A/N: This was suppose to be a oneshot for Halloween, but as you can see from the length, it just refused to end. Eventually, I hit one of those pesky writer's blocks. If this chapter seems to just stop, that's why. I absolutely could not think of how to continue it. Or end it well for that matter. I'm still waiting for my plot bunnies to return from vacation, so I can write some more. Anyway, enjoy what I've got so far.


The brakes on Sora's bicycle let out a loud screech as he came to an abrupt stop in front of his best friend's house. A sinking feeling began to settle in his stomach as he took in the chaos before him. An ambulance parked on the curb, a police cruiser in the driveway and several onlookers gathered across the street. What was going on? Had Riku finally given his mom a heart attack like she was always claiming he would? Sora set his bike down and pushed his way through the crowd. Slowly he approached an officer.

"Excuse me. Sir? What's going on?"

The policeman tossed the brunette a quick glance before turning back to the house, "Don't worry about it kid. I'm sure you'll hear about it later."

Sora furrowed his brow, "But... this is my best friend's house. Is everyone ok? Is his mom ok?"

The officer sighed impatiently, "Kid, just go home ok. I can't say any more."

Sora let out his own frustrated sigh and turned to pick up his bike when suddenly the front door swung open. Two paramedics emerged pushing a stretcher with a large black bag laid out across it. Shortly after they appeared, Riku's mother came bursting out of the building, screaming frantically and being held back by another paramedic and a police officer. Sora's heart sank. Riku and his mother were the only two occupants of that house. If Sheila was on the porch crying, then Riku... Sora turned on his heel and bolted for the stretcher. He just about had his hands on it when a sudden weight forced him to the ground. He coughed as the wind was knocked out of him.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing?!" The officer yelled as he pulled himself up off the ground.

Sora couldn't respond. He watched in horror as Sheila pleaded with a paramedic to 'not take her baby', then as the other paramedics loaded the stretcher onto the ambulance.

"Kid. You alright?" The officer offered Sora his hand.

Sora stared at the ambulance in complete shock. "Riku..." he whispered. Pulling himself up, he took off down the street, completely disregarding his bicycle. He ran. He ran all the way home, four blocks away. He ran until he couldn't breathe and just kept running. He finally stepped across his bedroom doorway and collapsed. His hands made a muffled slapping noise as they connected with the carpeted floor. He took a minute to catch his breath, then let it all back out in long, loud sobs. He and Riku were supposed to hang out today. They were going to go to the mall. How could Riku be so inconsiderate? He was ruining their plans. They clearly couldn't hang out if Riku was... Sora let his thoughts slip away until his mind was completely blank. He managed to drag himself over to his bed and collapsed for the second time; his face buried in his pillow. He couldn't even cry anymore. He just shut down.

There was a light knock on Sora's door as his mother poked her head in. "Sora? Honey? What's wrong?"

Sora looked up at his mother with an unnervingly vacant expression, "Riku's dead," he said flatly before letting his face fall back into his pillow.
Trisha took a staggering breathe as she slowly approached her son's bed, "Oh... oh my God. Sora... I..." The words caught in her throat and tears began to cascade down her cheeks. Sora and Riku had been friends for so long that the silver haired boy had become like her second son. She sat down softly next to Sora and leaned down to hug him as she continued to cry.

Upon hearing his mother's heartfelt sobs and feeling her trembling body nestled up against his, Sora snapped out of his catatonic state. He sat up and wrapped his arms tightly around his mother. They held each other close and cried for nearly twenty minutes, until the both of them had finally run out of tears and energy. Trisha sat silently holding her son and stroking his hair. After some time, she took a deep breath and broke the silence.

"What? What happened?" she asked hesitantly.

Sora stared at his floor. "I don't know. I... I went over to Riku's to meet up with him so we could go to the mall, but there was an ambulance and police. And there was a cop who wouldn't tell me anything and I was just gonna go home when some paramedics came out with a stretcher and body bag. And I thought it was Sheila for a split second until I saw her being held back by two more people and she was screaming at them not to take her baby. I... I tried to get to Riku, but that damn cop tackled me and then I saw them load the bag onto the ambulance. I... I couldn't handle it. I just got up and ran home. I left my bike there. I left Sheila crying. I just had to get away."

Trisha took another steadying breath as her son recalled the traumatic event. She held Sora's head to her chest. "I'm so sorry Sora. Honey, I think I should try and get a hold of Sheila. Do you want me to stay with you a little longer?"

Sora shook his head, "I think I'll be fine. You go call her. She's practically your sister. She needs someone to talk to. I'm just gonna go to sleep."
The brunette's mother stood and smiled empathetically down at him before kissing him on the forehead and heading downstairs. Sora sighed and closed his door before flopping back down on his bed. It didn't take him long to drift off to sleep and just let all the pain fade away.

Sora slowly blinked himself awake and looked over at the clock on his dresser. One-thirty-six AM. He rolled onto his side so he was facing the door and had just about fallen back asleep, when a sudden breeze sent shivers up his spine. He turned back over and found his curtains blowing in the wind. He furrowed his brow. Had his mother opened his window? He dragged himself out of bed and got up to close it. He twisted the lock and started to turn back towards his bed when a hand was suddenly resting on his shoulder. He jumped and spun around. His eyes grew wide. "Riku?!"

The silver haired boy standing before him smirked in the dim moonlight. "Hey So. Sorry about the scare earlier today."

Sora stared at his friend in disbelief before he couldn't hold back any longer. He pounced on the taller boy, throwing his arms around his waist and pulling him into a tight hug. "Riku! I thought... I thought..." Warm tears began to drench his face.

Riku chuckled and patted Sora on the back, "Take it easy. I'm here, aren't I?"

Sora pulled back slightly to look Riku in the face, "What happened? I saw... a body bag. And your mom. Riku. I thought you were dead!"

Riku put a finger to his lips, "Shh. You're gonna wake Trish. Come here, let me explain." He pulled Sora over to the bed and sat him down before sitting next to him. "You're not gonna frickin' believe this, but I swear it's true."

Sora tilted his head slightly, waiting for Riku's explanation.

"Ok, so, you weren't seeing things. I... I did die Sora."

Sora gasped and his eyes shot open wide, "What? What do you mean? You're here. You're not dead."

Riku thought for a moment then chuckled. "No. I'm not dead. I'm more alive than I've ever felt. But I'm not alive."

Sora gave Riku a completely confused look, "What do you mean? You're not making sense."

Riku took a breath and smiled, "Sora. Do you like me?"

Sora looked questioningly at his friend, "What? You're my friend. Of course I do."

"I mean," Riku said leaning in close to Sora's face, "do you like me?"

Sora gulped at his friend's sudden proximity, "I... I uh... do you mean like, best friends?"

Riku snorted, "No Sora, I mean like this." He pushed Sora back on the bed and pressed his lips hard to the other boy's.

The brunette's eyes flew open in shock, but soon settled back down as, to his surprise, he began to kiss back. Before he knew it, he was running his hands through Riku's silvery locks and slipping his tongue into the other boy's mouth.

Riku swung his leg over Sora to straddle the smaller boy. He continued to ravish his mouth, desperately tasting every crease and fold within. After a while, and much to Sora's disappointment, he pulled away. He didn't stop there though. He trailed kisses down the brunette's jaw line all the way to his neck. Sora moaned as his friend's warm lips caressed his neck, sucking gently.

And then Sora screamed and jerked away, crawling backwards across the bed and away from his friend. He grabbed at his neck. "What the fuck Riku! You bit me! Like, hard!" He pulled his hand away to examine it in what little light there was. "Holy crap! I'm bleeding! Riku!" He looked up to his friend for an explanation and paled.

Riku was still straddling Sora's legs, grinning up at him. A disturbingly evil grin. His eyes were glowing! Glowing a weird yellowish color and... and Sora's blood was dripping from his lips. Sora slowly scooted away more, beginning to fear for his safety. Unfortunately, this seemed to urge Riku on. He crawled towards Sora, like a cat stalking its prey. Sora began to panic, breathing heavily. Oh no... he was loosing too much blood. He started to feel weird and light headed. He needed to escape, before... before... It was too late. "Sora, don't worry. It'll be fine." Sora saw everything start to grow fuzzy before he passed out.

The brunette sat straight up and gasped. He looked around frantically. Where was he? He wasn't in his bedroom anymore. He was lying in a large canopy bed in a lavishly decorated room. He quietly pulled himself out of bed and looked all around, trying desperately to figure out where he was. He approached the window that reached from the floor all the way to the ceiling. He grabbed one of the curtains and was just about to pull it back when a hand caught his arm. "Sora! No!" Sora whipped his head to the side to find Riku with a terrified expression on his face. "Cripes So. Good thing I caught you. Sun's up, you dumbass." He chuckled nervously and released his hold on his friend's arm.

Sora's memories of the night before came rushing back and he staggered backwards tentatively. "Ri-Riku... what's going on?"

Riku looked away guiltily as he rubbed at the back of his neck, "Yeah, sorry about that. I really was gonna explain things last night, but I got a bit carried away."

Sora hugged himself defensively, "W-well, I'm listening now. So, explain."

Riku nodded, "Right. Here, come here, I'll tell you everything." He made his way towards the bed.

Sora wrapped his arms tighter around his chest, "N-no. I think I'd rather stand." He gulped and unconsciously touched the side of his neck.

Riku cast his eyes downward, "Look, Sora. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to hurt you."

Sora whirled around to face his friend, "Not trying to hurt me?! You fucking bit me! So hard I bled!"

"I know! I'm sorry! I just, when I had you pinned under me, all vulnerable like that, my instincts kicked in. I couldn't stop myself. I wanted you so bad."

Sora felt a faint blush grace his face. But he only let the shock settle in him for a moment before he quickly regained his sour expression, "That's how you show someone you want them? By almost tearing their throat out? Real nice." Sora turned away and fiddled with the curtain again.

Riku's breath hitched and he quickly rushed over to Sora, once again, wrenching his friend's hand away from the curtains. "Sora stop that! You're gonna get yourself killed!"

The brunette sneered at his friend, "Sunlight doesn't kill people Riku." He spat.

"But it kills vampires." He said dryly.

Sora looked his friend over, trying to discern if he was joking or not. "Bull shit." He reached for the curtain again, determined to call his friend's bluff.

Riku clasped his hand firmly around Sora's wrist. "Sora. I'm not joking. It will kill you."

Sora's eyes darted back and forth as his scowl began to soften.

The silver haired boy sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll show you. Stand back." He pushed Sora away and parted the curtains slightly until a small beam of light filtered into the room. He hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and thrust his hand into the light. Immediately, smoke began to rise off the back of his hand and a distinct sizzling noise could be heard. After a second, he quickly withdrew his hand and let the curtains fall closed. He cradled his hand with his other and hissed in pain.

Sora didn't know what to say. He stood gaping at his friend. Slowly he approached the other boy and motioned for him hold his hand out. Riku complied and Sora gently took it in his own. He watched in amazement as the disfiguring burns gradually faded into nothingness right before his eyes. He continued to stare on in total shock until he realized how awkward it was to be holding his friend's hand that way. He quickly pulled his hand away, letting Riku's fall and took a step back. "You're serious..." he trailed off.

"Don't be scared Sora. It's just the sunlight that hurts us. Other than that, we're pretty much invincible." He smiled reassuringly.

A sudden thought washed over Sora and he looked up to meet his friend's gaze, "Hurts us?" His eyes grew wide and he reached up and touched the spot on his neck where Riku had bitten him. "Riku... you mean..." His gaze was so intense; he almost seemed to be looking right through the taller boy.

Riku bit at his bottom lip, "I told you So... I got carried away... but I did it because... because I wanted you to be with me."

"You..." Sora let his hand drop loosely back to his side. "You made me... Riku! How do you know I wanted this?! What if I hate your guts?! What about mom?! God, Riku! She's gonna be as upset as your mom! What the Hell!"

Riku tried his hardest not to let his expression look hurt, "Sora, I'm sorry. I just... you don't really hate my guts, do you?"

Sora heaved heavily then let his shoulders slump as he looked away, "Riku... No of course I don't. I mean..." The brunette wiped his hand across his face, "This is all so trippy. I mean, you were dead. I saw the body bag. And then you weren't dead. And then your tongue was in my mouth." Riku chuckled. "And now you're telling me we're vampires? But I didn't even drink your blood."

"Oh, that's just a myth. In fact, vampirism isn't even transmitted through blood."

Sora's eyes widened as fantastic possibilities began to whirl through his head. What if it was like an STD?! What if vampires just bite their victims to knock them out and then they… oh God! What did Riku do to him?!

"It's actually more like a virus."

"Like AIDs?!" Sora blurted out.

Riku perked an eyebrow at his friend, "Um, I was gonna say the flu. It's transmitted through saliva. You can become one of the undead just by mackin' on a vamp."

Sora relaxed a little. "Oh… so when you kissed me… I was already…"

"Yeah. Infected, for lack of a better word."

Sora stared at the floor then suddenly snapped his head up to Riku, "Then why the Hell did you drink my blood?!"

Riku blushed slightly, "Well, vampires do drink blood. It keeps us alive. It's also, uh, common foreplay for vamps." He cleared his throat and looked away.

Sora wasn't sure what to say to that. The two stood in awkward silence for a minute before the brunette thought of something, "Hey wait, how do you know all this? You've only been a vampire for like, what? A day longer than me."

"Oh, I've been talking with the gang."

Sora tilted his head, "The gang?"

Riku brightened up a bit, "Right. Uh, here, let me explain. This is the Twilight Manor. It used to belong to a wealthy family, but now it's home to all the town's vampires."

Sora quirked an eyebrow, "Twilight Manor? You mean we're in that creepy old mansion just outside of town?"

Riku smiled, "Yep. Not so creepy inside, huh?"

"Wait. There are more vampires?"

Riku snorted, "Of course there are. How do you think I got turned?"

Sora thought for a moment, "Do... do you know who did it?"

Riku walked over to the door and gestured for Sora to follow, "Of course. I'll introduce you."

Sora hesitated. Riku wanted to introduce his best friend to the man who had killed him. That was a strange thought. After seeing that Riku was still waiting for him, he shrugged it off and followed after his friend. The hallways were tall, white, and dimly lit. About half of the over-elaborate ceiling lamps were burnt out, giving the corridor an eerie haunted house effect. The brunette could just imagine a goblin popping out of one of the many doors any second. He sped up his pace a little and walked closer to his friend.

Riku chuckled as he noticed his friend's apprehension. Sora had always been afraid of the dark. Afraid something was waiting to jump out and get him. "There's nothing to be scared of Sora. The things in the dark can't get you if you are the things in the dark."

Sora didn't particularly like the idea of being a 'thing in the dark' but this did make him feel a little better. After all these years of being afraid of what was in the dark, he now knew. Riku finally stopped in front of large door at the end of the hallway. Sora watched as he pulled it open and stepped inside. He followed behind, hesitantly entering the just as dimly lit area. The room was enormous. Large white pillars completely encircled the space. Several couches and easy chairs were dotted all over the place. An immense ornate rug covered practically the entire floor and bookshelves lined the walls. Sora suddenly realized there were other people in the room as well.

Riku smiled at his friend, "Sora, this is the gang. Let me introduce everyone." He motioned to two boys situated in a large armchair. The much taller one, with flaming red hair sticking out in exaggerated points, was sitting in the chair itself. Laying across his lap, with his feet hung over the arm of the chair was a shorter boy, who's blonde hair also stuck out in odd directions, but not as dramatically as his counterparts. "The redhead's Axel. He's the one who turned me. And the blonde's Roxas." Axel placed two fingers to his temple and saluted. Roxas flashed the brunette a smile before nibbling playfully at Axel's neck. Sora waved and smiled awkwardly as the two boys went back to cuddling. Next Riku motioned to one of the couches where yet another fairly tall, fairly skinny boy was seated. This boy however, had dirty blonde hair that stuck straight up on top, but hung fairly normally in the back. Not quite a Mohawk, but not quite a mullet either. He had his arm slung around a shorter blue haired boy, who's right eye was completely covered by said hair. "That's Demyx and that's Zexion." Riku stated. Demyx winked at Sora and tossed him a wry smirk. Zexion nodded and snuggled up close to Demyx, pulling his legs up onto the couch. Sitting on the other end of the same couch were two girls. One with auburn colored hair down to just pass her shoulders. The other with long blonde hair, cascading to about mid back. "And those lovely ladies are Kairi and Namine." Kairi giggled and wiggled her fingers in a sort of wave at Sora while Namine twirled a lock of the redhead's hair in her fingers. She simply winked at Sora, too distracted by the other girl to really give him any sort of proper greeting. Riku smiled back at his friend, "And that's everyone."

Sora looked around the room, taking in everyone's actions. He leaned over to Riku to whisper, "Um... can only gay people become vampires or something?"

Riku snickered, "Um... well, no... but thanks for letting me know I'm not barking up the wrong tree."

Sora nodded, still a little overwhelmed then suddenly looked back at Riku, "Wait. What? I never said I was gay."

Riku chuckled. "You kind of did. You asked if only gay people could become vampires. If you were straight, you would have already known the answer to that question."

Sora blushed, "Well… even if I am gay, who ever said I was attracted to you?"

"Oh, right. So you always go around slipping the tongue to guys you don't find attractive?" Riku smirked.

The brunette folded his arms across his chest and sulked, "Shut up."