Chapter 1: Teaser Prologue: Young Blood

Silver eyes opened to stare for a moment at the ceiling above him, or the lack of it. Peering through the leaves of the tree at the brightening blue sky, Keary decided that it was still early, or early enough. He sat up and the world reeled, making his temples throb. 

That was way too much vodka last night.

He groaned and flopped back down.

Just five more minutes…

……

By the time Keary got to the school, all the students had been packed away in their classrooms. He tried to recall which it was that he was looking for, to no avail.

He resorted to walking along the corridors and peering through every window to see if there was anyone he recognised. None. Sighing, he turned the corner—

—and almost bowled straight into Madam Monica. 

“Well, well, well, what do we have here, young sir? What a pleasure to meet you… in school, of all places!” The old woman’s every word was loaded with false politeness which thinly veiled scathing hostility. 

“If you’re baring your teeth so uncomfortably for my sake, please, don’t bother. It’s not working,” Keary bowed to her mockingly. “Madam.”

A round woman, she was over sixty, soon ready to be retired. Their encounters were never a pleasant experience. She wore jewellery galore, rings, necklace, earrings, and the clothes she wore were usually gaudy red, or pink or yellow… feminine colours, she called them. Representing the brightness of her blossoming spirit. 

The brighter her blossoms, the more he withered.

Now, the rotund woman snapped her mouth closed, then opened it again to say, “Just look at yourself!”

“Gladly.”

“Tell me what you see.”

“A gorgeous-looking young man with lustrous dark hair, as well as a sizzling-hot body all females tremble to behold,” Keary answered, bored to the bone.

She circled him. “Let me tell you what I see. A young man who isn’t dressed in school attire, who has no place being here on campus, sauntering around during school hours to prey on my young and impressionable students!” 

“Madam, are you a vulture? Stop circling me. I don’t think I’m going to be dying in front of you anytime soon, so you’ll have to find your next meal elsewhere.” 

She stopped short, appalled that somebody would dare to interrupt her tirade. “You… You…” she sputtered.

“Yes, me, me…” She was so easy to infuriate that it wasn’t even fun for him anymore.

“Madam Monica?”

It was him. Cardin Rasheville. His golden hair was pulled back to a tail behind his head, large blue eyes peering through a pair of spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose. His uniform was spotless and well-ironed; the perfect student, the one every teacher loved, begged to have the opportunity to teach. His pretty face was probably another reason they clamoured for him so. He couldn’t have been more different from Keary.

As was his welcome from Madam Monica.

“Rasheville! Good morning my dear boy!”

“I’m sorry I’m late, Madam. There was a council meeting… is anything the matter?”

“Indeed! This… hoodlum here has no regard whatsoever for our school rules! He saunters in like this is his home, walking from classroom to classroom, distracting the students…” 

Cardin Rasheville looked at Keary and caught him staring. Unlike other people, Cardin didn’t look away, cerulean eyes meeting the silver gaze squarely. Taking care not to let his facial expression change, Keary smiled inwardly. Rasheville truly was one of a kind. 

Finally, it was Keary who broke eye contact. Turning away, he called over his shoulder: “Well then, Madam Monkey, oops, I mean Madam Monica, I won’t stay. There are a lot of other places where I will be more warmly welcomed—"

“Wait! You! Where do you think you’re going?” she shrieked. “I’m not done with you! Come back here right th—”

She was interrupted once more by a shrill voice that caused all of them to cringe, stopping Keary dead in his tracks. 

“MASTER STEEL!” 

Somebody please strike me down this instant, he squeezed his silver eyes shut and begged silently. 

The whole female population of the school seemed to be there. Keary recognised their leader, a girl with a tall ponytail who was from one of the senior classes. He had no idea how she knew of him, but things were never good when she was near. He had her listed as one of several reasons why he did not like stepping into the school compound unless he absolutely had to. 

Madam Monica was apoplectic. “What—I repeat, WHAT are you girls doing out of class!”

“You were bullying Master Steel!” and, “Chasing him out of school when he comes so rarely already is a crime!” were the only two cries that could be made out clearly from the rabble of high-pitched voices. 

Then they turned their attention to the dark-haired young man. 

“Master Steel, do you remember me? I’m—” 

“We met at the—” 

“I thought I saw you the other day at—” 

“Can I have a lock of your hair?” 

“Just one kiss! Please! Just ONE!”

“Uh…” This was the first time he had been confronted with this many of them at one time. Usually it was just two or three of them, so it was easy to escape or evade them. Now, it was a mob, a hunting party out for blood, hair, or god knows what other body parts, and Keary was their prey. 

So much for me being the predator, he mused. 

“Girls! Back to your classes now!” Madam Monica might turn out to be his saviour today after all. Keary started to edge away, hoping to get out of sight while she confronted them. 

But the girls were not to be dispersed so easily, and began to protest. 

“No! You’re depriving us of our eye-candy!” one of them cried. 

“Eye-candy??” Madam Monica shrieked. “Girls, be mindful where you put your admiration! You don’t want to be caught with the likes of him! Just look at his hair, so messy and all over the place. It’s unsightly and—”

She made a grab at the dark hair, but in a flash Keary spun around, grabbing her wrist and twisting it just enough to make her flinch. 

“I don’t recall giving you permission to touch me,” he said quietly. 

There was a stunned silence. Only a few steps away, Cardin Rasheville stood frozen, blue eyes wide with apprehension. 

The tension was broken abruptly when one of the girls fell into her friends’ arms, sighing dramatically: “Master Steel, I want to bear your children!” 

Her fainting cry was immediately answered by several renditions of: “I want to bear his children too!” 

They started forward. 

Keary dropped The Monkey’s hand and fled for his life. 

Of course, the girls gave chase. Somewhere along the course of this impromptu mass run, he found Cardin Rasheville beside him. 

“Hello,” he glanced at his dark-haired schoolmate, keeping up easily. Neither of them were at full speed yet. 

“Shouldn’t you be in class?” Keary called to Cardin mockingly. 

“The corridor was blocked, didn’t you notice? I would have been trampled to death.”

“Think they’ll trample over each other or themselves?”

“Dream on. I highly doubt it.”

“There he is!” a scream came. Immediately, the two boys turned into a stairwell and started up, taking the steps three in a stride. When they finally reached the roof, they were both panting. 

“They’re coming up the stairs,” Cardin gulped. 

Keary looked around. Apart from the stairwell, there was no escape save for a four-storey drop down to the ground floor below. 

“What will they do to us?” Cardin whispered nervously as the commotion from the stairwell grew louder. 

“Don’t know, don’t care to find out,” came the careless answer. 

The first few girls popped their heads around the door, then turned to scream down at their lagging companions that the boys were here. 

Cardin paled. “They’ve found us!” 

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Keary sighed, then hopped up onto the parapet. “Well, I’ll be off then.” 

“Wha—? Hey! Don’t do anything foolish!” Cardin shouted, making a frantic grab for his ankle. But the mob was already swarming in for the kill.  

“Good luck, Rasheville! Ladies, good day.” Without hesitation, Keary flashed them a casual two-finger salute and leaped lightly off the parapet, leaving the ensuing screams and gasps behind. 

The wind blasted through his hair and ears, and he took a deep breath and relaxed his entire body. There was barely enough time to enjoy the free fall before he reached the ground, landing on the thick grass then rolling to break the impact.Please do not try this at home. This is fiction. Getting to his feet, he dusted himself off and looked up. 

The pursuers looked both extremely awed and incredibly disappointed. He thought he heard the girls from the crowd emit a collective sigh, before they turned as one on Cardin Rasheville. 

He started to back away, then made a desperate dash for the stairwell door. 

Keary laughed as the throng disappeared after him. Mr Goody-Two-Shoes was going to be late for class today. Meanwhile, he was now free to go about his other business. 

……

Figures shifted in the shadows of the dark warehouse; they had finally arrived. Keary stretched silkily before speaking. 

“Let’s see who’s here. Wire.”

A tall, slim boy stepped out of the shadows into the light cast by the lone bulb, twirling a long braid of hair in his fingers. “Steel.”

“DJ.”

She tossed her head, raven hair and eyes even blacker than the darkness she left behind. “Steel.”

“Snake. Joker.”

They came at call, responding to their street names, Snake’s green eyes glinting and Joker materialising beside Keary with his usual grin. “Steel.”

“Cyclone.”

“Here~”

Cyclone stepped into the light, but she wasn’t alone. A mob of unfamiliar, sullen faces surrounded the petite blue-haired girl. 

“Introduce your pals there, Cyclone.” Keary tilted his head to the side and glanced at them. He noted how young they were as they crowded about Cyclone, looking as fierce and dangerous as they could. “You seem to have gotten yourself into a bit of a tight spot.” 

“They waylaid me during dinner at the ramen store. They said they wanted to see my boss,” she said carelessly, holding a hand up to inspect her fingernails with bored eyes. 

Not a threat then. “And you couldn’t tell them ‘no’ on my behalf?” 

Cyclone gave a sigh. “I decided to let them meet you, since they asked so politely and all that. The great and legendary Steel, leader of the Daggers! Not that meeting me wasn’t enough privilege already.” 

Keary snorted. “Ever the narcissist.” 

“Cut the crap,” the tallest one of them growled. “We’re going to get you for embarrassing us last night. Let’s see how tough you are against us!” A rock flew towards Keary’s face. 

“Charming.” He caught it calmly. “Let’s welcome our guests then, shall we…?” He smirked at the rest of his gang members, then flung the rock high into the air. 

And the fight began.

The Daggers were severely outnumbered, but it didn’t matter. All of them were fighters to the core, every single one of them, even DJ, who seemed every bit the innocent little girl until she flashed her sharp metal fans. Joker and Snake already had about ten down each, cards and poisoned darts flying precisely to hit their targets. Cyclone had been the first to move, extending her staff with a swift downward stroke, then twirling it rapidly around her such that many of her captors were flung backward. In the meantime, Wire had hardly moved from his spot, his thin whips snapping through the air to lash at his opponents.  

They were his army. They were enough. 

“My god…” Keary yawned, elbowing the face of an opponent with a crunch. “Who did you say your leader was again? How disgraceful.”

There came a roar, and thick arms hooked around his, yanking him up so that his feet were raised from the ground. Unalarmed, he raised an eyebrow as another came charging toward him, and waited till he was just close enough before kicking down onto the charging boy, using him as a step to leap high into the air. As he flipped behind the large fellow who had trapped and carried him, he connected his boot to the back of his opponent’s head. The big-sized chump fell heavily to the floor, unconscious. 

There came a yell behind Keary and he spun to meet the remaining attacker, who had made another dash forward. He clenched his fist and got ready, but before he could throw the punch, the assailant collapsed suddenly at his feet. 

Looking up, Keary saw, standing behind where the assailant had been, Cardin Rasheville, staring up through his golden hair, a spanner in his hand and a smile on his fair face. 

“Ciel.” Keary returned the smirk. “You’re late.”

……

Keary leaned back on the stacks with his hands behind his dark head. “You people have twenty seconds to explain why you left your leader to camp outdoors last night.”

There were groans. “Keary,” Nigel, the Joker, started. “If you recall, last night we raided this other gang’s headquarters, and then you were having a great time drinking.” 

“I remember that.”

“Heavily,” Mikka (Cyclone) added. 

“You were drunk,” Finneas (Wire) explained. 

Shun (Snake) snorted. “Very helpful, Finn.” 

“You were VERY drunk…” Kumiko (DJ) murmured. 

“I recall Cardin Rasheville here was drunk right along with me. Pray tell how he got escorted home while I got left on a park bench,” Keary said icily. 

“See, Keary, when Cardin gets drunk—”

“—he goes to sleep.”

“But when YOU get drunk, you get—”

“—extremely violent! Look at this!” Nigel lifted his shirt to show the large bruise on his abdomen. 

Keary stared at it impassively, then laughed. “Ok, fine, whatever.” He sat up. “I’m heading back home then. Rest up guys. Nigel… well. You had it coming.”

Nigel winced, but grinned, “You honour me with your blows, oh great and powerful Lord Steel…” 

“Save it. I’ve had enough of that today.” Keary shuddered, remembering the morning mob. 

“By the way, what did you gather us for today?” Shun asked.  

“I got word that some kids were planning to drop by for a grudge match,” Keary laughed. “But since we’ve obviously taken care of that, there’s nothing further for tonight.” Leaping off the pile, he started off. “I’ll be in touch.” 

He was already a couple of blocks away by the time Cardin caught up. 

“Keary, I’m sorry,” he said. 

Keary frowned at him. “What are you apologising for? Silly.” He gave the blonde ponytail a light tug. “I’m surprised you managed to get up in time for school this morning. Did you have a headache?”

“A little. I thought hangovers were worse?”

“I thought so too. Anyway, I’m glad.” Keary turned a corner and stopped to unlock a door. 

“Glad that I had a hangover?” Cardin looked grieved. 

Keary laughed as he unlocked the door, then turned to Cardin, sliding his arm around the blonde boy’s slender waist and tipping his beautiful face up to him. 

“Glad for every single thing about you, my heaven-sent Ciel.” He kissed the blushing blue-eyed boy gently on the lips, then stepped before stepping through the door into their home.

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