So I was looking at chapter 2 and thinking to myself 'self, this is utterly abysmal, how dare you publish a chapter with under 700 words?' And so I went through every other chapter re-writing in an attempt to not allow such a travesty to re-occur...so I grant a 3k chapter as an offering. :) Again thank you all who have Favorited/followed.

*Just cleaning up this chapter.

Chapter 3: Light POV

"It almost seems as though the city is falling to ruins. People are disappearing every night and every day new bodies are being discovered. It's though the police aren't even doing anything."

"I heard that those found had their throats torn out, you don't think…"

Light turned his attention from the speaker and glared out of the classroom window. What he would give to be in a nest right now, vampires cowering in fear, slowly but surely meeting the coveted kill total. He had returned late the night before, drenched and angry. Not only had he run the risk of catching a cold, he hadn't been able to gain a single decent kill. It was frustrating considering how close he was to surpassing the kill total of his family combined. Sayu had managed to snag a quaint twelve, his mother twenty-five and his father rested on forty-five. Eighty-two kills to the family name and Light's own total rested on eighty. He was adamant that the kill that previous night wouldn't count, it not only was too easy, and it was an embarrassment. No, Light would rather stay on eighty kills then add that one to it. Even if it would have already been registered within the 'all-knowing' machine.

Lulled into a meditative state by the endless drone from the teacher, Light was slow to realize that the class had turned their attention to him. Refusing to look as though he had been caught unaware; despite that being the case, Light glanced at the teacher who was wearing a concerned expression.

"Is something wrong Yagami?" Light shook his head the moment the words left the teachers mouth. "Well then, as I was saying, you're apparently being signed out for the rest of the day." The teacher extended his hand with the white-slip and Light hurried to leave.

He never was contacted this early whilst at school. And on the rare occasion should it happen, meant that there was a hunt in progress and his help was needed. He wanted a nest and it seemed as though the hunter god answered. Within minutes of leaving the classroom Light was seated in his father's car with the rest of his family and a car of family friends following behind. This many hands showed that the nest was a dangerous one, and that nobody was willing to take chances.

"Here dear, take these." His mother handed over three stakes and two silver blades; blades which were kept out of sight unless hunting old-ones. Sayu took the weapons offered to her and they both began attaching them to their respective places. Light adding a bottle of lighter-fluid and a lighter to his small arsenal. One never knew when they may need to burn the corpse of an old-one. Sayu even grabbed a water bottle of holy water, not that Light didn't use it, just that he preferred to ensure that the vampires were killed and not just badly burnt.

"How big is the nest?" Light asked even as his father took them further out of civilization. The car behind following closely. "It's clearly big enough to be too dangerous for the four of us."

"Reports put the number at twenty-five fledglings, all suffering from the blood-lust. There have been no confirmed reports of old-ones within the vicinity." Soichiro answered as he stopped the car 800m away from any houses. Vampires had good hearing, and the sound of the cars would put them on alert. Just because they couldn't go out during the day didn't mean that they couldn't be awake during it.

The car behind them came to a stop and the people within began to file out. Light scanned the fellow hunters, not knowing any of them, but being the kind of person he was, Light was all smiles and proved why he was the 'perfect' son. Matsuda was apparently from one of the original twelve bloodlines, but his strand had been diluted over the centuries, he also worked in the NPA and had met Soichiro during a solo hunt some time back. Light was still coming to terms with the fact that Matsuda had managed to survive long enough to meet up with the pure blood family. Mikami was an attorney who hunted in his spare time, and Light had to admit that he looked good whilst in his element. Strong features, eyes that showed some intelligence hidden behind glasses and styled black hair. He had to have come straight from work, because he was dressed in an expensive looking tailored suit complete with a tie. Though Light couldn't judge his fellow hunter's clothing choice, he had, after all, just come from school and was wearing the uniform which consisted of a cheap light brown imitation of Mikami's own.

"So is there a plan?" He asked, not really caring for an answer but doing so out of curtsey, dragging his eyes away from his fellow hunter. Older men and black hair, his downfall.

"In and out, with no funny business. If you get in trouble, ask for help, don't let them sneak up on you. I think that we should be going in pairs." Soichiro looked at Sayu, "Sayu, you and your mother are a team, Matsuda and I, Light and Mikami. Is everyone clear?" Heads were nodded in understanding. "Let's go then, remember, one loud noise and the whole plan changes." With that we began to separate into the smaller teams, everyone on edge and glancing around for signs of an old-one.

The house was surrounded by fairly thick bush land, so as well as avoiding low hanging branches we had to ensure that we didn't step on a fallen branch. That would alert any old-ones to our presence and that could get ugly. Minutes in and they soon lost sight of the other teams, the only thing Light could hear was the sound of breathing, both his and Mikami's. Shifting his grip on the stake Light glanced over his shoulder, ensuring that Mikami was keeping up, startled to find him closer than expected. With a slight nod Light returned to making his way through the bush land, the wooden house rising out of the surrounding bush land.

'That's good, if the need arises we can burn the house down with the leeches inside it.' It was loud and messy, but it got the job done whilst in a pinch. 'And they left the windows unbarred, how kind of them.' Light couldn't believe how ignorant the fledglings were. Not only were they grouped together, they were living in a wooden house with unbarred windows and gas instead of electricity.

It seemed as though he and Mikami were approaching from the east, a backdoor within sight. From there it was easy to gain access within the house, barely making a sound as the door glided open on well-oiled hinges. Light cast a quick scouting glance around the immediate area; still basking in the protection of the sun, signs of life evident in the cluttered room. There were no vampires Light could see, that didn't mean that they weren't there.

Clasping the silver stake in a tighter grasp Light entered the house with Mikami hot on his heels. It was evident that they were the first team to make entry, and Light was going to ensure the others had some sort of insurance upon their entry. That involved the smashing of every window to allow sunlight to stream through unfiltered. Admittedly, that would also alert the vampires to their presence, so instead of smashing the windows; as much as Light wanted to, he was content with simply removing any curtains. Mikami had the common sense to follow and keep an eye out for movement as Light silently allowed sunlight to penetrate the darkness, exposing more rooms and clutter. There was no doubt that there was a nest residing here. The lack of immediate attacks meant that they were either upstairs or hiding in some other room. Unless they were old-ones or princes.

Moving towards the final up-opened window within the room a creaking floorboard was the only warning he was given before a vampire fell upon him. "Shit," Light spun in an attempt to dislodge the vampire clinging to his shirt, tearing seams in the process, Mikami was nowhere in sight. Fingers clawed at his throat accompanied with angry hisses as the vampire succumbed to blood-lust, evidence showing that the fledgling had no sire to teach her. Rocking back Light stamped his foot down harshly upon that of his attacker's whilst spinning to face the blood-crazed woman.

Her eyes gleamed and fangs were protruding from her mouth, fingers hooked in a clawing motion. Light raised the silver stake, she may have been a fledgling but silver worked just as well on them as it did on old-ones. He took a step towards the vampire, intending on herding her into the patches of sunlight throughout the room when he felt his feet swept out from under him. He hit the floor with a heavy smack and felt as the stake dislodged from his grasp.

"Stupid hunter, shouldn't you know better?" A foot stamped down upon his back, pinning him to the floor as he struggled to catch a glimpse of his assailant whilst keeping the girl in his sight and wriggling free one of the wooden stakes hidden under his shirt. "Now you've gone and lost your weapon, why can't you leave us alone? We don't kill all that many people, and the ones we do don't make a dent in the population."

Light grasped the stake; wooden, and without answering the question stabbed it through the vampire's foot he had left on the floor. An angry pain filled shout followed as blood began to gush through the wound and Light used the momentary distraction to throw the vampire off of him and launched to his feet. His attacker was male, and by the angry shouts coming from his mouth, he was an old-one. Arms wrapped around his shoulders and Light found himself being yanked backwards towards the awaiting fangs of the female he had momentarily forgotten. Cussing himself on the inside Light elbowed the vampire in the stomach before impulsively grabbing her arms and jumped into the sunlight, dragging his struggling victim with him.

High pitched screams of pain filled the house even as the smell of cooking flesh wafted through the air. The arms became frantic as the vampire tried to save herself from burning alive, skin blistering and bursting as the sun cooked the vampire as she screamed and struggled for freedom. Flames began to lick at Light's hands and he let go, the vampire was too far gone to save herself even if she tried. She was engulfed by the hungry flames as they burnt away tissue and muscle, the remains turning to dust, screams never ending until vocal cords burnt away to ash. The sickly smell of burnt flesh now dominated the air and Light began to breathe through his mouth to prevent himself from hurling. No matter how many times he had burnt a leech, he could never get immune to the smell.

Screams filled the air, some of anger and some of pain, signalling the arrival of the other teams. Light spun and in a fluid movement reclaimed his silver stake and faced the old-one still in the room. His foot had already healed, the only sign of damage, the fresh blood and broken stake. "You bastard," He snarled, eyes and fangs flashing. "I was planning on killing you quickly, but now I think maybe not." The vampire lunged before Light could reply, and Light swiftly went to block his vitals with his arms and his stake baring hand. The attack didn't come from the front, it came from the side, the old-one using his speed to his advantage.

Pain was felt briefly as the old-one's fist made contact with Light's stomach, and as he went to protect himself the world tilted and Light's head became friendly with a corner. Pain flashed throughout his skull and a wet trickle of blood streamed down his face. God, it hurt. Damn vampire was either trying to kill him with the attack or daze him. The leech succeeded in dazing him. Lights danced across his vision as a dull throbbing filled his head in time with his pulse, his lips sticky in his own blood. Light was a hunter though, he was raised to fight through the pain, and that was why he was still grasping the stake close to him.

"Mm, your blood is that of the twelve, it smells so sweet." Breath blew against the back of Light's neck as the vampire lent down towards Light's unprotected neck. "I'll enjoy draining it from you painfully." Lips made contact with Light's skin and he reacted instinctively. There was no way he was allowing a leech to sink its fangs into him.

Light snapped his head back, hitting the vampire head-on with a crack, adding to the pain already within his head. Light spun away from the corner to face the slightly dazed vampire. This time though Light dropped to the floor and lashed out with his foot in a kick aimed for the vampire's knee, using his hands as balancers. Contact was made and the vampire went down with a surprised huff. Light didn't pause, readjusting the stake and throwing himself bodily upon the old-one so he was straddling its waist with the stake poised above the heart as the vampire came to terms with the rapid change in events.

"Looks like its five-for-one for me," Light breathed lightly, bringing the stake down in a lightning fast movement. It slid through with minimal difficulty, the vampire screaming in agony for every inch it went, though those screams soon turned into blood filled laughter. It rose in pitch and Light tensed in as the laughter unsettled him. "What the hell are you laughing at? You're an inch away from death," and indeed the vampire was, Light knew when to stop should he need to get information from a parasite.

"You fool, you have no idea about what's going on. All these vampires are coming from the same source. There's a prince here and I hope I could witness as he bleeds you dry!" The vampire laughed crazily as he impaled himself upon the remainder of the stake, decaying rapidly though not permanently dead until destroyed by fire.

Light stood from the corpse, pulling free his stake in case there were more old-ones. The sound of screams and shattering objects could still be heard throughout the house, and even through his blood had slowed to a drizzle down his face and he swayed with slight nausea due to the head injury. Dousing the remains and setting light to a torn piece of fabric, Light hurried to find the other hunters as the corpse of the old-one went up in flames.

The room showed obvious signs of a fight, vases lay scattered across tile, tables and chairs were overturned and blood was streaked upon the walls. Three vampires were facing Soichiro and a lightly bleeding Matsuda, all of whom were focused upon inflicting hits to their targets, each ignoring Light's presence.

'Now I could leave them be, they don't seem to need my help.' But Light was after that kill total, and regardless of if they could handle the situation he smashed out a window, cutting his hands upon slivers of glass, and instantly burning the three vampires to crispy human shaped bonfires. They had to have been young for such instantaneous combustion's, that didn't help with the rank smell of burnt flesh and hair.

"Light what are you doing here? Where's Mikami?" Soichiro asked in a stern tone, ignoring the fact that he had just been given aid and Matsuda was standing behind him swaying slightly.

'Mikami? Right, that moron left me the moment we set foot in the house.' Light shrugged in response to the question. "Don't know, perhaps he was dragged off," 'He had better have been, or else he knowingly left me up against two vampires.' Not that it irritated him too much, kill total, and all. It was simply a matter of principal, you don't wander off on your own in a vampire nest if you went in with a team. What was truly on the forefront of Light's mind was the possibility of Mikami getting in more kills then him. "How many leeches are left?" Light asked, chalking up the five dead and the twenty remaining.

Soichiro dragged his hand over his face whilst Matsuda took the time to tend to some of his wounds. "Seventeen, though don't rule out the possibility of there being more, these three were freshly turned. Who knows how many more are in here in the same situation." A crash sounded from upstairs coupled with even more yelling.

"So you mean to say, that we sent mum and Sayu, alone, upstairs with seventeen angry parasites?" Simultaneously our heads shot to the staircase that led to the second floor. "This is bad," He muttered turning on his heel and sprinting up the wooden stairs, ignoring the calls from Matsuda and his father and the repetitive pounding in his skull.

Making it to the top of the stairs the floor was a disaster zone. Tables, chairs, vases, and other household objects lay smashed upon the floors or overturned. Blood streaked surfaces, but if it was human or vampire he couldn't tell. Gripping the stake harder and swallowing back a wave of nausea Light scanned for any signs of life. 'Now is a bad time to be wishing for a gun filled with wooden bullets.' He slowed his breathing and followed the sounds of heavy footsteps, though the yells soon turned into screams of pain. Light knew that those screams belonged to Sayu and his mother. 'Seventeen vampires, five stakes, one me.' The odds weren't in his favour, but he sure as hell wasn't going to allow his family to become snacks for the parasites. There were windows lining the walls and it seemed as though they were the only advantage he was going to be presented with.

'Or I can get mum and Sayu off this floor and downstairs into the sunlight, the vampires will be trapped up here and I think I saw a gas-line, we can always burn the house down and take the vampires out that way.' Light smashed a window, this time not even flinching against the small cuts that formed, and made his way towards the location of the fight. Footsteps followed behind him and Light didn't need to turn to know that Matsuda and his father had come upstairs.

The sound of repetitive banging filled the room, sounded as though someone had closed a door, not that it would do much other than delay the vampires. Seemed as though those trapped were aware of the fact and the sound of a shattering window followed by two soft thumps from outside signalled that they had jumped from the second floor. The loud cracking of wood and hisses of pain alerted us to the certain knowledge that the vampires were upstairs and the angry words allowed us to know that both the female hunters were gone.

Throwing out an arm to stop Matsuda and his father from continuing towards the angry muttering, Light continued opening windows and slowly made his way downstairs with his father and Matsuda following behind just as silently. They reached the ground floor and made an immediate break for the open door; every step causing Light's head to throb painfully.

Once outside Matsuda and his father went around to check on the females whilst Light retraced his earlier footsteps and found the gas-line. Taking his lighter out of his pocket with the remains of the lighter-fluid and wearing a sinister smirk, he waited until his family and Matsuda were out of the blast range; surprised to see a blood-stained Mikami with the small group. He dropped a torn piece of curtain fabric into the bottle, much like a Molotov-cocktail, and lit the end before throwing it into the ticking-time-bomb that was the house.

Just so we are clear. I have no clue as to how the whole 'gas is a dangerous thing when combined with fire' works. Like if the whole house needs to be full of it or anything like that. I'm no pyromaniac. So lets just say that 'cos I wanted the house to go 'boom' then the house went 'boom', better get used to that logic 'cos there are going to be a few; maybe one more, scenes involving explosives.