A Touch of Destiny
Prologue: The Nightmare Begins
This wasn’t… This couldn’t be happening.
It wasn’t possible.
Itachi stood in the doorway, staring in barely concealed horror at the scene in front of him.
Blood… Blood pooled in the floor of the den, soaking into the carpet, staining it the darkest red. His Father’s mutilated corpse laid in a heap on the floor, his life draining out of him. A dark figure crouched over his Mother, lapping greedily at the open wound on her throat, the blood flowing freely. The heavy metallic scent filled the air, poisoned it. He was frozen, paralyzed with fear. Helpless to do anything but watch helplessly as this… Monster in human form fed on his parent’s blood.
Where was Sasuke? Was he hurt, bleeding, laying lifeless somewhere in the house? But, no… No. It was only five in the evening, after all, no matter how dark it was outside. Besides, he was supposed to be staying with one of the neighbors tonight…
Good. He wouldn’t want his little ten year old brother to see this…
The figure finally seemed to notice him. It turned, wild black hair rustling across his back, crimson eyes locking with his own. It smiled, long fangs glinting in the moonlight, dark liquid glistening around its mouth. Light shimmered on a dripping sword it clasped in its clawed hand. Itachi fiercely bit the inside of his cheek, desperately trying to maintain control as the Bloodsucker stood and tossed his Mother’s body aside. It strode toward him with an unnatural grace, undeserving of the Monster it truly was. His hands clenched into fists as the Bloodsucker dared to cup his chin, turning his blood cold, that malevolent grin still plastered to its sickly pale skin. “Well, my dear cousin,” It hissed, “How nice to see you…” The Creature paused, considering him. Itachi refused to react, glaring up at the disgusting thing. Somehow it didn’t really seem to matter anymore, if this Creature decided to drain him of life, leave him for dead. Somehow the darkness seemed all too inviting… At least… Until—
“Mother! Father!” No, “Aniki, are you there?” No, Sasuke wasn’t supposed to return until tomorrow afternoon! What was he doing here? Didn’t he realize he was in danger here?! Itachi glanced back to the door of the den, not daring to call out a warning to his foolish little brother.
The Creature chuckled, snapping his attention back to the thing. “Well, well… I think it would be more fun to play with you after all.” Its voice was a low, pleased purr that made Itachi shudder. “I wonder just how the little one will taste…”
“No.” Itachi’s eyes narrowed, white-hot anger blooming in his chest. Without thinking he reached out and grabbed the dripping sword, tearing it out of the Monster’s grip, and made to stab it in the gut. The Bloodsucker merely chuckled, easily dodging, and quickly ran back towards his parent’s bodies, towards the moonlit window. Itachi followed, swinging at the Creature again as it crashed through the glass window. By the time Itachi looked out on the gardens the Bloodsucker had leapt off into the night. Itachi stepped back a pace or two, struggling to regain a hold of himself.
And then someone screamed.
Itachi froze, glancing over at the entrance to the den. Sasuke stood shock-still next to a dumpy old woman who was staring at the bloody sword in Itachi’s hand and fumbling in her purse for a cell phone, eyes widened by fear. Itachi cursed silently. He’d forgotten that Sasuke was in the house for a moment. Of course they would come running at the sound of shattering glass. The way this must look to Sasuke… He should have taken the chance to escape, to stash the sword away somewhere. He could’ve acted like he was returning from a walk to the store or something… But would his Pride really have allowed him to do that?
The woman had dragged a crying and screaming Sasuke away, but his brother’s cries still rang in his head. There was no way he could get out of this… His finger prints were on the hilt of the sword now… He’d been seen at the scene of the murder like this… If he tried to go take his brother now, tried to explain it away… What could he say? It was all so surreal, so unreal. No one would even believe the truth, so why even bother wasting his time?
Itachi glanced up, hearing a muttered curse from outside, and tensed. The cops were here already? Fine. So be it. There was nothing to say now. There was no way to undo the damage that had been done. Itachi glared at the broken window, expecting to see some guy in uniform peering inside, flashlight in hand. There was a loud thud, and some more muttered curses. …This must have been a very clumsy cop. Itachi tensed again when a black hand grasped the window sill, using it to pull himself up as the other hand rubbed the back of his head. He didn’t… Look like a cop. Hell, he could be hardly more than five years older than Itachi was. His hair was short and spiked up, and he wasn’t wearing a uniform. He was wearing a skin-tight black shirt and jeans, and a shark-tooth hung on a chain around his neck… But he had what looked like a cross-bow and bolts strapped to his back, and several… Jugs were attached to his belt. The strange black man was scowling at the broken window and grimaced when his gaze shifted to his parents’ corpses inside. “Damn… Late again.” Only then did he look up, meeting Itachi’s angry glare.
“What do you mean, ‘late again’?”
“s**t…” The black man ran a hand through his spiked hair, which surprisingly sprang back into place, and scowled at the ground for a moment or so. He sighed when sirens started ringing in the night and turned back to Itachi. “Well, come on then, kid. We can’t just stand around here all night. Oh, and bring that sword thing with ya too.” Itachi just gave him an incredulous look. Yeah. Right. He was going to follow after a complete freak while being chased by the police. That would be real smart. The black man scowled at him after a moment, crossing his arms over his chest. “What? Do you want to be locked up? Or do ya wanna kick some Bloodsucker a**?”
Itachi blinked, taken aback. This guy knew about… That thing? He actually knew what had happened? But how? …And why the Hell was he late? “…What are you?”
The man snorted, “Vampire Hunter, course.” He turned, looking over his shoulder and raising an eyebrow at him. “Ya coming, Pretty Boy?”
“Well done, my boy. That was well timed.”
Lord Uchiha Madara smiled sadistically down at his Servant before turning his gaze to the old woman and the Uchiha child as they ran from the house. The house his Master had just violated with his presence. Sasori simply knelt before him, staring at the tiles of the roof. He had learned to siphon off his emotions centuries ago. None of his disgust seeped through his expression.
“And the foolish Hunter is on his way, correct?”
“Yes, my Lord. Practically on the door-step.”
The Lord seemed pleased with this, as he soon spotted the young black Hunter rushing to beat the sirens. Yes, he believed this Fledgling would become quite the dangerous specimen, but that just made things all the more interesting. Madara could be rather… Overconfident at times. “Good work on the Humans, The corner of his smile quirked up. “They don’t even suspect they’re being manipulated, do they?”
“Of course not, my Lord.” He felt no resistance from the Hunter or the old woman, as he surely would if they felt his touch. His… Unique ability to manipulate others made Sasori one of the Lord’s favored. Of course, he would have to release them at some point, but that would happen when they were a few good leagues away, and the Connection was weak.
The Vampire Lord was silent for a time, focused on the scene across the street, and Sasori allowed his gaze to drift, to follow his Master’s. The young Hunter was stepping away from the house, pausing as the teenage Uchiha stepped out of the window. Sasori felt… A small bloom of warmth spread through his chest, and he was sure that it didn’t come from a recent feeding. The two figures paused for a moment and then took off running. The foolish Police arrived two minutes on their heels. …Sasori had a strange longing to follow after the pair of Humans, but the Pull of his Master kept him locked in his place.
“So… The game is set.” Lord Madara turned his unfeeling smile on Sasori again, his Venom burned through Sasori’s blood. “I assume you’ll be keeping tabs on my toy?” This was not a request.
“Yes, My Lord.”
