Dark Kingdom Renegades : Cats' Eye
or, Interview with the Vamp
by Mark Latus
So do you want to start the interview? You're already recording? Fine
well let's get ourselves comfortable. Ruby wasn't it? From the red hair I
assume? Thought so, though I didn't think he'd give any of his kids mineral
based names. No, no, it's a perfectly good name. I have to say you don't
look anything like either of your parents. Still that's youma blood for you.
I've seen lots of variety in your family. Hmmm? Oh I've entertained quite a
few of your siblings over the centuries. Various reasons. Curiosity about
your father's old lover, a way of getting back at him during a fight, plain
old lust ... that's probably the main one. Still that's fairly common.
Lots of people get curious how much I've learned with centuries of practical
experience.
Excuse me a moment. By the way you can relax too. Fine stand there
and look menacing if it makes you happy. I'm hardly stupid enough to
attack your daughter and steal her energy. In case you've forgotten she's
giving it to me in exchange for the interview. I have no shortage of men
offering me lifeforce but I like the odd ... vacation. It's a good idea to
take the occasional break or I might start getting bored. You know if Beryl
had put me in charge of energy collection I'll bet we'd have revived Metallia
months before the senshi were ready.
Are you actually choking or just outraged? Thought so. Try not to be
so noisy, it'll screw up the tape. Y'know Ruby you didn't have to bring her.
I don't bite ... well not during interviews anyway.
So you're doing a biography of your father? Well I could tell you a lot
of stories about him. But your mother's already glaring at me and she's an
old hand at blasting youma so we'll have to skip the more explicit stuff.
You're the one who brought her with you. She might have helped you
getting the others to open up but we've never got along. Anyway ask away.
Oh, you want to know about me first? Yeah, yeah, I understand you want
background. Okay start at the beginning? Fine, let's see ...
In the beginning my life was simple. Sometimes violent, sometimes
pleasurable and potentially very short but basically simple. Things got a
lot more complicated after I met your father.
During my youth in the Dark Kingdom everything was straightforward. I
was born a low class youma which meant swordfodder. My mother named me
Margrave which translates as "bringer of pain". Which wasn't so much a
prophecy as a comment on a lengthy and painful labour. I don't really think
she had a lot to complain about, it could have been a lot worse. Take those
quintuplets who called themselves the DD girls. They literally ripped their
way out of their mother. Story was they couldn't agree which of them should
be firstborn. No, that was very unusual. Multiple births were common but
the mothers normally survived them.
Brothers and sisters? Well I suppose I did have, at least briefly. I
was the pick of the litter. I mean that literally. I was the strongest and
healthiest of the young. So my mother kept me. The others? She couldn't
spare the time to feed and raise more than one of us. Stasis tubes? She was
a low ranker, she couldn't afford anything like that! Don't tell me about
your aunt Titanite, her mother was a mid range. Besides Titanite was of
Nephrite's bloodline, that made her a valuable commodity worth preserving.
No, you're right. Youma females don't have much in the way of maternal
instinct. Excuse me, what was that again Minako?
How should I know why you tend to have children one at a time. Maybe
there are limits to what Serenity can manage when she messes with Calcite's
genetics. Or maybe humanic youma don't have litters. Titanite's children
were born individually now that I think of it. Wonder if Azurite and Pyrite
were only children? Could be something to do with the generals starting out
human so like humans twins, triplets and so on were the exception rather than
the rule. If you want to know ask Pyrite, he's the expert on youma biology.
Anyway enough of this, Ruby's the one paying to talk to me so let her get on
with it. Okay Ruby, what do you want to know next?
My siblings? I never knew any of them. What happened? Like I said mom
couldn't afford more than one of us. Have you ever heard of exposure? No, I
didn't think you had. Take a look at "Kingdom of Darkness" sometime, that'll
explain it. The upshot is I wound up an only child.
Anyway I had a fairly typical low rank youma childhood. Which is to say
hellish by Crystal Tokyo standards. If you want all the gruesome details
go read Azurite's book. It's an excellent account of what life was like in
the Kingdom and it'll save me a lot of tedious explanations.
Yes I know I sided with her critics. Well book reviews aren't delivered
under oath. Besides anyone who asks me for an honest appraisal of Azurite's
work is out of their mind.
Things started getting strange after I met Calcite. I should have known
something was wrong from our first meeting. But I didn't believe in
Renegades, I thought that was just a convenient excuse for purging enemies.
Betrayed by my own cynicism.
At the time it seemed a fortuitous encounter. Actually even in hindsight
that's true. I was in one hell of a mess. Broken arm and I couldn't run
any further. I was outnumbered and outclassed. The best I could hope for
was to be gangraped and left half dead. Which should give you some idea how
bad it was. By chance I lead my pursuers to a hillside where Calcite was
resting after a workout. The survivors fled leaving the two of us alone.
I remember feeling incredibly angry. He'd saved my life so I belonged to
him. Nothing unusual, many more powerful males had claimed me despite my
youth. Perfectly natural, but I was sick of it. I think I was nearing my
breaking point. I might even have tried to fight him off, though that would
have been suicidal.
But he didn't try to force me. Just stuck a splint on my arm and told me
to go find a healer mage. He didn't act interested but I picked up his scent
and knew he was. Yet he didn't let it rule him and left me there. My first
rejection and he'd saved me without even saying I was indebted to him. This
was unique. And intriguing.
I couldn't afford a mage so I let my arm heal the old fashioned way.
During this time I cautiously learned more about the mystery humanic.
[short biography]
[arrival tokyo]
[incidents]
[Anri - MegaTokyo]
[Serenity's court]
[Ferrite]
So I'm pinned under this boulder, it's too heavy to shift and the SOB
who triggered the avalanche is watching me. I was cursing myself for
following my bloodlust and joining the chase. I think it was the trenchcoat
that did it. It was too much like the one Magnesite had taken to wearing.
If he'd kept going without checking his trap I might have had a chance.
Calcite might have come looking for me. But he was still here which meant I
was dead. No one was stupid enough to leave a live enemy behind. What if I
gnawed my leg off and came after him? Only thing I could hope for was he'd be
careless enough to get in claw range when he gloated. I'd have sold my soul
for a deathbolt right then. Not much chance as I'd probably mortgaged it all
years ago.
I kept thinking that Azurite would laugh her ass off when she heard about
this. Our feud over Calcite would end with her the victor by default! I'd
lost to that blue haired bitch! That combined with everything else meant I
gave into a good old youma frenzy and tried to claw my way through the rock.
Pretty stupid really. I should acted near dead so he'd get close enough to
rip apart. But when I get mad my brain shuts down.
I got lucky. He wanted a threat delivered to Beryl and thought I'd do
as a messenger. So he tosses me a crowbar to dig myself up and I try to plant
it in his brain. Yeah that wasn't smart as I'd just thrown away my only way
out but angry youma want blood. He wasn't happy and I wound up picking thorns
out of my butt. I'll bet Endymion never uses his roses that way.
You can stop laughing anytime Minako.
Which basically sums up our first meeting and is why I was less than
overjoyed when he showed up in Crystal Tokyo. My one consolation is that for
some reason he's rejected immortality. Don't ask me why as it makes
absolutely no sense to me. Anyway that means he has to keep dying and being
reborn. I can only hope that each death is slower and more loathsome than the
last. Think pleasant thoughts I always say.
Anyway getting back to my story he still needed a messenger and all the
others were dead so he didn't finish me off. But he was a bit more careful
with the crowbar after that. He took off,I got my leg free and started
crawling for the warpgate fast as I could. It was starting to waver and I
didn't want to be halfway through when it collapsed. Soon I was back in the
Kingdom I started thinking how I could turn this to my advantage. I
considered not telling Beryl his message but going straight to Calcite. After
all if Ferrite had the Ginzuishou he was a prime target. I'd have Calcite
kill him and take the crystal then present it to Beryl. That'd get him
General rank right away and he'd take me along for the ride.
It seemed like a great idea. I knew Calcite was up to something.
Despite the Sailor V operation being cancelled he was still crossing over to
Earth. I figured he was setting up his own plan to kill the Senshi. Soon as
Kunzite got himself blown away he'd go to Beryl with his own assassination
scheme already in place. Which would get him Beryl's favour and out from
under Magnesite's thumb. But get the Ginzuishou and the Senshi became
irrelevant.
I indulged in my fantasy for a few more seconds then banished it. Way
too much risk. If Beryl had been looking Earthside she'd be wondering why he
didn't finish me. So I'd better tell her everything. Problem was she'd be
unhappy to hear it and might use the old "kill the messenger of bad news"
routine.
That's when I got my second lucky break. A palace guard materialized.
They'd finally tracked the warpgate. Sloppy but that's what comes of
centuries without fears of outside invasion. He demanded I tell him what
happened. So I told him just before the intruder had vanished he'd bellowed
a challenge. Information her majesty would reward me for bringing her.
However if he'd take me to a healer mage I'd share the information with him.
Of course he ordered me to tell him the message or else. So I did the
usual low youma cringe and told him. He said to have fun crawling home and
vanished laughing.
Shortly after that Calcite turned up. Pyrite had picked up an
unauthorized warpgate which had got them curious. Why they were so
interested I found out much later. Anyway Calcite got me to a healer while
the guard fell victim to one of Beryl's tantrums. There's probably a moral
here somewhere but I have no idea what.
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