Kaoru and Soujiro had no choice but to go to Blood Lair. The victim had been declared dead and the police department was able to identify the victim. The victim’s name was Akira Kiyosato. His age was twenty nine. And he lived the opposite direction of the rough neighborhood. Kaoru assumed right about him, because he came from the money town where all the rich folks lived.
There was only one conflict dealing with Kiyosato. Kiyosato had no family. He had relation to only one person. That one person worked in Blood Lair, according to the Police Records.
She inhaled a deep breath of air before sitting back in her car seat. The police files fell out her hands as she shut her eyes. The man’s name was Enishi Yukishiro. He was thirty years old had been working at Blood Lair for a couple years. It explained one reason Kiyosato came to the rough neighborhood tonight.
“Kaoru, are you alright?” questioned Soujiro as he pulled over the police car into a corner street.
She opened her eyes to watch him stare at her with concern evident in his blue eyes. Yet his smile never faltered from his pale lips. “I’m alright. It just feels like this is going to be a long night.”
“I know,” he said. “We got this far and it's better we continue while we’re figuring things out.”
A small smile played across her lips and she nodded her head in acceptance. Latching her hand to the car handle, she pulled the handle to open the door. Instantly, music and voices filled her ears. The smell of smoke, alcohol, drugs, and perfume filled the atmosphere. Once again, Kaoru coughed behind her hand and cover her nose briefly. Checking on Soujiro, she saw him open the door at the other side of the car. With quick movements, he put away the police files in the car compartment located on the right of the steering wheel, removed the car keys from the ignition, and stepped out of the car. They both closed their doors before heading where the crowd was located.
Once in the crowd of people, who were trying to get into Blood Lair, she touched Soujiro on his arm and motioned him with her eyes to follow her. Deftly, she maneuvered her petite frame in the crowd, to avoid bumping into people with Soujiro in tow behind her. They made it to the main entrance of Blood Lair to only be blocked by three large men.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going little miss?” She lifted her head to see a tall man gazing at her with speculative eyes. His white clothed frame hovered over her.
“Little miss,” the words slipped out of her mouth.
People behind her began to complain about her skipping them in the line.
“Well, you look little,” he stated, eyeing her small frame before looking into her eyes.
“And, you’re big,” she retorted.
“I know,” he answered. “That’s why I’m standing guard out here, so that people like you will not have the ability to walk pass me and get inside the night club.”
He stepped closer to her, causing her to step back.
“That means little miss, that I have to ask you to get in the back of the line.”
She simply shook her head, denying his request.
Something flickered in his eyes and a smirk played across his thin lips. “I don’t think you have a choice.”
“I think she does have a choice,” said another voice. Looking beside her, Kaoru saw Soujiro stepped next to her. She was tempted to smile mockingly at the bouncer, but refrained from doing so. Instead, she turned her steady gaze to the tall man before her, daring him to force her to move in the back of the line.
“Who the hell are you?” asked the bouncer as he looked away from her to stare at Soujiro.
Soujiro smiled mockingly and two bouncers behind the white clothed man, moved forward. Soujiro’s smile deepened as his blue eyes glittered dangerously. “We are here on police business.”
Automatically, Kaoru slipped her wallet from her jeans' pocket and flashed him her badge. She saw how his handsome facial features contorted to astonishment and could not help but smile at his expression.
“So if I were you, I will be careful in calling people names.”
The bouncer clothed in white, stopped the other two bouncers from advancing on Kaoru and Soujiro. All while, the crowd behind Kaoru began shouting threats and giving hostile looks at Kaoru and Soujiro.
A woman wheezed passed the three bouncers in attempt to see what the situation was outside of Blood Lair. Kaoru saw how the woman stopped to breathe air before she turned sharply to question the bouncer dressed in white. There were quiet mummers between both of them before the woman turned to look precariously at her and Soujiro.
“Will the both of you please follow me inside?” The woman turned her back to them and began walking inside. The bouncers stepped aside to allow them to follow after the young woman.
Once inside Blood Lair, the pounding of music vibrated through Kaoru’s ears. She struggled to walk through the large crowds of people. Soujiro’s hand guided her small frame to dodge the swaying body of dancers on the dance floor, before finally reaching the stairs at the other side of the dance floor.
A man dressed in black saw them approached, but with a quick hand gesture from the dark haired woman, the man stepped aside and granted them permission to pass. Reaching upstairs, Kaoru saw the dark haired woman make her way to a tall, lean man lounging peacefully on a couch. His large hand twirled a red substance in a glass before gracefully allowing the liquid to touch his lips. Another man sat across from him, his shorter frame relaxed placidly. Bloody locks framed his handsome face. Well toned arms circled above his head. His eyes were shut as if listening to the pounding rhythm of music deafening Kaoru’s ears. But it was the cross-shape scar on his left cheek that drew her eyes and left her wondering –could he be the murderer.
“How may we help you?” asked the woman, breaking Kaoru from her reverie. Immediately, she looked away from the red head and saw the woman drawled behind the man with a glass of red substance. She assumed the red substance to be blood.
“You can begin with introducing yourselves,” Soujiro said from next to her.
The woman smiled breathtakingly while draping her slender arms around the tall, lean man lounging peacefully before her. “My name is Misao Makimachi. I am the manager of Blood Lair. Before me is the owner of Blood Lair, Aoshi Shinomori. Sitting across from Aoshi is Kenshin Himura. He is a dear friend or ours and is in charge of security at Blood Lair.”
“How long have you been working here Makimachi?” Soujiro questioned.
“I’ve been working at Blood Lair, since the night club first opened. I believe that was ten years ago.”
“How many workers do you have working at Blood Lair?”
“There are about seventy workers.”
“How many are vampires?”
Misao paused with answering the question. Her lovely face frowned at the general question. Before, she could ask a question of her own, Aoshi jumped the gun. “Why do you ask?”
“Just answer the question,” declared Soujiro with a bit of impatience.
“I asked you a question,” replied the icy tone of Aoshi Shinomori.
The challenging question forced Kaoru to intervene between both men. “My name is Detective Kamiya and this is my partner Seta and we’re asking questions that involve a crime scene.” Soujiro and her briefly showed them their badges, however, the red headed man did not open his eyes or shift in his seat. Instead, he remained unfazed about their identities.
Misao frowned even more, but complied with answering Soujiro’s questions. “About twenty workers are vampires.”
“Do you know if any of them finish work before twelve at night?”
“None of our workers finish work before midnight. We have shifts that are required for different races, whether they are humans, wolves, vampires, mages, and witches. We consider midnight to be a taboo hour, because the midnight hour bewitches people.”
Kaoru knew that and nodded her head in understanding.
“Do you know Enishi Yukishiro?” inquired Soujiro.
“Yes I do,” responded Misao. Her lovely face paled. Kaoru saw how the woman’s grasp of Aoshi’s clothing tightened. “But, he’s not a vampire…”
“What is his relationship to you?” Soujiro’s voice darkened, causing Kaoru to look at Soujiro with a baffled expression on her face.
“What’s going on?” The man sitting before Misao uprooted from his spot. His drink was no longer in his hand. Instead, his drink was on the table and Misao moved from behind him, to stand next to him.
“What is his relationship to you?”
“We’ll play along for now,” answered another voice, causing Kaoru and Soujiro to glance at the red headed man still relaxing in his seat across from the couple, Aoshi and Misao. His eyes remained closed.
“He’s a good friend as well as a worker at Blood Lair,” replied Misao quickly. Her calm, even playful composure was gone. She looked anxious while her wide green eyes flashed with concern.
“How long has he been working at Blood Lair?”
“Two years.”
“Does he have any enemies you can recall of?”
Misao’s face grew paler. “No.”
“Do you know anyone who might hold a grudge against him?”
“No.”
“Is there anyone who might envy him?”
“No.”
“Is there someone whom complained about him or filed reports against him at Blood Lair?”
“No.”
“Has he ever mentioned anyone whom he had a fight with?”
Misao was silent for a moment. Her large green eyes looked down at her feet before answering, “Yes.”
Kaoru’s expression turned grim. “Do you remember the person whom he mentioned he had a fight with?”
“Yes,” said Misao. “His name is Akira Kiyosato.”
“We played along, now tell us what’s going on,” demanded a dangerously smooth voice. Kaoru shifted her gaze from Misao to the red headed man still perching placidly in his seat. His well toned arms were still circled above his head. His eyes still remained closed.
He looked familiar, as if she encountered him before. But, where did she meet him?
Her mouth opened to tell him and the others about the victim’s death, but the words died in her throat. She kept her eyes focused on the red headed man, as if waiting for him to open his eyes.
“We’re here because we are investigating a homicide.” Soujiro answered eventually. The atmosphere intensified, as two men and one woman waited to hear more information. “The victim is Akira Kiyosato.”
Misao gasped, while Aoshi flinched. But, it was the red headed man that kept Kaoru rooted to her spot. His eyes opened at the brief mention of the victim’s name and the bright flash of something bright in eyes made Kaoru regret coming to Blood Lair, tonight.
