-+Requiem+-

-+Chapter Five+-

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I could hear Infirite shuffling in the other tent and wondered what was wrong with him. Arkaia had woken Ikuma and I earlier, the both of us having slept together, but he had allowed Infirite sleep in. I understood why that was, since he had had such a trying day yesterday, but what I didn’t understand what Arkaia had meant by him being ‘in heat.’

It made him sound like and animal really, and I doubted that he liked whatever it was being phrased like that. I myself couldn’t come up with an alternative word for it though and even if I did I doubt it’d be accurate since Arkaia never fully described what he was talking about.

I knew it was about the scent Infirite carried with him and how it affected people since he was a cambion, but did that really mean he was in heat? I suppose it made sense in a way, since his body was craving sex in order to feed itself, but I still didn’t understand the lack of control that came with it.

Was it like a vampire’s lust for blood? I hadn’t had much experience with that either but I knew how hard it was to deny those urges and, to an incubus, sex was probably the same as blood. It made me feel sorry for him then because he had to deal with both sides of himself and everything that came along with them.

And Nightshade’s molestation of him probably didn’t make it any easier… I still felt guilty about that too. Even though he had told me not to think on it I couldn’t help but do so. Another part of me had nearly committed rape and it had kept me up most of the night thinking about it. What will Nightshade do next?

I adjusted the saddle on the Nightmare the best I could, tightening it once it stopped puffing out its chest, and watched out of the corner of my eye as Arkaia crawled into the tent where Infirite slept. The other tent had already been taken down, the only thing remaining being that one and the fire that was amazingly still blazing. I supposed that that was magic too. Infirite’s magic.

The magic of a cambion? I supposed it didn’t matter either way and tried not to focus my hearing on tent like I was trying to do automatically. They were probably speaking telepathically, if at all, and I wouldn’t be able to hear them anyway. Not to mention I had already violated Infirite’s privacy enough as it was.

“Crimson!” I jumped as Ikuma launched himself at me from behind and clung to my waist. It scared the crap out of me and I was a little annoyed by it but I just couldn’t bring myself to be mad at the child like vampire. I think I was making him out to be more like Scarlet than he was.

I felt guilty about that as well but I really wasn’t trying to replace Scarlet. No one could ever replace him but having Ikuma around was both comforting and painful to me. He was like Scarlet in some ways but he wasn’t him and that just made the reality that he was gone all the more painful for me.

It wasn’t Ikuma’s fault though, he was just being himself, and I was glad for his presence despite the pain it brought me.

“Yes?” I looked down at him and scowled, pretending to be more annoyed than I actually was. Perhaps I wasn’t very good at acting or Ikuma just didn’t care, but he grinned up at me as though I had greeted him in the same enthusiastic way.

“Hi.” Giggling madly he let go of my waist and ran around the Nightmares like some kind of two year old on a drug trip. Really, just how old is he anyway?

He certainly didn’t act like he was that old most of the time but remembering last night I knew that wasn’t the truth. No one around Scarlet’s age could sit there so calmly, showing no pain, when their legs were covered in horrible burns that just wouldn’t heal. He was much older than he let on which made me wonder why, if he was so old, he acted the way he did.

The flap of the tent rustled and my attention was drawn to it as Arkaia appeared with Infirite following close behind him. He looked tired, though with his blank expression it was hard to tell, and I looked away before our eyes could meet and busied myself with the Nightmares even though they were already ready to go.

“Crimson.” I could feel Infirite coming closer as Ikuma yelled something at ‘Arky’ in background and tensed up automatically in response to his voice. It was hard for me to calm down, even though I had been told he wasn’t mad at me, and I fought back the urge to hide from him. I deserved whatever he gave me and I’d accept it like a man.

Gently touching my shoulder he turned me around to face him and I let him. I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes though, overridden by guilt, and he seemed annoyed by that. “I told you not to think on it.”

“I’m sorry.” And I was, for everything. Sorry wasn’t nearly enough to make it better though but I didn’t know what else to say to him. What could possibly be said to make things alright?

“Stubborn, but it’s not as though I didn’t expect it. If it delivers you from this guilt then I’ll say it; I forgive you.” Lifting my chin he forced me to look at him but I couldn’t see anything beyond his normal expression. There was no anger in it though, and my eyes widened as he suddenly brought his lips down upon mine.

His kiss was gentle, as all his touches were, and it ended much sooner than I would have liked. “For being a Blood Count, you are surprisingly compliant.”

Letting me go he moved away before his scent could start affecting me again and I automatically touched my lips; they were still tingling. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Ikuma grinning at me with an ‘I told you so’ expression on his face but I ignored him. Infirite—a guy—had kissed me…and I liked it.

I supposed it wasn’t that surprising considering how another part of myself, Nightshade, had molested him with no qualms about it, but it was still odd to think about. I had never been truly attracted to anyone before and Infirite had even been my first kiss. Just like before, I wasn’t put off that he was a guy, but that didn’t make it any less strange. I’m pretty sure I’d feel the same if it were a girl instead though.

One thing was for certain though; it was a heck of a way to tell me that he didn’t mind the molestation, at least not enough for him to be upset about it. I was relieved that that was the case but a little confused by it as well. Why didn’t it bother him more than it did? I didn’t like the idea that he was so used to it that he didn’t even bother getting upset anymore.

“I’ll ride with Ikuma as long as he keeps his hands to himself.” I was both relieved and disappointed that he didn’t want to ride with me but understood where he was coming from. I wouldn’t want to ride with me either if I had been recently molested by the other’s other personality. And with Infirite still releasing that scent I didn’t know if I could control myself when in close proximity.

No, riding with Infirite definitely wasn’t a good idea.

“You always make me out to be the bad guy!” Ikuma whined and then glared at Arkaia as he ruffled his hair like one would do to a little kid. Kicking his ankle he then took off before Arkaia could grab him and hid behind me, clinging to my waist again. I frowned as he stuck out his tongue at him, not wanting to be involved, and was relieved when Infirite spoke again.

“Can we just get this over with?” After he climbed back up onto the Nightmare Ikuma finally let go of me and tried to scramble up on after him, much to Infirite’s annoyance. Arkaia placed him on the Nightmare, despite Ikuma’s complaints about being treated like a kid, and then came to help me up as well.

I looked to where the other tent had been and was surprised to find it gone. They had already taken it down and packed it away while I wasn’t paying attention and I wonder just how spaced out I had been not to notice. I guess it really didn’t matter though and focused on not falling off of the Nightmare as Arkaia helped me into the saddle.

I still had an aversion to him, more so due to Nightshade’s feelings for him probably, but that didn’t stop me from realizing that although he wasn’t the ‘nicest’ person to be around he did take care of us. From what I had seen so far he had assigned himself most of the work and had put protecting us at the top of his list. I wasn’t even sure if he had slept last night or if he had stayed up making sure we were alright.

Although I knew he would try and use me for being this Blood Count and having whatever powers I had, I was still grateful for his protection. Without it I didn’t doubt that I’d have a lot more things to worry about and wondered just how many things Arkaia was taking care of for me. Would I even be able to handle half the things he had to worry about?

And it wasn’t just me he was taking care of; it was Ikuma and Infirite as well. I appreciated all that he was going through for me but I still wasn’t going to let him use me as he pleased. I doubted that Nightshade would even allow me to if I did.

Climbing up behind me he wrapped his arm around my waist again and made sure I was secure before checking on Infirite and Ikuma. He didn’t need to but it showed just how much his thoughts were focused on us. It was a lot of responsibility to place yourself in charge of someone else’s life and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to handle it.

I held onto the edge of the saddle, since the horn was still crushed from my grip on it last night, and rested back against Arkaia despite Nightshade’s dislike for it. The Nightmares moved slowly back to the road and although they were huge they weren’t much different from the horses I had taken care of during the summer months when I was human.

There was a riding stable nearby, run by the husband of a friend of my mother’s, and although they didn’t have much to pay me it did give me something to do and allowed me to get out of the house as an escape from my father. Scarlet usually came with me, although he couldn’t do much, and I already missed brushing down the mares and colts with him.

It was unfair that I had been allowed to live and that Scarlet had died but I knew now that there was nothing I could have done about it and the only thing I could do now was to avenge his death. And to do that I needed to be stronger, I needed knowledge that only these three could give me; the sooner the better.

“I want to learn more. I need to be stronger.” I told this to Arkaia. The golden man was the one who was in charge and as my ‘Sire’ he was the most able and likely to teach me what I needed to know. I’m sure that Infirite and Ikuma had things to teach me as well but Arkaia was key.

The Nightmare started moving faster now, at the golden man’s command, and the scenery ran together in a blur as it had before. There seemed to be a sort of protective shield around us though, because despite how fast we were moving I felt little to no wind.

“There is no need to blindly rush into things. Strength will come with time and you are already beyond what you are supposed to be capable of. Infirite was not so quick in learning telepathy as you.” That was interesting to know but it didn’t sate my thirst for knowledge. I wanted to know more about what I was and what I was capable of doing. I had been thinking only about the drawbacks of being a ‘Blood Count’ but now I realized that I could use it to my advantage. What information can I be privy to that I would not have been allowed to hear otherwise?

“What does it mean to be a Blood Count?” I may not truly believe that I was one of them but that didn’t mean that others didn’t. I could take advantage of that and maybe, just maybe, I’d learn something that would lead me to my family’s killer.

“Blood Counts are the prophets of the Blood God Magnicus. They are expected to act as advisors in all matters—to royalty and noblemen—and they are usually chosen to host the Blood Baths and other such festivities and rituals.” It made me nervous to think about what people would ask me to advise them on. I knew nothing about this world and didn’t see how they could expect me to be accurate in anything I’d tell them.

“Blood Baths?” I didn’t like the sound of that either.

“A ritual in order to bring us closer to Magnicus. Criminals, whose crimes are unforgivable, are killed, and then their blood is used as a conduit. A Blood Count or Countess then funnels their blood into the sky and has it fall like rain, though since they are so rare another form of magic is usually used instead. Sex is usually involved, and sometimes death.”

Why the hell would anyone want to do that? What kind of ritual is this—and they expect me to host it?! It was crazy. Why would anyone want to have an orgy while being covered with blood?

As much as I was against it I think I understood the basics of it. My own craving of blood was…erotic, I guess—shown by my molestation of Infirite while feeding—and for vampires blood and sex probably go hand in hand. Still, there was just something wrong about making a ritual out of it, even if they were using the blood of criminals instead of innocents.

“And they’ll expect me to hostthis—this carnage?” You’ll expect me to do this?

“Yes, but you do not have to participate beyond that.” I assumed he was referring to the sex and I was relieved about that but I still didn’t want to participate in it at all. “Don’t worry, my childer, you will not be asked to partake in any events for a long time.”

“What will I be expected to do in the meantime?”

“The same as you desire; to learn all that you can and grow stronger.” At least I was relatively safe for now, but for how long that’d last I didn’t really know and didn’t want to ask.

“Where will I be staying?” I assumed it would be with Arkaia but I knew nothing of vampire traditions or customs.

“In Malibrooke Manor along with part of my family. As a Newblooded vampire—that is, a newly turned vampire—you are completely under my protection and no one is even to acknowledge you without my permission. I will rarely let you leave my side and only with Infirite or Ikuma when I am forced to.” I remember Ikuma mentioning something about that earlier but hadn’t thought much about it then. I won’t be able to have time to myself..? I voiced that question to Arkaia as well.

“My instinct is to protect you through any means necessary, but if I believe a place to be secure enough then I will let you have time to yourself.” I could tell he was uncomfortable with that, thought he had dealt with it before, probably with Infirite, and was glad that he seemed capable of following through with it.

It was hard not to think about my family again and how they wouldn’t be with me. I was alone now, traveling with men who could be considered strangers, and not even my species was the same anymore. It gave me a lot to think about, far more than I would have liked, and any thoughts of the future had me worried about what was to come.

“You’re tired. You didn’t sleep well last night either.” He was one to talk, seeing as how I didn’t think he even slept at all. “Sleep, and let me take care of things.”

I didn’t even bother trying to protest this time. I was tired of thinking and whatever magic he used to put me to sleep made it so I wouldn’t dream either. It was a nice break from the pain of living.

As soon as I woke up I became aware of the voices around all around me. Tensing, I peeked out through my eyelashes, though it did nothing to hide me, and saw that we had slowed down now and were approaching a large city on a path illuminated by paper lanterns. Just like in that city with the motel there were creatures of all races everywhere, all heading in the same direction. A lot of them were trying not to stare at me as far as I could tell and I could practically feel the tension rolling off of Arkaia.

Opening my eyes more I looked around and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw what the Nightmares had become. Under what little moonlight there was I saw every pale bone of their bodies being held together by nothing but magic. There was no skin, no muscle, no organs, nothing. They were mere skeletons and how they were able to walk, let alone carry us, was beyond my comprehension at the moment.

“Calm down, Crimson, they’re still the same Nightmares from before. Only under the moonlight do they show their true forms.” I didn’t remember there not being a moon out last night, but then again I didn’t remember there being one there either. It was one thing to know that these were the same Nightmares but another to get my eyes and mind to recognize that.

A snarling from Infirite then distracted me and turned to see him scowling fiercely at someone who had gotten too close to him. Ikuma then took over and let off a string of curses the likes of which I had never heard before. Somewhere in between calling the guy a jackass and insinuating things about his mother the guy took off before he ended up incurring Arkaia’s wrath as well.

“What’s wrong with Infirite? And why are all these people here in the first place?” I knew it was a big city bit even so there seemed to be too many people, something that had put Infirite on edge and sent Arkaia and Ikuma into an overprotective mode.

“We are entering the capital of St. Hallow’s and are coming up upon the day of Malor. It is a celebration in honor of the first Majesties of Valdum Locus, Rakul and Mortis. The festivities will extend until the end of this mensis and Infirite is still in heat, so having all these people around him while being affected by his scent is hard for him.” I knew enough to know that Valdum Locus was the country we were in but I had no idea who Rakul and Mortis were. I had never heard of them before and found it weird that I hadn’t.

As for Infirite—it must really be hard for him. I had even become entrapped in his scent before, or at least Nightshade had, and if all these people could potentially do the same as I did—I didn’t even want to think about it. The things he must have to go through and deal with—I didn’t know how he was able to handle it.

Arkaia’s comment rang true then, that Infirite was stronger than I had thought he was, and I felt guilty for doubting him. It was wrong of me to have assumed that he was fragile just because of his appearance, because of his beauty, and I had forgotten that even if he wasn’t a cambion he was still a vampire and that he had experienced a lot in his lifetime. He was stronger than I could ever be.

“How come I’ve never heard of them before?” I couldn’t do much for Infirite besides looking for those who might cause him trouble and decided to ask Arkaia about the things I didn’t know in order to distract myself from my own inadequacy. Just another reason I need to become stronger.

“ Humans are not allowed to know that a world such as this exists; there’s just too much of a risk involved. We are already hated by those humans who know of us. They are jealous of the power we possess and the things we are able to experience and so we are treated as monsters. Rakul and Mortis were very important people who played key roles in a war that was fought millennia’s ago. You shall learn more about them later.” The golden man was distracted but that was understandable. He had the three of us to take care of with Infirite in heat and with me being a supposed Blood Count. That left a lot for him to do and no time for him to give me a mini-history lesson. I decided it would be best to stop bothering him for now.

“Hey, do I try to touch you inappropriately on the streets?! No? Then fuck off!” I turned just in time to see Ikuma leaning halfway out of his saddle to claw at someone who was apparently trying to get at Infirite. In a way I supposed he was somewhat helping but all his yelling was doing was drawing more and more attention to us. Arkaia then moved us closer with our Nightmare and started growling at people so fiercely that even I wasn’t sure I wanted to be near him.

As we moved further into the capital, which I just realized had amazingly only taken us only two days to get to, the decorations steadily increased as did the lighting and the amount of people. There were paper lanterns everywhere, each with symbols I had never seen before and they seemed to burn with magic flames. At least I thought they were since the paper wasn’t catching on fire.

The housing and buildings were also different from what I was used to. Instead of wood and bricks they were made of solid stone that seemed to grow right out of the cobble stone streets and curl up into slanted roof tops that had hooks hanging off of the ends of them. Each building’s roofs were painted with their own murals spanning from dragons to vampires and one that was even seemingly covered in blood. Just like the stained glass window they seemed to move when I stared at them and I wondered if every piece of artwork would be like this. It would certainly take some getting used to.

In one of the shops we passed I noticed a girl around my age, maybe a little older than I was, and I realized that she too was also staring at Infirite. The girl, or at least I thought it was a girl, had long white-blue hair that flowed around her as if being carried by an invisible wind; her cloths were completely white and hung off of her in a provocative fashion, showing lots of skin. She winked at me when she caught me staring and I quickly looked away only to hear her laughing.

I wasn’t attracted to her, strangely enough, but I knew that any other guy in my position would be. It didn’t disturb me as much as I thought it should though. I had never really been attracted to people before Infirite and was basically used to not reacting.

I was still glad that Arkaia and others had seen it though. I really didn’t need them to question my sexual drive or anything, not that they would since they were pretty distracted, but still.

Looking around again I noticed just how many people were paying attention to us. It was like they were torn between subtly staring at me and openly staring at Infirite. Inadvertently I took in his scent the same as the others were doing and jumped slightly as Arkaia clamped down gently on my nose.

“Try not to take in his scent. He is more susceptible to you since you have already touched him and here, in front of all these people, is definitely not the place for such things.” I blushed despite my efforts not to and covered my nose as soon as Arkaia released it. Obviously he wasn’t completely against such a relationship between Infirite and I and I was surprised that I was even thinking about it myself. He was right though, even if we were in such a relationship I definitely wouldn’t want to have sex in front of all of these people. It would certainly be interesting though…

“Stop it! Just—stop thinking!” I jumped again at the sound of Infirite’s voice and met his eyes that were blazing and slightly out of control. I didn’t even know he could hear my thoughts and wondered just how much I had been broadcasting.

“Calm down, pet.” Infirite turned to Arkaia and snarled at him for his ‘scolding’ before turning back to the crowd as though they were all out to get them—which they just might be too.

“Infirite can tell when you’re having sexual thoughts and what they are, especially when they’re about him. It’s one of the powers of a cambion.” I blushed again at that bit of information. It would have been nice to know that before, but I guess there just hadn’t been an opportunity for it to come up, though now I understood why Infirite had been staring at me when we had been unpacking the Nightmares the night before. He had been able hear my sexual thoughts about him. Talk about embarrassing…

The streets only seemed to get more and more crowded as we went along and after a while Arkaia finally cut his way down to one of the lesser used streets a few blocks away from the main one. There were still a lot of people around but not as much as before and it made climbing up this giant hill, the one the entire capital was apparently build upon, all the more easy for the Nightmares.

I tried to get my thoughts off of Infirite and what sex would be like with him but before I could he did something that caught my attention again by suddenly sitting up at attention. Arkaia tensed behind me and moved our Nightmare even closer before stopping it in its tracks. Beside us Ikuma took the reins from Infirite’s lax grip and did the same and I looked around for whatever had caused them to react like this.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a shadow detach itself from a wall and morph into a solid figure as it came towards us. It was a man from the looks of it; a man with cat-like eyes and leathery wings spreading out from his back. There was a black tattoo that started at the back of one of his hands and seemed to stretch under his shirt and coil up around his neck. It reminded me of something I had seen before but I just couldn’t place it.

“Greetings to you and yours.” The man bowed almost mockingly and fixated his eyes on Infirite who in turn could not look away. A deep growl came from the golden man behind me but the wingèd one barely spared him a glance, focusing solely on our cambion. Infirite’s grip on the saddle increased tenfold and I watched as he literally shredded it with the claws that erupted from his fingernails.

Well fuck, this can’t be good…

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Sabina8: Thanks for the review, and I capitalized the title as you suggested. It’s hard to tell if anyone except for a select few actually read this without the reviews.~

Talltree-san: It helps a bit that I wrote some of this previously and that I’ve been thinking about this story for so long I already know what needs to happen. I wanted Crimson to be a crazy vampire from the beginning and multiple personalities seemed the way to go (and he’ll only get crazier too).