Chapter 1- Hellish World

The world has gone to hell…and we are two demons trying to escape its deadly grasp.

This was the thought that went through Shido Tatsuhiko's head, as he stayed in the shadowed alcove using the darkness and his superior hearing to listen for their followers.

He heard a soft whimper and instinctively held his childe closer to his chest as the two nightwalkers hid from their pursuers. Hearing heavy footsteps, he sunk even further into the shadows, willing his heart to slow down and literally stopped breathing.

He watched five humans come into view and automatically his fangs slid down into place. There had been a time when he would have risked his very life to protect these vile creatures…

There had been a time when he had wanted more than anything to be like them…he had seen the good in them and had become envious…

But that was before five months ago, when the human world had declared war against the creatures of the night and started an all out genocide.

That was before the humans came up with advanced weapons against not only the nightbreed, but also again the lycans, the fae, and the vampires.

Before they had imprisoned innocent creatures and sentenced them to a lifetime of torture and captivity…

That had been before they had captured, brutally murdered, disemboweled, and decapitated Yayoi, and sent his little Guni through a wood chipper—alive.

An unheeded tear came to his eye as he thought of his two friends who had given their lives to give him and his childe, Riho, time to escape the hands of the murderous mob that had stormed his offices. In his opinion, Yayoi had been the last good human in Japan, the rest of the mortals were now reduced to murderers who wanted nothing more than to see his and Riho's heads on a spike with their bodies burned to smolders.

As the men passed by without discovering them, Shido relaxed—but only slightly.

They still had a bit of journey in front of them to get to vampyr territory. And the journey would still be full of danger to come. He had been reluctant to go back to his people five months ago, but now it was the only way to ensure his and Riho's survival. The vampires and other nightwalkers had put their differences aside in order to defend themselves against the vengeful humans. Once he was inside the self-declared nation which was composed of his homeland of Romania as well as the rest of Eurasia and the Middle East, he could take a single breath of relief. Until then however, he would keep moving silent and fast, only stopping for rest and quick meals.

Convinced that the hunters were completely gone, Shido stepped from out of the darkness and stepped around a large pile of concrete and rubble that was now a commonplace sight in the once peaceful Chinese town as well as everywhere else in Asia and other civilized worlds. The war between mortal and immortal was a trying and vicious one, and while the immortals had magic and time on their side, the mortals had the numbers, supplies, and ingenuity.

The brown-haired young vampiress stayed close to him as they moved superhumanly fast over the terrain. He had but to look into her blue eyes to see that the horror that simply surviving had become was taking its toll on her. She was very young for one of the undead, and he knew that her past humanity was pulling on her way more than it had ever done with him. She had seen people that she had once called classmates now call her "monster" and "baby-killer", teachers that she had once trusted come after her with flamethrowers and UV rifles. His childe had not fully accepted her new role until this moment when she now had no other choice, but to separate herself from a humanity who desired to take her life, and enter a dark world she didn't quite understand.

It had been many years since he had lived the true life of a vampire, but he could easily swing back into that gear. The society of the nightwalkers was fashioned much older than the rest of the world. Based on a feudal system, there were a series of courts that were each led by a single noble. Their were small courts with young Master vampires, then there were the stronger courts of the High Lords, and this gave way to the Superior Court that was composed of a decision-making council. The Superior court wasn't very strong and was really only superior in name alone and in essence it was High Lords who held the real power. He should know—he had once been the consort and mate to one of the strongest of High Lords and he knew how things worked in that foreign land.

Hearing Riho's heart flutter, he slowed down, reminding himself that she didn't have the time born stamina that he did.

In the Chinese countryside, they both stopped by a tree to rest for a second. Shido looked over the surrounding hills and valleys, searching for any signs of life. The search had two tasks: to sniff out danger and to hunt for sustenance. While he could go for weeks if he had to without feeding, his childe did not have yet the same fortitude. And since she knew little of actively hunting, he would have to supply for her for now.

Smelling the scent of smoke he signaled to Riho to stay hidden as he went out.

Quickly finding the source of the fire, he spotted 2 human soldiers around the camp, both armed to the teeth. His eyes shimmered from emerald to cat-eye yellow as he closed in on his prey.

His skills were a little rusty after a century of neglect, but a century was nothing to an immortal. Especially at tired immortal who was rather pissed off at the moment…

Sneaking behind one man, he silently pounced, cracking the man's neck quickly with an iron grip and dragging him back further into the shadows.

Riho looked at the dead body in fear, but he gave her a look that brokered for no arguments. He stayed with her until he saw that she was well into and quickly occupied with feeding on the quickly cooling blood before heading back to the enemy camp.

The other man had quickly realized that his partner was missing and had his guard up as he called out to the missing man. Shido chuckled to himself as he realized that the man must be getting scared by now—as well he should be.

Even though the hunters were now the hunted, as the saying goes…there is nothing more dangerous than a cornered, injured animal.

Stirring the power within him, he coated his voice with a compulsion as he silently and suddenly appeared behind the solitary soldier.

"Come to me…"

Not as trained as some of the other soldiers he had run into, this man only put up a mild struggle, before doing as he ordered. Taking the complacent man by his shoulders, he bit none too gently, into the pulsing vein of the man's neck and began to drink greedily.

This would have to sustain him for some time, so he drank as much as he could, before he pushed the resulting corpse to the ground in a heap.

Gazing down at the dead body he had just killed, as well as the one he had given to Riho, Shido tried to drag up some trace of guilt for killing the two humans. But no matter how hard he tried, nothing resulted. To him they had been food, a means of survival, nothing more. If given the chance, the two soldiers would have slaughtered him without a second thought. He had simply made sure they wouldn't have that chance…

Seeing that Riho was done, he helped her to her feet and the two began walking again. She simply wiped her mouth and kept up with his long strides.

"It will be dawn soon, Shido-san." Her small voice spoke slightly.

He nodded in return, knowing that the two would have to find a safe and sheltered place to rest during the morning hours. It wouldn't help for them to have survived each night, if they were simply killed in their sleep by the sanguineous humans.

The two moved quickly over the terrain, attempting to cover as much territory as they could, before the sun forced them to seek sleep and shelter. They had covered over forty miles by the time Shido pointed to some trees in a secluded grove that hadn't seen humans for some time.

The two vampires found an ancient tree that had rotted and fallen over, onto the ground. The two could fit inside of the giant, eaten-out trunk, and it would give them both natural cover from the sun. No human seemed to come to this forest, and none would think to lift up the harmless log to see what was underneath.

Making two beds out of dried leaves, the two laid down next to each other before Shido pulled the hollowed trunk down on top of them, sealing them in darkness.

Riho tried to get comfortable, but it was proving to be difficult. It wasn't because she wasn't used to sleeping outside. In the past months, she and Shido had had to sleep in some of the most uncomfortable places on earth, like sewers, gutters, graveyards, and even in a garbage dump. However, what made her uncomfortable was of what was going to happen after this long, hard journey was over.

"Shido-san?"

"Hmm?" the violet-haired vampire answered back, surprised she was still awake.

She curled up her fingers in tiny fists at her nervousness, "Umm…what—what do you think will happen when we reach the Empire?"

He sighed as he tried to answer to the best of his ability. "You know that the New Empire is vampyr territory, Riho. It is the only place where we will be safe."

"But will the other vampires accept us?"

He knew that all creatures of the night, just like humans, could be unpredictable. However, he knew that he would handle the petty squabbles he people sported, over the raging mobs any day.

"It will be okay, Riho. Even though we are no longer lovers, that does not mean I will not protect you if need be. You are my daughter and my responsibility. As we travel on, I will teach about vampire society and what you will have to know to survive there. But once you assimilate to the lifestyle and grow into your powers, you will become quite a vampire in your own right."

Encouraged by his words, Riho closed her eyes and slowly let her body shut down, going into the slumber of the undead.

Shido watched her fall asleep before sighing once again. He hadn't had the heart to tell her that it would be a hard road from fledgling to full-grown vampire, and that she would probably not achieve a rank higher than common vampire. But hopefully, she would meet another nightwalker who would be the mate that she deserved, and he would keep her safe until that time.

Thinking back to his own mate, he knew that Cain would be busy in the Empire and would find out about him eventually. As of this point, he didn't know how he felt about the ex-lover, or if he even hated the vampire as much as he used to—or at least thought he used to. These past months had changed many of his thoughts and feelings, and he was not certain of anything anymore.

He didn't know how he would handle another meeting with his former master, so he decided to effectively push all thoughts of Cain from out of his mind. He needed to get to the Empire first. Only after he had braved those dangers, could he think about other things.

Closing his eyes, he sent his senses out to make sure no danger threatened their resting place, before he too began shutting down his heart and lungs. His consciousness slipped away from him, just as the sun began to rise over the horizon.

The world had gone to hell, and we are still trying to escape…two demons trying to run away, back into the night.

A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first nightwalker fic and I'm going to be taking it slow. Please review and give me feedback! I wanted to clear some things up first. I DO NOT like Riho. I think she is a positively annoying character. However, I'm too nice to kill her off. She'll be around in the first part of this story, but she will not be getting back together with Shido. This is a Cain/Shido story, just so every thing is clear. Thank You! And enjoy!