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Chapter 5
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Chichi woke to find she was in bed with her clothes on, she tried to remember how she got there and why but every time she did her mind seemed to be wrapped in black clouds and pain and sadness so she gave up. Instead she got up and went to wash, she had the vague feeling of being dirty and soiled in some way but again she couldn't pinpoint the reason. I should just stop this and try to relax and wait till my mind clears. She thought, she considered finding something to eat after she'd washed seeing as how she'd been asleep for an unknown time but found that she wasn't even slightly hungry, in fact she felt stronger than she ever had before up until now. Chichi decided to ignore all these strange things and go wash.
Chichi came out of her room feeling a little cleaner and much better, she had changed her clothes to a light blue jacket over a white top and a matching blue skirt, she still felt like there was something else different about herself since before she had woken up just a few minutes ago but as she couldn't get a grip on that either she decided to go find Michael and see if he knew anything about it, for some reason she had the feeling he might be able to tell her. It was then that she noticed something; there was hardly anyone around, she had gotten so used to the sounds and noises of the other staff that she hadn't been aware of it until now, when it was almost totally quiet, curious she locked on to one sound and tracked it. She walked quickly down the barely lit corridors and hallways until she finally found the source of the sound; Michael, he was putting on evening lights in certain corridors and rooms.
"Michael, where is everybody?" she asked right next to him. Michael jumped nearly a foot at the sound of her voice which made him look like a scared rabbit. The sight of the normally proper, collected and presentable Michael looking so shocked and ruffled was just too much and she giggled while he tried to straighten his clothes and regain his composure.
"The Master said the entire house staff were required to leave for a short time while you underwent some particularly dangerous training. However that was a little while ago and I have already recalled them and the rest of the staff should be back in an hour or so." He answered finally.
"Where's Drake then?" Chichi asked, wondering what this training was.
"The Master is currently out, he did not specify where, however he did say he would be back before dawn." Was Michael's reply.
Chichi thought about this and then asked, "So what was this training? For some reason I can't remember anything much and my head clouds up when I try too hard."
"The master said that you needed to rest and that you may have some memory problems for a short while. He said that the memory will return when you are ready to deal with it and I'm not allowed to tell you any of it." Michael said, "I will tell you this though, it would be a bad idea for me to tell you before you are ready."
"...Before I'm ready? Why wouldn't I be ready?" Chichi asked, a little confused
"I'm sorry, I can't-" Michael was cut off as Chichi gasped in pain and doubled over clutching her head...
She was in a room; there was someone else there with her... A hatch opened, she saw Michael through it, "I am sorry Miss Sanders but I have to do this, the Master says it is necessary." He said... she had the impression of someone moving around in the room... "I'm sorry." Michaels said before he took a tube from somewhere she couldn't see and blew a small dart into the room, but not at her; someone else... there was a feeling of struggling and hunger and sadness-
"Miss Sanders? Are you alright? Miss Sanders!" Michael’s voice brought her back to the here and now; she looked up at him and saw his distraught, worried face looking down on her. She realised she was sprawled on the floor breathing heavily and sweating a little; she was having a very human reaction to an extreme situation, she didn't need to breathe, her body temperature didn't matter so she didn't need to sweet and above all she wasn't in any kind of stressful or extreme situation. She also had the vague feeling of hunger, Chichi quickly composed herself and after a moment the sense of hunger dissipated as well; a leftover from her memory. What was that memory? Why was Michael there? She thought. He seemed to be doing something really weird... She took another look at Michael and saw he was trying to get on with his work but kept looking at her worriedly, whatever it was in that memory he seemed genuinely worried about her now, but she was still a little confused; it was him saying "I'm sorry," that had triggered the memory in the first place. I need to get out of here and think this over, she thought.
"Michael, I'm going out for a while." she told him, at the shocked look he gave her she explained; "Don't worry I'll be back soon, I'm not going far I just need some time alone to sort stuff out. It's not like I'm a prisoner here is it?" Michael quickly shook his head in denial, "Good." She said and headed for the front door... Then it occurred to her that she hadn't left since she'd been brought here and she hadn’t been that conscious then either.
"Erm... Michael, where's the front door?"
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Drake leapt from on roof to another and another, the feel of the wind as he soared across streets, alleys and busy roads was great. He allowed himself to get lost in the smells and sounds of the city at night, the sights, sounds and smells merging and interacting as he speed across the rooftops giving him the pleasure of soaking in the many detail of the night. He landed lightly on a stone gargoyle and surveyed the city below and around him; there were myths in the human world that said gargoyles came alive at night to hunt and feed on evil spirits and demons. Drake smiled as he thought of this, if that were so then he must not be evil because none of the gargoyles he had ever perched on had come alive to bother him, more often then not it was humans who thought they knew about his kind, those who wanted revenge or had some stupid ideas in their heads that really caused him trouble rather than other creatures of the night. He patted the stone head of the gargoyle like some faithful dog. Heh, if you could really come alive, what would you really hunt? He thought with some amusement. Drake gave a contented sigh and, leaning back against the wall of the giant building and his feet propped on the gargoyles head, he open up his senses to their fullest; taking in all the sights, and smells and sound of the night, he lost himself in the sensations that poured in, millions of sounds, sights and smells flooded his mind and were identified and labelled in an instant. There was the smell of a particularly pungent cheap perfume that a certain lady of the night wore on 3rd avenue, this was the sound of a policeman chasing a young man through a park; where the policeman would loose the man because he was unfit while the man was healthy and strong, that was the sight of the couple in their apartment that seemed to argue all the time; the wife was deliberately sprinkling pepper into her husbands cup of coffee while he sat watching football on the couch.
Simply out of habit, Drake's senses singled out a lone person in a nearby alley that was deserted apart from this lone person. Drake smiled. No. He thought. In memory of Chichi's First, I shall not feed again this night. He though a little more about what he could do and then stood and jumped out across the rooftops, Drake leapt over an intersection and a main road then jumped from roof to roof, heading towards the selected alley. He jumped down to a roof and ran along the edge till he got to the alley, then he dropped down as silent as the shadows. Drake soon found the person he had locked on to, it appeared to be a young boy between 9 and 13 years of age, besides the sound of a recently empty stomach he seemed healthy. He approached the boy, who was huddled in the doorway of a locked backdoor of some shop or club. "Hello little one." said Drake.
The boy seemed to half wake before automatically answering: "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be here, I'll go..." and starting to gather his few possessions.
"You need not hurry little one, I am neither the owner nor some other official." replied Drake.
The boy stopped, looked at him and then took a more aggressive stance, defending his things, "So who are you mister?"
"I am merely one who enjoys his free time at night and spends it taking in the splendours of the night." answered Drake in a deliberately vague manner, "It is still wise for you to move though, and a deserted back alley at night is not a good place to rest or sleep unless you have no wish of waking again. You should go home little one, your parents are probably worried."
"Maybe they are maybe they're not, they didn't seem that bothered when my sis disappeared." said the boy.
Drake frowned a little, "How old is you sister little one?"
"She's 17, nearly 18. What about it?"
"17? Nearly 18 you say? Your sister may have simply decided to leave home, or stay a long time at a friends, maybe move in with a boyfriend and simply forgotten to let your parents know, these are all possibilities which may explain why your parents appear so unworried by her disappearance." explained Drake, "You do not know what happen your sister or where she is do you?"
"My sis ain't like that, she'd definitely let at least me know, always, but she just suddenly upped and disappeared on us three weeks ago, she didn't take hardly any of her stuff with her and our dog won't go into her room anymore... I just know something’s happened to her." said the boy.
Drake felt a little sorry for the boy; he had a good idea of what had happened to his sister, "If you do not know where she is or what has happened little one, it helps your sister not one bit that you out here searching." Said Drake, "What you are doing is about as useful as looking for a moving needle in a corn field. There are those who would consider you prey little one, if some things had happened differently you would be dead now.
The boy gave Drake an irritated look, "I have a name you know, stop calling me little one I AM twelve, I'm not a baby." he complained.
"Then tell me your name." Replied Drake.
"Cory, my name is Cory. I don't think it's as dangerous as you say, nothings happened so far except being chased off from places by police."
Drake gave Cory a smile that said 'If Only You Knew' which made Cory shiver for some reason, "How long have been sleeping out here Cory?" asked Drake.
"Erm... about 5 nights, including tonight."
"Then you have been very lucky Cory," Replied Drake "I will tell you this; in a situation like this, if your sister is as loyal as you say then she will contact you as soon as she is able, in which case you should be at home where she can find you. If she does not contact you then she is beyond your help and you do no one any good by remaining, you only make yourself an easy target and I am sure your sister would not want you to die out here in the cold, dark streets, alone and hungry at twelve years of age."
Cory looked saddened by his words and bowed his head, the truth was not what he wanted to hear but not all lies are harmless just as some truths will not set you free but chain you forever. "Cory." Drake continued, "I do not doubt your love for your sister or your courage, however you will find that waiting at home takes more courage then running out to search. Come, I will pay for your journey home, if she is able your sister will get word to you somehow sooner or later." Drake gave his hand to help the boy up and led him out of the alley. When the taxi Drake had hailed pulled up he opened the door for Cory and walked over to the drivers window, "Take the boy home," he instructed as he handed over a fair sized roll of 50s to the driver, "Make sure he goes home though, even if you have to get out and watch him return to his parents."
The driver managed to get over his joy of receiving such a big tip enough to be suspicious of the situation, "Why does it bother you so much if he goes home or not? Go with him if you're that concerned, what's to say I don't take him down a couple of blocks instead?"
Drake simply gave him a look that implied he would know if the driver did as he had suggested and would take great pleasure in retrieving his money. The driver, somehow felt as though he were a small rodent looking at a cobra and the only reason he wasn't eaten was because it wasn't hungry, he shook his head to help him get a grip on himself and calm the shaking in his hands then turned around to his passenger, "Hey kid, where's your house? You're 'friend' seems to have covered your fare to anywhere this side of the state line."
Cory stared at the driver for second as he absorbed what had just been said, he realised he hadn't thanked this man who was being so kind to him and he didn't even know his name. Cory turned his head to thank the man and ask his name only to find he had disappeared, he looked around and found the entire street was almost deserted.
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Drake watched the taxi pull away and drive off from a nearby apartment rooftop, he tracked the vehicle with his eyes until it turned on to a main street and went out of sight. It looked like the driver had taken his point well, he thought about the boys sister, if he was right and she turned out ok he would hear from her eventually, when she had come to terms with things, if not then she would probably avoid him for his own safety. The dog was what tipped the idea from simple running away from home to what he thought now, he personally liked dogs but they seemed not to share his sentiments and tended to bark and shy away.
Drake made his way across the city to a giant telecom tower and, sitting himself on a high girder, once again looked out over the city rooftops and streets, he was looking the way a lion surveys his territory on the savannah, his instinct told him something was different than it should. The winds of change were turning, something big was coming and he had to make sure Chichi was ready for it. He was unsure of how long he had but he knew there would be few chances to simply sit back and float on the senses of the night like this after tonight, *by tomorrow Chichi should be well enough for at least basic training, I will see what else is possible after that. Tonight I may as well savour this opportunity, I am going to need it...* thought Drake, he smiled to himself a little then stood and leapt off the girder, long cloak billowing out behind him like a black cape.
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Chichi sat on the roof of the mansion and looked up at the clear, moonlit night, despite what Michael had said the rest of the staff had not yet arrived and Michael had had to go off and arrange some things Drake had asked him to organise so Chichi found she could lie back and listen to the sounds of the night, for the first time she was experiencing a whole new, secretive world. There were night time birds, mostly quiet but for the sound of their flapping wings and the prey they hunted. The little creatures that scurried and ran about, little noises in the scrub and bushes, the sound of a fox stalking through the woodland nearby and the hare that sleepily hopped it's way towards where it slept. The sights and sensations where so new and different it was like she had stepped into a different universe or been born again, the way that the wind felt different depending on what it had brushed against in it's currents, how she could see a new spectrum of colours reflecting off of the leaves of different trees under the light of a clear half moon. She wondered how she could have missed all these wonderful colours and sounds and sensations before, then she realised what was different; she was calm and at peace, she couldn't remember some things and work out the meaning of others. However she was not trying to force it, she accepted that it would come when she needed it and allowed herself to be free of the need to be strong, to get revenge, to guard against being tricked.
She felt change in the air flow, the rustle in the plants; the fox had pounced, the hare had had little chance and now it struggled futilely as the fox held it in a strangling hold, she sat up and watched, it was both brutal yet natural, the fox needed to eat to survive and this was the only method nature had allowed it to do so. The hare twitched on final time and was still, the fox would eat and remain healthy and that was that. Then Chichi had a strange thought. I feel like I've done that or something similar... what...? Why? Her senses dulled back to something a little more normal as she pondered this strange revelation.
She was back in that room, she was holding someone tightly in her arms but not in a good way - She moved his unresisting head to one side, revealing his neck, and then she bit down on him and drank... - the blood flow waned, his muscles went limp and she eased his body to the floor.
Chichi screamed as the memory flashed through her mind, she barely had time to realise what happened before the rest of her memory came crashing back viewed though her now rested mind in all it's painful horror. For a good few minutes afterwards, Chichi just sat there huddled on the roof of the mansion, she felt numb; it was as if all her ability to feel had been drowned in a great sea of vague numbing sadness. She had fed on a human, she had killed, there was no half-truth or comforting white lie she could use to hide behind for this. She had really been lying to herself even before she had entered that room; her team of hunters, the group of people who had looked to her to guide and lead them against the creatures of darkness that had in some way scarred all their lives and she had let them down. She had simply given them a common goal and some direction, she hadn't told them what they needed to know or trained them like she trained herself. All they had known was the basics and how to point and shoot a crossbow at the time that she had lead them on their mission in the warehouse, sure she could say that they had just been unlucky to have had Drake as their first opponent and that they only needed experience or that it was Drake who was really at fault because he had been the one to kill them, but the truth was that Drake had killed them because they attacked him, even if they'd had a less powerful vampyre to face, the odds were that many of them would still have been killed or injured because they hadn't really known what they were doing. The reason Drakes words had angered and hurt so much when he had mocked her leadership and training of the team was because deep down she had known they were true.
"So, young lady, what has caused you to love us so much that you give me an offering of food?" He asked with mock sincerity. "What? It was not an offering and you hate me so much that you would like nothing so much as to rip my unbeating heart out?" He sarcastically mocked further when she only glowered at him with seething impotent rage. --- "You know, my lady, not all us Vampyres are the same."
She snorted and flicks her eyes to the bodies of her team lying around him. "Oh really?"
"Well I could hardly let you shoot me could I? It would have been a great headache, I assure you." He said with a cheerful grin.
The look of rage confirmed that she had noticed her people's tendency to shoot at the head. "You never told them anything did you?" he stated, genuinely curious. "They did not have the slightest idea of what they were doing did they?" He continued recalling the various appalling attempts to actually kill him. She cast her eyes down at his questions. "You never bothered to even have them train or learn about us or anything did you?" Drake laughed out at the look of guilt and shame on her downcast face. "Heh, and people dare to call us monsters?"...
She had been selfish and narrow minded in her quest for revenge and those who had depended on her had paid the price. As Chichi faced her own truths and her mind slowly came out of it's emotionless hibernation she realised that she no longer felt as sad as she did before, she still cared about those people who had died and Mac whom she had killed but she now saw it in a better perspective, she would do better to atone for what she had done rather than sit about like the heroine of a tragedy and cry all night: She had been given a second chance and a good start with somebody who, although seemingly evil and cruel sometimes, also seemed to truly care about her and see her realise her potential. It was about time she relaxed her paranoia a bit and started acting more normal, there was no point in avenging anyone if it made you a bitter person unable to feel happiness in the process right?
Chichi sighed as she looked at herself again to find her clothes where in a state again, she walked to the edge of the roof where her room should be and dropped down on to the balcony, she'd change her clothes and then take a look around the property, enjoy her new senses some more while she waited for Drake to return.
