- “…” as you already know, these are used for the actual words of the character
Part VIII: The Hunting
After agreeing to go with Leo, Rima was taken at their hideout. It was in a big house in a remote area, which took a while to reach, even with their speed. She was locked into a room in order to prevent her from escaping.
‘You’re going to stay in here for a while. And here’s an advice: don’t even think of escaping.’ is what Leo told her when he brought her there.
“And does he really think I’m gonna stay here and do nothing just because he said so? He’s gotta be kidding me…”
It’s been a few days since she was staying in there. There were always a group of lycans standing on guard, so escaping would be rather difficult. Since the entrances were all guarded, she kept looking for another exit. But she wasn’t lucky enough to find a secret trap or something that would take her outside.
There was nothing in that room except for a bed, two chairs and an iron table
She heard a knock on the door. By the sound of it, it was also being unlocked and someone was preparing to enter the room. And the ones she saw was the duo which helped in Yuuki’s kidnapping.
“Hey missy! Need something?”
“Yeah, your faces are bothering me. Move them elsewhere, doggy-men.”
“Wou, wou miss, we came with good intentions here” said the one which had dark grey hair. “And it’s not ‘doggy-men’, I’m Gin.” he said pointing at himself. “And he’s Clid.” He said pointing at the other one, with the dark brown hair.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever…”
Then she had an idea while looking at the big iron table.
“Well, while you’re here, might as well help me move that table elsewhere. I don’t like it there.”
“Oh… ok…” said Gin. “Clid, help me out here! That thing looks really heavy!”
“Gotcha!”
They went and lifted the table, with Gin at one side and Clid on the other one.
“Man, this thing sure is heavy…” whined Clid.
“I’ll help out…”
Rima went and took the table as well. But after touching it, she released a great mass of electricity in the table, which should conduct it and electrocute those who came in contact with it. The amount she released in that table should be enough to put even an elephant into a coma. And yet…
“Auch, hey, did you feel a sting right now?” asked Gin.
“Yeah, maybe this table has splinters.”
“What splinters? This is iron!”
“Well, whatever. Let’s take this over there”
Rima was amazed. They were still carrying the table as if nothing had happened.
‘Thank God they’re idiots…’
After putting down the table, they both went towards the door.
“We’ll come back later to check on you and if you need something else.”
“I’d be happier if you didn’t…”
“Heheh, you’re funny” said Gin with an almost sarcastic laugh. After that, they left.
“Damn it…” said Rima, annoyed.
“You don’t give up easily, do you?”
As she turned around, she saw Leo sitting on the window, with his smug smile directed at Rima.
“Oh great, just when I was finally happy with not seeing your face around…”
She was right. After he brought her to that place, he went off elsewhere for a couple of days.
He smirked.
“Well, I couldn’t stay too much separated from my queen, isn’t that right?”
“Queen?? I agreed to come here with you, but I don’t remember ever agreeing to become yours. So shut up or I’m really gonna crack your head wide open!”
“If you could do that, you wouldn’t be here in the first place, don’t you think?”
Rima didn’t reply to that. What he said was also true.
Leo got closer to her.
“You’d better be more obedient.”
“Yeah, sure, keep dreaming. How can a vampire obey a lycan?”
“Vampire, huh… well, that is a problem that’s gonna be solved soon enough…” he said as he took hold of her chin.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Simple. You’re going to become a lycan.”
“…What?!”
“It’s just as you heard.” He said with an intimidating looking smile.
“You’re mad!..””
He grinned at that.
“Maybe I am… maybe I’m not…”
Great… she couldn’t use her powers, and Leo wanted to transform her in a lycan. Even though she still had doubts of that, his eyes were dead serious about this. She had to escape that place fast. And there didn’t seem to be any ways of escaping.
But after that, she saw that the window was open.
‘Aah, of course, he came up the window!’
That window was usually locked. She knew because she already tried opening it several times.
‘Is he an idiot or what?’ she thought, because he left it like that.
Leo turned his head at the window, and then turned it back at Rima.
“Seems like you’ve got an idea, right?”
Rima glared at him. That guy was playing with her mind and she didn’t like it.
“Yeah, I’ve really got one.”
Rima caused an explosion with her lightning, using it as a diversion. She ran at the window. Even though it was at the third floor she took the risk and jumped, running away from there.
The next moment, Gin and Clid came rushing into the room, after hearing the explosion.
“Hey, what happened here?! Ahh, Leo-sama… did she escape?”
Making a short pause, Leo looked towards the window and then smiled.
“Who’s escaping? I’m only leading her to her destiny.”
He started walking to the window, stood there for a moment, and then jumped as well.
After running for a while, Rima reached a forest and went into it right away. She thought that she could hide better in there. But at one point, she started feeling as if the air was becoming heavier by the moment. And then, she saw someone in front of her. It was an old woman with a black cloak and some green phosphorescent eyes.
‘What’s that old woman doing there?’
After capturing her with her with her eyes, the woman started to sing, or better said scream something. Rima started to feel dizzy, and her ears were hurting.
She saw two green phosphorescent rooks coming out of the woman’s cloak, and they were flying straight at her.
“What the hell..??”
She started running and tried to get away from them, but those rooks were fast. She sped up and didn’t see them anymore. Thinking that she lost them, she hid under a tree to catch her breath. Then she heard some noises coming up from the tree. The rooks appeared from there and went straight at her. Rima didn’t have a chance to pull back, so the rooks entered her body. She felt as if her whole body was caught on fire and was in some great pain. She fell on her knees because she couldn’t stand up at that moment.
“Finally stopped running?”
Rima lift up her head and saw Leo standing in front of her. She tried to glare, but her body was hurting so much that even that seemed to be too hard.
“What’s the meaning of this?” she said, even though she could hardly speak because of the pain. Leo had a sly smile, and lowered a bit to be on the same height level as her.
“You’re one step closer to becoming a lycan.”
Her eyes became wide open. He wasn’t joking. He smiled as he saw her expression.
“That old hag you met always tried to transform vampires into lycans, but never had any success on her own. The only way of turning vampires into lycans is to use us for that.”
He looked away and started staring at the sky.
“But that hag hates us. She hates that she can’t make us obey her. That’s why she wants to find ways to do this without us.”
He turned his head back at Rima, who was still in obvious pain.
“The reason I was away the other days was because I went to have a chat with her. And now that she fulfilled her part in this, we can now proceed to the final step of turning you into a lycan.”
“…Final step? What’s that about?...”
Leo looked her straight in his eyes and smiled. He bit his wrist, and blood started to flow from it.
“Alfa blood. In order to complete the transformation, you have to drink my blood.” he said as he raised the hand from which blood was dripping.
“You really are insane…”
“Heh… I wonder…”
Leo took a hold of Rima’s chin, making eye contact. He didn’t have his usual sly smile; instead he seemed really serious, looking straight in her eyes.
“I told you that I’m not one to change my mind. From the moment I decided to make you mine, your fate was already clear as well. And the moment you’ll become a lycan, you won’t be able to escape me anymore.”
He drove his hand to his mouth, and took some blood into it.
“Now, let’s proceed…”
Leo was now going towards her mouth in order to make her drink his blood. But the air was becoming heavier and heavier, being filled with electricity particles and Rima went away from him.
“Like hell I’m gonna let that happen!!”
Rima was now moving on sheer willpower. Lightning was striking the ground, which was because of her powers going berserk. The air in that place became filled with dust and smoke, and visibility was almost zero. She took the chance and disappeared into the smoke.
Leo gave a sigh.
“How much more are you going to run…?”
Rima was running into the forest, but as she calmed down her body was starting to hurt again, and she began to feel dizzy again.
“Damn it…”
She was wondering in the dark forest, feeling like she was going to faint. Using her powers in that condition didn’t have a good effect on her body. But as she almost fell, she felt as if she hit somebody and fell over him, with Rima on the verge of losing consciousness.
“Hey, what the…?!”
A boy with light purple eyes was holding her, confused of the situation.
“Hey Zero, what happened?”
A girl came and called out for him. It was Lydia. She had a really soft voice.
“I don’t know, she appeared all of a sudden looking like this.”
Rima realized it was the vampire boy from Cross Academy, who was on guardian duty with Yuuki.
“Oi, are you alright?”
“Take me… outta’ here…” she said in a low voice.
“Wha…?!”
“Zero, trouble’s coming!”
“Ha?”
Then he saw them too. A pack of wolves came and started attacking them. Zero took out his Bloody Rose and started shooting at them. But the only thing they did was to back off a little and even though they were hit, they didn’t get really hurt.
“Damn, this won’t work…”
He lowered his gun. Because they were normal wolves, the gun didn’t affect them.
“Let’s get out of here!” he yelled at Lydia. He lifted Rima in his arms and started running.
“You’re not going anywhere with someone else’s belongings.”
Zero stopped as he saw a black haired person standing in front of him. His black eyes had a sharp, piercing look, scowling at Zero.
“Zero… who’s him?” asked Lydia
“Like hell if I know!”
“R… Run…” said Rima as she got off from Zero’s arms. She stood up, facing Leo.
“So, have you grown tired of running?”
“Heh… as if.” said Rima, almost like provoking him, looking at him straight in the eyes.
Leo smirked. He was amazed by her determination, or better said stubbornness. Rima was starting to feel better, but that didn’t change the fact that her powers didn’t work against him.
“Zero… take this girl away, I’ll try to slow this guy down” said Lydia.
“No! You can’t win against this guy! Your powers won’t work on him!” said Rima as she realized what Lydia was planning.
On the other hand, Lydia gave her an answer with a calm voice.
“I don’t need to win.” she said, giving her a smile. “I don’t know what happened, but it seems that your current condition isn’t good enough so you can take him on.”
“You’re reckless…” said Rima.
Lydia answered her with a smile.
“…Are you sure about this?” asked Zero.
“Yes, I am. Take here somewhere safe, it seems like you know this girl. Don’t worry about me; I’m a pureblood after all.”
“Alright… Just try your best not to die here. Or else, what would the hunters do?”
“Hihih, alright ^^ ”
Zero turned his head to Rima, but he saw that she wasn’t willing to leave.
“Come on already, don’t make me drag you away.” He said, grabbing her.
“No, wait…” she said as she turned to Lydia. How could she just leave her there like that? Even though she didn’t know her, leaving her there would lead to her immediate death.
“Geez, you’re so annoying!” said Zero, pissed, as he lifted Rima in his arms and started running away.
As Lydia saw them disappearing into the dark, she took a long breath and turned around, facing Leo. He had a kind of disappointed, yet provoking look, as if he was preparing to kill a new prey.
“So, might as well play with you a little too…”
Looking at him, Lydia realized that she couldn’t win against him, but she could at least buy some time.
“Well, let’s start playing then.” said Lydia and charged at him.
She was fast. She was attacking him from every direction, trying to land a hit. But she couldn’t even give him a scratch. Moreover, he only seemed to be avoiding her. He wasn’t trying to attack at all.
“Come on, is this all you’ve got?”
Lydia glared at him. Leo gave a sigh, and then started talking again.
“If this is it, then I think I should start acting too…”
He started moving with an insane speed, which confused Lydia’s sharp vision. In a blink of an eye, he was already behind her, immobilizing her arms before she had a chance to get away.
“So I guess this is the end, right?” he said with an awfully evil smile, preparing to give her the final blow.
“Leo-sama!!!”
Two persons were coming from behind. It seemed like they were following him at first, but they couldn’t keep up with his speed.
Leo seemed somewhat disappointed, but didn’t seem to be bothered by it. He leaned his head towards Lydia.
“Guess we’ll leave the fun for later… that is if you’ll live until then.” He said as he released her. He changed glances with Clid and Gin, and then left.
The two seemed to have understood what he wanted to say.
“So, what should we do with this little missy?” said Clid as he was walking towards Lydia.
She remained on guard. She realized that Leo was the leader, but these guys seemed pretty powerful too.
She was trying to at least find a way to escape. She took a few steps back, to see their reactions. Clid was first to speak.
“Hey, hey, you think you can get away just like that? Not really smart, are ya--“ but he stopped when Gin put a hand on his shoulder. I t looked like he was telling him a plan, because she saw Clid nod. Very fast, Gin disappeared and Clid remained there.
Lydia looked around. She couldn’t see Gin anywhere.
“Are you sure you should be walking away from the enemy in front of you?”
Lydia turned around really fast just to see Clid in front of her, preparing to attack. Despite his appearance, he seemed really fast. Lydia backed away instantly, but was caught by someone behind. When she turned around, she saw Gin holding her arms to her back, immobilized. She tried to release herself but couldn’t do it because apart from being fast, he was strong too.
“So the little girl is in a pinch now, isn’t she?” said Clid as he came in front of her.
Lydia glared at him right away.
“I’m not gonna be the one in the ‘pinch’!”
She kicked him as hard as she could in ‘his future’, and Clid instantly fell on the ground. Gin got alarmed and tried to restrain her, but she hit his chin with her head as hard as she could, making him bite his tongue really bad. She also felt some teeth coming off. Releasing herself from his grip as he was agonizing, she ran away and disappeared from their sight.
Away from that place, Zero was trying to take Rima away to a safe place, but she seemed to have other things in mind…
“Let me go, I said!” she said as she was looking behind.
“Shut up, you’re so damn stubborn! Do you want to die that badly?!”
At that one, Rima didn’t answer back. What Leo had in mind was even worse than death for her. After a moment of silence, Zero started talking again.
“What was that guy?”
“...A lycan… a stupidly powerful one…”
She told him all she knew about Alfa’s. He remained silent after that, as if he was putting the information in order. She realized that he was still carrying her.
“Put me down, right now! I can walk by myself.”
He scowled, but put her down. She was still having some balance problems, so she sat down for a bit, leaning her back against a tree.”
“Yeah, you can walk REAAALY fine!” he grumbled.
“Shut up for a while, will you?”
He glared at her, and then turned around.
“Ok, we’re gonna rest here for a bit.”
She was glad that she was left alone. She didn’t want to go into some pointless arguments. She tried to put some order into her mind. But some rustle in the bushes made both of them go into an alert position. Zero took out his gun and shot towards the place.
“Hey, watch where you’re aiming that thing!” said a voice coming out of the bushes which Rima recognized right away. It was just Akito.
Akito made some big eyes when he saw her behind Zero.
“Rima!!!”
He rushed at her, hugging her without any further notice.
“Thank goodness you’re safe! I was looking everywhere for you!”
Taking a closer look at him, Rima sow that he was really worn out. This boy was really looking for her all this time. She didn’t say anything for a moment.
Then she started talking with him to break away.
“You’re too close. I can’t breathe.”
“Oh… sorry…”
He stepped back. Then he made a funny and weird looking expression, as if he felt like he was being watched from behind. He turned around and saw the not-so-pleasant look of Zero. With the same confused expression, he turned back towards Rima.
“Who’s the bully? I feel like he’s gonna shoot me with only his glare.”
The next thing he heard was the sound of a gun being reloaded and being pointed at his head.
“Got a problem with bullies?” said Zero with the same mean looking expression.
“N…No…nothing at al… heheh.. ^^’ “ said Akito, forcing out a smile. Zero pulled back his gun. After that, Akito turned around back to Rima.
“Remember me not to make him mad from now on…”
Rima slipped a small giggle, but Akito caught that immediately.
“Amazing! This is actually the first time I saw you laughing! Rima, you’re so cute when you laugh ^^ “ he said as he was clinging again to Rima.
“Careful with whom you are being too friendly.”
The two of them looked in the direction from which the voice came from. A man with black hair and eyes was standing in front of them. His dark blue T-shirt was blood stained, and his hand was all covered in blood. He had a serious, menacing looking expression, as he saw Akito holding Rima. You could see a lot of killing intent in his eyes.
“R-Rima! Th-This guy is…” tried Akito to say, as he realized that he wasn’t any mere lycan.
“I know! We’ve got to get the hell out of here!”
“You’re not running anywhere, anymore.” said Leo as he took hold of Rima’s wrist. His eyes were showing a really angered expression. This was the first time when she felt the air so heavy. It was almost impossible to breathe.
“Let go of her right now!”
Akito turned into his lycan form and jumped on Leo. He let go of Rima’s hand, and then shook Akito off.
“Guess I’ve got to get rid of the pest first!” he said as he charged right at Akito.
A gunshot was fired from nearby. Rima turned around and saw Zero covered in blood, wounded, with hit Bloody Rose in his hand. He was breathing heavily because of the loss of blood. The blood on Leo’s shirt and hand was most likely his, when he came and took him by surprise. His gun was pointed at Leo.
‘Like this would help…’ she thought, but she saw that Leo’s arm was slightly wounded. His menacing glare was following Zero from every spot. Then he turned his eyes towards Rima, making her go into a cold sweat. His eyes were piercing her everything. He was retreating, but gave her a look that was clearly saying ‘This is not over yet’ before disappearing.
Rima’s feet made her collapse on the ground. Her wrist still had the mark of his strong grip.
“Rima!!”
Akito ran over to her side.
“Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine… I wish I could say the same thing about him though…”
She looked at Zero. He had a pretty deep wound, and it wasn’t healing fast as if would usually have with his vampire healing power. Rima went at him.
“Hey, are you alright?”
Zero stood up straight. Even though he had problems at first, he managed to find his balance.
“Yeah… I’m fine… you two should get going, he might return anytime.”
“…Us?” she looked at Akito.
“Yes, you two.”
“What about you?”
“I have another path to take. This time was like this, but next time we meet, we'll be enemies again” he said, as an ending sentence. Rima didn't say anything to that.
“Let’s go, Rima” said Akito as he took Rima’s hand.
She nodded and started walking away with Akito. Zero went in the opposite direction, until they couldn’t see them anymore.
At the Alfa’s hideout, Leo came in like a storm. His wound was already almost healed by the time he got there, but he had a really angered expression.
“That bastard! How dare you do this to me?!” He took out his anger on a table near him, crushing it to bits with only one punch.
After that, he was trying to calm himself down. He closed his eyes and started to breathe in. After a few moments he opened his eyes again. His mind had cooled off.
“So, she escaped… Well, it’s only a matter of time until she’ll be in my hands again.” He had that kind of fearful looking smile.
“And that hunter… he just dug his own grave.” he said, keeping the smile.
Author: Lacramioara Cobzaru
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