Hello to you all! I actually read some things on Wikipedia about Vampire Knight just to see where the manga stood and what was happening to the anime. Clearly, a bunch of crap happened that I wasn't even aware of. So, what I'm doing with this fiction now is actually changing it just a bit. I want to go into more of the vampire hunters' world since the manga artist was more into the vampires' world. As I was reading through this fiction from start to finish, I realized that it wasn't following through with my plot and summary and some stuff was beginning to repeat itself. Oops... Rather than just add new chapters to try to force it to go back to how I wanted it, I decided to re-edit the chapters. This is a heads-up to any new and/or visiting readers. The chapters are going to go through some changes. If you read the first chapter yesterday, for example, and you see that the same chapter changed today, that means I changed it a while ago. Enough of this mindless chatter, you may now enjoy a newly written pilot episode...

So we're back here again, huh? How long has it been since you've been behind bars, waiting and hoping for someone and no one to see you? How many days have you wished someone would throw scraps of food or crumbs to you? How much does your throat burn and plead for water? Do you like the silence, demon? Hearing your own breathing, hearing your shackles only twitch and moan as you move them or struggle to make sure your blood is flowing properly, hearing that motherfucking water just drip from the pipe every forty minutes? Do you remember being here? Welcome home, monster... No matter how much you try to save the humans, no matter how many times you've helped the vampires, you're here again... locked away like an animal!

Water dripped from the ceiling in slow drops, not signifying time, space, or sanity. It was just...slow. Drip...drip...dr...ip. Hours could have gone by in only seven drops of filthy water, but hours could also go by being shackled to a wall and receiving the daily beatings of cruel vampire hunters who find pleasure in breaking one of their own men. The water from the pipe, located just below the ceiling but emerging from the stone walls like death's pointed finger focusing on the prisoner, was the only teller of time. There was nothing in the prison cell except the pipe, the water, and the small inkling of sunlight that gave the pipe an ominous glint. There were stone walls surrounding the prisoner and only a fragment of one of the most feared, loved, and respected vampire hunters in the Hunters' Association. A door opened in the distance, stirring the prisoner for only a second before it opened its silver, glowing eyes slightly, and footsteps were heard coming down the corridor toward its cell.

The cell's door, a metal barricade from it and the corridor, was opened and four men entered its prison cell. Two of the men proceeded towards the prisoners and faced two other men to await orders. Both men had silver hair and were tall. They dressed in the traditional vampire hunter trenchcoat, but each one had a cape with different designs and colors along the back. These capes symbolized a high ranking in the Hunters' Association. One of the men dressed in a black and silver cape, who was also the oldest amongst the men, walked toward the prisoner and spoke in a strong voice to it.

"Nix Kaasu..." the man said, seeing that the prisoner's attention had been gained. "Due to a lack of evidence of which was meant to prove you were the murderer of Dengen Akai, superior and leader of the Hunters' Association in Aisu, you have been given a trial in both the Vampire Senate's court and ours. The jury found you not guilty of murder and dropped all charges against you. You are being released from prison as of today."

The other man, much younger than the one speaking, dressed in a black and purple cape took out a semiautomatic pistol and shot the chains holding the prisoner up from the ceiling, down from the floor, and straight on the back wall. Kaasu Nix was a vampire huntess who was framed for the death of one of the most highly-regarded figures since the president, Akai Dengen, and had been sentenced to death after serving at least fifteen years in prison. Being starved for food and away from water for five years, she was fairly skeletal and weak. Kaasu fell to her knees and struggled to stand after not touching the ground for two years. The guards helped her up and escorted her out of her prison, following the two men dressed in capes. The younger man, who shot Kaasu free, looked back at the officer and sighed with regret and guilt in his eyes and disposition. This woman was the top vampire hunter in three different countries, yet she was forced to starve and be thirsty for five years straight with ten more to follow! How she managed to survive at all was a wonder for him because he was sure hope and resilience were taken from her after a year.

The man thought of what to say to his subordinate and said honestly, "We are sorry you had to go through all of this, Officer Nix. I know this will mean nothing to you, but I I am glad you have returned..."

Kaasu said nothing but looked up through her thick, black hair and listened to him. The elder man looked at the girl, seeing a shriveled up woman dressed in a potato sack and shackles barely able to walk. In his heart, he was terribly sorry. She had so much potential to be the next president and that's what was a major concern. The president was dead and had been dead for a while, but no one knew of his death or the details. They needed someone to investigate and she was the only candidate. Though he and many of the other high-ranked officers like him don't want to say this aloud, they owed the vampires of the senate a great deal. One, they saved their best agent's life and maybe even the world's if their assumptions about a war coming is correct.

The elder man said remorsefully, "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us... All of us... for what we did to you. Because... our world is in the middle of something that we can't stop without you..."

"What can't two superiors, who can control an army of up to fifteen hundred a piece, stop?" the woman asked in a bitter, relentless, and angry voice.

"A three-sided war..."

The younger of the two superiors scowled at the mention of the war and then reached a hand out to open the door that led to the outside world. The sunlight burned her eyes and skin so much and so fast she hissed and tried to block her eyes. She hadn't seen the light of day in five years. What did the men expect when she crumbled to the ground?

"You could've warned me!" Kaasu remarked, uncovering her eyes and trying to stand on her own. There was a car waiting for her, or waiting for them. She stood hunched over and asked, "Whose car is that?"

"Byoki Kiri's. He wanted to take you home," the older said, smirking. "He didn't say whose."

"It's funny..." the younger officer said. "He kept saying he was your conjugal."

"He says a lot of things..." Kaasu remarked. "Superior Delacroix. Superior Takeda. May I borrow a cane from either of you?"

Delacroix, the younger superior, looked at the guards and nodded to them in a silent order to produce some sort of walking crutch for the woman. Only one of them moved to retrieve a nearby wooden dowel used for standing plants. Kaasu took the dowel and walked across the grass in lumbering movements away from the car entirely.

Takeda called out to her, "Officer Nix! Your escort is waiting for you in the opposite direction."

Kaasu turned to him slightly and said, "I have not felt the ground beneath my feet in years, superior. I want to see how the world has changed."

"You should at least tell Master Kiri. He came all this way to see you," Takeda argued, seeing the car move a bit to follow her.

"He knows I mean no offense," she said, waving at the car only slightly and continuing her walk. She said, "If there is a war coming, let me see how we are preparing for it."

"Let us also see the world, Takeda-sensei," Delacroix suggests, touching the man's shoulder then following behind the woman. He said, "This is a child born from war. Her eyes must see things in a different light compared to ours."

One year later...

Fog thickened in the humid night air. Walls of white cascading and ascending into the smoot and clouds of the forest night were blocking off anyone's and everyone's vision if they dared to look into the forest. Twelve teenagers lay dead in the forest out of curiosity to see what sort of life could survive in the fog. Ten police officers joined trying to investigate what could have caused the disappearence of twelve children. Each victim had one distinct feature at the site of killing that made this investigation very easy to solve for a special kind of detective: teeth marks and mulled faces. This was the work of a vampire, and killing it was the work of a vampire hunter.

The fog transformed into cold, dank, and foul-smelling weapon to escape his enemies. He needed it feed and survive. If he could make it thicker, it could smother his pursuer, and it could make the faintest hint of a cough turn to pneumonia. He had to formulate some plan to escape, some plan to get away in order to survive. When the vampire caught the scent of a comrade, he let the fog simmer a little. He could feed off the comrade's blood and possibly survive a lot longer without virgin blood. He heard the crunch of leaves underneath his comrade's footsteps and waited until the other vampire got close enough to him. His red eyes glowing proudly through the fog and the crunching of the leaves sounding stronger than even a foghorn in his ears.

Then, a gunshot boomed and a bullet ripped through the fog and humid air and pierced the vampire attacker through his shoulder. The vampire screeched in pain and proceeded to run. That was a vampire hunter, but it smelled just like a vampire! Why? He raced through the forest, mindlessly stepping on broken glass from old beer bottles dropped by the teenagers he slayed. His pursuer would show no such mercy to him if he caught up with him, he saw it in his blaring eyes of glowing crimson. He thought their eyes were alike, but, in reality, they were nothing alike. He was more machine than man, more heartless than considerate, much swifter than torturous. All he knew was to hunt, and all he could manage was to be hunted. Why must he be hunted? Because he has dropped to Level E and killed many innocent people. Now, he must be punished for such a red sin...

BANG! No, he is punished...with a death sentence...

"You vampires are all the same. You think you can get away with shit."

"Wait!" the hunted shouted, holding up his hand. "I have a message for a vampire hunter I once knew... Please..." the vampire said, looking up to his killer's face but only seeing the outline of it and his silver hair blowing with the wind. The fog was lifting now that he was dying. He said, struggling to breathe, "There's an estate in Corviere on the countryside where a man named Byoki Kiri once lived. In the basement, there's a treasury with an apocrypha that may help stop the war. Tell her...f-for...m-me... Please..."

"What was her name?" the hunter asked.

The vampire lay on his back, feeling his body and soul leaving this world and said in a small breathe, "My love...Isobelle Dengen..."

With that, the vampire closed his eyes and smiled as death claimed him. The vampire hunter knelt down before the vampire and held a moment of silence for the vampire. He loved a vampire hunter even though he was a vampire. He didn't even try to fight back. He just hid away, trying to regain his strength. The vampire hunter stood and looked at the vampire one last time before his body disintegrated to dust.

"I will send the message, vampire. I can only hope your Isobelle can forgive me," the vampire hunter said, walking away from the body. "I forgive you for what you have done."

"Fantastic job, son! You have grown to be a handsome, talented vampire hunter over the past six years! Daddy is so pro - !"

"How many times must we go over your ridiculous behavior?" Toga Yagari asks, annoyed and holding his already-swung rifle in its place on Kaien Cross's head.

"Ow, you big meanie..." Kaien painfully whispers as he descends onto his desk.

Zero sighed at Kaien and then just shook his head to Toga for hitting him. He could have done it himself. Zero was in Kaien's office at Cross Academy after returning from his mission last night to report the details so they could be filed in Kaien's personal library. Kaien Cross was still his usual cheerful and eccentric self, and Toga Yagari still has his smoking habits. Then there was him, Zero Kiryuu, still as ruthless and easily provoked as always. Ah, what a happy family... But Zero has to consider the fact that they have become family. He may be on his own at 23 now, but he still has them to thank for getting paid for his protective services as a campus bodyguard and vampire hunter.

He's actually learned a lot more about them over the years than he knew when he was younger. One of the things he learned from Kaien is that he hasn't aged since he reached 24, and this is because of his vampire genes. He doesn't know his actual age quite yet, but in human years Kaien stated he would be about 38. From Toga, he learned that he was from another city called Aisu. Zero wanted to know more of both of their stories, but they just wouldn't explicate any further details. He was only left with "I'm not from here" and "I've lived for little over ten of your lifetimes." That doesn't help much, but Zero waited until the time came where they said more about themselves. After all, they knew just about everything dealing with him. It's only fair he knew something too, right?

"Where's your report?" Toga asked, strapping his rifle back onto his back.

Zero pushes a manilla envelope towards his mentor, Toga Yagari, and waits for the last bits of useful information before leaving Kaien's office. All hunters had to file a report of their mission two weeks following its completion. The purpose of this is to clarify who was assigned the mission in case something were to go wrong, such as a vampire being resurrected, and have them take care of it again. Zero completed this task with ease since the mission was simple and only took him an hour. Toga normally takes the reports so they may be catalogued in the main library of the Hunters' Association base in Corviere, but no one actually files them. Toga just places the reports under the hunter's name; if you wanted the report elsewhere, you had to file it yourself. Zero didn't necessarily care so long as it went somewhere, but he was ready to get some rest and cared about sleeping. He had another three hours before he had to do his duties as a prefect at Cross Academy.

"Did the vampire bring a friend to greet you?" Toga asked jokingly.

"No," Zero answered, scowling at Toga. He kept his serious frown and said, "He only gave me a message. The vampire knew a woman named Isobelle Dengen who is a vampire hunter. He said there was a treasury in an estate owned by Byoki Kiri located on the countryside in Corviere. Only the woman would know where that is unless someone researched something about it. He said there was something in the treasury that could stop an oncoming war."

"I've never heard of anyone named Isobelle Dengen. Have you sent anyone named Dengen on a mission recently, Toga?" Kaien asked, turning to the man.

Toga alerted both Zero and Kaien when the man went visibly stiff and held his breath. For a moment, they both could see him shiver then stiffen up again. Toga took a deep breath and then replied, "I've...never heard of anyone named Isobelle, but I know someone named Dengen. Superior Akai Dengen is the head of the Hunters' Association in Aisu. With his reputation, he may as well be president, prime minister, and king."

"Aisu? That's where you're from," Zero reminded everyone. "Is Isobelle maybe the superior's daughter or relative?"

"I don't know," Toga said in little above a whisper. "No one knows anything about Akai. He's the most private man to walk the Earth. We would have to send a message to one of the other superiors there. Ask one of them about Isobelle Dengen."

"Well, there's no need for that," Kaien says, earning looks from both Toga and Zero. He looked at both of them, not understanding why he was getting such strange looks, and then said, "There's a banquet being held in Precinct 38, District VI. That's where Aisu is located. It's held there every year in that area."

"What precinct and district are we? Now that you've caught my interest," Zero says.

"The Hunters Association here is Precinct 41, District III. Only seven precincts have survived over the years and up to eight districts have been formed," Toga briefly informs.

"If you don't want to go to the party, we can ask the testing services to determine your ranking as a member of the Hunter Association. In all the years you've been a hunter, I've noticed that no one has given you a rank of officer or high apprenticeship," Kaien says.

"Perhaps, if you keep beefing up your reputation the way you do, you will be recommended by other officials to go to the testing services for a ranking. Anything could happen, you know?" Toga suggests.

"Where will you be when all of this is happening?" Zero asks, more interested.

"We'll all probably be in the city. The last time I went there to see what they do, it lasted for an entire week and everything was free! I ate for hours non-stop!" Kaien shouts, remembering all the food he ate.

"While your 'daddy' is fantasizing about these luxurious dishes and treats, I will inform you of the rest as far as I know. The banquet is more of a promotional thing. Some hunters go there strictly for rankings. Others go there to see the other branches of the Hunters' Association," Toga said.

"Oh! Before I forget. We will be leaving Thursday night, so I've taken the liberty of telling the Day Class and Night Class students to stay home while we go on vacation!" Kaien excitedly informed.

"Please tell me you didn't say it like that," Toga pleaded.

"Did you tell the faculty and staff the same thing?" Zero asked.

"Not yet, but I will make the announcement when they arrive this morning and another time this afternoon," Kaien said, taking his eyeglasses off.

"What about this message that Zero has?" Toga asked. "If there is a war about to start, the others should know. We can't slack off at some party for long. We have to find Isobelle Dengen as soon as possible and investigate the Kiri estate."

"If you're going to Aisu, where Dengen is located, then there's no choice but to relay the message personally," Zero said, folding his arms. "Since I was there and I was the one who executed the vampire, it would be better if I went to them and told them what that vampire told me."

"Then it's settled! We're going on vacation, fellows!" Kaien exclaimed in a sing-song tone.

"Can three people use the same invitation?" Zero asks.

"Hm? Yes, of course. My invitation is limited to four guests!" Kaien gleefully responds.

"I see..." Zero said, turning to walk away from the desk. He turns back around as if remembering something important and suggests, "Master. Who is Byoki Kiri? Do you know that person as well?"

"If the vampire knew him, Kiri is either another vampire like him or a vampire hunter, but the name Kiri doesn't ring a bell in the slightest. I'll have to look into it thoroughly," Toga responded. "That's the most we can do for now. If Kiri is someone important, this is a matter that needs to be brought to the Vampire Council."

"Call me when you find anything," Zero said, leaving. "Going someplace might be a nice change of scenery from all this war and death."