Children of the Night: Masquerade, Chapter 2

She kept running, running as fast and as hard as she could through the snow and cold.  The wind was against her face, and the thoughts of many people ran though her mind, and the poor girl could not hide it for very long.  She was losing herself, her mind…

And just maybe, her soul as well.

Yuki woke up in the middle of the night, sweating to be hell from the nightmare she had been having for the last few days.  It was surely similar to her last memory from years ago, but it was also different.  In the past her nightmares were in the snow, a little girl lost and afraid about to be torn to pieces by a monster.  However, in the last few days, the nightmare had featured her as she was now, the teenager and adopted daughter of Headmaster Cross.

As she looked at her alarm, she realized that she had been sleeping for less than five hours, not too good but better than three.  Of course, she was happy to sleep at all since she had to be up late in order to protect the Academy’s secret.

“But at least, for what its worth, its better than having mass chaos erupt.”

“—Yes, Headmaster Cross, I’m sure.  I want her to come with me,” Kaname  said, sitting in his chair by the desk of the Headmaster.

Adjusting his glasses, Headmaster Cross then took a sip of his coffee, “Well, I guess we could have a small holiday in the event of your absence.  The guardians would be down by one, and Zero wouldn’t be able to—“

The door opened, and as if the devil heard, Zero Kiryu stepped into the office, hands in his pant pockets, and sauntered into the room.

“Ah, Zero we were just talking about you, please sit down,” the Headmaster said.

The guardian’s eyes went straight to the vampire, Kaname, who sat with his legs crossed and leaning on his elbow on the armrest.  “I know, I heard it.”

“Oh, eavesdropping?”  the headmaster made a playful gasp at Zero’s little announcement.  “How much of it did you hear?”

Zero went and took a seat, “All of it.”

The headmaster’s eyes slightly narrowed, “I figured as much.” 

Kaname adjusted himself, “and what do you think of it?”

“I’m against it.”

“Zero, the choice isn’t yours, its Yuki’s,” headmaster replied.  Yuki was his adopted daughter, coming into his care when Kaname brought her to him ten years before.

“She isn’t your real daughter,” Zero angrily replied.

“No matter, the choice will be hers to make once she gets here—“

“SORRY!”  Yuki yelled as she came rushing in, coming close to knocking the door off its hinges.  After she bowed in apology and straightened herself, as well as gather all the breath she had lost, she turned, “I had to—oh, hello Kaname…”

Zero’s eyes narrowed, “What, no hello for me?”

Yuki shook her fist at Zero and mumbled, “I see you all the time, shut up.”

The headmaster spoke up, “Yuki, Kaname has something he wishes to speak to you about.”

“Oh?”

Kaname stood up, “Yuki, there is a special event happening in Europe.  A party is being held by a friend of mine, and I was hoping you’d join me.”

Yuki blushed slightly, feeling the heat go straight to her face, “uh…just us?”

Kaname shook his head, “Kain, Aido, and Ruka will be joining us—“

“As will I,” Zero spoke abruptly.

Kaname’s gaze shifted to the guardian, but he said nothing.

The headmaster, however, objected immediately, “Zero, this is a personal event for Kaname and the vampire race.  You won’t be allowed—“

Yuki’s eyebrows went up, “it’s a vampire party?”

“Yes, in honor of the coexistence between humans and vampires.”

That was what Yuki wanted.  Coexistence between the two most hostile races on the planet, a seemingly senseless wish, yet it could in the slightest be granted if worked hard enough.

“I see.  Then, Kaname, I’d love to go,” she said, then her gaze shifted to Zero, angrily glaring at her, “if its alright, I’d like Zero to come along.”

Kaname’s dark eyes went to Zero, then back to Yuki, “Of course.”

Yuki gave a sigh of relief, then she looked at the clock on the wall, “Well, I’m going to get ready for the exchange.  Um, when do we leave?”

The vampire smiled, “In the evening.  I have everything planned out for our absence, so no need to worry about trivial things.”

Another sigh came from the girl, “oh, thanks…well, see you all then.”

As soon as the door was closed, Kaname started to walk out, “I'll make sure to make arrangements for you Zero, see you later.”

When the door had closed behind the vampire, Zero also started to leave.  Yuki’s asking of him to come along was a bit of a surprise to him.  He was ready to make a stand should she have thought to convince him other wise, but turns out he had nothing to really worry about.  Except Yuki going to a party of vampires, by herself, and with Kaname…

As Zero thought about this, he heard the headmaster speak, “Zero, I hope to not hear that you caused trouble for Kaname.  This could be a big moment in the Academy’s history.”

Zero’s hand went to the inside of his uniform jacket, and tightly gripping the handle on his silver Bloody Rose handgun, “I'll do whatever I see fit to keep Yuki safe.”

With that, he walked out of the room, and into the darkened hallway.  

    October 24^th, 1^st Day

    With the sun finally going down, Mina was able to sit in her favorite spot in the whole castle.  The chair in front of the large pane-glass colored windows in the dinning room.  At the head of the table where royalty was supposed to be, and as the ruler of the vampires she felt more than proud of where she sat.

    But now with the evening coming in she had to look forward to the party she had been organizing for the last few months.  She was taking a big gamble.  Like mixing unknown chemicals together, all the guests came from different walks of life in the vampire realm.

    The end result could be dangerous, but Mina was more than willing to do anything in order to achieve her goal.

    “And if anything does go out of control, I trust you’ll be there to save me, right Akira?”

    Standing next to her chair was her servant, Akira Regendorf.  “Of course, Princess.”

    “Things are going to be interesting for the next week, but don’t think I’m not going to let you be stuck to my side the entire time.  I’d like for all of us to enjoy ourselves.”

    Akira was able to smile, “Sure thing...”

    “Something wrong, Akira?”

    “Just one thing, why are you having a party for something like this, and with all these people?”

    Mina quickly sighed, not that she wasn’t expecting that question from Akira, “Most humans fear or hate vampires, but the ones I’ve invited to the party are on friendly terms with humans or at least try to be.”

    “So in other words, this party is meant to symbolize the continuing existence of vampires and humans.”

    Mina nodded once, and closed her eyes, “I wonder when the first guests will arrive.”

    Karin and Kenta had been told to close their eyes as they had gone into the car that had been sent to retrieve them.  Though the two gave it questionable looks, in the end they obeyed.

    And when they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a foreign land.

    Gone were the buildings and single trees of Japan, and say hello to the mostly forested landscape of Europe.  Karin had every reason to know they were in Europe, having grown up in the continent for most of her life before moving to Japan.

    “And from the looks of it, Far Eastern Europe, Hungary or Transylvania even!” Karin talked excitedly, her maroon eyes bright.

    Kenta of course was in foreign land, he had no idea where he was and with what Karin knew of the place he was going to have pay a great deal of attention to her for the next few days.

    The car went down a long road, but neither of the two were able to stick their heads out the window to see where they are going, but once the car came to a stop they were both speechless.

    A large Castle, like one out of a fairy tale.  Gothic and shining in the fading sunlight.  It was granite white and massive.

    Karin was speechless as she stepped out of the car, in her years living in Europe she had never gotten close to a castle of her own, and to be simply dwarfed by a real one was almost overwhelming.  Kenta was even more since he had never seen one up close. 

    And one detail stuck in his mind made him breathless, “We’re going to live here for a week?!”

    Karin herself had to remember that detail as well, “Oh no…this is going to be…”  She couldn’t find the right word as she looked up at the castle again.

    A small chill came from behind the two and it successively took their eyes off the gothic-like structure to see a bus coming from a portal.  The bus was a commercial one that Kenta recognized as a city bus.  The doors opened as soon as the vehicle came to a stop, and out stepped a boy with short black hair and in a blue shirt and white shorts, followed closely by a girl with long pink hair and wearing a knee length yellow dress.

    “I guess we’re the not the first ones here,” Tsukune said when he saw the other two teenagers.

    Moka, holding her two bags in her hands, saw the two as well and just smiled, “That’s good, then we won’t be lonely.”

    It didn’t take long for the two pairs to get to each other and try to get acquainted with each other, which is what Moka wasted no time in doing.  “Hello, my name is Moka Akashiya, this is Tsukune Aono.”

    Tsukune waved as the other two waved back.  The girl with dark purple hair and big eyes spoke first, “Name’s Karin, Karin Maaka.” 

    The boy beside her then said, “Kenta Usui, nice to meet you.  You two here for the party?”

    Moka nodded once, “We came from our school earlier.”

    Karin yawned, “Long car ride from ours as well.”

    Moka looked around, somehow not too impressed with the large castle in the background like she was used to being around such structures, “Are you two the only ones here?”

    Kenta nodded this time, putting his hands in his pant pockets, “We got here less than three minutes ago.”

    Tsukune folded his arms, “Guess we should see if we can go inside.  Maybe we can get a snack or something.”

    The four teenagers started for the large wooden doors where they believed was the entrance to the large castle.

    By sneaking out the back door, the unwanted passenger had avoided being discovered.  Using ninja-like stealth techniques, Kokoa was able to avoid her sister and Tsukune from seeing her.  Having snuck aboard the bus a few minutes before it had picked up the two from the Academy.  Kokoa had heard about the note that Ruby had given Moka that day, and she was not at all happy when she was able to get a sneak peek at it.  “A party for vampires, and she didn’t even bother asking me?!  That dumbass sister of mine!”

    And to make it even more unreal was the fact that Moka decided to take her friend Tsukune instead of a family member made her seethe down to her core.  She was going to teach that pink-haired loser a thing or two as soon as she was alone.

    That however was going to have to wait as Kokoa was now trying her hardest not to be spotted.  Then, a chill ran up her spine and she turned to see the portal open again.  This time it wasn’t a normal car nor a bus, but a long black limousine.

    The car came to a stop near the other four, and their attention was shifted to it as the driver of the limo opened the car door, and a raven-haired person stepped out of the car.

    With one hand holding the skirts of her white dress, Sera gave her other hand to her driver and stepped out from the back seat of the vehicle.  She had not been expecting the quick trip from Berlin to Transylvania in less than a few minutes.  “Ah, Transylvania, haven’t been here in a long while,” she said, taking in a deep breath of heavily forested fresh air.

    Her driver, Joel, closed the door of the limo as Sera looked around, “You’ve been here before, Princess?”

    “A couple times, not since I was a little girl though.  Anyway, someone will notify you once it’s okay to come and get me. I'll see you then.”

    Joel nodded once and went to unpack her luggage from the trunk.  Sera’s attention was soon turned to the four pairs of eyes that were locked onto her.  And what a variety of color she saw.  A girl with dark violet hair and nearly matching eyes that were bigger than the boy next to her, and next to her was another girl with bright green eyes and long pink hair.  Must be a fashion where’s she’s from…, the Princess thought.

    Joel said his farewells and drove the car away and Sera decided to introduce herself, “Hello, my name’s Sera Reinhardt.”

    The pink haired girl smiled, “Nice to meet you, I’m Moka.”  The others gave their names as well.

    Then came a very normal question that Sera was used to hearing, Tsukune raised his hand, “By the way, if I’m wrong I apologize, but that driver called you Princess, right?”

    “Yes, I’m the Princess of Germany, as well as Germany’s vampire clans.”

    Tsukune was greatly surprised, as were the others so much that Moka gasped, “Sorry!” and bowed her head.  The other three followed suit and bowed their heads as well.

    Sera giggled and put a hand to her mouth to stifle her fit, “I appreciate that, and it’s alright though.”

    Moka smiled but still looked a bit embarrassed.

    The Princess looked up at the Castle, “For some reason, this place seems familiar…”

    Tsukune said, “So, you came by yourself?”

    “Hm?”

    “We all got the option to bring a friend, but you came alone.”

    Sera shrugged, “Not an option offered to me apparently.”  Not that that bothered her, she always felt she was never alone thanks to Viktor who was never too far away when she needed him.  The Princess’ bright blue eyes slowly moved over to the setting sun, the light nearly gone on the horizon and the stars started to fill the sky.  Not a good sign in this region.  “Anyway, we better get inside, Transylvania is pretty dangerous at night from what I remember.”

    Tsukune looked confused, “Um, what do you mean by dangerous?”

    “Fledermausschwarm”, replied the Princess, the German word coming off her tongue like silk.

    Too bad no one knew German other than Sera herself, and before someone could ask for a translation the doors to the castle opened behind the group, and as if to finish off the line up to a stage play, a group of people came out of them.

    The first two were wearing what looked like white tuxedoes with black linings.  One was tall, with short dark orange hair.  Open dress-shirt and no red tie and hands in pockets.  The one next to him had a smile on his face and was tidier than the other boy, and had short blonde hair.

    The eyes of the blonde went over the five newcomers, and soon settled on Moka, then Karin, and finally Sera.  Eyes keen with interest, deep interest.

    He whispered something to the other boy and he chuckled lightly.