Part VII: The Alfas
Again peace was restored at the mansion. After Izano’s death, the other lycans kept silent in town where they have their hideout.
Rima was alone at the mansion due to Shiki’s leave to visit his mother. ”She kept whining to come visit her once in a while”. Yuuki also disappeared God knows where and Kaname still didn’t manage to find her, although he was still searching.
It was the start of evening when Rima woke up. She looked around the room, and then let out a sigh.
“I’m bored…” she said. She left the room and went into the garden. “So quiet…”. She usually likes silence, but this time she found it quite depressing. She gave another sigh.
There was a slight breeze that time. As she tried to breathe in some of the night’s fresh air, she sensed an unknown, yet familiar scent. It was the scent of a lycan, yet it was different.
“What the…”. She started running towards the place that the scent was coming from. Before she knew it, she was in the forest.
‘I have a bad feeling about this…’ she thought. She looked around as the scent became closer and closer.
“Looking for something?”
Rima turned around as she heard an unknown voice. There she saw a boy with black hair and black eyes mixed with a bit of dark green, grinning at her. A grin that could make you loose your confidence right away.
“Who are you?” she asked.
He smirked. A moment later, he spoke again.
“Don’t be so defensive, I just came to take a closer look at you. You just seemed quite interesting…”
She just stared at him, with an expression that said ‘unbelievable…’
“Oh, give me a break… what the hell do you guys want from me anyway?!”
“When saying ‘you guys’, do you mean Izano too?”
She glared at him. But on the other side, he had a ‘victory’ smile on his face, appearing to think something like “I hit the spot”
“I heard he took quite an interest in you too”. In a blink of an eye, he got right in front of her, taking a grip of her arm, then taking it to his face, close to the mouth. He has that sick kind of smile as he looked her straight in the eyes.
Rima was shocked. His speed wasn’t normal. She didn’t even notice when he appeared in front of her. He wasn’t any mere lycan, that was for sure. A sting on her arm made her come back to reality. Claws replaced the boy’s nails, as they were piercing her skin. A drip of blood came out. Just… what was he?
“Now I see… you do seem quite appetizing.” He said with the same smile.
“Let go of me!”. He was strong. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t release herself.
“Having problems with something?”
“Yeah, with you!”. Without any other options left, she gave him a kick between his legs.
After releasing her, she immediately started running; it didn’t matter where, just as far as she could from that guy.
She kept running into the forest. She panicked there a bit because she was confused. That guy was definitely a lycan, and definitely not a normal one. He was strong. Even the aura around him could make anybody feel uneasy.
As she was reaching the village, she hid herself behind a bush to catch her breath. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder coming from behind. She let out a little scream.
“Aaaah, Rima, don’t scare me like that!” said the person behind her.
“Oh, Yuuki… it was you…”
“Uhh, yeah… but… what’s wrong with you? You seem quite tense. Did something happen?” said Yuuki with a confused expression.
“N… no… it’s ok…”. She didn’t really want to tell Yuuki, because she didn’t want her to worry. “But… what ere you doing here?” asked Rima.
“Oh, that… look over there”. She pointed at a group of people in the village. They seemed to be quite uneasy about something. “Those guys are lycans” she continued. “It seems like something happened.”
“Oh…”. She looked towards the lycans which seemed quite disoriented. Then, a particular scent came to her.
“Ahh… let’s move, I sense an idiot nearby”
“Idiot…?” asked Yuuki.
“Rimaaaaaa! Yuukiiii! Hiiii!” said a voice from not far away.
“Too late…” said Rima and then gave a sigh.
Coming at them was Akito with a happy looking grin on his face.
“Hey, Akito! Just what’s happening there?” said Yuuki.
“Oh…”. Akito remained silent for a moment. “The Alfa’s are here…”
“…Alfa’s…” asked Yuuki.
“Yeah… there are two kinds of lycans: Alfa and Beta. I’m a Beta, and you can say that I’m a ‘normal’ lycan. But those guys are different. As we can only fully transform and use our full powers in ‘werewolf’ mode, they can use all of their abilities without transforming, and can even use a partial transformation if they want to use something we usually have in the werewolf form. And not to mention their strenght... They’re the strongest among the lycans. So, they’re ‘elites’. And we just heard that their leader and some other few Alfa’s just came here.”
Rima’s face became pale. That was the exact description of the boy she met earlier. No wonder she sensed that something was weird about him.
“Anyway, you should be careful from now on. If you happen to meet one of those guys, I don’t think you’d have it easy with them. Their leader is an especially tricky one”
‘Yeah, I figured…’ is what she wanted to say, but couldn’t, half from the shock, half because she didn’t want them to worry. Rima was stubborn in her own way too. And as she knew that Yuuki would do anything to help and protect her, she was afraid that this will also put her in danger.
“Hey, Rima… you’re hurt, aren’t you? Did you scratch yourself somewhere?” said Akito.
“Uh… Huh?”
He was right. She had a small wound on her hand. That was from when that goy pierced her skin with his claw. But the main question was… why didn’t it heal until now? Usually, with her vampire healing powers, it would have healed a long time ago. And this one was healing at… human speed… She just stared at the wound.
“… Rima…?” asked Akito again.
“Huh?.. Oh, I just scratched myself on a branch, it’s no big deal”
“Uh… ok…”
But then something seemed to happen. The lycans she saw a while ago were making quite a ruckus.
“Gotta’ go for a while! I’m going to see what happened” said Akito. “Oh, and remember to keep yourselves hidden for a while, at least until those guys leave” he said, and then left.
“Yeah…” said Yuuki.
On the other hand, Rima remained silent. Or rather, she went in her ‘own world’ again. That guy was already a problem. Even if she was a pureblood, she still couldn’t control her powers very well, and against one of the most powerful lycans… it wasn’t going to be easy…
Then, she felt someone’s hand going around her waist.
“You’re back already…?”
Rima said that as she thought that Akito came back. But then she saw Yuuki, staring, with a confused expression, at the person behind her.
“Something on your mind?” whispered the person behind her in her ear.
She knew that voice. It was the guy she met earlier. The Alfa…
She immediately distanced herself from him, and went in front of Yuuki.
“Hi again.” he said with his smug smile. His black eyes were set on Rima. They were those kinds of eyes that could make you go into a sweat just by meeting them. But even though she felt uneasy, she kept strong. Yuuki was also there. That guy might do something to put her in danger.
“Rima…who is he…?” asked Yuuki.
“He’s an Alfa” said Rima, glaring at him.
“…Alfa…?”
“So I see that you already know about us. News spreads quite fast around here.” He made a short pause. “And I guess you also know how powerful we are, right?”
He looked directly at Rima. Even though that gaze would make anyone feel uncomfortable, she kept calm. Yuuki was also there, so it wouldn’t help in any way if she’s panic.
“Why are you here anyway?” asked Rima, still glaring at him.
The guy smirked.
“I’m here to give you two choices. Or you’ll willingly come with me, or by force”
Rima was stunned. Why should she go with him? Moreover, willingly?
“What’s with this? Do you seriously think I’m going to come with you?”
“Oh, you will, sooner or later.” He smirked again. “Look behind you.”
She looked behind, and saw Yuuki captured by two guys who were most likely, Alfa's. One of them had some dark grey hair with a pair of deep green eyes and the other one had dark brown hair and a pair of deep blue eyes.
Yuuki looked scared. The guys covered her mouth, so she couldn’t call out for Rima when she was caught.
“Leo-sama, what should we do with this little one? She has a nice aroma to her” said the guy with the dark grey hair.
“Yeah, it would be a shame to let her pass by.” said the other one.
The guy so-named Leo smirked, and then looked at Yuuki.
“Well, it depends on what the other party has in mind.” he said as he turned his eyes on Rima.
“You! Let go of her right now!!” yelled Rima.
He smiled.
“So you’re agreeing to come with me?”
Rima remained silent. This time she didn’t know what to do. She wanted to save Yuuki no matter what, but…
As he saw she wasn’t going to give an answer, Leo spoke again.
“I’ll show you how kind hearted I can be. I’m gonna let you say ‘goodbye’ to the person most dearest to you. But by no means can you tell him about what you’re going to do.”
“I didn’t agree to any of these.”
“Oh, you’ll agree… you don’t have a choice.”
He looked towards the two guys holding Yuuki. He gave them a sign, and they left, taking Yuuki with them too.
“Yuuki!!!”
She tried to go after them, but Leo got in front of her. As she couldn’t move forward, she watched as they were disappearing fastly in the forest.
“Bring her back!” she yelled at him.
“If you want her back, you’ll be here before dawn. But once you’re here, there’ll be no going back.”
“What?!?”
He smirked again.
“It’s just as you heard.” Suddenly, the smile disappeared. A serious expression took its place. He was looking straight at her.
“I’m not the type to change my mind once I decide on something.” His eyes became cold, giving her chills. “There’s one thing you’ll have to remember. Sooner or later, you’ll be mine.”
Rima remained stunned by his declaration.
“Well then, I’ll be on my leave too.” He said as he started walking away. “After you say goodbye to that important person of yours, come meet me… And if you don’t… you can imagine what’ll happen in that case…”
After saying that, Leo took off.
“Hey, wait!!”
Rima started following him, but lost him almost immediately. Her speed couldn’t compare with his. After she realized that, it was useless to continue running after him. She sat under a tree to rest for a bit. Now she really was in trouble. And to make it worse, Yuuki got involved as well. She didn’t plan to go on his side, but she couldn’t leave Yuuki either. Before realizing it herself, she started crying.
“Yuuki…” she said, still crying, putting her head on her knees.
After getting out of the forest, the two guys who took Yuuki were running at high speed towards an area that seemed unknown to her. They were no longer in or even near the town. They got so far away from that place in such a short amount of time.
“Let go of me, you mutts!” said Yuuki while trying to free herself.
“Mutts? Did you hear that fella’? This little one is trying to pick a fight with us.” The guy said, in a laugh, while carrying her. It was the dark grey haired one.
“So what if I’m picking a fight? Let go!” Seeing she couldn’t escape, she bit his hand.
“Aaaagh! Why you little…”
“Enough.” Said a voice coming from behind. With an insane speed, he caught up with them in such a short time.
“Leo-sama…”
“Did you hear that, missy?” said the boy with the brown hair. “You should better behave.”
“Like I’m gonna behave just because that guy said so?! Stop making fun of me!”
“No one’s making fun in here.” said Leo, looking straight at Yuuki. That was definitely a glare.
Yuuki calmed down a bit. Only by him looking at her, she almost got into a sweat. She could sense the menacing aura coming from him.
As he saw she finally calmed down, he went in front of them, running at their pace.
After gathering her courage, Yuuki started talking again.
“Hey, you! What do you want from us? From Rima? What’s this thing with ‘come with me’ about, anyway?!”
Leo didn’t answer.
“Hey, I’m talking to you here!”
Leo stopped. Seeing that, the two followers stopped as well.
“So you’re pretty fixed on questioning me, aren’t you? You vampires sure have guts.” he said while turning around, facing Yuuki. He has that weird looking smile on his face, as he started walking towards her.
“It seems that you don’t understand the situation you’re in. A puny little vampire girl like you, against three of us.
He stopped in front of her, with his eyes still on her.
“Wh… what are you staring at?”
Leo smiled again. Out of the blue, he sniffed her, then turned around and started running again, with the two guys carrying Yuuki behind them.
“Wh… what was that all about? Sniffing and then going away…!?”
“You’re not aware of your own scent, woman. As a pureblood, you are quite different from other vampires.”
‘Wow, so he knows about purebloods too…’ Yuuki thought.
“You know, guys like you are always like a delicacy to us”
After saying that, Leo smirked. Then, he continued.
“Aside from the fact that Izano was a lower level, he was pretty strong. And after hearing that he was made a fool of by a little pureblood girl, I was quite surprised… and intrigued at the same time…”. He sped up.
“Hmpf… This could turn out to be quite interesting…” he said to himself in a low voice.
They finally reached an old house.
“You guys stay here with the missy. And careful not to let her escape.
“Roger!”
“Got it, Leo-sama!”
The two answered at the same time.
“Well then, it’s time for me to go collect my prey.”
“Ok, master.”
“Now, little girl, get inside” said one of the two.
“Aaagh, don’t be so rough like that!”
She then came up with a plan on how to escape from there. Now hopefully, it will work. As if she were the greatest actress ever, she let out a few tears and gazed at them.
“That’s not the way to treat a lady. Have you no manners?”
“Hey, hey, don’t cry, will ya’?” said the brown haired guy looking at the other one, not knowing what to do.
“Yeah, we won’t need to be rough if you keep quiet in the house.” said he other one.
She made a few steps into the house, hoping she could find something to use as a weapon.
“Should I really trust you guys?” said Yuuki, still faking she was crying, and was looking around the room. Then she saw a broom-stick next to the door.
“Yeah, we won’t do anything to you, so you can relax.”
“Ok then…”
She quickly took the broom-stick and hit them on the head with it. She was used to handle something like that, because it resembled her Arthemis. Plus, they didn’t have time to react, and after the hit, they both fell on the floor. Yuuki used that chance to escape, and she only had one thing in mind: finding Rima.
It was already 4 a.m. in the morning. Rima went to the house after she calmed down a bit.
‘There’s no way anyone would be there… Why did I even come here?’ she thought. On her way there, she kept thinking of other ways to save Yuuki, but the odds were against her.
“Rima!”
She heard someone calling out for her.
“Shiki…”
Seeing him, she almost burst out crying, but she managed to keep it in.
“For goodness sake, where were you? I was worried sick here. I heard some weird guys came around, and rushed here right away. Do you know how worried I was when I came and couldn’t find you anywhere around? ”
“Shiki…”
“What?”
She suddenly kissed him.
“It was just a walk… I’m ok.”
Shiki smiled a bit.
“Thank goodness you were safe.”
She forced herself to smile, and then went ahead. “I’m going in my room; I’m not feeling very well…”
“Do you need me for something?”
“No, I think I’m going to have some rest…”
“Ok then… but if you need something, just call for me, ok?”
“Got it…”
Rima went into her room, and closed the door behind her. She started looking around inside it.
‘Thank goodness you were safe.’
She touched her lips, and tears were starting to flow from her eyes.
“Shiki…”
She went at the window. The moon was falling, making place for the sun that was going to rise soon.
She opened the window and went out on it. She went right into the forest. After a while, she arrived at the exact place where Yuuki was taken away.
“So you really came.”
She turned around and saw Leo behind her.
“Where’s Yuuki?”
He smiled, also having the trace of a laugh in it.
“She’s as eager to see you as you are". After a short pause, he said: "Guys, come out!”
From behind a tree, the two boys came out, holding Yuuki immobilized.
“Rima…” said Yuuki with an expression that also said ‘I’m sorry…’
“This little one was so eager to see you that she escaped. Too bad she couldn’t do it all the way through, though…”
“We are truly sorry, Leo-sama, we were too careless” said the guy with the dark grey hair.
“She won’t escape again, we guarantee it” said the other one, as big claws were replacing his fingernails, and took them to Yuuki’s neck.
“Yuuki!!”
Even though Yuuki nearly escaped, Leo didn’t seem to be bothered by it.
“Well then, are you ready to come?”
“Who said anything about coming?”
The air got filled with a great electric pressure.
“So you’re still resisting…”
Even though the other two Alfa’s seemed quite tense about her powers, Leo didn’t even blink an eyelid.
“You seem to be really calm about this, aren’t you? This is going to be your biggest mistake!”
said Rima.
“Well, let’s see about that…”
Rima directed a powerful lightning towards him, which had a direct hit. The place where Leo was had been surrounded by dust and smoke.
“This is what you get for underestimating me” she said.
“So this is all you got?”
She was shocked to see Leo coming from the smoke, moreover, uninjured, without even a single scratch on him.
“What… are you?”
She was really confused, because she was sure that the lightning hit him.
“So… are you done already?” said Leo as he was coming closer to her.
“Rimaa!!!”
In a moment, Shiki was standing right in front of her
“Shiki, what are you doing here?” asked Rima.
“What do you mean ‘what am I doing here’? You were acting weird, so I followed you!”
Leo gave a sigh.
“Is there going to be any more interference?”
“Why you…” said Shiki as he bit his finger.
“Heh, so you plan on fighting me as well?” said Leo, having a somewhat playful smile.
From Shiki’s finger came out blood which formed hundreds of mini-blades.
“Ooh, interesting…” said Leo again.
“You won’t think it’s only interesting any longer.” He directed all the blades towards him. Leo was surrounded by them, and seemed to have no way of escaping. But as with Rima’s lightning, he deflected all of the blades right away.
Shiki was socked to see that not even one of the blades had cut him.
“Was that all? How boring…”
In a blink of an eye, he was already in front of Shiki, giving him a punch in the abdomen.
Shiki started vomiting blood. That wasn’t a normal punch. It was almost as if his fist had an iron shield on it.
“Nighty-Night.” said Leo as Shiki fell on the ground. Leo sat upon the unconscious Shiki, and then looked towards Yuuki who was being held captive by those two.
“So… what are you going to do?” he said with that sick looking smile towards Rima.
“I… I’ll go… with you… so let them go…”
“No, Rimaaa!!!” yelled Yuuki.
“That’s a wise choice. Then… Boys!” he said as he turned towards the two Alfa.
“Yes, master.” The boys hit a spot on Yuuki’s back, and she fell unconscious on the ground.
Rima was still besides Shiki. He must have suffered some serious damage from that hit. Kneeling beside him, she took his head in her arms. He was still breathing. ‘Thank God…’ she thought. Lowering her head, she kissed him the second time that night. After that, she licked Shiki’s blood which remained on her lips.
“Well then, let’s go.” said Leo with a smug smile.
“…Ok…”
She looked at the two, and said something in a lower voice. After that, she went with Leo, disappearing from sight, as the sun was rising.
‘Forgive me….’
Author: Cristina Veriotti
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