For those of you who don't know, this is a character fiction for Sakume and Raziel. Please enjoy, and wait until the end to comment.

Chapter One
Signing Up

Murmurs everywhere swirled throughout the thick smoky air. Carefully, the figure made his way through the crowded bar, squeezing through the spaces of the wooden chairs that were nearly touching each other. He kept his cape on; just because he felt so used to the article of clothing he didn’t think to remove it. His hood covered most of his face, although he didn’t really need to show so much worry. If she were here, he would have picked her scent up extremely easily. Pulling up a worn, though smooth stool, he seated himself gingerly upon it, straightening just long enough to have the bartender, a gruff man in his fifties, face the lycan.

“How’s it going, Raz?” The man asked, polishing a goblet as he spoke, the warm voice a definite welcome in the view of where the werewolf was. To tell the truth, Harvey did not expect to see Raziel around ever again. What the werewolf was doing back in this town, who knew.

“I’ve realized something, Harvey. I’m going to stop running. I can’t continue to run from my problems, so I finally made a promise to myself to face them.” The man said, tucking a strand of his wispy hair behind his ear. “I have too much running on my life to die now.”

“Finally you realize that. I’ve been trying to tell you the same ever since I’ve met you.” The bartender sighed with a somewhat entertained chuckle. “Still, it’s been nice to see you in here again. You used to show up nearly every single night. The same as the usual, huh? You were planning to get stone drunk, then, just like old times?”

Slowly, Raziel shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I may even give up on alcohol for now.”

“Out of money?” Harvey asked, raising an eyebrow. If he knew Raziel, he was sure that would be the only reason the werewolf would pass up a drink.

“I guess you could say that.” Raziel shrugged. “I mean, if you think that’s the best way to describe my situation. I’d err on the side of completely dirt poor.”

“Well, there’s one way you can get some money, you know.” The bartender suggested, lowering his tone quite a considerable amount.

“Oh? What’s that?” Raziel asked, curious. “I could use it, if not for me, then for someone else. Spill it, Harvey.”

“You know, there’s something different about you lately. I don’t know exactly what it is, but it’s different. Well, you can pull it off with a little help. You see, every year about this time there’s a ball held here for descendants of nobility. The top dancer in this ball receives quite a large sum. Now my son himself has been going to this ball quite a lot. As you can tell, we’re obviously not nobility, but he fakes the paperwork and gets in easily because of his good looks and polite nature. Now, I just have a feeling you could pull this off with a little work. The ball is in about a week. You just need a little training and you could do it.”

“You think so?” Raziel responded, deep in thought about this idea. “Sounds good to me. She could use some money. In fact, all of them could.”

“Girl troubles?” Harvey raised an eyebrow quizzically, pushing a mug frothing with beer towards his guest. “This one’s on the house.”

Raziel nodded his thanks to his friend, sipping down a bit of the mug’s contents.

He approached the piece of parchment nailed to the wall, arriving at exactly the same time as the woman. Indeed, she was pretty. Her brunette hair framed her heart-shaped face, dark eyes nearly exactly like Raziel’s staring into his face. Her lips were perfectly shaped, although a tiny bit chapped. She had bushy eyebrows, the kind that a person might expect to be caterpillars perched above her eyes, but they were good-looking on her. Her form was slender, although not entirely skinny. She was a lovely woman, overall, most likely a bit younger than Raziel.

The two seemed to wait for one another, both reaching for the pen at the same time, both sharing the same awkward chuckle and few moments before attempting again. Finally, Raziel met her hand, but only for a moment before handing the pen to her. “You go ahead. You were here first.”

She flushed and nodded shyly. “Are you attending, perchance?” She asked softly, scrawling a rather fancy long cursive signature on the paper.

“Indeed I am.” Raziel responded, leaning slightly over her shoulder in curiosity as to what others had put.

“Mm. Then perhaps we shall be paired. After all, it is a masquerade, is it not? And the pairings are chosen randomly, I mean, perhaps we shall meet there.”

“I would like that very much.” Raziel commented; glad to have an excuse just in case he couldn’t make it inside. He could have backup with this girl, who obviously knew exactly what she was doing. Not including the fact that she did have a certain serene beauty about her. “What is your name?”

“Serenity Alrista Cleverwood the third.” She replied with a pleasant smile on her face as she curtsied. “And you, sir?”

Raziel paused, caught completely off-guard. He glanced sideways at Harvey, and then at some of his surroundings, stammering. “I-I-I mean, my name is… Lunar Prince.”

“Oh, that’s your masquerade name?” She responded, obviously very interested.

“Yes… exactly!” Raziel wished deeply this girl would become his sister; they looked somewhat alike, easy to mix up, even easier with a mask. Well, it would make it easy to tell who she was at the ball.

She nodded curtly with a short curtsey once more. “I hope you and I are paired together, Lunar Prince.”

“Perhaps we shall.” He watched her, dumbfounded as she walked out. “Agh! Another one! I have enough problems with ladies!” He exclaimed, heading back to the bar and downing the rest of his drink. “Alright, Harv.” He glanced up, raising one eyebrow and smiling. “Teach me your stuff.”

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“You’re sure this is the way?” Her cold, empty voice asked, blades positioned just below the makeshift doll’s neck.

“Yes!” The child continued to cry, nodding her head. “I’m sure! Don’t hurt my dolly!”

Sakume rolled her eyes, tossing the piece of rubbish over her shoulder into a nearby mud puddle and pushed the child back, following the directions. She knew Shinu would not be happy to return and find her gone from their temporary home, but still. He wasn’t her mate technically yet. So she still had some time. She sensed his smell, the one she could never escape very near to here. Why would he be here, though?

She was sure he had gotten over that. Oh well. Who knew why men acted the way they did? “Hmph.” She approached the bar, long after the hours were over, throwing her weight against the door and knocking it down with a crash. “Drinking again, dear brother?” She questioned the silence, slightly confused. Raziel hadn’t started delving into the world of alcohol ever since that day not too long ago. Why would he start now?

“You, there!” A man approached her, the hired hand of the janitor. “You can’t be in here! It’s after hours!”

Sakume snorted softly, tossing her hair back. If she were to find her brother, she could ask this man. He most likely knew all that went on during the day in this rat’s nest. “You will tell me. Have you seen a man in his middle twenties with blue hair in here today?”

“I can’t release any information.” The man puffed out his chest, obviously proud of himself.

“You will tell me.” She pushed off of the nearby wall, launching herself at his figure, easily pinning him against the floor, one blade piercing through each wrist. Immediately, blood gushed from the open wound, trickling along the floor and spurting out to spatter along the girl’s face. She poked her tongue out, seeking the droplets of the life fluid. “Tell me.”

“Agh!” The man cried out in pain, struggling for a few moments. “Yes, yes he was here! Earlier tonight! But he left not too long ago!”

“Damn it!” Sakume exploded, hurling a chair against the nearby wall to watch it break in half. “He was right here, right in my hands! I missed him!”

“But I heard him say something about a ball! And money!” The man stuttered, blinking back several tears. “I’m supposed to attend, too! I’m Terry! I attend every year! I can’t just not show up! Please! Spare me! I’m royalty!”

Sakume leaped up, coming down upon the man with her blades and gravity paired. She forced the blade through his eyes, the other hand slitting his throat, covering herself in his blood, her strands of hair dripping the stuff. “Me too.”

His blood now formed a pool beneath him. Sakume wrinkled her nose, unhappy to see the resulting gore. She felt slightly guilty for killing him, but he didn’t matter. She waltzed over to the piece of parchment, curiously surveying the names for a few moments. A masquerade? Well, that was promising. What? You had to be royalty? Well that was easy enough. She bent down near the body, scooping a mug of blood from below and walking back over. She dipped a quill inside the mug and scrawled her name. “New Bloodwake.”

She left the mug and quill on a nearby table, uncaring about the body. No one probably knew him anyway, and if they did like he claimed, they were better off without him. She sniffed slightly, wondering about this ball. She would have to wear a dress, wouldn’t she? She hated dresses. She also would have to attend it, but she had a dress back at the cave she would take. No one would have to know anything. She would finally get her revenge. She cackled to herself as she walked out the door, preparing herself for the future taste of her brother’s blood.

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Thanks to you... <3 Selene, Raziel, Arlen and Kate