Tsuka was probably cold, but her temper had snapped. She tore strips of the now silent body around her in the snow in a dance of seething rage. The man had been a nosey pervert. She hadn't the time for his games. She had been waiting for someone, not him, who could bear a small portion of her emotional baggage. This particular male had happened across her instead. It was to his detriment that he could not bear the burden of her anger. Poor bystander.

It was rare that Tsuka caused this kind of destruction but her art across the falling snow was worthy of even the Tarepha. She had seen this coming and had tried to resist, but hatred had encompassed her body before the arrival of her friend.

The fleshier bits of the corpse became stringier as they began to freeze, still her figers and nails clawed through the body. Tsuka had a temper, a hot and fiery temper when pushed. This temper was now exploding outward as if trying to escape her hatred. ike her true temper, this hatred was hot and fiery, but burnt out quickly enough. Not enough to prevent corpsifying the mortal, but still within minutes. Her rage had exhausted her and she collapsed into the deep snow, carnage in a wide radius. Tsuka lay deep in the snow, unmoving and uncaring, blood spattered and unfed, dying of exhaustion, heartache and undernourishment.

She had sent Istar a message, saying she needed to talk, something about bad news. She didn't know if he would come. The petite vampire didn't care anymore, whatever it had been. Numbly, she began to feel pain clawing at her, but she told it to go away. She fed in three days. Tsuka just lay in the snow, looking for all the world like a blood spattered angel, left over from the wars in heaven.

"He was a poor bastard that met a poor end. Not a hell of a guy, but he sure made a hell of a mess.” The words were almost poetic, though of course they held a sardonic undertone that was undeniable and firmly in place.

Indeed as firm fixed as the cigarette in the corner of Istar Indora’s lips and he drew on it a moment and the next it seemed to light itself as smoke blossomed into a pencil thin plume in the cold-snow ridden- night air.

“I think I'll call it, Requiem for an idiot." Istar said thoughtfully, all poetry gone from his voice. But of course his words were joking, even if this seemed hardly the time. That was just the kinda guy Istar was. Sometimes a joke was better than Prozac; curved fear, anxiety, kept you from screaming and running like a little girl when you wanted nothing better, of course in this instance it was Istar’s way of concealing the worry he felt looking down on Tsuka covered in blood, tattered corpse, crimson and dirt colored snow.

Taking a slow drag of his cig, the former hitman turned vampire looked his friend over carefully. A part of him was surprised; Istar had no idea why Tsuka would go crazy on some guy. Maybe she’d kill, maybe she was even into a little violence with a feeding. It wasn’t Istar’s cup of tea, but he understood well enough, after all he was sharing a city with the Ishak and Tarepha. But this, well this was too much. And even if it wasn’t, just looking, Istar could tell that Tsuka hadn’t drank a single drop.

She was too pale, too fragile looking. Okay, maybe she was always a little fragile looking, being a pretty, petite, Asian woman, but Indora had seen her health and strong and this sure a heck wasn’t anywhere near either of those. And that made him worry. However he might fell about Tsuka, she was his friend first and foremost.

Istar had always stood up for his friends, except just once. And once had been more than enough to let him know just how big a piece of scum you are if you forsake your friends. She called him, he’d come, simple as that. It would always be as simple as that.

Kneeling Istar didn’t worry too much about himself. If Tsuka was going to attack him, well he’d figure something out, if not well that was great, but whatever happened he wasn’t going to leave her out in the snow with a corpse. If nothing else he could carry her home, but first he kneeled, the knees of his suit getting wet and no doubt bloody despite his best attempts. The suit for its part was dark brown and would never come clean. Blood was a real bitch to get out of brown, but whatever it didn’t much matter, the suit or the over coat he’d worn along with it, he didn’t give them much notice as he lifted Tsuka from the snow and into the cradle of his arms.

Just as quickly he rose to his feet, cradling her against his chest.

Yeah, it was more instinct than anything, after all the cold wouldn’t bother either of them and Istar didn’t have much body heat to share, but he held her like that anyway, a wry smile on his face as he looked her in the eye.

“So, you rang?” He teased, smiling at her gently and yet even as he did his smile wasn’t exactly happy. “What’s the bad news?” He asked then, already knowing he wasn’t going to like it. Whatever it was, it had to be bad. Tsuka was one of the most controlled people he’d ever known.

"Kiku's gone."

The week had started off with a message left on her answering machine. It murmured cheerfully in Japanese explaining that Kiku's biological father had recently died and her mother would like to reclaim the child. Tsuka replayed the message over and over, finally deciding to unplug the phone for a few days. Two days later, Tsuka went out as usual to her job. Around mid morning, Tsuka was startled awake by the phone ringing. Kiku had been at school but the phone was already in Tsuka's room, no need to worry about sunlight.

The voice on the other line was a representative from Children's services saying that a final examination had been requested of Tsuka's competence as a parent to raise a child. Tsuka did her best not to snarl into the speaker but nodded to the invisible voice as she explained the procedure and the date. Not an hour later, Children's Services in Japan were calling her themselves, saying, cheerfully, that the mother of the child had requested a return of the child before the finalization of the adoption. Tsuka had requested a reason for this sudden change of heart. The person on the other end explained that though the circumstances wee confidential. Tsuka in turn explained that if she was going to lose her child, she was not going to remain outside of confidentiality. Finally, Tsuka bullied the woman into saying the the father had died recently and there was an effort made to reclaim the child.

Tsuka had not yet discovered that the mother had married to become the domesticated pet of Boss Naga, a very influential man, though after finding out, Tsuka would blame the mess on him. She gave a formal refusal and decided to go on with her week. Nothing would ever come of the mess.

During her next shift a couple of Japanese tourists had caused a harassment suit. They claimed that Tsuka had been inappropriate with their child. Since the doctor, the parents and the 14 year old patient were all speaking in Japanese, there was no one to take Tsuka's defense. If she had been more worldly, rather than simply stepping on the toes of mortals when she had to, she would have realised the correlation of events and would have found legal help. Though the charges were dropped nearly immediately, the timing was interfering with the final interview. One can imagine the events that followed. Tsuka's life had suddenly stopped functioning correctly and she was trapped in a nightmare. A legal nightmare where she, as the undead, was at a disadvantage and killing everything insight would get her killed: either by mortals or Amman. No easy fix. She felt as though she had been slapped. The ordeal was a mishmash and whirlwind of broken pieces in her mind and Tsuka had taken out her rage on a bitchy mortal who no longer lived to regret his mistake.

Tsuka had weak telepathy skills at best, but as she clung to Istar in body, so did she in mind. She tried to relay her bad news but was somewhat incoherent. At times she felt weak, other times she felt rage and for brief moments, she felt as though she had just woken up from a dream: mind focused and clear but unsure of her surroundings.

"Kiku is gone."

Istar blinked. Then did it again. Jesus Christ in heaven, and Istar thanked the good lord above that he’d been able to hold on to the phrase even in death. There were some, some lost the ability to handle crosses or go anywhere near holy relics or even say the name of the almighty. Istar had met them, even had a few run-ins where a cross had probably saved his life as much as his massive hand gun. And now, like then he was glad that he wasn’t one of them; that he could think as he wished, while never a particularly religious sort in life or even now in undeath, Istar was still glad that he could pray in his head for the news he’d received.

It was either pray or curse; and cursing would probably lead to violence. Especially considering Istar Indora wasn’t especially gifted when it came to all the psychic mumbo jumbo, but to his surprise he understood most of Tsuka’s effort and it was weird, like getting a bed time story in his head, only condensed and brought to life with living color, breath, smell, and each and every one of the body’s senses. His senses and yet not, because the story had been Tsuka’s. One seen through her eyes, her senses…

Even if there wasn’t any body heat to be had, Istar clutched the Asian doctor close against his body and soulful brown-amber eyes met her darker ones as he found himself “shhhushing” her softly, gently, and carefully. Istar didn’t want to set her off for his own safety and hers. She was stronger, would probably kill him if it came to a showdown, even with grief eating up all of her common sense. But it wasn’t his own life Istar worried about…nope…he was worried about Kiku, Tsuka, Ria, and Karyn. In short Indora wasn’t ready to leave his girls alone just yet. And with that in mind the first order of business seemed to be calming Tsuka, the second was letting Ria know what he was up to and the last, well the last seemed pretty damned evident.

Come hell or high water, they were gonna get Kiku back. Istar had been a part of a lot of set ups. It comes with the territory, always had; being in a mob, being a mob hitman, whatever he’d done in his life that hadn’t been on the straight and narrow. There was always the chance of being set up, double crossed or thrown to the wolves. Knowing that you learned what to look for and knowing what to look for, well it was as obvious as a bull’s-eye painted on a damn target.

The whole Japanese tourist incident had been staged, hell planned down the damned last detail probably. Whoever it was had assumed that a doctor wouldn’t know shit about the legal system and well guess what they were right. Docs knew malpractice law, but they were always suckers for the conduct stuff and probably Tsuka more than most. She had a bit of a temper, if it wasn’t obvious enough with the stiff on the ground, besides sometimes age is a big ass disadvantage, especially in this world of the young and the here and now. Technology was your friend, knowledge was power, and vampire strength and speed didn’t mean crap if you weren’t actually in an honest to goodness fight.

Istar understood these things and just as quickly he realized he’d keep all of it away from Tsuka until he got her cleaned up, stabilized, and ready for the fight they had coming there way. Istar was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. Yeah, they had a fight coming, one way or another. After all if mommy wanted Kiku back after not giving a damn till big daddy died, well that spoke of one and only one thing. Little Kiku had scored bigger than mommy in daddy’s will. They would have to argue that point, if or if it wasn’t really true. But it seemed the best bet and while Istar wasn’t a lawyer, he was a hitman. You weren’t a hitman without some knowledge of the legal system. No one was so good they never got caught; your skill was just judged by what you got caught for…

Istar’s worst had been procession of an illegal fire arm; he gotten off with a slap on the wrist and a fine. He hadn’t even had to use vampire tricks. And that was the kind of thing Tsuka was gonna need to be able to pull off.

“I’m taking you somewhere safe, doll. We’ll talk about it when you’re doin’ better alright? Better yet I’m not asking. I’m taking you back to my old place and then I’m getting you a bite to eat, a shower, and some rest.”

Istar’s eyes were hard then, but he smiled. Adjusted her in his arms, and then they were in the air. Istar didn’t fly much, he had a car after all and flying always felt a little weird besides. Being able to take off at a moments notice was great, but it had the sobering affect of reminding you exactly what you are and how very unnatural that something seemed. Alexia had once said it makes you feel inhuman and yeah that pretty much summed it up.

Still Istar used his flight to shoot straight up, careful of Tsuka in his arms. Then once he was high enough he set a course that would be faster than weaving through the city and avoiding mortal eyes. In truth it was pretty simple. He could turn altitude to his advantage and use gravity and the earth’s rotation to help him get where he was going in moments rather than minutes, and I suppose it went without saying that his sire had put all the knowledge she’d had of this particular skill into his skull and slammed it home with a mallet. Istar wasn’t old and wasn’t particularly gifted, but he really knew how to use what he had.

Indora decided on his old place, if only so that Ria wouldn’t be surprised with a bloody vampire showing up on their doorstep and because…well because Karyn wasn’t one of them and certainly didn’t need to see the worst of them so early in a young life. If anything that would come when she was older, when she was ready to know that monsters were really real and while the thought of that day brought twin trickles of blood tears to Istar’s eyes he comforted himself by reminding himself that was a long way off yet. Until then he was just Uncle Istar and not a blood drinking fiend.

As they reached the large house in the middle of the rural and might he add old money outskirts of the city and landed on his balcony without a sound, Istar had to wonder why he kept his old place? And more than that kept the utilities on and came out to clean up once a night every few months or so?

Istar had been living with Ria and Karyn for a while now. Since he’d given up “the life”, he’d wanted to be around them, with them more than anything else and yet he’d kept the place. Sure it was a safehouse that even his old contacts knew nothing about and sure he had enough money to have a bout fifteen just like it, but it was strange…and yet even so he’d never questioned it. And now he was glad he hadn’t. Well at least it was somewhere that he was the only one that could get hurt.

Reaching into the flow of his trench coat, Istar pulled out the key. He had a lot of them, sewn into the lining of most of his coats and jackets. Just in case that paranoid part of him told himself and yet he didn’t bother to think on it longer even as he supported he full of Tsuka’s body with a single arm and the balance of her against his chest.

Opening the balcony door, he made to set her down before he instead asked.

“Are you okay to walk? Right through this door is my old bedroom, the bed’s still here and there’s a shower and bath just inside.”

It went without saying that Tsuka could use any or all of this. Actually she could make herself at home. Istar was more worried about her than scared of her. He just hoped he could help.

She felt exhausted...and cold. Vampires weren't supposed to feel cold. Not even when they slaughtered bystanders in the middle of a snowy evening wit their bare hands and no jacket. Tsuka had had no jacket and now she shivered. She felt sick and weak. Perhaps the longer a vampire refrained from blood, the more life like they would become. Its too bad that being close to life like would kill a vampire.

Tsuka had curled her tiny body as Istar had carried her. The rage was dissipating and Tsuka just felt limp. She wobbled on her feet for a moment as Istar let her down. The woman nodded numbly as Istar pointed out what was available. She was grateful that he was nearby, she wondered vaguely whether she would be slicing the man into smaller bits if he hadn't come for her.

She wanted to thank him, but wasn't sure how. She knew if she smiled at hime it would only come out feral and wild eyed. She leaned her head into his shoulder for a moment and unsteadily took a few steps in the direction of the shower. The tiny Asian woman didn't remove her clothes until she was felt hot water, near to scalding, pound against her. The water pooled in crimson at her feet as she tore off the last of her clothes. After the water turned transparent again, Tsuka stepped daintily from the shower and peered around for a tower. She exited teh room and sat where Istar could see her. She was still ravenous, but could function better now that she spent some time to calm down.

"I'm sorry I got blood everywhere. Thank you."

She rested her head on her knees and let her damp hair drip down her skin.

"I'm sorry I tore apart the mortal. It probably wasn't a good idea."