CHAPTER ONE

Rin Morioka could hardly believe his surroundings. He had been so worked up in the gunfight earlier that he was completely unaware that anyone would attempt to tackle him from behind without the use of any weapons. A couple of men had seized hold of his hands and together they dragged him up two floors in what could have been a luxurious mansion if it weren’t for the cobwebs and broken in cement walls and burnt out light bulbs. Rin took note that the place needed a little TLC. The men had locked him up in a dark bedroom on the top floor with nothing but the moonlight pouring in, giving everything a tint of blue. His hands were tied tightly directly above his head, and he was starting to feel the blood rush out of his arms. They were tingling and beginning to grow cold. There was a single piece of thick tape across his mouth to keep him from speaking or shouting. No matter how hard he tried to maneuver himself to get his wrists free, the sheets the men tied together to form binds were simply too tight. Why couldn’t they have tied him to the large four-post bed with the fancy draping? Instead they had removed all of his weapons when they searched him thoroughly, leaving nothing but the clothes on his back. They had even removed his belt. He didn’t blame them, though. He could have used the buckle to cut himself out of the sheets or something. The edges were razor sharp.
Why had he come here in the first place? Oh yeah, it was because of his lousy cousin suggesting Rin raid the place while he sits back at their home just outside the city of New York watching this fourteen-year-old girl whom he took an uncanny liking toward. What had he said to him just as he was leaving? I’ll give you ‘till midnight. If you aren’t back by then I’m coming in.
Was it midnight now? To have his cousin Reno see him in this predicament would be beyond horrible. Here he was, tied up in a room with no weapons and no escape plan. He had failed. Even he was having enough trouble trying to cope with the situation. He hardly ever failed. Even when he did, he didn’t.
But the truth was that it was the girl who was to blame. The girl that they had rescued from an odd dilemma and that had been staying with them ever since. Her name was Dakota Jensen, and she was the daughter of a wealthy though utterly insane scientist who planned on dominating the globe by enlarging the world’s most ferocious beasts: lions, bears, apes, and yes, even big old hairy spiders. Dakota was a threat to William Jensen’s organization and, despite their blood relation, he ordered to have her killed. He didn’t order just any ordinary hitmen for the job, though. He had to make sure everything was flawless, and executed with the most precious precision. He hired the best in the state, none other than Rin and his cousin Reno. When the time came for the cousins to perform, however, Reno and his morals intervened. He believed that since Dakota had not committed any crime, unlike the majority of their targets, it would be wrong to kill her.
“A hitman only has one job,” was what Rin had said, but Reno wouldn’t have it. The funny thing was, what Rin said usually went, despite their ages. Rin was the younger of the two, fifteen years old, while Reno was just an adult, twenty-two years. Rin was the organization’s ‘leader’, you might say, since he stepped in when his father was brutally murdered. Back then, the Blood Moon organization consisted of ten or eleven hitmen. Now, it was just the two of them.
From the start, when Rin’s father ran it, Blood Moon was never “just a crime organization.” It had its rules, regulations, orders, and most important of all, morals. They never killed innocent victims. In some way or other their targets always committed a crime of some sort. That was just the way of the clan. Nothing was planned to be that way. It was just under what foundation Blood Moon was created. Despite their occupation, they still held their dignity. That was the way Vin Morioka, Rin’s father, had kept it. Reno seemed to be the only one still holding on to what was lost.
In the end, though, Rin complied, sparing the little girl of her life. The only problem was, they lied to the crazed scientist called William Jensen and told him his daughter had been shot five times. Because of this, Dakota Jensen completely altered her appearance. She dyed her red hair blonde, cut it differently and covered herself up when she went out in public, in fear of some of her father’s men spotting her. It wasn’t until now that someone actually did.
It all started with one small occurrence. Dakota was in the city buying some fresh fruit from the market when a man called Tim Poppey was driving his jet black Cadillac Escalade and could have sworn he saw a girl that looked just like his boss’ daughter. He followed her discretely for a few weeks before notifying his boss William Jensen. Although, he hadn’t been rewarded or even given a slap on the back for his discovery. Instead, not willing to accept the absurd news this man was telling him, William fired the man called Poppey and told him that he could only have his job back if he proved this ridiculous news was indeed true.
Poppey gathered a team of ex-employees of William Jensen (he tended to fire people often) and they got together for only one purpose. Capture Dakota Jensen and bring her to her father.

Reno sent his cousin Rin over to their headquarters (a run-down, out-of-use mansion on the edge of the city that once belonged to a businessman of great importance perhaps a hundred years ago) to snoop around the place and gather information on their next move. The unfortunate thing is that Rin doesn’t take orders from anyone, especially not from those of blood relation to him. So, he tried to gun down the men — twenty-seven to one. He failed miserably and wound up with sheets binding his arms together, hanging helplessly alone in a room with no hope of getting out.

The good thing was, it was now far past midnight in the manor and all of the men were sleeping soundlessly in bedrooms in every corner of the manor.
No one heard a sound as the lock was picked with absolute precision from the outside and as the two front doors of wood swung open to reveal a man in his early twenties with jet black hair pocketing a tiny device. He was wearing a white tank top and there was a silver chain sliding past his thin collar bone. His pants were black cargo with a couple of buckles and chains. The man’s name was Reno Morioka. He wasted no time. He lifted his shirt to reveal a shiny black 10mm gun, the barrel shoved in his pants, the stock licking up his hip bone. He pulled it out and entered the manor with precaution. He looked around at his surroundings, and although the place was near pitch black, the moon still provided a blue glow through the windows, allowing him to see that there was no one in sight.
He was in search of one thing only: his cousin, Rin.
He silently crept up the grand staircase in the middle of the house. As he approached the top, he pulled out another device that was in his boot. It resembled an enlarged pager with a few buttons and a small screen. Walking down a corridor now, he pressed a button and the screen blinked into life, showing a green skeletal diagram of each room he waved the device in front of. As simple as that, he could now see behind every closed door. He waved it quietly in front of each as he inched by, seeing a few sleeping men and a few closets and bathrooms. He had walked almost the entire perimeter of the top floor when he paused and behind a last door saw a very tall figure standing upright. He examined the screen, trying to understand the picture. At last the figure shifted and he saw what formed a head looking down and arms lifted high above, presumably tied together at the top. This was no tall figure. It was his cousin. He tried the door and was prepared to whip out his lock-pick again when it clicked open with ease. When he entered the blue-lit room he saw a boy with brown hair hanging over his eyes and tape across his mouth look up at him.
“Mrrphh!” the boy tried to say something, probably a name, but it only came out in an odd slur.
“Rin! Jesus,” Reno said, shutting the door carefully behind him. “What have they done to you?”
Rin only garbled something else out of his mouth, trying to speak behind the tape.
Although, now that he had found him, Reno relaxed. He certainly showed no hastiness in releasing his cousin. He approached slowly and almost menacingly, fingering his black revolver.
“I thought I told you to lay low… to spy on them, if you will.” Now Reno was so close to his cousin that he had to retreat when Rin lashed out with anxiety. “What happened?”
Rin knew it was pointless trying to speak. His cousin was being ridiculously irritating. He enjoyed tormenting him when he knew he had control. He was taking advantage of Rin being silenced and tied up. But it wasn’t going to work. Rin twisted his body and pulled all his weight up by his hands and kicked out with his feet. Still, Reno backed away.
“Hold your horses for god’s sake, I’m going to free you. I just want you to listen to me for a second. I know it’s hard for you to use your ears for more than a minute. But you’re going to have to.”
Rin gave an evil glare he didn’t know he was capable of.
“Now, the place is full of these guys. They’re covering every inch of the manor. To get out we’re going to have to be as silent as a poacher. Do you understand me?”
Rin wrinkled his brows.
“Nod if you do.”
Rin rolled his eyes instead.
“Rin, I’m not going to untie you if you don’t comply with my commands. It’s either my way or I’m leaving you here. I mean it. We have to be silent. Do anything else and you’ll get us both killed.”
Rin’s green eyes glinted in the moonlight.
“Understood?”
Still no gesture of concurrence from Rin. Reno knew what his cousin was planning. He wanted to take on the men, just like he always did. He wanted to prove that he was the best at what he did, even if it meant dying in the process. But the fact was that Rin was still just a kid, and Reno had to think of both of their safety before their pride.
Reno sighed. “I hate to have to do this, but you leave me no choice.” Within a second Reno had closed in on Rin and was pressing his black 10mm barrel up against his cousin’s chin.
Rin showed no sign of astonishment. This was almost the pair’s way of messing around with one another. They did this often enough that Rin didn’t even need to flinch.
“You have to trust me this time,” Reno declared. “There is no other way.”
Rin finally shut his eyes tight and came to a decision. He looked his cousin in the eye and then nodded.
At last Reno shoved his gun back in place and then leaned in to remove the tape from Rin’s face. Rin moaned and felt the tug of his flesh as if it were being ripped off his very bone. Reno paused halfway and then tore the last half off as quickly as he could. It came free with a loud hiss.
Rin cried out in agony and then glided a tongue over his lips in to see if they were still there.
“Just like a Band-Aid,” Reno commented.
“I hate you,” Rin managed to mutter out.
“We have to move quickly,” Reno stated as he reached up to untie his cousin. “Someone might have heard that.” The sheets were thick and harder to untie than Reno had thought, but eventually Rin’s hands were freed.
“Here’s all my stuff,” Rin said as he ran over to the front of the room beside the door to retrieve his belt, military-looking vest and guns. He slipped on the vest as his cousin spoke.
“Now, careful when you open the door, this house is pretty old and —” But Reno had not been able to finish his sentence. By the time Rin had all of his belongings on him and ready to go he had barged out of the room with such a loud crash that Reno was taken by sheer surprise. Rin was already out into the main corridor and was shooting at everything and nothing like a drunken man out hunting deer or caribou. Reno tried to shout after him but it was already too late. Even as Reno stepped out of the room he turned in time to see a man who had clearly heard everything and woken up. The man was in his early thirties with straggly brown hair. He seemed confused and shocked, but as if noticing the enemy, he quickly raised a gun and began to take open fire at Reno. Reno ducked just in time and shot back at the man now, heading for the stairs. Rin was already all the way down and seemed to be having a ball, open firing at anyone who came in his way with his two handhelds. Everyone was awake now. The whole manor shook with the sound of a thousand gun fires, windows shattered everywhere and light bulbs crashed. Explosions of dust clouds circled Reno as he dashed down the stairs to meet his cousin. Lights came on now, and as dim as they were, they helped with aiming at the right guy. Rin had managed to take out about ten men, but he was still struggling. Reno saw blood trickling down his arm and he swayed off balance. There was no time to stall. Men were closing in on the pair from every corner of the building. Now the two of them were back to back, their guns still outstretched, though they both knew it was hopeless.
“Hold your fire!” A man with fair hair and a slender yet strong build stepped in front of the others, and Reno guessed it was Tim Poppey. After that it was silent and not another bullet was fired. Pieces of unsettled glass fell in the room and dust clouds still hovered. It was so silent now you could probably hear a pin drop.
“Maybe this one will be willing to speak,” Poppey spoke again. The rest of the little clan seemed to respect this man. There were only about fifteen men left standing, the rest were probably dead, but no one seemed to notice or care.
“Drop your weapons or I will order my men to shoot,” Poppey ordered.
Rin and Reno exchanged a glance but did as they were told.
“Reno is your name, am I correct?” Poppey’s words were cool and collected. “This little brat wouldn’t tell us anything. We’re hoping you can inform us of what has become of Dakota Jensen; the girl William Jensen has ordered the both of you to supposedly kill.” Poppey circled around to face Reno straight-on. Rin had turned around too and was standing behind his cousin’s shoulder.
“You’re right about my name. But I am not going to tell you anything further, so you can just forget it.” Reno was equally collected. He never showed much emotion or lost his cool, even in the most dire situations.
“Alright, then. I’m sure we can make some arrangements.” Poppey circled around the pair to face Rin now. “You seem to be rather fond of this boy.” He still addressed Reno, though he was examining Rin ever so closely. “Why else would you risk your own safety to come and retrieve him?” Poppey reached forward as quickly as a lion would pounce on its prey and seized hold of Rin. Rin tried to twist his arms out of the man’s grip but his hold was too strong. Poppey also pressed a gun to Rin’s head all in a matter of a few seconds. Reno’s pulse was escalating.
“Tell me where the girl is or he dies.” Blood from Rin’s arm trickled over Tim Poppey’s fingers.
Reno was contemplating making a move. He could grab his gun that was at his feet and shoot Tim Poppey in the head, then he and Rin could attempt to make for the door in hopes that the others would be too shocked to take fire at them. No, that wouldn’t work. Just bending down would be enough time for Poppey to realize what was going on and he would surely shoot both Rin and Reno. He didn’t need them alive, after all. He could probably find Dakota on his own. Now he obviously knew of their involvement with her and he would just ransack their house with his men in search of her.
Rin was getting restless now, Reno could tell. Sweat from his forehead made his hair stick together, and his chest was rising and falling with great effort. His neck was being titled up and sideways as Poppey jabbed the barrel of his gun with more force into Rin’s temple.
“Tell me!” Tim Poppey cocked the gun now and Rin flinched. Any second and his head would be blown to a thousand pieces. “I have no problem with killing a minor! Too bad, he was such a pretty one. Would be a shame to see his guts splattered across these tiles…”
“Alright! I’ll tell you…” Reno paused, licking his lips as if what he was about to say was going to sting. “She’s at the house. At our house, back in the city.”
The gun was lowered. Reno couldn’t believe what he had just said. Did he really just tell these men where they could find Dakota so that they could kill her? There had to be some way out of it…
But there wasn’t.
“You’re taking us there. Now. There will be no delays.” Tim Poppey gave a signal and opened the door, pushing Rin out into the darkness of the night. He stumbled, then looked back and cursed at Tim. Reno found himself also being pushed out the door and beside his cousin. Both of their hands were bound by handcuffs that one of the men fabricated from inside the manor. Then they were both pushed into the back of a shiny black Cadillac. Tim drove with another man at his side in the passenger seat. Rin and Reno were in the backseat, Rin struggling with the handcuffs. The car was followed by another identical vehicle, with about six more men inside. Backup.
The man in the passenger seat focused a gun on Reno as he gave directions to the house. It was a long drive, and by the time they had reached the highway they could just make out the sun awakening over the horizon.
The sun was just about up by the time they reached the little house on the outskirts of New York City that Rin and Reno had called home for the past two years. The house was rather dull-looking, but it had a fresh bed of flowers underneath each of the windows that was the result of Dakota wanting the place to look more “colorful”. It had a small porch and a screen door with a couple of bullet holes in it; they never did feel like getting it fixed after that one unfortunate incident a couple months back. The place was handed down to them by Rin’s father, Vin Morioka. It was never handed down personally, but it was said that wherever Blood Moon is, this house would always be its origin home. It was kind of like a sanctuary to the members. Not many knew where it was or just who lived there. Some could have mistaken it for a little old lady’s home, thinking she just kept her television a little too loud on those action films.

When Tim Poppey and his accomplice stepped out of the vehicle Rin spoke to his cousin.
“Now what?”
“We have to find some way to warn Dakota. Can you reach the horn? If she hears it maybe she’ll find somewhere to hide or go out the backdoor. She must know something’s up already since we didn’t arrive home last night.”
“She could still be asleep. And no, I can’t reach the bloody horn. Can you?” Rin was being stubborn. He hated being restricted and unable to move. He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was seven years old and therefore got stressed and very tense when he wasn’t free to move at his own will. Not to mention there was a gash in his shoulder that had been soaking his shirt with blood only hours earlier.
But even if either of them could reach the horn to warn Dakota, it was too late. Tim Poppey and his men had all gotten out of their vehicles and had just opened the car doors and dragged Rin and Reno out from either side. The early morning sun danced in the air as particles of dust floated around the house.
Rin and Reno were pushed up the few steps to the porch and a stronger man kicked the door in. Another thing to be fixed, Rin noted.
Reno had been brewing up a plan. Tim and his men may have control now, but he had the advantage of knowing the house inside out. It had weapons in hidden areas and back doors and even trap doors everywhere. But as they entered the house, all of his plans vanished with utter shock. Dakota was standing right there, but she wasn’t alone. There was another man, maybe in his early twenties that had seized hold of her by her shoulders and held a gun to her head. He seemed to be of Spanish descent, with jet black hair that hung messily across his face. He had a slim figure, though still well-built, and a face that said he had seen too much for his age. His eyes were a deep, sea blue and were full of hectic uncertainty. Much like the sea, they were unpredictable. Reno could make out faint tattoos slithering up his entire forearm, almost like some writing or maybe just tribal art. Reno didn’t quite know what to do. Seeing Dakota at gun-point made him undoubtedly on edge, even though he tried to cover it up. There could be no mistaking he was in a state of silent panic.
“Come any closer and she dies!” The man spoke now, and Reno noted that he had been right about the Spanish. He definitely had an accent there, even if it was far too faint for anyone else to tell.
Rin rolled his eyes. “More threatening? Who are you? What do you want?”
“Yes, who are you?” Tim Poppey now spoke, his voice almost echoing Rin’s.
“My name is Gabriel Del Marco. I have a proposition, which I will only state once all of your weapons are firmly on the ground.”
Tim Poppey and his men remained idle.
“Do you want this girl alive so you can bring her to William Jensen or not? You see, I have no problem in killing her.” Now he grasped at her perfectly straight long blonde hair, and she winced but made no sound.
Reno advanced but did nothing. There was nothing he could do. How did this man know so much about everything? Reno had never seen him before in his life. Dakota seemed to notice his fear for her and she just stared back, unable to make any change in expression. Though Reno noticed something. Was it just him, or was Dakota completely comfortable with this man holding her at gunpoint? Maybe he knew her too well. She looked afraid, but not the type of afraid that people usually get when they know their head is about to be blown apart. Though, he thought, she hardly did show emotion. She was always a quiet girl, soft-spoken — in fact, she hardly spoke at all. Though when she did speak it was with the most certainty of a thirty-year old woman. Anyone would label her as a brilliant fourteen-year-old with a heck of a head on her shoulders. At times she still shocked Reno with the things she said, and he sometimes wondered where she learned them all. She was rich with facts and was always informing the Morioka cousins with new and interesting data she discovered by reading books or watching the Discovery channel. Half the time Rin found it easier not to listen to her when she spoke.

Poppey gave the okay now and his men finally put their guns down on the wooden flooring. Eight soft clangs echoed in the house, most merging together. At the same time the men bent down to let go of their weapons, Rin and Reno both noticed the look this man called Gabriel gave them. It wasn’t an ordinary look strangers would give each other. It completely contradicted any thoughts the pair might have been having about him. It was almost friendly with a tiny nod. It was as if he were letting them in on a secret.
At once, they both understood. He was on their side.
“Now, for my proposition…” Gabriel started. He paused for a few moments, as if contemplating his next move. Then he screamed out “Now!” and pushed Dakota backward as he stepped in front and turned his gun on Tim and his men. He shot with careful precision. As if she had practiced this a hundred times before, Dakota went over to a drawer that held a dozen rifles and pistols and got out one for herself and began shooting. She wasn’t very good at her aim yet, since she was still in-training, but she managed to hit a few guys in the legs.
Rin dodged bullets as he brought a gun in with his foot and quickly twisted himself around so that when he kicked the gun backward, it flung up and into his handcuffed hands. In the next second he had caught it and was already twisting it around so that the barrel was facing upward, right in the middle where his two hands connected. As if he were being timed, he shot the pistol and bent over so that nothing got in the way of the bullet except the chain. In an instant he felt his hands separate in an ear-splitting crack. He tossed the gun up and around and then began shooting Poppey’s men. There were too many of them and he found himself dodging bullets left and right as some men hid for cover. Rin almost forgot: his cousin was still cuffed!
He shouted out a “stay still!” as he ran over and shot between the cuffs, aiming at the floor. Reno gave him a look that said he would have killed him if he missed, and then picked up a gun himself and began shooting. Now they were four against six. Two men lay on the ground, presumably dead. One of them was Tim Poppey. Gabriel had shot him between the eyes on his first shot.
More bullets exploded into the early morning light, more windows shattering and sofas gaining more new holes. Tim’s men ran every which way, one even outside heading for the car, but Rin planted a bullet directly in his back and the man keeled, falling to his knees then face down on the pavement. Gabriel followed one into the kitchen, shooting frantically at the man, breaking a jug of water and creating three new holes in the cupboard door in the process. Reno followed one to the top floor of the house and shot a hole in a few of the stairs before hitting his target.
Dakota had dropped her gun when she got hit in the arm by another man’s bullet. No one was watching as she cupped a hand over her new wound. She wasn’t in pain, at least not yet. She was almost amazed at how fast the red satiny blood seemed to flow from her body immediately after the collision with the bullet. She looked down at her stained fingers and then back up at the man who had tried to kill her. He was approaching her now, the sun from the open door beaming behind him, making his plump figure only a dark lurking shadow. Dakota could just make out his lips curved upward in a tight stretched smile. She tried to stagger away, but by now she had fallen on the wood flooring, and there was nowhere else to go. He held his gun up and pointed it at her head. Dakota could feel her pulse quickening, her breath intensifying. If she was going to die she would have never wanted it to be murder; especially not by the hand of this man here and now. But something strange happened then. The smile ran away from the man’s face and his hand went limp, dropping the gun. His knees buckled and he toppled over, almost crushing Dakota in the process. She just managed to bring her knees up and out of the way of the man’s fall before he had time to collapse on her. She looked up and blinked back sunlight as a shadow of a young boy holding an outstretched revolver filled her vision.
“Stay here!” Rin ordered, as he ran into the kitchen to look for any more men. But by then they were all dead.
The madness was finally over.

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