Author's Notes: Realized I haven't updated in close to a year now: so first of all, very sorry to all my patient readers and secondly, my only excuses are that college has been keeping me very busy and I've been experiencing severe writer's block while developing a plotline. I'm not satisfied with this chapter at all but feel I should just get it out there for now and maybe revise later. Anyways, enjoy and please leave a review! They motivate me to keep writing this story.

Chapter 4: Into the Darkness

The darkness was pressing around her, heavy and thick as velvet until she could scarcely breathe. Then, too, were the insubstantial voices which taunted and mocked and left her hanging on the brink of insanity.

"Stop it! Stop it!" she cried out feverishly to the shapeless forms. They ignored her of course, resumed the same monotonous hum. And despite her hands pressed against her ears, she could not drown out the dreadful noise. "Please go away…"

One brushed so close that its hot breath brought goose bumps against her arm. Another swept by to whisper horrible, unspeakable things in her ears.

Her terrible fear cascaded into despair as hot tears streamed down her sightless face. Alone. Alone. She was hopelessly alone with nothing but the darkness and the creatures which dwelt in it.

A gunshot somewhere in the distance. A sharp pop followed by a stinging pain which barely grazed her tender shoulder. So they were trying to kill her, defenseless and alone as she was.

Well she would not let them. Somewhere in the corners of her bewildered frenzied mind echoed the sound of a beautifully sad song, driving her forward and giving her courage. Whether reality or a mere illusion she could not say.

But no, she couldn't simply lie down and surrender though they tormented her both physically and emotionally. There was another monster that she was responsible for in the world. A grave mistake which she must spend the rest of her life repenting.

Saya would fight.

Slash…a grave cry of agony and the creature fell. Others followed as she cut through them like weeds. Slash…a splash of warmth on her pale cheeks. Slash…the voices were gradually dissipating one by one, replaced by shouts of fear and the ever-present singing.

Her arms ached as she swung furiously into the abyss and punctuated holes through the rich veil. With her bare legs, she could clearly feel the brittle grass scratching against her knees.

Slash. Duck as sharp bangs sounded somewhere around her head. Slash. A monstrous creature bigger than all the rest had her pined momentarily against the hard ground. Uttering a cry of rage, she promptly struck out and heard its wounded keen.

They were gradually falling back; she could sense that and letting the bloodlust benumb her thoughts, Saya gave chase.

She had one prostrate on the ground now. He was talking some sort of gibberish and though the voice was familiar, the risk was too great for any second of indecision. A swift motion of her hand followed by a sharp gasp of pain. Really, she couldn't understand why she hadn't killed this one like with the others. This was another creature of the darkness after all and most likely thirsted for her blood.

Yet there was something in that pale face (her vision was slowly returning) which shone like a bright beacon through the night which was so indescribably sad. Why did he look so sad? The others had only remained blank masks in her memory and were therefore promptly cut down.

The bloodlust was overcoming her again. Her chest rose and fell with animalistic pants and still she could not pause. Must destroy before they destroyed her…

"Saya, don't you recognize me? Saya…"

Nonsense, utter nonsense. Who was this Saya the beast at her feet was referring to? She had no name and certainly if she did, no one here would know it…

Somewhere in the distance the sound of gunshots sounded once again and turning on her heels, she darted away to continue her dance of death.

Every night for the past week now, she relived her past life through these dreams. They always left her exhausted and drenched in sweat upon awakening. Horrible images, mere fragments burnt into the depths of her mind and which simmered just below the surface.

She had not told anyone of course. Though one time Saya had unconsciously cried out in her sleep and brought faithful Kai who was never far in the other room to her side. With tears streaming down her face, she had dismissed the ordeal as a mere nightmare. Kai had not pressed the subject but had only sat very patiently by her side as Saya drifted back to sleep again.

Only till he was halfway to the door did he believe her to mutter the name Hagi very softly. He stiffened and the hairs on the back of his neck rose. How peaceful her face seemed now, rosebud lips curled into a faint smile as she nestled further into the pillow. Asleep and dreaming again.

So despite all, Saya would inevitably recover her memories.

The shrill volume of the alarm shattered the otherwise peaceful morning at the laboratory and sent everyone scurrying towards its source. Confusion abounded as the clock had only barely struck seven. Some of the workers even had coffee mugs still latched onto their hands.

No one was really prepared for the horrible sight that greeted them however.

And which caused the men in white lab coats to immediately scatter like the feathers of a dove.

"Mr. Mahler, sorry to disturb you but there has been a grave disaster. I'm afraid that our prisoner has escaped," spoke the lab director into the phone. He glanced nervously behind his shoulder all the while.

The alarm had not since stopped its shrill wail and the noise was more piercing by the second. For somewhere in the darkness of the winding corridors, a frenzied and desperate creature staggered and craved release.

That was the thought foremost in Nathan's mind as he careened his car towards the building.

Mayhem was evident by the huddled group of white-coated scientists by the entrance. Even from a distance, he could see some had odd, mismatched splashes of crimson across their uniforms.

"Mr. Mahler! Mr. Mahler!"

A middle-aged man had reached the car and was frantically banging on the side window with a curled fist. There was an ugly red gash on his forehead and a wild, frantic look in his eyes.

Impatiently, Nathan rolled down the windows.

"He...he's escaped! In the forest…somewhere…killed a couple of our men…damn son-of-a-bitch!" gasped out the man. He had his hand partially draped across the door in an attempt to catch his breath. "God, Wechsler will have our heads for this!" He seemed completely unconcerned over the heavy dark cut on his face although Nathan watched with irritation as a drop of blood plopped onto the car.

"Yes, I've heard."

"God, he could be anywhere by now! The beast is a raging monster! The devil himself! I watched him rip a man clean in half! Oh God!" He continued to babble meaningless, bits of spittle running off the corners of his mouth and the whites of his eyes showing.

Humans…

Without answering, Nathan rolled his eyes and closed back up the window. He was almost amused by the way his discovery had managed his escape. It seemed that centuries of imprisonment had not weakened the creature at all but only imbued it with the necessary amount of rage.

Surely, such raw power when harnessed in the right hands would mean the accomplishment of all his desires.

Smiling and humming a monotonous tune, he pressed lightly on the gas pedal and backed the car away towards the forests surrounding the laboratory. Already his keen chiropteran senses felt the frantic steps of the creature as it raced desperately through the forest.

It had not far to run.

The same horrible images were etched so deeply into her mind that Saya could literally smell the sharp odor of gunpowder and hear the dying shouts of shadows as they fell before her. But one image stood out most clearly and refused to blend into the meaningless jumble.

The sorrowful grey eyes of a meaningless man.

She must have known him, somewhere and somehow. Seen his face on TV at least. Really, his name was only on the tip of her tongue, a key placed tantalizingly by a locked door. If only she could will herself to reach down and retrieve the precious memory before the shadows swallowed her back up.

If only…only…

The moon was a silvery crescent hanging in the darkness when Saya lifted away the curtains to reveal night time. Tendrils of chilly air crawled slow weary paths down her pale bare legs and heightened the girl's senses. But it wasn't cold enough, not to the point that she should seek the warmth of her bed yet.

She could see a tall tree just adjacent to the sidewalk, so much illuminated by a streetlamp that its bare branches looked streaked in gold. And then beyond that was the small street where she had seen children play but which was now deserted, the fenced-over softball field, and then more buildings surrounding this little oasis.

Kai told her that Okinawa had grown over the years. No doubt before the accident, all of these places stretched before her window had held special memories.

Did she play with the other girls on the street: hopscotch and jump rope on lazy summer days? Laughed and gossiped while walking to school?

Embraced the branches of that tree and used them to haul herself up to the very tops where she might be closer to the azure sky?

Perhaps…it was all possible along with a great many other things.

It was then as she leaned with her eyes half-closed against the windowsill that a brief image flashed momentarily across the back of her mind.

A young girl bridging on the edge of womanhood peered deep into the chasm of a dark cliff.

"Hagi! No, not that one! The flower on the left!" she called. And somewhere below, there was a pair of those same slate grey eyes which peered helplessly up at her before dissolving into darkness.

"Hagi…" murmured the present-day Saya. "Hagi…" It was the unknown incantation of magic. A word…no a name which opened unknown tunnels in the depths of her mind.

She was at once stricken with a raging headache and a sudden strange thirst for something unidentifiable. One so severe that it made her very knees tremble.

"I think I remember something," Saya murmured into the dark emptiness that was her room. Where no one else might hear her words or pretend to know her thoughts.

And as Saya gripped the cold glass with one hand to steady herself, she could've sworn that from amid the shadows of the tree below was camouflaged the figure and face of the man in her dreams.

The dense undergrowth resounded with his every step as the escaped prisoner tore wildly through the forest. However, elsewhere the air hung strangely quiet like some stagnant pool.

It lulled him into a false sense of security which he knew to be completely and utterly idiotic. The Labcoats would surely be hot on his trail by now: foolish of him to attempt escape in broad daylight and in such a severely weakened state. To the point where it was impossible to summon even a fraction of his abilities and he was forced to run on land like some hunted prey.

Foolish.

Indeed he was getting to be rather old and apt to letting his emotions overcome usual sense and patience.

But surely over a century buried in the darkest portions of a vast ocean would bring about change to anyone, he thought bitterly and not without irony.

The very reason why that morning, he had let a remarkable instance of blind rage and savagery turn his normally brown eyes dull amber. Why between ragged gasps, he had recovered his senses enough to observe that his hands were covered in gore and two Labcoats were lying at his feet with their necks slashed through.

The next precious moments found him crawling half-naked through a ventilation system with the resounding shriek of an alarm constantly in his ears.

Foolish creatures.

Should he have been in full possession of his strength…

An unknown protuberance on the ground brought him heavily to his hands and knees.

Somewhere amid the trees a creature other than himself breathed. He could hear and smell the life pulsating within before actually beholding its dark form.

It was moving towards him with supernatural speed. Surely, no ordinary mortal could travel with such stealth and confidence.

"I know you're there," he said without turning.

"Ah, I see that despite present conditions, your senses are still perfect," answered a soft voice. There was a light rustle, a rush of air near his cheek, and presently he beheld a blond, rather effeminate man of medium height before him. "Well alright then, might as well show myself."

The same person in fact whom he had blearily stared at while trapped in that underwater prison. Who had brought him out of one hell straight into another.

"Who are you?"

"Who am I?" the stranger reiterated between delicate lips and mockingly gave him a sweeping bow. "How shall I answer…perhaps let us start first of all by saying I am someone very much like you. And that I know more about you than you dare imagine."

He frowned with annoyance. "Are you toying with me?"

There was a rather annoying twinkle of forbidden knowledge in the stranger's blue eyes as he spoke again. "Not at all. I wouldn't dream of it."

"Then explain before I rip out your throat."

"Tsk…tsk, such a temper. But I suppose all those years spent on the bottom of the ocean cannot have improved ones manners."

Nathan was scarcely able to finish his sentence before he felt the lightning quick grasp of a hand around his neck and the sharp impact as he was brutally slammed against a tree.

"I am losing my patience, sir." There was a curious glint of savage red in the brown eyes now.

Letting himself hang limply without a struggle, Nathan was nevertheless very much aware of the potential danger exposed. Here was a weakened creature and yet weak as he might be, wasn't his hand still wrapped around his neck? Hasn't he already demonstrated by two brutal murders a certain degree of unpredictability and strength?

Coughing lightly, an insufferable smile plastered itself on Nathan's face. "Would it suffice to say that I know who, perhaps I ought to say what you are? For you see, I too am neither beast nor man."

"Will you continue to lie to me? I give one final warning." The hand tightened perceptibly. Deep in his mind, he felt rather unsettled by the continued serene composure of the blonde stranger. By his words and his possible knowledge.

"Well, I see that I cannot satisfy you at the moment and my current predicament is slowly becoming a bit of a nuisance."

And with that final warning, quick as lightening the prisoner suddenly found himself lying flat on his back, the wind completely knocked out of his chest till he was left choking and wheezing for breath. Further resistance was futile; he knew or rather felt it to be so. After all, that instance of having gained the upper hand over his almost delicate looking opponent had been nothing but an illusion.

"Kill me then." he pleaded brazenly. Dull brown eyes wearily followed the shadow of Nathan as he towered over him.

"I had hoped to avoid such messiness, you know. Really, I asked only for a private conversation not a direct confrontation. You and I, we ought to be allies …not engaged in such meaningless fighting." A silky chiding voice used to rebuff a wayward kitten.

"What do you want of me?"

"Ah," Nathan smiled as if expecting such a question. "I ask only for your cooperation."

"My cooperation? Is that really all?" he asked with a hint of bitter irony in his voice. Helpless and half-reclining in the dirt, he lowered his gaze in utter shame.

To be reduced to such a miserable state was surely worse than death…

"Well actually, the thing I require can be taken without your cooperation. But you see my good sir…" And Nathan bent till they were face-to-face, "I knew some people very precious to you in a past life and I'm sure still are. Your wife for example…and your daughter…I've given them an unbreakable promise, you see…" Nathan's voice drifted vaguely off and he straightened himself again.

Silently, the fallen man watched the dark shadow as it spread across the forest floor and crept to the very corners of his face and was suddenly made fully aware of a terrible physical power and cruelty.