"I figure you know absolutely nothing or you know just about everything. Then when I saw her car parked two streets over from here I surmised that you know just enough."
Riley sipped from his wine and turned up his nose as if he had no idea what she was talking about. "I really don't know where she is." Yoshi looked surprised at his admission. "You're in my house, why lie to your face."
"Don't think you could do it?"
"Quite the opposite, I know I can, but in this case the truth is just as vague if only less entertaining."
"How so?"
"She's probably long gone by now. Where to, I'm not sure. I'd say home, but she's never been one to talk about her family and when she does it's not all that enthusiastic. Hell, she probably went to go get some sun and play hide the twinkie with Co-eds on Winter vacation." Yoshi didn't mean to, but she flinched at Riley's comment. Riley made brief eye contact with Yoshi and then sipped from his drink to hide his smirk. "Do you really want to help her?"
"Very much."
"You care about her?"
Yoshi started to answer ‘very much' but only responded with a "yes, don't you?"
Riley laughed. "True, but at least I can say it." Blue eyes bored into him for moment, but Riley happily sipped his wine. "The only person you ever lie to is yourself isn't it?"
Yoshi fixed ice blue orbs on Riley, but the thin man waved her off and went to the kitchen to refresh his drink. Yoshi sighed in frustration and stood. "Are you going to tell me where she is?"
Riley turned to face her and grinned. "Doesn't it hurt your voice to growl like that." Yoshi gritted her teeth and growled audibly. "Down tiger. Look, I dropped her at a hotel near St. Francis early this afternoon. She's going to kick my ass for telling you."
Yoshi relaxed her scowl. "She told you not to tell me?"
"Not specifically, but I knew she meant you. She just wanted a head start."
"How much of one?"
"About three days she said."
Yoshi looked at the floor as she contemplated his statement. ‘That would give her enough time to…and then she'd be gone' she thought. Yoshi started to ask Riley another question, but the man brushed by her and turned up the volume on his t.v.
‘This is Lana Wright reporting for Fox 5. I'm standing in front of the city courthouse where a decision has been handed down in the state vs. Somersville. As you may recall Stephen Somersville was convicted of the brutal raping of four college women two years ago at Georgetown University. For the last two years he has proclaimed his innocence with bravado and his lawyers have been pushing for an appeal which they received two months ago. Lawyers for the defense claim that Somersville should be released on account of police misconduct in the handling of his search and arrest.'
"I can't believe this shit. I bet you they let that bastard off."
Yoshi turned her eyes from the t.v. to Riley. "So he did it."
Riley practically choked on his wine as he looked at the woman in disbelief. "You don't own a t.v. or read the newspaper do you?"
"I was busy two years ago." ‘I was stuck in a cavern in the Himalayas with two broken legs to be exact.'
"Whatever, but yeah the son of bitch did it. They haven't had this much evidence since an unwashed blue dress. He's going to get off on a technicality because the cops that pulled him off of his soon to be fifth victim beat him within an inch of his sorry ass life."
Both Riley and Yoshi watched with disgust as the crowd gathered out of the courthouse erupted into outrage at the verdict. A convicted rapist was on his way to being set free. Yoshi looked intently at the grinning man who walked down the steps of the courthouse surrounded by his lawyers and police. It never ceased to amaze Yoshi that as much as television distorted reality, there were some things it couldn't. She looked into the eyes of the pompous man leaving the court house and she knew he'd be out and about as soon as possible. Riley's words broke into her thoughts. "If there's a God, somebody will come along and rip his head off." Yoshi only grunted and nodded as she thought to herself, ‘I think I know just the person who would do it.'
Suddenly she snapped to attention. "I need to go Riley. Thanks for your help."
Riley nodded and walked to the door. "Hey, I don't know if you had anything to do with that hit and run guy the other day, but if you did and you happen to run into the bastard, give him what for."
Yoshi couldn't stop the grin that formed. "Don't worry Riley and yes, I'll keep Clarion safe."
"You better or I'll kick your ass." Yoshi bowed respectfully to the threat and exited through the stairwell.
__________
Stephen Somersville was a text book dilettante and psychopath. He looked as if he had read American Psycho from cover to cover and at least six times. It wouldn't have been a surprise if he carried a copy in his pocket. Of course it would be on an MP-3 to show his technological savvy. As Yoshi followed the man for the second night in a row she thought of snapping his neck, just on principle.
The way she figured, this would be Clarion's chance, if she was what she was. Clarion would only kill mosquitoes out of reflex, so for her to take a human life she would need a whole lot more than necessity. Why run the risk of contracting a disease from some degenerate despot when she could take the life of an arrogant chauvinist on a power trip. It was two in the morning when frustration begin to eat away hard at Yoshi. She ordered a Remy Martin and sipped at it in a halcyon manner. She knew etter, but at this rate Clarion would be miles out of town or even out of the country and there would be nothing she could do until morning. The evoking of Clarion's name caused Yoshi to close her eyes and imagine Clarion and herself in a more serene setting where no complications existed and they'd both grow old and die together. ‘Or maybe we could live out forever together.' Yoshi snapped blue eyes open at the random thought and downed her drink. Had she been a moment sooner she would have seen Stephen Somersville leave the bar with a lithe red-head that would have looked achingly familiar, had she seen her.
It took Yoshi less than a minute to realize that Somersville was gone and another thirty seconds to search the bar. She was out of the door like a shot. She stood on the sidewalk and scanned both sides of the sidewalk to see if she could spot him. Yoshi stiffened against the blade that was secure against her body underneath her coat. She fumed as she began walking the strip only to stop when she noticed where she was. She was three blocks from St. Francis and a short walk away from the park. Yoshi hopped the railing and broke into a light jog. When she reached middle ground she climbed a tree and stood in its branches. She raked her eyes over the landscape until she caught a flash of red hair and heard the unmistakable laugh of Somersville. A wave of emotions pulsed through Yoshi's frame. She was more than happy to rid the world of Somersville, but she knew she would be taking away the possibility of Clarion's outlet. More than that she was relieved that the woman with him was a red-head and not a blonde. ‘Maybe they were wrong.' She shrugged it off as the pair disappeared into a line of trees and then she swooped out of the trees and broke into a run.
Yoshi unsheathed her katana and held it out before her as she made quiet steps through the brush, the sight she encountered almost made her burst into a fit of laughter. It was ironic really. Here she was thinking he was out to rape this poor girl and she was hovering over him draining him dry. She was good too, as there was no blood pooling under his neck. Yoshi cleared her throat and raised her sword with one hand. "Since you're doing the female population such a service I might be inclined to let you go or just make it quick." The red head sat up slowly, her back to Yoshi. Yoshi could see the woman wipe at her mouth with the sleeve of her blazer. "C'mon, up with you." The red head stood up slowly with her hands at her side and turned around to face Yoshi.
Yoshi didn't have to scream out loud to scare the birds away in the trees, the tangible force of the rage emanating off her body was loud enough. She staggered backwards as if she had just suffered a blow to the stomach and fell backwards onto a rock. She turned her eyes away from Clarion. It was her and there was no denial. Even with red hair and a smear of blood across her cheek it was still her. Yoshi swooned and collapsed, it wasn't exactly passing out, but she hadn't breathed in almost a minute.
Clarion wanted to cry or just apologize for a long time, but she thought it better to run, before she was overcome with the urge to sleep; a small price to pay for feeding. She looked back once as she made it out of the clearing and Yoshi still hadn't moved. When Clarion turned her head back around she ran right into Colin. She bounced off of him and then grinned as she recognized his face. "It's the Irishman."
Colin grinned and folded his arms across his chest. "It's Colin."
"Good to meet you, can't talk right now though, I'm afraid I'm on the lam."
Colin nodded. "From tall, dark, and I carry I big ass sword because I can."
Clarion smiled. "Why does everyone do that?"
Colin shrugged. "Habit. Anyway, you ready to go?"
Clarion stepped back and held up her hands. "Sorry, I got different travel plans."
"Not this time cutie."
"You flatter me, but no way, she looks like she just lost her dog back there, so I'm not going anywhere with her."
"I don't think she ever had a dog."
"Figures."
Colin looked away wistfully for a moment and then shot out an arm and caught the forearm of Clarion as she attempted to run past him. "Un un. Not this time, I've got no one to fight."
"She's going to string me up by my toenails. Why can't you just let me go?"
"I think we should, but honestly we need your help."
Clarion stopped struggling and looked up at Colin. "Really?"
"Well yeah."
"Are you going to be there to mediate?"
"Won't let anything happen to you."
Clarion raised an eyebrow. "I want to believe you, but forgive me if I'm skeptical."
"I think it's just the hair color talking.'
"What?"
"You know Scully, the skeptic."
"Aha. That's funny. Hey if I live through this maybe we'll go catch a drink."
"You know I'd-
Clarion caught the ashen color of Colin's face and knew even without adjusting her hearing and sense of smell that Yoshi was behind her. She whispered to Colin, "just don't let her knock me out."
Suddenly Colin spoke. "I'm taking her to the car." Yoshi made no response as she stalked past them both through the park. Colin looked into the worried expression revealed in green eyes and tried to smile.
Clarion managed a grim smile. "We might be having that drink sooner than I was hoping, huh?"
Colin sighed. "She's just pissed off right now." He held Clarion's arm gently as they begin walking.
"She hold grudges?"
"Once we didn't speak for three months because I pulled a prank on her." Clarion only groaned and opted to do more thinking and less talking.
CH 17: In theory it works….in theory.
Clarion's face grew deep with worry as she took in her surroundings once Colin parked the car. She was polite and waited for Colin to open her door for her. She stood and looked around the abandoned warehouse district. She looked up at the grinning Colin. "Why do I feel like I'm the rat in a Martin Scorcese film."
Colin laughed. "I'm afraid you don't have that kind of luck Clarion."
She laughed as they begin walking to one of the less dilapidated warehouses. "That's good to know Colin." For a moment Clarion was actually feeling less anxious about her predicament until she was firmly gripped about the bicep and dragged into the warehouse and shoved into an elevator.
A blue eyed demon appeared at her side and held fast to her arm as she closed the cage and they rode up. A huffing and puffing Colin met them on the third floor when the cage doors opened. "Yosh…what are you doing….let's just talk. I thought we were talking." The tall woman glared at Colin as she gruffly ushered Clarion about and roughly forced her to sit down on the floor. Clarion was simply stunned as her mind raced with the same thought. ‘She's going to kill me.' Yoshi disappeared through an archway. Clarion looked around her and tried to focus on the fact that she was impressed with Yoshi's home and not the point that she was about to kill her. Clarion bristled as Colin came to her side.
"Gimme your shoes."
"What?"
"Just take them off, respect and all."
"You're joking right."
"Play nice and maybe I can get her to calm down."
Clarion shrugged and slipped out of her shoes. Without warning a towel was flung into her face. Yoshi yanked her to her feet and gruffly led her to a bathroom. When Yoshi closed the door upon her exit Clarion sat down on the lid of the toilet seat and almost cried. Her hands shook as she turned on the water for the shower and as she got undressed.
Regardless of her circumstances, the steaming shower was welcome. Perhaps it wouldn't be that bad, if the brooding woman was allowing her to get clean. There was nothing Clarion enjoyed or wanted more after feeding than a steamy shower. Clarion let the water beat on her face as she tried to allay her fears and figure a way out of all of this. When she came out of the shower a pair of loose fitting jeans, boxer shorts and a t-shirt were folded on top of the toilet seat. Clarion eased into her change of clothes and then took a deep breath as she exited the bathroom.
As expected a stone faced Yoshi was waiting for her. Yoshi avoided all eye contact as she gripped Clarion about arm and led her to a bedroom. Clarion decided to try some conversation. "Don't have to be so rough you know." Yoshi gave no response as she forced Clarion to the floor next to a radiator. Two seconds too late Clarion realized what she was going to do. "Oh come on, Yoshi, handcuffs! Where the fuck am I going to go we're in the middle of nowhere." Clarion struggled, but she was too weak at this point to do much damage, so she found herself handcuffed to a radiator next to a perfectly comfortable futon in a dimly lit room. Clarion rested her head against the wall and sighed. At least she could hear them, since the door was simply a partition. She could hear Colin.
"What'd you do to her?"
"She's got me locked up back here!"
"What!"
Clarion was all smiles as the large man entered the room. "Great mediating Colin."
"I'm sorry sweet pea. Brought you some water though." He popped the top on the squeeze bottle and placed it in Clarion's hand. At least she had enough slack to drink. "She needs more time than I thought to cool off."
"Where is she?"
"I left her out there, but she's probably going to go beat the stuffing out of her punching bags."
"Good you can let me out then."
"No key and aren't you strong enough."
"Funny wise ass." Clarion looked up to the ceiling and recited monotonously, "After feeding the Vampire is normally tired, as their bodies must adjust to the new metabolism brought on by new blood ingested. Rightly so, this causes fatigue in the Vampire which will be replenished later."
"You guys get a book."
Clarion rolled green eyes. "Colin you have to talk to her cause I'm not feeling too welcome here."
"Don't you have any kind of leverage?"
Clarion scrunched her brow. "What leverage?"
"You know lev-verage." He raised his eyebrows up and down.
"Oh. We didn't quite get around to that, seeing how I was trying to avoid this." She pulled on her cuffs.
"Really, you strike me as kinky."
Clarion laughed out loud. "I'll admit under other circumstances I wouldn't mind being chained to a radiator by my heated sort of kind of ex-girlfriend or whatever….but this is not quite what I had in mind for the first time."
"Does it ever go as planned?"
They both laughed. "It did for me once." Colin nodded. "New York City, 1924. They were extremely hot."
"They."
"Swedish exchange students, paternal twins, boy and a girl."
They shared grins of understanding. "Oh the tales you could tell."
Clarion winked. "I'm sure you've got a few."
Colin blushed. "Triplets, South of France, 1992."
"Ooh, recent. You dog."
"I try."
"You ever had an Irish carbomb?"
Colin smiled. "Hell yeah, Guinness and a shot of baileys. Why?"
"Well you get me out of here and I'll make you one that'll explode inside your head for two days."
Colin laughed. "I think I accidentally stumbled onto that recipe the other night. No can do though."
"Can we work on the handcuffs at least?" Clarion pouted.
"Aw come on, lass. No need for the puppy dog look, you've got my vote. But I don't deal in pissed off Amazons."
"On paper it sounds like a good idea doesn't it?" They shared knowing smiles and then they quieted when Yoshi walked through the door.
Long strides carried her in front of Clarion were she pushed Colin out of the way and proceeded to stretch a piece of duct tape across Clarion's mouth. The red head began murmuring what were clearly curse words and pulling hard on the radiator.
Colin stood up outraged and pulled the woman to the side. "What the fuck are you doing?"
Ice blue eyes seared Colin's flesh with a glare. With two fingers she shoved the man into the wall and growled out, "Fuck off!" At that she stalked out of the room and neither Clarion or Colin moved until they heard the elevator squeak into life. Colin stood up straight on the wall and ran a hand through his hair. He reluctantly looked down at Clarion who was looking up at him with pleading green eyes.
"I'd love to take it off sweet pea. But um, the last time she used an expletive in my presence, she tried to give me a face lift." Clarion quieted her mumbles as she rested her head on the wall and did the only thing she could do: cry. Colin shifted from foot to foot as he knelt down in front of her. He wiped the fresh tears with his fingers and kissed her on the forehead. "Look, I'll go talk to her and I'll get you out of this I promise. You need to understand though she's in a really shitty place right now. Yoshi's lived a long time and she's had lots of rough patches. I think she was finally letting her guard down with you and then boom you turn out to be a Vamp." Clarion hung her head. "I know you didn't ask for any of this, but we're all in it now. Why don't you get some rest, you know you need it so no use fighting it. I'll bring you a blanket." Clarion only nodded as she watched Colin leave. When Clarion closed her eyes she fell to sleep almost immediately, silent praying that when she awoke this would all be a horrible dream.
------------
It was less the soft rays of dawn that awoke Clarion and more the angry voices outside of the room. Actually it was just one voice; Colin.
Yoshi was kneeling on the floor facing the window as Colin stood over her, arms folded across his chest. She only just returned from where ever she ran off to and this was the first time he had the chance to talk with her. "Are you out of your fucking mind! Chaining her to the radiator and taping her mouth like she's some flipping war criminal. Have some decency for Christs' sake. Are you going to explain to me what you think you're doing or do we get to play charades?"
Yoshi breathed. "What do you want me to say?" She continued to stare out of the window.
"I want you to tell me what you're going to do with the girl?"
"She's not a girl."
Colin groaned. "You are so full of shit. And what are you the reincarnation of Mahatma Ghandi? You're so full of it and you're off your rocker!"
She turned her head in his direction. "What do you want me to say? That I don't know what to do. Or that I'm unsure about what the hell the scrolls and books mean and that maybe I should just go in their and put an end to all of this."
Colin fumed with anger as he walked around and stood in front of the woman. "You mean you're going to go in there and kill her?" Yoshi gave no answer. "Is that it Yoshi, tell me so I can know who to go home and pray for."
Yoshi looked down at the floor as she rested her hands at her hips. "I'll find out if she can tell me what the scrolls mean and if need be then…"
Colin howled with laughter. "So you're just going to pump her for information and then bleed her like a pig or something." He leaned over so that he was eye level. "You're fucking sick, you know that." They stared at each other in silence for a while until Colin finally stood upright.
"It's the law Colin."
Colin fought for words and only punched a hole through the wall for a response. He stalked back towards Yoshi and stood. "The law! Whose law, council law? There's no council Yosh, we're fucking it! We're all that's left. I'm not even sure if there's ten of us anymore. I haven't spoken to Ohai' in four decades and Makeet might be stuck in a glacier in the North Pole. This is it Yoshi, it just fucking us. We decide, we make the rules, we are law.
"You wonder why there's no council anymore, it's because of warped jackasses like you who let their good intentions and love of tradition pigeon hole them into one track realities. Yoshima, we have watched empires rise and fall and we have helped make some of those things possible. We have watched the world come full circle and back again. And you know what--things change. Things get better, they get worse, but they fucking change!
Colin stopped a moment to run his hands through his hair and look down at the woman who stared blankly out of the window watching the sunrise. "Yoshi there's not going to be a council or Hunters or anything if you don't pull it together. What the hell happened to you?" Blue eyes that hinted at color looked up at him. "Don't you dare try and blame Cheyenne for this. You were becoming this long before she died." Yoshi growled and raised off her knees as she turned her back to Colin. He only laughed and then kicked a love seat out of his way as he stood in front of her.
"I'm not going to argue with you over her, but you know what happened even if you don't want to say it and it's happening now. You just refuse to go outside the lines. You're just like those old prunes that ran that commune in Athens. I mean I loved some of those old bastards but they were prudes Yoshi, they were sticklers. They couldn't imagine coloring outside the lines. They were the kind of people that read the Bible and took every word literally. It never occurs to them that it's just a fucking story. It's meant to teach and inspire hope and love and brotherhood; not decrees for war, slavery, and oppression."
"Once upon a time you understood that, and you were all over the place. When they said you could only run the Gauntlet in two hours, you ran the sucker in one hour and without one target miss." He caught blue eyes and pleaded with her silently. "You know why you did it Yoshi, because you opened your mind. You looked beyond the page and made it happened. This warrants the same thing."
Yoshi lifted her head and spoke. "You like her?" Her voice cracked.
Colin managed to smile. "Of course I like her. She's an absolute gem. I'd take her home to my mum if I knew the woman. But liking doesn't have anything to do with it, well no that's a lie. I mean, I don't think she should be killed and I can't imagine for the life of me why you think she should be. And screw that ‘it's law' shit. You're running on hurt pride here and the fact that for the first time in a long time you can't explain something nor can you control it."
Dark locks shook as Yoshi shook her head. "It must be done Colin, there's nothing else to say about it."
Colin threw his hands in the air. "Fucking Christ woman! Listen to yourself. You're a shell Yosh, a fucking empty shell! You're starting to look your age. This is absolute bull shit, you just can't get past it. Either you can't believe you fucked up or you came close to having faith in something you don't completely understand and you're scared." Colin grinned some as Yoshi looked up at him for a moment. "That's it. You're scared and you don't have an answer." Colin raised his arms above his head and flexed in a mock display of triumph. "The great Yoshima Miakoda doesn't have the answer. The great Yoshima is stumped. The great Yoshima is starting to feel again. The ice queen is thawing as we speak. The-
Colin suddenly found himself on his back with a dagger at his throat. He laughed. "C'mon do it you shit, cause we're all dead anyway, do me the favor and kill me quick." Yoshi pressed the blade against his throat and gritted her teeth. "C'mon! Do it! You're going to be responsible for killing us all anyway. I think you should do it by hand." At that Yoshi sat up off of Colin and dropped her dagger at her side as she backed away and sat on her butt, legs askew. Colin stood up.
"That's why I have her…to stop it." Yoshi's voice was weak and strained.
"It doesn't matter. You really think killing her is going to solve our problem. So what, what if you do kill her and you kill the master too. Yoshi you've turned into a faithless, archaic old bastard. Who wants to follow that? It's a wonder you haven't taken your life, if you can even call it a life. As much as immortality may seem like a curse it's a blessing. We've seen so much and done so much, and on top of that we have the opportunity to affect the people around us. We can affect the world if we want, but you think it's a burden because you can't pull your head out of your arse long enough to enjoy your life." Colin shook his head as he regarded the silent woman who was visibly struggling with her internal demons.
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