Shadows From The Past chpt10

Shadows From The Past

Chapter Ten


The Suppression Team moved quickly and efficiently.  It made Kain proud to be in command.  They were a well-oiled machine.

"Sir," one officer touched his shoulder to get his attention.  "Sir, we've found something."

Kain immediately followed the officer to a back room where several other men were examining a body.  "Definitely killed by a vampire," one of them commented.  

The Blue Wolf bent down to investigate.  His eyes widened in surprise and rage.  He recognized the scent from the dead compromiser's neck.  "Radio base," he instructed with a growl.  "We've found the missing compromiser.  Then get me Jinnai and the President.  We have major problems.  The zealous thunder god is back."

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Jiro groaned.  Could the day get any worse, he wondered.  He suddenly wished he was in Mimiko's room, protecting her, and not hearing what Jinnai had to tell him.

"Kain took a team to search for the missing Compromiser.  I'm still waiting to hear back from them," Jinnai commented, noticing how tense the Silver Blade had become.  He didn't blame him, but Mimiko was all right.  With two guards in her room, nothing could happen, he told himself.  Surely the fanatical vampire group wouldn't go so far as to break into a hospital.

Jinnai's cell phone rang.  He quickly fished it out and answered.  "This is Jinnai."  He listened for a moment, his shoulders suddenly going tense.  "You're sure?  You're absolutely certain?"  He listened for another minute.  "Send them immediately!"  He flipped the phone back into his pocket, standing abruptly.

Jiro stood as well.  "What is it," he asked with a low growl.  The news couldn't be good, that was certain.

"It's Kanaye."  Jinnai quickly went for the door.

"Kanaye?"  Jiro was frozen in momentary shock, everything that Zelman had told him about the vampire running quickly through his mind.  "Mimiko!"  He pushed past the Red Blood into the hallway, running towards the compromiser's room.  "Mimiko!"  He burst through the door, already knowing something was wrong.  He smelled blood.

The two guards were on the ground, either unconscious or dead.  The cart the nurse had brought in was overturned.  Mimiko's bed was empty, the window thrust as far open as it would go.

"NO!"

Various personnel came running.  Jinnai had to push through to get into the room.  "Jiro, what's going on?"  But he didn't need to ask as he looked around.  "Jiro!"

The Black Blood looked like he was going to jump out the window.  His hair was wild.  "I'm going to KILL them!"

Jinnai ran over and grabbed him by the arm, trying to pull him back inside, futile as it was.  "Jiro, wait!"

"Let go of me!"  Jiro tried to fling the man away but he hung on.

The Chief gave another tug.  There was no way he could really restrain the Black Blood, but he had to make him see reason.  "Listen to me, Jiro," he tried again.  "You can't go out there!  Not unarmed!  We're not dealing with mindless Kowloon children, but a group of trained vampires lead by a mastermind.  You can't just beat your way past them!"

Jiro knew Jinnai was right, but he couldn't just sit and do nothing either.  His body shook with emotion.  He had lost someone he loved once.  He would not, could not do it again.  He slumped against the wall as thoughts of Alice filled his mind, overlapped by thoughts of Mimiko.  The Black Blood let out an anguished cry.

Seeing reason return to the Silver Blade, Jinnai let him go.  He watched him, realizing some of the thoughts that were going through his mind.  "If they really just wanted Mimiko dead, they wouldn't have bothered taking her with them.  We have some time, Jiro, time to plan and find them.  Let's make use of that time."  

Jiro steadied himself, one fist clenched.  If they really had wanted to just kill her, he would be holding her lifeless body right now.  What they had planned for her had to be much worse.  He had to be ready.  "I need to retrieve my blade," he said evenly and went to get his hat and coat from the chair.

The Red Blood stood back to let him pass.  "I'll have the Suppression Team start searching.  They can't have left the Special Zone and I doubt they've gone too far, but that still leaves quite a large area.  We'll need to coordinate from a central location, probably the central offices.  I'll call in all our resources.  We will find her."

Jiro finished putting on his coat and hat and headed for the door.  "I will stop by once I've gathered my things, in case you've discovered anything," he promised.

Jinnai watched him leave.  "Hurry, Silver Blade," he said quietly.  "We really don't have that much time."

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It had almost been too easy.  Only the guards had put up a fight, and they hadn't really known what was coming.  Who would have suspected the nurse, of all people?  They hadn't even had to kill anyone, though it probably wouldn't have hurt the mission.  Of course there was a bit of resistance, and some blood had been spilled, but everything had gone according to plan.

Once the guards had been incapacitated, it had been an easy matter of moving the Katsuragi girl, though they'd laid false trails in case her other protectors came back earlier than planned.  The window had been a nice distraction while they'd moved from room to room.  And once safely on the ground level, they'd had a taxi ready to take them out of reach while blending in.  Too easy, but that was how a good plan was carried out.  And everything else had already been taken care of.  No lose ends.

Cheska glanced at the unconscious girl beside her.  She'd voted on putting her in the trunk but had been overruled by the driver.  Kanaye wanted his catch unharmed, at least for now.

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Jiro raced home, not bothering with the conventional means of travel.  Even though taking a taxi would have saved him some sun exposure, it would have taken far longer than he wanted to spend so he endured it, jumping from building to building, running along rooftops as he raced against time.  Everything inside him told him he had to hurry.

It took less than a fourth of the time he would have taken by car to safely reach the rooftop of his apartment.  Within a few seconds, he'd used the Hide Hand to open a window to get inside.  Another thirty seconds and he was running down the stairs, silver katana in hand.

He thrust open the door to the outside, pausing as an unfamiliar scent bombarded him.  He quickly looked around, opening his senses as he held his katana at the ready.  Something white caught the corner of his eye and he went over to investigate.  It was a piece of paper that reeked of vampiric blood.  The red letters were still drying in the slight breeze.

"We have her, Kin Killer.  If you want her back alive, come find us before it's too late."

He didn't need anyone to tell him who they'd meant.  What he didn't completely understand was why they were baiting him.  Their leader had to have taken an interest in him as well, and not in a good way.  He thrust the paper into his pocket and took off towards the Company's Central Headquarters.  After all, he had promised to stop by and he was a man of his word.

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Cheska set her burden down on the concrete floor, none too gently.  The whole ride back was so boring that she couldn't contain herself.  The lust for blood was building and she wanted what she'd been promised.  "Here's your brat," she scoffed as her leader entered the room.

Kanaye calmly walked over to the prone figure on the floor.  She looked a little worse for wear, he decided, and totally unresponsive.  He couldn't have that.  She had to be conscious by the time her precious Silver Blade came to save her.  It made it all that much more fun.

He looked at his slave, for that was how he saw her.  He noted the blood lust in her eyes.  She'd be a menace to his plans if she stayed there.  "You may leave," he said smoothly, as though extending a favor instead of a punishment.  Her eagerness was commendable, but he could see the defiance in her eyes.  

"Join the front ranks," he ordered.  "I'm sure they'll see some excitement soon."  And, with luck, she'd be one of the first to feel the Company's wrath because he knew that many of his followers would.  She was so bothersome that he didn't care what happened to her. "And bring in that nurse before you leave."

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Central Headquarters felt like a cramped maze.  Monitors flashed as reports started coming in about vampire attacks on civilians.  Chaos was starting to fill the Special Zone, perhaps not on the same scale as with the Kowloon Children, but it was still a threat to the peace and had to be stopped.

Commanders issued orders to their troops via radios as they tried to suppress the chaos as much as possible.

"I had no idea," Jinnai said in horrified awe as he watched tiny blips appear on the screen, signifying areas of confirmed attacks.  So far, only a few real casualties, but things were getting bad.  "How were they able to bring so many in under such a short amount of time?"

"This is Kanaye we're dealing with," a smooth, sultry voice said from behind.  The Red Blood whirled around to see Zelman enter the room, hands in his pockets.  "His charismatic personality attracts a lot of people, though I can't say that all of them are very loyal.  I'm willing to bet that those out attacking humans right now are those he managed to convince by subterfuge alone, and aren't true follows, like hyenas looking for an easy kill.  They may believe the same way he does about Red Bloods but they don't necessarily believe in the same ideals, if you know what I mean."

Jinnai was impressed, but he couldn't show it.  "That may be true, but that still doesn't explain how they all got into the Special Zone."

Zelman leaned against one of the many consoles.  "Does it really matter?  It could have been through any number of ways," he drawled.  "My guess is through that compromiser, Chihuru was it?  She seemed the type to lust after what they had to offer her.  And look what she got for it."

Jinnai gave a disapproving frown, but he couldn't deny it.  He'd had his own suspicions about the girl, though he hadn't known why until now.  But that was neither here nor there.  He looked towards the doorway anxiously.  Jiro was late.

"Jinnai.  Zelman."

The two men looked up at the observation deck to see Sei, the Dragon King of the East, peering down at them, his dark classes hiding his closed eyes.

"Lord Dragon," Jinnai said as he inclined a slight bow.  Zelman offered his own sign of respect, a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders.

"Have you found where they're keeping Mimiko yet," Sei asked.  Behind him, Zhang Lei Kao, the former vampire hunter, stood at the ready, hands at his sides.

"Not yet," Jinnai admitted.  "They were more clever than we anticipated.  We have men combing the area, but the various attacks on civilians is making it more difficult."

Sei looked upward, presumably viewing the monitors.  "I see.  Where's Jiro?"

The vampire in question entered the room as he finished speaking.  "I'm here, Sei," he answered, one hand gripping his katana.  He pulled out the note he'd found on his door.  "I found this on my way over.  It would seem that they are after me as well."

Sei used the Hide Hand to take the paper from him, examining it.  "A vampire's blood," he said with some surprise.  "One of theirs?"

Jiro nodded.  "I believe so.  I'm sure I can follow the scent to the source.  I think that's what they want."

Jinnai stepped in. " It sounds like a trap," he accused.  "You can't possibly be thinking of walking right into it, can you?"

The Black Blood stared solemnly at the Chief.  "If I don't, Mimiko will die."

"But if you go, there's no guarantee that you won't die too," Jinnai protested.

Zelman watched the exchange with small patience.  "Oh come on," he interrupted, "if we work this right, no one has to die, problem solved.  Everyone goes home happy."

The two Old Bloods and their companions stared at the Crimson Eyed Zelman.  "What's the big deal," he continued.  "Sure Kanaye's a real pain, and not just some school child, but he does have his weaknesses.  He's a control freak like most tyrants.  Play that to your advantage and you'll unseat him.  It's child's play."

Sei's voice rose above the others.  "This won't be like the last time, Zelman," he said seriously.  "This time we will be dealing with him personally, not just some of his followers.  He means to destroy the Special Zone, along with his other vendettas.  He won't back down easily."

Zelman smiled.  "It wouldn't be a challenge if he did."  He let his fangs show.  "You're forgetting what happened last night.  If the Silver Blade can get over his aversion to working with me, I'm sure we can handle the main issue while everyone else works cleanup.  We just have to find them first."

Sei looked from Zelman to Jiro.  "Can you do this, Jiro?"

Jiro ground his teeth.  He didn't like the idea of working with Zelman, but the older vampire did know more about Kanaye than he did and that would only strengthen their side.  "Very well," he conceded.

Sei nodded.  "Then I will send Zhang and Kain with you to open the way.  I must stay here and keep the barrier."

"My lord," Zhang started to protest but stopped, turning his words into acceptance.  "It will be as you wish."  He bowed.

"Hurry, Jiro, Zelman.  I feel that Mimiko doesn't have much time."

The two vampires saluted the Dragon King, then headed out the door.