Author Notes:You know the drill by now, don't you? OoOoOoOoh, total credit to Zeodyme Delacross for the news report. The name of the complex is mine, but she totally saved me with it, because I was stuck. Thanks bunches! Italicized words: voice over T.V. and voice over phone. Enjoy.

Warnings: Language, references to sex, bit of violence, blah, blah.

Disclaimer: See chapter two.

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Light sighed as he flopped down on his couch, grabbing the remote to turn the T.V. on. He flipped through the channels until he got to the news and left it there. Switching to a more comfortable position, he turned the volume up then picked his book up off the coffee table, listening in as he read.

"And now for the story that has the Kanto area on edge. It appears that there's a murderer on the loose. Four bodies have been found in four different alley ways near the VanPier apartment complex. Students and workers are encouraged to be as cautious as possible.

The evidence of a single murderer is that the people found were killed in similar methods. The bodies were completely devoid of blood, but for what reason remains unknown.

If you see anything suspicious, please contact your local authorities. It is suggested you pair with others that you know to navigate the streets. Good luck, and stay safe.

In other news..."

Light frowned and muttered to himself. "Okay, that's not normal." He shook his head. "That's a right outside my door, too."

He sighed and switched to a laying down position on the couch, his mind going over what he'd heard. People just didn't do things like that. Sure, humans killed each other every day, but this was something different. In the report on the news, there was no blood at the scene. Which means they had to have been drained, obviously. But how, and what kind of a person would do something like that?

"This world is going to hell." Light laid his book back on the table. "And there's no stopping it," he whispered as he drifted off to sleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

L yawned. It was night and he was sleepy. If things weren't abnormal enough yet. Someone was taking out humans one by one in an all too familiar way. Loud and obvious. Someone wanted to be noticed. And at the rate they were going, it was going to happen. There was no way the Regulators would allow this to continue for very much longer. It was too risky for them. They wouldn't allow vampires to be exposed.

After that last report, however, L would be on the look out for another of his kind. Those killings were going on far too close to his human for him to like it any. L wouldn't be able to keep Light in dark on what was going on for very much longer. He was lucky Tobi had tried to take him home that night. It got him in close to Light without being too suspicious. His human was sharp, and he asked just the right questions. He would understand the importance of keeping the secret that L would tell him.

Well, for both their sakes, he hoped so anyhow. L yawned again and growled softly, reluctantly moving from his comfortable position on his couch. After a short walk to the kitchen, he opened his fridge and pulled out a blood pack. The fridge shut, and L bit a hole into the top. The cold liquid made him scrunch his nose up and grimace.

"Oh, that's disgusting." He made another face and poured the cold liquid in a coffee cup, then placed it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. The ding let him know that it was done, and he sipped at it, just in case he hadn't gotten it warm enough. He smiled and nodded. "Mmm, that's much better."

His phone was sitting on the table. He sighed and flipped it open, scrolling down to Light's number. He wanted to call him. It hadn't been but a week since they had last talked that night at the club. Light hadn't been back since. Then again, L had said that he would call him, and he hadn't. Maybe Light thought that L had changed his mind. He hadn't, of course. L closed the phone again and sipped at the blood in his coffee cup.

Before he saw Light again, he had to find out what was going on out there. Who was killing these humans and leaving their bodies where they could be found? Why leave them in the open? The person involved must know that the Regulators wouldn't let them get away with it, so why do it at all? Was it to send a message? To whom? L frowned and shook his head, flipping the phone open and dialing the number of a friend of his. His friend was much younger, but he could get into any vampire's inner circle. He was hyperactive, very bouncy, and he had a kind of child-like innocence that any vampire would try to take credit for.

"Hello?"

"Matsuda? Hi. I need your help with something, if you don't mind."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with the killings on the news, would it?"

L sighed. "You know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"And this is? L, what's going on?"

"I have this human...He's important. These killings are happening in his area, and I don't like that. It makes me think that they're after him, when I know better."

"Oooooh! I don't believe it! L has a human! Hang on and let me mark the calendar!"

L growled and gripped the phone tight. "Matsuda, I'm serious! Knock it off!"

The vampire could just hear the pout on the other end of the phone. "Fine, fine. So, what am I supposed to do?"

"I want you to try and get into this vampire's circle. He's bound to have friends running around somewhere. Go where the killings took place, and see if you can sense anything." He sighed. "Matsuda, be careful."

"Cool. I'm going to play spy. I love this job." After L's warning, it didn't take long for the other vampire to become serious. "Is something going on that you're not telling me about?"

"I don't think so, but I'm sensing something, and I don't like what it is. So, just be careful, alright?"

"Good. I'll be careful, okay? I'm not a fledgling anymore, you know."

L smiled and nodded, though Matsuda couldn't see him. "Perhaps not, but you're a good friend, and I'd hate to lose you because you were careless."

"Well, if anything happens to me, then it'll be my fault and not yours. Do you understand me?"

"Actually, it would be because I sent-"

On the other end, Matsuda growled. "It won't be your fault!"

L hissed, making Matsuda calm himself. "You know better than that, Matsuda."

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound like a challenge. No way to I wanna fight with you."

"Because you would lose."

"Whatever. I'll let you know when I find something out. I can't see this going on for very long. You know about how much tolerance the Regulators have for this sort of thing."

"I agree. Call me the minute you find something out."

"You got it, L! Later!"

"Goodbye, Matsuda."

L closed the phone and went back into the living room to collapse on the couch, his phone falling onto the cushion beside him. The vampire let out a sigh and lay down on his back, looking up at the ceiling. A small sliver of light caught his attention, making him turn his head over towards the window across from his couch. His eyes began to flutter closed as sleep took hold of him. Please, be safe, my Childe.

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As soon as night set in, Matsuda took his leave. The first thing would be to search the spots where the victims were found. Perhaps then, he could get something, anything, that would lead him to the vampire. He grinned as he scanned the area around him. His Sire was worried about him. Maybe one day, Matsuda would tell L where he was heading the night that L had found him.

With another quick glance around, Matsuda took to the sky, being sure to stay away from the streetlights where he would be seen. Flying above the clouds, he headed towards the most recent murder scene.

There was no blood to be found, but then after the way L described it, Matsuda wasn't looking for any. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything else there either. He could just barely catch a scent. It was very faint, and he was still too young of a vampire to track it. Sighing softly, he began walking around the exact place where the body had been. A soft curse left his mouth as he lifted a solid silver chain from the ground.

"Grandsire, what were you doing here?"

Matsuda hastily pulled his phone from his pocket, thankful that he had L's number on speed dial. "Hello?"

The younger vampire looked down at the chain in his hand. "We have a slight problem."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

L welcomed Matsuda into the living room of his apartment. "Make yourself at home."

The other male looked around, a grin on his face. "You know, I can see now why you've never let me visit you here," he commented as he made his way to the couch to sit down. "This place is completely..."

"Filthy. Yes, I know this. I haven't had the chance to clean."

"Uh-huh. When's the last time you talked to that human of yours?"

L narrowed his eyes slightly. "Point taken. Now, what was the problem that you couldn't tell me over the phone?"

Matsuda sighed softly, making L raise a brow and motion for him to get on with it. "Well, this," he replied as he held the silver chain up in front of L's face. "Why would he be there?"

The older vampire let out a growl. "I don't know, but you can bet that I plan to find out. Did you catch his scent?"

Matsuda shook his head. "I caught something, but it was too faint for me to track it. You might have been able, but by now, the scent is gone. I wish you'd have gone with me. We're left with nothing now."

"Not quite. We might still be able to figure it out. Follow the path using your ties with the police. They're bound to find out something eventually."

"Okay, I can do that. Can I ask you something?"

L sighed. He knew the question was coming. It did every time the topic of his Sire was brought up. "What, Childe?"

"Why do you hate Grandsire so much?"

"I'll tell you what, you find out why and how he's involved in these murders, and I'll tell you."

Matsuda nodded. "All right. But why do you think he has anything to do with them? It's not like him to be so careless about dead bodies. He's been in trouble with the Regulators before. Why would he attract attention to himself like this?"

L shook his head. "Haven't we all been in trouble with them at one time or other?"

"No, I haven't. Have you?"

"You're still young, and that's a story for another time."

Matsuda laughed softly and relaxed back into the couch. "Okay, fine. Tell me about this human."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Light groaned and switched positions on the couch. He'd turned on his side, which hadn't proved to be a good idea. The position had him nearly falling off the couch. He'd had the dream again. Same raven hair. No face. Fangs. Onyx eyes. Light blinked. Wait. He sat up rather quickly on the couch, making the room spin. Onyx eyes? When had he inserted those? L's eyes. Or had they always been that color and Light was just noticing because of L? What did that mean? Could it have been L that he had been seeing all along? Come to think of it, the dream's hair was spiked in the same directions that L's was. His body was built the same, from what Light could tell about him.

"I've got to stop watching the news before going to sleep. That and the scary movies have gotta go."

Of course, there was no way that the person was L. He'd been having the dreams before he even met L. His subconscious mind only added the spiked hair because he'd met L. That had to be it. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Light really wanted to see L again. Nothing. At. All.

Light's cell began to ring, as there was a knock at the door. "Damn, I'm a popular guy today."

He grabbed his cell, flipping it open as he went to the door. "Hello?"

"Light?"

"L?"

"Yes. How are you?"

Light grinned as he opened the front door to let a grinning Tobi inside. "I'm good, but I'm wondering who else you think would be answering my phone. You did mean to call me right?"

"Who is that?" Tobi asked.

"It's L."

"Of course I meant to call you, and I'm not used to such humor, so forgive me for not laughing. Is someone with you?"

"Oh, uh, it's alright. I don't mind. And Tobi just walked inside." To his friend he added, "Sit and make yourself at home."

Tobi waved a hand at him, and sat on the couch. On the other end of the phone, L made an annoyed sound. "I can call you back later."

Light shook his head, though L couldn't see him, making Tobi frown. "I can ignore him long enough to talk to you. It has been a week."

Tobi grinned from ear to ear at the last statement, and L's voice took on an amused tone. "Light, you were waiting for me to call?"

"Well, yeah, you did-" He stopped as Tobi began to shake with silent laughter. "I wish you two would stop setting me up."

"We are not above using the same trick twice. It worked the last time didn't it? We just decided why not try again. And you fell right into it just like you did before. Now, I have a question."

Light flipped his middle finger to Tobi, who ran his tongue over his top lip. The auburn head rolled his eyes. "You can ask, but I'm not going to guarantee that I'll answer you."

"Fair enough. I want to see you again. Sometime soon. I have some things that I want to discuss with you. May I come and see you at your place? You can pick what night."

"Um, sure. What's today?"

Tobi frowned as L said, "Um, today? Don't you mean tonight?"

Light looked over at Tobi. "I slept a whole day? What the hell?"

"That's why I'm here. I know I left about three messages on your house phone and at least four on your cell. I was worried. You never miss class, so I came to see what was going on."

"I was asleep."

"Apparently."

"Today is Thursday, Light."

"Friday night would be great."

Light could hear the grin on the other side of the phone. "You're in a hurry to see me, aren't you?"

"I-I am not. I-Fine, okay. Yeah, I wanna see you." He paused then tacked on, "Shut up, Tobi!"

His friend put up his hands in surrender. "I didn't say a word."

Light picked up the pillow sitting on the other side of the couch that Tobi was sitting in and chucked it at the blond. "No, but you were thinking, and from the look on your face, I know what you were thinking about."

"Light's a telepath now?" L laughed out from the other end of the phone.

"And you," Light said, a slight growl in his voice, "you're just as bad. The both of you fit together well; I'm surprised that you didn't hit it off." Light paused and sighed. "Sorry, guys, but I feel better now."

Tobi tipped his head to one side. "Hey, what's got you so stressed out?"

"Put me on speaker, Light. I almost can't hear what Tobi's saying."

Light rolled his eyes and pressed the button on his phone, putting L on speaker. "There. And I'm not stressed, but I haven't felt that great either."

"Tobi, have you noticed anything strange?"

"No," Tobi replied, "but then Light's really good at hiding shit when he doesn't want me to know that something's wrong with him."

"When did you start feeling like this, Light?"

The auburn head shrugged, running a hand through his hair, sitting down in the single chair across from Tobi. "I don't know a few days. Maybe a week. Which is weird because I know that I didn't drink that much at the club. And even if I had it wouldn't be affecting me a week later."

Tobi frowned slightly and cocked a brow. "L? Why does this feel like too much of a coinky dink?"

"I'm sorry, Tobi, a what?"

"A coincidence, L," Light replied.

"Well, don't ask me. I don't have answers for everything, you know. Maybe you're coming down with something, Light?"

Light shook his head. He didn't feel sick, just weird. Not really a bad weird either. "I don't think so. I'm not sick."

They were quiet for a few minutes, making Light began to get fidgety. He got up and went into the kitchen, leaving the phone on the table beside his chair. He grabbed a glass and poured some tea, then walked back into the living room. Tobi looked over at him, shaking his head, a grin on his face. "L, say something. Light's getting restless over here. He's crawling all over me."

Light made an indignant sound about the time L's, "He's what?" came over the phone.

Light looked down at the phone in his hand and grinned. "Why so defensive, L? Sounds like you'd be a bit pissed if I was."

"Where are you sitting?"

"Across from him in the single chair. Why?"

L snickered rather evilly over the phone. "You wait until I see you again, Tobi. Believe me, you're going to get it."

Tobi gulped. "Am I, by any chance, gonna like it?"

"No, more than likely not. I save the pleasure/pain for Light."

Light, who had taken a big gulp of tea, choked and spewed it everywhere. Luckily for Tobi, Light had his head turned slightly to the left, so the liquid missed him. But only by mere inches. "Oh, shit!"

"Dude, Light! Watch that shit! Fuck!"

"What happened?"

"Light just spewed tea everywhere."

Light sat his glass on the table and raised a brow at the blond. "Oh, yeah, because I was totally aiming at you."

"That's exactly what it seemed like. You only missed me by an inch."

"Are you kidding? It wasn't anywhere near you."

"Children!" Both looked over at Light's phone. "Tobi, did it hit you?"

"No," the blond replied with a huff.

"Then why're you complaining?"

Light snickered, making Tobi flip him off. Light rolled his eyes and picked the phone up off the table, holding between them. "Beats me why Light spewed his drink to begin with."

Tobi smirked. "Light's a little innocent. It was the comment you made."

Light swiped his hand at his friend, hoping to catch him upside the head. Tobi dodged, and Light only hit a few stray hairs. "I am not!

"I agree with Light on that. To a degree."

"Why to a degree? I've had sex."

"Yes, but only once. That hardly counts as you said you didn't even like it that much."

"Not to mention that it was more than likely what I like to call 'innocent sex'."

Light frowned, scrunching his nose up. "Huh?"

"What he means, Light, is that you didn't use any sort of bondage equipment, or anything like that."

Tobi grinned. "I dare you to deny it."

Light couldn't, of course. The mention of it made his cheeks heat up. "Very funny. And I'll have you know that I said that I had sex with only one guy, not that I'd had it one time."

Tobi's eyes widened slightly as he shook his head, mouthing, "Don't say it."

However, Light ignored him. "You didn't ask me how many women I'd slept with."

There was silence at the other end of the phone. Tobi's palm connected with his forehead as he groaned. "He's lying, L. You have to know that. It was only like two."

"I seem to have misunderstood. Very well. If you're feeling better, I'll see you Friday, Light." Then the line went dead.

Tobi hopped up from where he was sitting, feeling the need to move around. Light didn't blame him. He felt the same, but he sat still, closing his phone. "Okay, uh, he sounded pissed. You know him better than I do."

"Well, you did lie to him, Light. And he knew you were, is the bad thing about it. You said something you knew you shouldn't have. So, yeah, it's safe to say that he's pissed."

Light sighed and leaned back in the chair, tapping his fingers against the chair arm. "You tried to warn me against it. Like you knew what would happen."

"I just knew what you were about to say."

The way Tobi's eyes shifted away from him, told Light that his friend was lying. Light felt a tug in his stomach as the weird feeling he'd been having came back to him. Light frowned. Tobi had asked L why it was a coincidence. As if he knew something Light didn't. Then L dodged around the question.

"Hey, I'm gonna get going. If you want, I'll call him and see if he's okay."

Light nodded, not moving. "Yeah. Thanks."

Tobi started for the door, then stopped with his hand on the knob. "Light, please. Please don't say something like that again."

With that, the blond left, leaving Light staring after him. So, he was right. Something was going on. He didn't know what, but Tobi was in on it. Light shook his head, a look of disbelief falling over his face. How long had they been in on it together? Light stood suddenly and stomped up the stairs to his bedroom, kicking the piss out of his bed before falling on it.

"Fuck it."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Across town, L tapped his foot against the floor, fighting the urge to break something. Light had lied to him! About being with other people of all things! His human! The growl started and the more L thought about it, the louder it got. Finally, L let all the suppressed rage loose, breaking three chairs and a table when he did.

The vampire snarled out, "Mine!" before heading to Light's apartment. Light may not know he was there, but at least he couldn't take off without L knowing about it.

He took off out of his window, not caring to scan around as he took flight. Behind him, he left his cell, which was ringing on the floor under the broken table.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Below L's apartment, a dark figure smirked, watching the vampire through his open window. He heard the snarled "Mine!" and chuckled. His Childe headed skyward, and the elder vampire began walking down the sidewalk.

"My, my, Lawliet. What's gotten you so angry?"

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Holy crap! Can we say temper tantrums, boys? Next chapter: L and Light's meeting at L's apartment. Light begins to ask questions. And hardcore L/Light doujinshi to the first person that gets the joke on Light's apartment complex's name. It's pretty obvious, though.

TBC...