Demon Rising

Chapter 13: Vermillion's Plague

Author's note: This is where the mayhem begins. As the last chapter was more of an appetizer, this would be consider the main course, though how may meals have two main courses? Seriously! Anyway. This is where the action begins. Pretty much from the get go, things start to fall into place. So yeah. Lots of blood, lots of death. I read and re-read this chapter like, 4 times, so I'm hoping I got everything. Anything else? No? Okay...
Oh yeah. If you spot anything, let me know. I'll pay 50gps for each spelling mistake found.


Chapter 13: Vermillion’s Plague



Monday dawned bright, cool and breezy, and with the usual air of a Monday morning. That is to say, school kids complaing about how they have to go back to school, some of them thinking quickly for an excuse as to why they didn’t finish their homework.

Over the weekend, the news hadn’t reporter any strange occurances, except for the rats of the city acting strangely, using the city as if a giant maze. So taking Jinkara’s advice, Vaugn was using his energy to rest up and prepare himself for the next battle, prefering not to think about the next demon in any sence of the term.

Vaugn’s friends, on the other hand, had a slightly different idea.

Walking down the sidewalk,Vaugn and Asuke were enjoying the cool mroning air, talking about nothing imparticular. Stopping at the street corner, Vaugn and Asuke waved hello as Imari, Kihari, Nikkai and Shentin walked briskly towards the two on the street corner. Before all the hello’s had been said, Imari asked the question that seemed to be at the foreground of everyone’s mind.

"Vaugn, do the rats acting strange have anything to do with the Feral Forty?", she asked briskly, her eyes twinkling slightly from curiosity as she and the group crossed the street, continuing their way to school.

Vaugn, who had not been expecting this question so early in the morning, choked slightly on the lung full of air he had been taking in. Raising a hand to his mouth ,caughing slightly, Vaugn looked into the faces of his friends, all of which had the same look as Imari, that is to say, their eyes twinkling, their mouths pulled into curious grins on their face.

Recovering from his slight fit of un-controlable of caughing, Vaugn knew that no matter what happened, his firends minds were made up. With a look of stubborn submitance on his face, Vaugn let out a long slow sigh. He knew this question was coming, yet he somehow couldn’t fully prepare himself for it.

Vaugn didn’t answer right away, but instead took several slow breaths to grudgingly contemplate his answer. This seemed to Vaugn’s friends that he was ignoring them, and this added to heightened their curiosity.

"Well? C’mon Vaugn! Out with it!", Kihari pushed on, her eyes, like everyone elses, twinkling even more brightly with curiosity.

Finally, deciding that his friends were close to passing out from their curiosity, Vaugn took one final deep breath before answering.

"Do I think the rats have anything to do with the Feral Forty?", Vaugn asked wisely as he and the others stopped at their usual crosswalk, Vaugn sliding his hands into his pants pocket, "Well, I have to admit that it is unusual that the rats started acting weird all at once.", he finished as the crosswalk signed turned green, and Vaugn began to cross the road, leaving his friends several paces behind him.

The friends looked at the reatreating back of Vaugn, their mouths slightly open, their eyes as wide as possible, their eye brows disappearing under neathe their hair.

"And?", Asuke implored, she and the others dashing across the street to catch up with Vaugn. Clearly the friends had wanted more then what Vaugn had given them.

"Well, I did get the feeling of something evil near by three times, and one of the rats didn’t look exactly normal. Jin certainly thinks it may have something to do with the next demon. But other then that, we’re not jumping to any conclusions.", Vaugn said simply with a shrug as he and the others joined the trickle of their fellow schoolmates walking to school.

"So that’s it? That’s all you have?", Nikkai asked, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Yeah. What more did you want?", Vaugn asked seriously as the trickle of students turned into a river, their school only being half a block away.

"Well we wanted to know what you thought the demon was doing, or what kind of demon it was. You know, stuff like that.", Shentin said in a slightly exasperated voice.

"Yeah well, I’m just as in the dark about that kind of stuff as you are.",Vaugn replied simply as the group of friends turned into the school yard and walked towards the front doors.

When the friends emerged in the entrance hall of their school, they noticed that it seemed oddly empty. Usually, the halls were packed full of students shoulder to shoulder, clammering to their homerooms, teacher directing the students like traffic police the best they could. But today however, the hallway seemed oddly larger, most likely due to the fact that there were only half as many students filling the hallway, the teachers all but absent in their traffic directing duties.

"Does it seem more empty in here then usual?", Imari asked the group as they walked down the hall to the locker room, passing only a dozen students on their way.

"Yeah, it does.", Asuke replied as the group entered the locker room and meandered their way to their respective lockers, looking around the very empty room.

"It’s probably a case of the flu going around. It is flu season after all.", Vaugn said absent mindly, shrugging his shoulders, opening his locker and taking out his in door shoes.

"Yeah, but half the school being sick at once? Isn’t it a little suspicous?", Nikkai asked as the friends slipped into their in door shoes, locked their jackets and outdoor shoes securely in their lockers, and made their way to the locker room entrance.

"Not really. Back in Canada, I remember one time half my school was home sick with the flu. So it’s not totally unthinkable.", Vaugn replied in an offhand voice as the friends made their way down the hallway, towards their homeroom classroom.

The friends looked at one another and shrugged as they walked into their homeroom and took their usual seats, waiting for the morning announcements. Vaugn could tell by their slightly suspicous tones that they were trying to steer the conversation back to the topic of demons. Vaugn, however, was one step a head of them, and wouldn’t allow the conversationg to be steered towards that subject again.

By half past eight o’clock, it appeared that half of Vaugn’s homeroom was home sick, as there were so many empty desks, small groups of students scattered around the room. Instead of reading the whole list of students who were present in the class, their homeroom teacher, Mr.Takushi, passed around the list and had everyone mark their own names off the register.

Twenty minutes later, the friends were walking to their classroom on the third floor through the some what empty halls. Usually the halls were so packed with students that it wasn’t unusual for the friends to bump into dozens upon dozens of other students on their way to their classroom, only to make it through the door with about 5 minutes to spare. Today, however, the halls were so baren that on their 3 floor journey to their classroom, the friends only passed ten other students, all of them heading to lower floors, on track to be through their class room door with 15 minutes to spare.

"It must be the flu. I’ve never known a school to be so empty on a Monday.", Shentin said as he and the others emerged on the almost empty 3rd floor hallway.

"Getting lonely Shentin?", Vaugn asked with a grin as the others chuckled, "Don’t worry, this will most likely pass within a couple of days. Then, we’ll be back to the usual cramped hallways of High School.", he finished as the others smiled and walked into their classrom for the day.

When the bell for class to begin rang, it seemed that it was only Vaugn, Asuke, Imari, Kihari, Shentin and Nikkai present, aswell as the girl named Moki from Vaugn’s homeroom, and a few of her friends, aswell as 5 or 6 other students that Vaugn didn’t know the name of.

"Gonna be a small class today.", Imari said, looking around as their teacher Mr. Kucaiko walked in, sniffling slightly.

"Good morning.", Mr. Kucaiko said wheezily looking around the class yet not looking suprised at how small the class was, "You’ll have to excuse me. It looks like I’m not the only one feeling under the weather. Well, the rest of the class will just have to catch up. So let’s get started class.", Mr.Kucaiko finished, and after a particularly large sniffle, started to write the days lesson plan on the black board.

"He is a tough teacher, I’ll give him that. But even I would have taken a day off.", Vaugn said to the others, who nodded in agreeance as Mr. Kucaiko started to teach for the day, though stopping many times to blow his nose or sniffle loudly.



***

Over the next several days, the student population of the school which was already small to begin with as of Monday, kept getting smaller and smaller. By Thursday, it was only Vaugn and his friends in their classroom for the entire day. Mr.Kucaiko, finally surcoming to his illness, took the day off so Vaugn and the others were taught by a substitute teacher. Admitedly, Vaugn thought that it was impressive that Mr.Kucaiko had made it to Wednesday given the state he was in; he had sat down and slept most of the time in class, waking up only to tell the class what to do.

"Man, if this keeps up, we might just get tommorow off from school.", Nikkai said as he and the other walked home from school.

"Alright! Long weekend!", Imari celebrated excitedly, throwing her arms up and jumping off the ground slightly.

"It must be a bad case of the flu if that many people are sick.", Vaugn said as he and the others continued to walk down the empty street.

At the friends waited at their usual crosswalk, talking about what they should do if they got Friday off, the first strange occurance of the day unfolded before them. As they were waiting for the cross-walk sign to turn green so they could walk across-no real need for wait as the streets were pratically barren- an ambulance roared by, it’s sirens screaming as loud as they could.

It wasn’t out of the usual for an ambulance to drive by, sirens in full cry, as there was a retirement building down the road. The friends watched it pass, giving it no real thought. Waiting a few moments more, the light turned green for the friends to cross. As Vaugn and Nikkai were stepping onto the street they heard another siren screaming towards them, getting closer and closer with each heart beat.

Looking down the road in a casual sort of way, what Vaugn saw made his skin blanch and his breath catch in his throat.

10 feet away from Nikkai and Vaugn was the shiny, chrome covered front end of a city ambulance, it’s white body shining in the sunlight, the word ‘ambulance’ emblazened backwards on the leading edge of the hood. Vaugn’s heart skipped a beat as the mass of metal and rubber roared towards them, now a mere 6 feet from Vaugn and Nikkai, it’s sirens blaring their deafening roar.

With the speed of a lightning bolt, Vaugn’s hand shot upwards and grabbed the back of Nikkai’s shirt, and throwing himself backwards, Vaugn dragged Nikkai backwards with all his might as his feet slipped slightly on the slightly slick pavement. Stumbling over the curb and falling backwards ungracefuly, the two friends landed backside first as the the roaring emergency vehicle sped by, it’s front tire thundering over the spot where Vaugn and Nikkai had been standing a mere heartbeat before.

Both Vaugn and Nikkai seemed slightly dazed by what had happened, as they stared for several moments at where they had been standing moments before.

Slowly, the two boys snapped back to their sences. Turning their heads in unison, both Vaugn and Nikkai looked at eachother, their faces slightly white, a small drop of sweat running down their cheeks.

"Thanks Vaugn. I owe you.",Nikkai said, as he took a small, steadying breath as he sat on the cold pavement next to Vaugn.

"No problem.", Vaugn nodded to Nikkai ,as he slowly climbed to his feet on slightly trembling legs, and held out a hand to help Nikkai up.

"You two alright?", Asuke asked Vaugn and Nikkai, her eyes full of slight concern as another ambulance roared by, it’s slip stream blowing the girls hair around..

"Oh yeah. It just caught us off guard is all.", Vaugn replied, turning to his friends and smiling with a dismissing shrug, but jumping slightly as another ambulance roared by.

Turning around, a slightly confused look on his face, Vaugn had enough time to watch as some 25 or 30 roared by, the scene in front of him a wall of red and white shining in the afternoon sun, punctured by the constant blur of red lights, the wail of the sirens absolutely deafening.

Finally, when the last ambulance had screeched past, the friends watching it out sight, there was peace and quiet. The friends ears were ringing slightly, but other then that it was all quiet. The sound of birds chirping returned, as did the gentle rustle of leaves and grass in the breeze.

"I think it’s safe to cross now.",Imari commented, looking both ways and making sure that the road was indeed clear of all emergency vehicles.

Together ,the friends hurried across the street, not wanting to get caught up in another wave of ambulances. As the friends continued to walk down the street however, they passed many more ambulances screaming down the street.

"What’s up with all these ambulances? I’ve never seen so many.", Asuke asked in a voice rank with confusion as they continued to walk down the street, at least three or four ambulances passing them every minute.

"Good question Asuke.", Imaria replied as she and the others continued their walk home, partaking in a casual game of ambulance spotting.

Vaugn did not partake on the ambulance watching, but was instead deep in thought about what was happening.

"So what do you think Jin?", Vaugn asked Jinkara inside his mind as he walked down the street with his friends, now only a one block from home.

"Well it is slightly unusual that so many people are sick days after sencing a demonic aura, and now so many of them are being sent to the hospital.", Jinkara replied slowly, Vaugn nodding slightly in agreeance as the friends crossed the last street before the driveway to the Miasoto’s home.

"So do you think it’s the next demon’s doing?", Vaugn asked Jinkara seriously as he and Asuke waved good bye to the others who continued their walk home, the two friends starting their way up the driveway to the front door.

"It’s hard to say for sure right now. But it seems that the two events maybe more connected then a mere coincidence.", Jinkara replied as Vaugn and Asuke walked into the house, took off their coats and shoes, slipped into their house slippers and walked down the hall to the dining room together.

"So Vaugn.", Asuke said as she slid open the dining room door and the two of them walked into the empty room, "Do you think everyone getting sick and the demon you senced are connected?", she finished, sitting down and turning on the TV.

"You’re a sharp one Asuke.", Vaugn replied with a smile, though thinking that she and the others had all jumped to the same conclusion long before now, "Jin and I think it’s probably more then a coincidence, but we’re gonna let play out a little further and see what happens.", he finished as the two of them settled in to watch TV before dinner was ready.

At 6:30, Uni and Mr. Miasoto, aswell as Coonai had joined Asuke and Vaugn in the dining room table. Dinner was still cooking, so the family and Vaugn were relaxing and sharing stories of the day. Vaugn, Uni and Asuke told the same story of having so few people in their classes at school that there wasn’t really any point of having school tommorow with so few students expected to show up. Coonai told the family about how many of the stores were closed, due to their owners and employees being away with illness, and was unable to get her daily errands completed. Mr.Miasoto told the family about how over three quarters of his floor were away due to the illness going around the city, and the few remaining employee’s had to pick up the slack, working themselves ragged right to the end of the day

At 7:00, after all the stories were shared, and dinner was served, the household was busy watching the evening news. The biggest report of the evening was the mysterious illness sweeping through the city. Though Vaugn thought it was strange how many ambulances he saw on the walk home, he didn’t know it would have been such a small piece of a very large crisis.

"Today, over 15,000 citizens of Tokyo have been hospitalised due to the strange illness going around the city.", The news reporter started off the evening news, "Shinto Doye reports from Tokyo Central Hospital.", the reporter finished before sending it the reporter in the field.

The reporter was standing far infront of a large, down town hospital; a black granite building about 20 stories tall with glowing yellow windows that shone in the twilight. The side walk was very crowded with many other news reporters, and was blocked off by police tape, behind which police were standing guard. On the ground, floor, from what the camera could see, many doctors in white coats could be seen standing outside the front doors, a line up of ambulances filling the whole of the loop in front of the building. The ambulances, once dropping off their patients would instantly hit their sirens again and go speeding around the bend and turn up the street, disappearing into a flash of red lights and crying sirens..

"Today, this is a common seen outside of all of Tokyo’s hospitals. Lines of ambulances, several city blocks long ,waiting on the street for their turn to deliver their patient so they can go and retrieve many more sick patients. Many of the doctors of the city hospitals have been working all day now, and are still working with their night shift collegues, trying to help as much as they can.", the reporter began, gesturing from the hospital and a group of doctors waiting outside the front doors, to the line ambulances, idling in the ambulance loop and on the street, "People who are not needed in the hopitals have been banned from entering due to the highly infectous nature of this unknown illness. Currently, the hospital is working at over 100% capacity. Many rooms, only meant to hold 4 patients have been forced to hold 2, and in some case, 3 times as many patients then they were designed for. And in the case of over crowded rooms, many patients are being kept and treated in the hall way. We were in contact with the Tokyo Medical Board of Directors, and a spokemans said that ‘if this crisis continues, sadly many patients will have to be turned away as we would be unable to take care of and treat them at our current facilites.’. There have already been 5 reported deaths attributed to the illness. No one is sure what the illness is, or what has caused the sudden outbreak, but symptoms include difficult breathing, weakness and a very tight chest. If you, or anyone you know is feeling the beginning of these symptons, you are asked to seek assistance from a local medical clinic. Shinto Doye, reporting live from Tokyo Central Hospital.", the reporter finished, signing off and sending it back to his collegue back in the studio.

"Thank you Shinto.", the reporter replied in the news room, "We’ve have just gotten word now that all classes for Elementary, Junior High and High School students for the city of Tokyo are cancelled tommorow due to the number of ill students and teachers. Now let’s head over and see the weather for tonight and tommorow.", the reporter finished, throwing it over to the weatherman.

"Wow. This illness must be bad if they’re cancelling class for it.", Mr. Miasoto said, changing the channel and flipping to a sitcom.

"Yeah. But it’s not as if it’s totally unexecpected.",Uni replied, sipping her tea and watching TV, Vaugn and Asuke nodding in aggreance.

The rest of the evening passed as usual with the family watching TV, though the calm was constantly being punctured by the cry of a siren, speeding yet another patient to the already over crowded hospitals.

"So how much longer before you think this demon walks out into the light?", Vaugn asked Jinkara as he and the others began on the dessert that Coonai had prepared..

"Who knows. If it is a demon that is responsible for the sickness, then this might be all we see of it until everyone in the city is dead.", Jinkara replied seriously as Vaugn sipped his tea.

"Well I’m not going to let that happen Jin.", Vaugn coldly replied back, finishing his tea and starting on his second piece of lemon pie that Coonai made for dessert.



***



Vaugn woke up at 8 o’clock Friday morning in a groggy haze to a brightly shining sun. It had’t been the sun that woke Vaugn up from his restful, peaceful slumber, but rather a shrill whining, scream.

Vaugn stared at the ceiling of his bed room for a long while, his body as heavy as lead. Try as he might, his body wouldn’t move, his arms and legs still firmly asleep. After trying for several minutes, Vaugn managed to finally heave himself out of bed to his feet, and stumbled to the window. Running his fingers through his messy hair and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Vaugn stared blearily out the window at the street below.

The house across the street was slightly blocked from view, due to the red and white ambulance parked infront of it. After a moment or two of watching blearily, Vaugn saw two paramedics pulling a stretcher out of the house, and elderly man laying on the stretcher, an oxygen mask over his mouth, and an I.V bag above the mans head, a needle in his arm.

"Man, I can’t wait for this to be over.", Vaugn groaned, turning his back to the window, crossing the room lazily to his chest of drawers and pulling out his clothes for the day, the ambulance roaring to life and screeching away on the street below.

Ten minutes later, Vaugn was walking out of his room and down the hall, his shirt thrown over his shoulder, just as the doorbell rang. Walking down the stairs, Vaugn met up with Asuke, still in her pink pyjamas with blue stripes, letting in Nikkai, Imari, Kihari and Shentin.

"That’s another victum to add to the count I guess.", Nikkai said conversationally as he and the others pulled their shoes off, "Morning Vaugn. Sleep well?", he finished as Vaugn walked down the stairs, his blonde hair a real mess, having not brushed it yet.

"I assume so. Otherwise I wouldn’t be so upset to have been woken up.", Vaugn said groggily, rubbing his eyes a bit as he walked past his friends and starting down the hall, the friends following with a smile.

Together the friends walked into the dining room, sat down and joined Uni, who was still in her pyjamas aswell, and Mr. Miasoto, dressed in his buisness suit, ready for work. Still very tired, Vaugn sat down at the table, tossed his shirt beside him, and putting an elbow on the table, rest his tired head in his open hand.

"Good morning everyone. How are you today?", Coonai asked happily as she walked in from the kitchen with a tray carrying breakfast.

"We have the day off from school, so I’d say we’re doing good.", Nikkai said happily as Coonai put the tray down and started to hand everyone their breakfast.

"Any plans for the day today?", Mr. Miasoto asked as he started on his breakfast and unfolded his morning newspaper.

"Nope. It was so sudden we didn’t have time to plan for it. But I’m sure we’ll think of something dad.", Asuke replied, starting on her rice as the others nodded, helping themselves to some of the toast that Coonai had brought in with her.

After half an hour, breakfast was done, Mr.Miasoto was off to work and Coonai was washing the dishes, humming marrily to herself in the kitchen.

"So what do you think we should do today?", Asuke asked, looking from one friend to another as Uni got up and left the room.

"I don’t think there will be much we can do. On our walk over here, the stores that we passed were all still closed. So chances are the rest of the city will be closed down aswell.", Nikkai said with an air of someone delivering unfortunate news.

"Oh. Well I guess we could always watch TV.", Asuke said in a very disappointed voice, picking up the remote, turning on the TV and watching the morning news show.

For a day off from school, it wasn’t what the friends had expected. Not only was the entire city shut down, many of the stores were staying closed to give their employees and managers time to rest and get better, but most of the channels were taken up with boring soap operas, or re-runs of old comedy shows.

Spending their day off watching either boring day time TV, or walking around the neighbourhood, the friends were unable to stay off the boredom that had set in.

Walking around the neighbourhood after a long, drawn out stinch of boring TV shows, Vaugn could see that what Nikkai had said was correct. All the stores they had passed were indeed closed. On the other hand, the healthy people of the city were still atleast out and about, enjoying the peace and quiet.

As Vaugn and his friends walked through the quiet neighbourhood, talking about what they could possibly do on the weekend to make up for the lack luster Friday off, Vaugn was having his own private conversation.

"So Jin, with all the people in the hospital, what do you think the next demon is plotting? If this is indeed the work of the next demon that is.", Vaugn asked Jinkara as he and the others crossed an empty street, full of kids playing in the empty road, on their way back to the Miasoto’s house.

"I can’t say Vaugn. Maybe after the failed attacks of the last two demons, it’s just spreading the sickness around and letting it kill off as many as people as possible. Or it might just be flu season, like you said.", Jinkara replied as Vaugn and the others walked up the driveway and back into the house, ready for another boring TV session.

And another boring TV session it was. The friends wasted the day just watching TV, talking and snacking. Nothing good was on T.V, except soap operas, or talk shows about mothers trying to find their baby’s father, only to have huge break downs when the man thought to be it wasn’t. The day was so boring that the group decided to take one large nap together in the dining room to pass the time, only to wake up and realise they hadn’t missed anything at all on TV.

When 5 o’clock rolled around, the evening shows began, and finally, the friends could start enjoying their friday. Mr. Miasoto joined the friends when he got home from work at 5:30 and Uni, who had spent the day with her own friends, also joined them. Coonai, as per her usual self, was busy making dinner for the family.

The friends and family shared their stories, all be it very short stories, of their day. It turned out that Uni’s day wasn’t any better then Vaugn’s and his friends day, having spent the day watching T.V with her friends. Mr. Miasoto told the family that since most of his co-workers on his floor were away sick, he and the remaining workers were worked extra hard so the business could keep up to date on all it’s projects.

The friends and family had a good time together, watching TV and talking about nothing in particular. When dinner was served, the group had an even more fun watching TV, now that the evening comedy, sitcoms and action shows were on. The evening was really what everyone needed to help them forget about the very lack luster day.

At 8 o’clock, when dinner and dessert had been served and eaten and the shows had been watched and enjoyed, the friends were sitting outside in the meditation garden, enjoying the cool, quiet night. They had a geat time with the family, watching TV and forgetting the boring day they had had. The friends, who hadn’t really thought of the weekend, were now wondering what they could do on the weekend, if anything, while enjoying the cool, quiet night.

"The arcade might be open. I mean, they only need like, 4 people working.", Nikkai said, sitting lazily on the bench in the garden, his legs stretched out infront of him, "1 to watch the register, 1 to work consessions, and 2 to walk around the floor. Anyone could do that.", he finished with a yawn and a wide stretch of his arms.

"The amusement park is still open. We could go there if we wanted.", Asuke said as she stared up into the clear and starry sky.

"I personally like the arcade. We haven’t been in a long time.", Kihari said, pulling her legs beside her and curling up on the bench beside Nikkai, "What do you think Vaugn?", she shot at Vaugn, who was staring at the moon, his arms folded on his stomach.

"Well.", Vaugn said, thinking of which he’d like best while still staring at the sky, "I think that the a…", he began, but finishing abruptly as his voice caught in his throat..

Without warning, a massive echo image exploded infront of Vaugn’s eyes, the starry sky becoming oddly beautiful with the echo image imprinted on the actual sky, followed by a very loud, single beat of Vaugn’s heart. Creeping up inside of him like boiling water, was the feeling of immence evil, cruel and more deadly then ever before.

Vaugn, without really thinking, slowly rose to his feet, continuing to stare at the moon, yet not truly seeing it. His eyes were out of focus and wide open, his mouth was hanging slack, a look of shock all over his face. He had felt the evil presence as if he had been punched in the stomach. It had momentarily knocked the air out of him. Vaugn was sure that this was the aura of the next demon. What was worse, was that Vaugn knew that the next demon was on the loose now, and that innocent people were about to die.

"Vaugn, is everything okay?", Imari asked, looking at Vaugn, slightly nervous at Vaugn’s sudden change of heart

"Did you feel that Jin?", Vaugn asked the night sky in a hushed voice.

The friends sat straight in their chairs and looked at one another, a slight twinge of fear running through the air like a bolt of electricity.

"Yes I did Vaugn. Loud and clear.", Jinkara replied, his voice eminating from the chair Vaugn had been sitting in, cause the friends to startle.

"Vaugn, what’s going on?", Asuke asked, her voice quivering,her eyes wide and fearful.

"I felt it.", Vaugn replied quietly, "The next demon. It finally showed it’s face.", he finished, his voice growling slightly.

The friends looked around from one another, the moon light glowing in the wide whites of their fear stricken eyes.

"Ready to go then Vaugn?", Jinkara asked, his voice purring with excitement.

"Like you had to ask .You all stay here. It’s time to go and have a chat with this demon.", Vaugn replied as his head dropped down to face his friends, his mouth pulling back in an unmistakable snarling smile, "Time to take over Jin.", he finished, throwing his face up and speaking to the sky more then to his friends.

The friends watched, awestruck, as Vaugn transformed from a once gentle human being, to a vicous half- human half-demon hybrid. As if watching in slow motion, the five friends gazed at Vaugn as his eyes, normally a gentle ash-blue, grew darker and darker before burning to life, a vicous red light piercing the darkness. They watched as his teeth lengthened and sharpened into nothing less then something animalisitc. They stared and winced slightly as Vaugn’s finger nails lengthed and sharpened like his teeth, and melding with his fingers,transformed into claws that glowed steely grey in the gentle moonlight, his toes lengthening and ripping through his shoes, revealing long, iron like claws. Slowly Vaugn rose into the sky, as his heels were pulled away from the ground, his body now supported on the balls of his clawed feet.

Slowly dropping his face from the sky, Jinkara stared around the meditation garden. As his head slowly rotated on his neck, Jinkara gazed into each of the awestruck faces of Vaugn’s friends, who stared back, slightly terrified at what they had just scene.

As Jinkara’s eye scanned the group of friends, they rested for a moment on Nikkai and Imari. It had been Imari and Nikkai who had origanuly watched Vaugn transform and witnessed as Jinkara took over in downtown Tokyo. Given the expressions on the faces of both Nikkai and Imari, neither of them had forgotten how terrifying the first encounter had been.

The friends watched, transfixed, as Jinkara blinked lazily, before slowly raising his face to the dark, starry sky, and deeply breathing in the cool night air, savouring every second of it.

"Mmm. It’s good to be back.", Jinkara purred in pleasure, his mouth breaking into a wide smile, "Time to play, huh Vaugn?", he finished, dropping his head back down and looking at the friends, who stared at him with apprehension.

"Yes Jin. Time to play.", Vaugn replied, his voice eminating from all around the garden, causing the friends to jump slightly.

"Excellent.", Jinkara snarled, his mouth pulling back in a vicous, fanged filled smile, "Don’t wait up kiddies.", he finished, flashing a fanged smile at Vaugn’s friends, before bending down, and with a powerful push of his legs, took flight, sailing high into the air, over the wall of the yard and disappearing silently into the black night.

The friends stared after Jinkara, even though he had been devoured by the darkness, at a loss of words for what had just transpired.

"W-what do you think happened?", Asuke asked, looking from the spot where Jinkara had disappeared to her friends, all of them with the same shocked expression on their faces.

"If Vaugn and Jinkara felt it…nothing good.", Shentin breathed, looking from one friend to the other.

"What should we do?", Imari asked the group as a whole as a gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the bushes around them.

"We wait and see what happens. And hope Vaugn can handle the next demon.", Shentin replied, looking from one friend to another.

With that thought, the friends went quiet, silently praying that Vaugn could handle the demon that was waiting for him.



***



The cool night air blew over Jinkara’s skin and through Vaugn’s hair as he lept lightly from blank roof top to blank roof top

The moon shone gently on the rooves of the houses under Jinkara’s feet, casting a long, menacing shadow as Jinkara landed lightly on the shingled top, sprinted the distance roof to the other end and bounded off the other side like an olympic hurdler.

The street below Jinkara was gently lit by the street lamps and the glow from the brightly lit windows of the houses. Everything was peaceful, everything was quiet. No one, other then Vaugn, Jinkara and Vaugn’s friends knew that a creature of pure evil was loose in the city, preparing to slaughter countless humans.

As Jinkara continued leaping from buiding top to building top, the buildings began to get larger and larger, meaning that he was now moving from the residential areas to the buisness areas of Tokyo, under neathe a gently glowing sky.

The buildings transformed from 2 story, cozy looking houses with borwn shingled rooves with gently lit windows, , surrounded by trees in full autumn attire and deep green lawns, to 3 and 4 story tall small buisness buildings, all made of either white, red and dark grey stone, all of them square with blank wall faces with black, empty windows with empty roof tops.

"So Vaugn. Where do you think we should start looking?", Jinkara asked as he lept into the air and landing moments later on a gently lit roof top, running to the opposite edge and taking flight again.

"I don’t know. If we should pick up on the demons aura again, maybe that can give us a better idea of where it is.", Vaugn suggested as Jinkara landed another roof and ran the distance in a heartbeat, preparing to take flight once more.

Before taking flight however, Jinkara’s body suddenly became strangely rigid, his legs locking up, his feet skidding along the roof top. Gradually, Jinkara’s body came to a rest at the edge of the building he was on, his clawed toes dangling off the edge of the building.

Jinkara stared into the distance infront of him, as if transfixxed by an invisible point in space. Slowly Jinkara turned his face to the sky staring up at the stars, staring at a nothing imparticular. There he stood, his face suddenly expressionless, as if he had a sudden brilliant idea.

"Jin? What’s up? Why’d you stop?", Vaugn asked, a little confused by Jinkara’s slightly odd behaviour.

Jinkara didn’t answer right away, but instead took a long, slow breath of the night air, before his face slowly dropped and he stared out over the city.

"I can smell it.", Jinkara snarled, his voice cold and vicous, his eyes darting back and forth over the Tokyo skyline.

"Smell what?", Vaugn asked, confused by Jinkara’s odd proclemation.

"Blood. Human blood. And lots of it.", Jinkara growled.

"Human blood?", Vaugn asked, thinking of where a large amount of humans could be that would fill the air with the smell of blood, "Jin…you don’t think Tokyo Central Hospital do you? There were probably over 5,000 peope there.", Vaugn finished quickly as he came to the realisation of where the smell of blood would be coming from.

"Okay. The hospital. How do I get there?", Jinkara asked, looking around the gently lit Tokyo skyline for some sign of the hospital but not seeing any dicernable evidence of which way to go.

"Where’s the smell the strongest Jin?", Vaugn asked Jinkara who continued to stare around over the glowng city skyline.

Without a word, Jinkara slowly raised his face back to the sky, and began to sniff the air. Back and forth his head twisted, like a blood hound following the scent of an escaped convict. The seconds passed by in peaceful silence, the only sounds to be heard were the sounds of distant cars driving through Tokyo, and the soft sniffing sounds coming from Jinkara’s nose with each massive lung full of blood tained air.

"Over there.", Jinkara growled, pointing at a point someplace half-way between straight forward and due left.

"Let’s getting going then!", Vaugn said quickly, and without another word, Jinkara bent low, and lept back into the air, sailing across the street below, landing lightly on the buildings roof top and sprinting the distance, following the smell of blood.

"I didn’t know you could smell blood Jin.", Vaugn said, slightly conversationally as Jinkara worked his way from roof top to roof top, making his way as fast as he could to the hospital.

"For the most part the smell is usually very faint.", Jinkara commeneted as he continued his pursuit of the smell of blood, his nose wrinkling as he got closer and closer, "Even if 100 people had every last drop of blood drained from them and spilled over the ground, it’d be something like one of those fruity smelling pine trees that humans hang in their cars in a gymnasium. I think we’re here now Vaugn.", Jinkara finished landing on the roof top, running swiftly to the edge, and skidding to a halt at the ledge, gazed down at the street below him.

Jinkara and Vaugn were staring down at the Tokyo Central Hospital, the one that had been shown on TV. From where they were, on top of a thirty story tall building, they could see by the low light making it to them that the pavement was stained red with blood glowing deep, crimson red in the light. Other then the colour of the pavement, not much could be made out from their high vantage point.

"Jin, get me lower. Something is definetly not right here.", Vaugn said seriously, as Jinkara knodded in agreement, and without a word, lept easily off the roof and sailed gently down to earth, touching down moments later as easily as a leaf falling from a branch.

It was lucky for Vaugn that Jinkara was in control of his body, because what Vaugn was looking would have surely made him vomit of pure disgust..

Jinkara slowly walked through the warzone like scene all around him, splashing through the lake of blood that gleamed in the light outside of the entrance to the hospital. As Jinkara walked through the killing field, he took in the horrific scene around him.

Bodies. Dozens upon Dozens of bodies, all of them brutally slaughtered.

Near the street were the motionless bodies of the policemen Vaugn had seen on TV hours earlier. Their guns were drawn and held firmly in their dead hands, a police tape barrier flapping gently in the breeze. Some of the policemen had been decapitated rather brutally. It was as if their heads had been torn off instead of cut off, their heads laying yards away from their bodies, blood gently oozing and dripping from their severed necks. Some of the police had been slashed, throat to bellybutton, their bodies ripped open, their torn from their bodies and strewen around the concrete.

Other officers appeared to have been ripped apart, many of them with the same wound. The wound looked as if something had been stuck between their shoulder and their neck, and then ripped their body apart, the two halves of their mutilated bodies laying open like a pealed banana. The bodies of the policemen were strewn around the pavement, yet despite being killed in various, yet horrible ways, all of the bodies were laying on their backs.

Closer to the hospital were bodies draped in white coats, likely the bodies of the doctors who had been treating the patients inside the hospital hours before

The doctors showed signs of something very different then the police officers. While the officers were all laying flat on their backs, as if what had attacked them had come at them from behind and the officers turned to face it, the doctors were all laying face down in the sea of blood.

Some of the doctors had been decapitated in the same brutal manner as the police officers, the heads again laying a short distance from the body, the faces showing signs of fearful desperation. Most of the doctors, however, had large wholes about a foot across blown completely through their bodies, jagged pieces of bone poking into each whole. It was as if something had attacked each doctor from behind as the doctors ran for their lives.

From what Vaugn could tell, it looked as if what had ever killed the police and doctors had started it’s attack in the hospital, only to escape, bringing a tidal wave of death and destruction with it.

"You doing okay Vaugn?", Jinkara asked Vaugn,his voice a tad relaxed, as if what he was seeing he was enjoying.

"We came this far Jin. There’s no turning back now.", Vaugn replied, his voice full of disgust as Jinkara walked slowly through the war zone, splashing his way through the lake of blood around his feet, making his way towards the front doors.

"So do you think what ever did this was inside the hospital?", Jinkara asked Vaugn casually as he crossed the pavement of the ambulance loop and strolled towards the front door, passing several more slaughtered doctors strewen around the ambulance unloading zone

"It would seem like it Jin.", Vaugn replied, as Jinkara passed another dead doctor laying face down by the entrance doors, glancing down through the whole in his back.

Both Vaugn and Jinkara stared at the door and what they saw took them completely by surprise.

The two expected to find the doors broken down; the glass shattered and the frames hanging off of their hinges. But instead, the glass of the door was uncracked, the doors still hinged. It seemed that what ever had massacred everyone outside the hospital had merely walked out the front doors.

"Ready to go in Vaugn?", Jinkara casually asked out loud.

"As ready as I’ll ever be.", Vaugn replied as Jinkara smiled, stuck out a clawed hand, grasped the bar-handle of the door, and pushed.

Nothing.

Jinkara stared at the door, slightly confused before pushing again. Again, the door didn’t open, but instead rattled with each of Jinkara’s failed attempts to push the doors open. It was if something was blocking the door from inside, keeping anyone who wanted to come in, out.

"Well that’s rude. They don’t want us to come in! And they say people in Tokyo are nice.", Jinkara said in mock outrage as he backed away from the door and began looking around the blank hospital face for a window he could climb through.

"I guess due to all these dead bodies, you’ve temporarly forgotten that you’re a demon with super human strength?"Vaugn replied pointedly, his voice full of mock wondering.

"This is true Vaugn. But I thought it may be unwise of us to break down the doors. It may look suspicious.", Jinkara replied as he continued to stare around for a place to enter the hospital.

"Yeah ,well, a busted door would be the only thing that would be normal around here.", Vaugn replied as Jinkara stopped searching and shrugged, looking back at the door.

"Okay Vaugn. You win.", Jinkara replied with a smile as he stuck his clawed hands into the pockets of Vaugn’s pants, and strolled with in half an arms reach of the door.

In the blink of eye, Jinkara braught his leg back and swung it powerfully forward, his clawed foot crashing into the door.

As if pushed by a massive bomb blast, the doors ripped off their hinges and exploded forwards into the hospital hallway, crashing to the floor and skidding along hallway floor of the hospital, the screech of twisting metal and shattering glass renting the air.

Vaugn and Jinkara saw that the doors had been blocked by what looked like stretchers, up-turned on their side and stopping the doors from opening. The stretchers had been knocked and scattered away when the doors were ripped from their hinges, one of two rolling gently away from the door frame while the others crashed into the wall, knocking large crators into the stone.

The lights of the hallway were flickering terribly, casting the hallway into a constant play of light and shadow. Despit the flickering light, Vaugn and Jinkara could easily make out the contants of the hallway.

Peering into the hallway, Vaugn and Jinkara saw that the hallway was littered with bodies, all of them doctors. It was hard to tell what had killed the doctors, due to the flickering light, but given how much blood had been spilt, the doctors appeared to have died in the most violent way imaginable.

Many of the bodies were strewn around the hallway, either laying hap hazardly all over the floor, sometimes laying intertwined with one another, while others were thrown against the wall, the backs propped against the white wall splattered with red, their heads hanging limply on their necks.

If it hadn’t been for the dead bodies, blood spattered walls and the flickering lights, the hallway would have been quite welcoming, with bright, cheery looking paintings on the blood splattered walls and real trees, who’s leaves were dripping with blood.

Vaugn and Jinkara only had a second to take in the scene before them before a horrific stench reached their nose, and filled their lungs with a single breath. It was the rancid smell of rotting meat that had been left out in the sun for several days.

"God damn it! What the hell is that stench?", Jinkara gagged, as the wave of stench crashed into him, knocking him back slightly from the door.

"It smells like rotting meat.", Vaugn replied knowledgably. Since Jinkara was in control of his body, Vaugn only got slightest whiff of the stench, and was quite grateful for it.

"Great. Just great. Let’s get this over with so I can get out of here and back into the fresh air.", Jinkara choked as he passed through the entrance way of the hospital and began his slow walk down the hospital hallway

As the two walked down the hall, the mystery as to what happened grew even larger with each passing corpse

The bodies laying in the hallway all seemed to have had the same wound inflicted upon it. Each body appeared to have been sliced from the forehead all the way down to the bottom of it’s stomach, and torn wide open, spread like an open book. The organs were removed and seemed to have vanished, leaving nothing but cleaned out body cavities. The eyes of the victums were wide open, a clear sign they had died instantly.

Vaugn and Jinkara passed a desk that had three computers and a large filing board behind it, complete with body draped over the top of the desk. Blood was splattered all over the desk top and over the filing board behind it, gently dripping to the ground.

A small distant down the hall from the desk, a sign sticking off the wall told Vaugn and Jinkara that they were walking into the ‘Emergency Room’ section of the hospital. Looking into each of the E.R. rooms, Vaugn and Jinkara saw that there were the bodies of doctors and patients strewn over the floor, and one on each table inside the emergency rooms. All of them were split head to gut, their bodies torn open and devoid of their organs. Blood covered the walls of each room, and strangely enough, the roof aswell. It was as if the thing that had killed the doctors and patients had burst from their very bodies.

"What do you think is going on here Vaugn?", Jinkara asked as they looked into another E.R room, and seeing nothing but slaughtered bodies, continued down the hall towards the end of the hallway.

Passing more ripped open bodies strewn around the hallway floor outside the E.R. doors, Vaugn and Jinkara ermerged in front of several elevator doors, each one covered in blood that was slowly running down the metal skin of the door, forming pools at the base. In front furtherest right door however, a dead doctors body lay on the floor at the foot of the door, a smear of blood trailing from somewhere near the middle of the door and sliding down the door, stopping at his hand. It was as if the doctor had tried to escape into the elevator but was killed before he had a chance too reach the safety inside.

"So Vaugn. Where to now?", Jinkara asked, gazing from the bloodied elevator door to the hall behind him, taking in all the death and destruction.

"We go up now Jin. Their might be a clue as to what happened here further up.", Vaugn replied as Jinkara nodded in agreeance, and reached out a clawed finger to punch the up button for the elevator.

However, when his clawed finger was a hair’s width from the button, his hand stopped, and he fixxed the elevator door with the dead doctor infront of it with a piercing stare.

"What’s the matter Jin?", Vaugn asked as Jinkara withdrew his hand and walked closer to the blood covered door with the body infront of it, tilting his head to one side and almost pressing his ear to it, stopping within a fraction of an inch.

"There’s people in there Vaugn.", Jinkara growled, as he listened closely to the elevator, "And from the sounds of it, they’re female.", he finished as he straightened up and looked at the door with an unblinking stare.

"Are you serious?", Vaugn replied, sounding relieved, "Well, let’s get them out of there.", Vaugn finished, his spirits finally rising slightly after seeing all the death and destruction.

"You got it Vaugn.", Jinkara replied, and suddenly, Vaugn felt himself being pulled back into control of his body.

"Jin, what are…ah what the hell!", Vaugn gagged as he took his full breath of the rancid air around him, gagging and choking, his stomach wrenching in disgust as Vaugn took another breath of the horrible air.

"Sorry Vaugn. I just thought it would be better if the survivors talked to you, instead of me.", Jinkara replied, his voice coming from all around Vaugn.

"Good idea. But give me some god damn warning before you do something like this next time!", Vaugn snarled, shaking his head, trying to block out the smell of wrotting meat.

Not sure how best to get into the elevator, Vaugn pressed the up button, believing that it would open the doors and let him in. The doors of the elevators merely shuddered as sparks flew from the edges, small whisps of smoke furling from around the edges as well. Vaugn ahd a feeling motors that open the door must have been burned out.

"Well that didn’t work. I guess we’ll have to force our way in.", Vaugn said, kicking the dead body of the doctor aside and rolling it onto his back, a gold name tag shining through a coat of blood, the name reading ‘Dr. Yushata’.

"I guess so. Want me to do it for you Vaugn?", Jinkara asked lightly, as Vaugn rubbed his chin, wondering what ebst to do.

"Nah.Like you said, it will be less shocking if I do it then you.", Vaugn said, stepping close to the door, raising a hand, and banging on the blood covered elevator door, "Hello! Is anyone in there?", he called through the door and listening closely.

Vaugn heard a quiet terrified shreik from inside the elevator, followed by fast, terrifed whispers, the occupants of the elevator in a obviously hurried conversation. The conversation died away as quickly as it had began, to be replaced by that of a trembling, terrifed woman’s voice.

"Yes! We’re here! Who are you?", the womans voice called through the door.

"I’m one of the resucers who was called to the scene to help the survivors.", Vaugn replied, thinking of the best way to gain their trust ("Very smooth Vaugn", Jinkara said inside Vaugn’s mind, sounding highly amused).

"Oh thank god! We’re so glad you came!", a different womans voice called through the door.

"If you want to stand back, I’m going to get you out of here!", Vaugn called through the door, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

Looking around the hall way for something he could use to pry the doors open, Vaugn only spotted dead bodies and scattered hospital tools, nothing at all suitable for opening a set of jammed elevator doors.

"Okay…so how am I gonna get them out?", Vaugn asked himself quietly, raising a hand up to his chin and rubbing, his face contorted with deep thought, "I got it!", he finished, snapping his fingers as a brilliant idea exploded in his mind.

Reaching behind his back, Vaugn grasped a gently vibrating handle that had not been there a moment before. Withdrawing it with one pull yielded a gently glowing, bright white, broad bladed sword.

"Are you ready in there?", Vaugn called through the door as he grasped the handle of Purity with both hands and prepared to pry the doors open.

"Yes we are! Please hurry!", the voice of the first woman called through the door.

"Okay. Stand back!", Vaugn called through the door as he took a half step back from the door, and exploded forward, lunging at the door.

Jamming the end of Purity between the two doors, Vaugn pushed with all his might to force it in as far as he could. After several powerful pushes, Vaugn had managed to push the blade only in about a foot, but that was enough for him.

Planting his feet as firmly as he could on the blood slicked floors, Vaugn began to push with all his might against the sword, using his sword more like a crow bar then anything. With each of Vaugn’s mighty pushes, a hail storm of sparks flew from the edge of the doors, black smoke absolutely pouring from the surrounding edges.

With a dull, echoing groan, and the shrieking sound of metal scraping on metal, the doors began to slowly part as sparks began to storm from the edges of the doors, small flames shooting from the edges of the doors, licking the blood stained metal doors.

"One…more…push!", Vaugn grunted, and with one last massive push, Vaugn threw all his shoulder into his sword, which popped out from between the doors causing him to stumble and falter as he regained his balance.

Slowly and with great difficulty, the doors slid open on their own accord, black smoke now flooding from the edges of the doorway.

Peering through the smoke, Vaugn could make out the gentle outline of the elevator, glowing from the lights within, but couldn’t see the nurses through the smoke. Sheething his sword behind him, unsure of what do to, Vaugn felt it best to see if he could rouse them from inside.

"Um…hello? The doors open so…", Vaugn began, but was unable to finish before a heavy weight flew through the door and crashed into his chest, knocking him backwards off his feet and crashing to the floor, the air completely knocked out of him.

Vaugn was dazed for a moment, staring at the blood spattered ceiling, unsure of what had happened. Slowly regaining his sences, Vaugn realised that something was not only laying ontop of him but also grabbing his shirt,accompanied by what sounded like hysterical crying.

Looking down, Vaugn saw that there was a young woman with long, light brown hair and a thin face dressed in nurse’s clothing laying ontop of him. Her hands were holding firmly onto his shirt, and she was crying like Vaugn had never scene anyone cry before, her tears soaking the chest of Vaugn’s shirt completely. Through the nurse’s sobs, Vaugn heard what she was saying.

"Thank you so much! I was so scared that we were going to die! Thank you so so much!", the nurse gulped, her whole body trembling with each shuttering fit of tears and sobs.

"Um…you’re…welcome?", Vaugn replied back a little confusedly, and unsure of what to do, gently patting the nurse on the head.

"Nurse! Control yourself!", a voice called out from somewhere above Vaugn, and suddenly the nurse was pulled forcefully off of Vaugn, her hands still holding tightly onto Vaugn’s shirt which stretched and tore slightly.

Looking up, Vaugn was staring at three nurses. All about the age of 30. One had short black hair with almond shaped green eyes and a round face. The one who was crying, had long, light brown hair, and her face was thinner then the nurse with black hair. The third, who had her arm around the crying nurse and was comforting her, had blue eyes, shoulder length dark brown hair and a round face with high cheek bones. All of them were looking very pale and were sweating slightly.

"You’ll have to forgive her. She’s been a mess ever since the patients wen’t berserk.",the nurse with black hair said, "But thank you so much for helping us. It’s been a real nightmare ever since this has started.", she finished , looking down at Vaugn and showing her appreciation with a very respectful bow.

"You’re welcome.", Vaugn replied, standing up and straightening his shirt, glad the crying nurse had been restrained, "But can you tell me what happened?", he finished, looking around curiously from nurse to nurse.

"We’re not really sure sir. One minute, the patients were all laying in their beds, then the next, they all got up from their beds and started killing everyone they could find, ripping through anybody they met like they were nothing.", the nurse with long, dark brown hair said, her voice trembling with fear, "It was as if something was possessing them, because not matter what the doctors and other nurses did, we couldn’t stop the patients. Myself and the other nurses hid in anyplace we thought was safe. I think their still alive. I hope they are.", the woman finsihed, her voice shaking with suppressed tears.

The nurses all bowed their heads, their faces screwed up trying to supress more tears. Looking up, they gazed at Vaugn who was rubbing his chin in a thoughtful sort of way, finally seeing him for the real time since he ripped open the elevator doors.

"You’re our rescuer?", the nurse with black hair asked, looking a little surprised, giving Vaugn the once over.

"Huh?", Vaugn said absentmindly, looking at the nurses, still rubbing his chin, "Oh yeah. I sure am.", he finished as casually as he could, only now realising that he should have thought about this earlier.

"So what’s your name?", the nurse who had been crying asked, now looking a little startled at how young their rescuer looked.

"My name?Oh yeah my name! It’s…Shentin.", Vaugn said slyly, thinking as quickly as he could, Jinkara chuckling appreciately inside Vaugn’s mind.

"You only look about 18 Shentin.", the nurse with long brown hair said, looking at Vaugn a tad suspicously.

"16 actually.", Vaugn said, scratching his chin absent-mindily, "Now c’mon. Let’s get you out of here before more patients show up.", he finished, gesturing for the nurse to start down the hall towards the exit.

"Okay. Good idea.", the nurses replied hurriedly, and together, the women started to move forwad, seemingly forgetting Vaugn’s age. Despite being on shakey legs, they were looking quite relieved to be finally getting out of the hospital.

"What about the other nurses?", the nurse with light brown hair asked as they passed the emergency rooms full of slaughtered humans.

"I’ll go look for them myself. You all just get out of here and run as far as you can okay? Find the first pay phone you can and call in more help. Got it?", Vaugn asked, looking from one nurse to another, a note of urgentness in his voice.

All the nurses nodded in understanding, as they walked down the hall,looking scared yet determined.

"Okay. Get going ladies.", Vaugn told them briskly, and without another word, the nurses began sprinting down the hall, looking straight ahead and not taking in any of the dead bodies littering the hall.

Vaugn watched the nurses in the flickering light until they disappeared into the darkness of the night outside the hospital, before turning and looking around the hallway for a stair well he could use, since the elevators would all be out of order.

"That was pretty noble of you Vaugn.", Jinkara purred from all around Vaugn, his voice echoing off the walls slightly.

"What else did you expect Jin?", Vaugn asked as he spotted a sign that pointed to the stair well and began to make his way towards it, passing more dead bodies strewn around the hallway

"Well for one, I expected you to ask for their phone number.", Jinkara replied casually as Vaugn passed the desk and filing cabinet and stopped infront of a door a little ways down the hall with a sign indicating ‘stairs’ on it.

"Jin…those women were old enough to be my mother. And I’m sure they would have been a little creeped out by a 16 year old asking for their number.", Vaugn replied, smiling as he pushed open to stairwell doors, and started up the dark stairwell in the flickering light, a small trickle of blood running down the stairs like a red river.

As Vaugn made his way to the upper levels, he passed more murdered doctors, their bodies bent over and hanging limply over the hand rail, blood dripping down from their mutilated corpses and falling to the ground floor like rain.

Emerging on the second floor, Vaugn stood infront of the door, readying himself for he might see. Taking a few deep breaths, he reached out his hand and slowly pushed the door open, and waked through. Emerging on the second floor, Vaugn couldn’t help but notice that the hallway was rather boring, with nothing but white walls as far as could be scene in the flickering light. This hallway looked like a floor where the patients stayed while they were healing.

Like the main floor, the only signs that these halls had ever been inhabited by living humans were the slaughtered doctors that had been thrown against the wall, their blood slowly forming large pools on the floor around the bodies.

Walking a short distance down the hall, Vaugn peared into the rooms, only to see them perfectly clean inside and completely empty, save for the un-made hospital beds. It was just as the nurses said. It did seem that the patients had indeed gotten up from their beds and started killing.

"This is strange Jin.", Vaugn said, looking into a room about halfway down the hall and seeing nothing except 5 empty beds.

"What is?", Jinkara asked slowly, a little confused by what Vaugn had said.

"Downstairs, the nurses said that the patients were responsible for the killing. And I have to admit that it’s looking very much like the patients are responsible." Vaugn said, turning around and walking swiftly down the hall back towards the stairwell, "But the patients were all sickly, and on the verge of death. So how is that the sick of the hospital managed to over power and kill the healthy of the hospital.", he finished, opening the door and hurrying up the stairs, splashing slightly through the blood that covered and ran down the stairs.

"There’s probably no simple answer to your question Vaugn. But finding the next demon will surely help answer it.",Jinkara replied slowly as Vaugn emerged on the 3rd floor landing and pushed the door open and again.

Again, all Vaugn saw was a hallway painted in blood and dead bodies laying everywhere. Knowing that this floor would be very much the same as the previous, he spent no time checking out the rooms but instead started to climb the stairs to the next floor.

"I’m not saying that the patients are responsible for their actions. But it is strange how they have vanished,while everyone else who was in and around the hospital is now dead.", Vaugn said, as he emerged on the 4th floor landing.

When Vaugn’s foot touched the landing, Jinkara’s echo sence kicked into life, creating a large echo image infront of Vaugn’s eyes, filling him with a sudden feeling of evil. Vaugn stopped at the top of the stairs, and looked at the door, his breathing sudenly fast and shallow.

"You feel that Jin? I think we may have found the demon after all.", Vaugn breathed as he stared at the door.

"I think we have Vaugn. I think we have.", Jinkara snarled, his anger and pleasure rising up inside of Vaugn as he stared at the door.

"Time to finish this.", Vaugn breathed, more to himself then anything.

Reaching behind him, Vaugn unsheethed Purity and prepared himself to face the demon behind the door. With several deep breaths, the smell of rotting meat stronger then ever, Vaugn lunged towards the doors and kicked it open with all his strength, the doors flying open and banging off the walls noisely.

What met Vaugn’s eye’s however, was not a demon. It was the furthest thing from a demon possible.

People.

Through the flickering light, Vaugn saw there were patients walking around the hallway, stepping on and over the bodies of the murdered doctors that littered the hallway. Each of them was dressed in a white hospital gown and were shuffling around in either hospital slippers or just in their bare feet. The patients seemed disoriented, as they bumped into one another and walked into the walls around them, several of them falling over, only to clamber back to their feet and continue their disoriented shuffle. What was even stranger was that they were walking through the pools of blood seeping from the murdered doctors, and tripping over the dead bodies, yet paying no attention to any of this.

Vaugn watched on in confusion at what he was seeing. This was the first floor that had life on it, yet apart from the people appearing to be disoriented, the patients were moving freely and clearly alive.

"Jin…what’s going on?", Vaugn whispered, firming his grip on the handle of his sword, staring at the patients from the 4th floor landing.

"Your guess is as good as mine Vaugn.", Jinkara replied, sounding slightly stunned.

"Only one way to find out I guess.", Vaugn breathed, and slowly he pulled his sword infront of him, grasping it with both of his hands before he took a slow, cautious step inside of the hallway.

The second Vaugn’s foot touched the hallway floor, the patients stopped stumbling and banging into one another immediately. As if controlled by an invisible hand, their heads turned as one to face Vaugn, who stopped immediately when he saw that everyone was looking at him.

It was an erie sight. Every patient present was staring at Vaugn, their eyes unblinking. As one, all of the patients turned in unison and faced Vaugn properly, all of them standing straight, their arms hanging lazily at their sides.

"Okay, this is a little creepy.", Vaugn whispered as he took several more cautious steps into the hallway, not taking his eyes off of the group of patients in front of him.

Through the flickering light and it’s constant play of light and shadow, Vaugn could tell that each person seemed to have the same expression on their face, which is to say a blank, neutral, uncaring look. Vaugn also noticed that their eyes seemed oddly empty, as if all life had been extinquished from their bodies, though Vaugn thought that he maybe imagining it.

After taking several cautious steps into the hallway, Vaugn stopped some twenty feet away from the group of patients. Standing this close to the patients, Vaugn thought that their bodies looked rather generic. The shoulders of the men present weren’t broad, but rather rounded, and their arms and legs were rather thin. The woman too also looked rather formless and shapeless, their hips and chest less rounded and more flat then expected. What was the most appearent to Vaugn was the smell of wrotting flesh, which seemed to leak from the patients very skin and flood the air. The smell was so over powering, that clenching his teeth was all Vaugn could do to stop himself from vomiting.

"Who are you? Can you help us?", one of the patients asked in a strained voice; a man with a scraggly brown beard and a large bald spot ontop of his head.

"My name is Vaugn. Are you patients here?", Vaugn replied, still holding his sword firmly in front of him, unsure what the people might do.

"We’re slaves of our master. Can you help us?", another one of the patients replied, this time a woman with auburn hair and a pointed chin.

"Who is your master?", Vaugn asked, unsure of what he had heard was correct, staring from one patient to another.

"Our master. Vermillion. Can you help us?", another patient replied; a man with a head full of very light brown hair and glasses.

Without warning, the group of people started to slowly shuffle towards Vaugn, their hands slowly rising and reaching out infront of them as if they wanted to grab Vaugn.

"Ofcourse. Now it makes sence.", Jinkara breathed inside Vaugn’s mind.

"What does?", Vaugn asked quickly, starting to slowly back away from the advancing group of patients, holding his sword ready to strike.

"The demon that’s escaped is Vermillion.", Jinkara snarled, his voice full of hate, "Back during the Wars of Hell, Vermillion was merely a rat. But if what Lucifor told us was correct, the Rings must have allowed him to evolve into a walking plague factory.", he finished as the patients started to shuffle slightly faster after Vaugn.

"Okay, but that doesn’t help me here.", Vaugn growled as the patients started to walk properly towards him now, their legs shaking and spasming with each step, as if each step was causing them great difficulty.

"That demonic aura we felt wasn’t Vermillion’s, but rather it was the people he had infected with his plague.", Jinkara snarled, his anger rising inside of Vaugn.

"So what does that mean to me?", Vaugn asked hastily, slowly running out of space to backway to.

"It means these people are dead, Vaugn. They’ve been animated by something and now they’re doing Vermillion’s bidding. These shells are just as much your enemy as Vermillion is.", Jinkara replied seriously.

The patients that were pursuing Vaugn suddenly stopped and stared at Vaugn. Vaugn was relieved that they had stopped, for he had no real desire to attack humans. Or were they humans? They certainly did seem human, yet given what they had said, and what Jinkara had just told Vaugn, he was starting to really question that assumption.

"Can you help us?", the man with the balding head and beard asked again, "We need blood! We need flesh! We need bone! We need you to die so our master may survive!", the man roared, and without warning, the patient lunged at Vaugn, sprinting at top speed towards him, roaring in fury.

"Destory him Vaugn! There’s no time to think about this!", Jinkara roared from all around Vaugn, his voice eminating from the walls of the hospital.

"You better be right about this Jin!", Vaugn shouted, pulling his sword back at his side and charging the man.

The two combatants charged eachother, the space closing to almost nothing in a matter of seconds. The patient drew his his fist back and launched it forward like a missle, aiming for Vaugn’s face. Vaugn ducked the fist and with out hesitating, swung Purity with all his might, slashing it out across infront of him.

The blade slashed through the air and ripped through the mans waiste as if his body was made of jelly, cutting cleany through the other side, flesh flying from the end of Vaugn’s sword.

Vaugn skidded to a halt inches infront of the man before he lept lightly backwards, landing some 7 feet away from the mans body.

Without thinking, Vaugn quickly braught his sword back infront of him, grasping it with both hands and holding it firm, unsure if the wound he had inflicted was enough to stop the man.

The attack did infact stop the man. When the blade had cut through the mans body,he skidded to halt, his fist frozen in mid-air, stumbling and swaying slightly on spot, his face screwed up as if unsure if what had happened was real.

As the man stood on spot, swaying slightly, his whole body began to tremble, his skin rippling like a stormy ocean scene. Vaugn stared at the man, unsure of what to do. It looked as if he was having a seizure while standing up. As Vaugn watched the man, a white bubbling foam began to seep from the wound that Vaugn had inflicted on the man’s body, spattering the floor. As the foam thickened, the mans body began to tremble worse then before, his arms flailing uncontrolably. The thick foam wave now became a full torrent, pouring from the wound and splashing to the ground, mixxing with the bloodon the hospital floor.

"What do we do Jin?", Vaugn asked slightly desperately, unsure if he would beable to help the man.

"We let him be, and watch what happens.", Jinkara replied calmly, sounding as if he was highly interested in what was happening.

As Vaugn watched, he was a little confused by what Jinkara had said, but suddenly it all made sence. With a loud tearing sound, the top half of the mans body exploded upwards away from his lower half, as if blown apart by a explosion

The mans torso twisted in mid air as the legs of the man swayed and fell backwards with a dull thud on the gound. Watching the man’s body rocket skyward, Vaugn saw something that took him by complete surprise.

Maggots.

Maggots were pouring and flying from the mans body, propelling it sky ward and spraying everywhere. The maggots splattered to the floor, squirming through the pools of blood on the floor,and wiggling over one another. The maggots splattered the wall, sticking as if they were covered in glue, and started to climb and slide down the wall, giving the wall the impression of moving paint.

Gently the mans body fell back to the ground with a dull, echoing thud as more maggots continued to crawl out from the mans body and legs.

Now Vaugn understood what was going on. This explained the odd appearence of the patients, everything from the generic looks of their bodies, to the lifeless look of their eyes.

These maggots were what was controlling the patients. These maggots were somehow attached to Vermillion. As Vaugn watched, the mans now sliced in half remains began to seemingly delafte and lose their shape as the maggots leaked from the mans torso, until the mans skin was a mere mass of formless flesh, looking very much like a deflated parade balloon.

"You see now Vaugn?", asked Jinkara in a satisfied tone, "These ‘people’ are no longer human. They are mere shells of their former selves. They’re being controlled by those maggots inside of their bodies, who are in turn controlled my Vermillion. So killing them is like killing a run of the mill demon.", he finished as Vaugn continued to watch the maggots squirm and crawl away from the lump of flesh in every direction.

"A run of the mill demon huh?", Vaugn asked, finally looking away from the maggots to the other patients who were merely standing there, "I think I can handle that.", he finished with an evil smile.

Vaugn shouldered Purity and started to slowly walk towards the group of patients, who merely stood and watched Vaugn. Stepping over the mound of flesh and squishing several maggots under foot, Vaugn thought it odd that the patients wouldn’t attack, even though they were quite anxious to do just that under only moments ago.

As Vaugn advanced on the group of patients, they merely stood their ground, staring blankly at Vaugn, as if what they were seeing was rather boring.

"So…just gonna stand there are you?", Vaugn asked the group as he came to a halt within ten feet of the closest patient, a female patient with black hair and cinnamon brown eyes, "Fine with me. I really don’t feel like working hard right now.", he finished, unshouldering his sword, bending low and lunging at the female patient.

With one powerful push of his legs, Vaugn flew through the air, drawing his at his side as he went, the womans blank face firmly in his cross-hairs. In a heart beat, the space closed to a mere two feet. Vaugn’s grip firmed on the handle, and suddenly aware of everything he was feeling, Vaugn’s arm exploded forward, Purity cutting through the air with a gentle whoosh.

"Hello Jinkara. It’s been awhile.", the female patient said, her mouth pulling back into a wide smile, her eyes suddenly alive.

His feet sliding slightly on the blood soaked floor, Vaugn skidded to a halt, Purity a mere half-foot from cutting through her neck,confused at what he had just seen. He stared at the woman, who’s cinnamon brown eyes were twinkling with joy. She was smiling broadly, in a some what joyous way, as if almost being decapitated was exciting her.

"Jin? What’s going on?", Vaugn asked Jinkara outloud, his voice full of confusion, as he withdrew his sword and slowly backed away several steps.

"Vermillion is using this woman to speak for him.", Jinkara snarled from the walls all around Vaugn, his voice quivering with hatred.

"Very clever Jinkara. Jin…is that this mortals pet name for you?", Vermillion said, again using the woman to speak for him, gesturing towards Vaugn.

"Clever Vermin. But tell me. Why are you using a mortal to speak for you? Afraid of what will happen if you show your face to me?", Jinkara snarled from the walls all around Vaugn, his voice goading with slight amusement.

"I’ll show you my face when the time is right. Until then, I’ll let you deal with my followers.", Vermillion purred, the woman’s face breaking into a wide, toothy smile.

"This won’t even be a warm up for me Vermin. I’ll slaughter you like I did Dogma and Eris.", Jinkara growled, his voice full of amusement.

"Is that so? Well then. I’ll let you at them. But be warned Jinkara.", Vermillion said, the woman holding up a finger, her face very serious, "These humans that you see here-and all the humans I have infected with my virus-can be saved.", Vermillion finished, the woman gesturing around to the other patients.

"What are you talking about?", Jinkara snarled sourly, confused by what Vermillion had proclaimed.

"Well you see…like every good sickness, there is always a cure. And the cure for my plague, not to sound underly dramatic, is me.", Vermillion said, the woman shrugging and smiling, "Simply put. Kill me and everyone will be cured. But be warned. Any human you kill while they are still infected will stay dead.", he finished, the woman crossing her arms and staring at Vaugn.

Vaugn was shocked by this. So he could save the people infected by Vermillion’s plague, but anyone he destroyed while still infected, would remain dead.

Vaugn looked back at the mound of flesh and maggots that he had stepped over, shocked at what he had heard. This now shapeless mound of flesh, which was infected by Vermillion’s plague, was infact human. This was a man, who had a family and friends, that Vaugn had destroyed without any hesitation, erasing any hope of returning him to normal with one mighty slash of his sword. If Vaugn had known that he could have been saved, he would have made sure to try his hardest to have saved him without killing him.

"So…tell me mortal. Can you become a killer to stop me? Or will you try and save as many lives as you can?", Vermillion asked, the woman smiling serenly at Vaugn.

What was Vaugn to do? Was he going to try and save these people so that they could be cured and returned to normal when Vermillion was dead? Or was he going slaughter each patient, slowly cutting his way to Vermillion, eventually killing the demon and returning the few patients that remained back to normal.

Just as Vaugn was lost in thought, desperately thinking about what he should do, a memory flashed through his mind, a memory that was the clearest path of all for Vaugn to follow.

"If sacrifising 50 lives means saving the lives of 50 million, then would those 50 lives truly be given in vein?"

Ofcourse, thought Vaugn, this was the answer. This is what Jinkara was talking about. He was asking if Vaugn would beable to sacrifise the lives of a few people, if it meant keeping a much greater number safe. If killing these people who were infected by Vermillion meant keeping hundreds of thousands of other people safe…then Vaugn would do it. Vaugn would, as Vermillion put it, become a murderer. He would destory Vermillion’s slaves if it meant saving the countless millions of Tokyo-and the world-from a greater danger.

Vaugn looked away from the mound of flesh back to the woman who was smiling at him, seemingly enjoying Vaugn’s desperate decision. Vaugn stared at her, locking her in an unblinking stare, before his face slowly broke into a small, evil smile.

Slowly the smile slid from the womans face, only to be replaced by a look of questioning confusion.

"What are you smiling about?", Vermillion asked, his voice full of confusion, reflecting the expression on the womans face.

"You asked if I could become a killer to stop you? Well…", Vaugn said smiling, and with one swift motion lunged at the woman, drawing his sword by his side, and covering the distance between he and the woman in a hearbeat, slashed his blade upwards through the air one handed, the sword slicing into the womans waiste and cutting cleanly upwards through her torso, before ripping out the top of her shoulder.

Vaugn skidded to a halt infront of the womans body, his feet sliding on the blood soaked floor, and pushed off the ground backwards, landing about 10 feet away from the woman. Unlike the man, her body didn’t tremble, shake, or foam. Instead, the womans torso instantly exploded along the cut, her head and shoulders being shot away one way by the force of the escaping maggots and crashing into the wall beside her, her torso and legs falling to the side as the maggots poured from her body.

"I think you have my answer Vermillion.", Vaugn said, smiling as he shouldered his blade as he looked down at the womans now smiling face.

"Well. I see you made your choice.", Vermillion said as the woman continued to smile upwards at Vaugn from the ground, "Go my children. Kill this mortal and bring me his head. When you’re done with him, you can play with the nurses who are hiding at the end of the hallway.", Vermillion finished, and with that, the light from the woman’s eyes disappeared, and slowly she began to deflate as the maggots escaped her body.

Just like soldiers taking orders from their commanding officer, the group of patients started to slowly advance on Vaugn, their arms slowly stretching out in front of them, as if trying to feel their way towards Vaugn in the dark. As they approached, their lifeless, souless faces stretched into wide, leering evil smiles. The leering groupd advance on Vaugn, bouncing and bumping into one another in their haste to rip him apart.

"So. You want to play too huh? Vaugn called playfully, his voice full of laughter as, with a powerful push of his legs, he charged the group of souless patients advancing on him, a small space large enough for him to run through in the middle of the pack, "Fine by me!"

Vaugn ran at top speed, aiming for the space in between the patients,drawing his sword back at his side as he charged. The space closed in no time flat, and with an explosion of speed and power, Vaugn struck.

As if in slow motion, Vaugn was able to take in everything that happened around him.

Vaugn ducked the out stretched arms of the patients, and putting all the strength he had in one massive swing, braught his sword cutting through the air. As if the sword was suddenly twice as long, he felt the blade rip through the bodies of not only the patients he was running in between, but several patients all around him.

Weaving in between back and forth between the patients, like a cat chasing a mouse through a forest of table and chair legs, Vaugn Snapped his legs together, and pushing off the ground, spring boared over the last few rows of patients as if he had bounced off an invisible trampoline.

Landing lightly behind the patients, Vaugn didn’t waste any time to think. Whipping around and slashing his sword through the air at neck height, Vaugn dragged Purity through the necks of several patients who had yet to notice that Vaugn was behind them.

Instantly, the bodies of the patients exploded. The heads of the patients at the back of the group exploded skywards, bouncing off the roof like basketballs, as maggots gushed from their severed necks like a geyser, splattering the roof with maggots. Several patients at the front of the group also exploded, their torsos flying and twisting in midair, a trail of maggots arcing from their severed halves and splatting the wall and floor and raining down to the floor.

Watching as the bodies fell motionless to the ground, Vaugn saw he had felled about half the group, the rest of the group slowly turning to face him properly, their feet crushing and squishing the maggots that were flooding from their slain partners.

"Still want to play?", Vaugn asked the patients as they turned completely and advance on Vaugn once again, "Alright.", he finsished,shrugging his shoulders in a relaxed sort of way.

In the flash of an eye, Vaugn lunged forward and thrust his sword infront of him, impaling a male patient infront of him through the stomach, burrying his sword half way. The man stopped his tracks but continued to try and advance on Vaugn, his arms flailing uselessly infront of him, the wound around Purity starting to foam and seep from the patients body. With a powerful pull of his sword, Vaugn ripped the sword out the side of the mans body, slicing it open and cutting through the bodies of several patients beside the impaled man. Without skipping a beat, Vaugn brought the sword slashing back across infront of him all the way around, cutting through the remaining patients at shoulder level, the arms falling to the ground with hollow thuds.

Just as before, the patients exploded, some of them exploding in three pieces, others having their head and shoulders blown off, spraying maggots from their severed arms and chest like rocket boosters

The now armless, headless bodies of the patients swayed on spot before collapsing in a heap of flesh and maggots, laying motionless on the bloody red floor.

Over looking the scene before him, Vaugn had to admit, that it was nothing less then a horror show.

Laying against the walls, murdered doctors, many of them still in their white lab coats, now stained red with blood that was gently dripping from their bodies and the massive wholes that had been punched through their chest. All of their eyes still wide open and staring in death.

In the center of the hallway, a mound of flesh and squirming maggots. The bodies had been nothing short of butchered, many of the corpses laying in several pieces, slowly deflating as the maggots oozed from the empty body cavities, squirming away in every direction possible.

It truely was something out of a horror movie, complete with flickering lights to add to the atmosphere.

"That was way to easy Jin. I didn’t even break a sweat.", Vaugn said as he turned his back on the mound of flesh and started down the hallway, shouldering his blade as he strolled

"I told you they’d be as easy a run of the mill demon.", Jinkara replied, very amused by Vaugn’s realisation.

"I see what you mean. That was actually quite boring.", Vaugn replied lightly,"Hell must be full of a bunch of weaklings.", he finished,walking down the hall in a casual sort of way, passing more murdered doctors thrown against the wall.

"Does this finally mean you’re accepting the fact that to survive you have to kill?", Jinkara asked in a voice of slight wonderment

"Well I figure if I have to kill, I might aswell enjoy it.", Vaugn replied lightly with a shrug as Jinkara growled with laughter.

At the end of the hall, Vaugn stopped infront of a large, dark brown door with brass hinges and a silver door knob. The door and door knob were covered in blood which was gently dripping from the door knob. A brass plaque in the center of the door, which was shinging through it’s own coat of blood, read ‘Nurses Lounge’.

"So, you think the rest of the nurses are in here?", Vaugn asked Jinkara as he bent down, tore a large, clean chunk of fabric from one of the dead doctor’s coat and wiped off the door knob.

"Logic would say so.",Jinkara replied lightly as Vaugn threw away the now bloodied piece of cloth.

"Well we just saw that the patients of this hospital are now full of maggots and taking orders from your former follower. Logic isn’t exactly on our side right now.", Vaugn replied, grasping the now clean door knob and trying to turn it, but to no avail.

"Hmm? Doors locked. The nurses must be on the other side of the door.", Vaugn said with drawing his hand, sheething his sword, and still looking at the door, "Only one way to find out.", he finished as he raised his hand, and knocked loudly on the door.

From the other side of the door, Vaugn heard several shrieks of terror and hurried whispering, but no one spoke. Clearing a patch of door of blood with his shirt sleeve and pressing his ear against the wood, Vaugn heard several voices inside, some of them whispering hurridely while others were crying.

"I guess they are in there.", Vaugn said quietly, before clearing his throat , "Hello? Is anyone in there?", he called through the door, his voice echoing around the hallway.

After several moments of desperate whispering, one of the people inside the room called back through the door, a voice trembling with with fear and tears.

"Yes, we’re here! Who are you?", a womans voice called through the door.

"My name is Shentin. I’m one of the recuers on sight.", Vaugn replied through the door, as Jinkara chuckled at Vaugn using one his best friends names to cover himself.

"Oh thank god! We’ve been here ever since the killing began.", the woman replied as whispering began to fill the room, whispering that sounded hopeful.

"If you can unlock the door, we can get you out of here and down to safety.", Vaugn called through the door, trying to sound as professional as possible.

Without another word, Vaugn heard a dull clicking sound and a loud scraping sound coming from behind the door.

Slowly the door infront of Vaugn opened, and a face appeared in the newly opened crack, one that looked pale and fearful.

Vaugn stared into a pair of deep green eyes before the door opened all the way, revealing what was behind it to him.

It was a rather spacious room with large sofas and chairs to sit on and a large window looking out over the city of Tokyo skyline. Inside appeared to be atleast 60 nurses however, which shrunk the available room quite substantially. All of the nurses, who wore knee length white dresses, and a white blouse-like tops complete with name tag, were cramped on the couches and chairs, or sitting on the floor. All of the nurses were very pale and puffy eyed. Laying on their sides were a couple of tables and a chair that appeared to have been bocking the door.

The nurse who had opened the door must have been the supervisor as she had a patch on her shoulder that read ‘Head Nurse’. She had dark brown hair with a few streaks of grey hairs visible, aswell as a few wrinkles on her otherwise young looking face.

She stared at Vaugn in mild shock before she spoke again.

"You’re our rescuer? You’re look like you’re 18!", the nurse said in a voice full of surprise, giving Vaugn the once over.

"16 actually.", Vaugn replied with a nod and smile, "But c’mon ladies! Everyone up and out of the building please!, Vaugn said briskly, as the nurses scambled quickly to their feet and hurried in a mob towards the door.

"How did you stop the patients Shentin?", the head nurse asked as she and Vaugn stood at the side to let the nurses out of the room, who hurried down the hallway as fast as they could.

"It’s best if you not ask.", Vaugn replied seriously as shrieks of terror echoed around the hall from the front of the line of nurses, which came to a complete halt the moments the first screams filled the air.

Just as the head nurse was yelling at the nurses at the front of the line to continue moving, the scene infront of him shot quickly away before returning to normal, generating an echo image before his very eyes, accompanied by the rising sence of evil, the sound of Vaugn’s beating heart filling his ears.

"Ma’am!", Vaugn shot at the head nurse grasping her shoulder in a desperate way, "Are there anymore nurses in the building?", he asked the head nurse quickly, a definite edge to his voice.

"We were in contact with a group that was four floors up. Why?", the head nurse replied, a little taken back by the seriousness in Vaugn’s voice.

"Because they’re in trouble.", Vaugn breathed, and without thinking, he reached behind him, unsheethed his sword and dashed down the hall, passing the nurses in a blur and leaping over the mound of flesh and maggots, running flat out towards the stair well.

Throwing himself through the door and up the stairs, Vaugn ran as fast as he could upwards, slipping and sliding slightly on the blood soaked stairs.

Somehow, Vaugn had a feeling that the remaining nurses were about to fall victum to the remaining patients of the hospital. Fortunately for the nurses, Vaugn wouldn’t let that happen.

Vaugn flung himself around each corner, grabbing the hand rail for grip and flying up the stairs, counting the floors as he did.

Finally after counting four floors, which flew by in seconds, Vaugn emerged panting and sweating on the landing of the floor. Without stopping to catch his breath, Vaugn dashed at the closed doors and kicked them down with all his might, which crashed loudly on the wall, the lights of the hallway flickering just like the floors below it. Vaugn didn’t have to look hard for the hiding place of the nurses.

About halfway down the hall, a group of 30 patients were crowding around a door, 3 or 4 pounding as hard as they can on the door, trying to break it down. The echoes of the dull thuds of flesh on wood, and the sound of splintering wood reached Vaugn’s ears, although not as loudly as the screams of horror coming from the room the patients were trying to break into.

Without taking time to admire the scene, Vaugn pushed himself forward with all he had, starting his desperate sprint down the long hallway.

As soon as Vaugn set foot in the hall however, the patients stopped trying to break down the wall and quickly looked around at the stampeding figure of Vaugn.

A second later, every one of the patients turned and began sprinting down the hall, running flat out towards Vaugn without hesitation. Each patient was wearing the same blank, expressionless look on their face, their eyes hollow and empty looking.

With the space closing quickly, the patients in the front of the group summoned an extra burst of speed, and started to pull away from the rest of the group. Vaugn tightened his grip on the handle of Purity, and gritted his teeth as smile played at his lips

"This is gonna be messy Jin.", Vaugn breathed to himself, as the distance closed to 6 feet, a small alley way barely a foot wide in the exact center of the pack of paitents the perfect place to launch his attack.

"You’re preaching to the choir Vaugn.", Jinkara replied calmly as the first patients was inches from Vaugn.

Ducking, weaving, spinning, leaping and dodging, Vaugn began the messy task of cutting his way through the forest of patients. Admittedly, everything happed so fast that Vaugn’s vision seemed to blur, his brain seemingly a step or two behind his body.

One moment, a fist would be hurling at Vaugn’s face like a missle, the next a white flash would cut across his vision, swatting it aside as the patient throwing it exploded in half at the chest. A heart beat later, a foot would be flying at Vaugn’s face. The next second Vaugn would leap gracefully over the foot like an olympic hurdler, dragging his sword through the patients neck, cutting it’s head off cleanly. The next moment a patient lunged at Vaugn, lowering it’s shoulder as if trying to tackle him. Vaugn lept into the air, barrel rolling as he did, sticking his sword out like a giant sawblade, cutting through the patients shoulders, and a blink of an eye later, it’s waiste, landing gracefully one-legged and continuing his devilish onslaught.

Vaugn had planned to sprint his way through the small alley way between the patients, continuing to hack down the patients until a very fat patient stepped out infront of him.

Unable to stop given how fast he was going, Vaugn merely smiled at the patient. Shooting his free hand out infront of him like grappling hook, Vaugn grabbed the man’s shoulder and kicked off the ground.

As if in slow motion, Vaugn felt himself leave the ground and watch as his world was turned upside down. Momentarily suspened in mid-air, Vaugn swung his sword around behind the fat patient and drove Purity up to the hilt in the mans back, the tip exploding out the front of the mans chest. Slowly Vaugn began to fall right side up again, the world returning to normal once more.

As Vaugn’s feet touched down, he landed infront of a female patient who had been hiding behind the fat man, wrenching the sword upwards as he landed. The blade cut neatly up through through the fat patients body, slashing upwards through the patients back, neck and skull, cutting him cleanly in half, his body falling open like a pealed banana. The sword arched high through the air, high over Vaugn’s head, and using the force of the swing, Vaugn brought it crashing down through the top of the woman’s body one handed, cutting her cleanly in half as the sword cut through the bottom of her body and cut into the ground beaneath it, shattering the stone instantly.

With a quick half glance behind him, Vaugn mustered all his strength and whipped around, his blade slashing through the air at chest height. Like a professional discuss thrower, Vaugn let the handle of Purity slip easily through his fingers, and a moment later, Purity had taken flight. The instant Vaugn had let go of the handle, Purity had spun itself into dazzling white blur and exploded forward as if driven by an invisible jet engine.

Vaugn watched as the patients caught infront of Purity exploded as it sliced through their body, their torso’s rocketing into the air as the maggots poured from their body. As Vaugn watched the mutilated remains of the patients rain down to the hospital floor, Purity crashed through the end of the hall, disappearing in a cloud of shattered concrete stone. Several moments later, Purity returned to Vaugn, crashing through the same wall and rocketing down the hallway towards him, a large rooster tail of blood, maggots, and flesh exploding behind it, spattering the wall and ceiling as if sprayed by a paint gun.

Casually, Vaugn stuck up his right hand, and a moment later, Purity’s handle spun serenly into his hand, vibrating slightly, as per usual.

Letting his arm fall limply to his side, Vaugn casually over looked the scene before him. He took in everything from the patients cut in half at the waiste, to the patient cut in half down the center, laying on the ground in two equal pieces, to the patient laying on the ground, split open like a pealed banana. As if to add to the disturbing scene, maggots continued leaking from every slain patient, crawling over the deflated and hollow mounds of pink flesh.

"So was that more exciting Vaugn?", Jinkara asked as Vaugn reached behind him and sheethed Purity.

"A bit, yes. But I’m still hoping this demon offers more of a fight.", Vaugn replied casually slowly turning and walking towards the door that he had scene the patients trying to smash through.

"It should be. Even a rat like Vermillion should put up a fight.", Jinkara replied as Vaugn took in the door which was showing signs of cracking, splintering and warping from the patients constant blows.

"Man this is slowly starting to get old Jin.", Vaugn said in a slightly bored voice, as for the third time in the building, Vaugn knocked loudly on a door which patients were hiding behind, "Hey, if anyone is in there, you can come out. It’s safe!", Vaugn yelled through the door as he knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.

"Well no one said that playing the hero would be fun Vaugn. And if truth be told, you are the one who decided to rescue all the nurses.", Jinkara replied fairly as the door opend slightly and a young womans scared face came into view.

"You’re not one of them?", the woman asked, her brown eyes wide with fear.

"Nope. I’m a rescuer.", Vaugn replied with a smile as the door slowly opened all the way, "I’ve already rescued the rest of the nurses of the hospital, and I was sent here to help you.", Vaugn finished as he looked into the room and saw that about 60 nurses had locked themselves in one of the patient rooms.

"Thank you so much.", the nurse replied as her eyes began to well up with tears, her colleges getting to there feet and rushing towards the door.

"Not a problem. Now come on ladies! Let’s get you out of here!", Vaugn called into the room as he stepped aside and let the horde of women rush by him, most of them giving Vaugn their thanks with a bow as they passed.

"So Vaugn. You rescued everyone here and killed the bad guys. Can we go looking for Vermillion now?", Jinkara asked casually as Vaugn watched the nurses shuffle down the hall, around the mound of maggots and flesh, and walking switfly towards the stair well.

"With pleasure. This trip was just to boring for me.", Vaugn replied as he watched the nurses down the hall, making sure they had all exited the hallway, before turning and walking into the room the nurses had been hiding in, crossing the floor and a leisurely pace, and heading towards the window.

Stopping infront of the window, and hooking his fingers under the ledge, Vaugn heaved the heavy window skywards, a torrent of fresh air flooding into the room, drowning the smell of rotting meat out in an instant.

"Time to take over Jin.", Vaugn finished as he savoured his first lung full of fresh air since entering the hospital, his body starting to feel lighter with each breath.

"Finally.", Jinkara purred, and within a heart beat, Vaugn felt himself being whisked away to the sidelines, and suddenly found himself staring at the window as if seeing it through someone elses eyes.

Placing a foot on the window sill, and sinking his clawed hands into the wall around the window frame, Jinkara hoisted himself half way of the window. Purched on the window sill like and owl and gazin down on the street below, Jinkara saw the nurses that Vaugn had rescued running away from the hospital as quickly as they could. Twisting around and sinking his clawed hands into the wall above the window frame, Jinkara hoisted himself completely out of the window and began to slowly climb the blank face of the hospital.

As Jinkara climbed the face of the hospital, like some sort of demonic spider, he would peer into the occasional window that he passed. Looking through the windows, he could see more patients mindlessly stumbling around the halls, the occasional slaughtered corpse in the room through which Jinkara would look, the blood glistening in the moonlight.

"I see you left some of the patients alive Vaugn.", Jinkara said casualy as his head broke the top of the hospital wall, "Very noble."

"They weren’t hurting anybody, so I have nothing against them.", Vaugn replied calmly from all around Jinkara as he climbed up onto the hospital ledge and stood straight on his feet, "So where do you think we should start looking Jin?", Vaugn asked, as Jinkara turned on the ledge and squinted down to the ground below, seeing nothing but the nurses still running from the hospital.

"Who knows? Vermillion could be anywhere in this city.", Jinkara replied as he started to walk along the edge of the hospital, looking around the city, "We’ll just have to wait until something happens.", Jinkara finished, stopping at the corner of the building and crossing his arms, a small scowl playing across his fanged mouth.

As Jinkara stared out over the Tokyo skyline, pondering what he should do, a massive echo image exploded infront of his vision, knocking him backwards and rattling his secnes. Like it had done when Vaugn had first seen the rats, it seemd to have overloaded his sences, as his vision went strangely dark, his ears full of the sound of Vaugn’s beating heart.

Realing from the impact, Jinkara shook his head head vigoursly, trying to clear it, only to have another echo image exploded infront of him, followed by another and another, the sound of Vaugn’s beating heart getting louder and louder, the feeling of rising evil stronger then it had ever been.

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