Silverwolf: Since I'm nice, I uploaded the first chapter along with the prolouge. 'Course, you'll probly kill me for the cliffhanger. Don't worry though! I'm working on the second chapter as we shpeak :D Mainly cause Cassy is yelling at me and probly will kill me if I don't continue, but...

Fluffy: o.o Right..I'll read this when you finish -.- you CAN do this alone, correct?

Silverwolf: Uhhhh...SURE! Why couldn't I? Hehe..he...

Fluffy: -eyes suspiciously- Right. Well, Silver doesn't own Digimon, Tripps, or hot topic! She'd be rich if she did..huh..forgot to disclaim the last chapter.. :D Oh well people can get it here!


"Tai, I don't know why you took on the bright idea that he can help us. He's probably going to lead us right into a trap." Matt huffed, opening a carton of Orange juice and drinking it. "Well, is there anything we can't handle? We'll be FINE, Matt. We're stronger than any vampire out there! You saw how easy it was to get that kid…" Tai glanced over at the basement. "Yeah Tai, but that was a kid. He's weak." Matt said blatantly. "But how do you know he's not really experienced or anything? Hell. He could be older than us! Or anywhere near, at least.." Tai said, crossing his arms. Matt rose an eyebrow. "..What are you hinting at? You don't know anything, do you?" Matt asked, giving him a strange look.

Tai faltered. "Uh..no, 'course not, but you gotta think of how he was actin'…He cursed, and he probably wouldn't have done that if he was his normal age, huh? He's got to be older than he looks. He doesn't act like he should. And if he's older then that, then it should be fairly easy to take on the rest of them! We just gotta do it one at a time. Come on. Have we ever given up on a situation before?"

"No, but--" Matt started, but Tai cut in. "Well I'm not going to start now!" he said, jumping up from the couch. Matt could only stare at his friend, the only idiot in the world with enough stupidity to make him want to go after a thousand vampires with only his fist and a dinky little piece of wood. He shook his head. "..Fine. If this kid helps us, you win. If he turns out to be lying, I kill him, and I win." He said, crossing his arms. Tai shrugged. "Fine with me. But we gotta get the answers out of him. He didn't look very ready to spill when we got him off of that tree." He said, scratching his chin. Matt sighed and fell over onto the couch. It was gonna be a long night.


Meanwhile


Takeru sat up and rubbed his head, looking around. Where am I? He wondered. Everything was completely dark, but that was a good thing, he guessed. Suddenly a stream of light burst down from a spot above him, and he screeched and flew under a nearby cardboard box. "Hey midget, ya in here?" Tai called, walking down the steps. He wasn't afraid of this kid; he couldn't do shit to him, since he couldn't bite him. He suddenly felt a weight on his back and a claw at his neck. "Who are you, what am I doing here, and better yet, WHERE AM I!?" Takeru yelled. Tai yelped. "That's my EAR!" he hollered, shoving Takeru off. Takeru blinked. "Oh. Sorry. But seriously, where am I?" He asked, looking around.

"You're in Matt's basement. We brought you here 'cause my genius acting convinced Matt to bring you back. Oh, and I came down here to give you this." He said, tossing a bag at Takeru. The shorter caught it, the package wobbling in his grip. He sniffed it, before raising an eyebrow. "Where'd you get this?" He asked, inspecting it. Tai blinked. "My last hunt. I'm a half vampire, so I don't have to do it that often. I think that's from a couple of months ago." Takeru's eyes flew open. "Holy shit! How big was the person you killed?" He asked, giving Tai an odd look. Tai blinked. "Well, he was really fat, had on this red outfit. Think he mighta been Santa Claus." He said, scratching his chin. Takeru gasped loudly. "You killed SANTA CLAUS!? Why!? He didn't do anything to you! Why'd you kill him!?" He asked, giving Tai a stricken look. Tai stared at him blankly. "You…you mean, you still believe in that stuff?" He asked, scratching his head. Takeru frowned. "What? You mean he's not real!?" He asked, his jaw dropping.

Tai blinked. "…Never mind. Mighta been a mall Santa." He said, deciding to resolve the issue. Takeru let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Phew! You know, you almost had me worried there for a second." He said, before sinking his fangs into the bag. After finishing with it, he tossed it back to Tai, who held it up like a soiled diaper. "Ew." He commented, before the thing burst into flames and disintegrated into ash before it hit the ground. Takeru smirked. "That was cool." He said, stretching. Tai nodded. "You know what kid? I like you, what's your name?" he asked, crossing his arms. Takeru stopped dead. "…Uh…" He paused. This was Matt's friend, so he surely remembered him, but maybe not recognized. If he said his name, he was in deep shit. "Uh, it's T.K." he said, crossing his own arms.

Tai raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Whatever you say kid." He commented, before turning. "Wow. Dark already. Might as well come upstairs, we gotta question you." Tai said, heading up the stairs. Takeru groaned audibly. He hated questioning. However, he followed Tai at his own pace, glaring at cobwebs and watching as they fell from their place at his mere gaze. He smirked, but quickly stopped once he reached the top of the stairs. Matt was standing near the couch with all the enthusiasm of a dog that'd gotten hit by a motorcycle. You know, when they see another one go by and they aren't one of the stupid ones who still wanna chase them.

"Uh…" Takeru paused, fiddling with one of the strings that had come dislodged from the edge of his sleeve. Matt simply pointed to the couch, and Takeru gave it a dirty look before sitting next to it. He didn't care if it got him found out, he WASN'T gonna sit there. Even when he'd been human he hadn't sat on that couch. Ever. In his life. He had never done it, and he didn't want to start now, but the reason for that is a different story. As in, not the one we're telling. Anyways. Matt gave him an odd look, but refused to comment. "So." He spat, giving the younger a dirty look. "Where exactly is this...base you speak of?" He asked, walking a few inches closer to him. Takeru blinked. No use in lying or refusing to tell, that'd get him killed. Plus, if he stuck with these guys, would he really get killed?…It was a chance he'd take.

"Well, let's see…we're in Odaiba...hmm…then a—Well, I know it's a few hours North from here…by car…" he grimaced. Soooo much hitch hiking. "B-but it's hidden, to everyone who isn't a vampire unless you know it's there, so, since you know it's there, th-there shouldn't any problems, and it's really big and it's stone, kinda like a castle but it's NOT a castle, so don't look for one. It's a single tower, but it's reallllyyyyy tall and it has a lot of windows but there's only one door and---" "OKAY! We get the point. So it's a tower. A few hours north of here. Do you know it's exact location? Could you direct us if we got into it's general area?" Matt interrupted. Takeru nodded. "Good. We leave in a few months..need time to prepare ourselves." And so, Matt was now in this self-listening rant on how he needed to prepare, which was muttering that no one else could really understand that well so it didn't matter anyways.

A few hours later, some time around 2:00 A.M., Tai declared that he had to leave. Of course, he didn't get out of Matt's house easily, but eventually, he got to leave so he could get a few hours' sleep before the dreaded school day. Matt didn't trust the kid enough to leave him alone in his house, so he locked him in the basement and fell asleep on the couch. He woke up the next morning, got dressed, went to school, and thought nothing more of the evil little midget that dwelled in his basement. Only, if he'd paid attention, he'd have remembered that vampires are TRAINED to pick locks, so he was really letting loose a very smart and oddly childish vampire to roam the city, which was EXACTLY what didn't need to be. At least not in Odaiba.

Takeru woke up, noticing it was no lighter than it had been when he'd gone to sleep. Aaah, no telling what time it was. He dug around in his pockets before pulling out a dusty blue vial. He grimaced, drank the contents, and chucked the vial at the wall. He started up the stairs and tried the door, raising an eyebrow as he realized it was locked. "…Okay, did he really think that would keep me in here? Jeez, Matt…" he mumbled, before grinning, pulling a small thin blade from his pocket, and unlocking the door. Sure enough, sunlight hit him full in the face, stinging his eyes, but that was what the VIAL was for! He slunk out of the basement and down the hall to a room that had previously belonged to a younger child, one that was buried in the back of Matt's mind from the moment he'd died so that painful memories couldn't resurface.

He opened the door, expecting it to be cleaned out, but was surprised to see that NOTHING had even been touched. He looked around, before going to the closet and looking down. Well, now he knew where that sandwich had gone…wow..they get kinda green after a few years' neglect! He pinched his nose, before digging around and pulling out some new clothes, changing into them and then shutting that cursed closet door to block out the stench of VERY SERIOUSLY old sandwich. He got out of that room, closed the door, and left the house.

It was a few hours later when he arrived at a mall, slinking in and looking around. He snuck past the attendants and into the nearest Hot Topic. He got plenty of strange looks, be sure of that, but it didn't stop him from marching up to the counter with a black shirt that read 'vampires attract aids' and a pair of red-stitched Tripps. (AN: FUCKING GAWSH I WANT A PAIR OF THOSE! TT Anyways..) The clerk stared at him and his Discover card—the one he'd taken from that one guy that he'd fed off of a few months ago. AND HOLY FEGGIN SHIZZLE IT STILL WORKED! Anyways. He walked out of the store wearing the stuff, getting even MORE weird looks, but this was just peachy with him--- he had plenty of stuff that he could do to the next person who gave him a weird look. He looked down at his watch and noticed it was somewhere around 4:30, meaning Matt was probably home, and probably wondering where his renegade captive had gone. Ooooh, was he in for it.

Takeru slunk into the house and looked around, blinking. Empty? He crept over to the phone and dialed Tai's number, frowning. When the aforementioned person picked up, Takeru put on his best disinterested voice. "Where's Matt?" He asked, looking at his hand. There was silence on the other end, before Tai answered. "…Out looking for you. Where the HELL were you?" Tai demanded. Takeru's heart dropped, before Tai started laughing. "What?" Takeru asked in confusion. "Ha..haha, just kidding, he'd on a date with Sora. She wanted him to take her to the movies, so she kinda…dragged him there.." Tai trailed off. "Okay, okay, it isn't that funny. You're lucky if he comes back alive." Takeru could hear the grimace in Tai's voice, and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. As long as he isn't leaving me in here to rot or anything similar--" "Wait, how are you able to talk on the phone? It's in the living room, and that window's always open, and it's light outside--" "I had a potion with me. Think it's outdated though. No telling. But really, I gotta get off here before--" Takeru froze and quickly dropped the phone onto the cradle before dashing into the basement and closing/locking the door, in just enough time to hear the front door open. He let out a breath, before jumping over the side of the staircase.

The basement door opened and Matt stepped in, looking around. "Where are you?" he asked, voice devoid of anything except mild hate. Takeru winced and looked up from his spot near the stairs. "Hiding." He rasped. "Close the damn door." He added, coughing. Matt seemed to think about this, before shaking his head. "No. You'll attack me. I'm not stupid." Matt said. Ohohohohoh, I beg to differ. "Fine then, but I'm not moving." Takeru answered, crossing his arms. Matt sighed, but didn't give in. "Whatever. I was just making sure you were still here." He said, before turning and closing the door. '

Wait, had that been a test? Of COURSE Matt wasn't stupid enough to just leave him with a locked door..he just planned to see if he could trust Takeru not to run off. Takeru's eyes widened at the realization. OOOH. If he were to run off, Matt could probably just track him down and annihilate him if he so wished. He shook his head and paced the basement, glowering at the floor. He needed blood again in a few days, and he'd be damned if he'd sit in this stupid basement and wait. He paused as he knocked into a box, looking down at it..somewhat more at it, since it was almost level with him. He tipped it, looking in. Some of his old junk was still in there. And of course, sitting on the top…

"YUI!" he yelled, taking the near-destroyed panda out. The stitches were torn in places, and eye popped out, a coca-cola stain on the stomach. The true signs of a beloved toy gone through hell and back. Ahh. Yep. Takeru winced. Wow. He needed to take better care of his stuff. Soon enough he was wishing he'd never yelled, because the door flew open. He instinctively hissed and flew under the stairs. Matt descended, turning once he was at the bottom of the stairs and looking at Takeru. "So.." he commented. Takeru jumped. Uh oh. Matt probably knew who he was now, since he had to go and YELL! What was he going to do if Matt did know?

…Probably die.


Silverwolf: oo; Does matt know? Will he kill poor Takeru? I DONNO! Well, I do, but YOU GOTTA WAIT HAH!

Fluff: Hah, they're gonna kill you.

Silver: Hehe...oh well..if they doo...I can RUN TO MEXICO! -dodges Cassy trying to strangle her- EEP! x.x Read and review please folkie wolkies!