Sakura wastes little time with her new blade, swinging it straight towards Luna, slicing the outside edges of the bathroom stalls in the process. Luna, like before, could easily see how to dodge it but, unlike the last time, there was precious little room to work with. She leaps to the vampire’s opposite side, evading the swing as it plunges behind her. Sakura’s blood knife easily carves through the wall behind Luna, the vampire bringing her knife to bear against her opponent again. Sakura throws a few horizontal slashes with as much speed as she can muster, but Luna keeps backing out of range of them.
Going on the offensive, Luna throws blow towards Sakura’s head, the vampire sidestepping as quickly as the attack began. The knife goes in again, aiming for Luna’s stomach and landing a light graze across the side of it. Sakura goes in for a second hit, but the werewolf grabs her by the neck, putting her in a strong chokehold. Luna lifts the vampire off of the ground, watching her try to kick and squirm out of her grasp. Sakura’s struggles were forcing her to keep her stance wide, as this much swinging might throw her off balance. She growls at Sakura, increasing the pressure of vice grip on her neck.
Fear seeping into her mind, Sakura starts to panic. Clearly unable to think of a better option, Sakura puts the palms of both hands out to her sides and channels a powerful blast of wind, propelling the both of them forward and through the bathroom door, blasting it to splinters.
The duo land in the old office room that Miguel had spied from above, and it looked about as old as it smelled. The abandoned room had been stripped out, all except for the carpet and a few support beams. The wind burst was strong enough to force Luna to drop her opponent and hit the ground, clutching her stomach in pain. Sakura managed to stick the landing, albeit sloppily, landing on her feet, but nearly losing her balance and turning towards the werewolf.
“And now there’s plenty of room for me. And no cars for you. I know your partner is here. After I finish you, I’m going to find him and end this.”
Luna gets to her feet and looks up towards the skylight, finding a panel of it open. It looked like Miguel managed to get down here, but where he might have gone was another matter entirely. Sakura unsheathes her blade, letting it cut her thumb to coat it in blood and turn it back to it’s trademark scarlet color. Realizing that she was going to be attacked again, Luna desperately searches for a weapon and looks to the side of the bathroom. Judging by the exposed wooden beams and the bare plumbing, the lavatory was once part of a set. Multiple pieces of debris lay scattered across the ground, but chief amongst them was a long-handled sledgehammer. There were other tools there, but they were all covered a thick layer of cobwebs.
Luna dashes back and grabs the sledgehammer and hoists it into action, only to realize that the metallic head of the thing was stuck to the ground. She gives it another hefty pull, arching her back with effort, but the hammer refused to budge. Sakura perks an eyebrow up as she just watches Luna’s back, unsure of what’s going on. She knew what it looked like but...no...that couldn’t be it.
Sakura calls out. “Uh, what the hell are you doing?”
Luna gives one final wrench of her arms and rips the sledgehammer from the floor, only to find that the head of the hammer stayed put. She visibly faulters as she looks at the stick she’d managed to pry up from the floor, whatever it was keeping the two parts together had weakened over time. It was still long enough to be considered a short metal staff, but Luna looks heartbroken.
“Awwww...c’mon. Again?”
Sakura witnesses Luna’s misfortune and snickers, drawing both hands to her blade. “About time something went in my way. Your little stunts end here, I’ll make sure of that.”
Sakura throws a blast of air at Luna, strong enough to make her wince and stand her ground. In that second, Sakura’s charges her. The katana speeds towards Luna’s side, but the staff intercepts it with a resounding *THOCK* as folded metal meets industrial metal. The two materials clash several more times as Sakura whirls her blade like a dervish, aiming to sever the improvised weapon. Luna does her best to block or parry the blows away from herself. The vampire is moving fast enough now that she was afraid to try to attack her, for fear of taking serious damage.
Sakura finally lands another meaty slash to Luna’s arm, cutting into it and forcing her to drop her battered staff. Luna cries out in pain at the hit, taking a step back. A quick glance to the wound showed that the blade had cut her pretty deep, but if she could survive a shotgun blast to the belly, she could survive this. Luna’s brows furrow as Sakura presses her attack, swinging a foot around to kick the werewolf in the head, aiming to keep her off balance. A familiar voice prickles it’s way into the back of Luna’s mind, whispering to her and her alone.
~”Bite. Crush her.”~
Luna leans her head back far enough so that her muzzle was lined up with Sakura’s foot and opens her mouth. When the errant limb came close enough, her massive jaws sink into the vampire’s foot, easily piercing through the boots. Sakura tries to pull herself back out of pure pain instinct, but that mouth had a grip on her. Luna starts slinging her head from side to side violently, bashing Sakura into the ground multiple times. Despite the multiple slams though, the vampire keeps a hold onto her weapon.
Luna finally turns her loose by taking a step forward, spinning herself for extra momentum and throwing her into the bathroom where the fight originated. The vampire hits the stalls, knocking over several of them and shattering the porcelain thrones beneath them in a messy clatter of sound. Sakura doesn’t stay down for too long as she pulls herself out of the wreckage, still clutching her sword.
“No...no-no-no-no! I can’t lose! I will...I will not lose!”
Luna spits out the hunk of leather that had gotten stuck in her teeth and holds a hand to the cut on her arm. “Then surrender and stop fighting me. You started this.”
Sakura limps out of the bathroom, stepping through the hole she made. “Do you understand what’s on the line here? I can’t just give up. I have a job. I need to stay in this family. If I don’t, I’ll be alone again...I can’t let that happen!”
Luna started to ask what that meant, but Sakura extends her hand towards her, generating a maelstrom of wind so fierce that Luna couldn’t stand up to it. The werewolf goes flying, rocketing out of the abandoned office and over a catwalk’s safety railing. The upstairs office area was the only part in the second story, as the entire first floor of the distribution center was the warehouse. Luna falls onto the first story and slams into an empty pallet, smashing it to splinters.
Miguel tilts his head as he overhears a loud crash near him. The first floor was pretty straightforward, as multiple wooden crates of Rust were present here as well, some of them having the Vyers Shipping insignia on them. Luna looks to the side after the hard landing, soon noting that multiple boxes in the area had set satchel charges sitting near them, each one ticking down with small but deadly beeps.
Moving to investigate, Miguel pulls out his magnum and looks over towards the broken pallet, finding Luna lying on the ground. He holsters his gun and moves to her side, inspecting her. Luna groans and starts to push herself up from the wreckage.
“You know, you really ought to stop falling off of things.”
Luna rubs the side of her head. “Not a habit I want to continue, believe me.”
Miguel extends a hand to help Luna up, the werewolf standing and shaking her head.
“Did you set all of the charges?”
Miguel nods. “Yeah. Nobody’s here. Easy peasy. The timer’s set now. We should get going before anything stupid happe-”
Sakura’s voice pierces through the conversation as she steps onto the catwalk’s safety rails, looking down at Miguel and Luna. She looks noticeably exasperated with a toothy smile carved onto her face.
“AND THERE’S THE OTHER ASSHOLE.”
Luna and Miguel look up towards her with admittedly terse expressions. Miguel starts to pull out his magnum, but a flash of insight stops him. He instead grabs Luna’s shoulder and jerks his head towards the door.
“Now. Move.”
Luna nods and they both turn, heading towards the front cargo bay. Luna reaches down to clasp the lock and undoes it, throwing the huge shutter open and the two starting to leave. Sakura jumps down from her perch, landing on the ground neatly.
“Hey guys, where are you going, the party’s just getting started!”
Just as Luna opens the door, another massive blast of air hits her and Miguel into the back, sending them both out of the shutter bay. They hit the snow and slide a small distance, both of them turning to face Sakura who was just stepping out of the building with them. She shrugs towards the two of them, shaking her head.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
"You think you can just waltz in here and start messing up our operation huh? You two blew up a lot of hard work you know? And it was MY ASS that was on the line for it! I don’t know who the hell you two think you are, some kind of vigilante justice bullshit but you guys won’t get lucky again. I underestimated you two last time.”
Miguel and Luna start to stand up, but another gust of wind knocks them back, being pushed so hard that they bounce off the chain link fence at that property’s perimeter. Sakura cackles as her blade is still drawn, talking towards the two as they struggle to regain their footing.
“Oh no no no. ” Sakura says darkly. “Don’t get up yet.”
Just as the last word of that sentence comes out of Sakura’s mouth, twin explosions rock the distribution center. Sakura instantly turns around to witness the blaze that had spread throughout the distribution center, with the vast majority of the boxes that were in there being on fire or about to be. Sakura slumps as a familiar plume of blue smoke leaks out of several of the windows of the building.
“Again!? You guys blew it up again!? What the hell is your problem!?”
Miguel and Luna stand finally, though the werewolf holds a hand over the wound on her arm. Being tossed around like that had only reminded her the dull pain that resided there. But watching the smoke, Miguel smiled.
Sakura brandishes her blade, her brows furrowing and her grip tightening on the handle. “You both have to die, or else he will-”
A sinister whistle needles it’s way through the chorus of the flames, the tune it carried being quite jovial. The source of it draws closer as even Sakura turned around to look towards the entrance. A shadow appears in the flame, being humanoid in shape, but it was clear that they were in no hurry. After a few tense moments the whistling shape proved to be male and dressed sharply.
He was wearing an all-white suit that fit him had been ironed to perfection. He has long black hair which is pulled into a simple ponytail, banded together by a small band of some sort. His eyes were black and sat being a pair of thin, black-rimmed glasses. His fedora fit snugly on his head and completed the look of one who takes great pride in his appearance. Despite walking through flames, he didn’t even look remotely singed. Luna watches him carefully as he becomes more and more visible and realizes that the flames weren’t burning him because they weren’t touching him. They were warping around his body, swaying outward by his mere presence alone.
As soon as Miguel saw who the man was, he drew his gun in a flash, leveling it at the shadow’s head.
“...Scar.”
Sakura turns towards the man in the white suit, pleading. “I didn’t know they were here! I fought the werewolf, and they managed to blow the building up, but I have them cornered. If you give me a hand, we can kill them right now and go back to your plan!”
Scar didn’t answer her, rather, he continued to hum his happy tune to himself, his face rather placid and lacking much emotion. He slowly walks up towards Sakura and stops just behind her, the glow of the fire illuminating his back. Luna could see the hints of fangs in Scar’s mouth.
“Gladly. After you.”
Just as Sakura turns around to face Luna and Miguel, a swift motion immediately catches Luna’s attention. Sakura drops her sword as a reddish-black blade pierces through her chest, impaling her. She starts to go limp as her head rolls back to look at him, a terse expression crossing her face. Luna and Miguel stand in shock as Scar slowly pulls the blade towards him, bringing Sakura in close enough to stare at. Scar speaks in his smooth, dry voice, his hands still resting on his back. Fire truck sirens scream vaguely in the distance.
“Tools, my dear, are meant to be used. You buy them for a specific job. They do their specific job. You...have failed me twice now. Seeing as how I cannot take you back to your parents and demand that they produce a competent child, my only option is to discard it. I knew, from the second I met you, that you were worth...nothing. Empty of potential. I knew that you would fail me, if not immediately, then eventually. I merely thought your failure might have been entertaining. I regret to say; I am not amused.”
The blade twists in Sakura’s chest, forcing her to cringe in pain. Scar smirks sadistically.
“Oh dear...I missed your heart didn’t I? It seems your assassin training was good for something after all. Congratulations. You appear to have the worth of a worm...considering you wriggle like one.”
Scar withdraws his blade, leaving Sakura to drop to her knees and slam into the snow face first. It’s then that Luna could see where the blade came from. Underneath Scar’s feet sat an odd shadow of sorts that twirled incoherently on the ground. The blade he created had bent up from it and seemed to act independently of his hands. Without any external signal, the blade melts back down to the
amorphously shifting puddle underneath his feet.
“And before I do forget, before you come crawling back like the pathetic mongrel you are, I hereby disavow you from House Vyers. You are no longer welcome in the family as you have displayed nothing to prove your worth in anything but failure.”
Scar bends down to grab Sakura’s right hand and after a split second of concentration violently rips something off of it. Whatever it was, it left her hand emitting a black smoke for a few seconds. Sakura winces as it happens, but the pain seems to subside soon enough.
“And to think that I thought I could merely tally my shipments in peace tonight. How...foolish of me.”
Miguel fires his magnum directly at Scar’s head, the bullet flying towards it’s intended destination. Just before it strikes him, the round hovers uselessly, drained of all kinetic energy and drops towards the ground. Miguel blinks as the bullet stops dead in the air and then hits the ground. Scar raises a brow towards him, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry, have we met?”
Miguel’s eyes boil with barely constrained rage. “You...were the bastard that took everything from me.”
Scar points innocently towards himself. “...By everything, you clearly don’t mean your life, or else you wouldn’t be standing here. But judging by your garish cybernetics...oh wait…”
Scar peers at Miguel again and laughs suddenly, seemingly putting two and two together. He taps the side of his temple as he speaks.
“Forgive me, how could I forget? That night was...rather fun, wouldn’t you say? I didn’t think you had survived. I bet you wished you hadn’t, had you?”
Miguel fires his gun again, the bullet stopping harmlessly a mere inch or two from the elder vampire. Scar mocks him openly by chuckling directly at him.
“At least I felt that one, unlike the peashooter you had that night.”
Miguel unloads the rest of the bullets he had in his clip out of anger, but Scar didn’t even flinch. Each projectile is stopped and gently laid on the ground as Scar continues to stare directly at Miguel.
“Really, I should be thanking you tin man. Without you, I wouldn’t have known that I had a problem in my security." Scar says, gesturing towards the downed vampire in the snow. "Now that I have found it, I can go about replacing it.”
Miguel attempts to fire his gun again, but a resounding click suggests otherwise.
Scar’s grin fades slightly as the sirens draw closer.
“As much as I’ve...enjoyed this conversation, I am afraid it is time for me to leave. I’ll be sure to have a heart to heart, next time we meet...and as for you mutt?”
Luna had merely been observing this whole time, unsure of what to do, say, or think. This guy was unlike anyone she’d ever met before. He seemed entirely evil and her fur bristled at the thought of him, but at the same time, it was almost like he wasn’t real. Luna furrows her brows as she’s insulted, her hands balling into fists.
Scar continues. “I don’t know what has driven you to join this fool’s brigade but know this; I am not afraid to take you out behind a shed if need be. Your kind belongs outside of the city.”
Scar takes his hat off and tilts it towards them and turns to leave, walking towards the parking lot. Miguel starts to charge him, his rage consuming him, but Luna grabs him and holds him back, looking into his eyes as Miguel thrashes his way to try to get free.
“Will you stop!? If he stopped your bullets, what do you think he’s going to do to you?”
“He’s right there! Right there! The man who ruined...everything! This might be my only chance!”
Luna gets a little firmer with him, pinning Miguel’s arms to his sides as he looks at him.
“If I let you go, it will be your last chance. Just calm down! You are really smart Mr. Morales, you can figure out how to get at him later! I know you can!”
Miguel finally gives up fighting against her but bites back heated tears as Scar simply walks away from him. He stares nothing but bloody, raw hatred for the vampire as his back retreats from him. Luna starts to reach a hand out towards him, but recoils, thinking better of it.
Miguel finally calms himself down as he takes a deep breath, wiping his hand over his eyes. Luna finally lets him go with a reassuring pat on the shoulder and gestures towards the car.
“We should get out of here. Those sirens are getting close.”
Miguel bites his lip but he looks up, seeing Scar step into his luxury car in the parking lot and turn the ignition, driving out one of the side entrances a turning onto a street.
“I know you’re right...but...yeah, you’re right. Let’s get out of here.”
A raspy voice interjects just as the werewolf and the man turn to leave, forcing both of them to turn around.
“W-wait. Please?”
Despite a pool of blood forming around her, Sakura still appeared to be alive although she looked unbelievably tired. She slowly turns her head to look up at the duo still present.
Miguel stares down at her less than sympathetically.
“And just why in the hell should I do that? You kicked my ass a few days ago and were about to do it again.”
Sakura gathers her drifting thoughts. “Listen. I’m...sorry about all of that. I was just...doing my job. That’s all. I don’t really hate you. If I had...If I had known how terrible of a person he is, I would have never agreed to....”
Luna leans down to sit next to her, looking over the vampire’s body worriedly.
“I would but...I don’t know how to help you.”
Sakura turns her sullen eyes towards the werewolf. “If you...if you do what I say, you can save me.”
Luna’s pupils grow large as she stares up towards Miguel, clearly wishing to help. Miguel frowns at her, shaking her head. “Luna! No! She is an enemy! How can we be sure that this isn’t some...some kind of trick! Some vampire bullshit magic thing?”
Sakura glances up towards Miguel. “...Dude. My boss just stabbed me in the back, fired me, kicked me out of his family and left me for dead on top of calling me worthless. I feel pretty bad as it is right now. Cut me some slack. I’m not evil.”
Miguel’s mouth purses shut at the answer, the man crossing his arms defensively. Luna’s puppy dog eyes get even larger. “C’mon...the enemy of my enemy is my friend right? I mean, she cut me up earlier a little bit, and I’m fine with it.”
Miguel snaps back. “Well I don’t have crazy healing powers or anything, so you’ll have to excuse me on that one. So what do you expect us to do with her? How do you heal a vampire anyway? Aren’t they like, dead or something?”
Luna leans up a little bit towards him. “I don’t know, but she’s asking for our help. I want to help her like you helped me. Remember?”
“Of course.”
Luna pleads. “Then what’s the difference between you helping me out when I wasn’t even awake and her asking you for help? She looks more human than I do.”
Miguel sneers at Luna’s logic, shaking his head. “You didn’t almost kill me. I mean intentionally. She nearly did.”
Luna peers at Miguel, pointing a finger accusingly at him. “What was it you said earlier? Don’t judge a book by it’s cover?”
Miguel’s lip curls up sternly as his advice is hurled back at him.
“Guys…” Sakura interrupts, wincing as she holds her chest wound closed. “...Totally bleeding out here. Make a decision.”
Luna legitimately whines at Miguel, unsure of what else she could say to persuade him. He cringes and runs a hand over his face, smearing his facial features.
“Rraagth Fine! Fine-fine-fine! But if she kills us, I swear I’m going to punch you in the afterlife. ”
Luna pulls off her hoodie and wraps it around Sakura’s torso before picking her up and cradling her. The sirens sounded like they’d be here any second now. Luna turns to leave, but Sakura turns her head to point towards the ground.
“Don’t forget my sword.”
Miguel grumbles as he bends over to pick it up. He gently slides it back into its sheath and then removes them both from Sakura entirely.
“I’ll hang onto this. For safe keeping. Let’s get out of here.”
The trio make their way to the side entrance that Scar used to leave, with Luna easily kicking down the sliding gate to freedom. They make it back to Miguel’s SUV just in time for the fire truck to crest the street corner to the burning brick building. The firefighters immediately start to quell the flames, and as Luna puts Sakura in the car, a quick motion catches her eye across the street. A pale man, with white hair and a trench coat, watches the flames from the corner, looking annoyed. Within a single blink of an eye, the man is gone as if he’d never been there in the first place. Luna peers at that spot for a moment longer before getting into the front seat. The Maroon SUV drives inconspicuously into the night, leaving the firefighters to their work.