saw a vampire sporting Armani. Hell, these three would probably cry their undead eyes out if they got dirty. And, of course, she couldn’t forget the deadly child that was watching them like some sick voyeur.

That thought made her shiver inwardly. She’d heard stories about that kind of stuff among vampires. Some of them would descend on the victim of their choice, and commence to drink or r**e them while others watched. One thing the movies did have right is that vampires were very s****l creatures and many of them had no preference… man or woman it didn’t matter… they did both.

“I wouldn’t quit your day job if I were you,” She laughed at her own pun… then kneed him right in the groin. Another thing about vampires, they might be faster and stronger, but the males still had the same weaknesses as their human counterparts.

She ducked just as one came at her and was surprised at the speed it had… so much for normal. She’d never dealt with anything this fast before. She clenched her fist feeling the power of the spirit dart form in the palm of her hand.

Sidestepping another demon, she twisted her upper body as one of the vampires lunged past, striking at him with the dart. A cold and clammy hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked, causing her body to twist further… almost painfully. Kyoko used the momentum and let the rest of her body follow the move, grabbing the vampire by the sleeve of its jacket and slamming it to the ground.

They rolled once on the ground and came to rest with Kyoko sitting on loudmouth’s stomach. She had to move quickly or she knew she might not get another chance at this.

“Here is something for you,” she informed him. Raising her arm up, she stabbed down with the spirit dart. The third vampire slammed into her from the side… making her roll and skid across the ground. This time, she found herself on the bottom looking up.

Okay, this was starting to piss her off. Glaring up, she noticed this guy looked like a straight ‘A’ student who had decided to bring a gun to school. The sadistic hint of murder in his eyes was a dead giveaway.

“I don’t think so buddy.” Bending her wrist at an odd angle, she touched the dart in her hand to his arm slicing it with only a small wound. She was rewarded when the vampire’s skin started to smoke… making him scream in agony. Bringing her knees up against her chest, she used her feet and legs to throw the demon off. It sailed a few yards away still screaming as its arm slowly melted from the rest of its body.

In a few moments, he would be nothing more than a bubbling puddle of dusty goop on the sidewalk that would vanish before the sun announced a new day. Kyoko had never thought much on where it went; she was just happy not to have to clean up the mess.

“Jerk,” Kyoko threw the insult as she quickly regained her footing. She had been spoiled with fighting one-on-one over the years… so this was a new one for her.

She arched an eyebrow as the vampire’s scream quickly vanished. ‘Obviously not a direct descendant,’ she thought to herself. Her grandfather called them the gutter trash of demons, not pure blood vampires or demons… just half-breeds. But… they still carried the same name. The better grade of vampire, the slower they melted… gross but true.

She knew the ancients were said to be much more powerful than this, but even Grandpa Hogo wasn’t sure if the pure blood vampires could withstand her spirit darts. He’d once told her the spirit dart was nothing more than sunlight harnessed into a weapon that could only be conjured up by a priestess or a guardian.

Kyoko saw a fist coming for her face and turned her head to the side knowing she didn’t have time to do anything to stop it. If she took the time out to play dodge ball, then there would be consequences and she would be on the losing side of them. Feeling the impact of knuckles split the skin on her cheek, she suddenly crossed the line from annoyed to pissed.

The last thing she needed was to go home looking like she’d been in a gang fight. She growled when loudmouth got close enough to s***h her shirt almost wide open, leaving four deep scratches across her left breast.

“p*****t,” She hissed at him, knowing he’d done it on purpose. The leering grin he gave her confirmed it.

Her mother would worry if she came home wounded, but Grandpa Hogo would only help her get patched up and let her go to bed. He knew she healed ten times faster than a normal human. He’d spent the last few years training her to be what she had become.

Grandfather had known about her long before she had ever been born… or so he said. The old scrolls passed down through the family told about the guardian heart crystal… and the priestess that possessed it.

At first she hadn’t believed him, but her mind was abruptly changed when she was only ten years old. She saw him fight a vampire while he was walking her home one night from Tasuki’s birthday party. She’d been having so much fun that she had stayed even after the other kids had gone home.

When they were attacked, it had been very strange to see a man his age move with the same lethal grace of a skilled warrior. What was even stranger was that the demon had been very real. She’d run up to help her grandpa and hit the monster on the back with her fist… that was when she had first seen the spirit dart. It had still been in her hand as the vampire melted.

Once the fight was done and over with, Kyoko remembered asking her grandfather what exactly had attacked him. Grandpa Hogo then explained that while he was strong enough to fight the demons, he did not have the same power as Kyoko nor the ability to heal as quickly from injury.

He insisted that she had been born with a gift. He’d seemed proud to witness it come to pass during his lifetime. This led to a long-winded explanation that the vampire was actually after her, that the demons had been stalking her since her birth… because of the holy power she housed within her soul.

He didn’t know what the creatures could possibly use it for, but their lust for it had only become stronger over the years. Grandpa had come to the conclusion that maybe it had been placed inside her only to draw the demons toward her, so she could destroy them.

Kyoko still shivered in revulsion at that bit of news. Sometimes it made her wonder what else her grandfather had been hiding from her. One thing was certain… she hadn’t looked at him the same since… neither had Tasuki, because Tasuki had followed them home that night and was a witness to the fight. That had only bonded her and Tasuki even closer together.