BLOOD STAINED ROSES

Chapter 8

It was cold and dark in London where Ryou had decided to go for his latest trip. He was not there for sight seeing, though. In fact, he did not even like London. At all. The only reason he was there was because it was time for him to pay a visit to someone he had not seen in years. He was not looking forward to it and he was sure that she would not be happy to see him. She never was.

He walked down the sidewalk of a busy street until he found a familiar side road lined with old houses. He turned down it, walking until he saw a small, but obviously costly house. He smiled to himself. Oh, how his family loved to spend money.

After knocking on the door three times, it swung open to reveal a woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties with long, blue hair and beautiful violet eyes -- Ryou's sister. She wore a long, black dress that came off her pale shoulders and had long billowing sleeves. As expected, she looked less than pleased and nowhere near surprised.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," she said shortly without bothering with a greeting.

"Ah, Kurai, you're as beautiful as ever!" Ryou cried.

"Save it, would you? I have to get to work," Kurai snapped.

She owned a small occult shop in London where she also did fortune telling. Before becoming a vampire, she was a gifted witch here in London where her, Ryou, and their family had moved when Ryou was fifteen. When she was changed, her powers seemed to have increased. It was also because of these powers that she had been expecting Ryou.

When they arrived at the store, Kurai found the girl who was working at the cash register and asked about business, something she did regularly, though she did not really need to. She already knew. After hearing the report and was sure that nobody wanted their fortune told at the moment, she turned Ryou, still obviously annoyed.

"So, what is it that you want?" she asked curtly.

"Why do you assume that I want something? I can't just decide to visit my sister every once in awhile?" asked Ryou.

"Ha! You just come for a visit? Impossible!"

He threw up his hands in defeat. There really was no point in trying to convince Kurai that he had just come for a visit. She knew him way too well to believe that. It was not as though it was true anyway and he would have to ask at some point.

"Alright, I confess!" he said dramatically. "I was wondering if you could use some of those witchy powers of yours to help me out."

"I already figured that much," she said.

"Then why'd you make me say it?"

Her lips turned upward in a mischievous smile. It was almost eerie how much it looked like her brother's. However, she never could give a smile quite as evil as his.

"Because it's fun to make you ask for help. Not to mention you really need that inflated head of yours leveled."

"Evil, onee-chan, pure evil," sighed Ryou.

He shook his head. Kurai only laughed at her brother. It was good to tease him every once in a while. After all, he made fun of her far more than she teased him.

The door opened and two teenage girls walked in. They looked from Kurai to Ryou before approaching Kurai shyly.

"Um... are you Kurai?" asked one, a short blonde.

"Yes, I am," answered Kurai in perfect English as she turned away from her brother.

"We were wondering if you could tell our fortunes," said the other with shoulder-length brown hair.

"Sure, just go in that room over there and I'll be there just as soon as I finish talking to my brother."

The girls did as she told them. Kurai turned back to Ryou who looked very amused about something.

"Wow, you're completely bilingual aren't you? No accent or anything," he said.

"So can you. I know for a fact that you can speak English just as well as I can, you just choose not to," Kurai pointed out.

"Of course I speak English! I am quite fluent in several different languages including-"

"Well, if you need to talk -- or brag -- you'll have to do it later. Right now, I have customers," said Kurai, heading toward the room she had sent to girls to minutes earlier.

"What am I supposed to do?" whined Ryou.

"See the sights," suggested Kurai, before disappearing behind the deep red curtain.

What sights? Ryou though. He hated London. There were too many memories that he would rather forget. Still, Kurai had made it clear that she wanted him gone. Although he enjoyed bothering people, in this case he figured that it was better for him to do what Kurai said. He still needed her help, which meant that he could not do anything to annoy her. Doing so would probably mean no help.

He stepped out onto the sidewalk. The street that Kurai's store was located on was not quite as crowded as the one Ryou had been on earlier, but there was still a crowd of people walking both ways on the sidewalk as well as a traffic jam of small cars and large busses. Ryou noticed a group of girls staring at him as the whispered excitedly to each other. He winked and they were overjoyed. Some things did not change no matter where he went. People were always drawn to him.

Two hours were killed in expensive stores, picking out gifts for everyone. By the time he went back to Kurai's store, he was carrying four large shopping bags, overflowing with things. Kurai, who was standing near the front of the store, rolled her eyes in disgust.

"Shopping for your 'pets?'" she asked in a low voice.

"There wasn't anything else to do," he answered.

"Pets" was what Kurai called the vampires that Ryou had living with him. She made it a point in showing her disapproval whenever she had the chance. She did not like the fact that Ryou had changed a total of seven people since becoming a vampire. During all her years as one, she had not changed a single person. No matter how tempting it was, she always decided that it was not worth adding to their number.

"You know, you should try having 'pets' of your own," suggested

Ryou.

"I prefer to be around normal people," answered Kurai.

Ryou shrugged. To each his own, he thought. Personally, he did not care, but humans were so... fragile. He enjoyed to break them more than to keep them as company.

"How are they anyway?" asked Kurai, "Has anyone started a mutiny

yet?"

"They love me," answered Ryou, "Well, most of them do. Kisaki still hates me."

"I don't blame him after what you did to his family and Izumi... especially what Izumi."

"Ah, but he doesn't seem to remember Izumi," said Ryou.

Kurai seemed intrigued by this. Ryou went on to tell her all about was going on at home. Though she was interested in what Ryou said, she also shook her head at the mind games he played. His love for causing pain was not a characteristic he shared with his sister. She did not like to cause pain if she could not help it. Although, as a vampire, she had to drink blood, she only drank it once every other week, and when she did, she only fed on the blood of criminals.

"Why do you enjoy tormenting him so much? Poor Kisaki. You do realize that one day he's going to kill you," said Kurai.

Ryou laughed at the thought of Kisaki killing him. That just was not possible. He was about thirty years older than Kisaki (as a vampire) and therefore was much stronger.

"Him kill me? That's just not going to happen! I could rip him to shreds!" he said.

"I'll let you keep believing that. I still have work. There will be a group of people in here in a couple minutes. You should do more shopping or something," said Kurai.

"What? But onee-chan, I'm tired of London!"

"Then go somewhere else!"

"I still need help."

"Do I really need to remind you that you can go from one point to another on the other side of the world in a matter of seconds?"

"But if I leave I won't want to come back! I had to force myself to come in the first place."

Kurai shook her head. She had to leave since the group she had been expecting had arrived as they argued. Ryou did not feel like going back outside. Instead, he browsed the store, finally settling down in a corner to read a book on spirits that he had found. He was not particularly interested in the subject, but it fit in perfectly with what he had planned.

He became totally engrossed in it and he lost track of time completely. It seemed like he had only just sat down when he noticed that Kurai was standing over him. Strange how someone could become wrapped up in a book on something that they did not even care about.

"Don't tell me you think you're being haunted by ghosts," she asked skeptically.

"You never know," he said. "I've killed enough people."

That's right. He thought. He had killed enough people for at least one to come back to haunt him. It was funny how that had no effect on him. Instead, he found the thought of someone coming back to haunt him quite amusing.

"I'll never understand how you can say that and still have that stupid smile on your face," said Kurai, shaking her head.

"I'm a sadist," he answered, shrugging. "Hurting people gives me a rush."

He said it so simply, as though it was the most normal thing in the world. For him, though, it felt so oddly natural that he could talk about it like that. He could kill someone without feeling anything but sheer exhilaration. Seeing people suffer was like a drug that he could not get enough of. He lived to see the blood trickling out of wounds on beautiful bodies, to see that final light leave their eyes and know that he was the one who took it from them. He loved to know that he had that power.

"You weren't always like that," said Kurai. "I remember you crying after your first kill."

"Yes, well this was how I survived: I began to enjoy it," Ryou told her. "If I hadn't learned to enjoy this, I probably would have committed suicide by now."

"In other words: You went insane."

Ryou smiled. He did not mind being crazy. He did not mind that fact that he had basically lost all of his humanity. In fact, he rather liked being a monster. It gave his a sense of freedom to be outside of the human laws he had once lived by. After all, he really was not human.

"Anyway, are you done here, yet?" he asked, putting the book down and getting up.

"Yes, there shouldn't be anymore customers tonight," answered Kurai, "Let's go so you can tell me what it is that you would come here, of all places, for."

"You mean you really don't know?"

"I saw you're little visit, but nothing after your arrival about a week or two ago."

"Ah, so you mean those powers of yours aren't flawless?"

He loved to tease his sister so much. She often showed off her gifts to him and hated being wrong. It was one of those few traits that she and Ryou had in common.

"I've told you a million times that nothing about seeing the future is flawless. Things get left out, people change their minds... Nothing's ever specific, either," she explained irritably. "For example: I was pretty sure that you were coming, but had no idea when."

"I already know all of this," Ryou reminded her. "I just enjoy pointing out all of your flaws. You should know that after all these years... I do it every chance I get."

The glare that Kurai gave Ryou only added to his amusement. He knew that she could easily tear him apart if she chose, but it did not bother him. After all, she did not have it in her to kill her own brother. If she did, he probably would be long dead by now.

"Oh, onee-chan, you're so easily annoyed. Don't you know how to take a joke?" Ryou teased.

"Of course I do. It's just that your jokes aren't funny. They're just annoying," retorted Kurai.

"How are they annoying?"

"You use the some 'joke' every time I see you. After the tenth time, it stops being a joke and becomes an annoyance."

"Well, I'm sorry for not being clever enough to find new jokes," Ryou said, insincerely.

"It's not that you aren't clever. You're just lazy," corrected Kurai.

She turned around, heading for the exit with Ryou right behind her. Kurai stopped with her hand on the door when she heard the sales girl call

her.

"Um... Ms. Katsuki, is it okay if I close up now?" she asked.

"Yes, Michelle, we shouldn't have anymore visitors tonight.

The girl named Michelle nodded. She said goodbye to her boss before moving from behind the cash register to get things ready for closing. She flipped over the sign that said 'open' and locked the door behind Kurai and Ryou when they left.

"You seem to do well with fooling people," said Ryou once they were out of the store.

"Most people wouldn't suspect anyone of being a vampire. Even if one bit them," Kurai pointed out.

"It's funny," muttered Ryou. "We're surrounded by so many people -- some of which even go out of their ways just to look at us -- but none have any idea what we are. To them, we are merely beautiful humans that they just happened to see when they went out with their friends or went shopping. They have no idea that we could kill them so easily... that we kill them nightly for our own survival."

"And that's what you love about them," added Kurai.

Ryou shook his head.

"Partly," he said, "But that's also what I hate about them."

A part of him hated how easily seduced humans were. They were so easily blinded by his looks that all Ryou had to do was pay attention to them and they would follow him anywhere. As Kurai had pointed out, nobody even believed in vampires so it would not even cross their minds that one could take their lives. Ryou wanted the world to know about the race of people -- or monsters as some preferred to call them -- that only came out at night to take humans' precious lives from them. He wanted everyone to know so maybe he would have to work a little harder for the blood that he drank. However, there was no way to do that. He could show the world proof that he was what he said, but they were so corrupted by television that they would believe it to be some sort of stunt. They would see it as nothing more than an elaborate magic trick.

"I don't understand you," said Kurai. "How did you ever get this twisted?"

"Don't tell me you don't remember," Ryou answered.

"No, I remember everything that happened. We were inseparable back then. That is, until you finally snapped and disappeared for fifty years. When I finally saw you again... That was when I finally realized that you weren't the Ryou I once knew... and when I finally found out the details."

"Aw, don't talk like it's such a bad thing. I'm having fun. Why do you always have to look at the downside?"

He did a twirl to demonstrate just how much fun he was having. Kurai shook her head, but smiled. If there was one thing that never changed about him it was his love for drama. Kurai remembered telling him on more than one occasion that he should be an actor, but he had never listened. She laughed to herself and Ryou stopped.

"What is so funny?" he asked.

"I was laughing at your stupidity," answered Kurai. "It's something that never changes."

Ryou glared at her at her, though it was only halfhearted. Even he had to admit that he did some pretty stupid things. The glare only lasted a couple seconds before his normal smile returned and he joined in the laughter.

They continued walking down the same street for a while, talking about things they did when they were younger and how much everything had changed. Cities looked so much different now. They could both remember what it was like before so many of the big cities had begun building those huge skyscrapers.

After awhile, Ryou began to wonder where they were going. They had walked a long way and had had many opportunities to turn down some deserted alley where they could just teleport to Kurai's house. They had not even deviated from the straight path of the street the store had been on.

"Um, Kurai, do you plan to walk the whole way to your little house?" he asked.

"Of course not," Kurai said as though the thought of it was completely insane. "I noticed that you haven't fed. I figured we'd do that before going home. It's been a while since I had blood, too."

"I didn't have much time before I came here," said Ryou under his breath, before raising his voice, "You still could have said something. We could have been fed and at your place by now."

"Well, I'm sorry; I thought we were having a good time, so I figured we could postpone it for awhile."

She would be sad to let Ryou leave again, although she never acted glad to see him. That was just how she was. She hardly saw him and even though he was stupid and completely insane, she still cared about what happened to him, not that she would ever admit any of this. The last thing she needed was for Ryou to find something else to make fun of her for... though it would add some variety.

"Yes, but I do want to get out of London. Do I have to remind you of how much I hate this place?"

"Fine, we'll find someone now and go home."

With these words, they moved more purposefully through the night, searching for the poor fool that they would call dinner.