DISCLAIMER: Lunar Legend Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night, and all related characters and concepts are the creation and property of Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon, along with anyone who's happened to license them, like Geneon or Funimation. The Night World and all related characters and concepts are the creation and property of L.J. Smith, along with her publishers Simon and Schuster.
This is a not-for-profit, just-for-fun project.
Author’s Notes: Yes, you have it boys and girls, Kieran and Elf have joined forces to bring you all a story.
Night’s Fate
By: Kieran and Elf
Chapter 1
White light resolved itself into sun and crackling flames, broken by vision-smudging swirls of pungently acrid smoke. His ears were ringing, and his mind frantically attempted to assemble the random sensory inputs and memory flashes into something resembling a coherent whole, .
Ilya-dono . . . Illyria . . . Blue flash . . . Blue fire . . .?
The flames seemed brighter, closer, as flares of pain registered across his broken body.
Fucking anti-tank missiles, growled a cynical voice in the back of his head. Since when do vampires carry that kind of hardware?
Wait - vampires? He struggled to understand, eyes narrowing against the brilliant orange flames, like dawn - or daybreak . . .
Circle Daybreak . . .
The ringing in his ears resolved into a scream, pure and silver - and undeniably Ilya's.
Princess! roared the voice, bringing with it rage, and energy that crackled through him like lightning, opening his confused senses to a wider, clearer range. The pain retreated in the face of the fury, and he rose to his feet - all four of them - before tensing for a leap to carry him through the bulk of the burning limousine's remains.
He was on the first vampire before even they realised he was there, six hundred pounds of white, angry tiger, jaws clamped and snapping around its neck before bounding off and slamming his weight into the next - one of the ones holding his charge. The impact forced the lamia off of her, pulling one of Ilya's arms free - and while the daughter of House Drache had no animal form yet, she was far from helpless. Like any of the ruling house of shapeshifters, she had been trained to lead from birth - including in times of war. She had already executed an attack that would've killed a human from the moment she could move her arm - but vampires were notoriously resilient, be they made, or the living lamia. The surprise startled the creature, breaking his jaw - but it didn't stop it from carrying on trying to drag the girl away.
Which was when the wooden dagger plunged into the shoulder of the arm holding Ilya.
He looked past the vampire from where he'd been preparing to spring again, seeing glossy, blue-black hair and silver eyes staring murderously at the creature. Her lips parted to reveal lengthened incisors, like delicate ivory needles, as Takara launched herself forward to seize her weapon and plunge it into the other's Adam's apple.
He opened his senses - only two seemed a little surprising . . . Ah.
Shirou dropped down, Rin cradled in his arms. The lamia's eyes were molten copper, burning brightly as he set the tiny witch on her feet.
"We got the guy with the rocket launcher," Rin explained, before blinking. "And now, does somebody want to tell me why I suddenly feel like praying to goddesses, and about this silver cord that's tying Shirou and I together?"
"And why I have fangs?!" Takara demanded.
"Once we're off the streets," Ilya said, assuming command. "We need to get to a Daybreak safe house and report in - the ambush meant for our counterparts would've killed them, and no one knows we've survived yet. Someone leaked our route from within Circle Daybreak - and they need to know about the traitor before something I can't undo happens." She surveyed them critically. "Takara needs blood, too - and Gabriel, you're not exactly inconspicuous."
Gabriel. The tiger blinked. That was his name. An icy feeling crept across his skin. Hadn't he created a character like this in his head, almost fifteen years back when the Night World novels were popular? He'd based it on the lady Crysania from Dragonlance - white tiger shapeshifter, guardian and soulmate to Aradia, the blind Maiden of the witches.
Here, that didn't seem to be the case - he was one of Ilyasviel Drache's guards, instead. But somehow, he didn't expect that would stop everyone from blaming him for ending up here, anyway . . .
A few moments’ concentration was necessary to resume his human shape - even though the change was instinctual on multiple levels, in a very real sense, he’d also never done this before. It felt like flipping a switch in his head, sending an electric charge through his system that energised and dissolved his body into a mass of free-floating particles. For a brief instant, too quick even for vampire eyes to fully register, he was nothing more than a cloud, lit from within . . . Then his will exerted itself, drawing those same particles painfully back into a familiar, yet wholly different shape, equally as tangible and real as the tiger, and equally himself - but at the same time, very strange.
For one thing, he had muscles. Not huge muscles, like the circa 1984 Terminator Arnold - or even the slimmed-down T2 version - but it looked like he could probably double for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine without too much trouble. He also lacked his glasses. This wasn’t precisely a new development, but it was the first time in the last few days that he hadn’t needed glasses and had needed to breathe, simultaneously. The sudden merging of the two concepts was a little weird to deal with. His eyes were good, too, apparently no longer requiring glasses - even with the firelight screwing up his night vision, he could still see pretty well in the dark.
[/I]But then again, is that really so surprising? I [/I]am a cat now - or at least, partially a cat.
The mental adjustments were a little trickier. In addition to dealing with senses a lot sharper than he was used to, he was automatically scanning for and cataloguing potential threats, exits, weapons - all the while keeping Ilya’s position fixed, and adjusting his own to give her the maximum possible coverage against assault. It wasn’t easy, he was used to working in a team of three - but if Ilya’s handmaidens had survived the attack, they would’ve given some sign of it by now. For the moment, at least, he was on his own when it came to ensuring the safety of the princess. And that new mode of thinking prompted him to get started.
His eyes flicked to Rin. “Nearest Daybreak safe house?”
“The same one we were headed to - it’s about three miles that way.” She jerked a thumb in the appropriate direction, then blinked. “OK, this knowing things is kind of creepy. It’s like dealing with the Kaleidostick’s downloads in small fragments at a time.”
“Not the time.” He glanced to Shirou. “The vamps didn’t just walk out here carrying heavy assault weaponry in their hands - they’ve got to have a vehicle nearby, something inconspicuous.”
Shirou nodded. “I was thinking the same.” He moved to a body and started patting it down. After a couple of tries, he came up with a ring of keys that was thankfully intact. Once they had it, finding the white panel van was even easier. Shirou got elected as their getaway driver - vampiric reflexes, telepathy, and combat driver training had their advantages. Still, even after everyone was buckled in, he paused before actually starting the van. Nobody objected to that, as there was another anti-tank rocket launcher locked in a case on the floor.
“Normally, I’m all in favour of overkill, but his is ridiculous,” Gabriel muttered. “Who the hell needs this kind of firepower? What were they expecting to face?”
“You sure you want to go to Circle Daybreak, Ilya?” Shirou asked from the front seat. “If they’ve got a leak, maybe a shapeshifter enclave - ”
“No,” Gabriel and Ilya said simultaneously, in an identical tone that brooked absolutely no argument, causing everyone to look at them.
Ilya glanced down. “There’s every possibility that the information was leaked by my people - House Drache has its bigots, like everyone else.”
Gabriel scowled. Ilya’s standing in their community was shaky at the best of times. Her mother had caused enough of a scandal by marrying a human - a capital crime in the Night World to begin with - and a vampire hunter, no less. Their being soulmates, those rare, perfect, literally-born-for-one-another matches, hadn’t helped the case. The revelation of Kiritsugu’s being a psychic, a lost witch, had been the only thing to save their lives. And Gabriel still dreaded what would happen when and if the witches found out. Male witches were so damnably rare - they were usually outnumbered twenty-to-one by their female brethren - and the alliance between their peoples, however deep, was still so very new, and fragile.
All that would’ve given Ilya a bad reputation with the more conservative factions by itself, but the fact that she’d been born an albino, as well . . .
Flaws and weaknesses were never tolerated in royal houses, even in the human world. Among shapeshifters, this held even more true - because by and large, they were literally predators at heart. The weak were culled, the weak were food, and had Ilya been in a direct line for the throne, she’d have been killed out of hand. But she was of a cadet branch, under the protection of her father, whose reputation was truly fearsome, and therefore allowed to live. She’d grown up considered by the shapeshifters as a sort of pet, at best - a curiosity, and nothing more. She’d been sheltered and isolated most of her life, with only her parents and guards for company.
Gabriel had been one of the latter. He’d played with her since they were very small - and been training to be her bodyguard from that age onward. More than that, there was a reason her parents had chosen a tiger for her playmate. He was meant to be her guard of last resort - the living armour placed between her and the attacks of her enemies. Very few creatures could stand against the strength, speed, and sheer bulk of the largest of the big cats. And tonight, that fact had saved her life. And he had the uncomfortable feeling it might do so again, very soon . . .
Wait - Ilya had been alive, outside the car when he came to. If they’d wanted to execute her, why not just hit the car with the rest of the ordnance? Was this meant to be a kidnapping . . .?
But why? Ilya’s never been important to the shapeshifters as a whole, just her parents - and her guards. She can’t really be ransomed, she holds no real influence over the shifters or Circle Daybreak. Why would they be looking to take her . . .?
His train of thought was derailed by Takara bursting out, “All right – what’s going on?”
He traded glances with Ilya - he knew she’d seen his memories, and could explain things as well or better, but she nodded in deferment, causing him to sigh and close his eyes.
“It’s been a while,” Gabriel admitted, “but here’s what I can recall . . .
“The Night World has hidden itself from humans for tens of thousands of years. Vampires, witches, shapeshifters - usually in that order of importance,” he muttered bitterly, “have united in a conspiracy of shadows. ’No one learns about the Night World,’ and ‘no one falls in love with a human’ are pretty much the only two rules.” At the odd looks, he shrugged. “It was a teen paranormal romance series in my home universe - why else?
“With the coming of the year two thousand, it built up to an end-of-the-world plot. The Night World plunged into a state of civil war - on one side, vampires, dark witches and shifters trying to bring about the coming Apocalypse, figuring they could survive it and rule over the humans again. The other is Circle Daybreak, looking to save the world, and live in peace with humanity. The keystone of the fight boils down to a prophecy about what are called Wild Powers:
“Four to stand between the light and the shadow,
Four of blue fire, power in their blood.
Born in the year of the blind Maiden’s vision;
Four less one and darkness triumphs.”
“In short, four seventeen-year-olds - or people who would be seventeen by a specific time. And we need all four, whereas the bad guys only have to kill one to win, so we’ve got one hell of a handicap. At the moment . . .”
He tilted his head. Yes, he’d been thinking about the shifter-witch alliance earlier, so the events of Witchlight, the ninth published book, had taken place. The Witch Child made a blood kinship tie with the consort of the Prince of the First House, Galen Drache - Ilya’s cousin.
“Daybreak’s got three of the four, tucked away somewhere the vamps can’t get them. But that means it’s down to one, now - and that one means everything. Daybreak needs to find him or her before they do, or it’s all over.” He shrugged. “But that’s their job. Mine is looking after the princess.”
“Nice to know,” Takara said in an edged voice. “But I was talking about these.” She bared her fangs in a wide-mouthed grimace, eyes gleaming silver.
Gabriel blinked. “Oh. You’re a lamia.”
“A what?”
“A living vampire - meaning that you were born, as opposed to the made, undead variety of vampire. You’ve got heightened senses and physical capability, the ability to stop aging whenever you’d like, you heal fast, you’ll live forever unless something kills you - and you can use Power, meaning psychic abilities like mind control.” He paused. “The sun will bother you, wood can hurt or kill you, and fire kills everything. Similarly, Ilya and I need to stay away from silver, and Rin from iron - though I don’t think it was ever brought up after the book it was mentioned in . . .”
“Getting back to the unimportant topic of the imminent end of the world,” Rin said brusquely, “does this prophecy say anything about these . . . ‘Wild Powers?’”
“The usual kind of thing a prophecy does - cryptic descriptions,” Gabriel answered. “More specifically:
“One from the land of kings long forgotten;
One from the hearth which still holds the spark;
One from the Day World where two eyes are watching;
One from the twilight to be one with the dark.
“Some aspects of the descriptions are obvious only in hindsight,” Gabriel remarked. “For example, Iliana Harman is the Wild Power ‘from the hearth which still holds the spark,’ which was initially assumed to be the Harman family, whose name was originally ‘Hearth-Woman.’ And that’s true, as far as it went - but if they’d analysed the phrasing more closely, they’d have understood immediately that they were looking for a lost witch descendant, because it implies that the Wild Power still holds the spark, either because it should be gone, or that it’s held unknowingly. Which in her case was also true, but they wasted time checking on the known Harman descendants first, and nearly lost Iliana because the other side picked up on her at almost the same time.”
“And which one is left?” Rin demanded.
“The last - ‘the one from the twilight to be one with the dark.’” Gabriel shrugged. “On the surface of it, that should imply a witch from Circle Twilight - the neutral witches who stood between the peace-loving Daybreakers and the darker witches of Circle Midnight, but the Circles were dissolved when the Crone of All Witches was assassinated. The line now is between Daybreak and darkness - there is no middle ground.”
Suddenly weary, he leaned back and closed his eyes. “I think that, like or not, we’re going to be involved in this fight. Somebody ambushed our counterparts, and killed them. The only reason there’s anything left of them now is because we merged with them, and somehow patched them up in the process. But the people who attacked us are still out there - and I don’t think they’ll just chalk it up as a loss and walk away.”
There was silence in the van for a long time after that, as Shirou sped them through the city streets. Finally, he slowed noticeably.
“All right,” he announced. “We’re here. Now what do we do?”
“Now?” Ilya asked archly. “Now, Shirou - it’s show time.”
******
Shirou took a deep, slow breath at Ilya’s words and nodded. He could see his reflection in the van’s tinted window. His skin was pale and utterly flawless, his eyes were a clear, almost glowing golden brown, and his unkempt hair was white. He was aware if he opened his mouth he’d find his canines pointed and when he was about to feed they would elongate and his eyes would turn a molten, copper color.
There were flashes, becoming clearer and clear with each moment.
A pair of uncanny aquamarine eyes looking up at him by a face framed by tumbling raven hair. The girl couldn’t have been more than eight or nine at the most dressed in a bright red dress and black tights, but the power around her was a tangible thing. It cackled like lightning, scenting the air with ozone as vampire looked at witch, and felt the silver cord strumming between them like a tangible, breathing thing.
“I demand you cut this connection at once, vampire!”
He parked the van around the back. He looked up at the three story psudo-Colonial house and sent, Nissa, Archer, The Big Tabby, Aquamarine, Snow White and Seven Nights have arrived.
That wasn’t the car you left the other house in, Archer, came the whisper soft reply.
We had problems. They tried to nab Snow White, Shirou sent as he turned off the engine.
I’ll let Keller know. We’ll be extra careful, the bodyguard of Iliana Harman, the Witch Child said before the connection went dead.
“Who did you talk to, Onii-Chan?” Ilya asked as she rested her hand on his shoulder.
He answered, “Nissa.”
“One of Keller’s people,” Gabriel said with a nod.
Shirou nodded and the five of them piled out from the car. Rin was looking around, large aquamarine eyes darting to and fro. He blinked as he saw Ilya fully emerge, her long limbs and supple curves were a huge surprise. Her long, white hair cascaded down her body and blue-grey eyes met his with a smile.
One hand placed on a curved hip as soft feminine curves arched enticingly. Ilya asked, “Well, what do you think, Onii-chan?”
“I think he’s taken,” Rin said with a glare, arms crossing underneath small breasts.
Ilya’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly and she said, “You’re lucky you’re here, you know.”
“We can discuss it in the house,” Takara said as she was taking slow, even breaths. Her eyes were still sparking silver and Shirou watched her throat as she swallowed. There was a slight tremor in the other lamia’s limbs as she headed to the house.
Gabriel sighed and said, “She’s not going to like this.”
“I’m sorry but . . . both of her parents nature fits her here,” Ilya said with a smile as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
Gabriel’s blue eyes narrowed as he said, “Yeah, but considering who her mother was in both realities and she’s suddenly a vampire . . .”
Shirou took up the end as the former Grail and her Judge, Jury and Executioner headed into the house. Rin was standing there with a frown marring her features as she clutched her arms around her. The silver cord thrumming between them pulsated with unease, fear and confusion.
Rin? It was just easier to speak with her like this, like when he’d been her Archer but different. It was better, clearer, perfect . . .
Her eyes met his and she swallowed before replying, At least you’re my Archer again. Well, my Shirou . . . blood traitor to the lamia who hunts his own kind to stop innocents from being hurt and so on and so forth . . .
Are you okay? He peered at her and she nodded.
I need time to figure things through and get my head settled. It’s a rush, but . . .
You’re here and it’s making things easier to deal with, Shirou finished with her as her small hand found his.
A faint flush passed her cheeks as other memories, more illicit and passionate passed between them through the silver cord. Just things hadn’t been taken that final step. After all, he was over a hundred years old and she wasn’t even eighteen yet in Ilya’s rewrite of reality.
Their rushed and frantic coupling before Illyria striking was left unsaid between them. Their feelings had always been there, but other things were keeping them apart. Mainly because I’m an idiot, he thought to himself. However here . . . a long future possibly spread out before them. Their one problem was the fact she could get old and die while he’d forever be in his early twenties unless he turned her.
He was aware he stopped his aging at his physical peak before cellular degeneration started. It made him a better hunter and warrior, yet he stopped himself at an age that didn’t have the impetuousness of a teenager. It also meant, some part of his mind brought up, that if he started ageing again his body would catch up to his hundred plus years.
Aloud, Rin gasped, “Sakura . . .”
“She’s here waiting remember,” Shirou said as he lifted her delicate hand to his mouth and placed a reverent kiss to her wrist. Her breath caught out in a rush and he could smell the sudden, sweetly musky scent of arousal come from her.
Rin nodded and said, “Well, let’s get this over with.”
He nodded as they walked into the house hand and hand together. The lights were dimmed, but considering most Night People had photosensitive eyesight it wasn’t that much of a stretch. His mind was filling in the blanks, memories rushing easily to the surface.
Voices were heard in the parlour. Ilya’s silvery voice, Takara’s near falling snow whisper, and Gabriel’s voice as well as another low, female voice, a higher pitched one, Nissa’s calm monotone, and a soft male voice. The softly lyrical male voice was saying, “But you’re not harmed, are you cousin?”
“No, I’m fine thanks to Gabriel and Takara,” Ilya replied.
The voice of the crown prince of the shapeshifters drew a deep breath before replying, “Good, now your group, how do they fare?”
“A little shaken up, but fine your highness,” Gabriel replied.
The low female voice said, “And the vampire with the rocket launcher?”
“Dead,” Shirou answered as he entered the room.
His eyes took in his group and then Ilya’s cousin, Galen Drache and his raven haired soulmate Keller. He saw Nissa standing there in her sleek black clothing and close cropped brown hair. Missing from Keller’s cadre was Winnie, but knowing the petite redhead she was probably grabbing something to eat. However the Witch Child and Wild Power Iliana Harman was standing there with wide, violet eyes.
Keller asked, “You sure?”
“I burned the body, just to make sure,” Rin replied with a nod, “I don’t like it when vampires point rocket launchers at my friends or myself.”
Galen asked, “And they were vampires?”
“Lamia, I’m sure of it,” Takara answered.
Keller asked, “Did any of your recognize them?”
“We did not get a chance to. They were Caucasian, non descript as far as lamia are concerned,” Takara said, her face a blank mask save for gleam in her silvery blue eyes.
Rin frowned and said, “But then why were they dragging Ilya away from the burning car if they didn’t want her alive?”
Shirou blinked and asked, “They were what?”
“Dragging your princess away alive, Blood Traitor,” a low, husky female voice said from the steps. Shirou turned and felt Rin bristling with anger from both the tension in her body and through their connection. Walking down the steps was a tall and lovely witch, with hair as black as Rin’s cascading down feminine curves that would rival Ilya’s. Smouldering grey eyes met Shirou’s before a smile etched across full red lips.
Iliana said, “Blaise, he has a name.”
“I know, but I’ve only heard of this guy as Blood Traitor for years from my cousins, little Iliana,” the raven haired witch said with a smile as one hand rested on her hip.
Rin smile matched the meaning of her name as she said, “You know, most of your kin aren’t too proud of the fact of who their great-great grandmother married and had kids with a couple of centuries ago.”
“The greatest irony was that Maeve only produced female heirs for Hunter,” Blaise said with a smile.
Gabriel asked, “And how do you explain Delos then?”
“Yeah, I keep forgetting that he’s a Redfern,” Blaise said with a smile before looking at Iliana.
The elfin blond said, “Oh, Blaise . . .”
“No one told me that another former member of Circle Midnight would be showing up here,” the witch said with a tilt of her head towards Rin. She held out her hand with a smile and said, “Blessed Be, sister.”
Rin replied in a low voice, “Blessed Be.” Aquamarine eyes narrowed at the long fingered, slightly sun bronzed hand before her. Shirou saw the slim silver bangle around the other witch’s wrist and the arrangement of garnet and astaria, smoky grey star sapphires, inlayed in the metal. However Rin did shake the other girl’s hand, but there was the faintest crackle of ozone in the air as both of their eyes flashed with something.
“Not bad,” Blaise said.
Rin smirked as she folded her arms under her much smaller breasts and replied, “Funny, I would have thought more coming from a Harman.”
Iliana swallowed, walked up between the two of them and said, “Blaise, Rin, please don’t do this.” She seemed to be glowing within, almost ethereal with her white-blond hair and amethyst eyes as she slightly spread out her hands between the other witches. The sharp, crisp smell of ozone raged through the room as Iliana’s hair blew behind her ever so slightly as she gave her cousin and the Japanese witch a steady look.
“Right now’s not the time to fight, both of you. We need to find out why they were after Ilya and try to find Takara’s parents,” Iliana said as Blaise drew back with a raised eyebrow and Rin took a step closer to Shirou.
Automatically he rested his hand on his shoulder and sent to her, She is the Witch Child after all.
Which is really ironic because just a couple of months ago she was some party girl from California, Rin thought, and Shirou could almost see the mental shake of her head, And Blaise . . . have you heard her reputation? I don’t want you around her at all.
Laughter sparked through the connection and he replied, Threatened, Rin?
Me? From her, hardly, Rin retorted with a snort.
Takara spoke up, “Iliana’s right. We’ve got work to do, Princess Ilya should be our first priority.”
“But your parents,” Galen said with a frown.
Takara’s silvery-blue eyes focused on the blond prince as she said, “My parents are very able to handle themselves, not to mention the fact they are not here right now. We should focus on what we can. Worrying about things we have no control of will only bring us even more trouble.”
“Aozoki’s right,” Keller said with a nod, “We need to find out why they were after the Princess. Aozoki and Emiya I can understand, hell with who Aozaki’s mother and father are I’d see them going after her over the Princess.”
Gabriel said, “And they didn’t want her dead.”
Grey eyes widened as Keller said, “Why? I’m sorry about this, your highness, but kidnapping her would be worthless.”
“She is still a member of the House Drache, Keller,” Galen said in a soft voice as he stroked her hair, “She is still royalty.”
Keller scowled and said, “I know that, Galen, but our people aren’t going to bother rescuing her or supply a ransom. You know that and I know that. No offense, your highness.”
“It’s fine, Raksha,” Ilya said with a wave of her hand, a shake of her head and a playful grin, “I’m glad I’m not in Galen’s position, that’s all.”
Galen smiled and said, “Sometimes I wouldn’t mind trading with you.”
“I’m still keeping Gabriel as my bodyguard though,” Ilya said with a smile, “And Onii-chan would come with me too, right Onii-chan?”
Shriou swallowed at the familiar tone coming from the unfamiliar body but nodded. He looked down at Rin beside him and then to the taller, voluptuous form that Ilya had taken. Tension racked up and down the vampire’s spine as he looked down at Rin.
He took a deep breath and felt his muscles clinch slightly, noting he’d been taking too many deep breaths to try to force oxygen into his body. I need to feed soon, he realized, knowing that the main reason why vampires, both lamia and made, drank blood was because of their haemoglobin. Vampires could do wonderful things, heal from almost any wound other than fire or wood almost instantly, lift compact vehicles, read and influence minds, and live virtuously forever barring burning, beheading or staking. However their own blood could not carry oxygen through their veins, they had to feed and get human haemoglobin to do that before their body completely destroyed it.
Shirou met her eyes, gave her a sad smile and said, “If Rin’s okay with it.”
Blue-grey eyes narrowed slightly at his soulmate, a term the romantic in him adored, before looking back at him. Rin sighed and said, “Of course we’ll go. You and Gabriel would probably do something idiotic if Sakura and I aren’t there.”
Ilya’s eyes widened and she smiled. She said in a soft voice, “Thank you Rin.”
“You owe me,” Rin said as she tossed a twin-tail from her left shoulder, but she was smiling.
Shirou patted her shoulder and Rin gave him a lopsided grin.
Takara took a deep breath and said, “I would ask if we could turn our attention back to the matter of hand, please.” The fingers clutching the dark blue sleeves were showing white at the knuckles and silvery-blue eyes were reflecting more silver than blue.
He looked at her and asked, Are you okay?
Those eyes locked with him and the reply was static and garbled, I am fine.
Shirou looked at Ilya and sent, Ilya, I’m going to need your help.
What is it, Onii-chan? Ilya asked as the conversation swirled around about her potential abduction.
He answered, Aozaki needs to feed.
I’m not surprised she’s trying to hide it. I was kind of expecting this myself, Ilya said, her lips curving into a smile.
******
Ilya raised her hand and said, “Guys, I need to have a word with Gabriel and Takara if you all don’t mind.”
“Of course, Ilya,” Galen said with a smile that made his peridot eyes gleam, “Come on, Keller.”
The panther’s steady grey eyes met Ilya’s before looking back at Takara. The cat all but vocally growled at the lamia witch, but Ilya knew it wasn’t in Keller’s nature to trust someone so soon. Luckily though she had help in the form of Iliana. The pixie-like girl reached out to take Keller’s hand with a gentle smile.
“Come on, Ilya needs to talk to Gabriel and Takara, let’s give them a few minutes,” she said with a grin.
Rin looked at Shirou and said, “We should check on Sakura.”
“She’s sleeping last time I saw,” Nissa said, “I can show you where she’s at.”
Golden brown eyes met Ilya’s as her elder brother asked, Are you sure you can handle this?
Ilya tossed her hair with a smile and said, Of course I can, Onii-chan. I have my Jester with me.
Yeah, and if he lets anything happen to you he knows the consequences, Shirou replied as he took Rin’s hand.
A few moments later the room was cleared but for the Former Grail, her Jester, and her Jester’s Master. Takara frowned and asked, “You wanted to talk to us about something, Ilya?”
“Yes, I did,” Ilya said as she rolled up her sleeve with a smile.
Gabriel asked, “Ilya, what the hell are you doing?”
“If you don’t feed soon, Takara, you’re going to be in a lot of pain,” Ilya said as she levelled her wrist at the vampire’s face.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Bird of Hermes
