Waking Blood Ch. 02

The darkness of the abyss was cold and unrelenting. Satoru stood within it like a sentinel, his human and demon psyches united and burning like the flaming core.

"What are you?" Goru's voice resonated in the darkness, rippling through Satoru's inner being. Satoru snarled.

"A force you have never met. I am Satoru. Now ...Get the fuck out of here!"

The abyss was awash with light and Satoru retreated back into his body. His return coincided with the culmination of their combined orgasm. Kamiko drenched Satoru's throbbing and spurting cock with her juices while he filled her with thick throngs of his come -- his eyes snapped open and he saw Kamiko once again as the young, beautiful young woman she was. He was exhausted, however, despite his previous feeding, and his shoulder wound still bled. Kamiko fell upon his chest, exhausted and crying -- Satoru slid her gently off and to his side and he forced himself to stand.

Satoru glared at Goru, his mouth curled into a ferocious rictus despite his wobbly knees. "Well, look at that," Satoru grunted. "I'm not dead yet."

Goru looked down at Satoru, a disgusted sneer twisting his already horrible features.

"Shingen," Goru, said, his voice like thunder. "Bring me your brother's head."

V

Shingen, dressed in a dark tunic with leather ribbons around his arms, stared at his master in disbelief. Before his fall and rise as a vampire, Shingen had sought to protect his brother from the feeders who had devastated the shogunate compound where he served the chief executioner of the Shogun. But the feeders had overwhelmed Shingen's company and they had all been fed upon and some turned, like Shingen himself.

"Satoru?" Shingen finally asked behind a sneer in his brother's direction.

Goru gurgled a hideous laugh as a newly arrived feeder climbed over his back an slit it belly open, pouring warm blood down the demon lord's throat. "Oh, this is precious," the demon lord said. "A family reunion! You can't say I never take care of you, Shingen. You get a second chance to finalize your turning. Kill the one you care for the most."

Satoru looked over at Kamiko -- she had rolled into a fetal position and sobbed quietly. He then turned to face his brother as Shingen jumped from his perch next to Goru and landed a few paces ahead of him. Satoru gulped as Shingen examined him.

"It is you," Shingen declared, his voice malevolent. "I should have recognized at the whore's encampment. I would have made sure you'd died quickly. I might even have blessed you by feeding on you." Shingen licked his fangs and said, "Now, it'll have to be slow."

Satoru sighed -- he noticed Shingen held a katana, but also had the foreign blade Reaper slung across his back. Satoru undid the upper part of his torn hitatare and tossed it to the ground. His thickly muscled chest, shoulders and arms glistened with blood and sweat. Blood still seeped from the puncture wounds Kamiko had left on his shoulder.

"Hello, brother," Satoru said, weary and wary of the coming confrontation. He was dizzy from the blood loss. "I'd like t have my sword back."

"Of course ... wait, did you say you wanted it in your back?" Shingen mocked just before he burst towards Satoru with blinding speed. Satoru had expected the maneuver, having witnessed Shingen execute it before -- using his dizziness as a tool, Satoru let his body fall forward into a roll just as Shingen was upon him. Satoru's timing managed to be perfect and he struck Shingen in the shins. Shingen had no choice but to lunge forward in a flip that carried him over Satoru -- just as Shingen was about to land on his feet, Satoru twisted and reached up, managing to grasp Reaper and yank it from Shingen's back. In a fluid motion, Satoru unsheathed Reaper and flipped it to a reverse grip, the point of the sliver and black blade aligned with his elbow while ending his motion crouched like a cat.

"You are good," Shingen felicitated his brother. Satoru barely noticed Shingen's slight nod, but he heard the rustling behind him as two of the former samurai who had served the shogun dashed from their cloaked positions. Mustering what felt like the last of his strength, Satoru threw himself backwards and spun in mid air, his sword arm tracing a perfect arc in front of him and Reaper tasted vampire blood. Two heads flew upwards, carried aloft on crimson/ebony geysers of ichor erupting from their severed necks. Satoru landed on his back and the headless corpses of the samurais fell to their knees -- their bodies continued to erupt blood in a continuous crimson plume. Satoru was showered with the blood and he greedily opened his mouth. The taste of the blood was bitter sweet while his mind was savaged by memories of fear and death and vengeance. But these were not the experiences of the defeated vampires -- it was the screams of their victims.

Satoru was standing now, his body mending and the whites of his eyes swirled with streams of blood. The corpses still flowed blood even after their supply should have been emptied.

"You're wrong, Shingen," Satoru said as his eyes locked with his dead brother's. "I'm not good."

Shingen snarled and his fangs grew -- he launched himself at Satoru. Satoru meet his brother and swords clashed. Each thrust was meet with a parry and every slash was blocked. Sparks flew as the blades clanged -- Satoru managed to glance at Goru and registered understanding on the demon lord's face. He knew what Reaper represented and he had already signaled his crew to hoist the chains that lifted his obscenely shapeless form.

Satoru locked his blade with Shingen and said: "We're both failures, brother!"

That comment enraged Shingen and he kneed Satoru in the gut and delivered a roundhouse kicked aimed at Satoru's head -- but the kick glanced off Satoru's shoulder. "Look at us, Shingen," Satoru shouted. "You were a Samurai! Do you remember what that word means?" Satoru demanded.

Shingen halted his downward slash. "A samurai serves a master." A flat statement

Satoru held the Reaper in a high guard. "A master. The Shogun Tanabe was your master. You died defending him -- defending me. That was an honorable death. Something I was proud of ..."

Satoru's words resonated throughout the garden, immobilizing all those within range, even the mighty Goru was captivated.

"I was the failure, Shingen," Satoru continued; Shingen had lowered his katana. "I wanted to avenge you, but I had no sword. I wanted to take my life, honorably, but I couldn't even lift the fucking sword. Lady Ioshi found me and raised me to be her revenge. Goru knows this -- but she fell in love and I failed her still."

Shingen had let his katana fall to the ground

"Shingen. I thought you were dead and I believed one us still had honor. But I found out you were ... you were a monster and then you killed me. I realized honor, for us, was a lie. Monsters have no honor."

Shingen listened and felt odd stirrings deep within his core.

"Are you a ronin?" Satoru asked. "Are you masterless?"

"Goru," Shingen answered. "He is my master."

"Is he worthy of even a dead samurai?"

Shingen wept tears of blood. "No ..."

VI

The chains that dangled from invisible anchors located deep in the darkness of the alternate sky over Goru's garden rattled as the demon lord raged at Shingen's admission.

"I MADE YOU!" Goru screamed. "You were a pathetic sac of meat and now you walk among the gods!"

Satoru and Shingen ignored the demon lord's cries as they faced each.

"If Reaper cuts you," Satoru said, "you will bleed all the blood you've spilt and consumed -- and be consumed in turn. In my hands, it will cut you."

Shingen approached his brother, the katana now resting against his leg. Satoru lowered Reaper.

"I know, little brother," Shingen said. "But I can't call you that anymore, can I?"

Satoru shook his and took a step towards his brother.

"Don't," Shingen warned. "We've both become more -- or less -- than we were. The blood bond we shared is diluted. I can never be your brother again. But help me be a samurai, one last time?"

For Satoru and Shingen, it was as though time had stopped -- the word samurai hung between them and Satoru looked at what he called his foreign blade, Reaper, and he handed it hilt first to Shingen. In turn, Shingen handed him the katana; around them, the other vampires and assorted monster in the service of the demon lord Goru heeded their master's orders and assembled to destroy the brothers. Some were the deceased samurai that had served with Shingen under the Shogun. They watched as Shingen dropped to his knees and opened his tunic, exposing his pale, ribbed abdomen -- he placed the tip of the sword beneath his rib cage. Satoru had witnessed the ceremony dozens of times growing up, and he assumed the position to Shingen's right; he held the katana in a high guard above his head. Shingen stared out into the darkness and jabbed the Reaper in to his stomach. Shingen slashed from left to right -- ichor and bowels exploded from the wound with the force of a raging river and he screamed with the echo of the dozens who died at his hand. When Satoru heard his own voice come from Shingen's throat, his mind filled with memories of laughter as he played tag with his brother; he brother's reproachful lecture after he first tasted sake; his brother's smile when Satoru first respectively touched a sword. Satoru performed the kaishakunin; Shingen's head fell forward, a thread of flesh holding it and neck together.

Satoru turned and faced Goru, hanging high in the air in his nest of chains and a horde of undead servants at his feet. Satoru smiled.

Goru smiled back. "You should at least use the Reaper. You might actually have a minute chance."

"I'm saving that for you, Goru," Satoru said. "At least with Shingen's katana, whatever I cut off will grow back. Then, I can cut it off again."

"As you wish ..."

"NO!"

VII

Thunder resonated with less force than that single command. Satoru swung around and crouched in a defensive posture while Goru roared with raucous rage.

To Satoru's amazement, Kamiko was standing a few paces from him, covered in blood. But as he watched and smelled her, he was struck by the familiarity of her scent. "Ioshi?" he whispered.

With blinding swiftness, Kamiko stood before him, and for the second occasion time seemed to stop for Satoru -- Reaper in her grip and though her body was whole, her face seemed translucent and Lady Ioshi's features merged with Kamiko's.

"You once told me the woman you loved left a part of herself here," Kamiko said as she tapped Satoru's chest. Then she touched his cock and said, "Something of her passed into me when you came in me. I have her memories and her ... her hate."

"Her love?" "There is love," Kamiko answered, hesitation in her voice. "But it's clouded. I don't know who's ..."

Before Kamiko could continue, Satoru pressed his warm lips to hers and scooped her up into his arms and they kissed. As their tongues mingled, he tasted Kamiko and Lady Ioshi and the blood that painted Kamiko's body was absorbed through his skin. He felt intoxicated and powerful. Kamiko remembered the one night he loved Ioshi and the intensity of the memory was jarring. But the memories allowed Kamiko to channel the Lady Ioshi -- she felt as powerful as Satoru.

Satoru chuckled and said: "Love can wait. This is a time and place for hate -- and blood!"

On those words, Satoru grabbed Kamiko by the wrist, and he swung her around -- she instinctively brought Reaper up and she cut through two spiky furred demon beasts that acted as the vanguard to Goru's cohort. As their innards splattered the ground of Goru's garden, Satoru heard Kamiko giggle -- a sound much like the one Ioshi made. Now two vampires -- former samurai brother's to Shingen when he lived -- struck. Satoru twirled Kamiko and his katana met theirs in clash of sparks. Alive, they ad been seasoned warriors, and so were they during their undeath. But Satoru was possessed of the rage of the mad -- he ducked beneath a slash to his head and countered cutting the vampires legs at the knees. He then parried a thrust from the other vampire, shifted his guard and sliced upward, cutting the vampire in half from crotch to head.. The two halves feel to the ground in a flapping sound of ichor and guts. Satoru glanced at Kamiko and she had decapitated another attacker.

And so it went -- Satoru and Kamiko, fueled by the sensations and memories of the late Lady Ioshi, stood back to back and advanced through Goru's cohort, their blades blocking and cutting like a steely whirlwind. Limbs and entrails and demon blood flew into the air and littered the ground. Where Satoru injured, Kamiko destroyed. When Satoru was splashed in monstrous ichor, his skin soaked it like a sponge and he grew more powerful -- with each demon or vampire Kamiko destroyed, her unison to the spark of Lady Ioshi Satoru deposited withing her grew.

Goru considered his situation and blared: "Get me out of here, NOW!!" His crew hoisted the chains and the endless night of this hell filled the squeal of far off pulleys.

Satoru saw what Goru was doing and he grabbed Kamiko by the waist -- his sword eviscerated a demon and he tossed Kamiko towards the chains. Her lithe form flew towards the metallic links while Satoru rushed the crew that handled Goru's chains. His sword met their talons and limbs and ichor stained the hellish earth. Kamiko seized a link of chain off Goru's shoulder and used Reaper to cut through the unearthly metal. Sparks flew and metal creaked and screamed as part of the assembly sustaining Goru's girth crumbled and crashed to the ground. Goru reached for the reaming chain but withdrew his hand when Kamiko slashed at his wrist. This made the other chains sway, knocking their operators to and fro -- like a weightless wraith, Kamiko leaped from chain to chain, cutting them almost simultaneously.

Satoru looked up as Kamiko landed with the impact of a leaf in the wind -- Goru roared as the mount of flesh that was his body hung in the air and them came crashing down to the ground. For Satoru, all movement slowed as he gazed around him, watching the remnants of Goru's cohort who still had their existences and limbs scramble from beneath his increasing shadow. Satoru moved like the wind and centered himself under Goru -- he flipped his grip on his katana and jumped straight up. Timing his cut perfectly, Satoru slashed Goru's underbelly and slipped within the demon lord's body.

When Goru finally hit the ground, it shook and rippled and tore under the weight of his impact. The rivers of blood irrigating the bushes of the hell's garden splashed over the gory skulls that were the ornaments fell to the ground, shattering to bony dust. From within Goru's body, snapping sounds could be heard as his bones broke beneath his crashing mass. Goru grunted and gurgled a fountain of blood when a long and slim, beautifully crafted piece of steel pierced the bone and flesh of his sternum. Satoru punched through Goru's chest in an eruption of black ichor and crimson blood. As he pulled himself free, Satoru savored the fluids that filled Goru's body. But Goru moved with inhuman speed and seized Satoru in his giant's grasp. Satoru felt his ribs snap under the pressure of Goru's grip, yet he severed the demon lord's hand at the wrist. Satoru launched himself forward as Goru swatted at him with his other hand -- Satoru slashed the demon lord's eyes -- they burst like putrid bubbles before Goru connected, sending Satoru sprawling to the ground.

Kamiko, infused with the Lady Ioshi's energies, watched as Satoru inflicted injury and insult upon the great demon lord Goru. Her eyes met Satoru's and she she knew he was regenerating his wounds as he stood and faced the defeated demon. She leaped high and landed near the gaping wound that Satoru left in Goru's chest -- it was slow to regenerate for the demon lord.

"You're in there, aren't you Ioshi?" Goru huffed as he whiffed Kamiko. "No matter your form, always so beautiful. You played your game well ..."

Kamiko considered what Goru said for a moment, and then she ran Reaper across his throat. He coughed and a waterfall of blood erupted from the wound the enchanted sword dug in his neck -- his scream echoed the voices of the thousands he had slain and the torrent of billowing blood grew in force and thickness.

Kamiko left her perch on Goru's chest and dove into the deepening sea of blood for which he was the wellspring. Satoru was waist deep in the crimson sea and he waddled his way to where Kamiko was -- she resurfaced and was carrying the sheath Satoru had ripped from Shingen's back during their confrontation.

"Kamiko!" Satoru shouted over the roar of rushing blood. He noticed that Goru's body had reduced in size.

Kamiko waived and joined him and they kissed heatedly and Satoru said: "How long can Goru bleed?"

"Enough to flood half of this little hell," Kamiko said, her finger's in Satoru's blood splattered hair.

"Damn," Satoru muttered, his hand resting on Kamiko's large breast. "Was the Lady Ioshi ever here?"

Kamiko bent her head and touched her forehead as though she was spiked with pain. "Yes," she said finally. "I ... I mean Ioshi -- was here. But her memories are so confusing."

Satoru glanced over his shoulder and noticed Goru's screaming body was slowly collapsing as it emptied itself of a thousand lifetimes of stolen blood. "We climb," Satoru declared, grabbing one of the loose chains dangling from it ethereal tether. "They must be attached to something."

Kamiko gawked at him and then looked up the chains and finally nodded. She grasped on of the links, put her foot in the other and began to climb the chain like a ladder. After she had climbed four links of the chain, Satoru sighed and began his trek behind her.

Kamiko paused and cast a worried glance at him. "If you fall," Satoru said, "I'll be there to catch you -- or I'll fall with you." VIII

The higher they climbed, the roaring winds made conversation next to impossible -- below them, Goru's garden ad shrunk to a hazy red patch flooded in ever rising blood. Above them, the darkness gave way to an eerie green haze. Despite their inhuman stamina, both Satoru and Kamiko were reaching the limits of their endurance.

"This is not leading anywhere," Kamiko cried. Satoru saw her grip waning. "How long have we been climbing?"

"Hours, I think," Satoru said as he maneuvered so his body was opposite hers. "We can't stop now."

"Satoru, I know," Kamiko said and reached through the chain. "But I'm so tired."

"Kamiko, I'm sorry," Satoru said, kissing her fingers. "If you hadn't met me -- if we'd never been together, none of this would have happened to you. I failed again ... "

"Satoru, never say that! If I'd never met you, the feeders would have drained me to death. Being with you made me stronger -- being with you again brought me back. It gave me the Lady Ioshi's strength, even if it was for a little while. Every little moment I spent with you was worth it. And with Lady Ioshi's memories, I have lived -- lived more than I ever dreamed. For that, I thank you."

Satoru held Kamiko's hand and reached through the chain and touched her chin. Kamiko smiled and kissed the inside of his palm and then let herself slip away. Satoru's eyes grew wide as he saw Kamiko let go of the chain and allow herself to fall back.

"No!" Satoru screamed and he moved around the chain and launched himself with all the might his powerful thighs could muster. "I won't fail you again!"

Like a drowning stone, Satoru propelled himself downwards till he reached Kamiko. His hands found her shoulders and he yanked her upwards and wrapped his arms around her waist -- their skins rippled against the rushing.

"Satoru," Kamiko cried, her tears defying gravity and falling upon his wind swept hair.