Sweet Reunion(private)

“Killed in an alleyway.” Ozaki muttered. His memories of the Black Blood felt like an entirely different person. But he could remember it all as clear as it had just happened. Remember how easily he had shrugged off such… Things. What he had said about Meggi. Those horrible things. Exactly the kind of thing Yuuto would say. He covered his mouth, doing his best to repress the sickened sensation that was building in his stomach. Thinking on those memories made him want to throw up. Those thoughts, that hateful speech, repugnant and against everything he stood for.

He didn’t blame Mordred in the least for cutting off his arm. If he hadn’t odds were Ozaki probably would have gone done something stupidly reckless to try to atone. But as it was… He was fucked up enough as it was that if he went further with it he just might end up actually dead. To be frank he was still stunned he wasn’t already dead.

“By Yuuto.” He whispered, his eyes distant for a moment.

"All these years… I thought… It was my fault. Anything he did. Anything he said. I couldn’t deny, I couldn’t complain. Because it was true. It was my fault. Its wuh… What I d-de-deserved. I made him that way. Because of what I did… I-I-I mean. W-who wouldn’t go a bit crazy after s-seeing ssss-som-something like that?” Ozaki slipped into batspeak briefly, projecting the image of his mother’s mangled body. His fingers wrung through his hair, tears beading in his eyes once more.

“But… If he went after Meggi. F-f-for as little of a reason… No. He didn’t need a reason. He was always a murderous bigot. Always. Always. Always. I should have known. I should have…” It wasn’t his fault. Maybe he could have prevented her death if they had never met. If Yuuto had never seen her. If he weren’t so blind as to not see through a simple illusion charm. But no. Yuuto needed no reason. If he killed Meggi. If he killed her. Of all people. Sweet Meggi. The mere memory of her, hope of meeting her again was all that had held him up in those early months.

Ozaki doubled over, clutching at his stomach as if it was there Mordred had plunged his blade into rather than through his arm. 

That if such a vampire like her could exist, there might be hope for him. Meggi. Whose face he still looked for in crowds. When a dog barked, he’d look over. When he imagined her… He always imagined she’d probably be married by the time they met again. How could she not? Such a beautiful sweet girl. Of course she’d be. But that’d be okay… He just wanted to see her again. Catch up. You’re a vampire? Crazy. How’d that happen? You should meet my grandma. I always told you she’d love you. I think its about time.

But she was dead. That would never happen. Everything that was left of her was here in this room. Ozaki didn’t even notice as the tears began to spill over.

And Yuuto. He’d dare let that man walk. To breathe. He had had his chances. He could number them by the ties he kept in the lowest drawer of his dresser. Fourteen times, fourteen ties, a desperate sign to show him. Anything to get him to understand. He was still Yuuki. Still his son, still his there. Not just a walking corpse puppet. That if he wanted to kill him, to drink his blood. He would have. But he didn’t. Not once. Yuuto didn’t listen. He wouldn’t.

He never had. There was no going back to old times. Because the old times were nothing but a fabrication of his idiot childish ignorance. He should have known better. How could he not have figured it out? He hadn’t wanted to. That was it. He accepted so much hurt. From the multiple attempts on his life. To such cruel words. And believed himself deserving of each and every thing that happened to him.

But no no no. Yuuto deserved it all. He deserved all of it and more for what he did to Meggi. For everything that man had done to him. And just like that fifteen years of self loathing snapped outward like a long held rubber band. He stood up straight, baring his currently filed fangs and clenching the one fist he had to his side. Ozaki’s pupils were narrowed to thin, feral slits as an overwhelming blood lust came over him. He wanted to tear the man apart. To give him a fate worse than death.

“I should have killed him. I’m going to hang that man by his ties and taste his last breath.”

“Well that’s good. That black blood sounded like awful stuff. As for the other thing I’ll make sure to tell her that. I wouldn’t worry to much though. I mean look at the bright side she’s immortal now though she will probably have to go through Mordred’s boot camp now....”

The voice on the other side of the phone seemed to shudder upon mentioning the boot camp. He didn’t go into details but his voice made it clear that it definitely wasn’t something to look forward to. A vampire boot camp led by an ancient overprotective vampire knight was definitely something interesting to leave to Yuuki’s imagination.

“Anyways, I’ll have the phone sent up right away!”

With that the phone hung up and just as it did Mordred caught sight of a bat as it flew into the room at Ozaki. He eyed it with curiosity as landed on the boys shoulder and began licking up his tears. It seemed the bat definitely recognize Yuuki though he had to wonder what the name Little Bat was.

“So who might this be? Also Asahi do you prefer to go by this nickname? Little Bat is it?”

As this was happening a vampire in a different section of the Blood’s HQ was ruffling through Yuuki’s belongings in an attempt to find his phone. Before eventually finding it and begin their trip to Meggi’s room to drop it off

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mordred’s boot camp. Ozaki’s brow furrowed at that. What kind of boot camp would an immortal gangster vampire hold? Shooting practice? Selling drugs? Sword fighting? How to feed properly without butchering the person you were feeding on?

“Bring my journal too!” Ozaki chimed in just before Mordred hung up. If he got an opportunity to get the heck out of here he did not want anything holding him back. He wasn’t feeling great right now, so walking or flying home by himself wasn’t really an option. But Battina could literally pick him up and carry him. If he got so much as a minute alone and could find a window, he’d be out of here. Ozaki would find a way to return the cloths. The needles and darts would be a loss, but he had plenty at his home... Which was probably going to be staled out after this. He’d have to pack a bag of essentials when he got home eventually.
He wasn’t entirely worried about them snooping on his journal. It was written in another language, and sloppily at that. Then again... There were more than enough members in the gang that however long he had been asleep for they may have figured something out. But there was little time to worry about that, as Battina was licking at his face. Well that... was embarrassing. He cupped her head gently, pushing her a few inches away from his face trying to wordlessly convince her to stop by the action. When he did this, however, she just started nuzzling his hand.

Ozaki’s expression crinkled up as if he had just tasted sour milk at being referred to as Asahi. He hadn’t gone by that name in years. Not since... “Can’t believe I actually used that name.” He muttered to himself, then speaking a bit louder to answer the question. “Yes, her name is Battina, and I’m Ozaki now. It was my mother’s maiden name.” He wasn’t going to give Mordred outright permission to use his nickname. It was embarrassing, but there was some measure of pride in having a nickname. And a measure of closeness implied in calling someone by said nickname. Mordred hadn’t earned the right.

~~
Battina was looking Little Bat over for any freshly made injuries now. No new ones. The blood did not smell like his. He had fed recently. That was good. Little Bat needed to eat. She could not sense any aggression from the Sleeping Tsunami, but was still wary. “We go home now?” She asked Little Bat in a voice hopefully quiet enough to elude Sleeping Tsunami’s senses, projecting the image of the cave as she asked said question.

Providing he did not have a talent that made his senses keener, she should be fine probably. Not that Battina really understand what talents were. She did not want Little Bat to go back to his humanoid home right now. He was fine. Which meant he was terrible. Which meant being alone would be the worst for him. He needed his flock, and even if they weren’t quite enough being bats and not vampires, they were what he had.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Well Battina it is then. Welcome to my abode my little friend. So you’d like to go by Ozaki then? I would like to hear the story one day about how you got that nickname of yours.”

As this conversation was happening a young vampire was stumbling up the stairs. She had begun the journey before but was called back in order to grab the kid’s journal as well. She honestly had no idea why she was doing this in the first place. The vampire on the phone was her senior in the gang and was getting instruction from their father but she had no idea why they were helping the vampire hunter’s kid.

Sure, she knew Mordred turned him and how the man felt about people he turned but did it really extend to that kid? The son of the vampire hunter who killed Meggi? A boy who had just attacked their boss and tried to kill him? He may have been under the influence of the black blood but even then his specific targeting of Mordred had to have some basis in what the kid desired to build up from. He clearly couldn’t be trusted but here she was being ordered to bring his things? None of this made any sense but there was no point in arguing with those above her now.

A few moments later she’d come through the door and find herself looking at her boss standing before the boy with a bat on his shoulder. She had to wonder where the bat came from but for now she was just going to complete her job. Without making eye contact with Yuuki and purposeless conversation with him she approached Mordred and held out the phone and journal.

“Here’s what you asked for. Anything else you need for me to grab before I go?”

There was a small hint of reluctance in her voice and to anyone paying close enough attention they would know she wasn’t happy.

“No, that will be all. Thank you”
With that the young vampire would quickly make her way out of the room glaring at Yuuki for a second before exiting. Mordred hadn’t missed her tone or the look but he’d have to deal with it later. For now he just held Yuuki’s stuff out towards him.


~~~~~~~~~~~`

Not yet.” He whispered back to Battina in bat in a next to silent tone so as not to be overheard by Mordred. Ozaki could be standing right in a dream created by a surreal being and he would not feel nearly as weirded out as he did now. Mordred was being so... Polite. Why? He did not trust it. At all.
The Blackblood... there was the reminder about it again. Best ask his talent about it while he had a moment.

Ana. Tell me all you can about the substance we just imbibed.

It is a substance of pure chaos. Requires further examination to accurately replicate and summarize its purpose.

Tell me what you got.

30% complete analysis. Substance has multiple properties given its chaotic state. Pure darkness. It brings out either the real or perceived darkness of the user.

Perceived darkness? What did that mean?

What you perceive to be the darkness within.

30%... Normally his talent was a lot faster in analyzing something like this. Namely- hours in his system should have been enough. That it hadn’t implied that this was possibly talent based in origin. Those were always harder for his talent to analyze properly. The idea of it being a talent was enough to bring back the restless feral rage he had only just managed to quash.

Is it a talent?

Further samples are required.

Ozaki was going out on a limb and saying yes.... He was going to tear that person apart and devour them for daring mess with his blood supply. His pupils narrowed to feral slits as rage coursed quietly through his veins. The very reason he took the job inventory management in the first place was that he had wanted to keep children from having to go hungry and deal with tainted blood supplies like he had from time to time from shady dealers. The fact it had happened under his watch was enough to make his blood boil- both toward himself and the person responsible. He wanted them to die- slowly and painfully so he could enjoy every last drop.
So consumed with his thoughts was he that he only kind of heard the conversation between Mordred and the other vampire. It wasn’t until his journal and phone were held out that he snapped back to attention. He was angry right now... But this wasn’t Mordred and he should try and be polite if he could. “Thank you.” He said as she left, definitely not missing the glare. That... Was no surprise there. In fact it was more in line with his expectations than anything else here. He had tried to kill their boss after all, and even aside from that, why would they like him anyways? He was the son of a vampire hunter and if his actions had proven anything to them in the past couple of hours, he was sure living up to the reputation of such. A heavy pit of shame settled in his stomach at that, momentarily replacing his rage as his pupils went back to normal.

“What I did when I was under the influence... That’s not who I normally am. I mean... I’d have tried to dart you for sure just to avoid the sire control thing since I thought it was eye contact based... but... I mean I... I w-wouldn’t have said any of the things I did if I had been in my right mind. Especially not about Meggi.” He didn’t meet Mordred’s eyes as he said this. This was about as close to an apology as he was willing to get for what he had done to Mordred. Mordred had it coming for what he’d done to him, even he had admitted that. But... what he had said about Meggi was vile and inexcusable.

Ozaki took back his journal and phone, avoiding eye contact with Mordred as he did so, finding his workplace in his contacts with no issues. Looked like they had already called him multiple times. He called back, going through a bit of an automated phone system, but he managed to get to his boss with surprising ease. He walked to the other side of the room, as the system rang, trying to get what privacy he could in the confines of the room.
Yuuki! You’re alive! Hey you, go tell everyone he’s alive! Hahaha! I win!”

Ozaki was wanting to watch what he said in front of Mordred, but that was enough to throw him through a loop. “You what?”

“The betting pool.”

“You... started a betting pool?" He said in a hushed voice, trying to keep Mordred from overhearing anything... Buuut well...

“Well I didn’t start it, but I sure as hell authorized it! I knew you would pull through, even if you were a bit... Shorthanded.” Undoubtedly she was putting on those sunglasses she always kept on her person on her face right now.

“... Okay moving on. I need you to search for the blood pack I checked out two days ago. Find the source, and if there are any from the same donor, get rid of them. That should hopefully do it if it was just from one person.” If not... if not they had an even bigger problem.

He heard a bit of typing before she came up with a response. “Looks like there were only two contaminated packets. From the blood drive, same person... Ooooh. Look at that. Looks like the other person who got one of those blood packs was your daughter."
That would explain some things.” Ozaki growled, having to take care not to crush his phone as his rage began to mount. “Who was it?” Who donated the blood. He wanted to avoid outright stating that part in front of Mordred.

“I’ll handle that from here Yuuki. I know you just can’t wait to sink your teeth into this gal- but you really should just let someone else take care of it. You’re a bit too close to the situation. Besides, why would you come into work on vacation?"

"I'm not on vacation."

"Yes you are. Since now. You should at least take the week off until your arm heals. Don't make me strong arm you on this Yuuki! I am your boss you know!"

More arm puns. Ozaki grimaced. "Can't you just give me my arm back? We could stitch it back on and I'd be good to go."

"But then I'd loose my new back scratcher!"

"Back scratcher?! What?" Ozaki replied a bit louder to that than he meant to, and immediately lowered his voice. "I know what the work contract says, but that's not covered under that at all. You can't.... You can't do that." That was just creepy. Surely she couldn't do that. The workplace contract's death and dismemberment plan did have a payout for any potential family that was left, but the other half of that also entailed that if you did die or get dismembered, any loose limbs or organs were up for the workplace for the taking. It was a creepy policy. but hey. When you worked at inventory management under Akira, there was a strict policy of waste not want not. Why would they bury all those valuable organs in the event of someone's death? That was just wasteful. But a back scratcher? Really? He would have at least thought if she was going to keep it she'd burn the arm for vampire ashes.
Akira's laugh came over the phone, loud and painful enough that Ozaki had to lift the phone away from his ear. "There's nothing in the Death and Dismemberment plan that says that I can't do this!" She continued her cacophonous cackling for about ten seconds before finally tapering down. "Okay okay. Just trust me though. I'll deal with this. You enjoy an actual vacation where you're not coughing up blood constantly. Okay? Byeeeeee."

Then she hung up without so much as another word.
~~~~~

Battina wasn’t sure she could consider Sleeping Tsunami a friend right now considering the fact he had ripped off Little Bart’s arm. Then again... Little Bat had captured him first. Their Little Bat has been trying to vampire hunt. The fact he hadn’t killed the Sleeping Tsunami was more strange than not. If Ozaki was in a killing mood normally he was much better at finishing off his prey quickly. And there was no doubt in the bat’s mind that Ozaki had wanted to kill the man. So why not?

Battina had to control the temptation to growl at the other vampire, knowing she could not present herself as a threat. Nonetheless her mistrust was apparent without such obvious vocalizations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
“Oh, you don’t have any need to explain yourself to me. After all I did absorb some of it out of your system. I understand its influence. I nearly killed you while under its effects. Even Azrael was out for blood after absorbing some of it.”

Mordred wasn’t going to blame Yuuki for what he did under the effect of the black blood. The stuff was crazy and definitely not something Mordred could just leave alone. Was it the effect of some kind of drug? A talent? How spreadable is it? Could you make a vaccine for it? What about building a resistance? There were so many question swirling around in the ancient vampire’s head and he didn’t see how to get the answer to any of them. Besides for Yuuki, who clearly had some kind of contact or way of gaining information on the matter.

Unfortunately, he was a bit secretive about his discussion over the phone. He could’ve simply eased dropped but spying definitely wasn’t something he was comfortable with. It was a fine military strategy but this wasn’t war. He wasn’t going to dishonor his guest but listening into their every conversation. Instead he patiently waited for for the call to end though he found himself caught off guard by the sudden exclamation about a backscratcher.

“So have you learned anything about the black blood? It’s going to be a disaster if we can’t find the source and stop its distribution”



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wouldn't be the first time." He muttered under his breath in retort to Mordred's statement of nearly killing him, not really bothering to be unheard with that. Ozaki put the phone back in his pocket when he was done with the call, momentarily flipping through the diary to check for any missing pages that may have been ripped out. Upon being satisfied that it had not been tampered or altered with in anyway he tucked the journal into the area between his vest and shirt. It didn't look quite right with this outfit, usually it was a better concept with his trench coat than such a slimming outfit. However it made him feel a bit safer to have some sort of shield protecting his heart- which was what indeed the journal double functioned for. At this point Ozaki was certain that his sire wasn't going to kill him... But that did not make him feel any safer.

Now that the call was done he momentarily wondered who this Azreal was, but opted not to ask. He had more than enough on his hands without being introduced to a whole new person. Now that the black blood was taken care of there was the thought of Nyx preying on this mind. And this guy. Who the fuck was he? He was just.... Being so calm. He had been apologetic back then when Ozaki had confronted him, but now he was just... Standing there. As if his very presence wasn't carving out wounds that had at least scabbed over for him. "I have. The matter will be dealt with." Ozaki said shortly, avoiding eye contact with Mordred.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was no point in arguing with the boy over his comment. It was true tonight hadn't been the first time Mordred had tried to kill him. The first time he had nearly ripped Yuuki into a dozen pieces before managing to restrain himself, last night had almost been exactly the same. A blood curdling rage born from an attack on his daughter even though the first time the attack had been far more physical and fatal than the second. He wasn't going to apologize for his anger though at some point he would have to apologize about the lack of self control he had shown. The black blood was a perfect excuse for tonight's incident but the ancient knight had never been one for excused.

For the time being what Ozaki said next was far more important. Somehow he had taken care of the blood problem with a simple phone call. Truly Mordred had no way of telling the problem was truly dealt with, since he had no idea who had been on the other side of the phone but at the very least Yuuki seemed confident it had been resolved and a vampire who had been drugged by such a substance wasn't likely to be allies with the one distributing it.

"How is it going to be handled? Did you find out who distributing it?"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seemed like Mordred was going to ignore that first comment... Probably for the best. Provoking him wasn't the best idea anyways.

"My boss will handle it. Our system has all the information we need." He was answering as short as possible, not wanting to give Mordred any more information than he had to. He worked in inventory management. They were the distributors. And he had failed... But not of his own willpower. Whoever had done this had taken measures to evade their protective measures, Ozaki was certain of it. His talent was usually able to find contaminants in familiar substances with ease. Unless said steps were taken. Maybe he'd access the system later if they didn't lock him out of the information for the blood drive by the time he got back to work... He just had to get the barcode for the blood pack he drank actually. That'd be easy enough... Again if his authorization wasn't deliberately revoked to keep him from ripping someone apart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Mordred had a real point there, even if Ozaki was given a name there was no way he was going to give it to some mob boss. Granted… If he were given the name he likely would do just as bad to the person as Mordred might. So at least in that regard he couldn’t really hold himself on better standing than the criminal. But that was his blood supply… He’d done this all to try and prevent things like this from happening. And he had failed. “We have our own ways of handling things. It will be taken care of. ” Ozaki replied coldly. “Look. Can you leave? I just… Need some time alone to take all of this in.”

It wasn't a complete lie. Ozaki really did need some time alone to think on this. Just not in Mordred's house. What a shame he wouldn't be getting it anytime soon.