Reiko and Kenji: Slayers of Darkness

By Amanda Thompson

Introduction

Vampires, demons, ghosts, and many other monsters...creatures of the dark...of anything evil. Creatures that terrorize the land and its people. These creatures must be stopped before they cause the end of humanity. Only two people can stop these creatures. They are Reiko and Kenji: slayers of darkness...

Chapter 1:

The Arxton Brothers

A young woman stood at the gate of an elderly mansion, staring up at the mansion itself at the top of the steepest hill in town. The woman had short, violet hair and eyes that were a dark red. She had pale skin and elf ears. Her outfit was a green, button up jacket that went down to almost her knees, black slacks and big black boots. In her hair she wore a matching green headband. At her waist was a brown belt with a rare looking gun attached to the side. Right next to the lady’s right leg sat a creature that almost resembled a dog, if dog’s had green and yellow fur, big ears with points that went outward in two directions, and three tails that tips curled inward.

“Shall we go in Reiko?” the dog type creature asked the violet haired woman.

“Might as well get it over with Kenji,” the girl, Reiko, answered.

Reiko opened up the large rusty gate and Kenji and she headed into the abandoned yard. They both climbed up the hill, all the way up to the mansion. The mansion was dark and made of stone bricks. It was so tall that you couldn’t even see the top of it, because it went into the clouds. The door of the mansion had a dragon head knocker and was made of ebony. Reiko pushed it open, the thud of the door echoed throughout the room. Reiko stepped into the main room, and a strange aroma swept over her, causing her to gag. Kenji followed her and he too gagged.

“What is that stench?!” Kenji complained.

“It smells like cologne..”

“Why would it smell like cologne? This place has been abandoned for years!”

“It must not be abandoned, somebody must still live here. Someone who wears too much cologne,” Reiko concluded.

“And of course that somebody must be the cause of the mysterious disappearances of those five girls.”

Reiko pulled her backpack off her back and rummaged through it. “My flashlight has to be somewhere in here,” Reiko stated as she pulled different odds and ends out of her backpack and set them on the floor. “Ah hah!” Reiko exclaimed as she pulled out a small jet black flashlight and flipped the tiny switch on the side. The light was very bright, showing the room’s true form.

“There’s sure a lot of dust in this place!” Kenji exclaimed, “And there is barely any furniture at all; there’s just antique, fallen apart dressers...”

“And no lights at all it seems like,” Reiko said as she shined the flashlight up, down, and everywhere else around the almost vacant room. “A normal human could not live in a place like this...there doesn’t seem to be a kitchen or anywhere would food would be kept....and there are no light switches or lights set up at all...”

Kenji peeked inside some of the dresser drawers. “They’re empty, and..” He ran over to the doors on the sides of the rooms and peeked in. “These rooms are empty too, I think. Shine your flashlight over here, Reiko!”

Reiko walked over and shined her flashlight inside the pitch black room. “Nothing but cobwebs, dust, and more cobwebs it seems to be.”

“Where would five girls disappear to?” Kenji asked, “It doesn’t make sense to me why they would come here in the first place.”

“They all were just kids, they probably were curious and came to check out the place that probably is known as ‘haunted’. I bet anything. But for them to never come back...”

“But the mayor said that a couple boys went with a couple of the girl’s, and they came back..”

“I know, I talked to the boys. They didn’t say why they came here, they just shrugged. They also didn’t know what happened to the girls.”

Kenji sniffed the air. “The cologne smell is stronger around here. Maybe we should look around more in this room.”

Reiko nodded. “Good idea.” They both walked into the room and looked around, Reiko with her flashlight, Kenji using his good senses of smelling and hearing. “Don’t see anything in here. Only living thing that I see are the overgrown spiders.”

“Sp-spiders? Overgrown ones? How overgrown are they?”

“Oh, Kenji! They’re not too big, and why would you be worried. They’d be more afraid of you then you would be of them.” She shined her flashlight at the corner of the room. A black spider the size of a mouse stood there, working on it’s web. Kenji’s eyes grew wide, and he whined slightly, slowly backing up. Reiko laughed. “It’s not going to hurt you Kenji. It’s too busy with it’s web.” Reiko bent down and picked Kenji up. “Don’t worry! Now come on, let’s find a room to stay in for the night.”

“We’re staying the night?! But...”

“But what? Maybe the same thing that happened to the girls will start to happen to me, since I’m a girl, an older girl, but a girl. Then we can figure this out, rescue the girls if possible, and get our reward money!”

“I guess so,” Kenji said uncertainly, “But not this room or any room with spiders.”

“Okay then, we’ll find another room, and sleep there. Good thing I brought my sleeping bag!”

“How did you fit it in your backpack with all of the other junk, which, by the way, you left by the door on the floor?”

Reiko set Kenji back on the floor. “Oops! I’ll have to get that back in the bag. And about my sleeping bag, it’s a special kind that folds up really small.” Reiko said with a grin.

They finally got organized and found a spiderless room to stay in for the night. At midnight Reiko jerked awake. She still lay in her sleeping bag on the floor, but she lay as silent as possible, as the cologne aroma filled the room around her. A heavy, steady breathing grew closer and closer to her. She could feel it coming nearer to the back of her neck, someone’s cold breath sending chills down her spine. At that moment the answer to the mystery of the missing girls shot into Reiko’s mind. She gasped and rolled out of the sleeping bag, just as a couple of icy fangs were about to sink into her neck. She stood up and pulled out her gun off the side of her belt. The dark figure in front of her stood up and floated up into the air. Kenji woke up and squinted up at the figure. He got up and hurried to the small window and opened it up, letting the moonlight shine in and show the figure’s form to them.

“I should of known. I should of known that it was a vampire,” Reiko said, still aiming the gun at the figure. The figure grinned and floated forward, all the way into the moonlight. The figure surely was a vampire. A male one, with white skin, raven hair, and eyes just as dark as his hair and as cold as his breath. He was dressed in a long, midnight black cloak. Another vampire floated next to the first one. This one looked identical to the first, except for his cloak, which was shaded crimson instead of a midnight black. The midnight black cloaked one glared at Reiko, while the crimson one grinned. “So, you figured it out,” said the grinning vampire, “Guess the cologne doesn’t work with you.”

“The cologne didn’t work with me? That’s how you got the girls to come here. I don’t see why the boys did too though..”

The grinning vampire shrugged. “To show the girls they weren’t cowards probably. But we have no use for them. We just wanted the girls.”

“Then we’re too late to save the girls,” Kenji whispered to Reiko. Reiko looked down, surprised that Kenji had gotten from the window over to her leg with no one noticing.

“We still have to stop them from harming any more innocent girls,” she whispered back.

“How?” Kenji asked, vampires weren’t the easiest things to kill when you weren’t prepared.

Reiko set her finger on the trigger. She aimed the gun at the grinning vampire. The grinning vampires grin widened and he chuckled slightly. You think that mere human gun can harm us, Reiko?”

“How’d you know my name?” Reiko said, a slight growl in her voice, as she steadied the gun and prepared to shoot.

“All of us creatures of darkness know who Reiko and Kenji are,” answered the other vampire, his voice cold and emotionless.

“You’re both pretty famous, you know?” said the grinning one, “Speaking of names, I haven’t introduced myself. I am Liam Arxton and this here,” Liam gestured towards the more quiet vampire, “Is my brother Owen Arxton. We are the Arxton brothers.”

“Great. We’re all introduced now,” Reiko said sarcastically.

“Yes. Now why don’t you drop the gun and we work something out?” Liam suggested

“What do you plan on working out?” Reiko asked, still not moving the gun from its aim.

“Well, you promise not to shoot us and both of you leave, and we give you eternal happiness! A very good deal if you ask me! You can be happy forever and still get to leave right after!”

“Ha! Like I’d go for that! I wouldn’t be happy, I’d be an emotionless zombie or worse.”

“Then you leave us no choice..” said Owen.

“Reiko, you know your gun won’t work on vampires! What should we do?” Kenji whispered frantically.

“We’re going to..” Reiko began to whisper, then yelled, “Run!”

They both zipped out of the room, slid down the spiral staircase, and out of the mansion. “This is a first for you Reiko!” Kenji yelled as they both raced down the steep hill.

“I know, but we need to get prepared, then we can go back and kill those stupid vampires!” Reiko yelled back, “Let’s go to the Inn, I still have some money in my pocket.”

“What about your backpack?” Kenji asked.

Reiko slowed down a little. “Dangit, I left it there! I’ll have to get it tomorrow..”

--------------------------

Reiko lay on the lumpy Inn bed and stared at the off-white ceiling. Kenji lay curled up on the end of the pillow that Reiko’s head rest on. Reiko sighed and kicked her boots off and pulled the blanket up to her chin. “What should we do Kenji, about the vampires?”

Kenji opened one eye. “Don’t you have any idea?” he asked, his voice muffled from his three tails that he rest his face in.

“Of course I have ideas, but I don’t think I can get any to work the way I want them to. I just wanted to hear what you think we should do.”

“Well,” Kenji began, opening his other eye and lifting his head up, “Vampires don’t like light, do they? Or silver..”

“Yes, I thought of that, I could just stab ‘em with a silver dagger or knife, but the problem is that there are two of them. You try killing one, the other stops you.”

“I think I saw a room with windows on each wall. They were boarded up, but if we get the boards off and lure the vampires there, then we can open the curtains and, well you know what happens then, no more vampires.”

“Good idea. We’ll have to sneak into the mansion in the morning and unboard those windows. Now how to lure the vampires there?”

Kenji smiled at Reiko. “They like girls, right? You’re a girl, they’d chase you to any room.”

Reiko turned her head towards Kenji. “But how will you open all of the curtains in time?”

“I’m faster than I look. Trust me, I can handle it. You just lure them both to the room. Right when they’re both in there, I’ll open all the curtains and then we’re done! Easy as that!”

“It’s worth a shot. Now let’s get some sleep. We got a big day of vampire slaying ahead of us tomorrow. Oh, and I’ll need to ‘borrow’ something silver from one of the shops tomorrow, in case one gets too close before I make it to the room.”

“Borrow? Reiko..,” Kenji said in a scolding tone.

“I’ll give it back after the vampires are gone. Now, good night!” Kenji sighed and put his face back into his fluffy tails. Reiko turned to her side and curled up with the blanket and dozed off to sleep.

--------------------------

Rise and shine Kenji! It’s vampire slaying time!” Reiko said in a sing song voice. Kenji groaned while he stretched out his front and back legs. He looked up to Reiko’s smiling face, more cheerful than usual. “You’re awfully cheerful,” Kenji remarked.

“Well, today is the day we get our big, very big reward!” a greedy grin spread across her face. Her eyes sparkled enthusiastically.

Kenji rolled his eyes and sighed. “That’s all you care about, isn’t it?”

“No! I care about a lot of other things!” Reiko exclaimed defensively.

“Like what?” Kenji asked.

Reiko’s grin faded. “Uh..well, like....you! I care about you! And..oh! I care about Mama and Papa! And....oh, of course I care about all of the poor town’s people,” Reiko listed slowly.

Kenji laughed, which was an odd thing for an animal to do. “That’s the Reiko I know. Well, now that I’m up, let’s go get ready.”

“Finally! I’m going to go find myself some silver to use and I’ll meet you at the gate! See ya there!” Before Kenji could answer Reiko had already zipped out of the room and out of the Inn. Kenji jumped off the bed and headed to the mansion’s gate.

--------------------------

Kenji waited patiently at the gate for about half an hour before Reiko came running up, silver dagger in hand, but no gun was attached to her belt. “Where’s your gun?” Kenji asked.

“The stupid blacksmith saw me take the dagger and I had to make a switch with him. He’s keeping my gun until I give back the dagger. I figure that after we save the town, maybe he’ll let me have my gun back and keep the dagger to!”

“I doubt it,” Kenji said certainly, “He probably wouldn’t care one way or another.”

Reiko shrugged. “You never know.”

“Well, shall we be going?” Kenji asked.

“Yup,” Reiko opened the gate and motioned her hands forward, “Animal’s first.” Kenji smiled and started up the hill, Reiko right behind him. Once they both reached the entrance to the mansion they went there separate ways. Kenji went upstairs and began to tear boards off the windows with his teeth and set up the other preparations.

Reiko wandered into one of the bigger rooms that looked like it might have once been a dining room, due to the dust covered table that could fit five people on each side. She set her dagger in her gun pouch and looked around for signs of the Arxton brothers. Wonder how long I should wait for Kenji, she thought to herself as she wiped the dust off the corner of the table. Seconds ticked by on the old grandfather clock in the corner that surprisingly still worked. Reiko stood there, listening to the rhythm of the clock, the pattern set in her head. She tapped her foot with the ticks until the ticking unexpectedly stopped, breaking the pattern going on in her head. She looked over at the clock. The second hand was stuck at twelve, the minute hand at six and the hour hand at seven. It’s about seven thirty, Reiko thought, But why did the clock suddenly stop? They must be near. Reiko moved her hand down to her pouch and grasped the dagger’s handle. The rest of her body froze like the clock as she awaited what was soon to come, the race to the room Kenji had chosen. If Reiko won, the vampire’s would die, if she lost, then she would probably be bitten or worse. Reiko tightened her grip on the dagger. “I won’t lose,” she whispered to herself.

A chilled breeze brushed past Reiko’s face sending a chill right down her spine. She looked behind her to see a cloaked figure, black one, Owen Arxton. Owen stepped forward, his cold stare locked on Reiko. Reiko stepped forward, towards the door, but stepped into a body in a crimson cloak, Liam, who was floating in the air. She dashed under his legs and ran to and through the door. Reiko spun around the corner and up the stairs, the vampire’s floating close behind. Liam floated over her and waited at the top of the stairs. Reiko stopped when she neared the top and looked behind her, Owen was close behind and Liam in front of her. “You are trapped now,” Liam said with a smirk.

Reiko ignored him and looked around. The railing at the top of the stairway went around quite a distance of that floor. I’m going to have to jump from here to up there. Shouldn’t be too hard, Reiko decided silently. She turned to Liam and grinned back at him. “Buh-bye!” she exclaimed as she stepped over side of the stairway and jumped up to the railing, grabbing hold of it and pulling herself up. Liam’s smirk faded and a look of surprise and amazement appeared on his face. He shook his head and floated over towards her. Reiko ran ahead of her, zipping around corners and down the hallways, peering in each room to see if it was the one Kenji was in. The vampire’s floated as fast as they could after her, having some trouble’s with all of the corners she was turning. Finally Reiko ran past the right room, but stopping and looking back to see Kenji waving at her from one of the darker corners of the room. She turned around and ran into the room, the Arxton brothers floating right into each other, one turning into the other. Owen growled and pushed his brother off of him. They both got up and ran into the room. The door slammed behind them when they entered. All of the curtains, one by one, opened up around the room, the warm morning’s sunlight filling up the room. The vampires both screamed in pain as there body began to melt from the dreaded light that they feared the most. In just a few minutes both the vampire’s were both just puddles of white goo covered up by two empty cloaks.

Reiko walked over to what was left of the Arxton brothers. “Get me my backpack Kenji. I have a jar to put them in, to prove to the mayor that we did our job.”

“Right away, Reiko!” Kenji exclaimed happily. He then hurried off to get Reiko’s backpack. Reiko stared at the mess on the floor and pulled the dagger out of her pouch. “Another job well done, and I didn’t even need the silver..”

Back