A Light In The Heart Of Darkness. Amy Blankenship

snuck into Toya’s bedroom… to watch him sleep.

      Had he known Hyakuhei was following him and watching him watch Toya… he would have never put Toya in danger like that. His uncle had turned Toya because he had thought that was what Kyou had wanted. It had been his fault that Toya had died the first time.

      Toya had fought their uncle, during the turning and after. As their arguments became more vicious, Kyou had tried to keep Hyakuhei’s attention away from his brother. Then Toya had started talking about a cure for vampires… the Guardian Heart Crystal. He had sworn he would find it and cure them both.

      Toya had found his cure… in death.

      Doing his best to avoid looking at the now empty cavity where his brother’s heart had once resided, Kyou stood and carried Toya’s body away from the scene to give him a proper burial.

      He could no longer feel Hyakuhei’s presence but knew he was close, watching him somehow… always watching him. Kyou understood now that he would have to leave, go into hiding until he was strong enough to defeat the evil that had stolen the only thing he held dear… his little brother. He slipped past the darkness leaving the clearing in total silence.

      Kamui breathed a soft sigh of relief when the brothers were gone and lowered his invisibility barrier from around Kotaro’s battered form. Looking down at the Lycan, Kamui knew it would take a while for Kotaro’s wounds to heal… not just the wounds to his body, but the wounds that now lay deeply imbedded within his heart as well.

      â€œCome on,” Kamui whispered, pulling one of Kotaro’s arms across his shoulders and helping him stand. “Hyakuhei has not gone far and I need to get you out of the open.” His eyes shimmered the color of rainbow dust as he tried to withhold his own tears. It was in vain for he could feel them sliding down his cheeks in hot trails.

      So much had been lost in the span of only a couple of deadly hours… he now knew what darker than dark truly was. He would not lose Kotaro as well.

      â€œI didn’t hate him that much,” Kotaro whispered, looking dejectedly toward where Toya’s body had lain just moments before. They had both loved Kyoko and she in turn held affection for both of them… never choosing one over the other when they were fighting… until tonight. The fates had only given him a few short hours… at least Toya had not known.

      His hand curled into a fist and tightened. Toya would have been mad… but he would have been alive. “I would rather face his anger… not this… not this.” His voice faltered.

      They had both tried to protect her but now Toya… Kotaro’s ice blue eyes swam with unshed tears, “I never hated him.”

      â€œHe knows you didn’t,” Kamui said leading Kotaro in the direction of the only safe place he knew… the wizard, Shinbe’s home. He needed to tell their friend of Toya’s fate… and Kyoko’s. Shinbe would somehow know what to do, he always knew.

      â€œI’ll kill that bastard Hyakuhei,” Kotaro snarled as he pulled against Kamui’s restraint, his Lycan nature coming to the surface. “He killed her… he killed Toya because of her. When I find him, he’ll wish he’d been born human.”

      As if the wind had been knocked out of him, Kotaro’s body shuddered. He knew Toya was a lot stronger than he had ever acknowledged but without Kyoko to protect… Toya had lost his will to fight. Hyakuhei had known that before the fight had ever started.

      Toya’s grief had made him hotheaded… impatient. “If only he had waited… a few more moments. Kyou could have saved him.” Sadness hung on every syllable as Kotaro wiped angrily at the tears that silently left trails down his cheeks.

      â€œI wanted to save them both… Kyoko,” the pain of his weakened body was too much as he closed his glowing ice blue eyes and gave in to the nothingness that would soothe the pain for a short while.

      Kamui nodded as he lifted Kotaro’s limp body and carried him. “You have done enough. Rest for now.” He whispered. “It’s my turn to do the saving.”

      Chapter 2

      In the predawn hour, Kamui hovered above an unmarked grave. The two men standing on each side of him were all he had left. He had watched Shinbe use his telekinetic powers to remove the earth from Toya’s grave and widen it enough for two bodies.

      Shinbe and Kotaro now both wore the same expression… sadness and stubborn strength. Kamui knew they were trying to stay strong for him but he could see through to the melancholy they both hid.

      They all stared down at the grave… the painful reality of it all sinking in. Things were not supposed to end this way… the good side wasn’t supposed to lose… or die. Shinbe had helped them come to a decision on what to do. Retrieving Kyoko’s body, they had brought her to the grave where Kyou had laid his brother and buried them together.

      Toya would have wanted it that way… it was the only thing that felt right.

      Kamui had been unable to carry Kyoko’s body to the grave site once they found it. The blood surrounding her wasn’t what bothered him. It was just heartbreaking to see someone so kind and pure, once possessing so much light within her that it hurt your eyes to look… lying there in the darkness with their eyes open and sightless.

      Sensing Kamui’s shock and seeing his hands trembling, Kotaro had stepped in and lifted her lovingly into his arms, trying hard to ignore the stiffness in her limbs as he did so. He couldn’t bring himself to feel anything except anger and sadness at that moment. If he had let the rest of it in… how much he had loved her, his knees would have buckled… the grief weighed so heavily on him.

      Seeing the look on Kamui’s face was enough to help him control his own emotions… it also helped that numbness had set in. Kamui was not human nor was he creature… whatever he was… his heart was shattering. Kotaro decided to make it his business to watch over him from now on, even though the boy probably didn’t need it.

      Kamui wiped the trail of tears from his eyes, trying to be strong like Kotaro and Shinbe. His untamed purple hair ruffled in the wind as he looked down at the freshly turned earth. He had taken off his own robe and gently wrapped them in it to heighten the power of the spell he was about to cast.

      Closing his glittering eyes, he laced his fingers together as illuminated wings sprouted from his back in a flurry of feathers. They shimmered with colors so intense, they were unknown to the human eye.

      Shinbe and Kotaro both took a startled step back, suddenly understanding just what Kamui was. The word angel hovered on their lips but he looked so sad. Like an angel with a broken heart… a fallen angel.

      With gentle fingers, Kamui removed a feather from his right wing and held his hand out with its palm up. The sad and serene expression on his face did not waver. His eyes shone with a glimmer of hope as he quickly swiped the suddenly sharp feather across his palm causing a shallow cut.

      The crimson liquid pooled in his palm and Kamui slowly closed his fist over it before reaching out over the unmarked grave. The sacred drops of his life’s blood fell to the earth making the soil glow an unearthly electric blue power.

      Shinbe and Kotaro could only stand and watch in shock while this took place. They dared not move for fear of disturbing the rite Kamui was performing. Both understood they were witnessing something incredible and, no doubt, would never see it again.

      The very air around Kamui swirled into a vortex surrounding him in a fluorescent blue light. His echoing voice left his lips seeming older and wiser than it ever had to their memories. It ricocheted across the skies, a frightening sound that carried for miles making all that heard it still in reverence of its power.

      â€œOne thousand years it will take…