Crimson Rebirth

Part 27

 A light gust of wind swept through the houses and manors of the Nightwing vampire coven. That was all to signal that something was wrong, but even the scouts discounted the breeze. After all, strange gusts had happened before, due to the lay of the land and the streets that streamlined the wind if it blew a particular way.

 None of the vampires seemed concerned, some cozy in their beds,sleeping off their blood drunkenness, and others meandering about the streets, tipsy off of stolen blood.

 Perhaps that lack of concern would be their undoing. Moments after that gust of wind, a flame sparked from the sky, and another, and another. They arched through the fading sunlight, as though stars had fallen from the Moon Goddess's sky.

 A loud roar followed closely behind, one that shook the earth below, and even more flames sparked from an angry dragon's maw.

 In the glow of the flames, the dragon landed, ruby red eyes reflected in the firelight. The vampires were far too slow to grasp what was happening. Men, women, even children, stared at the flames, trying to get their minds off of their gluttony and onto the fact that their homes were burning. That their families were burning.

 It was only then that the screams started.
 
Vampires raced to and fro, like fish trapped in a barrel, their voices echoing on the stonework of their own homes. Some raced inside, hoping to be safe from the flames that were devouring their homes, and others found their homes burning, and trapped around the flames, their voices dying out as they were consumed by the blaze. Those who escaped the initial fireballs quickly found no escape, the perimeter of their village burning.

 And yet, some were asleep in their beds as the flames destroyed their homes, and eventually them. It was a peaceful sort of burning death, if there was such a thing.

And on the dragon's back, Genevieve was curled up, shaking like a leaf.

 Her grief, her sorrow, it was ripping a hole through her heart, and her silent sobs drove Kaiju further into his anger, his desire to protect her from the rest of the world, to keep her safe.

 But one single word fell from her lips, coupled with his name.

 "Kaiju.... Stop."

It was the one command Kaiju heeded at that moment.

Just when the ever consuming fire had finished his vengeance, it stopped. The great Dragon thrummed, letting the earth shake under his paws and the household of Nightwing, making stones tremble. His message was clear, but it was her word that reined him from further causing any more death.

 Gene sat up only slightly, tears blurring her eyes, but her gentle hand running along his scales. "I-I understand why.... But..... They would not have wanted these....." For a moment, her mind blanked on the word she wanted to use, and she picked up without it. ".... to pay for it with their lives......"

 The vampires clung to one another, mothers grabbing their children, holding them close as fathers held onto their families. Terror was written across their expressions, across every expression, much like the dead in the Starglow village. They knew, in the deepest sense of the word, what those souls had felt in their final moments. And that they were the cause of it all.

 Kaiju rumbled and listened intently to Gene, all the while fixated on the remnants of the surviving Nightwing clans. He scowled; he had very little forgiveness left, but they were still people. They still had families, no different than he and others did, whether they be beast-kind or man...

 He let out a reluctant sigh, then tenderly gathered what survivors there were. He would give them a new home, in light of their punishment.

 Several of the survivors shrank back from his paws, his claws. Children cried in their parent's arms, but a notable person was missing.