Chapter One

Blood. Thick. Red. Pulsing. Juicy. It covers the flesh of the dead and slithers down the walls. Carnage as sweet as honey on her lips as she drinks in and satisfies a thirst she'd never known until that moment. Parched lips are quenched and her stomach fills with the warmth. The iron tinge of the taste is heavenly…

Suddenly a light on her closed eyelids makes her heavy head sit up as she opened sky blue eyes. They blink at the pain it brings.

"Oh my gosh Sis! Did you seriously sleep all night at your desk again?"

It was Riku, Georgie's twin sister. Georgie blinked and lifted her hand to block the light that came through the window. Apparently it was morning.

"I guess so." Georgie replied softly as she tried to stretch out the kink in her neck. "You know I'm trying to study really hard for the examines next week." She then sighed and licked her lips. They were dry yet again. They always felt dry.

Riku just rolled her eyes and laughed. She jumped onto her sisters bed. It had a sky blue butterfly bedspread. She proceeded to munch from the cereal box she'd gotten from downstairs. It was her favorite treat, dry cereal.

Georgie merely smiled, secretly hoping Riku didn't get any crumbs on the bed spread. She looked down at her book. She hadn't gotten as far as she would have liked the night before, and already it was Thursday. It would be one more day of school and a weekend before tests began.

"I don't know why you study. You're going to do fine." Riku said. She was the older of the twins, and the more outgoing. She had long beautiful black hair and deep brown eyes. Her frame was somewhat sturdier than her little sisters but she was still feminine in her own way. She liked sports of all kinds, particularly track. But her favorite thing to do above anything else was to be with her friends and laugh.

Georgie was different than her sister. She too had long beautiful black hair, but her eyes were a crystal blue. Her skin was pale and her features soft and delicate. She much preferred books to people. Besides Riku her only other friend was the boy next door who had known both she and Riku since they were babies. There was also her father Kai.

Kai Miyagusuku was a man of early thirties and seemed somewhat young to be raising two teenage girls by himself. On more than one occasion women showed interest in him but never once did he respond to their advances. His girls were all he needed in life to be happy.

He watched over them carefully, paying close attention to their health, diet, and weekly doctor visits wherein each girl got a blood transfusion by the family doctor Dr. Julia Shield who also happened to be the mother of the boy next door.

"So what are you going to do today?" Riku asked Georgie while she chewed loudly on the cereal. One of her legs crossed under the other and she swung her foot idly. She liked to look out for her sister and took interest in her life. To Riku Georgie was something like a pet. A little doll who allowed her to do whatever she wished. Their entire life Riku was the leader and Gerogie the follower.

Georgie didn't mind. She loved her sister. And she loved the attention. Secretly she was glad that everyone else seemed to pay more attention to Riku but Riku had always paid more attention to her.

"What do you mean?" Georgie asked, standing and glancing out the window into the neighboring yard.

Riku noticed the glance and she grinned. "Oh I think you know what I mean. Didn't you say today would be the day?"

Georgies pale cheeks shaded to a light pink, "I don't know Riku. Maybe tomorrow? Can't I do it tomorrow?"

"No you can't! You promised you would do it today! Common sis please! I'll help you do your make up and everything. You'll look so pretty he wont be able to say anything but yes!"

"I…" Georgie stopped, hesitating before glancing into the neighboring yard again. She bit her lower lip before looking back at Riku and nodding once. "Okay. You're right. Today should be the day I ask him."

Riku shrieked and leapt off the bed. In two bounds she was in the bathroom. "Just you wait! It's going to be perfect! I'll make everything perfect for you Georgie!"

An hour later the girls walked down the steps of their home and into the kitchen where Kai cooked their breakfast. Riku was first, her hair back in a ponytail, light gloss on her lips, the usual deal for her. She didn't need much to look beautiful.

Georgie came next, and as Kai turned around to great them good morning he suddenly stopped. His eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped. He then tried to shake his head and clear his throat. "Good morning girls. How many pieces of toast?"

"As many as possible dad! You know that!" Riku said as she put her book bag down beside her on the table.

"Just one for me." Georgie said softly, feeling completely mortified at her fathers reaction. She wasn't used to wearing makeup, and the curls sprayed into her hair made her feel like a French poodle show dog. But Riku had insisted she looked gorgeous so she wasn't going to argue. Somehow she would have to find a way to make it through the day.

She sat in silence through breakfast while Riku jabbered on and on about the track meet they were going to have when there was a sharp rap at the front door of the restaurant and a voice called.

"Hey guys!"

It was Kevin Shield, the girls childhood friend and next door neighbor. Ever since the girls could remember he'd been there and ever since she could remember Georgie had been madly in love with him.

"Common in Kevin! I'm just cooking up some breakfast." Kai called. Kevin walked in through the door with his ever beaming grin and brilliant blue eyes. So unlike his parents he just couldn't ever be serious. He liked to play and clown around and on more than one occasion that got him in trouble at school.

The girls had lost count of how many times the boy ended up in the principal's office for some prank he pulled. But no matter what he did Kai never kept the girls from being friends with him. He wanted the children to live carefree lives.

"Sweet! Thanks Mr. Kai!" Kavin had always called Kai that since everyone else called his father Mr. David. He looked over at Riku who was grinning and winked before looking at Georgie.

Georgie could feel her heart racing but even so she managed a weak smile while looking up through the hair that came loose from the hairsprayed bangs that fell across her forehead.

"Whoa Georgie! You look great! Just like a movie star." He took up a piece of toast in each hand and started to shove one into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, drank some milk and stood up. "I've got to get going. I'm meeting the boys out front of school today before class."

Kai turned around suddenly from the counter, "You don't mean those drop out troublemaker boys that got you detention last month do you? Kevin you know they're only being your friend to get you in trouble. You…"

Kevin rolled his eyes, "No worried Mr. Kai!" He said with a wave of his hand, "I'll be good. We're just going to have some fun is all on Sensei…"

Riku giggled, "Kevin you never learn do you?"

"Hey what's that's supposed to mean?" Kevin grinned and winked again. He knew what she meant, but this game was one he and Riku played all the time.

Standing, Riku grabbed her bag, "Wait for Gerogie and I and we'll walk with you." She looked at her sister and widened her eyes quickly, indicating she needed to hurry up. Obviously she wanted the confession to be sooner than later.

Georgie tensed and wanted to stay behind with her father. She'd always been the kind of child to hold back and hide behind his legs. She loved her dad more than anything, and even though Riku seemed to be his favorite, Kai and her had something special too.

"Go go then," Kai said with a dramatic sigh, "Leave the old man to his cooking while you children live out the remainder of your youth."

Riku rolled her eyes, "Oh dad don't be such a drama king. We'll be back after school. Love ya bye!" She waved and was following Kevin out the door.

Georgie took a moment to collect her things and hesitated. She looked at her fathers back. Yes, their relationship was something different but never had she questioned it to be anything but normal for a father and daughter.

Once, when she was very young, Georgie asked Kai about hers and Rikus mother. Perhaps Riku hadn't really thought about where it was they came from, but Georgie always wondered. And she always dreamed.

Sometimes at night as she drifted to sleep she heard a song or a melody just at the hazy edge of unconsciousness and it would sooth better than any drug could. Even the nightmares of carnage that haunted her so badly her father had her go to special counseling couldn't touch her in those moments.

Her councilor had been a strange man. It was years ago she last saw him, but he never thought anything she said was stupid even though she wondered if her dreams meant she was going crazy.

Then all of a sudden they stopped. Maybe it had something to do with her growing farther apart from her sister. After all they'd been nearly inseparable until they were ten and then Riku suddenly became popular at school.

Kai's response to her question both frightened and intrigued her. He took her onto his lap and with a very serious expression said, "You never had a mother Georgie. You came to me in a package brought by your Aunt. It's I and your Aunt who truly love you and Riku. Never forget that. No matter what happens we are the ones who love you."

Now that she was older and she understood anatomy better Georgie knew it was impossible to not have a mother. Maybe her Aunt was her mother and her father was hiding something. Maybe she would never really know the truth. In any case she'd noticed that ever since she's began to develop into a young woman her father didn't look at her the same as he once had.

In fact he hardly liked to look at her at all.

"Have a good day Dad." She spoke softly as she took up her own bag. She brought her plate, which still had most of her food on it, to him and watched as he became focused on the dish he scrubbed.

"You too Georgie." He said, his lips flinching into a smile and he glanced in her direction.

Trying not to feel heartbroken, Georgie turned and followed after her sister.

Not too long after Kai finished putting the last of the breakfast dishes away there was knock on the door and a man dressed in a dark suit walked in. He had a sallow pale face with deep blue eyes and white hair. He was perhaps in his late forties but he looked much older. He stood as a man who had seen and done much in his life. It was hard to believe he was the father of the zany boy that left with the twin girls earlier.

"Mr. David. It's good to see you. Your son left not too long ago." Kai said as he turned and leaned against the counter. He wiped his hands on a dish towel before holding it out to the man to shake it.

"How are the girls?" Mr. David asked, returning the hand shake and practically ignoring any mention of his son.

"Oh fine. Fine." Kai said. "Could I get you anything? I was about to get ready for the lunch customers."

Mr. David shifted a little and hesitated, a strange movement for him before he glanced towards the nearby window. "Actually, it might be best if you don't open shop today Kai. There's… much to discuss."

Kai knew that tone in his voice and that look on David's face. There was something going on, something concerning things that were supposed to be dead and gone.

"It's been… fourteen years…" Kai said, feeling his heart sink into his stomach, "What could possibly have happened to make me need to close the shop?"

Then he saw him. He stepped in through the door seeming as though from the shadows. A figure in a dream, a creature from a nightmare.

He was tall, slender, with ghostly pale features. His long, thin, fingers wrapped around the strap of a case which he carried on his back at all times. A cello case, a symbol of his life, it was his only possession other than the clothing he wore and the obsession in his heart for a woman Kai knew all too well.

His thin face held no expression. He was lifeless, a walking corpse it seemed. But then again that's how Haji always had been.