The Fifth Clan (2 page)

2

Japan: January 12, 1804

Blood, smoke and snow. That was all I could smell. Damnit what the hell went wrong? I’d only been here for three years they shouldn’t have been able to tell yet. Someone had figured out that I wasn’t what I appeared to be and that had turned the entire village against me. Not even two weeks after the New Year and I was running about in the snow wearing nothing but a white hakama with a red belt holding it together. Luckily the snow landing on my bare shoulders and clinging to my hair didn’t bother me.

My hand tightened around the hilt of the katana as I crept slowly along the wall of the biggest building in the village. I stepped carefully, my body light enough that even in the soft powder I left no footprints behind. I couldn’t resist a smile. That would always be one of my favorite abilities. Walking across water periodically by making my body very light where people could see me had brought me no end of entertainment over the years.

Half the village was aflame, something I still regret even after two hundred years. I strained my ears as I crept along, listening for any sounds of pursuit. I really did not want to kill anyone if I could avoid it, but I would if I had to.

“Tenshi-nii-san!”

No, I thought. Not him. Please if there’s any sort of God not him. I turned slowly and, despite my pleadings, there he was.

“Go home, Tatsuhito,” I said in fluent Japanese. “Please, go home and tell no one you saw me little brother.” His face was stained with soot and one arm of his shirt was slightly charred.

“I have no home Tenshi-nii-san,” he said, tears streaming down his face. “It has burned to the ground already.” His little six-year-old body looked so frail to me against the back drop
of the gently falling snow and the roaring flames. I noticed he held his fathers Wakazashi with both of his hands.

Earlier that night I’d had to take the mans life.

“I am very sorry Tatsu-kun,” I whispered bowing low at the waist to him. “I cannot apologize enough for the tragedy I have brought to your village. It was not my intention.”

“Why?” he cried. “Why do they attack you? If you did something bad then apologize to them.”

Virith save me, he doesn’t know, I thought. He didn’t know what I was. In that moment I made a decision that would come to haunt me for the rest of my life.

I held out one arm towards him. “Come here Tatsu-kun,” I whispered. His body shuddered a bit with repressed sobs before he flung himself at me, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. I held him close to me, letting him cry against me for a few moments, gently stroking the back of his head.

A few tears of my own fell a moment later as I twisted his head sharply around, crushing every bone in his neck and killing him instantly. I dropped the Katana in my hand and slowly lowered his body to the snow. I’ve never been a very religious person. It’s not quite in my nature to be so. But I couldn’t help but take a brief moment of silence to say a few words over his still body.

A minute later I rose to my feet and took the sword and scabbard from Tatsuhitos body. Sheathing the blade I tucked it into my belt and picked up my Katana before taking off into the shadows of the trees surrounding the small mountain village.

3

Long Beach California: February 4, 2005

I pulled up to my apartment after reliving the memory of that snowy blood filled night. Heading straight upstairs I unlocked the door, the old memory drawing me inexorably forwards. I didn’t want to look, but I knew I would.

Inside I dropped my keys onto the table by my bed and slowly turned to face my wall of swords. Hanging in a spot of honor, right in the center was a Wakazashi.

The Wakazashi.

The one Tatsuhito was carrying the night I killed him.

“That’s the sword isn’t it?”

I didn’t turn around to face the woman standing behind me.

“This is the second time in as many days that someone has snuck up on me. I must be
losing my touch,” I said. I looked to my right at the Tai Chi sword I’d been practicing with earlier that morning. It was too far away for me to get to and draw before the person behind me could attack. There was only one option available to me at the moment. One that I did not want to use for personal reasons but I had no choice.

Moving as quickly as I could I snatched the hilt of the Wakazashi as I spun on one foot drawing the blade and bringing it around and down to point directly at the nose of the woman. “It’s been a while, Vera,” I said, purposely repeating what I’d said to Claus the previous evening.

“Yes it has,” she said. “I’ve missed you. My bed has been rather cold without you.”

“I don’t appreciate being treated as a pet,” I snarled. “And spending 20 years chained to you was more than enough for any lifetime.”

In case you, who are reading these words were wondering or hadn’t guessed by now, I am a vampire. I am three hundred and twenty seven years old, born in the year 1678. I no longer remember where I was born, only that I lived for a time in Ireland before I was turned at the age of 18. I have worn many names over the centuries, a requirement that only grew after I cut ties to the Brotherhood of Vampires and Werewolves and hid myself amongst humans. Today I am known as Gabriel Winters.

Contrary to popular belief Vampires are nearly indistinguishable from humans. We sweat, we breathe and sleep. We also do enjoy the pleasures of the flesh as it is sometimes called. I’ve read a number of vampire stories where the vampires depicted shun all forms of physical intimacy, preferring instead just to bite their chosen victim. Just goes to show they were wrong as I did not feed from the lovely Rachel the night before.

“You’ve had a woman here.” Vera said, bringing me to the present. “I believe I will have to find her, now that I have her scent, and kill her… painfully.”

I swore mentally. My face showed no signs of the turmoil going on inside. Vera, was a werewolf. As such her sense of smell rivaled even mine and I have frequently, in the past, tracked a person by their scent alone.

This was not good.

What made it worse was that I knew that with my current armaments I had no way of killing her. Damned Lychen immunity to all damage except that caused by silver. I had promised myself a long time ago that I would never wield Tatsus’ Wakazashi except
against one man. Threntü would be the first and only creature to feel the bite of Tatsus’ blade. The vampire that turned me would die by the edge of that sword.

Vera, would not.

“Why kill her Vera?” I asked. “She’s just a human, practically a child, far beneath your notice.”

“You belong to me,” she growled. “I cannot let some slut share your bed and get away with it without retribution.” Her left hand came up and she slapped the blade away from her face at the same time darting in past my guard. Her hands hit my chest and she shoved me up against the wall behind me before I had a chance to react. The next thing I knew her lips were crashing violently against my own, my lip splitting open against my teeth. She held the kiss, if it could be called that, for several moments as she dug her fingernails into my chest, drawing blood.

She finally broke the kiss and pulled back, licking my blood from her lips.

“Are you quite finished?” I drawled, acting as bored as I possibly could manage while struggling to keep my revulsion from my face. “Because, if you are, I’d like to know what prompted this little visit.” I pushed her away slightly and turned to re-sheathe the Wakazashi and placed it back on the wall.

“The Brotherhood has placed a price on your head my pet,” she whispered in my ear, pressing herself against my back. “You won’t give me any trouble now, will you?” I felt her hands slide down my chest towards my belt.

“Define ‘trouble,’” I growled as I reached down and tightly grasped her right wrist. With a sharp twist I snapped her wrist and both of the bones in her forearm. Before she could even gasp in pain I spun out of her grip and smashed my elbow into her face. I felt at least three teeth break under the force of the blow and her head snapped back so hard I could hear the bones in her neck popping.

“Oh you’re going to pay for that, Pet,” she growled, blood dripping down her chin.

“Probably,” I agreed, “but not quite yet.” Leaning back I braced my shoulders against the wall and planted my right boot in between her rather generous breasts. The next second she was flying backwards from the force of my kick right through the tall windows of my apartment.

I grabbed my keys and my bike jacket and shrugged it on as I sprinted forwards and jumped out of the window after her. Below me, as I fell the three stories to the street, I could see a crowd already beginning to gather around the broken and bloody form of the were-bitch from hell. They had no idea what they were getting into.

I landed silently behind them and sprinted as quickly as possible down the block to my bike, leaping on and tearing off into traffic at top speed. I ignored the blaring car horns and occasional crash that I caused as well as I ignored things like traffic lights, street signs, and basically traffic laws in general.

It was roughly six miles from my apartment to Rachel’s college and I knew that if I didn’t beat Vera there then Rachel would have very few moments of life left. Luckily it was only three in the afternoon so I’d still have a couple hours of daylight. As soon as night fell it would become very dangerous around here.

During the drive I had just enough time to remember a few things; things I didn’t really want to remember. My past seemed to have a habit of catching up to me, and it looked as if there was no escaping the inevitable.

4

New Orleans: September 24, 1725.

I loved the Big Easy. The city of New Orleans was always so vibrant, so full of life. There was a party every night and never a shortage of beauties to share a bed with, or a couple hours of diversion at the least. As the thought occurred to me I glanced to my left at the young creature walking beside me.

Gorgeous long hair, a slim tapered waist and dark bronzed skin, I couldn’t stop myself from leaning in for a kiss, not that I tried very hard.

“What was that for?” he asked, turning to face me after my lips left his neck.

“You’re just too gorgeous for words to describe, James,” I whispered. We were on our way to a gala ball, sponsored by the Brotherhood. None of the humans attending knew that of course, and only a few would find themselves on a dinner plate.

James being one of them.

I liked him, and I intended to get as much pleasure from him as possible before I disposed of him. We entered the estate grounds from the south side, milling amongst the other guests. A quick glance around told me that nearly three quarters of those present were human. I smelled a few werewolves and at least a dozen vampires of a couple different clans were within my line of sight. There were a couple of the Kargoni clan and at least one of the Shadu was present.

I smiled. Threntü really went all out for this one. The party rapidly got into full swing, wine and blood flowed like rivers before the end of the night and I awoke from a slight stupor induced by alcohol and large quantities of blood to find myself lying naked in a bed next to James.

Or what was left of him at least. His body had been ravaged by my fingernails and teeth. A quick glance showed that even his genitals were mutilated. I smiled, licking at some still moist blood clinging to my lips.

“Quite the tasty morsel, wasn’t he?”

I glanced up at the sound of a voice.

She was sitting in a chair against the far wall of the bedroom. I stood up, blood staining my mouth and neck and running down my chest, naked before her. I didn’t care about my nudity however. ‘Let her look all she wants,’ I thought. ‘No harm in giving the woman a last thrill before she dies.’

Moving so fast that no human would be able to follow my movements, I darted across the room and lifted her out of the chair by her neck. Spinning about I slammed her body forcefully into the ground, listening to bones crack and internal organs rupture as her fragile form made contact with the hard floor.

I stood, stretching the muscles in my back as I did so, and stared down at her broken form. She was quite beautiful. Long wavy blond hair, eyes a dark blue and skin so flawless she could have been made of porcelain. She had rather large breasts and an overall beautifully proportioned body. I found myself getting slightly wistful over the fact that I never got to fuck her. While she was alive at least.

So lost was I in my own musings that I failed to notice her move until her heel had been planted firmly into my gut and all the wind left my lungs in a rush as the force of her kick sent me flying against the far wall. I groaned and sat up just
in time to see her broken limbs mend themselves and her broken neck sharply fixing itself as she sat up.

“That wasn’t very nice, sweetheart,” she growled. Her eyes began to shine with a distinctive yellow light and I felt a feral grin touching my lips as her body began to grow and change.

“Bring it on, puppy,” I said to the werewolf.

This was going to be fun.