A/N: Finally, it's been forever and I am sorry, but I've got my hands full lately with preparations for my studies abroad and seeing as many of my friends and family as possible. I hope you will enjoy this installment in the story, seeing how much I've wanted to work on it. To note though, despite this being an Iceland-centric story, I am not a huge Ice/Hong reader, so my take on Hong Kong may or may not be a bit different from what you may be used to. I try to keep characters as close to the original as possible, but sometimes I need to alter things for the story... though it does annoy me that I forgot this part: "Ve..."

Title: Bites, Distance, Devotion

Author: Shitza

Rating: M

Pairings: Hong/Ice, Den/Nor, Swe/Fin, Rus/China

Length: 22 chapters (may get longer, since I have to finish drafting the full story, and the plot has of now been created to chapter 16. I'll finish the plot on my plane to China (because it will take hours to fly, I may as well spend them by doing something productive.)

Timelines: Blood, Love, Hunger is set in the 18th century, Blood, Bites, Immortality is sent in more present times (2009-2018) and this story takes place 160 years after BBI (2178 and forward).

Disclaimer: All rights go to Hidekaz Himaruya, and the people involved with the manga and anime. This is a non-profit story I have borrowed the characters for, because that is what fanfictions do. I will however be upset if you, yes you, copy of this story and post it somewhere else. So please don't, and keep respecting your fellow authors.

Character List:

Jett - Australia

Kiku - Japan

Eduard - Estonia

Yao - China

Gilbert - Prussia

Michelle - Seychelles

Georgi - Bulgaria

Francis - France

Mathias - Denmark

Leon - Hong Kong

Emil - Iceland

William - New Zeeland

Feliks - Poland

Lukas - Norway

Bites, Distance, Devotion

Prologue

Australia, Sydney, August year 2178

Jett stared at his com-device suspiciously. He simply couldn't get his head around all this new technology that seemingly popped up all the time. A few years ago Eduard had threatened to send Gilbert at him if the Australian did not change his communication device and upgrade the system. It had been long since the 3D chips were first introduced to replace the old glasses. The glasses had been cool, until the problems became evident. Some humans were simply too stupid to tell a computer generated image from reality. Jett could still remember those good old days when a message had to be given to a ship. No stress, no pressure, no need to keep yourself constantly updated. What the hell had he agreed on? When he told Gilbert and everyone else that he could become the new middle-man between East and West he had not expected to be stalked by his own.

And so, here they all are. Jett sighed, because humans could never tell when one of those truly real things so much as stared you in the face. As you may guess by now, Jett is no human. He is, like many of his friend, a vampire. A being that hosted a demonic force within him. Somehow, he still retains some humanity within him, but he would never even consider being friends with them. They were food, it was as simple as that.

"You have an incoming call from Kiku Honda." A female voice spoke in his ear. Jett nodded, as the still unfamiliar program spoke to him. He wondered briefly what had happened to those good old telephones where you needed to ask others to relay a message. Australia during the 19th century had been so different.

Kiku's familiar face appeared. Like most of their kind his appearance didn't change over the years. It was faint hologram, so all you could tell were outlines of the person to not disturb the scene in front of you. Kiku smiled gently at him.

"Konichiwa, Jett-san."

"Hello Kiku, mate, how are things at your end?"

"Pretty good I think. I called to see what Eduard-san has to say about our friends. Anything new that we and Yao should know about?"

Jett thought for a moment. What was it that Eduard had near shouted at him about? Oh yes…

"Well… Gil wanted to give you the head's up that the rings aren't perfected yet. Michelle is still a bit nauseous and Georgi lost an easy battle because it made him dizzy. So, could you ask Yao to send them the newest version of the rings next meeting?"

Kiku sighed.

"We offered to last time, but neither Gilbert nor Francis would have it. They said jade clashed with their looks."

Jett laughed.

"I'll talk to them. I am sure our Nordic friends would be able to help persuade them as well. Though Eduard tells me that Gilbert and Mathias aren't the best of friends at the moment. Too much border fighting lately."

"Ah, well that can happen."

"Also, Gilbert wants us all to meet up soon. It's been 56 years since our last meeting."

"Really, it's been this long?"

"Apparently."

"Then we look forward to that. When will it be?"

"Exactly two weeks from now. Tell Yao, though I have a feeling he won't show, as always."

"He's not very interested in their matters. I will go, I think Yao will want me to. And Leon will most likely join me."

Leon was another of Kiku's comrades. Yao had grown a large branch of vampires over the years. "How is Leon? I hear he had a rough run-in a while back?"

Kiku smiled.

"He is fine, my friend. He's on Iceland. He goes there a lot. I think he fancies... what was his name... Egil... Emil?."

"Emil? Really, he has never mentioned that with us, Then again, the guy rarely ever opens his mouth."

Both laughed.

Jett smirked. "Well, that was my report. I'll see you guys later?"

"Two weeks. I'll go and talk to Yao-san. I'll try to make him reconsider, my friend."

"Great, and tell your sisters that I said hi." Jett smirked at the thought of the cute little Asian girls in Yao's care.

"Will do, Ja ne!"

The call ended. Jett smirked. But he didn't get time to think about anything else, before he got a second call."

"You've got an incoming message from William Rutherford."

William? Now what could he want? He picked up the call.

"Jett, are you bloody there?"

A holographic projection of his former Child appeared before his vision.

"Have you gone blind, of course I am here. Now what's up mate?"

"What's up?" William glared at him. "I'm head over heels in problems. People are leaving my islands." He sounded awfully annoyed.

"That's tough." Jett admitted. "But you know what Gilbert said last meeting. We eat them, we can tempt them, but once their minds are set, we cannot do a bloody thing."

William crossed his arms. "I wasn't talking about that." The New Zealander said with a grunt. "I was talking about the crocodile problems."

Jett blinked. He did not understand what William meant. Crocodiles?

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Crocodiles, they've been sighted several times these last months. Australian ones, mate. They've been killing my farmers and a number of our sheep."

"Oh…"

"So…" William looked quite unhappy.

"So what?"

"How do I get rid of them?"

"Oh, well… think of crocks like angry mums. You make them upset and they will go for you."

William glared at him.

"You're no bloody help at all. I hope this isn't what Angus taught you, and if so he must have been one heck of a lousy guy."

Jett shook his head. "Angus was a good Maker, he was just busy."

"That's what they all say."

"You never complained."

"Fuck you... and fix this! I need my food supplies."

And William ended the call. He'd need to talk to William later. Right now he needed to think about what to tell Gilbert and Eduard next. He was curious about the meeting as well. Was it all pleasantries, or another problem to unfold. He couldn't tell. Today didn't seem to be one of those good days. He had no clue what that would literally mean.

The night was brisk and dark. A few streetlights shone, but they didn't get near illuminating the shadows that he loved. Little did he notice that it was getting even darker. Jett whistled, turning around to enter a shortcut to the club, where he hoped to find a light snack before dawn. It was a simple road that would take him to busier streets.

The darkness that surrounded him steadily grew thicker. The air itself became heavier. Still, the Australian vampire didn't seem to notice. He was whistling on a few more modern tunes, by some random singer. He couldn't even remember the name of the artist. Soon a thick cloud of black surrounded him, and he didn't even flinch.

And thus, the Australian never exited the path he took.

Chapter 1

Every story with an end,

Starts with a new beginning.

Iceland, the Observatory

The observatory is an odd building. First of all, it has no connections to any road that can be visible and secondly it cannot be found on any maps. People couldn't even see it unless its master would allow it to.

And Emil, the vampire of Iceland, did not fancy tourists or any other type of guest. When he moved to the island near 160 years ago he had been quick to set up the many protective spells that most of his kind used. Now he, like everyone else, lived in solitude. But Emil didn't really mind, he liked i. It gave him the opportunity that he needed to continue his endless work.

Or it seemed endless. And right now he found it difficult to concentrate. There were a pair of eyes watching him, lodged from one of his many shelves. He wasn't surprised that Leon could climb up his walls. No, that was a common ability for most vampires. What surprised him however was that the Chinese vampire hadn't left yet?

There was also this irritating, continuous sound of pop, pop, pop…

Emil glared at Leon. His Chinese friend was bored, he knew that. Leon had arrived a few hours after sunset, and spent his first hour trying to coax him to go out in town and prank humans with him. When this didn't work, he set to try and trick him to leaving, by pretending he was sick (vampires can't get sick). Now, he was simply bored and played with a ping pong ball and bat, bouncing the devilish item on the bat. Emil just wished he could make a mistake soon and drop the bloody item.

"Will you cut that out?!" the Icelandic vampire barked.

The sound stopped briefly.

"I'm bored. Aren't you finished yet?" Leon asked. "I want to do something, something else than just sit here."

"Well, you won't get to. I'm working. Don't you have anyone else in all of Europe to bother?"

Leon thought for moment. Then he said with an almost teasing expression:

"No, not really."

Emil felt like groaning, but that would be admitting defeat. So, instead he went back to his work and the microscope he had previously been bent over.

The poping started again. Emil let out a sigh, contemplating on what Yao would say if Leon arrived back with yet another broken arm? Not only did the Asian vampire's presence greatly disturb his work, but it also violated the usual rules that all vampires ought to stay within their borders. Emil looked down on the gold ring he was forced to wear for the occasion. All vampires tended to use their rings when other came to visit. You see, vampires are territorial, and two vampires staying close would usually mean a fight to death. The rings helped to stop this sensation. Even if vampires weren't all too easy to kill, it still hurt like hell to fight. And to keep suspicion down, it was easier to wear these rings during those short visits than to risk being discovered.

Emil looked up to his companion, who wore a similar ring made from pale jade. All vampires that were associated to Yao wore similar rings. The ring that Leon wore had some slight better qualities than their gold counterparts. Many, many years back they had all been given black bracelets with similar effects. The bracelets turned out to be severely flawed. Feliks, one of the European vampires that he, Emil, was associated with, had fallen seriously ill. The illness had gone on for several years. This caused some bad disturbances in their already weakened family. Vampires, who were known for being weaker than their own kind, had claimed nearly 90 % of Feliks territory before the Polish vampire felt well enough to fight back. Emil had still ben but a Child, by their terms. He had lived with his Maker, Lukas, in a small house at the Norwegian northern coast and since he was sensitive to changes his own ring didn't come to him until after he left Lukas' home.

Briefly Emil wondered what his former Maker was doing. It had been a while since they last spoke, Emil wasn't even sure how long it had been. Time passed so differently now that you passed your 250's birthday, or was it more? Nah, it wasn't really important.

He stopped in his actions, lost briefly in memories of himself and Lukas exploring the fjords of Norway. Often they'd gone out as soon as the sun set, and they'd stay out until an hour before the sun would rise. Lukas loved the sea, as did he. Before he had been turned his father would have taken him out, no, vampires aren't born like humans. They get turned.

From above the popping stopped. Leon looked down at him with a smile.

"Found something?" he asked, intrigued to know why his companion had seized moving. Emil shook his head, both to rid himself from his daydreams and to indicate that he yet had to figure something out.

"No." he said and sighed.

"Bummer, then I hope you don't mind then?"

Emil blinked, wondering what Leon was trying to say.

"What do you mean?" But Leon didn't answer him. The Chinese vampire had brought out another ping pong club and two more ping pong balls, and was juggling them with the clubs. Emil groaned. The popping got ten times worse.

Emil dove to one of the piles of various things that he had on the floor and dug out a small device with a speaker attached. He desperately needed to drown out this annoying noise. His home was a complete mess. Research notes, scientific gear and various other objects lay piled on top of each other. Near a hundred years of collected items had slowly grown into a huge pile of everything from important documents to take-away notes (which he had only taken because the woman had insisted that he'd do.

Emil turned on the speaker, and some sort of new song played. It was annoying, he like many others couldn't understand the modern music, but it was still better than the annoying sounds from above him.

The songs continued playing, until a newsbreak could be heard. Emil stopped momentarily to listen. Mostly, it was nothing to concern yourself about. The world was as it always was, and as usual Iceland was not involved in the trivial matters of war.

"And latest from the excavations of the old Inkan ruins. Architects believe to have found a new buried city, found 150 metres below ground. The city seems to have sunk down through the ground, maybe from an earthquake or possible catastrophe. Still, the small crevices make investigations difficult, and two researchers have lost their lives exploring the cracks. This is Jorun Helgadótir, reporting from Peru."

BANG!

Emil jumped in surprise as something exploded above him. He looked up to see a cloud of dust, and Leon lighting yet another small firecracker.

The Asian ginned at him, knowing very well that he finally had Emil's full attention.

"What the…" the Icelandic said angrily. "Are you trying to blow up my home?"

His answer was a shower of tiny little sparks. Emil wasn't known for fighting when the rings had an effect, but he didn't like the idea of Leon burning down his home. With inhuman agility he leapt up after Leon, who was prepared and leapt away. The two vampires continued chasing each other until sunset, where they both had to stop to rest for when the daylight took over.

-000-

Copenhagen

It was like everyone expected the worst. Lukas sighed watching human afar human pass him, Many were coughing badly. Lately the flu symptoms had become worse and worse with every year, and Copenhagen was packed with them. It seemed this year would be a cold year.

It was late, so most humans were on their way home. Lukas had another goal, Mathias had called him to ask him to come to the royal palace. It had been almost 50 years since the last Danish king had abdicated his throne. Only England had a monarchy left, and as Peter had told them, he doubted that would ever change.

The palace was still heavily guarded, seeing as the building held high historical and cultural value. But dodging humans was easy, since they rarely looked up. Luks had no problem to break in, and meet Mathias in one of the many halls. Once in history a human may have taken a notice of their kind, but it had been years since Lukas had heard humans mention vampires in anything apart from fiction. Lukas jumped down from the window ledge to the second floor and through a window that was broken and hadn't been closed. He landed almost soundlessly on the carpet floor and quickly approached the chamber where Mathias waited.

As soon as he closed the door behind him he couldn't help but to sigh out loud.

Mathias was on the floor, crouched over a women, who looked like a security guard based on her clothing. Lukas steeled himself, ready for anything. Mathias wasn't one of those vampires who would attack just about anyone. Most times Mathias had ever drained other lifeforms had been when he had been close to starving, or the madness that was even more common. But, as the older Dane turned Lukas couldn't see any hints of it. Mathias smiled back at him, as he dropped the now lifeless corpse.

"Ah, Lukas. I knew you'd come."

"Mathias… what's the meaning of this?"

Mathias blinked stupidly at first, then it hit him and he hit himself lightly on the head.

"Oh… you mean her?" he nudged the corpse with his left foot

"Oh, don't mind this. She was just a… let's say personal issue."

Lukas didn't reply, but raised an eyebrow at the cryptic answer.

"Explain."

"Well… she was following me, and kept on following me no matter what I did. I tried to tell her that I had no intentions to court her, but she ignored me. She even dressed as a guard to come see me."

Lukas shook his head.

"She was some kind of psychic. I never told her anything, not whom we are, what we do, where I was going. She seemed to know. I panicked… I guess… I guess this was the easiest way."

Lukas shook his head. Most of what Mathias said made no sense, psychic people weren't unheard of but extremely rare. Still, right now wasn't the time to scold his lover for anything. They needed to move, and find another place to talk (which wasn't difficult when you were in the company of the vampire of Denmark). He grabbed the taller blond by the arm and only seconds later they were gone. The guards would within minutes raise the alarm that a burglar was found dead inside the old palace. But as for why she was dead, who she had been, those questions would remain a mystery.

-000-

Later that same evening the two vampires had taken new residence in a smaller house by the outskirts of Copenhagen. By now Mathias was calm enough to talk, and to rationalise again. Lukas didn't see any need to scold him more than the usual: "You know the consequences" speech. The Dane was already shaken. It wasn't unheard for the Dane to kill someone, he had been born as a genuine Viking, but he rarely did now. Dead people were a huge hassle since there were so many cameras now. Undoubtedly, they would have to leave Denmark for few years, or someone would eventually recognise them. Lukas hated running, h had enough of that from that time, so many years back, when they still believed that some humans had hunted them.

And… Lukas had other things on his mind.

"If you're done moping, maybe you can regain some of your rare senses and help me with a few things." The Norwegian said slightly annoyed by Mathias uncharacteristic behaviour. They had taken residence in the living room. Mathias style of furnishing a smaller accommodation differed from his otherwise huge castle. It was a cosy small house, with everything a human family would need in space.

Mathias didn't answer him.

"For fuck's sake, she wasn't Kristina." Lukas reminded him, not that h would know her. Kristina had died many years before he himself had been born.

"I know that." Mathis retorted.

"Then, why are you so upset?" Lukas asked, not understanding what was eating on his lover's mind.

Mathias sighed.

"She's he second one this week. I thought it'd be done and over with by now."

Lukas' eyes widened slightly in surprise. Had humans figured them out... again?

"Yeah… I could kill Gilbert, if he was just close." Mathias muttered.

"What does Gilbert have to do with you killing humans?"

"His problems. Somehow it's slipped to what he is and… it started a fanclub. Don't ask me how, I don't get humans. But, someone saw me with him a few weeks back and now they've started to hunt me as well."

Lukas got to his feet and anxiously walked to gaze through the window.

"Don't worry, it won't spread. Gil has killed the other five, made it look like some sort of ritual. There were only seven girls."

"How can you be sure there weren't more? How do you know they haven't raised the alarm?"

Mathias chuckled.

"Oh, my poor little Norge. It's the 22nd century now. Humans stopped believing in us unnatural beings a century ago. Even Yao says that Chinese humans lost their superstitions. They need to see something to believe it."

"Like you and Gilbert? What did you do?"

"Fought. The idiot is sniffing by my borders. I sent him packing, he's not nearly as strong as Ludwig used to be."

Mathias leaned closer. A knowing smile played on his lips.

"But this isn't why you came, now is it?"

"No, it's not."

Mathias smirk widened to a grin. "The only two reasons you seek me out is a, if you want sex or b, something is bothering you. As much as I can tell, it's the latter isn't it? Though I wish it wasn't, it's been a while since last time."

"Yes."

"Then, what has happened?"

"It's Emil."

"Yeah… and?"

"He's changed. He's so distant."

"Have you tried calling him?" Mathias asked.

"Of course I have." Lukas felt almost annoyed. "But he never tells me anything. Heck, I doubt he's been outside at all these last 10-20 years."

"Why on Earth for? Is he working on something big?"

"I don't know. I think it's the usual projects. He doesn't tell me much."

Mathias leaned back in his chair and raised a hand to his chin.

"Well… considering how much alike you two are, I wouldn't worry too much. After all, when you left it took forever before you'd talk to me. And I've heard he's not completely on his own. And it's in everyone's interest."

"Really? Since when did you become this smart?"

Mathias aughed. "Well, even I have my moments. And I have heard rumours flying, Gil wants Emil's project to succeed, he just wants it done as soon as possible. And Kiku called. He wanted to talk about that, actually. Apparently Leon, you remember him right? Chinese guy who followed Emil around. He's been hanging around Emil quite often lately. Keeps Yao updated about Emil's discoveries."

"Often? How often?"

"Often enough for Yao to take notice that Leon is never home. He's not very happy about it as well. Unlike us they all live under the same roof, and Yao wants it that way."

TBC

Every story with an end,

Starts with a new beginning.

-000-

A/N: Holy moly, this chapter took literally forever to finish. But here it is, the sequel of BBI and the final instalment in the Bites series.

I am fully aware that Leon/Hong Kong is meant to humanize the area of Hong Kong, but since Hong Kong is a part of China again, I decided to make him fully Chinese. He was still born in Hong Kong, but I'll reference him as Chinese. The only person among the four China-personifications that can keep her nationality is Taiwan (Mei), because by nationality most people of Taiwan have been considered Taiwanese, by Western standards (I am not sure how mainland China thinks about this).

I apologise as well for the massive amount of things in this chapter, but when I started writing the plot was very complicated. A lot of early ideas have been ditched to make things easier to follow. Mathias killing someone here wasn't extremely important, but to get Lukas annoyed.

I also will need to apologise to you all for waiting for the sequel.. But, I seriously have had no time to write. And, since I'm working on two stories simultaneously, updates will slow down by a lot. I hope to be able to update once every 2 weeks, but we'll see. Nonetheless, this story will finish one day. I don't make two notebook pages of chapter-drafts per chapter to just scrap my projects. But, it will soon be my final years at university, so yeah… it's a busy year to come.

But until then, hope you enjoyed and please tell me what you think.