Bloodlust (Part 7)
Happy new year! Here's the latest chapter as a present!
Title: Bloodlust
Pairing: Phoenix/Edgeworth, some Franziska/Adrian
Theme: Romance, Horror, Comedy, Action
Warnings: Spoilers for PW 1 & 2, vampires and blood, gay lawyers, violence... AND SEX!!!
Summary: Vampire!Phoenix and Miles are now a steady couple, but they just can't seem to get out of the habit of keeping secrets. An evil force lurks in the background, Shoe makes a cameo, and people get drunk. Enjoy!
Larry wasn't sure what had happened. One minute he'd been in the van, watching his friends completely own a bunch of vampires (seriously, it was like something out of a video game) and the next, he'd been grabbed by the collar and forcibly hauled kicking and screaming into the woods.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Heeeeeeeelp Mee-eep!" He was cut off in a squeak as his captor stopped running, hauled him up to eye level and grasped his throat in both white-gloved hands.
He was staring straight into the face he'd know anywhere, even if he'd only ever seen it before across a courtroom and right now it was an inch from his nose.
"Vrhhhn Krhhmuh?" He choked, clawing at the hands at his throat.
"One and the same, pest, now be silent and listen!" Von Karma hissed into his face. "You are bait, you hear me? Nothing more than bait, and I prefer live bait. However, your piglike squealing is making me want to kill you more with each passing second, so for the sake your life and my sanity will you shut up!?"
Larry nodded as best he could around the clawlike hands on his larynx, then gasped as he was released, falling to the leafy ground with a rustling thud. He gasped and choked for a few seconds before von Karma grabbed him again, flipped him over and bound his wrists behind his back with what felt like rope. His legs got the same treatment before the presence at his back left, crunching footsteps over fallen leaves, leaving Larry bound and helpless on the forest floor.
The bait, waiting in terror for the trap to spring upon his friends.
-----
Phoenix charged headlong through the forest, following the pungent smell of fear that filled his nostrils and lent speed to his legs. He kept his senses hyper-alert, terrified each moment he would smell the scent of his childhood friend's blood or hear his scream...
And yet, while he ran a part of him was exulting, reveling in the chase, knowing that this was what he was built for. It was the thrill of the hunt, the joy of the kill at the end-
The sudden rush of savage, violent images caught Phoenix off guard and he faltered in his strides. His foot caught on a tree root and he toppled face-first into something soft that squawked when he hit it.
"La- Larry?" The body was definitely his old friend.
"Ow! Nick that- look out!" Larry's whine suddenly turned to a shout as he stared wide-eyed over Phoenix's shoulder.
The vampire rolled, barely getting his blade up to parry the incoming slash. Von Karma's sword-cane hit his blade and scraped along the stone in a shower of sparks.
Phoenix rolled off Larry and to his feet in one movement that could almost be described as graceful. Von Karma had recovered from his thrust and retreated to well out of blade reach. A smirk was playing around his pale, wrinkled lips.
"I see you are as clumsy as ever, Mister Wright." He sneered.
"And you seem to be as psychotic as ever." Phoenix snarled back through gritted teeth. "Why take Larry? He's not involved in this!"
"Yeah, man!" Came the muffled cry from Larry. "I'm innocent!"
"No man is truly innocent. Hasn't my precious protege taught you at least that much?" Von Karma smirked coldly at Phoenix, eying him like a predator staring down a rival... or a meal. "Do you know what the difference is between us, Wright?"
"I don't dress like a reject from Dracula: the Musical?" Act confident, don't let him know you're scared.
"No, Wright. The answer is blood. The more blood a vampire drinks, the stronger he is. Right now, I have the blood of twelve men and women running through my veins and what do you have? Only the pitiful scraps your friends deign to throw you. Defeating me is impossible for someone like you."
Phoenix let out a small, humorless smirk. "I've been told something like that before every single case I've tried. And I still won."
Von Karma only smirked again, flashing his blade in a mocking salute. The time for talk was over, and the time for blood was about to begin
-----
Miles Edgeworth had never felt so impotent. Not when he stood as the defendant with all the evidence stacked against him, not even when he was tied to a chair in a dark parking garage with three vampires. At those times, it was only his own life at risk, his helplessness would kill nobody but himself.
Now, however, he was left with no way to help and the few people he cared about were slowly slipping away. Franziska with her broken arm lay beside Adrian with what Gumshoe said was "Probably a concussion, pal." Miles had, admittedly forgotten that a policeman's basic train ing included first-aid, but here was Gumshoe, bent over the two limp bodies as though he knew what he was doing. The Fey girl was with him, her hands dancing over Franziska's broken arm in what looked like some kind of acupressure. Miles didn't put much stock in Spirit Medium mumbo-jumbo, but it seemed to be helping. The color was starting to return to Franziska's blanched face.
Miles, however, had no medical training. He had never needed it as a prosecutor, and as a vampire hunter it was taken as a matter of course that he would not be foolish enough to get himself injured. He could only stand guard, scanning the tree line for Phoenix and Larry's return. As much as he hated to admit it, he cared for the brunette goatee'd idiot. And now there was nothing between Larry's throat and von Karma's fangs but Phoenix, who was in mortal danger himself. Phoenix, his greatest friend, his sole true confidant, his lover for less than twenty-four hours was in the lion's den and Miles could only sit back and hope.
It was maddening.
"Mister Edgeworth!" Maya's sudden cry broke him from his painful reverie. "It's Franziska!"
Miles was at her side in a heartbeat, looking down at Franziska's pale and bloody face. Her eyes were wide open and staring as she grabbed her brother's sleeve in surprisingly strong fingers.
"Franziska, thank god you're-"
"No time!" Franziska cut him off, hauling herself up into a sitting position. "Where... where are they? The vampires?"
"Gone. We killed them." Maya put a hand on Franziska's shoulder, trying to push her back down, but the prosecutor resisted. There was real fear in her eyes, the kind Miles hadn't seen in years.
"And my father Is he also dead?"
Miles swallowed and shook his head. He had a very bad feeling about this. "He kidnapped Butz, and Wright went after hi-"
"Wright! Wright went after him?!" Her eyes were wide with shock and horror. "You fools, you've played right into his hands!"
"What do you mean, pal?" Gumshoe asked in confusion, but Miles already knew the answer.
"I was never his target, I was the bait! He's played us from the begi- aargh!" Franziska tried to haul herself to her feet but the effort jostled her broken arm and she fell back, biting her lip in pain.
Miles was on his feet before he knew it, feeling positively sick with fear. Phoenix! He turned tail and bolted for the woods, ignoring the sound of his name being shouted after him.
Why didn't I see it before! His target all along... was Phoenix! This whole thing was a set-up from the beginning!
Unfortunately for them all, Miles Edgeworth didn't realize that he was only half right.
Title: Bloodlust
Pairing: Phoenix/Edgeworth, some Franziska/Adrian
Theme: Romance, Horror, Comedy, Action
Warnings: Spoilers for PW 1 & 2, vampires and blood, gay lawyers, violence... AND SEX!!!
Summary: Vampire!Phoenix and Miles are now a steady couple, but they just can't seem to get out of the habit of keeping secrets. An evil force lurks in the background, Shoe makes a cameo, and people get drunk. Enjoy!
Larry wasn't sure what had happened. One minute he'd been in the van, watching his friends completely own a bunch of vampires (seriously, it was like something out of a video game) and the next, he'd been grabbed by the collar and forcibly hauled kicking and screaming into the woods.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Heeeeeeeelp Mee-eep!" He was cut off in a squeak as his captor stopped running, hauled him up to eye level and grasped his throat in both white-gloved hands.
He was staring straight into the face he'd know anywhere, even if he'd only ever seen it before across a courtroom and right now it was an inch from his nose.
"Vrhhhn Krhhmuh?" He choked, clawing at the hands at his throat.
"One and the same, pest, now be silent and listen!" Von Karma hissed into his face. "You are bait, you hear me? Nothing more than bait, and I prefer live bait. However, your piglike squealing is making me want to kill you more with each passing second, so for the sake your life and my sanity will you shut up!?"
Larry nodded as best he could around the clawlike hands on his larynx, then gasped as he was released, falling to the leafy ground with a rustling thud. He gasped and choked for a few seconds before von Karma grabbed him again, flipped him over and bound his wrists behind his back with what felt like rope. His legs got the same treatment before the presence at his back left, crunching footsteps over fallen leaves, leaving Larry bound and helpless on the forest floor.
The bait, waiting in terror for the trap to spring upon his friends.
-----
Phoenix charged headlong through the forest, following the pungent smell of fear that filled his nostrils and lent speed to his legs. He kept his senses hyper-alert, terrified each moment he would smell the scent of his childhood friend's blood or hear his scream...
And yet, while he ran a part of him was exulting, reveling in the chase, knowing that this was what he was built for. It was the thrill of the hunt, the joy of the kill at the end-
The sudden rush of savage, violent images caught Phoenix off guard and he faltered in his strides. His foot caught on a tree root and he toppled face-first into something soft that squawked when he hit it.
"La- Larry?" The body was definitely his old friend.
"Ow! Nick that- look out!" Larry's whine suddenly turned to a shout as he stared wide-eyed over Phoenix's shoulder.
The vampire rolled, barely getting his blade up to parry the incoming slash. Von Karma's sword-cane hit his blade and scraped along the stone in a shower of sparks.
Phoenix rolled off Larry and to his feet in one movement that could almost be described as graceful. Von Karma had recovered from his thrust and retreated to well out of blade reach. A smirk was playing around his pale, wrinkled lips.
"I see you are as clumsy as ever, Mister Wright." He sneered.
"And you seem to be as psychotic as ever." Phoenix snarled back through gritted teeth. "Why take Larry? He's not involved in this!"
"Yeah, man!" Came the muffled cry from Larry. "I'm innocent!"
"No man is truly innocent. Hasn't my precious protege taught you at least that much?" Von Karma smirked coldly at Phoenix, eying him like a predator staring down a rival... or a meal. "Do you know what the difference is between us, Wright?"
"I don't dress like a reject from Dracula: the Musical?" Act confident, don't let him know you're scared.
"No, Wright. The answer is blood. The more blood a vampire drinks, the stronger he is. Right now, I have the blood of twelve men and women running through my veins and what do you have? Only the pitiful scraps your friends deign to throw you. Defeating me is impossible for someone like you."
Phoenix let out a small, humorless smirk. "I've been told something like that before every single case I've tried. And I still won."
Von Karma only smirked again, flashing his blade in a mocking salute. The time for talk was over, and the time for blood was about to begin
-----
Miles Edgeworth had never felt so impotent. Not when he stood as the defendant with all the evidence stacked against him, not even when he was tied to a chair in a dark parking garage with three vampires. At those times, it was only his own life at risk, his helplessness would kill nobody but himself.
Now, however, he was left with no way to help and the few people he cared about were slowly slipping away. Franziska with her broken arm lay beside Adrian with what Gumshoe said was "Probably a concussion, pal." Miles had, admittedly forgotten that a policeman's basic train ing included first-aid, but here was Gumshoe, bent over the two limp bodies as though he knew what he was doing. The Fey girl was with him, her hands dancing over Franziska's broken arm in what looked like some kind of acupressure. Miles didn't put much stock in Spirit Medium mumbo-jumbo, but it seemed to be helping. The color was starting to return to Franziska's blanched face.
Miles, however, had no medical training. He had never needed it as a prosecutor, and as a vampire hunter it was taken as a matter of course that he would not be foolish enough to get himself injured. He could only stand guard, scanning the tree line for Phoenix and Larry's return. As much as he hated to admit it, he cared for the brunette goatee'd idiot. And now there was nothing between Larry's throat and von Karma's fangs but Phoenix, who was in mortal danger himself. Phoenix, his greatest friend, his sole true confidant, his lover for less than twenty-four hours was in the lion's den and Miles could only sit back and hope.
It was maddening.
"Mister Edgeworth!" Maya's sudden cry broke him from his painful reverie. "It's Franziska!"
Miles was at her side in a heartbeat, looking down at Franziska's pale and bloody face. Her eyes were wide open and staring as she grabbed her brother's sleeve in surprisingly strong fingers.
"Franziska, thank god you're-"
"No time!" Franziska cut him off, hauling herself up into a sitting position. "Where... where are they? The vampires?"
"Gone. We killed them." Maya put a hand on Franziska's shoulder, trying to push her back down, but the prosecutor resisted. There was real fear in her eyes, the kind Miles hadn't seen in years.
"And my father Is he also dead?"
Miles swallowed and shook his head. He had a very bad feeling about this. "He kidnapped Butz, and Wright went after hi-"
"Wright! Wright went after him?!" Her eyes were wide with shock and horror. "You fools, you've played right into his hands!"
"What do you mean, pal?" Gumshoe asked in confusion, but Miles already knew the answer.
"I was never his target, I was the bait! He's played us from the begi- aargh!" Franziska tried to haul herself to her feet but the effort jostled her broken arm and she fell back, biting her lip in pain.
Miles was on his feet before he knew it, feeling positively sick with fear. Phoenix! He turned tail and bolted for the woods, ignoring the sound of his name being shouted after him.
Why didn't I see it before! His target all along... was Phoenix! This whole thing was a set-up from the beginning!
Unfortunately for them all, Miles Edgeworth didn't realize that he was only half right.