Hell on Earth

Jiro had his sword at Mei’s neck, feeling terrible for what he was about to do. Even with the blood lust in her eyes, she still looked innocent to him somehow, and he knew Kotaro would be devastated, and Kana was already devastated, he could hear her sobbing and screaming from the other side of the door.

With a steadying breath he pulled his sword back to swing, only to be stopped by Frederick’s. “Jiro, let me do it.” He ordered softly as Aimée appeared beside him. “Will you? Or will you back down the moment I leave this room?” he shot back, resenting how his stress came through his voice. “You don’t have to leave this room. You can stand and watch, but Mei is not going to die. Not tonight.” He frowned, and pushed him back against the wall.

Jiro watched in confusion as Frederick knelt down beside Mei and untied her before slitting her throat and both wrists with his sword, holding her carefully as her blood poured from her body. After receiving a nod from him, Aimée knelt down as well and began healing her slowly, so that the blood flow never stopped. “What are you doing?” Jiro asked finally. “She isn’t fully changed to Kowloon.” Aimée explained, though it didn’t answer his question. “Aimée is making her body continue to create fresh blood, as the tainted blood drains from it. Normally she would bleed to death and that would be the end of it. That or she would fully become a Kowloon vampire and heal herself. However, she cannot do that, while losing this much blood.” Frederick clarified. “We are hoping that this will counter the Kowloon bite, and she will return to normal.” Aimée finished. “Her eyes are already changing.” Frederick smiled with a sigh of relief.

After ten more minutes of Mei’s blood pouring onto the church basement’s floor, Mei started to cry, and Aimée healed her for real. “Shh, Mei you’re all right now. It’s over, you’re safe.” Frederick soothed, holding her to his chest so that she didn’t see the blood and pieces of her former captor, though the smell of blood was overpowering. “The bad vampire man,” she cried, clinging to his coat with all of her strength. “He’s gone now. Kana made sure he will never hurt anyone again.” He sighed, standing gracefully and lifting her with him. “Don’t think for one second, Mei, that we would have let something happen to you. We are an Alliance, do you know what that means?” Aimée smiled.

Mei shook her head and kept whimpering as her sobbing came to an end.

“It means we are friends in a fight, who will work together to help and protect each other, and each other’s armies. You are a part of Kana’s army, which means we are bound by our honor to protect you.” Frederick smiled and carried her out of the room, past Jiro who was in awe of what just happened.

As soon as they opened the door Kana and Mei were reunited, both shedding more tears than before. “Thank you,” she sobbed to Frederick and Aimée while holding her little sister close to her heart. “You are very welcome. We know the importance of a Reminder, especially one that meant so much in life. You are a lucky Demon, Kana.” Aimée smiled.

“Come on, we have to meet the others.” Lesander announced after suddenly appearing beside Zelman from the shadows. “What do you mean ‘others’?” he questioned. “I mean your Coven, the Company soldiers, Demon Hunters, Demons… freelance Vampires, and I think we even have an Angel.” He answered.

“An Angel?” Kana scoffed, raising her brow in sarcastic questioning. “She would be an Angel by my Christian beliefs, yes.” He retorted.

“You’re a demon, yet you so firmly believe in God?” Jiro asked blankly. “I’m Catholic.” Frederick shrugged. “Nondenominational, but still considered Christian.” Lesander nodded. “I don’t talk about religion.” Kana answered seriously when Jiro’s eyes landed on her. “Now, let’s go. We have a war to fight.” Lesander smiled before taking them all to his hideaway.

“Why are we meeting here? Where is this place?” Kain demanded as soon as they appeared. “San Francisco.” Lesander answered simply.

“What?!”

“What, what? You asked and I answered. I don’t understand why you are so upset.”

“Taking us so far, against our will, and you can’t understand my irritation?”

“We’ll be going back in less than ten minutes, so please do us all a favor and shut the hell up.”

Kain went to Hide Hand him into the wall, but Lesander retaliated by pinning him to the ceiling with the shadows. “Need I remind you, Kain, that I easily overpower you? As a Demon, I have stronger powers than you do.”

“Drop him on his ass!” one of the many new faces cheered from a corner of the warehouse. Lesander smirked, and gently set Kain on his feet. “We only came to pick up a few things before going to the real meeting, with the people you all know. I simply had some people to pick up.”

“You have a coven of Vampires?” Zelman questioned. “I have a coven of Vampires, yes.” He nodded and teleported them, Aimée, Kana, Jiro Zelman, Kain, Mei, Frederick, and the twenty young Vampires back to the Special Zone.

“Let the Living lie.” A cloaked figure ordered in a deep voice as it stood in the corner of the large hall. They had to leave the Company’s conference room because there were too many people, so instead they were meeting in a concert hall to prepare for war. “Who are you?” Jiro asked offensively. “Death. I am the only Reaper on your side of the battle lines. I am the only Reaper who wishes to spare the innocent, for I know too well the toll it will take on the deceased to have such a number of newcomers joining them. The ones opposing you have not taken it into consideration what will become of a soul taken from the body so abruptly.” It answered.

“I’m sorry, but are you a boy or a girl? I can’t tell,” Kotaro asked shyly, blushing as the hooded figure turned to face him. “I am neither, and I am both. I am simply Death. I was never Human, nor was I Living.” It answered.

“Then what do I call you?”

“Death, little Vampire.”

“Oh,” he nodded, and stepped back to sit quietly beside Mimiko in the comfortable theatre seats while Jiro paced the stage with the other main players of the game.

“So we have Death on our side, that’s great!” Rinsuke announced, clapping his hands happily, “What do we have to worry about?”

Death turned its cloaked head, and in seconds was across the room holding its scythe at his throat. “There is more than one part to Death. There are many, and many are mindless. I am the one cursed to aid you. Many things are for you to worry about!” it shouted, “Let the Living lie.”

“What does that mean?” the president of the Order Coffin Company demanded while stifling a yawn. “It means you all need to sleep.” Lesander answered as if it were the most obvious thing on earth. “The Living need rest to fight. Living only applies to Humans. Vampires are not technically living, and Demons are dead.” Kana explained, rocking Mei’s sleeping form lightly before placing her on a small cot to rest.

“Then kill me later, I have a determination to protect the innocent lives of this world! Agree or not, I have seen them with my own eyes! Burn the place to the ground, you primal, barbaric bastards! I have had enough! Damn your church; damn it to the fate these monsters from Hell provide! Damn it to the fate you have condemned it to, I will have no part of it!” Eri ranted as he walked through the doors of the concert hall, flipping someone off before slamming them behind him.

“What was that about?” Mimiko asked. “The Hunters won’t have any part of this. Not the ones from IHQ, but the ones from G.H.E’s league. IHQ sends its regards but is unable to send any resources here, G.H.E. is outside with their torches and pitchforks, spitting holy water.” He spat. “G.H.E.?” Kana questioned. “God’s Hunters of Evil.” He sighed.

“They want to rid the earth of demons, ghosts, vampires… anything that isn’t ‘of god’. They would behead Kotaro and Mei both without a hint of remorse.”

“Then I agree with you, damn them to the monsters’ hunger.”

“They will not be reaching the Heavens.” Death announced, “They will all become Demons, unaware of their sin, but committing the crime nonetheless.”

“Good. Let’s hope they don’t end up anywhere near my Pits.” She huffed. “Nor mine, the moment I hear ‘and I shall smite thee’ I will take their heads off and send them to their Church.” Frederick nodded.

Hours passed, and every Human in the hall had fallen asleep. Demons and Vampires were taking turns keeping guard, and the others were on the stage relaxing to the best of their ability, talking amongst themselves, and getting to know one another.

“What did you do to become a Demon?” Zelman asked Kana quietly as they stood together in a corner, away from everyone else and guarding Mei’s sleeping form. “I went to a lot of parties when I was alive. My parents couldn’t stand it, and Mei always begged me to stop because ‘it maked everyone sad’.” She sighed, “One night I had too much to drink, and took some pills at my friend’s place. On my way home that night I caused a three-car crash in an intersection, one car had a single mother and her three children ages eleven, nine, and four months. The mother died on impact, the eldest son shortly after. The nine year old girl got out, and tried to get her baby brother out but couldn’t. The baby died in the ambulance and she died three days later in the hospital.”

“And the other car?”

“Mother, father, two year old daughter.” She choked as a few tears ran down her face. She was surprised to find his arm around her shoulders, but didn’t pull away, desperately craving someone to hold her for a chance, instead of her holding Mei, as it had been for years. “Mei was thrown from the car six feet. Mom and Dad both d-died that night.” She cried.

“I don’t know what to say,”

“I was stoned, and knew I would be arrested for the drugs… I ran away because I didn’t get hurt in the crash. Not badly anyway. I hid out at my boyfriend’s house, and died a week later of an overdose.”

“Does Mei know?”

“That I killed our parents? No. She doesn’t remember the crash. I took her in four years ago from an orphanage, unable to stand watching her live that way because of me. I deserve my fate, and worse. She doesn’t deserve to live that way because of me.”

She broke down then, clinging to Zelman as he comforted her. The others around them tried to ignore her, but after realizing who was crying, and who was comforting, everyone was surprised. Neither Kana, nor Zelman seemed to be themselves.

“I told you.” Aimée smiled before relieving Kain of his guard duty. It was sunrise, and many of the vampires were going to sleep for the day, except Zelman who felt no need to rest.