FicWad

Chapter XXVII



Jean-Claude was trapped, and Chiyuki had no idea whether or not he was still alive. She wondered if his great dream died with him. However, she knew the foe, and she knew he understood the threat as well as she did. She even understood the greater threat considering the strange bedfellows that had united for this evil. She rushed Anjou to where Karin was hidden, and she had to have Yukiko ready the troops. Yet, she wondered what even they could do. When she arrived, she was elated to see Anjou safe and sound, but she began to feel a surge building up in her with all the sadness inside of Anjou, who was now in tears. All Anjou could say was, “They hurt big brother!”

That was it for Yukiko. She was on the phone to Victor, and he then spread the word about where to meet. Yukiko then said to Chiyuki, “Time to ‘play hockey!’”

Chiyuki understood what she meant, and they began to make their way. However, Karin wanted to go, but Chiyuki balked at this. “I know that is your family,” said Chiyuki, “but I don’t know what you would do in the fight.”

“You have to let me go with you!” she pleaded.

“Karin, you’re the one they want,” said Chiyuki, “You’ll be waking right into their trap.”

“Exactly,” she said, “I just walking in is not what they want. Yet, I going on the offensive is not what they expect.”

“You go on offense?” said Chiyuki, “Do you have any idea what you are facing?”

“I have been practicing my blood abilities,” said Karin, “and let me tell you, I didn’t know I could do half the stuff that I have learned. I just had to learn to use my blood in a different way. Besides, all the unhappiness around me is going to cause my blood to rise, and if I have to use it, I want it to be for the right thing. On top of all that, because of the blood I contain, my powers are very strong now. I can fight!”

“I’m still not sure, though…,” said Chiyuki, but she was cut off by a primal yell, and a vision. At the house, as he pitched and twitched on the ground, and as the Markers and the elders were put out for execution, he slipped in and out of consciousness. In the moments that he was out of it, the nightmare returned. However, instead of his own family, he saw the Markers, and he, as a ten-year old boy, running from this group. The elder that spoke to him earlier was leading the charge. He then saw Anjou trip and fall, and the elder then picked her up. He held up a large sword, and prepared to take her head when he awoke. He uttered a moan outwardly, but inwardly, it was a shriek of, “NO, NOT AGAIN!”

He had connected with all the vampires that were dear to him, and it was a loud shriek. Karin’s face went beat red, and she vamped out. She then used a force blow on Kenta to knock him to the ground, and pounced on him as if she were a cougar pinning her prey. It all happened quickly, and she began to release. She released much, but her state had not changed. She then extended a hand, began to deposit some things in Kenta’s head, mainly on how to best use his abilities, and gave him strict orders to protect Anjou and Maki while she was away. She then turned her head to Chiyuki and said, “Let’s go—Jean-Claude needs us!”

At this, Chiyuki stopped her arguments. Apparently, Karin had released, but her blood was churning one step behind her releasing. Therefore, she was still empowered. With that, they went.



The girls had only gone three blocks when they came across Yukiko. She was standing there with a sword that Victor gave her the night before, and as pale as a sheet. She was unhurt, but she was still covered in blood by what lay before her. An undead had tried to ambush her, and somehow, instinct took over, and she managed to take its head off. She was more frightened on how quickly she was able to react and do what she did than by the undead jumping out at her. The girls had to calm her down quickly. “I…don’t…believe,” she said, “It…happened…so…fast! How…am…I…alive?” said Yukiko, breathing heavily.

“It’s okay,” said Chiyuki, “You did well.”

Chiyuki then looked at Karin, and said, “Keep your eyes open, they’re looking to counterattack.”

Karin nodded as they went their way, and did all they could to snap Yukiko out of it so she could fight. As they made their way, Chiyuki was having an epiphany, realizing that all their work the night before may have been cut in half, now recalling what Karin had just done with Kenta. She would have to present this to the boys when she got there. However, as they did, four more undead came out of the woodwork and tried to ambush them. An instant before they struck, however, Chiyuki already detected them, and then inserted into the head of Yukiko a perfected rendition of what she had learned the night before, and filled her head with all the knowledge necessary to allow a human successfully to fight a vampire. Karin’s senses were also heightened in this state, and she was already taking a defensive stance. Yukiko saw their actions and followed suit right on time. She had slashed one and beheaded another. Karin used a hard force push to ram one into a wall, and she then set it on fire. Chiyuki, on the other hand, looked like a giant professional wrestler, and was spinning two of them around like rag dolls. Once they hit a brick wall, she cast forth a fireball, and they were burned up. They finally caught up with the team, and she was surprised to see Elda standing by Victor’s side, with an umbrella in her hands, of all things! “It’s about time you got here,” snapped Elda to Chiyuki, “We’ve got work to do!”

Chiyuki was taken back by this, considering how they had first met. As if she were reading her mind, she said to Chiyuki, “Like Jean-Claude said, ‘We don’t have time for squabbling.’”

She then looked, and said, “What is she doing here?” pointing to Karin, “And how did she get like this?”

“It’s time to fight, grandmamma!” hissed Karin.

Elda grinned broadly, and said, “Yep, you got grand mamma’s blood in you!”

Chiyuki then said, “There is something that we need to do, and I kick myself for not thinking of this last night. Boys, open your minds to me.”

They closed their eyes and began to clear their thoughts. At this, Chiyuki extended a hand, and they all began to glow a yellow color. At this point, she was filling their minds with the minutest details and skills that they would need to fight even the toughest vampires as a mortal. She knew this was a risk, because, if they decided to turncoat, they could have a problem. However, just having to rely on humans was a risk to begin with. It seems that they were on defense on the power play, and if they survived that, they would have to pull the keeper to have a chance to win the game. Karin went up to Wiener, who was familiar with her appearance in this state of mind, and he stiffened, not knowing what to expect next. However, all she hissed was “Get me a sword!”

Quickly, Wiener came back with a Toledo Salamanca swept hilted broadsword, and said, “It’s the best blade we have. We were going to give it to Jean-Claude in case he lost his saber, but you’re welcome to it.”

She smiled broadly, fangs exposed. “So, what’s the plan?” asked Victor.

“We have to get up the hill unseen,” said Chiyuki, “What would be the least guarded area?”

Elda thought for a moment, and wondered which approach would be best. However, Karin, who, as a child, had played many games on that hill with Anjou, and she knew every inch of it. She remembered she had to pull Anjou up from a steep part that was almost a cliff, and she had never told anyone of it, lest she get in trouble. It sat right over a temple that Fumio and Kenta had to hide in while trying to avoid the eyes of a private detective sent by Kenta’s grandmother to find them. She said, “Grandmamma, the temple is the best approach.”

She thought for a moment, because it was an almost impossible approach. However, Chiyuki knew well of North American history, and knew of the French and Indian War, when the British captured Quebec, finding the French with their trousers down. They achieved this partly by climbing a nearly impossible pass on the cliff face southwest of the city, and caught the French flat footed. They only had one guard on duty there, and the English duped him into thinking the men that marched by in the darkness were French. If they played their cards right, this would be the approach to take. “Then we have our plan,” said Chiyuki, “Now, let’s get to it!”



Kenta remained at Maki’s place, now very energized, and with his head filled with both Chiyuki’s encouragement, and Karin’s spirit speaking with him in his mind. Anjou was staying at the center of the room, and Kenta followed suit. Maki sighed, and said, “I guess all we can do is wait,” hoping that all was going well with the others. Anjou looked her and said, “You should be sitting here.”

“Yeah,” she said, “I was wondering why you are…” and her statement was cut off as glass in the window behind her shattered, and an undead entered, swiftly grabbing her by the neck. She found it hard to breath, and the undead cared little that this was so. He looked at Anjou, and said, “I’ll deal with you shortly, after I take care of your mortal friends.”

He then began to eye Maki, who was trembling like a leaf, and he smiled, licking her neck. “Mmm…you’re a tasty one, and pretty too!”

He looked at the others, and demanded, “Where is the blood cow!”

Anjou just stared blankly and said, “She is in the last place where you would think her to be.”

“What is that supposed to mean!” he thundered, “No matter, I’ll have that information out of you soon. However…”

He trailed off, looked at Maki again, and said, “How would you like to live forever?”

He then opened his mouth, and extended his fangs. Before he could strike, he found, in the blink of an eye, Kenta behind him, hands on his head, holding it back. He hissed, “You’re her g’hul!” and then he said, “Where is she,” having a one-track mind. The thought of this thing vamping Maki, hurting Anjou, and doing something bad to Karin was too much for Kenta, and he yelled as he turned the head of the undead completely around. The thing released Maki, and Kenta slammed him on a shard of the window glass, through its heart. It broke off and remained there. He then pushed out the undead, and remembered about the fire that Jean-Claude had taught him. Chiyuki provided him with the control, and a fireball engulfed the body. However, with his rage, the body disintegrated on impact with the street. Kenta then turned to Maki, who immediately embraced him, bawling her eyes out, and shaking as if it were 30 below zero in the room. All he could do was hold her tight, and rock her back and forth. Anjou saw this, and said, “Stay here and protect her, for I must go.”

“Where are you going?” asked Kenta, confused.

“I’m going to do what they least expect,” she said, “because I owe much to my big brother, and this will end tonight.”

She then turned on her heel, and left.



Meanwhile, the Clan was heading to the hill, going the long way to avoid detection, and hoping maybe to draw out some more foot soldiers, the philosophy being that the more they could take out before getting there, then the less they would have to deal with when they arrived. As was hoped, nine undead emerged, and attempted to ambush the Clan. However, they had no clue that they were about to impact a buzz saw. Before they could act, they found themselves filled with steel and lead, and then found their heads off their bodies. They were quickly piled up in a vacant lot and burned, they knowing that they would be nothing by dust by the time they were discovered. From there, they made their way to the temple.



By the time they got there, it was about two in the morning, and they were thankful that, due to the November time period, that sunrise would not be coming for another four hours, so they had time. While they were starting their climb, Chiyuki reached out to Jean-Claude to see how he was doing. She was shocked at his state. He had lost much in the way of blood, and he was becoming less and less rational as his hunger for blood grew stronger and stronger. They were trying to turn him into an animal before they killed him, more than likely to humiliate him, and to show that their killing of him was justified. The Markers and the council were laid out to roast in the sun, all staked to keep them docile. Chiyuki’s rage was boiling over. Up on that hill sat someone who did not immediately judge her, took her for whom she was, and maybe—just maybe—gave her a group of people that she could be with, that could give her some happiness, even for a short time. He was also the key, possibly, to her remaining at peace, and bringing in a new world of understanding. She then swore an oath, saying, “Jean-Claude D’Amphile, you shall not die! If I must die to insure you live, I know you will gain my vengeance for me!”

She knew that she could be up there in a flash, and even have freed the council just as fast. However, what would she do with Jean-Claude? He needed blood, and badly. Since his love was for evil blood, no matter whom it came from, she hoped that they could have the job done as to where he could then feast. Yet, she realized that acting hastily would cost more lives of these special people who were risking everything for the sake of a creature that their brothers would otherwise despise. Jean-Claude had said that some of them would not be returning, but if she had her way, none was going to die, even if that meant vamping them out, (something that she knew many of them would not have minded anyway.)



The going was slow and tedious. It was not quite a cliff, but it was incredibly steep. They had to use any outcroppings for grips, and any trees or branches that were growing to pull themselves up. Victor, though still fit for his age, was looking every bit of his years. Chiyuki and Elda wanted badly to fly up and at least scope out the scene, but they could not risk detection. One thing was certain—they did not expect this approach, for they only had one lookout on the top. They had to subdue him, spread out, and then move in. However, as they approached the top, the one vampire there began to raise his nose to the wind, and began to become more alert. He went to the edge, and saw the impending attack approach. Yet, before he could sound an alarm, and just as he opened his mouth, he suddenly found a gag in his mouth tied tight. In the next instant, the Clan watched in amazement as he went flying down the hill and through the roof of the abandoned temple. They sat still for a moment or two, hoping the sound of the crash did not alert anyone. Elda flew over to the hole, and found the vampire impaled on a plank, so she knew that he was out of the fight. At the same moment, the lead elements crested the top to find Anjou standing there. She used that skill of sneaking up she had developed, gagged the man, and used a force push to cast him off the hill. Chiyuki and Elda came up, and Anjou said, “What kept you, grandmamma?”

Elda hugged her, and then said, “Hide in the new house, because it is about to get bad here.”

Anjou nodded and did as she was told. They went into some of the brush and huddled up, discussing the plan. Victor licked his forefinger and stuck it into the air. He then said, “Upwind is that way. Keep the breeze from blowing your scent to them, or you will not make it to the house. Spread out, and remember what you have been taught. Take them out stealthily and quietly. Go!”

They then began to move out, using their dark clothes, and the cover of darkness to move in.



Meanwhile, Elda, Chiyuki, and a well blooded up, but controlled, Karin scoped out the scene behind the house where the council was. There were about four undead keeping their watch. Chiyuki then said to the other two, “Make it quick, and keep it quiet. We do not want to alert Boris or the elders, or else we will have a bigger battle than we want.”

Elda’s umbrella began to glow faintly as it was being charged with a supernatural force. Chiyuki, because of her speed, was able to subdue two of them before Elda and Karin could move in. When Chiyuki did turn around, she watched as the other two undead dropped to the ground headless. Then Karin began to hiss, “So…much…unhappiness…I…must…release!”

She then saw in the center a chained up Jean-Claude, who had been reduced to nothing but a raving animal by this point. She pointed, and Elda said, “He needs blood, badly, before he completely loses his mind.”

“Blood?” said Karin, “Is that all?”

With that, she swiftly moved in, and stood over Jean-Claude, who saw her, and suddenly felt a calm come over him. A smile came over Karin as she crouched down and crawled on top of him like a cat. She sniffed him a time or two, and then prepared to bite. Just before she did, some of his rationality crept in, and he said, “Make me whole, child!”

Yet, just as she sunk in her fangs, Boris came out to see what was happening. Jean-Claude’s eyes opened up, and glowed a bright yellow. “NO,” he said, “DON’T WASTE THAT BLOOD ON HIM!”

That got the attention of everyone else on the hill. However, before they could move in, the Clan struck! Yet, Boris was on the move. Knowing that he could be robbed of his opportunity, he forewent the ceremony he intended, and put all the needed items in his mouth to empower him. He then leapt over everyone and went right to Karin. She had not released all her excess blood yet, but she had given him enough. While Jean-Claude began to feel a new source of energy surge through his veins, Boris was sinking his own fangs into Karin. She screamed, and her eyes went wide as he tried to feed with relish. He was able to drink about five or six mouthfuls before Jean-Claude snapped his chains, stood to his feet, and roared like a lion that had just make a kill. His eyes then were fixed on Boris, and in a flash, he had clotheslined him off Karin. He went back about ten feet, but he stood up, defiant as ever. “Too late, you fools!” he thundered, “The blood and chemicals are already taking an effect on me, I am now unstoppable!”

However, Karin was now livid, and her blood rose anew, this time for the purpose of extracting a cancer. She wheeled around, her eyes glowing a bright purple, brandishing the sizeable broadsword as if it were a fencing foil. She hissed loudly, and leapt at Boris. This, he did not expect. Yet, he felt confident that he could subdue her, now that he had achieved his dream. He pulled a sword himself and started to defend himself. Karin hissed, “You wanted me? HERE I AM!”

She began to waylay into him with a speed she had never had before. Karin’s blood did give him energy, in that; her blood was unlike any other creature’s blood. Sadly, this gave him a false sense of security, and made Karin something more powerful than anyone thought she could be. Though Boris had this charge, he was having everything he could do to keep her at bay. He could not believe it at first, but then he remembered that the same blood that now made him a god was what empowered her. Jean-Claude wanted to go help her, but he had his own problems. However, all he could see was red, in a sense, and was, like Karin, about to go postal. As the Clan began to impact the remaining undead, Jean-Claude pounced on the approaching elder. Before the elder could attack, he took his saber and almost cut him in two. The then spun him around, and sunk in his fangs to finish that from which Karin was prevented. Once he had his feed, he took of the elder’s head.



By this point, Elda and Chiyuki entered the house and began to take out elders one by one. Chiyuki grew in satisfaction as moments passed. Her friends were finally being avenged, and with the aid of the very creatures they had hoped to enslave. Jean-Claude was in the house not moments later, after he had waded his way through the fight going on around him. However, instead of finding a bunch of elders, he found decapitated elders all over the place. Chiyuki had been at work. Yet, he heard a voice, saying, “You think you have won abomination? Guess again! I am going to do what should have been done long ago!”

Jean-Claude wheeled around to see the one elder that had a connection back to his past. He was holding a Japanese blade in his hand, and he then said, “If you had not been here, none of this would be happening.”

Jean-Claude moved in faster than he expected, and the elder had all he could do to parry the blow. “Wrong!” growled Jean-Claude, “What you want would have caused the extinction of the vampire, you fool!”

The sound of their blades clashing echoed throughout the house. Of course, they were both a blur of body and steel to the human eye, but for them, it was normal. “You don’t get it, do you!” said the elder, “The worlds are incompatible. You are a mistake, and you need to be eliminated!”

He tried for a killing sweep, but Jean-Claude was equal to the move, ducking down, and then performing a leg sweep. He rolled to the side and took his feet hoping to end it, but the elder kipped up, and they continued the duel. Jean-Claude said, “You are so wrong! The only reason why you do not want unification and symbiosis is just that—you just do not want it! It’s not care for our kind; it is care for power that you really feel. Humans kept separate are more controllable. If you had your way, you would keep them on farms, and keep them as mute animal beasts, with you in power. No wonder you jumped on Boris’ offer! You have no desire for freedom, only power. Would it stop with just humans? How many vampires would die to further your chokehold on the world? Are you really comfortable sharing power with Boris?”

The fight continued from room to room, making its way to the foyer. Jean-Claude was beginning to power up as he went, feeling like something divine was giving him more than he possessed. He then said, “The god thing is a myth! It is all a lie—a legend! You would have caused the witch-hunt on vampires you seek to prevent. Unity and freedom for all humanoids are the vampire’s only hope! Would you rob that from us? That happens over my dead body.”

He began to force the elder to the front door, and said, “I am not a mistake—this was purposed by the Almighty Himself. I am a walking, living indication of his will! WE ALL SHALL BE AS ONE!”

With that, he gave a swift sidekick to his surprised and now overpowered opponent. He never thought a half-breed could possess such strength, but he had no idea how the divine could empower one of His vessels. He flew through the door and landed on the ground where that part of the fight was closing up. After Chiyuki had wiped the walls with the other elders, she went out to aid the Clan, to ensure that none of them died as she had promised. She was surprised to see this last elder fly to the ground before her, and to see Jean-Claude follow up behind. He flew through the air like a great bat, but unfortunately, the elder was able to put his feet up, and monkey-flip him over on the ground. In the process of the hard landing, Jean-Claude pierced his own eye with the saber. He screamed in pain as the elder staggered to his feet. However, he was to see an ominous sight. It was not just that the Red Devil was standing before him, but Yuriya was also there. She had not fled, but she came back, because she would rather fight and die by her husband than to have to live in fear again. Jean-Claude had given her the first sense of normalcy that she ever had in her life, and she would rather be damned to Hell than to go back to living in fear again. She was now more enraged seeing what had happened to Jean-Claude, both here, and out back. With every bit of rage she could muster, she raised her hand and said, “For my husband!” as a fireball engulfed the elder. Chiyuki, not to be outdone, summoned as much of a static charge from the ground as she could, and directed it at the elder, shouting, “For my friends!”

Jean-Claude, after extracting the saber, extended his hands, and aimed with his one good eye, casting his own fireball, saying, “For my mother, father, grandfather, and all sentient creatures!”

With a scream of pure horror, he went into a death throe. Jean-Claude said to him, right before the elder exploded, “Get used to this, for this is now your eternity, ABOMINATION!”

He exploded, and it knocked the three of them to the ground. The flame quickly dissipated, and the last of the elders, finally, suffered the wicked price for their sin. Jean-Claude was putting a swath of cloth over the wound, and Yuriya was all crying. He said, “Don’t worry, I can grow it back, I just…” and then remembered, “KARIN!”



While all this had been going on, Karin was giving Boris all he could handle. What he could not understand was why he was having all this trouble. Before long, he was becoming exhausted, and Karin was beginning to cut him up. All the while, she hissed, “How dare you try to hurt my father, my mother, Anjou, even Kenta! You shall pay for your evil. YOU ARE NO GOD!”

However, Karin was beginning to burn through her excess blood, and she now was losing her steam. Boris saw this, and said, “Apparently, I did things wrong. Maybe I do need the ceremony. No matter—I’ll just stick this in your heart and subdue you. You silly girl: did you really think…”

Before he could thrust his sword forward, he found his arm restrained, and then ripped out of its socket by Jean-Claude. He had come around just in time to see Karin beginning to tire, and he knew he had to get in there. Just as he was doing this, Karin saw her chance and thrust the Toledo Salamanca into his heart all the way up to the hilt. She was now back to normal, despite still having her fangs extended, and she said, as she stared dead into his eyes, “My life span will be shortened anyway because of what I am. I may not make it past two hundred years; I may not make it past fifty! Your dealings would have hastened my death! You deserve worse than beheading!”

“I agree,” said a voice from behind. It was the voice of eldest member of the council that was left, who had no part in anything of Jean-Claude or Chiyuki’s situations, nor had any part with Boris. The Clan busied themselves with freeing the council and the Markers. The lead man looked at Karin, and said, “Since he intended you the most torture and harm, what do you suggest?”

Karin never felt more ruthless, and more like a vampire than she did at that moment, and she said, “Keep the sword in him, and suspend him from the very pole on which he intended to kill my father, and let him fry!”

“So be it!” he said, as they dragged away Boris. He could not speak, but there was the look of pleading in his eyes, begging Karin for mercy. Yet, all she said was, “It’s just like you said, brother, it’s only when a sinner sees the full price of sin come to fruition do they then want mercy. Boris, why did you not repent when you had the chance? To me, you are already dead, and I cease to acknowledge your existence.”

She turned her back, and headed to the front of the house. Jean-Claude left the parting shot, by saying, “Rot in Hell, you reprobate antichrist!”

Jean-Claude then said, "Let’s board up all the windows for now, and have everyone sleep in the house for the day. I am glad it is Saturday, so there will be few questions for the humans. Then, tomorrow night, everyone here is to be involved in a council meeting. I have something to say.”

“Son,” he said, “After what you, Karin, and your friends have done for all vampires around the world, this is the least of what we owe all of you!”



After they had made Boris Zumov quite fast on the pole, only then did they remove the sword. He then began to rant in vain, screaming, “You fools—you have caused our demise! You have included humans—these lower creatures! You shall all pay for your lack of vision!”

Despite all that, Anjou, (who had emerged once things had been resolved,) came up, and gave him her classic death stare, holding Boogie-kun front and center. He stopped his rant to look down and see her enraged face. There was so much she wanted to say, but did not know how to get it all out before the sunrise. He had endangered everything she held dear, and now pleaded for mercy, and ranted on delusional. Her brow furrowed, she frowned angrily, and did what she felt would punctuate everything. All her and Jean-Claude’s bats covered him, and covered him in guano, as she spit right in his face to punctuate the moment. She then turned on her heel, snapped her fingers as the bats scattered, and she left him to fry with the rest of the carcasses in the rising sun.