Man fears the darkness, and so he scrapes away at the edges of it with fire.

Crypt of the Forsaken

Centuries had passed since the beginning of the war between Mortals and Vampires. Stories had been told, altered, parts forgotten, some completely wiped from documents. Roxas Zackary Strife had a long history when it came to vampires, and vampire hunters. The blood coursing through his veins was of that from the very first man to hunt down a vampire, and form the 'organization'. A bored looked crossed his bright blue eyes as he turned to look out the window, starting to tune out his teacher as the woman spoke of the 'dark ages', involving the massacre of many mortals by vampires. The woman caught this and folded her arms, shifting her weight to her left leg. "Mr. Strife! I was instructed that it is very important that you listen very carefully to this lesson."

"Vampires no longer exist among the living. It's just an old wives tale. And even if they did still exist, if you haven't noticed, they're probably enjoying it, sitting back and laughing. Do you know why, Ms. Gainsborough?" He asked, slowly pulling his gaze back to the teacher. She gave him a questioning look, tilting her head as she waited for his answer. "Because, humans are killing each other. They're probably laughing about it, calling it karma for the countless, pointless murders. Vampires are no different than humans, if you ask me. Not much different, anyway." He stated, standing and grabbing his messenger bag. "Excuse me. I can't sit in this class any longer."

The group of children in the room watched him. Roxas was different from the rest of the vampire hunters. He didn't believe that vampires were as bad as people made them out to be. Not all of them, anyway. And he knew for a fact that half of the myths were just that; myths. Some of them were a little scared, and some of them were in shock. The necklace around his neck caught the light as he stood, and the door opened.

All motions stopped and Roxas looked over to the door. Silence filled the room as his grandfather walked into the room, his eyes catching Roxas' for a brief moment. Roxas was quick to sit back down and watched as Gale walked over to the teacher and handed her something, whispering something to her. She nodded and looked up to the class. "Read silently from your text books, chapter nine." She said, following the man outside. Roxas lowered his eyes to the book he pulled from his bag and his eyes became half lidded.

He was alive, so not all vampires could be that bad. Could they?

Roxas was definitely different from the rest of the vampire hunters. His mother fell in love with a vampire. His mother was also a man. Turning his arm over, he ran his fingers along the scar that traced his vein from his wrist, up to his elbow. He couldn't remember when he had gotten the scar, he just knew that it was never going to go away. The sixteen-year-old shoved the book back in his bag and turned his eyes back to the window, resting his cheek against his palm as he closed his eyes. The heart shaped pendant reflected the rainbow in the light, the colors unusually bright in the sun light.

Subconsciously, he reached up and began playing with the pendant. He had no idea how upside down his life was about to turn.

Roxas Strife let a sigh pass his lips, the tips of small fangs brushing against the flesh, causing his heart to pound in his chest out of fear as his eyes snapped open, his hand clamping against his mouth.

-Panda-