Tainted Blood

Chapter 27

Loki walked through the dark streets as he scowled. What was he doing? He only wanted to be free from Hell for one purpose. Revenge. It consumed him while he was in the depths of Hell and that was all that kept him from becoming weak and possibly sane.

How come all he could think about was being happy in this second chance at life knowing he had someone he trusted and he cared about, and he knew they returned those feelings… He couldn't have these feelings. They would weaken him if he ever had to return to the depths of Hell. He would be… weak… and hurt that he had done the same stupid thing over again.

Trusted and cared about the wrong person… it would be an endless cycle.

"Hi," a cheerful young girl's voice greeted him causing him to snap out of his thoughts to turn around to see a girl that looked to be around twelve smiling at him. There was something about this girl and her smile. It seemed sinister and an underlying deception behind it. The twelve-year-old girl continued as she twirled a strand of her medium length black hair in her finger," I'm looking for someone named Loki. You match the description… Is that your name?"

Loki had a calm, cool expression over his face as he stared at the girl for a long moment," It is."

The young girl giggled in satisfaction, and her brown eyes sparkled evilly.

"Valentia says hi. She also said that she isn't going to sit around and let you find her and kill her. She's going to make the first move."

The air around Loki seemed to grow cold as the arctic but still seemed calm and collected.

"I guess I didn't need to find her after all. She's using others to do her dirty work just like always," Loki exclaimed with an underlying bitterness, and scoffed," It's nice to know she hasn't changed."

Caleb had hesitantly followed Rain through the maze-like place. A few guards had come at them but they were easily struck down. It didn't seem right. Caleb had alerted the entire place he had intruded and yet few guards came to stop them. He was also pretty sure he didn't know how to escape this place.

"There aren't many guards coming," Caleb snarled in suspicion. Rain had stopped abruptly like she was deep in thought.

"You probably killed a majority of the guards. When the guards aren't enough, then it means the prisoners get a try at it," Rain exclaimed. Caleb furrowed his brows.

"Who would defend this place that they're imprisoned in," Caleb snarled dangerously.

"You always sound like you're going to kill someone," Rain remarked and said," The Levin family has a way of convincing others into doing their bidding."

Rain had stopped in front of a metal door and unlocked it with a set of keys causing Caleb to give him a weary look," Koji should be in this one."

Who was this guy? He had the keys to the prison doors...

"You're scary as always, Caleb," a boy's voice spoke from inside the dark prison. Caleb could hear footsteps walking towards them. His eyes widened as he remembered who the familiar voice belonged to.

He turned to give Rain a dangerous glare and snarled," Close it before it comes out!"

Rain blinked for a long moment. He didn't seem to be listening to Caleb.

"Guess Koji isn't in that one anymore… Where could he have gone?" Rain mumbled to himself standing there with a puzzled expression over his face.

Caleb pushed Rain aside and slammed the door shut. Caleb could hear someone plopping himself to the floor beside the door and begin speaking in a barely audible voice on the other side of the door," Please save weak, little me." A quiet knock could be heard from the other side.

"I don't want to save you, Riku," Caleb growled," I hate that stupid sparkling smile! It's just too damn bright!"

"Please? My smile isn't that sparkly," Riku's voice said. It seemed to be weak and strained as his voice barely could be heard through the door.

"Yeah? I can see it through that dark prison," Caleb retorted. Rain had a rather stern expression over his face as he crossed his arms.

"Decide whether to save him or not. They're coming soon and—" Rain trailed off. He leaped out of the way as a fist slammed into the ground causing the area to rumble at its impact. A bulky male was glaring at all of them.

"Flesh… I get to feel flesh in my hands… Bones cracking from my grip," the male said grinning sadistically.

Caleb was glaring at the male in a less than impressed look on his face. The male's fist had nearly hit his foot.

"You want to hear bones cracking?" Caleb questioned with an evil smirk across his lips.

"Yes... It's music to my ears," the male breathed like he was euphoric at the thought. Caleb seemed to disappear from his spot and then the cracking of bones could be heard as Caleb appeared punching the male in the gut. The male stumbled back as he attempted to dig the tips of his fingers into Caleb. Caleb had moved back away from his grip.

"Did you like the sound of your own bones breaking?" Caleb snarled in a dark, sinister manner.

However, before the male could attack Caleb, sand came rushing at him sending him flying into the wall. Caleb turned to see the prison door was opened with Rain standing beside it.

A boy about the age of fourteen had stood up and had a bright smile over his face as he walked out. His violet eyes directed to Rain.

"Thanks for letting me out. I didn't like it in there," he said in a respectful manner with a sparkling smile. Caleb was glaring at Riku.

"I had him," Caleb snarled maliciously. Riku smiled brightly towards Caleb.

"It's nice to see you again. You're as scary and violent as always," Riku commented directing his bright smile at Caleb. Caleb looked like he wanted to kill the brat right there where he stood.

"Quit smiling!" Caleb snarled maliciously. Rain glared at the both of them

"Stop bickering. That guy isn't our only problem," Rain snapped at them.

Five dangerous, sinister looking individuals had surrounded them as the male gotten up from his place stepping closer towards them.

Riku's eyes began to glow violet as he began to transform.

"I will help as best I can," he spoke in a demonic tone.

"In this world, we call it breaking and entering when some weirdo decides to literally pop themselves in here like a fairy," Lillie exclaimed in a stern tone.

"Oh my bad. I wasn't aware that I had any wings or any sparkling objects on me to resemble a fairy. Next time I'll ring the doorbell before flashing in here like a fairy," the male exclaimed with a small smirk making Lillie slightly annoyed before turning to Mirielle," Mirielle, so this is where you've been..." Mirielle glared at him.

"Yeah, maybe you could help me, Ashton," Mirielle retorted. In a flash, Ashton was behind Stark and swung his arm at him. Stark had rolled away staring at the newcomer in suspicion.

"There's something about you—" Stark trailed off. Lillie gave Stark an odd expression at how Stark was reacting towards this newcomer.

However, Ashton interrupted him by attempting to roundhouse kick him causing Stark to duck and upper punch Ashton. Ashton stumbled back a bit and recovered to punch Stark. Stark moved his head away from his fist.

Stark had a devious smirk casting over his face twirling the dagger in his hand.

"I have a feeling there's something you don't want the others to know," Stark exclaimed in a dark, satirical tone. Ashton gave him a pointed look.

"If I heal that vampire, you'll let Mirielle leave as well giving me that dagger, right?" Ashton questioned. This caused Mirielle to sit up slightly.

"You can't do that… You can't save that vampire," Mirielle cried in frustration. Ashton turned to look at her.

"This is one of the reasons why Jayce told me to come here to look after you. Immortal hunters aren't simply about killing the supernatural harshly," Ashton exclaimed. Mirielle glared at him.

"Then why would they hand us that dagger," Mirielle questioned. Ashton stared at the immortal hunter dagger for a long moment.

"The dagger was meant for offensive purposes... What you put on it kills some of the supernatural," Ashton said under his breath. He bent down beside Aiden, who was still unconscious. With a sweep of his hand over Aiden's wounds, his injuries began to heal. Ashton turned to Stark and said," He must remind you of your little brother except for the part with his sanity."

Lillie furrowed her brows at how Ashton knew anything about Stark's little brother. Stark's family, except for Stark, had been all been cursed out of her father's anger. Stark was standing there grinding his teeth gripping the dagger tightly.

Then he disappeared from his place and slashed viciously at Ashton. Ashton dodged it.

"Never speak of my brother like you know him again," Stark said darkly. Ashton held an stoic expression over his face but in his eyes he seemed apologetic.

"My apologies… I never should have… but now that I've healed that vampire… You should give me the dagger," Ashton exclaimed holding his hand.

"Stark…" Lillie began. Stark's jaw worked knowing what Lillie was trying to tell him and hesitantly handed Ashton the dagger.

With that, Ashton had disappeared with Mirielle causing Stark to blink for a long moment before looking slightly aggravated.

"That goddamn- asshole."

Lillie gave him a suspicious look.

"Stark… did you know him?" Lillie questioned. An indecipherable look seemed to pass over Stark's emerald eyes like he was hiding something before he turned his attention to Lillie.

"Nothing I can't handle on my own, Lill. Focus on the fact you're going to school with an immortal hunter," Stark said in an arrogant manner before flashing her a bad boy smirk. With that said, he walked out of the house. Lillie frowned as she looked around and exhaled loudly.

"What is with everyone and taking walks?" Lillie questioned to herself. Then Cerberus came prancing into the house looking worried. The wolf had barely been able to slow down and crashed into Lillie. He backed away and began howling and growling urgently at Lillie. Lillie gave him an odd expression," Cerberus… I don't understand… What are you trying to tell me? You do know I don't speak Wolf right?"

Caleb was nearly be struck by a blitz attack by two males. Caleb had rolled away from them.

Rain had told the two of them to cover for him while he went to find Koji leaving them with the six attackers. Riku had raised a sand barrier so that the six individuals couldn't go after Rain.

"I can't lose… I can't lose," one of the two males that had attacked Caleb kept repeating like a mantra. Riku was in his demon form.

Riku's skin was white with two orange-red stripes on each side of his cheek. He possessed sharp black claws and fangs protruding from his mouth. His hair had grown long and silver in color. His eyes glowed violet and began glowing brighter to a florescent white with no iris. Two bones began to protrude from each side of his shoulder and upper arm.

Sand particles surrounded Riku, which was beginning to engulf him and then it burst apart knocking three of the individuals back.

However, the bulky male was the first to recover and came at Riku. Riku took a step back gathering the sand together and rushed it towards the bulky male. His eyes widened when the bulky male had went straight through the sand with only rashes and scratches. Riku quickly side jumped out of the male's hand like he was trying to grab at Riku.

However, a male had rushed at Riku from the other side and, with a wave of his hand, ice spikes rose out of the floor towards Riku. Riku leaped out of the way. The bulky male had reached out for him brushed against his shoulder taking a chuck of skin from Riku's arm. Sand gathered around Riku swirling viciously around him.

"I don't like getting hurt," Riku said darkly. Then he sent the sand at the bulky male. Despite the sand trying to hold him back, the bulky male took a step closer to Riku as the sand began to fully engulf him.

Riku's eyes glowed brightly. His glowing eyes seemed to be causing the skin around his eyes to become translucent causing the muscles to be seen spreading slowly across his face.

The sand seemed to begin whipping furiously and then burst apart. The bulky male was completely gone with splatters of blood marking the sand. The remaining two facing against Riku seemed in shock. The boy before them that looked no more than fourteen had just killed one of them so easily.

Sand-like blades came at the other two in numerous successions. They couldn't dodge all of them in time and were cut into ribbons.

"I can't lose… I can't lose like this," one of the two, a rugged male in a white robe with a black shirt underneath, said," I have to fight… I can't lose."

The second one, a female, seemed to look just as desperate.

Riku turned back into his human form looking slightly perturbed by the words that kept being spoken.

"There is… something weird going on here..."

Aiden left Lillie's place after he had woken up alone. He had been confused but he didn't question it.

Aiden opened the front door to his apartment with a rather psychotic smile over his face as he called out," Honey, I'm home!"

Ruby literally sat up straight shivering sitting on the living room couch frozen in her spot. She was holding a book in her hand. She hadn't expected Aiden to come home and call out to her. It scared her to no end.

Why was she stuck with this psycho? She blamed it on Stark. She was helping him look into the Levin family some more and all he did was let her live with a vampire that didn't have all his coco puffs entirely there.

Then again… Ruby was doing it out of her benefit knowing the true nature of the Levin family. After all, considering her abilities she would know them. There was history between their families but she wasn't going to let Stark find out anything on her or her family history.

Ruby had gotten up from the couch to look at the front door to find Aiden was gone. She didn't even hear his footsteps.

Where had he gone?

Then she could hear breathing so close to her ear she could feel it against her cheek.

"Let's finish off where we were. We were playing a game."

Ruby quickly turned around throwing her book at Aiden's forehead causing Aiden to groan as he rubbed the spot where the book had hit him. Aiden gave her a small smirk as he used his hand to mess up his hair before giving a long sigh as if he was thinking.

"What do you want from me?" Ruby questioned defensively.

"It would be nice if no one hit me in the face… and at least let me drink from them," Aiden answered looking slightly upset as Aiden walked around her towards his room. Ruby was reminded of a puppy pouting. Aiden obviously wasn't having a good day. What the hell happened to him?

Well at least he wasn't acting deranged... or psychotic. She could deal with this Aiden though she had a feeling he wasn't going to be like this for long and would return to the scary, indifferent psychotic vampire she had met.

Then Aiden appeared before her in a blur causing her to squeal and jump back. A deranged grin began to appear over his lips.

"You look like you could make a good blood bank. Maybe I'll have a night snack when you go to sleep."

Then once again walked away with a small laugh causing Ruby's eyes to widen. Her heart was racing a hundred miles per minute as she tried to take deep breaths to calm herself.

"Now I won't be able to sleep at all!"

Rain was standing in front of a wide metal door with a rather sinister smirk over his lips. He punched in a random code on the panel button beside the door, and the metal door opened. The light flooded into the darkness of the prison cell to reveal Koji sitting against the wall with his head down.

"Koji?"

Koji looked up at him looking wearily at him.

"Another lesson?" Koji questioned simply.

"No… I'm here to help you, Koji," Rain said. Koji seemed to look at him in disbelief for a long moment as he stood up and began to walk towards Rain.

"Why would you help me? Aren't you my grandmother's right hand man?" Koji questioned. Rain frowned.

"This isn't the place to talk about it, Koji. Just know right now you can trust me," Rain said in a reassuring manner.

Koji gave him one last look and walked past Rain.

"I want to get out of this place as soon as possible."

Rain nodded slightly in understanding.

"There are a lot of miserable people in this place and… my family is the cause of it," Koji stated staring down at the floor trying to hide the pained expression behind a stoic demeanor.

"How do you know that?" Rain inquired.

Koji didn't even turn around as he spoke," The ability I thought I lost… it looks like it came back."

Koji looked like he was about to collapse as Rain quickly grabbed his arm to hold him up. Koji was staring at him with a puzzled expression.

"Why are you helping me? Wasn't this my grandmother's plan? To trap me in this place until I learn to put behind my emotions?" Koji questioned him as he shoved Rain away from him. He'd already lost his parents. His grandmother trapped him in isolation until he learned not to be emotional. His twin wanted to kill him out of jealousy and possibly power so he could be the heir. Lillie, the only friend he had made since moving to this town, had gotten one of her friends to kill his brother. His grandmother had forced him into a corner to kill his best friend.

Rain had a sympathetic expression over his face as he saw the pain in Koji's eyes. He began to nudge Koji forward.

"We can't stand here and talk, Koji. This isn't the place to be doing that. Despite what your grandmother thinks, I believe your emotions would make a great heir to the Levin family. Change is coming to this harsh family," Rain exclaimed causing Koji to glare at him.

"I lost my parents. I thought my grandmother would at least care but all she's done is lock me in a dungeon because I had more humanity than she ever did. My best friend is dead at my hands because his humanity was taken away and he tried to attack me. The only friend I made here had her comrade kill my brother. I'm sick and tired of hearing about being heir," Koji's voice shook before he turned around upset biting his lower lip," I just want everyone to leave me alone."