Bete Noire (3 page)

“By the Goddess,” Ash whispered. She tugged on Tristan’s arm, pulling him against her side. Her free hand came up and held onto his arm a little too tightly. “She… she did this to herself?”

Yuki nodded, looking as dismayed as Tristan’d ever seen her.

The skin around Lilith’s eyes was jagged pink edges of healing flesh, her eyes were missing. Yuki had been kind enough to sew the damaged skin back together but it still looked raw and painful.

Yuki’s voice was soft and sad when she answered, “
Hai
. She tore her own eyes out with her fingers. The same day, she refused to speak again, and she will not leave my side, not even for a moment. She will not even heal the damage with a spell. She’d rather walk around like this. I had to sedate her just to sew the holes closed…”

A
sh was moved to nearly tears. For all the time she knew the girl, she never imagined this would be her fate.

“Why?” Tristan asked softly. He was more disturbed than should have been and couldn’t say why. Only just that it
really
bothered him, on a personal level. He felt like he needed to cry for the girl though he didn’t even know her.

Yuki shook her head, her eyes shu
tting for a moment in remorse. “It is just something that happens to all pythia, in time.”

“What...
” Ash had to stop to collect herself. “What were her words? What did she see?”

Yuki tied the blindfold over the girl’s missing eyes again and straightened, looking from Tristan, then to Ash. “The raven flies. The flower blossoms. The star falls. The earth shudders. Darkness
awakens.”

The room was unnervingly silent as the others processed the words. To Tristan, they just sounded foreboding and ominous. For Ash however, she knew enough about the pythia to not jump to any one conclusion as their words could be taken in multitude of understandings. Ash wanted to believe the foretelling wasn’t as dark as it sounded. She could ask the girl and of anyone, Lilith would speak to
her, she knew this without a doubt. But if Lilith was no longer speaking and no longer allowing others into her mind, what words could be had?

Tristan let out a long, shaky breath and whispered, “What the shit does that mean?”

“That, I don’t know.” Yuki smiled even as she shrugged lightly. “I don’t speak pythia.”

“Is this why you came, Yukihime?” Ash asked in a tiny voice.

The old vampire made a flippant gesture with her hand. “No. I thought perhaps that Lilith here could do with a change of scenery.”

Tristan frowned. Change of scenery? The girl couldn’t even see. And she did that to herself.

“
You’re being cruel
,” Ash whispered in Greek, sounding as if she might cry.

“
Am I?” Yuki answered in her own language with a high lit to her tiny voice and shrugged again. “If you really want to know, why don’t you address her yourself, Asta-chan? She is still of her mind and such.”

“Dammit, Yuki,”
Tristan snapped harsh enough to make Ash flinch. He didn’t understand what was going on or what they were saying without including him, just that he didn’t like it. “Quit fucking around. Tell us what you want and then get the hell out.”

He gave up long ago on being overly polite with the Snow Princess. The night he and Ash killed Malik, Tristan flicked off the old vamp and said more than a few rude things to her and she never retaliated. Yuki didn’t want him dead. Besides if she did, well, there wasn’t a hell of a lot either him or Ash could do about it then, was there? He accepted whatever was going to happen to him
would happen. Besides he wasn’t going to put up with Yuki’s bullshit. He wasn’t afraid of her.

Yuki tossed her head back and laughed. “
Ryōshi-san… brave brave Ryōshi-san. So you don’t fear me any longer?”

Feeling confident again and able to let Yuki distract him completely from the blind pythia, Tristan took his hand back from Ash and crossed his arms over his still bare chest, looking defiant. “No,” he answered plainly and honestly. She only
creeped him out, that was a
very
different emotion from fear.

“
Sō ka
.”

There was a whirl of motion around him seconds before something solid made contact with his upper body. His middle lit with cold burning energy, warning him that a very powerful vampire was way, way too close. Tristan took in a sharp breath, feeling the air fill every inch of his lungs, and blinked up into a face he never liked seeing so close. Yuki grimaced all fang at him, hot fingers pinching around his Adam’s apple, choking him. His eyes widened as he started to gag for air.

Next to him, Ash made a small, strangled sound. Tristan flinched and tried to look towards her, but the pressure on his windpipe kept him in place. Out of the corner of his vision he could see her pinned to the floor at his side, Yuki’s steel grasp immobilizing her. They were both at the mercy of the fickle, ancient vampire.

“What about now? Brave, brave, Uruwashi.
Mattaku
, you smell so...
totemo
oishii
.” Yuki licked her lips, wetting them. Her expression shifted from hungry to put-off again. She harrumphed, tightening her fingers so that she cut off his air completely. “Do you fear this mad, old vampire now? Is the
Uruwashi
frightened yet?”

Tristan bucked under
her, straining for air, his vision fogging already. He wanted to lift his arms, fling them outward and hit her, punch her right in the fucking face and deal with the repercussions later. But, for such a small person, she proved to be stronger and he couldn’t lift his arms from under her legs where she’d pinned them to his sides. He was helpless, like a butterfly to the flame against an eighty pound girl. And she was going to kill him if she didn’t let go soon. All she had to do was pinch her two little fingers together and crush his trachea, then dead Uruwashi on the rug.

“
Yeeees, Ryōshi-san. You’re so very right. All I have to do is squeeze and your life would be mine... Mmmm, and I bet you taste...” She shuddered hard, her eyes fluttering.

She really did want to kill him.

“Yukihime!” Ash managed to scream with the sudden lessening of fingers pinching off her voice box.

The Uruwashi blood in Tristan suddenly shifted, the way he felt was the same, yet different. Something was about to happen, he just didn’t know what. Yuki’s fingers on his throat became impossibly cold, as if they were made of ice. Then, as if confirming his last thought, a thin
layer of frost spread out around his neck, radiating from her hand. Tristan tried to suck in a gasp, shocked. Instead, he kicked, bucking under the vampire, his eyes wide and wild as the ice started to enclose his entire neck all the way around. He could feel the cold all through his throat and into his mouth. His chest started to burn from the inside out.

Next to him, Ash’s writhing doubled. She tried to kick out, take the Master vampire in the head, but Yuki saw the move coming and blocked it. She warned Ash in
gravelly Japanese to mind her manners or she’d be under Yuki’s scrutiny next. Reluctant, having to believe that Yuki wouldn’t really kill Tristan, Ash forced herself still, eyes welling with frustrated tears.

The small vampire gave a little huff. “
Tadashi…
,” Yuki drawled out, looking whimsical as the ice ceased to spread, “if I were to do something as silly as kill you, I think perhaps I could find much more interesting ways of doing so.” She smiled and leaned over Tristan, letting her top sag open, showing him that she wasn’t wearing anything under the thin fabric. Not that there was much under there to show off.

He groaned, his eyes starting to roll back. His whole face was tingling now, the pull of unconsciousness just moments from winning. Yuki huffed, pouting her lip out in an over-exaggerated display and opened both hands as she
pulled to her feet over him. Tristan drew in a deep, gasping breath, the air burning all the way down his throat, pulling fire made of sharp ice into his lungs. Yuki stepped away and he coughed a few times as the fresh air filled him and rolled to his side, curling up into a ball.

Ash immediately reached for him, touched his face. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, unable to speak just yet. He’d live anyway.

“You are sure?” she asked a little more gently and he looked up finally, meeting her
gaze. There were unspent tears lingering at the corners of her eyes. No matter how many times Tristan’d seen it, twice now to be exact, he was sure he’d never get used to seeing the red-tinted tears of the vampire. They literally wept blood.

“Yeah,” he answered in a scratchy voice. “Thanks.”

She gave him a small smile and sat up. And he said a silent thanks that she was okay, not even breathing heavy. Two months around vampires and Tristan wasn’t sure if they really needed to breathe or if it was just for show. He was starting to suspect the latter.

Tristan
rubbed at his sore throat. The thin layer of ice brushed away easily, coming off in his hand. He stood, putting his back to the room and grabbed his shirt from where he’d dropped it on the empty computer desk and pulled it on. It didn’t make him feel as safe as he wanted.

When he
turned around again, Yuki had taken up her seat again next to Lilith, looking statuesque, albeit smug. Tristan couldn’t help but glare at her as the last of the pain in his lungs dissipated. His throat throbbed with cold burn, but he wouldn’t give Yuki the satisfaction of letting it show.

“Okay,” Tristan said with his
irritated voice. “You’ve made your point.”

The little vampire raised a single white eyebrow at him. “
Honto ka
?” For once her normal bantering tone was replaced with something dry and sharp.

He sighed and leaned into Ash
when she wrapped an arm around his waist.

“Well,” Yuki said, “I hope my point is perfectly clear to you both because I have a job for you.”

“Pass,” Tristan answered without a second’s hesitation.

Yuki titled her head. “You have yet to hear my request.”

His posture shifted to stand-offish again. He was growing indignant, he couldn’t help it. Yuki just pissed him off. “I’ll listen, doesn’t mean I accept.” He was just lying to himself. If there was a vampire out there hurting humans, he’d feel obligated as the last Uruwashi to take care of the problem. Even if it killed him.

Yuki sat back against the couch and crossed her legs. Next to her, the pythia suddenly moved, mirroring the Master vampire’s
gesture. Nothing could have freaked Tristan out more than that one little motion. Yuki smirked. “I think you will both thoroughly enjoy this hunt.”

Nothing with Yuki was exactly as she said. There was always a hook and maybe even nasty teeth too. There was always a catch. Something she says they’d enjoy was more like
ly to mean something that she’d enjoy watching them struggle with.

Tristan heaved a deep sigh and muttered out, “Christ, I’m going to fucking regret this aren’t I…?
” Straightening, he asked, “Who?

The old vampire put on a broad grin. “Lucien.”

ASH made a rude noise and before Tristan could ask what was wrong she snapped, “Had I not warned you?” She let go of Tristan, jumping forward in challenge. “Fifty years ago, I told you. I told you he was not to be trusted. That he was dangerous. I told you!”

Yuki only gave Ash a condescending smile in return. Tristan though, was pleasantly shocked. He’d never seen Ash so loose-tongued with the ancient vampire. Maybe he was rubbing off on her more than he realized—in a bad way, obviously. After that little stunt Yuki
just pulled though, it probably wasn’t a good idea to keep poking at her… no matter how much Tristan couldn’t help himself.

“Lucien?” Tristan said, jumping into the conversation. “This the same asshole who barged into Ash’s home back in October and—” He stopped
short. He couldn’t put it into words, because honestly he wasn’t so sure really whether Lucien took from Ash or she was a willing participant in whatever happened behind those closed doors. All Tristan knew for sure was that there was the exchange of fluids, mostly Ash’s blood. Oh right, and that they’d “been lovers once”. Her words.

“
Ee
,” Yuki confirmed, drawing out the word. And he knew by the dirty smile that she’d just heard all of his thoughts. She knew exactly what he was thinking. She knew Tristan wanted to hurt Lucien regardless of what the vampire may have done to get himself on the shit list. “Lucien Lefèvre.”

“
Lefe…” He had a last name? It struck Tristan as really odd that a vampire would have a last name. Then again, they were, after all, once human. It stood to reason that they all had more than the single names he’d come to know them all by. Until learning Ash’s real name, he just assumed they all adopted single name pseudonyms, like Cher or Madonna. He wondered what Ash’s last name was, if she even remembered it after three-hundred and forty years. 

Ash cleared her throat softly next to him
, shifting on her feet.

Tristan sighed, knowing he was going to regret asking, “Okay, so why do you want me to kill Lucien? I don’t think being a certified asshole is enough reason, not for me anyway.” In truth, he wasn’t sure what his requirements were. Malik and his
summons, the jikininki, where the only things he’d killed so far. He had yet to sit down and decide what was the line between one death or two for the vampire. And did his services extend past the vampire, because he was pretty sure there were a lot of “others” out there he’d yet to knowingly encounter.

“It’s seems I’ve run into some…
issues
with the dear boy.”

“Issues?” he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

“He went rogue.”

“Define ro
gue.”

Yuki was starting to look agitated as she crossed one bird leg over the other, flashing the others her crotch. Tristan groaned, rolling his eyes
, but was thankful to whoever invented modern undergarments and that she’d worn them for once.

“He killed three dozen of my vampires.”

Tristan flinched back, shocked at the large number. He knew there was a lot in Yuki’s home, he just never expected there to be that many.

Ash wasn’t surprised in the least.

“Okay… and tell me why I should care. They were vampires, not humans.”

Yuki’s mouth screwed up in a look that was almost sorrow. Almost. “Ash is right, he is dangerous.”

This shocked both of them, hearing Yuki speak so plainly, truthfully and with Ash’s preferred name. It wasn’t like the Snow Princess at all.

“Perhaps I should start from the very beginning.” Yuki sighed, wholly unbecoming of her and sat back on the sofa. Tristan flinched when Lilith moved with her. He’d all but forgotten about the blind, mute pythia. He was unnerved all over again.

“In 1839 Malik found himself in France.”

Tristan made a rude noise through his teeth. He should have known
Ash’s dead Master vampire was involved somehow.

“It was the same year Lucien was made into a vampire by
Hi no
Guinevere.”

“He?” Tristan asked, pronouncing the word as he heard it.

The vampire next to him softly answered, “Fire.”

He frowned and looked down to Ash. There was something in her voice he couldn’t place.

“Wait, just how many different types of vampires are there?” He never asked before because it wasn’t relevant. It was pure luck really that no one—
no
vampires
had come for him yet. Word of Malik’s death had made it to the others, according to Yuki, but the validity of a real Uruwashi had yet to be made. He was still fable. And, thankfully, hadn’t been forced to kill since Malik. He agreed to take the reins as an Uruwashi, he just didn’t know how far he’d go to hold onto them.

A thought hit him and he frowned at the simplicity of it. Yuki was water,
Ash earth. Therefore… “Oh. There’re four elements.” It seemed so simple and he felt pretty stupid for not noticing it before. Then again, it wasn’t like Ash was shoving the abilities of her kind in his face. He had no idea the extent of her strength, her true
vampiric
strength.

Yuki sat up straighter, stiffening her back. Next to her, Lilith did the same. “
Chigau
,
go
. Five, Ryōshi-san.
Five
elements.”

“Uh, yeah, last time I check
ed there were only four.” Not unless they were talking about his favorite movie. Damn, he felt like watching it now.

“Naïve again, Ryōshi-san.”

God, he hated it when she called him “Hunter”, a constant reminder of what he was supposed to be. Then again it was better than calling him a flat-out murderer, which he was now.

“Ah, but I suppose the last isn’t so much as an element as…”
She paused, searching for the right word before coming up with, “Spiritual.”

“I don’t get it.”

Ash gave a little sigh next to him. “Earth, water, fire, wind and void. Sometimes one refers to it as
sora
, sky.”

He offered her a small smile. “Sorry, darlin’, that doesn’t help.”

Yuki gave that sigh again, the one that just didn’t fit her. In truth, this was the most docile he’d seen her since meeting her over two months ago. And that’s including the attack tonight. “In truth, I don’t entirely understand the power myself. Kū is the rarest and most obscure vampire ability. In my 1090 years on this earth I have yet to meet a single kū user. I often wonder sometime if it isn’t one of those… what are they called, old wives tales? Hai, like vampire folk lore.”

Tristan’s pulse sped up with her words. One-thousand-ninety-years...
He realized that she was old, very old, but something about her spelling it out down to the year was... unsettling.

“Okay, okay. We’re getting off topic here.”

“Hardly,” Ash said sounding sour.

Tristan took a step away from to look at her more clearly. She was standing near the edge of his desk, arms wrapped around her middle, hugging herself. Her expression was grim. He knew Yuki wouldn’t let anyone read her mind, so there was no way Ash knew what was going on.
So what was making her so glum?

She slowly looked up and met his eyes with her intense gaze. Those eyes alone always said so much
to hum, the pale crystal amethyst color that they were. They were always full of much emotion, words unspoken. Too bad he didn’t speak their language.

“Each element is the vampire’s base power. Such as
Shisho’s power over water. She wields it as she pleases and easily turns it into ice or steam. However, in addition to that base power, three of the four known houses possess a special summons,
kōmajutsu
. You saw the House of Earth’s in the form of the jikininki.”

Tristan’s jaw tightened. He’d had enough of those stinking man-eating demons to last
a lifetime. If they weren’t fed on the corpse of the recently dead, then they looked like rotting zombies. But if they’d eaten recently, within the day, then… well, then they could fool horny American’s into thinking they were real. That’s what happened to him anyway.

“Okay, so this is the part where I ask, ‘which house doesn’t have a special summons?’” Like he couldn’t figure it out now.

Yuki giggled and Ash frowned. “Very good, Tristan, you play the game so well. I am growing so very fond of you Uruwashi folk.” She petted the pythia’s hands and lap. Her own little doll.

“Focus, Yuki.”

Yuki giggled again, but it was Ash that answered for her.

“Fire.”

“Right.” The foreplay was starting to get on his nerves. “I don’t know, but it seems to me like that they are less dangerous than you water and earth users…” He looked from one vampire to the other. Ash ignored the prod, but Yuki grinned big, bearing saber-tooth fangs.

“Oh, Ryōshi-san, don’t misunderstand… I am very,
very
dangerous.” Her grin washed away and was replaced with a deep frown. “But the fire user is just that much more powerful. They are the most dangerous of us all.” Now, that wasn’t the whole truth either. But that was a tale for another day. Yuki couldn’t afford to scare off the last Uruwashi before he’d even had a chance to get his feet wet. Going after Lucien was the perfect chance to whet many things.

“F
ire is complete,
kiyomeru
—purifying and kills us so easily. It doesn’t take much to burn us and once we start to burn, we do not put out so easily. It is why we burn our dead.”

“To make sure they are truly dead,” Ash added
, thoughts drifting to the night she burned her Master and relished every second of it.

Tristan snorted. “You just mean they are dangerous to
you
. Vampires.”

Yuki’s expression went cold. “They are not to be taken lightly.”

Okay, so the look and the tone made him think twice about the seriousness of the situation. While he hated Lucien, it wasn’t enough reason for him to kill the kid. Lucien only killed others of his kind so as far as Tristan was concerned, they weren’t human—so why did it matter if they were dead? Lucien did Tristan’s job for him, really. He looked down to Ash and frowned. No. No, it did matter. They may not have been human, but they were real.

Ash’s voice was soft and distant when she spoke again. “I… I remember the night Malik returned from slaying Lucien’s Master, Guinevere.” She shuddered hard and he wondered what memory she was seeing again. “He was so... the burns, they went
terribly deep. Some still smoldered upon his flesh, unable to put out fully.” She let out a breath, something dark in her eyes as she recalled that night. “I still do not know how he survived such extensive damage.”

Tristan went to her and put a hand on her shoulder in silent support. She shook her head to say it was fine.

“So, how did Lucien end up with you if you aren’t his Master?”

“Ah well, back to the beginning—Malik was in France to kill Guinevere. She was one of the last Master
fire users. It was just her, and a single fledgling, Lucien in her home. She did have one other that was never found and suspected long dead. Malik had it in his mind that being a fire user, the line needed to end for fear of retaliation against his own kind. After killing Guinevere, a gentle creature really, Lucien was offered a choice. Die or serve Malik. Truly, I think he just meant to take Lucien as his own all along, but needed help in killing Guinevere, for as gentle as she was, she was also fiercely protective of those she loved.”

“Why does everything keep going back to Malik?”

“It is the fate of our kind,” Ash said softly. “We are all irrevocably bound to one another.” She looked up and met his gaze. “Whether we wish it or not.”

Tristan let out a long sigh. He wanted to hold her in that moment, comfort her, take away all the bad in her past. But she didn’t want that.

“How did you end up with Lucien then?” he asked, looking at Yuki again.

She titled her head to the side, giving him a sly sort of glare. “
I take what I want.”

He rolled his eyes, trying to resist going across the room, grabbing the child sized vampire and shaking the shit out of her. “
So where is he now?”

Yuki cracked a smile. “
Furansu.
”

“Of course he is,” Tristan muttered and then sighed
. “Okay, so say I take the job, track him all the way down in France and kill him, what are you giving me in return?”

“In return?” Yuki raised an eyebrow high in amusement. “
Ryōshi-san, I have already given you your reward.”

“Uh, no.”

“Knowledge.”

“You haven’t told me shit.” That wasn’t entirely true. Just half an hour ago he didn’t know that vampires had four—
five
elemental powers and that the fire line was all but extinct and the most dangerous of them all. He was a vampire hunter and yet didn’t know shit about them. He should really work on that. If only Ash weren’t so damn tightlipped.