Bloodsuckers

Sola was food shopping, but Zaska was already eating. Well... sort of. He walked down the street, a blood packet seemingly from a hospital hanging from his mouth. Sharp, pristine fangs jutted out from the corners and he had a permanent smirk plastered on his face. His midday shadow followed behind him forlornly and he turned to sigh at it. It looked like his head was pointed. The chupacabra chimera frowned slightly through the dwindling packet and adjusted the large, red hat to fit better on his head. It didn't change his shadow any, but it still made him feel better. The day was relatively humid despite the onslaught of winter, and wearing long red pants was making him sweat. At least he had ditched his trench coat for just a black long-sleeved shirt, but it was a bit too tight and was also gathering heat. Damn you sun! Zaska pulled his goggles from around his neck and placed the yellow shades over his eyes, hoping to find the meeting place without getting lost. It was called Frank's Bar and Grill and supposedly had killer ribs. Just the thought made his mouth water. Clearly, the blood wasn't doing it for him... It really just tasted like chalk mixed with metal. Ever since Sola ruined his taste buds, he was doomed to a fate of unsatisfaction.

Once the almighty leader of RIOTE found the proper building (via the fake palm trees scattered around the entrance), he slipped through the door like a ghost, tossed the empty and gross plastic packet into a nearby cart of garbage, and startled the waitress. He managed to get a seat at the bar where he did in fact order ribs. Hopefully the other guy would be able to find this place. From the information network Zaska had, he discovered that he was also a chimera, but the part that intrigued him the most was that he was a vampire bat chimera. Meaning, that he also needed blood in order to survive. He may be a good asset to RIOTE... even if the guy was a monster like himself. The truth was... Zaska knew he couldn't kill every chimera he encountered, not if they were on his side. If he did do that, and that was the case, Zaska should have murdered himself long ago. He spun on the stool and nonchalantly glanced at the baseball game flashing in the television screens around him on the wall.

If the trees picked up in his sound radar was anything to go by, the boy had probably navigated to the right place. He adjusted his contact (blue, meaning the gold eye was hidden) slightly as it gave him a slightly uncomfortable feeling, before walking up to a person rather loudly (how else do you think he gets around?) and tapping him on the shoulder. "What?!" The male (if the voice was anything to go by) said angrily as the blind boy shriveled back a bit, and chuckled nervously. "This is Frank's Bar and Grill, right?" "Of course! Can't ya see the sign?!" He barked as the boy bowed his head and shook it, "Wait, are ya blind?" Ado simply nodded as he could almost feel the man's sympathy hitting him in waves, making him anime-style sweat drop.

"I feel sorry for ya, kid. Here, this might help ya get around without stomping everywhere." The man said in that rough accent (probably Cretarian) of his as a stick just long enough to navigate with was handed to the boy, who smiled gratefully. "Thanks." The twelve-year-old three-way chimera said as he tapped his way into the joint, immediately overwhelmed with the smell of pork ribs.

The smell made the vampiric three-way chimera slightly dizzy as he adjusted his baggy t-shirt (it hid his curves, so he looked like an ordinary boy with slight hips, nothing too noticeable) and began to navigate around, keeping his sense on high alert, especially ears, for a pointy hat to blur into his sonic radar.

People... people... people... pork chops... people.... point hat... peop- wait, pointy hat?

The boy's eyes darted to the area where he'd felt the hat's vibrations and he grinned to himself as he found it again. Though he didn't want to, he ditched the stick and made his way next to Mr Pointy Hat by pure instinct alone, bumping into a fair few people on the way and almost tripping a couple of times.

He heaved a sigh of relief when he finally seated himself next to 'Pointy Hat' and sniffed the air. Three-day-old blood, recently pierced bag too... yes, this was the guy he was looking for. Trying to make himself seem the least blind as he possibly could, he turned his eyes to the man's direction and made them looked slightly focused as he asked in a childish voice, "Are you Mr Sangria?"

Zaska turned from where he sat on the bar stool to see a boy stumble into a few people on his way towards him. He raised an eyebrow slightly and blinked as he realized the boy was heading at him. He smirked and ran a hand through his soft raven hair, laughing at the words that came next from the boy's mouth. This guy was intriguing; Zaska already liked him. "Sangria? Well, I guess you could say that," He laughed heartily again, "It's my fiance's last name, soon to be mine. You can call me Zaska. You're Adokenai, correct?" His gray eyes flashed coolly and he took a swig of his drink and placed the sweating glass back down onto the counter. He slid the menu down to Ado with his trademark smirk plastered onto his face. "Want anything? Order anything you want." He sat back when the waitress came over with his ribs and pulled out his knife and a fork from his napkin. The silver utensils hovered over his food and he turned back to the boy. "So tell me, why do you want to join RIOTE?"

"Sangria? Well, I guess you could say that," The man said with a hearty voice, seemingly entertained, "It's my fiance's last name, soon to be mine. You can call me Zaska. You're Adokenai, correct?" The boy smiled as he turned off his sonic sensor, he was getting a splitting headache, and nodded. A smile reached the boy lips as he held his hand out in the voice's direction and closed his eyes in that joyful way people did nowadays.

"Yup, that's me. Nice to meet you, everyone just calls me Ado." He said with that smile, before directing his vision back to the table by literal sound alone, pure blackness being his true vision right now. He had a feeling that when he reversed the transmutation that he'd stay blind, so he had to get used to being without that headache-inducing sonic sensor all of the time. He was just as reliant on it as his eyes, and it's not a pretty memory to show how that turned out.

"Want anything? Order anything you want." 'Zaska' asked as Adokenai heard something being slipped under his vision and he gulped somewhat. Of course he had to hand the boy a menu, that was a sure-fire way to catch him out with his disability (he hated pity).

Cooling his nerves, he tapped each edge of the paper once, mapping out where the edges were in his mind, before pretending it read it, while moving his finger over the slightly bump text at the same time. It was a good thing that it was common for children such as himself to read with their eyes and their finger as a director, so he hoped his eyes didn't skim into any off-page areas or something as he mentally produced, to the best of his ability, some of the works.

'Prkps' was one the things he registered as he ran his finger (and falsely ran his eyes over it) a few more times, deciphering it as far as 'Prk cps' and nodding to himself. Even he could recognize that as pork chops.

Keeping his finger on it, he absently used his knee to tap the table from beaneath to find it's position, before carefully placing the menu, hopefully, in Zaska's direction and tapping around the area, with those closed, happy eyes again.

"Could I have the pork chops please? I'll pay you back when I can afford it, honest."

Afterwards, Adokenai could smell something like smoked BBQ ribs with marinade being delivered in front of the man and his eyes immediately went to the smell's source. "You like Smoked BBQ Pork Ribs in a Chilli Marinade?" He asked in a quiet tone, before hearing the man ask him, "So tell me, why do you want to join RIOTE?"

The boy chuckled and leant back, before navigating himself to be facing and staring at the counter again (blinking every now again so not to appear completely hopeless) with a smile. "I want to reverse this transmutation the stupid military put us into and bring my sister back, I could live with the bat, but I want Fuketsu back. That's my stupid goal, and since RIOTE is against the military, that's why. It's a childish payback in a way, but hey, I AM twelve."

The boy then smiled and sipped the soda (cola) that was put in front of him, through the straw. It was put s gently, it made the boy groan. Of course word was going to spread fast about the blind kid, sheesh, but couldn't they at least show him some respect and pretend he had vision. The boy looked up in the waitress's direction and gave her the most focus stare and grin he could muster.

"Thanks, though you don't have to be so careful, I'm not blind you know," The boy said with a chuckle as he sipped the drink again carefully. He heard the waitress giggle and nod, obviously catching the hint, before leaving with ruffling on the boy on the head and commenting to Zaska 'what a nice boy he has'.

Ado nearly choked on his coke, and that's saying something.

"Ado has a nice ring," Zaska said, taking the boy's hand and shaking it firmly. Then he watched closely as he 'read' the menu, noticing that something was off. Of course, Zaska had no idea and couldn't quite grasp what exactly it was. Sola and himself had problems digging up information on this guy, which was why Zaska had taken blood right before meeting him as a precaution. The finger was running over the words, it was childish, but at the same time...strange. Could he read...? The chimera blinked awkwardly at the boy he found himself enjoying, and leaned a bit closer when he took the menu back.

"No need to pay me back," Zaska said offhandedly, sliding the yellow goggles off his eyes to better focus. Ah, that was better, except...horrifyingly bright. Ugh... he was going to get a headache he knew it... "And yes; it's my ultimate favorite," He declared, flashing fangs with his triumphant smirk that somehow managed to look maniacal.

The chupacabra leaned back and laughed, the amusement reaching his eyes. "Hell, for being twelve it's a pretty damn good reason for joining. If there is a way to reverse this, I will find it. Meanwhile, I will eradicate all who side with the existence of alchemy. Something like what happened to us should never have existed in the first place." Zaska's attention slipped from his rant/speech and drifted to the cola that was placed tenderly before the kid. What the hell...? Then the word 'blind' hit him like a rock--no a bolder and make him stare in surprise. That was it. And he was denying it...more evidence that it could be true. But what came next cut off Zaska's intense thought process that had been decoding the boy's behavior. Woah, woah, woah...his son? What on earth was that waitress smoking? Did he LOOK like a father? Wait...

When the lady had gone and Ado appeared to be choking on his coke, Zaska spun back around to him. It was clear he was conjuring up something. "Do you have a place to stay? To me...it appears you are having some trouble." His voice was void of any form of sympathy--especially considering that he had not a trace of it in his entire being to share with anyone let alone a blind kid. He was just extending his services as he deemed fit, though it was a rather rare occurrence.

"Hell, for being twelve it's a pretty damn good reason for joining. If there is a way to reverse this, I will find it. Meanwhile, I will eradicate all who side with the existence of alchemy. Something like what happened to us should never have existed in the first place." Was the man's answer to the boy's statement, and it held that welcoming air to it. The boy smiled brightly and sipped more of his coke, glad his 'not really blind' technique was working; he liked it like this.

But that was when he felt and highly registered the sudden shift in attitude from the the man and scowled himself. He was incredibly sensitive to his surroundings and he knew the reaction right down to the smallest second and movement when someone found out he'd been hiding the fact he was blind. After all, he definitely wasn't stupid.

"Do you have a place to stay? To me...it appears you are having some trouble." The scowl deepened as the boy finished his coke and let out a sigh, directing his eyes away from the man's direction in an annoyed, but slightly shy way (Adokenai was definitely shota). "A monotonous air... stubborn tone... shift in the atmospherical pressure... She tipped you off, didn't she?" The boy asked, almost harshly as the food was delivered under him, but the smell only suceeded to make him nauseous.

Well, he was a twelve-year-old girl-boy who was hitting puberty, and he was desperate to switch back before blood started leaking from his ass every month!! Ok, his hormones were defintely on the fritz if he was thinking like that.

He took a few breaths to calm himself down and sighed.

"Just because I'm blind doesn't mean you have to go out of your way to accommodate me, you know. I'm used to it, and have been since the transmutation. It's my sister I want back, not my vision." He bit out as he ran a hand through his bangs and popped out his blue contact, revealing the mismatched eyes, and sighing as he pulled out black bandana that lay around his neck, slipping it over his eyes and sighing at the comfortable feeling.

The boy then tapped the table a few times, before groaning as his sonic sensor seemed to smack him in the face, making him whine a bit as he held his ears. It always did this when started up, everything was just smacking him in waves and it gave him a headache. It usually took him about two hours to get it in full focus, so he just settled with the world's worst sonic vision and began to sing a carried out 'aaaaahhhh' sound.

The voice was beautiful as he mentally printed the plate's location in his mind and used tapping to get to the food. He began to eat it calmly with a smile as he internally grinned. He'd 'fed' just before coming here, so his stomach wouldn't rebel any normal food for another day and a half. Ok, so his moods were on the fritz, who cares?

The smile stayed on his face before the strong, colour image of Fuketsu appeared in his radar and smiled at him, making him drop his stuff in shock and fall backwards, wide-eyed as two blood tears fell from under his blindfold, blind eyes staring with wide orbs into the black as he continued to register the shaky images, but no more Fuketsu.

He took a loud gulp of air as he calmed down.

'Fu- Fuketsu??'

"Who?" Zaska asked, blinking rather confusedly at the boy. What on earth was he talking about...? Zaska didn't need people to tip him off; he had his own information network which he ran himself, and that waitress had nothing to do with it! But how would he get Ado to understand that? Well, it didn't exactly matter whether he believed him or not. The truth was the truth and Zaska didn't lie to his subordinates especially when he expected them not to lie to him... Zaska said nothing more and waited, watching curiously as the boy's food was delivered.

"Hahaha!" Zaska laughed in a cold voice edged with darkness, his eyes shining dangerously in the low-lighting. "Out of my way? Do you honestly believe that I would offer you something that would inconvenience me when I hardly know you?" The boy's naivete was entertaining and what came next brought a larger smile to his face. "I would expect nothing less. If it was out of selfishness, I would have already killed you." Zaska glared at the grooves in wood on the bar counter.

He observed the interesting line of events that occurred once Zaska finished speaking. The 'aaaaahhhh' noise that entered Zaska's sensitive ears, made him pull away slightly and then stare awkwardly. What on earth...? Then he realized: bat. Idiot! How could he not have figured that one out?! Ado would still be able to 'see,' but in a very different and complicated way. Zaska was interested to find out how exactly that worked. He jolted towards Ado as the boy began to fall off the high bar stool. Zaska's arm caught him on the back and heaved him back onto the chair properly, the loud sound of the silverware hitting the plate still reverberating in his head loudly. "Don't die on me," Zaska joked, figuring it was some aftereffect or something...