[Underworld] Circle of Hell

[Salem Renfield]

Salem watched him and stepped back a few inches when he approached her desk. He had shown her his powers before in her dreams and she was not underestimating him in real form. She saw his eyes scan over t he pictures, then her, then the pictures, then back up to her. She wasn't sure whether or not if this meeting was in peace or in other reasoning, either way her standing there being scared was complicating answers to questions she was burning to ask him, even about his past history. At least if she were to die she could at least die knowing about the life on a man who could never die. Right?

She realized he had asked a question and she glanced at his hand and then up to his face, contorted with confusion as he himself questioned her.

"Yes, but what is it to you? Why are you concerned with a golden casket?" She wasn't willing to give up the information this easily without searching for reasoning. Eventually she'd tell him,

[Dai Yosada]

Dai blinked his eyes a few times, then gave her a nonchalant shrug. He leaned off of the desk and chewed his lip a moment.

"It's nothing to me," he said slowly. "I'll find out eventually." He rested his fedora on her desk and then tucked his other cold hand into the pocket on that side of his jacket. "But I imagine that it would be more likely I could give you answers that would mean much more than any answers you could give me."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem actually smiled at him. His response just brought a smile to her face for it was the truth. She was neneding more information perhaps out of her own curiosity than anything else. She sighed out, the butterflies escaping her for a brief moment in time as they shared a silence, whether or not it was uncomfortable she'd have to get back to that later. She was too concerned with getting answers and getting to understand this enigmatic vampire who was needing her in a way seh was unable to understand at that moment. Perhaps at a later date they could make some sort of deal that would let her keep her life! She sighed out and pointed at a chair nearby.

"Sit?" She asked, looking over her shoulder to grab her own. She needed to sit, she needed to relax, needed to understand that her crucifix was in reach in case this was a stunt to gain trust then attack. She slid into the rolling chair and brought it closer to her desk and peered over at the man in front of her.

"His name is Marius," She stated mindlessly. "He signs this old paper with a fancy M. No name. He finally contacted me a little while ago and told me his name." She looked up at the man and shrugged.

"Do you..can I know your name? I mean, you and I should at least be on a first name basis if you are going to ruin my dreams again." She tried to be humourous but she was always bad at it, always failed at being cool or suave. She bit her lower lip and clenched her jaw, she still not being completely comfortable with his being there.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai's eyes flashed. Marius. He thought so. He suspected it. He felt his master moving around again, becoming active again. For what purposes, Dai didn't know yet. He shook his head to the chair and dropped his gaze for a moment before looking up at her and nodding.

"Dai Yosada," he tossed carelessly. His name meant little anymore. Sure, if someone was looking, they would find his name in a long, long list of people who disappeared in Japan so long ago. But no one would need to do that. Otherwise, Dai was as good as dead. He had to smile at that. Then he shook back some of his hair. "Marius, hm?" Dai snorted bitterly. He snatched up his fedora to roll it in his hands as a displacement activity. "Sounds like something M would do..." he shook his head. Then he waved his hand vaguely at the woman.

"Get rid of whatever he sends you. It means nothing, and will only serve to clutter you and your living space."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at him grab his hat and wave a hand, was he leaving on that note? Hopefully not! She was about to contest the subjct, but felt it might have been unnecessary to stop him from going his own way, after all she didn't want to give him any ideas! She certainly wanted to sleep again at some point in her life. She grabbed a pen and jotted his name down and looked up at him, shaking her head slightly to rid her right eye of a peice of hair.

"How do you know Marius?" She asked freely. Even better, these two did in fact know each other and his answer would help her immensely on trying to figure out who he was, for she was sure he had forgotten long ago. At least that is what she read in those novels about vampires, the gothic, lonely, romanticised characters that lived in a veil of darkness, loathing every passing minute.

"His items are causing quite a stir around here, getting rid of them isn't really a choice I am willing to make, especially when this advice is coming from a man trying to kill me."

[Dai Yosada]

"He turned me," he tossed out, again nonchalantly. No one would believe her if she told them, so he didn't care to tell her whatever she asked. He licked his lips and then decided to sit down as she had offered earlier. He crossed his legs and perched his hat on his knee, straightening his trench coat. He looked up at her, discreetly sniffing the air. He could smell her blood from here.

"He..." Dai rolled his hand as if he had lost the word. "Bit me...and all of that, of course I am sure you know." He paused another moment. "Yes, I imagine they would. M always preferred to make a grand entrance. Wasn't complete without someone noticing him and crediting him for something. Had to surround himself with underlings who would do so on a daily basis." Dai leaned his mouth on his knuckles and gazed out of the window at the rain. There were people outside, oblivious to the fact that there was an undead not forty feet from them. They would always be oblivious. That is of course, until Dai decided to consume them.

"Marius is more often bad news than he is good, Miss Renfield," he muttered against his hand. "I wouldn't take his gifts any longer. They only give him leverage for showing up here."

[Salem Renfield]

Salem sat up in her seat at his words.

"Show...show up here? You mean...he'd do that?" She was definitely no longer going to accept them if this was the case. Knowing one vampire wanted to kill her was enough, but having two...that was just too hard for her to handle. She sighed out almost in shock that this was happening. She was really beginning to ponder her mental stability after this one. Who on Earth would believe that she was sitting in her office talking with a man who was dead, a vampire, a creature of the night who fed on helpless victims? It was absolutely proposturous! Ridiculous as well!

"Why am I so important? This is really stupid. Can't you go find someone else? I mean..why me? I am just doing what I love best, I didn't ever do anything to provoke this!" Suddenly it sounded like a plea for her life for she wasn't sure whether or not she was still going to have it after tonight. It had been bottled inside of her for quite some time that now was a better time than never to just express her concerns for her life! After all, didn't he do the same before he was...turned?

[Dai Yosada]

Dai nodded at her.

"He'd do that," he confirmed. Then he paused. For a long moment, he said nothing, just considered her thoughtfully. She looked familar to him suddenly. Like he had a breif conversation with her in the bookstore, or said 'excuse me' to her while getting out of a taxi. Maybe she just had one of those faces, but Dai's memory was fairly good. He couldn't imagine forgetting her if she had been important. He turned away from her again to look out at the dreary London weather.

"I asked you if you knew your ancestry. Obviously you do not," he said quietly before sighing heavily out of his nose. "Just suffice it to say--since I am far too old to be explaining these things again--that you have pure blood that can provide to me knowledge and power that is ultimate. And it is what I have been looking for," he explained, looking back at her after a moment. "You see?"

[Salem Renfield]

Salem suddenly felt sad, not only for her new predicament, but for the man that sat right in front of her. Not sad that he was old and had been wandering the earth for ages, centuries, but sad that he actually was going to kill her for his own greed. It made her sad, very sad indeed.

"My ancestry?" She laughed lightly almost finding the words humorous. She had no ancestry just a bunch of dead old guys who were buried from here to eternity. No pun intended. She rolled her eyes finding this amusing. She sat back in her chair and looked at him studying him for a bit longer than she should have. She contorted her mouth, biting the inside of her cheek and her lip trying to put something together for the puzzle was far too constrewed to piece together just yet.

"So you want my blood? Am I getting this right? If so why are you taking so long? Why can't you find someone else with 'pure blood'? Why can't I give you a drop and let this all be over with?" Suddenly her questions were cascading out of her mouth, fear setting in once again when her brain actually comprehended that she was going to die at the hands of the person sitting in her office, sitting in front of her, talking with her.

"Sorry." She said suddenly, leaning forward and puttnig her head intp her hands. For a woman who was grasping the thought of murder by the visitor she wasn't doing much to stop it from happening. She was continuing the conversation, she wasn't calling the cops, she wasn't doing much of anything except slowly accepting it. This caused massive panic within and she wa feeling the effects now as she tried to think of a way to save herself ahead of time.

"Great." She said shaking her head. "My luck." She looked up at the man and suddenly was struck by a feeling of familiarity, especially by the look on his face. But she shrugged it off. This man was familiar because of all the times she dreamed of him, or he invaded her dreams whichever was correct.

"So...this is like cancer then? I'm destined to die? And don't give me cryptic answers like 'we all are going to die' because I am very aware of that!" She was trying not to become hysterical but for Godsakes! Who talked about being killed with the man who will, more than likely, be responsible for it?

[Dai Yosada]

Dai cocked his head at her being so distraught.

"Calm down, my dear," he said, a little bothered. "Does it look like I am about to fly out of this chair and kill you now?" he paused a moment. "As for your ancestry, there were very powerful men in them, and only you have that bloodline. It is why I cannot simply find someone else. No one's blood is quite like yours. And the reason I cannot take a drop, is because without it all, it the point would be moot. I would gain nothing and you would have a pinprick that would sting for a few days. It is all or nothing," he said matter-of-factly. Then he shrugged. "But, I'll have you know, you have severly thrown my plans into a whirlwind. If I wasn't having second thoughts, you would have been dead twenty minutes ago when I showed up on your doorstep."

Dai sighed out of his nose in annoyance. Why was this so different? Why was she so different from all the other nameless humans he consumed? He didn't give them a second thought, just fed and left. Yet she had thrown everything out of joint and he didn't like it one bit. He liked being in control of everything. And suddenly he wasn't.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at him, almost surprised to find him comforting her in a way that madfe her feel safe...slmoat. It was very bittersweet for her ,. the clmaness she felt was coming from the man who inflicted the panic. She bit her lower lip feeling drunk and dazed by this whole mess and turn of events, very awkward turn of events she might add along.

His words rolled in her mind and before she was even able to think over what she was wanting to ask, she did it anyway.

"Then why haven't you, hmm?" She knew that making him bitter wasn't a good thing, so she stopped on that final note. She needed to think, needed to find a way to not die, to keep her blood in her body, and to make this guy go somewhere else...nut then again she was slightly unnerved by the fact that she didn't really want him to disappear just yet. This was a once in a lifetime chance for her....this was a vampire speaking to her. A bloodsucker, undead, monsterous, creature thing. And he was all hers at that moment, sitting in her office as if they were old friends.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai sighed again. He moved forward and then stood, patting his fedora back onto his head and clenching his jaw once.

"You just digest that. Someone is waiting for me at home, and apparently cannot sleep without me," Dai said, looking down at her while the eyeshine in his eyes sparkled. He tipped his hat. "You'll be getting a good night's rest tonight. Use it well, I am already regretting my decision to understand Marius's role in all this before I kill you," he said, rolling his eyes at himself. "I imagine your days will be getting much longer after this day, Miss Renfield."

Dai strode resolutely towards the door, pushing out and glancing around. He glanced back at the woman, and tipped his hat again. He moved out into the rain, pressing himself into his coat a little farther. He glanced left and right before beginning back down the sidewalk so he could get to Angel before the other vampire imploded in on himself.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem looked at him, her back straight and stiff. She found his words highly unsettling, found his entire being and prescense unsettling to be quite honest. She was wanting to burst out into thousands of questions about his past, his family, his age, where did he live now? So many things that she just felt couldn't wait, but he was moving out of the room too quickly for her to even blink. One second he was there and it seemed at another he was gone.

Salem realized she had needed to take some sleeping medication tonight or else she'll be pondering on her life's ending far too much, its bloody ending that would be highly painful she was sure. She leaned back in her chair and felt her stoamch turn and her heart break into a million pieces. Why her? Why did he have to be so greedy?

Salem was suddenly trying to find a plan to stop this madness, but all it equaled out to was more pain for her probably. She shivered and then sunk down in the chair and leaned her head on the seat. This was madness, she was going crazy, she had to have been. Vampires didn't exist, just like mermaids, dragons, werewolves...all figments of the imagination! She had always been that way and this was just a sign that she needed to go see a doctor.

But her mind quickly went back to her original thought, getting away. She could run, of course, but she wouldn't doubt he could track her down and find her, after all Marius had and she didn't even know him at all. What the hell was wrong with her?

[Dai Yosada]

By the time Dai returned home, he was tired and hungry and generally grouchy. Being nice soured his mood, so when he wandered inside and saw Angel playing solitaire he didn't want to exchange pleasantries with him and just told him to go back to bed.

Dai knew he had begun a very bad thing by not killing that woman when he had the chance. He should have, but his lingering conscious had gotten ahold of him and he had had too much time to think about his actions. Otherwise, it would have been another clean feast. But not now. Now, he was involved, and so was M apparently. Which was never good news. If Marius was involved, you could guarentee something would go wrong.

Dai crawled into his casket and pulled the lid shut with a heavy thud, listening as Angel followed him in and also laid down. When everything silenced, Dai got comfortable so that he could adequately feel sorry for himself. Which he would most likely be doing all day.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem had paced the office for hours, contemplating her inevitable fate, wallowing in misery and trying to find some ways to postpone her untimely death, which felt like it was literally at hand, whether or not this was true.

She was home now, sitting in her small study that was filled with books and papers and prints of art work and what not, it being messy yet clean, if that was even possible. She was trying to get tired. but it was not happening anytime soon for her, not at all. She was almost waiting for Dai to come into her mind considering she had been so used to it.

"Dai." She said out loud. She finally had a name to put with a face, one that had scared her before, but now haunted her memory as if it were fading. Something was still unsettling, of course hearing you were going to die becaues of greed and lust for power could have prompted that, something about his face or his name or his voice. There was something vaguely familiar and it was bothering her to not receive an answer.

"Dai, Dai, Dai..." She said to herself over and over again after she made her way to her bedroom to lay down and stare at the ceiling, knowing that tonight would probably be the only night she'd be able to sleep. Somehow she knew that even if she closed her eyes he would somehow still be there.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai had settled for taking Angel's blood. It was thick and sweet and Dai was reminded why he had chosen Angel in the first place. The young vampire had been a willing subject, as he always was to whatever Dai wanted to do with him.

Yet as Dai watched his younger counterpart sleep on the couch, knocked out by the blood taken from him, Dai's mind was plagued with thoughts of Salem Renfield, what was up with her, why she looked so familiar, why it bothered him so suddenly to think of killing her.

And Marius! Why did he have any right to come in and butt on Dai's own personal party? He always had, ever since he had first come to that fishing village. At the time it had been an aspect Dai had found charming. Now, it was just enfuriating. Dai wanted the other vampire to get stuck through the heart with a crucifix right after falling in a vat of holy water. He wanted the entire array of things that could happen to Marius, to happen to Marius.

Dai sighed out of his nose as he glanced to the windows he had opened after the sun had gone down. The city shimmered cheerily at him, oblivious to his problems and the problems surrounding those who associated with him.

[Salem Renfield]

Salem jerked in her dream, moaning out in sleep as she moved all around in her bed, dreaming of a time that was unfamiliar to her. It seemed to be a small village with many strange faces, yet seemingly familiar places. She didn't know what the dream was about but just that she was wandering aimlessly in a fish market trying to find something to scower and take home to the family, whatever family that happened to be.

Nothing semlled the same, looked the same, sounded the same, but it all had an underlying sense of familiarity. The people were speaking in a different language and she was confused and unable to translate or make out a single word or tone, it was just yelling, loud noises, carts, chickens, people, kids, anything and everything was going amuck. It was pouring the rain in the tiny little area, the streets were mud filled, no pavement or gravel or straw or anything just the naked ground that was being sloshed and kicked by the bustling feet. Somehow it was in the mid day and Salem knew this. She was holding a large fish in her left hand, running for dear life in a white peasent skirt and top, hair in two braids on the side of her head, and she was not the age she was now, she was younger, very young. Seven or eight?

SHe wasn't sure why she was running, perhaps to go home and out of the rain that had soaked her to the bone, running from a man who she had stolen the fish from, or just running to run. But somehow she felt a bit of fear in her stomach. She tossed and turned in the bed and then she groaned as she almost ran into a horse and cart, a tall Asian man looking at her from under his hat, screaming something at her that she did not understand.

She ran fast and looked behind her and suddenly fell forward, the fish flying out of her hand and into the mud, her skirt, legs, knees, arms, muddy from the fall. She gasped and reached out for the fish only to be tackled quickly, picked up from her kneeling position. She grunted when she was tossed somewhere else, into deeper thicker, dryer mud. A large car and horse rushed by her, the fish being cut in hal by the large wheels. She let out a small whimper as she looked at it longingly, her stomach growling for the satisfaction she was hoping to receive.

"No." She said lowly tears filling her ice blue eyes. She looked down at the ground seeing a spot in the mud being displaced by her tears and drops of rain. She looked up to see a boy sitting on the ground directly across the street from her, on his hands and knees as well. His face being cut into at times by large wheels from carts. Who was that boy?

[Dai Yosada]

Dai couldn't remember falling asleep. He had gotten plenty of it. Yet he had at some point, or must have, because he was dreaming. Dreaming...something he hadn't done in...

"Go on now, Dai! You--oh, look what you've done! Shoo! Go on into town, now, and leave Granny be!" said an old woman to Dai, who was sitting on his butt on a wooden floor, laughing about something. He didn't sound the same. He was young, nine or ten maybe? He looked around him at the small house, the older woman bustling around what appeared to be a kitchen. There was a door open on the side and there was rain pouring down. He looked back to the old woman.

"But granny," he whined. "It's raining out there!"

"Yes, it is, and your father is out catching fish for your little mouth to eat! Now get out there and leave me to cook for your brothers and you!"

With another whine of protest, Dai pulled himself from the floor and stepped into his thong wooden sandals on a step to some dry dirt. He reached down, grabbing the hem of his blue yukata and tied it up between his legs to keep it dry. Then he plunged out into the muddiness and hurtled himself down the streets.

He was an expert at these streets. Or at least he thought he was. Because he was darting in and out of carts, dodging people and animals, never sinking too far into the mud once. Until...

"Ouch!" he cried as his foot lodged into mud and he went into it, his knees landing on rocks. He sobbed once as he winced from the pain. He turned, looking at his foot as the water streamed down his face and hair, blurring his vision slightly. He tugged on his shoe, but couldn't get it free. He glanced up, hearing a commotion down the street but ignoring it as he tried to pull his shoe out before it got run over by a cart. Yet as he did so, a man with several pigs around him stormed by. And just because he could he put a boot into Dai's chest to kick him off the road.


"Move!!" he cried angrily as Dai fell back into the mud again, a few tears escaping his eyes as he examined his rather banged up knee. He heard the commotion get louder and heard someone fall in the street in front of him. He looked up to see a little girl--not Japanese--thrown out of the way as her fish got ran over by a speeding cart.

[Salem Renfield]

She watched the boy for a long time crouching down looking at her from the otherside, staring, his dark eyes penatrating her all the way from the distance. He was muddy, just as she, and was somehow sharing this intense moment of recognition. She didn't know why or how this had happened, but she had been thrown out of the way, she figured a man had rushed by and saved her, but yet failed to ask her if she was all right. The people here were not unfriendly, but they didn't speak any english and it was a struggle just to get food.

She looked at the raw fish that was in halves. She shivered and licked her lips, their dinner gone for the night all because of her clumsiness. She felt her stomach growl and she looked back up to see the boy in clear vision, all carts and people not having passed. She stared at him his face dripping wet from the rain and small splotches of mud on his chin and nose. Super cute was all that she could remember thinking. Without another moment an object hit her in the butt and a woman was toweing over her with a large broom, screaming at her in a language she couldn't speak.

She looked back at the boy and quickly stood up, embarassed, and quickly ran away from the mess that had been caused.

[Dai Yosada]

Dai startled awake when a cart clattered over his shoe. He sat up from where he had apparently crashed on the sofa next to Angel. The young vampire was curled next to him on the huge couch, still blissfully unaware of everything. Dai watched him a moment, then looked around his apartment, trying to make sure that his dream had actually been just a dream.

When he saw everything around him that he was used to, he let out a sigh and scooted to a more favorable position around Angel, who stirred slightly but did not wake. Dai let out another long sigh and stretched his arm out, twisting his fingers gently through the other vampire's long white hair as his mind replayed the dream. How strange that he would dream about that. One incident in his life that he didn't even remember until he dreamt it coming up so suddenly as he slept next to his own offspring hundreds of years afterwards.

He shook his head, looking down to watch Angel for a little longer. It unsettled Dai a little to dream about that situation. What was so special about it?