AN: Late happy new year everyone! Ok, let's hope my inspiration and motivation to keep writing this doesn't wane. It's not as high as it was when I first started writing this, but as long as you guys enjoy this I'll do my best to keep going.
Well, I'd say it's about time for my fic to truly earn its M rating. Things get a bit graphic and bloody later in the chapter. You've been warned.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rosario+Vampire. That right belongs to Akihisa Ikeda. The only thing I claim ownership of are any OC's that I created for the purposes of this fanfiction.
Chapter 12: The best laid plans never survive first contact
PSC Headquarters
The door to Kuyo's office opened as Keito walked in. Looking up from the old book he was reading, Kuyo spoke to his subordinate. "Do you have anything useful that we can use against our academy's infestation?"
"The only thing that we would be able to use against him would be the weaker members of the newspaper club. Especially that succubus girl." Keito answered.
"And why do you say that?"
A cruel smile spread across Keito's face before she replied. "Rumors from students and our observations say that they are mates."
Damien's compound
"Uh, Mizore? What are you doing?" Tsukune asked hesitantly as he watched Mizore hold on to Damien's opposite arm from Kurumu.
"Oh don't worry about it, Tsukune. Like I said before. I'm willing to share my Damien as long as ice queen here doesn't try to take him all for herself." Kurumu cheerily replied.
"B-but… that's… isn't that wrong?" Tsukune stammered out incredulously.
Tsukune stopped as he heard Moka's giggling to his side. "She's a succubus. They're known for having multiple lovers. Not to mention that vampires are also known for having harems and mistresses as well. Even my father has his own harem. My mother wasn't married to him and was one of his lovers."
Damien looked to Moka at the mention of her mother. "Your mother's name was Akasha Bloodriver, correct?"
Moka blinked a couple times before she answered. "Oh right, student records. Yes. She disappeared when I was young. That's why I went into the human world. To search for her." She deflated slightly before she continued. "I wasn't able to find her though."
Damien watched Moka for a moment longer before he appeared to wince and grunt at something. Kurumu immediately felt something come through their bond. "Hey, are you ok?"
A deep throaty sigh escaped him before he answered. "Yes. It must have been a distant memory that I just recalled. That's the only explanation I have for what I just saw in my mind." At their questioning gazes, Damien continued. "It was very faint, but I was able to make out a feminine figure looking down at me with pink hair much like your own." He gestured to Moka at the last part.
"Your mother is a Dark Lord, correct?" Damien asked.
"Oh… um yes. She is one of the three current Dark Lords." Moka answered.
Thinking for a moment, Damien provided. "Hmmm, that may be where I must've seen her." Pausing, he continued. "My parents were friends of the headmaster apparently. The headmaster is one of the Dark Lords."
"Huh? Wait, Dark Lords?" Tsukune asked in confusion.
"You silly goose, don't you know anything about monster world politics?" Yukari asked as she bopped Tsukune on the head. "The three Dark Lords are the current leaders of our world. The laws that they put in place are the reason why our world hasn't been discovered by humanity yet. And everyone follows their laws under threat of execution."
"E-e-execution?!"
"Yup. Nothing like the threat of death and extinction to keep everyone in line." Kurumu sarcastically remarked. "Some monsters are just too dense for their own good. Well, for everyone's good that is."
"Yeah but, isn't execution a bit too permanent?" Tsukune hesitantly asked.
Damien fixed Tsukune in place with his eyes before he answered. "No, Tsukune. Only the threat of death can break through to some monsters in our world. The grudges of old run deep in monster society. There are those that would risk everyone at the chance to reclaim their previous spot at the top of the food chain, so to speak." He looked around at everyone as he spoke once more. "Why do you think the headmaster founded this academy? Only coexistence with humanity will ensure our survival in this new world."
"Yahoo! That's my Damien! Always the voice of reason." Kurumu chirped as she hugged herself closer to him.
Almost seeming to squirm in place as Mizore shifted her grip to be closer to Damien, he cleared his throat before speaking to the group. "It's getting late, so we should go ahead and turn in for the night."
Mizore and Kurumu shared a look as the bluenette spoke up. "Let's walk them back to their dorms. I've got something I want to talk to Mizore about in private."
Damien nodded his acceptance as the group headed for their respective sleeping quarters.
Outside Mizore's temporary dorm room
Arriving at Mizore's door, Damien looked expectantly down at the two girls latched onto his arms. "We'll be a few minutes. Now, no listening in while we girls talk." Kurumu said as she wagged a finger at him teasingly.
"Wouldn't dream of it. I'll be waiting over there." Damien gestured over in front of the dorms in general.
Closing the door behind them, Kurumu started explaining her plan to bring more of Damien's heart out. "Ok, here's the deal. I can already tell that what we're going to do will work. How long it's going to take depends on what we do. But first, I thought you were going after Tsukune there with how you were watching him so much?"
Mizore remained silent for a few moments as she gathered her thoughts. "I was. He seems to be really attached to Moka now that I've had a chance to watch him from up close and among his friends. So I've decided that if I tried taking him for my own I'd have to fight with a vampire of all things. Damien is the easier target and he's already said he'd help me."
Kurumu blinked a couple times. "Target? You talk about him like you're on some kinda mission or something." She thought for a few seconds before something clicked. "Oh! Are yuki onna dying out like we succubi are or something?"
"Yes." Mizore stoically replied.
Kurumu remained silent for a few seconds before she snorted and started giggling. "Damien's kinda like our breeding stud or something huh? I truly do love him with all my heart though. So if you do anything to ever hurt him, I'll gut you like a fish and leave you to die." Kurumu smiled sweetly as she watched Mizore's reaction.
Mizore looked away as she gathered her thoughts. Turning back to look at Kurumu in the eyes, she answered. "Damien is the first person to ever take the time to understand me and see me for who I really am. I… think I'm starting to have feelings for him."
Kurumu smiled at this. "Good! I wouldn't have it any other way!" She held out her hand. "So… do we have an understanding then?"
Mizore looked at her hand for a moment before she extended her own and shook on it. "Yes."
The next day. Path to the academy
The group of friends made their way to the academy as they usually would. They garnered more looks than usual as Mizore was now holding onto Damien's opposite arm from Kurumu.
"THE HELL?! Now that's just plain unfair!" One of the monster boys to the side wailed as the duo of Tsukune and Damien seemed to be snagging up all the cute girls of the academy.
Kurumu giggled as she could clearly hear the grumblings of the unfortunate boys. "Sorry boys, you can look but you can't touch~"
Damien, however, had a completely different thought process running through his mind at the moment. 'I don't sense any of the PSC members within the academy. Something isn't right.'
Mizore was keeping careful watch of Damien's body language as she didn't have the inherent emotional bond that Kurumu had with him. She looked over to Kurumu and made eye contact before motioning her head up to Damien.
"Hey, Damien? You ok? You look kinda deep in thought there?" The young succubus asked of her mate. He stopped at her question before turning his head to look off into the direction of the PSC headquarters.
"You could say that." Damien replied as he could now clearly see all the members of the PSC slowly making their way towards the academy with his minds' eye. "You all should go on ahead to classes. I've got something that I need to take care of before it becomes a bigger issue than it already seems to be."
"Huh? Something up?" Tsukune asked as he turned and noticed his friends had stopped.
Yukari saw the direction that Damien was looking in and came to a frightening conclusion. "They're coming for us, aren't they?" She asked in a clearly scared tone.
Damien looked each of them in the eyes before he turned and faced towards the oncoming threat. "Yes. They're coming in force from what I can see from here. I haven't sensed any of them within the academy. So you'll be safer there for the moment while I deal with them." He stopped as Kurumu tightly gripped his arm.
"You don't have to do this on your own you know. We can help too…" She trailed off as Damien removed his sunglasses and looked her in the eyes.
"They've been watching us for the last week. More than likely learning our weaknesses and how to use them against us. They'll use you and anyone close to me to get an advantage over me. If I'm going to handle this in any meaningful way, you need to keep your distance until the situation has become more manageable. Then you can help if you feel the need to. Otherwise, you'll only distract me from dealing with the immediate threat." Damien informed as he squared his shoulders as he stood back up straighter.
'Damn… his posture completely changed. Not only that, he just feels incredibly threatening now. He's serious about handling this on his own.' Tsukune thought as he watched his friend assume the air of a hardened warrior.
Moka immediately felt something change in Damien's entire being. She looked down at her rosario as her true self voiced her opinion. "Well, this is certainly something. Seems like he's finally getting serious about a fight. I wonder how many of them he's going to kill?"
Moka was shocked for a moment before she spoke. "He… he's going to kill them!" Tsukune visibly flinched at Moka's declaration with all the others looking back to her.
"Not all of them, mind you. Just the ones that have killed students here without reason and for petty reasons at that." Damien blankly said with an empty voice. "Now then, I should get going before they get close enough to try anything with any of you."
"Wait! I can-" Kurumu started before Damien interrupted her.
"No. You're not a trained fighter like I am. They'd overwhelm you easily with their numbers and then use you against me." His demeanor softened as he continued. "However, once I've taken care of the majority of them, then you can help." He turned around and lightly cupped her chin as he lowered his face down to hers. "Believe in me. I don't intend to go down easily, if at all." Damien then gave Kurumu a chaste kiss.
Unwilling to let the first kiss that he himself initiated go so soon, Kurumu wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. Her action caught Damien completely off guard at first before he let her guide him.
Mizore silently watched from the side as Tsukune seemed to become uncomfortable as his friends kissed. Yukari finally had enough and decided to break them up the best way she knew how. By pushing Kurumu's buttons. "Come on you heavy chested bimbo! Damien's gonna come back to us safe and sound. Just you wait!"
Kurumu ignored her as she slowly released her lip lock with Damien. He seemed to be stunned for a few moments before he shook his head and cleared his throat. "Is that a good enough reason to come back to me?" The succubus asked in a seductive tone.
Damien had a flushed face before he forced his body to calm down. "Ahem, yes. More than a good enough reason." He straightened himself as he turned to face the oncoming threat. Turning his head, he gave his friends one last piece of advice. "Be ready to defend yourselves. There's no telling if they'll split up to go after you once I confront them." He nodded to them as he started walking away.
Kurumu was scared for her mate, but confident in his resolve. "You better come back to me, you hear me!"
Damien stopped without turning around. "I told you… I'll never leave your side." They could all feel the power and determination behind his voice at his declaration. And with those last parting words, Damien headed off to the front of the academy where he would make his stand.
Plaza in front of the academy
Damien was patiently waiting a good distance out in front of the academy building proper. He kept himself out of sight for the moment as he observed the actions of the PSC through his mind. 'Odd… they appear to have stopped far enough away from the academy to keep themselves hidden from view.' Continuing with his observations, he noticed two groups separate from the main grouping, one comprised of two and the other of four, and head off towards the academy.
"So… they do indeed intend to use my friends against me it seems." Damien clenched his fists and let a low rumbling growl escape his throat as he moved to intercept the ones he knew were heading to capture his friends. "No one takes what is mine from me. NO ONE!"
Side entrance to the academy
"Tch. Why the hell do we have to go grab some prepubescent little witch whore again now?" The larger of the two complained as they reached one of the lesser used side exits of the academy.
"Quit your fucking bitching already you sorry sack of shit! If you paid any attention to what's been happening you'd know that she's a part of the newspaper club. It seems Gin didn't learn his lesson from last year and reformed that pathetic excuse for a club." He slapped his slow companion upside his head as he reached out to the doors handle. "Besides… I bet if you're good… Kuyo will let you eat the disgusting half breed when we're done with her."
The ogre thought for a few seconds as the words of his fellow PSC member hit him. "OH! Good point. Haven't had me some witch in a good while anyways."
Laughing darkly, the skinny one opened the door as they stepped inside. "See? I knew you'd get a kick out of this once you'd thought about it."
Unbeknownst to the two, Damien had perched himself above the doorway in the darkened stairwell exit. 'Good, the ogre came in second. That gives me the perfect opportunity to take care of him quickly. The other one will be easy enough once I've taken down the muscle.'
The ogre stopped for a moment as he sniffed the air, thereby giving Damien the perfect chance to take him down. Damien already had one of his blades out and ready to strike. Leaning forward, he pushed off the wall slightly and drove the point of his blade into the ogre's spine at the base of his skull. He drove the blade in so deep that the point exited out the front of the ogre's throat. Thereby ensuring a quick death for the more dangerous of the two.
"Huh? You smell somethin' man?" The skinny one asked as he turned and froze at the sight before him. His ogre companion was standing there limply. A blades point protruding out of his throat with a terrified look in his eyes before the light left them. Before the body tipped forward, the blade was savagely ripped to the side, halfway decapitating the ogre. Blood spurted free from the now open arteries in the ogre's neck as they splashed over the front of his skinny companion.
"OH SHI-" His startled cry was cut short as Damien released his grip on his blade and shot forward with a strong knee to the monsters gut. As the skinny one doubled over, Damien rendered him unconscious with a powerful elbow to the back of his head.
"That takes care of those two. The next four won't be easy." Damien said to himself as he securely tied up the still living monster.
Hallway outside of classroom 1-3
"This is gonna be so much damn fun! I call dibs on the succubus slut!" The clearly perverted sounding voice of one of the four PSC members sent to Ms. Nekonome's classroom called out from the first floor underneath where Damien was covertly and silently following them from the upper floor.
"You would you fucking pervert! How many girls would that make now? Ten, twelve? I lost count of your sick obsession last week." An annoyed reply echoed down the hall after that.
'Well, that's new information. I was wondering what happened to several of the girls who had disappeared now and then. Right, that one dies here. No one threatens my Kurumu!' Damien darkly thought to himself.
"HEY! Don't knock the snuggle with a struggle man! It's just so much fun having them squirm and scream as I break them!" The lust filled voice darkly cackled as they got closer to the room.
"Would you quit fucking off already dammit! Focus for crying out loud." The frustrated monster rubbed at his brow with an exasperated sigh before continuing. "So far we have no idea what that Tsukune kid is, so be careful with him. He seems weak but it could just as easily be an act. As long as we take that Moka girl first he should be easy enough to handle." The apparent leader of the small group spoke up.
"Fine fine. Whatever man." The soon to be dead rapist uttered with casual dismissal.
"Alright. Since you're a fire whatever you are, you'll handle the ice girl." The leader pointed to the one with orangish red hair.
"Thats 'fire elemental' you jackass." Said fire elemental replied in annoyance.
"Tch… like I care what you are. Just keep the ice girl in check."
Positioning himself just above the four PSC members on the upper floor, Damien readied himself to drop down on them. The rapist had conveniently placed himself at the rear of their formation. 'Right, no time like the present. Hopefully this won't disrupt Shizuka's class too much.'
Silently pulling out both of his blades, Damien jumped over the railing and dropped down behind the rapist. As he landed, he drove both of his blades down onto either side of the monsters neck and deep into his ribcage. Damien buried the blades as far as he could, thereby guaranteeing that most of the rapists internal organs and important blood vessels would be sliced open.
As the remaining PSC members started to turn at the slight noise they heard behind them, Damien spun and delivered a devastating sidekick to the head of the fire elemental. He put so much force into his kick that the monsters head connected with the wall behind him hard enough to crater the stone wall.
'Right, two down, two to go.' Damien calmly confirmed as the fire elementals head remained imbedded in the wall.
The leader, being somewhat more competent than the others, had started to shift into his monster form of an orc. Faster than what the orc could react to, Damien stepped close and lifted a leg, and brought it down on his weight bearing legs calf. The bones of his leg weren't meant to handle that much strain being placed on it from the side and utterly shattered as his leg was bent at a ninety degree angle. Not giving the orc any time to react to its now useless leg, Damien jumped and spun to deliver three successive kicks to the side of the orcs head.
As the orc began to tilt over towards the door of the classroom, Damien caught sight of the last monster. Now in its monster form of a giant praying mantis, it moved to get around the falling form of its leader. Damien used the bulk of the orc to push off of as his feet hadn't touched the floor yet. Falling to the floor on his back, Damien rolled with the momentum and sprung up to face his last enemy.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT HUMAN SCUM!" The giant mantis chittered out as it lunged forward. It may have been fast, but its size hindered it somewhat as Damien capitalized on that weakness. It raised both of its forelimbs and brought them down… on nothing as Damien dashed forward and slid underneath its carapace. Grabbing onto one of its hind legs, Damien used his weight to pull the mantis off balance as he swung himself around the limb. Jumping and spinning over the back of the mantis, he delivered a powerful spinning kick to the back of its head, knocking the giant insect to the floor.
The commotion outside in the hallway, along with the cracked interior wall, caught Ms. Nekonome's attention as she poked her head outside the door. "Um… Damien? Is everything alright out here?" Shizuka asked as she surveyed the scene and caught sight of Damien's form standing over a large insect monster.
"One moment…" Damien kneeled down over the mantis and observed it for a few seconds before delivering a hammer fist to its head. "Yes, the situation has been handled for now."
"Oh dear…" Shizuka started as she noticed one monster laying on the floor bleeding and feebly gripping at what appeared to be knives embedded on either side of its neck. "I'll call for the nurses to come and take care of them, especially that one." She said as she pointed to the dying monster.
Damien looked over to Shizuka for a few seconds before replying. "No need with that one. The others though, yes. This one has raped and then murdered multiple female students as I have recently learned."
Shizuka's eyes opened at this and a look of fury briefly filled them before they returned to normal. "Ah ok. What do you intend to do then?"
Rather than responding, Damien walked over to the struggling, whimpering monster and kneeled down and lifted it up to a sitting position. The rapist attempted to glare at Damien as hard as it could, but the pain it was in made the attempt fall flat. "So… snuggle with a struggle you say?"
Coughing up blood, the monster knew its time was up as it grinned a bloody, toothy smile. Damien reached his right arm out to the side as he encased it in his black armor and flames. The monsters eyes went wide as the clawed and armored hand rested itself on top of his head.
"HOLY SHIT!" Several students cried out as their curiosity led them to look out the door along with their teacher.
"Kurumu is mine! You sealed your fate as soon as you opened your mouth earlier." Damien growled out.
Kurumu could feel Damien's emotions prior to the short fight and had pushed herself up to the front of the group of students. The next thing that she saw was Damien resting his black armor encased hand on top of a PSC members head. Without another word Damien flared his flames and clenched his clawed hand into a fist, utterly crushing the pitiful monsters head into fragments of bone, grey matter, and blood.
One student was heard retching after the gruesome act had been done. Damien turned his head to see that it was Tsukune. The other students of the class had noticeable grimaces but seemed disinterested for the most part. Death was just a part of the monster world it seemed.
"D-did… did you just…!?" Tsukune questioned through his very visible horrified reaction.
Damien stood and spoke without turning around. "Yes, Tsukune. I did."
Sighing in frustration, Ms. Nekonome shook her head as she spoke up. "A shame we didn't catch that one earlier. The problem kids always make a mess of things later on if they're not dealt with sooner." She then perked back up and turned to face her class. "RIght! Ok then, lets get back to my lesson plan, K!"
Damien stood there with his right hand still engulfed in his black fire. Faint sizzling sounds were heard as whatever flesh and blood was left on his hand was consumed by the black flames. After the last of it had been devoured by the darkness, he turned around to face his friends. "The majority of the PSC is still waiting outside the main bounds of the academy." Gesturing to the downed monsters around them, he continued. "No doubt they intended to arrest all of you to use you against me."
"B-but… you're faculty! They shouldn't even be able to lay a hand on you!" Tsukune voiced his opinion.
"True… but they seem to have come to a rather odd conclusion. They appear to think that I am a human." Damien replied.
Shizuka poked her head back out into the hallway at this point. "Well that's just silly! Remember, I knew your parents before you were even born. I even held you as a baby too. I know what you are, Damien. And you are definitely not human."
Ms. Ririko opened the door of her classroom on the other side of the hall and took in the scene before her. "Shizuka?" They looked into each others eyes and appeared to have a silent conversation amongst themselves. It was an unknown fact among the students, but the PSC would require regular purges a decade or two apart usually. Ririko and Shizuka nodded to each other in understanding. They were both quite fond of Damien in their own ways and as such decided to keep his friends safe for now.
"…Damien…?" Kurumu's soft voice called out beside him. Turning his head to look at his bonded mate, he gestured for her to continue. "You did that for me, didn't you?"
Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he calmed himself as he replied. "Yes. He was specifically targeting you for his own personal enjoyment after they dealt with me." Kurumu nodded shallowly as she pulled herself closer to him. "Like I said, I'll handle this."
"I know you will. But… still…" She looked up at him with tears starting to glisten in her eyes. "I love you. I can't bare the thought of ever losing you."
Damien hugged her close to him as he looked to Ms. Nekonome. "Shizuka… keep her… them all safe, please?" He held Kurumu close as she mostly calmed down. "Now then. I have to get going soon before the PSC find out I took out their advance group." They slowly released their embrace as he turned and left.
"Well, looks like classes are going to be over soon." Ms. Ririko commented after Damien had disappeared from sight. "Everyone's going to want to watch after the fighting starts. They always do when this happens." She shook her head in frustration at the entire situation.
"I know…" Ms. Nekonome pouted out. "And I was getting to the good part of my lessons today too."
AN: This took longer than it should've. I just couldn't think of how to make things progress without it being too cliche. Then I had a thought. What the hell am I stumbling over this for? Damien is going to handle this in the way that he would. Proactively. He wouldn't let the PSC get something over him to hamstring him in any way. Ok then, I seriously thought I would get to the main encounter with Kuyo in this chapter. Then things just kinda snowballed and here we are. So… the big showdown happens next chapter. What do you all think of my fight scenes? Criticism of any kind is welcome really. So, read and review. Or don't. It's your choice folks.
For now, I ride my 18 wheeled stallion.