A/N (A BEFORE YOU READ FOR IF YOU'VE EVER READ THIS BEFORE): Things have changed. A lot. I've actually dissected my original story like a type of mad scientist, if you will, so while parts are the same, I've changed much more than I had originally intended. Ex. Situations, characters, added detail to all chapters, etc. All chapters ARE being updated, hence the long wait. I'd say that I'm much happier with the outcome, incredibly so. Please let me know your thoughts and critiques in the comments and I'll continue working on my revision of BNF! :] Enjoy!

P.S. Here's my DISCLAIMER: Don't own, don't wanna own; just enjoy!


A Bad Night is Falling

[01]

Met my match today; felt the blood rushing and mingling, a curious and enigmatic thing.
((Incubus : Smile Lines))


Visions of human girls being seduced by beautiful vampires wasn't as far off as reality truly was... until you realize that there are many other ages of vampires- those who stalk and attack their prey when they're least expecting it, teeth sinking deep into the warm flesh as hot blood flows heartily into the awaiting mouth that greedily and viciously rips into the delicate skin.

One simply shivers at the thought that such horrifying creatures even exist, and for that reason, they are hunted and erased from the world of the living.

Hunted by whom, you ask?

Many hunt the cursed and undead of the world, be it of an individual or group seeking vengeance or simply fighting for the greater good, or even a blood-born Slayer. However, the life of a hunter is one who works within the very shadows these wicked monsters hide in order to keep this frightful reality mere fiction to the living.

Nearly five years have passed from the innocent, and blissfully unaware child that once stood face-to-face with an enemy of the living- even going so far to have been saved by one of the said enemy. Sora plucked the dirtied, straight-edged tomahawk from the ground where it had been thrown last, the muscles of the well-toned arm flexing, the tanned skin tainted by a few scratches of varying size and depth and smudges of both wet and dried earth from the previous struggle with a particularly feisty demon who had been cosplaying, if you will, as a cute high school girl looking for a nice, unsuspecting man to aid her and her 'sprained' ankle away from the quickly chilling, late autumn night so that she could breathe the life right out of him.

Hastily collecting the open cellphone from the ground, Sora sighed into the speaker, storing away the tomahawk as he spoke. "You know, Axel, I just don't get it- not a single casualty tonight? Are you sure nothing's up?"

"Sorry, Sora, I haven't heard a thing. Maybe it was just a dead night?"

The brunet with spiky hair laughed dryly into the receiver. "Oh, ha ha, Axel. I'm just concerned that there's something I'm missing." Kicking at a loose rock absent-mindedly, Sora's thoughts drifted to other important matters. "And don't forget- we have that exam in the morning, you have studied, right? Pop me a few questions."

"Sora," Axel paused briefly as he chided the brunet on the other end of the line, "it already is morning, and while I'm glad to know that you're confident enough in your ability that you can talk on the phone while on patrol, there are some people in the world who aren't so gifted and wouldn't like to test your ability, either."

"Gifted? I don't see how being alert and being quizzed would make me gifted, Axel. If I run into trouble, you'll know, anyway-"

"Interesting." A voice drawled on, a sinister grin on his face as he trailed the tip of his tongue along his rather feral canines, all the while enjoying the nervousness pouring from the brunet's every pore the moment the boy turned to face the voice. "I see you've grown, Slayer."

Too soon! Sora thought in panic as he rushed to snap his phone shut, dropping the call immediately. The laughter that ran through his ears was pleasing, but when he remembered who he was up against, the pleasant feeling left him empty. "When did you come back?" Sora asked wearily, running through his latest thoughts and conversations to remember if anyone had warned him of the dangerous man's return.

The vampire shrugged, still grinning. "Recently."

The brunet groaned at the vagueness of the reply and was curious as to why the vampire hadn't bothered to attack him yet. It was definitely unusual. Sora was aware of how vulnerable he had been with his back turned to a lethal vampire. The vampire, Sora realized with a soft groan, snuck up on him without his knowledge. That fact alone was alarming.

"Slayer, your mind is wandering..."

Sora narrowed his eyes at the vampire who was no longer grinning. "It's almost sunrise, why are you still out?"

With a wave of his hand, the vampire turned, his voice clearly cutting through the air as he walked out of sight through the park. "Well, considering I had returned, you could say that I was expecting a warm welcome, but I suppose that will have to do. Good luck on your exam, Slayer."

With the final words, the vampire left the brunet alone in the graveyard, frustrated, and with less than three hours of sleep before his first class would begin.


The 'change' began when Sora was a teenage youth at the age of thirteen, during the summer before he began his eighth year of school. Sora suddenly had obtained an increase in speed and stamina, a better sense of instinct and surprisingly speedy healing. Sora became... a generally 'better' Sora. It was all new to him and his overall increased performance proved helpful to the local soccer team he played for. Sora gladly welcomed the sort of upgrade. That is, he welcomed it until the night he first encountered the things he believed to be nothing but myth.

It had been a chance encounter that would change his life forever.

It was his fault, after all. He rebelled against his uncle's iron-clad (and, until now, completely unfair) curfew rule. He had been out two hours past sunset and a friend's house. He had been deceived by a crying girl who looked around his age. He had moved to comfort the girl when she turned on him, hands falling from her face to reveal twin canines that were long, sharp, and definitely real. Sora was lucky enough to break out of her grasp, falling backwards before he scrambled away after dealing a hard kick to the girl's face as she dove in after him. Sora was so scared as he found himself cornered against the cold brick wall of the alley he had mistakenly ran into in an attempt to escape the threat closing in on him.

He would later regret meeting his so-called 'hero' with the long, silvery hair and seemingly iridescent teal eyes.

With Sora's heart racing as the man, who seemed to be a young adult in age, came out of nowhere and slammed the vampire youth up against the brick wall with a deadly strength, Sora's young mind could hardly grasp the situation before him. He watched as the older man stabbed the girl's chest with a sharp end of a broken fence pole. He watched in disbelief as the girl fell to dust with a sorrowful wail. The savior before him, without breaking a sweat or even breathing hard, made the kill seem rather effortless, and Sora watched the stranger with a mixture of awe and fear.

"Y-you... you saved my life! Wh-what was that?! What... happened to her..?"

The stranger turned to face the young boy and looked on in an apathetic manner. "How old are you?"

Sora blinked, puzzled by the odd question. "I'm... thirteen..?"

Scoffing, the man shook his head as he spoke under his breath. "Ah... this is too easy. Am I really falling this low?" The bright eyes returned to stare at the brunet. "How did you get away from that earlier? She would've had no problem killing you..."

Sora's brows furrowed. "Wait! 'No problem killing...'?! Whether you saved me from... from whatever that was just then, you're acting really strange! Now leave me alone before I call for help! I can yell really, really loud, you know!" Sora shoved at the man before him, barely causing the man to stumble back, having caught the older man by surprise.

Sora suddenly found himself pinned back against the wall once again. The once bored man looked mildly irritated and Sora's attempts to shove the man off proved to be useless as the hand upon his wrists felt as heavy as lead.

Blue eyes widened and fear crawled up the brunet's spine as a lazy grin crossed the man's lips, revealing sharp teeth. "Y-you- you're-!"

"The name's Riku, if you so care to cry it out." Still grinning, the vampire purred as he lowered his lips to Sora's defenseless neck. Pleas of salvation poured from the brunet's trembling lips while tears dropped from the wide eyes.

The grin faltered.

The scent! That beautiful, sweet-smelling scent greeted the man's senses, driving his appetite wild.

"... Slayer..." Riku breathed hesitantly, his body tense. He hadn't expected such a weak child to bear the blood of a Slayer, not to mention one who was so obviously uneducated and unprepared for such a future. As much as his body ached to puncture the wildly thrumming vein that would satisfy his needs, Riku refused to spoil his appetite on such a waste. "What... is... your name..?"

Nothing more than a shivering, sobbing mess, Sora attempted to free himself from the constricting grasp as he continued to beg for released.

"Well, Sora, I may have saved your life tonight, but," He lowered his face towards the brunet's with a sinister grin, "I may be taking your life if you don't watch your back. When we meet again, you'd do best to be able to defend yourself, Slayer."


"I can't even tell my uncle!" Sora groaned sorrowfully, hitting his head rather loudly against the desk of the library, causing a few students to hush him. Sora wanted to die.

No, Sora just wanted to be normal.

Sitting beside him was Naminé, a quiet blonde girl who had her attention pulled away from the aged grimoire in her hands by Sora's sudden outburst. Across from the two was no one other than the redheaded teen named Axel, who was relaxing back, taking up two chairs so that he could stretch out his long legs. These were Sora's friends. These were the only two kids in the school who knew just what Sora was and what he did for a living.

Thankfully, these two were actually OK with the concept, as strange as it was. The eighteen year-old Axel was a Senior in high school like Sora, and Naminé, only age sixteen, was a Junior. Axel had been Sora's friend for four years, having met Sora after his dormant powers had woken. Naminé had met Sora after she visited his uncle's used book store two years ago. With her affinity for books about incantations, runes, and other sorts of sorcery, stumbling across the store was nothing short of beautiful to her.

"Don't worry about it so much, Sora," Naminé offered quietly, patting the brunet's leg reassuringly. "Leon won't be upset; we all know how hard you've been training, and this is Riku."

"But you don't understand… you wouldn't understand…" Sora mumbled against the table's surface, "he had the perfect opportunity to strike me down, and he didn't, just like the time we first met. He's toying with me."

Axel grumbled beneath his breath, "Sora, it's Riku; what would you expect?"

Sora pulled on his spiky chocolate locks in frustration until it hurt. "Why? Why now... I thought he had forgotten..!" He whined, gaining an apologetic look from Naminé.

"How could he forget when he's been waiting years- probably decades- to find you?"

"Yeah," Axel chortled after her comment, "he's got to have some hardcore obsession with you, after all. I mean, he hunts Slayers, Sora, and you're the Slayer. Toying with you or not, there's got to be some reason why he hasn't made a move to kill you yet." He was oblivious to the look of awe from Naminé, and unaware of Sora's head rising up from the table as he shut his eyes, sighing contentedly as he relaxed in the chairs. Completely oblivious to how much sense he had actually made by his last statement.


Those with such inhuman power quenched his thirst better than anything or anyone else and left Riku with such a drunken delight that he was able to forget even the most unpleasant of memories. It was through his Sire that this miraculous revelation brought Riku to form a preference for the potent blood of Slayers over time. However, any blood was better than the cold, tasteless packets that Riku found himself turning to when he had no other choice and he even struggled just to to swallow the thick, lifeless fluid. A Slayer's precious lifeblood was easily worth the effort and risk to obtain.

Strangely enough, before he even realized it, Riku had developed a sort of fondness for the blue-eyed Slayer. The burn in his throat raged as his thirst for the rich and fragrant blood rose to such heights that even on some nights he found himself unwittingly advancing on the brunet's location, admiring the pulsing vein that was bared without worry. There was nothing for the teen to worry about. He had spent his years wisely, that much Riku was sure of. Riku caught himself before breaching the brunet's scope of awareness on most nights, though the intense want clawed at his dry throat and his mind did not fail to remind him of the helpless kitten he had once sparred those few years ago, now was again within reach and had grown into a ferocious feline. Riku saw a challenge before him, and his fingers twitched with excitement with each calculated move the brunet made.

Riku found his grasp on the frayed ends of his self-control slipping. He wanted to have the Slayer. All of him.

And so, he, despite his best judgment, strode out from the shadows.


The following night, Sora, without a doubt, was dreading his graveyard-shift round. He knew he wouldn't be alone either way, whether he wanted peace or not. Tonight, he knew- he just knew that he would see Riku again. He wished he would have accepted Axel's offer to join in.

Fledglings were too clumsy. They were too loud and too greedy. He didn't need his senses to know when they were around. If he were to ever be caught off guard by one, he would be in for one hell of a lecture from his uncle- assuming he would be able to escape alive... While fledglings were weak, they usually were not alone. A few fledglings down with perfected ease that he had acquired over the last five years and Sora was left awaiting his dreaded visitor as the hands on his watch notified him that it was finally a quarter past two. Only four hours left.

Sora grew impatient as time passed.

The last time he had seen Riku, he was sixteen. He had left the library after studying for an upcoming exam with Axel and was heading home later than he had intended. He cut through the park in hopes making it home before his uncle found out, only to run right into the last man he wanted to ever see. Even after nearly three years of combat training and a full year of control patrol, Sora knew he wasn't ready to take down the Slayer Hunter that Riku was. After a brief exchange of fists and kicks that left Sora winded and defeated until he was found pressed against the vampire's chest, chin propped upwards and Riku's breath fostering goosebumps along the skin of Sora's neck. At what Sora believed to be the end for him- Riku released him with nothing more than a promise that he would return.

Sora was told to prove his bloodline when Riku came to him next.

It was precisely because of those last words that had left Sora baffled by their first meeting in two years; though Sora didn't expect his luck to hold out much longer. As he heard the charming laugh he knew far too well, Sora immediately switched into his defensive side. He held his ground, retaining his look of apathy as he found himself before the vampire.

"You are far too easy, Slayer..." Riku chided playfully as he stared down the brunet.

"If it's so easy, then why won't you- no, why haven't you killed me?! Your whole purpose of being here is because I'm the Slayer!" Sora yelled uneasily, not liking the hungry look in the vampire's eyes.

"Why?" Riku chuckled darkly, stepping closer to the brunet. Sora backed the equal steps away until he realized he was backing against a tree and before Sora could react, Riku stood right before him. "Why I don't kill you?" Sora found himself anxious at the hint of humor in the vampire's voice. "I don't kill you, Slayer, because you interest me. Care to dance? I promise I won't bite... much." He suggests with a wicked grin, holding out a hand with the deadly offer.

Sora swallowed thickly, pushing Riku away forcefully, stake in hand and pressed against the vampire's chest as he slipped away from the tree. He needed to be in an open area so he wouldn't get caught like that again. It was just too dangerous. Then he realized, as he felt cold breath against his neck, much like a slap against the face, that it was much more dangerous to have his back turned.

Sora jumped around quickly, stake ready to strike and Riku held his hands up in mock defense. "Why don't you just leave and let me do my job?! You won't kill me, and I have people I need to protect! I don't need you, so just leave!" Sora yelled out angrily and he unhappily took note of the look of glee in the vampire's cold eyes.

"Who said you don't need me?"

"I said it." Sora glared, biting out the three words indignantly.


Final A/N: The upload is two days late. I'm also sick like a damn dog. I didn't even reach 4,000 words. Please excuse any typographical/grammatical errors, I just kinda gave up. Now I'm gonna go sleep and dream that I didn't miss out enjoying Halloween because I've got the flu.