Hizashi Manor, Chapters 5 & 6

Chapter 5: The Evidence 1

The man has turned away and is trying to drag me forward by my left arm, Because I’m now bound in handcuffs and still being pushed around by this guy, it takes a minute for my head to clear enough to get my weight firmly balanced on both feet again. I shake hair out of my eyes and quit crying, even though every part of me is throbbing. 2

“Quit resisting,” the man growls, tightening his grip and yanking harder on my arm. I whimper slightly. Damn, if he keeps pulling like this it won’t have much time left in its socket. But I’m fed up with all this weird stuff. I’m definitely not home (and getting annoyed with that rather quickly), I don’t know who this guy is and don’t approve of him beating the hell out of me, and for the love of god, I never KILLED anybody!3

“What do you expect me to do?” I growl in return. “Just stand here and let you rip me apart? I don’t think so.” And with that I end up with a face full of dirt and a great deal more bruises. The man has thrown me to the ground again and is now standing over me, eyes blazing with hatred.4

“You will pay for your crimes. Each and every one of you,” he hisses down at me. It takes me a minute but soon I’ve turned myself over and am glaring at him with just as much venom. I won’t deny that this guy scares me, and is unnaturally strong, but I have had enough of THIS. 5

“I still have no idea what the HELL you’re talking about,” I say. “What crimes? You told me that someone has killed your wife. Why do you think it’s ME? Do you honestly think that someone like me could kill someone?”6

His dark eyes roam up and down my body, still crumpled on the ground. Seems like he’s examining me. Gee, why hadn’t he done that earlier? Then maybe he’d already have his answer. 7

It’s a few minutes before he says, “True, you do look too stupid to be able to pull off a murder, which is probably why you didn’t get away with it. The Kage should be more careful about who they dispatch.” I roll my eyes. Great. More riddles I don’t understand. Now on top of everything he’s connected me to something called the Kage. “And yet,” he continues, “the evidence is clear. You were seen running away from my house with blood covering your hand and clothing.”8

Oh no! I forgot! I raise my hands in front of me and unfold the right one out of its fist. The cut I got earlier when I fell has just stopped bleeding. It’s still fresh. I shift over to examine my jacket and some of the blood has seeped through it. Oh this is perfect. 9

“This blood is my own,” I try to explain. “I was running down the street and tripped over some wood. I cut my hand on it.” 10

The man’s face darkens, and it manages to be scarier than usual with no emotion in it. At least anger contributed something. He stares at me for a few seconds before taking a few steps forward and grabbing my arm again. I hiss as his cold fingers close over the cut on my hand. Well, a lot of good telling the truth did it seems. 11

But as the man pulls me up, he says something strange. I mean, stranger than the other things. 12

“Just how stupid do you think I am murderer? It’s common knowledge that vampires do not bleed like humans.” He tightens my handcuffs and then begins dragging me again once I’m firmly on both feet. This time I let him, because not only do I have no energy, but I am lost and confused beyond belief.13

Vampires?14


Chapter 6: The Report15

The young and beautiful man who has been dragging me down the street for a good half hour or so has so far, managed to do the following: scare the hell out of me, chase me down two streets, drag me out of a hole I was hiding in, beat me nearly to death, arrest me for murdering his wife and call me a vampire. Yeah. We’ve become great friends, don’t you agree?16

I keep closing my eyes and telling myself that very soon, I’ll wake up from this nightmare. Dad will crash into my room and throw things at me until I wake up, and chase me out the door until I get to Sasha’s car and she can drive us to school. It’ll be just like every other day of my life. What I wouldn’t give for that right about now.17

But when I open my eyes, all I see are several mud colored houses all lining a straight street now screaming with bright morning sunlight. Dawn has finally arrived. I look straight ahead at the guy pulling on my handcuffs. When I observe his black hair, tangled down his slender back in knots like lots of fancy ropes, and remember how glistening his bright blue eyes were, I realize it for the first time. He really is beautiful.18

I shake my head hard. What am I saying? Who cares if he happens to be good looking? He’s a jerk!19

I’m pulled out of my thoughts when Mr. Beautiful finally comes to a halt. I almost run into him, but stop myself in time. Looking up, I realize he’s brought me to a very futuristic building. It’s tall, made of glass and the color of stone, not the same simple brown as the other houses around it. There are three sharp looking spires climbing out of its roof, all catching the morning sun at the same time. It kind of gives me the creeps, but then again so does everything else around here.20

“Don’t even think about running away.” The man eyes me warningly under the black hair in his eyes. I roll my eyes because it makes him look more stupid than scary.21

“Fine.”22

My handcuffs are finally released from his strong grip. I pull them up to my chin and try to rub them together to ease the soreness, but find that’s not exactly possible (hence the handcuffs.) The man turns away from me and flips his right wrist over to reveal a thin silver band encircling it. He hits a small button on it and out of nowhere sounds a piercing, high BEEP.23

“Ouch!” Damn, I can’t cover my ears. I cringe hard and the man turns slightly to glare at me. “What was that?” I ask him. He can’t answer me, because another voice is suddenly talking. I look around frantically, and it dawns on me finally that this is all coming from the band around his wrist.24

“You’re late Aldan. That was a longer patrol than usual, did you find something or just get caught up at home like last time? Remember, work BEFORE pleasure.”25

While listening to this, I notice that the man’s expression goes from dark and irritated to sad and hopeless. His shoulders slump in defeat, and he sighs before pressing the button and the BEEP sounds again.26

“I apologize for being late. But yes, you are correct, I did find something.” He sighs again, and takes a deep breath before saying into the band, “Kade, something terrible has happened. It most likely hasn’t been reported yet, so I’m telling you now.”27

Nobody says anything for a minute. I stop breathing, afraid it might be heard on the other end. The band is obviously some sort of communication device. 28

“What is it Aldan?” the other voice asks. “No reports have come in yet.”29

The man, whose name I have now learned is Aldan, closes his eyes for a minute and shakes his head.30

“Lucy is dead.”31

Lucy...that must have been his wife’s name. Silence follows the report, and Aldan looks more and more miserable with each passing second. I guess up until this moment he never really acknowledged the fact that his wife is gone. If he didn’t think that I killed her I would be attempting to comfort him right now.32

Finally, the voice from the man called Kade speaks again. “So...the Kage finally turns to other targets. Aldan, I am so sorry.” I notice that Aldan is not the only one saddened by this. “I swear, we will not rest until we track down the blood thirsty beast that did this and destroy it. I promise you that.”33

“There’s no need Kade,” Aldan says into the band. He whirls around, the sudden move catching me off guard, and pulls me to him, almost breaking my wrist with how hard he grabs and jerks it. We are face to face again, his blue eyes containing fire once again. “I’ve already caught them.”34

“WHAT?! But how?” Kade asks.35

“She is extremely foolish. I caught her running away from my house after it happened with blood all over her. It seems the Kage weren’t in their right mind when they chose an assassin this time.”36

“Huh...how interesting. Their leader was probably drunk on blood again.”37

Don’t you just love it when people talk about you like you’re not there? I try to twist my way out of Aldan’s grip, but he tightens it to the point where I’m basically biting my tongue in half to keep from screaming.38

“Bring her in,” says Kade. “We’ll interrogate her first thing.”39

“Yes sir.” Aldan shuts the communication device off with another loud BEEP and drags me the door of the building. He drops me onto the rough platform in front of it and I fall to my knees, feeling my mouth fill with blood. There are more loud beeps as Aldan punches things into the pad by the door, and eventually it slides smoothly and easily open.40

“I didn’t kill your wife,” I tell him weakly, a thin river of blood running down my chin the moment I open my mouth. He turns to me, a fierce look of death adorning his features. He buries one hand in my hair to pull me up. I’m almost completely numb to the pain now.41

“We shall see, won’t we?” he hisses. With that I am picked up and carried inside.