Chapter 10

Though I’d sent Faith up front to ask Jin for a meeting, the air of chilly tension was still there when I shifted to Jin’s underground hideout. Unlike me, who considered the Dark Wind where I reined Seattle, Jin controlled Asia from his elaborate underground tunnels. From what little I knew about him, Jin didn’t come up above ground unless he was truly needed.

The nightstalkers were waiting for me, keeping a perfect circle around me. I didn’t really expect them, waiting for me, or didn’t really know how they knew I was arriving, but all the same, they stood in a perfect circle around, all heads bowed. A quick count made ten of them, all in white ceremonial robes. Immediately, I felt out of place with my tube top and leather pants.

“You’ve arrived, Keeper of Seattle.” The harmony of voices greeted me in unison, and I stifled a freaked out shiver. Okay, I expected Jin to be backward. But not to this extent. It didn’t really help that I hadn’t seen him for quite some time. After all, not anyone could drop by Jin’s place as and when they liked.

I was saved from coming with some sort of reply as the nightstalker directly in front of me stepped out, still slightly bowed. His hair was a strange spiky purple, but I caught a glimpse of his bowed face. Before turning nightstalker, this guy had to be someone from a punk rock band.

“Please follow after me, Keeper of Seattle. Master Jin awaits.” My suspicion was confirmed when the nightstalker spoke, his liquid velvet voice toiling in my ears.

Left with nothing else to do, I put on my best haughty look that I could manage as the Keeper of Seattle, made a convincing sound at the base of my throat to signal the nightstalker to move, and followed after with great, confident strides. I swept past most of the nightstalkers, who bowed even further as I passed them. Wow, I had a good mind to start teaching my own nightstalkers their own mannerisms.

At least, anything was better than my nightstalkers greeting Ancient Valerio with a “Yo! Whassup?” Yeah, it happened, with Cole. Thankfully, it had been Valerio. Had it been Roz, or Kote, or even Jin, I was pretty sure Cole would end up just a stain on the floor.

Thankfully, I had the nightstalker to guide me through the tunnels, as we winded through a thousand different corridors, turning a million corners. Despite Jin’s backward way in life, the tunnel was well ventilated with modern technology, as evidenced by the vents and air conditioning. The walls seemed reinforced with steel, and there seemed to even be automatic doors. As we walked down the corridors, the nightstalkers who walked by, or just happened to spot us, all bowed down low in respect as I passed through. Respective much.

I had a sneaky feeling that we were reaching Jin’s room, as the doors began getting lesser and lesser. As we turned the last corner, there were no doors at all, just Jin’s room right at the end. Even as we slowly approached, I could feel his repelling aura at the door, trying to push curious, invading nightstalkers away.

The nightstalker stepped forward bravely, rasping his knuckles softly on the only wooden door I’d seen. The hollow sound of oak being knocked at sounded. We waited. One second passed. Then two. Three.

As I began to get impatient, I heard a soft tapping from the other side of the door.

Tap. Tap tap. Tap.

It didn’t sound even relatively like Morse code, but all the same, it was a soft tapping that could barely be heard. The nightstalker didn’t seem confused the littlest bit as he mimicked the tapping from inside, rasping softly against the oak.

And then there was silence again. One heartbeat. Two. Three. Four.

Tap.

With that, the nightstalker began to smile slightly, though carefully keeping the expression hidden in the shadows as he turned the door knob, retreating to the side and bowing down low, gesturing for me to go in. I barely remembered my Nightstalker Court Customs as I brushed past the nightstalker. By simple rights, I should have just brushed past him. Yet, I couldn’t help but stop to touch him upon his left shoulder lightly while he bowed.

For us, it was a sign of gratitude to someone lower in rank.

The nightstalker froze a little, and then his head slowly came up to look at me with bright eyes. He didn’t meet my eyes, for he was forbidden to do so. But he grinned at me, touching two fingers at the middle of his forehead quickly. I smiled, and nodded at his thanks, and finally moved into the room.

The door closed behind me, but my attention was spent looking around. I was in some sort of library, but yet there was a bed in the middle of this library. It took me a little while to realize it was a bedroom, except that there were so many books and shelves lining the whole perimeter of the room that it turned out to be a library/bedroom.

At one corner of the large room was a low wooden table, and a figure was sitting languidly in the wooden chair, a book in his lap. Jin was reading the book intently, but I could feel him, keeping tab on me with fierce intensity as I slowly walked over. I reached a few steps away from him, and fell to one knee, bowing down low to show my respect.

I didn’t dare look up, for Jin was one who followed close to court customs. Yet, what we had between us was very much different from court customs. Someone of a higher rank didn’t owe a nightstalker of a lower rank a favor anyhow. The Ancients were careful to stay away from that. Except that I had Jin’s debt to collect now.

“Rise.” Jin’s voice was the same like how it had been, deep and commanding. In a way, I had to give it to Jin; he was really the perfect embodiment of an Ancient.

I obeyed quickly, though it felt weird just standing there, without looking into his eyes and not doing anything. I couldn’t wring my hands, couldn’t fidget, because it would be considered as disrespect towards an Ancient. Damned.

Jin, for his part, seemed intent on making me feel uncomfortable as he continued reading his old book, leaving me to stand before him, perfectly rigid and tensed, like a wound-up cat, ready to jump out and spring at him. And that itself would be the worst thing anyone could ever try on Jin. For a moment, I wondered what Kote saw in the human Jin when he turned the human into a nightstalker.

I was saved from my primal urge to fidget when Jin finally closed his book after flipping a few more pages, resting it on the table. He stood up, rising straight to his height as he towered over me. I tried not to start trembling from his intimidating. No, it wasn’t that Jin was big-sized or anything. Jin was simply tall, and his build was perfectly normal. But Jin had that air around him that screamed danger, and my cells were reacting to that.

“I trust you do not come to my lair without your infamous wits and guts about you, servant of Wind?”

Damned, I hated that title. Why remind me that I was a lackey, a creation made by Wind’s blood?

But Jin had asked a question, and I had to answer it.

“I come before you with my mind and courage ready at hand, Ancient Jin.” I spoke as humbly as I could, but since I wasn’t normally one who bowed down to someone of a higher rank, I couldn’t help sounding a little challenging.

For the love of gods, Jin ignored the challenging tone as he moved with such fluidity that I couldn’t help but stare as he moved –no, glided –from the chair to the corner of his bed. It was slightly unnerving that we were having this conversation in his bedroom, but I figured Jin was hardly like Wind.

Come to think of it, only Wind and Valerio would be the Ancients who pressed themselves upon me.

As best as I could, I followed after Jin to the corner of the large, four-poster bed, though I remained standing beside him while he sat down, crossing his legs at the ankles.

“Lies, Keeper of Seattle. You speak like a mouse before a cat. Your thoughts are scattered upon the wind, lost in abyss.” Jin’s voice was dissatisfied, and a sour feeling grasped my heart.

Well, what could I do? Grovel and snivel my way back into his grace? Damned, I was here to collect a debt, not to make myself look like a fool. Anyway, there was no subtle way to do this.

“Pardon me for speaking my mind, but it is true that my thoughts are unfastened in the whirlwind that has hit me recently. You know of my terribly complicated past. Some of it has come to chase me on my tail. Wind stepped into Seattle again just yesterday, and a hunter by the name of Xavier intruded on my land with a deal to strike. Things are going out of line for me, and I’m only at my wits’ end before I could think of collecting your favor.” I sighed, phrasing my words in the most polite way that I’d ever heard myself in my whole life.

The silence that followed after my words were plainly like a collar around my neck, slowly tightening. I was practically choking, my windpipe constricting like an attacked boa, when Jin finally spoke slowly again. And this time, something weird happened.

His air of threat fell away as he sighed, and his straight shoulders slumped. In a blink, his silvery white hair –like Wind’s –seemed… old.

“Thank you for speaking your mind, Dru. It would have killed me to slowly maneuver my way through your hazy mind. You were never quite like any other nightstalker I’ve met.”

My jaw practically touched the floor.

“Um… is that supposed to be a compliment?” My mouth shot off without my controlling, and it took me quite awhile to realize that I’d spoken to him out of line. Crap. Crap.

Maybe it was just hallucination, since I tried my best to rub my eyes, but the image of Jin lying flat on his back on his bed, his hands tucked underneath his silvery white hair while his piercing green eyes shot up. The red trench coat which he wore without fail wrinkled a little, but he didn’t seem to care.

“Speaking to me like that does you no good, Dru. But yes, that was supposed to be a compliment. Pardon me for my manners; it has been long since I’ve chatted with a woman such as the likes of you.” Okay, it still sounded like Jin. The nobility of his voice, the commanding tone was still there. But his words?

“Uh, I’m sorry, Jin. But… I… uh…” I was at a loss for words. The last time I’d seen Jin was… ten? Fifteen? Years ago. Back then, though he was already the Keeper of Asia, and I still a lowly nobody who had wandered away from Wind’s protective wing. I had only wandered how powerful this Jin that Wind actually spoke to with respect could be. He, though amused by my bravery and my quick tongue, had been slightly offended when I challenged him to a friendly duel. He had never seen me in equal light as him, but things were different now, apparently.

“Speak your mind, little lady. Surely you have not lost you edgy tongue over the years? Have Seattle made you soft and protected? Should a duel between us happen again, so you should find your guts and wits?” Jin tilted his head up a little, giving me a look, before returning his gaze back on the wooden ceiling.

“Duel? No! No!” My exclamation must have been too sudden, because, before I could keep track of what was happening, Jin disappeared from the bed, and something warm pressed against my back. A hand grabbed my right shoulder, and short, warm breath brushed my neck.

“This I hear from you, Dru? Fear at a thought of duel? A raging heartbeat at the notion of fight? Hardly impressive. Hardly worth my favor.” Jin whispered into my ear, and, as if a lightning strike of epiphany struck me, I suddenly understood what he was driving at.

Taking another deep breath, I forced myself to stay calm, despite Jin being pressed against my back, his hand creepily close to my neck. One swift movement; and he could snap it like a twig. One swift action and I would be nothing but a bag of lifeless bones.

“Forgive me, Jin, but I came with reluctance in asking for your favor. It is not that I have turned soft, nor I fear duel. In fact, I would love to duel with you again, if time allows me so. Yet, things happen fast in Seattle; I come, like I said, for I am at wits end.” I forced my voice to come out even and slightly emotionless.

The hand released my shoulder, but a forefinger trailed up my shoulder, to my neck as Jin started to move away. Struggling not to whack his finger away from my neck, I shifted so that I was half-turned, looking at him. I needed to keep Jin in view. Like Wind and all other Ancients, they had the license to kill anyone when they liked it. Valerio may treat me like a friend, but I was still wary of him. Wind; I could never be relaxed around him. Much less to be said for Jin.

I only managed to catch a small glimpse of Jin before he disappeared from view again. On pure instinct, I turned back to the bed, to see him lounging on it, the book which he’d placed on the table in his hands.

“’Fear comes to those who need it unconsciously. Courage comes to those who have it. Yet, wits are something unknown to us all.’ Do you think it was wise for this author to speak his mind aloud on this, Keeper of Seattle?” Jin read from the book, green eyes turning from the book to me in a piercing stare that I could not escape.

Though I could be easily killed or beheaded, I couldn’t help but look back into Jin’s eyes. I saw the old knowledge beneath those eyes; saw the raw unfiltered emotions as they twirled around his irises.

Frankly, since Jin was looking for my honest opinion, I shook my head. At that, he turned thoughtful as his face disappeared into the book again.

“Hear this then, and air your views freely. ‘Favor to one higher is less than necessary. Yet, favor to someone lower is almost unheard. To owe one item-wise; it is plain suicide. To owe a debt; it is a slow choke-hold. But to owe a life; now that is a question we cannot answer.’”

I took a little while to churn out the main idea that the author of that book was trying to say. Though Jin continued reading the book, I could tell that he was keeping a close attention on me, waiting my reply.

“Frankly?” I asked, unable to find a better way to phrase my words.

He looked out from the book, eyes on my face, searching, then back to the book.

“Though I seem to have a faint idea that you are not the brightest nightstalker I have seen, your opinion on the matter is asked.” It was said haughtily; every bit like the Jin I knew. Or at least the Jin I thought I knew.

I took a small step back, preparing myself for a showdown or something.

“I think it’s a hard way to look at life, but very true. Well, except for the part about the owing of a life. It is a question some of us can answer, but cannot find words to put the point across.”

This time, he looked up from the book interestedly, closing it carefully while he deposited it on the side table. Though it struck me weird that he was plainly wearing a trench coat when he was in his room, I asked no question as he pulled the long, flowing end to one side, gesturing for me to sit.

I sat nervously, for I hadn’t normally been asked to sit in the presence of an Ancient that I wasn’t well-acquainted with, meaning any of the three that weren’t Valerio or Wind.

“And if the question is asked, do you think you have the answer? Have you a way to describe the owing of a life?” Slight interest hung in Jin’s tone, which freaked me out.

I had a good reason to: the only other time I’d heard interest in Jin’s tone when he was about to render his opponent limb to limb, and was describing on how he planned on that course of action.

But I gave his question thought for a short moment. Then I shook my head, not meeting his eyes. There was an audible sigh, then a short brush of wind. When I finally got the courage to look up again, Jin wasn’t on the bed, but at the far end of the room, putting the book which had been on the bedside table back on the shelf.

“Time runs out for our discussion. Sunrise is soon. Lay your weapons bare upon my bed, and we will talk business.” Jin’s voice returned commanding, instead of softly interested, and I obeyed quickly, unstrapping my dagger holsters from my waist. As he watched me, the Ancient raised a brow, surprised that I would come before him with the simplest weaponry of only three simple daggers.

“Pardon me if I’m unable to lay my power before you?” I asked meekly; for there was no absolute way I could simply clamp down on my Magic Manipulation powers. Jin looked surprised and confused for a moment, but it faded away quickly before anything while he waved his hand in dismissal. I tried not to ask why he was wearing jet black gloves that were torn at the knuckles. I noted –quietly –that the cloth supposedly covering his right forefinger was torn from the glove.

I blinked, and Jin was gone again. Again, on instinct, I turned sharply on my heels to see Jin returning to sit languidly on the wooden chair. Damned, he had to stop running around like that. I knew he was trying to unnerve me; but he was soon crossing the line from unnerving the plain annoying. If only I could tell him that.

“Collect your favor. Lay down your wants, and I shall see if it goes against the Nightstalker’s Law and Custom, or my principals.” Jin said breezingly in the way that Wind was perfect at doing, and for a moment, I suppressed a chill.

I started to clear my throat, but when Jin gave me a sharp, slanted warning look, I stopped immediately.

“Recently, I have found many humane crimes against a nightstalker believed to be from Asia. Though he has committed only humane crimes, it is in my best interest to hunt after him, for I have a personal grudge against him. He has not only killed my parents, but also someone important to me. Not only that, he serves a threat against my only sibling, and I will not allow that. What I ask is only that you hand me this nightstalker over with no conditions, for I am sure his life will end after he is handed over me to.” I spoke as frankly as I could. Okay, maybe lying that Christy was someone important to me wasn’t what I had in mind. But there was no way I could tell him that I was doing this to get Xavier off my hands.

Jin would turn me into a stain on the floor if he knew I was helping a hunter of the nightstalker kind. Anyway, Christy really meant something to me. Through Xavier’s eyes, I saw her innocence, her trust in her brother. I saw her fear, the shock in her eyes. After yesterday, I couldn’t forget how sweet she was. Avenging her; it would be a sweet task.

Jin was quiet for five whole minutes while he simply stared at me in the eyes, looking deep. He didn’t move, and I didn’t dare to.

“This nightstalker, what brings you to me in search of him?”

“He has an Asian accent.” My answer was ready by the lips, but I could see that Jin was unconvinced.

“That is all you offer me? A murderer of your parents –whoever they may be –without much more description. I give fair warning: do not think of wasting my time, underling of Wind.” Jin’s voice became more and more displeased as he spoke and he looked away, his gaze almost shooting laser beams.

I flinched, and then hurried to keep my composure.

“His name is Vin. If I am not wrong, I believe his middle name to be Laurian, a follower of his mother’s maiden name. He has black hair, green eyes. Low cheekbones and a sharp nose. Please, Ancient Jin, I need him to still the fire that burns my heart.”

Jin’s sharp gaze snapped back to my face with the ferocity of a capable murderer, and I was suddenly reminded of how he looked like when we’d dueled. Back then, he had held his katana strong in one hand, while the bloody and battered me struggled to keep my own katana up and pointed at him. The strong, fierce gaze he’d swept over me had been piercing by its own right.

“You find revenge only to still a burning heart? You deserve not to collect this debt!” Jin declared as his anger burst forth, and I could only stop my own pleading words from tumbling out. He jumped out of his seat, with none of the fluidity I’d seen before, as he towered over me. I kept my mouth tightly shut, tasting bitter fear on my tongue.

Fear comes to those who need it unconsciously. Courage comes to those who have it.

Jin’s words from before passed through my mind, and the second epiphany for the night struck. I blinked, and for a moment, everything seemed on slow-mo. The taste of fear was gone from my tongue, and I found that I wasn’t even trembling the slightest bit. I stood tall, before Jin, with my chin thrust out in confidence. Jin may have the rights here, since I was in his domain, in his room, in his territory. Jin may have the rights, since he was one higher than me, as well as part of the Ancient Council.

But Jin had no rights to waiver what was inside of me.

Imagine my surprise when Jin stopped suddenly, midstride, as he stared blankly at me, the anger suddenly gone.

“You’ve found it, have you not? The strength to stand up.” Jin’s voice was politely question; something I hadn’t heard before from him. More than a little confused, I nodded slowly, watching him carefully. Man, Jin had his own emotional rollercoaster.

He turned sharply on his heels, the flowing end of his trench coat swaying/ behind him. Silently, he walked back to his table, bringing a cup that I didn’t spot to his lips and drank its contents quietly. He emptied the contents, and instead of setting the cup down, he did something shocking. With all the force his arm gave him, he flung the porcelain cup towards the door.

The crash was piercing as the cup collapsed into just tiny pieces on the floor.

Then, before I could keep track of him, Jin went to the door with such a speed I didn’t expect, and picked up a larger piece of the broken cup. Looking at me meaningfully, he pressed the sharp, jagged edge of the piece of porcelain against one end of his palm, dragging slowly.

Blood followed behind his trail, and though it ruined his glove, his palm was a hand full of blood. His blood. My stomach growled a little, embarrassingly.

Jin came to me with unnatural speed –like Wind –and before I knew it, he slashed my right palm open. With a crazy grin, he took a step back, dropped the porcelain piece, and held out his hand.

“By our bloods, we bind each other in debt. Do you, Dru Lorna Reyzon, agree to be tied in debt and favor to me, Jinika Hironagina? Do you, Keeper of Seattle, keep your loyalty to a blood-bind between us, to help me, Keeper of the Asian islands, if need be? Even if it runs against the Laws and Customs of our kind, we will agree to each other’s life debt? Only against our very virtues and principals shall we refuse help to each others.” Jin declared, still holding his maniac grin.

Hold on; I’d seen this maniac grin before, as my hand slowly –automatically –went to his. It was like someone holding out a hand for you to shake. It was automatically that you would shake right?

The grin.

Yes, I’d seen it before.

Before I was the Keeper of Seattle. When Jin had been staked. He’d told me to leave the dead, drained body of the hunter who’d staked him impaled upon the sharp tip of a statue. Though it was against Nightstalker Laws to leave our dead prey open for the human public to spot, Jin had given me the same maniac grin and a , “Damned the Laws and Custom. They never told me I was going to get staked.”

It was the same grin. The grin when he was planning on turning his back on the Nightstalker Laws and Customs, when he was one to follow it as closely as his Master, the Creator of the Laws and Customs himself.

My hand gripped his before I knew it, and our blood mixed. He held on to my hand tight, still grinning that maniac grin.

“With these words, we are bound by blood. Death falls upon the one who betrays that trust of our binding!” He declared, and then it was followed by the crazy laugh.

I was still bewildered, my hand still stuck in his, when the door crashed open, and the nightstalker from before, as well as the other nightstalkers I’d seen when I first arrived, in the corridor, looking panicked as hell.

“Master Jin! Are you…” The nightstalker drifted off, taking sight of the broken cup, then Jin holding my hand, our blood dripping from our hands. And then the nightstalker stared at his master laughing like a madman from the Asylum.

“You! Takeharu! Hear my order and follow till your life catches up upon you! Find me this man Vin! He has inherited his mother’s maiden name of Laurian, black hair and green eyes! Find that nightstalker and bring him kneeling before me, and before my blood-bound friend!” Jin declared in the same crazy voice, pointing his finger sharply on the nightstalker who’d barged in.

It took a second to sink in, as the nightstalker stuttered his understanding in his orders, and ran off.

“What are the rest of you doing? Leave my presence and find me this man Vin! With Takeharu, you shall all find him! If I don’t see him by sunrise tomorrow, do not think of breathing another day!” Jin ordered, and with that, the rest of the nightstalkers scrambled.

The rest of the night passed by very weirdly.

First Jin went crazy like he’d been drinking for the past ten hours. The things he did and said; they weren’t pretty, most of them stringed-up Japanese curses that I myself had managed to pick up.

Second, he didn’t let go of my hand through everything, and even though our wounds healed back, he refused to let our hands go. I was too polite –or scared –to ask for him to let go.

Third, he dragged me all around his room, turning his own bedroom upside down. Then we tumbled on the bed, with him dragging me.

Frankly, the way he held me was plain scary. It was almost as if Wind had taken over his body; except that this was Jin we were talking about. Jin. I was beginning to fear him, not because of his ferocity, but his madness.

I thanked the gods when the sun rose, and he conked out almost immediately. Barely keeping myself together, against the power of the rising sun, I scribbled a note with a broken pen I found in his upside-down room, left it beside his pillow, and teleported back to Seattle.

Faith met me with a steaming mug of blood back in my house, tried to interrogate me about the cut on my hand and the numerous bruises I had after getting bumps everywhere, dragged about by Jin. I was too tired for answers, and though sunrise wasn’t another hours in Seattle, I was asleep almost immediately when I dropped into the bed.

No, actually, I was asleep even before my head hit the pillow.