With a hurried goodbye to Grandma, probably the last they would ever have, Gasper headed into his shadow with Valerie in tow. Walking through the grounds of his father's castle at night, he started to feel jittery. Forcing his father to let them to leave was his plan. After the adrenaline had left his system, he started to doubt if he could do it. His father was one of the strongest vampires, a Lord, after all. Could he really threaten him into doing it with just a couple shadows and a sacred gear he barely unlocked? He gripped Valerie's hand tightly. There wasn't any other choice.
"Valerie, are you alright?" Gasper asked. She had been just silently staring at him this whole time.
"Your going to leave, aren't you?" Valarie said softly.
"If I don't go, they will most likely kill me." Gasper said while gripping her hand tightly.
"It will be lonely without you here." Valarie had stopped moving. She looked on the verge of tears.
"You're not going to come with me?" Gasper asked. A cold hand gripped his heart. If she stayed, he was certain they would kill her. Even if they didn't, Marius would rip out her grail later and condemn her to the same fate. Valarie looked up in surprise. Apparently, the thought must not have occurred to her.
"You want me to come with you?" Valarie began to blush. She is a child, and this is a serious situation. Despite knowing that, Gaspers hard beat faster for an entirely different reason.
"You're the most important person to me and I don't want to leave you behind." Gasper felt as if his cheeks were on fire. He had never been good at dealing with mushy things, not since the field trip, but Valerie looked just too cute right now.
"I'll go with you," Valerie said shyly and then added with a sly smile, "on one condition." She whispered into Gasper's ear, "I want you to wear the dress."
"Why?" Gasper began to sputter. What was with this girl and getting him into dresses? His impression of her had just dropped again.
"Because you'll look good in it," giggled Valarie as she raced forward.
When they approached the castle door the guard barely looked at them. That was good. News hadn't spread yet. Walking into the castle, they made their way to the one wing Gasper had never entered before. His father's. There were three wings in the castle. One for the servants and guests, one for the family members, and one for the lord. Nervously he made his way through the third wing searching for his father. It was annoying he couldn't just sense him.
Nearly halfway down the wing, Gasper saw a shadow appear from thin air ahead of him. Moving towards the first sign of movement he nearly ran into a door as his father stepped out. His father looked down at them and tried to speak before Gasper cut him off.
"We need to talk."
"There's nothing to talk about. Leave the wing." Lord Vladi made to pass him. Gasper resolved himself. It was now or never.
Gasper raised spikes in front of his father and said, "I just killed five people including two nobles."
"Very well," Gasper's father stared at the spikes blankly for a while and then nodded while going back into the room he came from. As he walked in after his father, something struck him as odd. It wasn't the chairs or the fireplace of the study. Looking at the far wall he saw what made the room feel off. There was an uncovered window on the far side looking over the rear garden.
"You wanted to talk?" his father's voice dragged Gasper back to the task at hand. Sitting down at the fireplace, his father just stared at the fire. A different sort of anger bubbled up in him at the indifferent attitude.
"We need permission to go down the mountain."
"And you want me to approve of it. After you already admitted to killing nobles, why should I?"
"You have always hated me for mothers death," Gasper began venomously," You hid like a coward afraid of what I am, and you have never treated me like a son. I'm sure you wanted to get rid of me ever since I was born. So, help us leave or," Gasper spilled out all of his resentment for being parent-less in both lifetimes. Then, he said, with more conviction that he felt, "I'll kill you." His father laughed mirthlessly.
"You have a lot of things wrong. For one thing-" A formless pressure exuded from his father that made Gasper and Valarie flinch back. It wrapped around him so tightly that he could barely breath. "You don't even have the power to kill my guards, let alone me. I can only assume whatever nobles you killed were weak or incompetent. Probably both." His clammy hand in Valerie's tightened as the pressure faded. "As for the rest, it's true that I fear you, and I can't even look at you without seeing you mother, but I never hated you Gasper."
With only a glance at them his father stared out the window and spoke sadly, "Your mother was beautiful. She had been so excited to have a child that it even affected the maids. I can still see her wheat blonde hair and-" His fathers knuckles on the armrest grew white. "The look of horror on her face when you were born. The look… she kept even as she died. I see it every time I sleep and am reminded of what you are."
The guilt Gasper was feeling doused any anger he had left. Maybe he should never have accepted god's offer. He backed up wearily as his father rose and then walked to a desk at the back of the room. "Your mother made me promise to take care of you no matter what you were. She probably never intended to accept my bite. I blinded myself to that truth because I loved her." His father had pulled out a piece of paper and began to write. "Do you even know where you're going?"
"I plan to go to Japan and then the underworld." Gasper said lost in thought.
"The underworld?" Gasper's father finished writing and sealed the note with wax. "A fitting place for the monster who stole everything from me." Grasping his hand, his father placed the letter and a signet in it. "This letter and my signet will allow you down the northern lift. This is the one and only time I will allow you to use my name. After that don't bother calling yourself Gasper Vladi again." Clearly dismissing him, his father sat back down and stared out the window.
"For what it's worth, I didn't mean to kill her." Gasper said at the doorway. His father didn't respond. Exiting the room, he and Valerie went back to his room and gathered what little he had.
"Your dad's nice." Valarie said while he put on the promised item.
"How is that nice? He just disowned me and told me that even if he doesn't hate me, he would never love me." Turning back Gasper fixed Valerie with an unconvinced stare.
"My dad killed the last person to question him."
That shut Gasper up. He finished dressing in silence. He couldn't accept that was what being a good parent was supposed to be. They went to Valerie's room and he just stared. It was a small and cramped place. Maybe half the size of his room, it was bare of all save a coffin, dresser, and table. Maybe his dad had been nice to him. With a couple of spare sets of clothing and her one possession, a doll that had been repaired multiple times, they left his first home.
When Gasper and Valerie had finally left the castle, mist had just begun to spread from the center of the town. That was the good news. The bad news was that he could see grandma's shop in the distance on fire. The shadows cast by the flickering flames buzzed noisily within him. He had been so focused on what his dad and Valerie said he hadn't even noticed the change.
Valerie's grip tightened on Gasper's hand as they watched the blaze. Grandma had been the only kind person they had met here. Could she still be alive? Could he save her? After his meeting with his father all his confidence in his abilities had fled. He wouldn't even be able to protect himself, much less Valerie, if there were people as powerful as his dad there. They would also lose their chance to flee down the lift if they took any longer.
Gasper made a decision he might never let himself live down. He left grandma to whatever fate awaited her and jumped with Valerie straight to the cable station. It ate at him. Once he got stronger, he would… No. He needed to survive for now. They offered up the letter with the signet to the guards and boarded the lift. At least they managed to escape town.
Valarie, who seemed to notice his morbid feelings, said, "Do you really hate wearing a dress that much?"
"Of course, I do!" Gasper said as the embarrassment was brought back to the forefront. That was what Valerie made him promise to do. Wear the dress that she had prepared for him. Now he sat in the car wearing a frilly red dress. The thing was clearly too big for him. It reached down his ankles and the sleeves covered his hands. His guilt warred with his shame as she gave him another silly grin. He should just be thankful that he wasn't sporting a tent this time. Magi-Girl Gya-chan transformation complete. It was a fate worse than death.
They arrived at the ground and Gasper realized that his father had done more for them than simply give them permission to go down. There was a group of disgruntled vampires at the bottom waiting by a car. Maybe the man could act like a father. Ushered into a car, he and Valerie were driven to a nearby tower and teleported straight into Japan. It had been a surreal experience. One moment they were in a glowing circle and the next they were in an alleyway.
"It's like you have never seen magic before." Gasper joked.
"I haven't." Valerie's eyes were shining. He hadn't seen magic in real life but that was what anime was for. She probably hadn't seen that either.
"What is my shadow then?" Gasper asked in mock offense.
"It's-" The rest of Valerie's response was forgotten as they walked out of the cover of the buildings. The sun. Gasper had forgotten all about it. The warm rays made his skin prickle, not quite painfully, but it was a little uncomfortable. Like on a day when it was too hot. "It's pretty," she said, obviously not referring to his shadow, as she closed her eyes. She stood there with her arms outstretched looking like a sunflower.
After standing there just enjoying the sunlight for a while, Gasper started trying to find out where they were. It took nearly ten minutes of talking to people before he found someone who spoke English.
"You're in Tokyo little girl." The elderly man said. The reminder made Gasper twitch.
"Do you know how to get to Kyoto or Kuoh Town?" Gasper asked hopefully. He didn't relish trying to find someone else he could talk to.
"You head down this street and take a left at that light. You keep walking after that, and you'll arrive at a train station that can take you to Kyoto. You won't be able to get on unless you have money though, so you better run home." The old man gave him a congenial laugh as he walked away. Good idea. Too bad they didn't have a home.
As they walked down the street Valerie kept craning her head to take in all the sights. She was adorable. She didn't understand anything people were saying or know anything about where he brought her, but she had come because he asked. It made his heart feel fuzzy. He only felt bad that he couldn't buy her any of the food she was drooling over. He promised himself he would make it up to her. Once they were safe.
At the train station Gasper waited until a train arrived and brought Valerie into an unoccupied bathroom onboard the train. Once the doors closed, they took a couple of unoccupied seats. Almost instantly she had fallen asleep. Yasaka was his only option right now. He really hoped she was in a hospitable mood.
Gasper had drifted in and out of sleep over the course of the three-hour train ride. In what little sleep he was able to get, visions of burning houses and dead people danced among the shadows as he laughed. Nearly three hours later they arrived at their destination.
Now in Kyoto, Gasper just had to find the youkai. Using his sense of shadows, he walked around looking for any clues. As he passed people, he asked them the same question over and over. "Do you know how to find Yasaka?" Like in Tokyo, barely anyone understood him. He really wanted the devils' ability to speak and understand any language right now. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the youkai found them. A red eyed toddler speaking in fluent English was probably a bit conspicuous.
The once filled street they had walked down was now empty of humans. In their place now stood perhaps a dozen youkai. The majority of them were fox youkai dressed in Shinto priest outfits. He was pretty sure that's what they were dressed in.
"Why do you want to find Yasaka-sama, young vampire?" one of the youkai in front said.
"To touch her fluffy tails?" The leader, a lady in maybe her 20's, seemed offended by that comment. Even so, Gasper though he heard someone laugh. If someone was laughing, he probably wouldn't get killed, unless it was that freak Freed. Maybe lack of sleep was getting to him. "Actually, we came to warn her of a potential attack and seek shelter. We have nowhere else to go." Gasper said running his clawed hand through his matted hair. He really wanted a bath.
The leader's expression softened after his comment, but she seemed doubtful of his claim. "What kind of threat could you possibly warn her of?"
"A group of people will try to kidnap her and then use her connection to the leyline to summon Great Red." Gasper stated, laying his card on the table. The lady's expression stiffened with the word kidnap and turned hard with the mention of the leyline.
After giving Gasper a hard look the leader said, "Come with me." It looked like she was going to treat him seriously. She led them into an alleyway down the street. One moment, they were in a modern city and the next, they weren't. Extending out before them was the home of the youkai.
The streets were line with stone just like their old home in the mountains, but that's where the similarities ended. An almost endless amount of old-styled Japanese buildings spread out before them. Gasper could almost imagine that this was a place transported from an older era. Or maybe straight out of the soul society. The bustling streets were lined with monsters of all shapes and colors. A giant spider, A floating lantern and even a fairy.
The city was melting pot of shapes and sizes. It was so far removed from what Gasper had ever seen in real life. Their guide looked back and chuckled at how starstruck they were. He couldn't help himself. Even if he wasn't a child, he would have still gaped like a tourist. This! This is why he reincarnated! He wanted to see things like this. He wanted to do things like adventuring to hidden cities or getting lost in dungeons.
Valerie herself must have felt the same way. Her head was swiveling so fast to take in all the sights. She both slowed down and sped up as if she was afraid that she might miss even one.
When they finally arrived at their destination they were greeted to another imposing sight. A grand Japanese temple, or maybe it was a castle, Stood in front of them. It was not quite as tall as Tepes Castle, but it was infinitely less foreboding. Instead of the eerie darkness that brought a sense of dread, it radiated a soft glow that gave off a feeling of majesty.
When Gasper entered the castle, he was led to a waiting room and told that Yasaka would be informed of their visit. Valarie immediately collapsed onto the floor with her arms and feet spread out like she was going to make a snowman.
"Where are we?" Valerie asked Gasper tiredly.
"The home of the Youkai in Kyoto, Japan."
"What were you saying to that lady?" Valerie asked as she pulled him down into her drowsy embrace. She was probably at her limit. He patted her head as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
"I was asking for a place to sleep."
"You may sleep here if you like." A feminine voice echoed out into the room. The sliding door was opened and standing there was Yasaka. With long blond hair and bright yellow eyes, she came into the room wearing the typical white top and red bottom of a shrine maiden's attire. The image was broken a little by the front of her robe being open to a dangerous degree. Her massive chest was covered just enough to prevent indecency but left little to the imagination. The whites of Gasper's eyes began to show. He had never seen such a bounty.
"Good evening children. I am the leader of the Kyoto Youkai, Yasaka. Please tell me more about this plot against me." Yasaka said sitting down with her nine fox tails waving behind her. Gasper's mind worked slowly as he tried to formulate what to say. He would blame it on his lack of sleep.
"My name is-" Gasper's father had said not to call himself that anymore. Should he even care? His father had done him a huge favor in the end after all. Should he tell them his name was Jason? He sure as hell wouldn't call himself John ever again. The dreams he had on the train came to his mind. Even if he wasn't completely a monster, part of him was. "Balor."
There. Gasper wasn't calling himself 'Gasper Vladi' and now, he could satisfy his inner god complex. Perfect! The funny look Yasaka gave him made him wish he had just said Gasper… "And this is Valerie."
"A group named the Khaos Brigade will appear after the three bible factions finally join in peace in about ten years. When they become active, they will attempt to cause chaos all over the world." Gasper began. "One such incident will involve them putting you under some sort of spell and using a complicated spell to force Great Red out of the dimensional gap."
"it's very hard to believe such an impossible thing. God of the bible reconciling. Do you have any proof?" Yasaka said as her round eyebrows furrowed.
"I…" Gasper started to say. He didn't have any proof, he knew that. How could he convince her? He needed to tell her something important that could be verified. God of the Bible. "Do you know how the war between the devils, angels, and fallen angels actually ended?" If he could get her to contact one of the Demon Kings, it should be easy to confirm.