R.D.D.G: okay people here is chapter four, I hope you guys like it. And to xbleedinglotusx it's no problem at all ^-^. And I can understand not reading the tops, I really don't do it much either unless there's a funny character conversation going on, so it's no biggie =D. And now to thank the reviewers! There's of course xbleedinglotusx, and there's AngelOfFate12 thank you guys!!!! You make and a young, high school Authoress feel loved ^-^. Oh yeah and some of the information about vampires I did make up, I'm trying to write a vampire novel of my own, and I figured this might be a good place to test some of my ideas =D (Btw the book is also a yaoi 3). So please give me your feed back. Enjoy.

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It was 1:00 in the afternoon when Sophie opened the door to Dante's room. Guggenheim was on the line, and he wanted to speak with Dante and Lok, it was probably something about a mission or what have you. As she walked in the room she saw Dante sleeping in a gray t-shirt, with his body on the side of the bed facing the door, he was also facing the door as well while he slept on his right side. The curtains were drawn and it was pretty dark in the room; though Sophie could see another figure sleeping next to her mentor.

Closing the door behind her, she walked over to Dante and gently shook him. "Dante…"

"Huh?" Dante slowly opened his eyes. "Sophie?..." the girl nodded. Dante groaned. "What is it?" he asked.

"Guggenheim's on." Sophie answered. "He wants to speak to you and Lok."

Dante slowly sat up. "You didn't tell him about Lok, have you?" Dante asked. Not many in the Huntik foundation have much of a trust for vampires, being since a lot of them believing that all of them were murdering, blood-sucking, sociopaths. That would kill you and bleed you dry as soon as look at ya. Luckily there was one other member of Huntik, besides Dante, who studied the paranormal. But even the two of them haven't been able to change Guggenheim's mind.

Sophie shook her head. "No. All he knows is that Lok went missing the other night, and was found last night. He knows nothing else."

Dante nodded as he sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed. "All right, we'll be right there." He said. "Can you draw the curtains around the living room? So that way the sun won't hit Lok."

"Sure thing, Dante." Sophie said before leaving the room. Shutting the door behind her. Dante groaned in annoyance. Guggenheim just couldn't wait until one week before calling…damn it all.

Dante sighed, oh well there's nothing he could do about it. Might as well go talk with the man, before he has a conniption. Dante looked over to the blonde that was sleeping next to him. He was on his left side, facing the wall, and was practically wrapped inside his blankets like a protective cocoon. The only part of the boy showing is the top of his head. Dante shook his head. It is too early for the cub to get up right now. He should be sleeping for another…Dante looked at the clock on his bedside table and saw that it said 1:05…seven to eight hours from now.

Dante reached a hand over to Lok's shoulder and gently shook the teen. "Lok…" he said gently. The boy stirred and covered himself tighter in the blankets. Once more Dante shook his head. "Lok…you need to get up for a minute." He shook the boy once more only to receive a growl in annoyance. "Don't give me that." Dante said. "Come on, Lok. Guggenheim wants to talk to us."

Lok freed himself from his dark cocoon and gave Dante an annoyed look. The older seeker smirked as he handed the cub his dry erase board and marker so that the teen could talk.

Gratefully taking the board and marker, Lok wrote, what does he want? I'm sleeping… he yawned.

"Sorry to have woken you, Lok." Dante said. "But Guggenheim doesn't know that you are a vampire now…so he has no idea about your sleeping schedule…"

Lok nodded then moved so that he was sitting right next to Dante, as he stretched, since his shirts were covered in blood and Dante didn't know where the boy kept his clothing, he just slept in his pants. After we get done talking to the guy, I'm going back to bed. Lok wrote as he growled once more in annoyance.

Dante chuckled. "Deal." He said as he walked over to the door way and opened it slightly. The house was darkened up; looks like Sophie took it another step further. "Come on." He said and Lok reluctantly complied. The boy didn't want to leave the comfort and safety of the bed, but he didn't want Guggenheim to be kept waiting, after all the guy may have a mission for them.

The two walked down stairs to see Sophie and Zhalia sitting on the couch on their right, while Cherit sat on the coffee table. Guggenheim smiled as he saw the two approach.

"Ah, Dante, Lok. Just the two I wanted to see."

"What about, Guggenheim?" Dante asked yawning. "You woke us up."

"It's 1 in the afternoon." Guggenheim stated confused.

"I didn't sleep all day yesterday." Dante said, "And Lok still is feeling a bit groggy."

Lok sent an annoyed whine towards his mentor. Then wrote, Thanks…

"So where did you find him?" Guggenheim asked. "I heard that he was missing all day yesterday."

"Actually, Guggenheim we didn't find him." Dante stated. "He found his way back home…"

With Solwing's help. Lok added on his board.

"With the help of Solwing," Dante added.

Guggenheim turned his attention to Lok, who shrank back a little; it was a bit uncomfortable having the guy stare at you…either that, or it was his cub instincts kicking in again…damn it. "So Lok, what happened the night you disappeared?"

Lok looked towards Dante or Cherit and whined, he still realized that he sounded pretty weird. Cherit got the message and told the Foundation head everything Lok had told them earlier that morning. Guggenheim, Sophie, and Zhalia listened intently (the girls since they never heard what had happened).

After a moment, Guggenheim raised a hand and stopped Cherit. "How about we hear it from Lok," Guggenheim said. "Not that you aren't a fascinating story teller, Cherit, but this is Lok's story…I believe he should tell it."

"That's the problem, Guggenheim," Zhalia said. "He can't talk for about a week."

"Did he lose his voice?" Guggenheim questioned. "I'm sure if he was kidnapped he must have been yelling a lot."

Lok shook his head towards the man on the TV. "No, Guggenheim," Dante said. "It's a bit more complicated than that."

"How complicated?"

Dante hesitated for a moment almost as if he was mentally debating something, then sighed. "Lok, I'm gonna need you to show him the wound the man inflicted." Dante said looking towards the younger man. Lok nodded in understanding, before reluctantly baring the left side of his neck for Guggenheim to see.

Guggenheim gained a knowing yet wary look in his eye that made Dante tense up a bit. He knew that Guggenheim would be debating about whether they would be permitted to keep Lok around. He like the rest of the Foundation (aside from the other paranormal expert) believed vampires to be blood-thirsty savages. But Dante could also tell the man was debating since Lok is a good asset to the team.

Finally after a moment Guggenheim spoke, "Dante, you do realize that you are housing a vampire, right?"

"Vampire or not, I'm housing a teammate and comrade." Dante stated calmly. "Of course I know, Guggenheim, how could I not? You should know well enough about what I studied growing up. I'm sure Metz has told you."

Guggenheim nodded. "He did." Guggenheim agreed. "Which is why I always worried about you, Dante…we all figured you would become one of the savages."

At this, Lok gave a deep irritated growl before writing. I am not a savage, Guggenheim. Nor will I ever be.

"They always say that in the beginning, young Lok." Guggenheim said gravely. "You may not be a savage now, but wait until you get older, then…"

"Guggenheim." Dante interjected in an annoyed tone before changing it to a calm one. "I do not recall you actually trying to learn anything about Vampires or their culture. With all due respect, you barely know anything about them; aside from the bologna they put in movies, etc." Dante leaned forward in his seat. "I have and I do. I met a seeker who was a vampire, great guy. He was not a killer unless it was in self-defense. A lot of vampires are like that now. Aside from the few bad apples in the group which will contradict what I am telling you."

"Dante." Guggenheim stated just as calmly. "Regardless if they are good people, which you have tried to tell me about earlier, you and Peter…"

"Peter's involved?" Sophie asked in shock.

Dante nodded.

"He still drinks blood." Guggenheim finished. "He feeds off of the blood of the living."

"I am fully aware of that." Dante said. "We already have discussed the feeding arrangements, Guggenheim. He shall feed off of me."

Guggenheim looked at the man in horror. This made Lok feel a bit uneasy about the whole situation. The way Guggenheim made him seem like a monster, a freak that didn't sit well with the young blonde.

"Dante!" the man said in horror. "Are you out of your mind?! Feeding one of them?!"

"I am taking care of an abandoned cub, and my teammate." Dante said looking at the older man with clear determination. He was not going to change his mind, no matter what Guggenheim said. "He's one of my friends; you can't expect me to walk away from that, just because of something that was beyond his control. He would be dead right now if it wasn't for the turn. And I promised Sandra I would look out for him, Guggenheim. And I'm going to do so, whether you agree with me or not. I know full well what I'm doing, besides," Dante smirked, "I was the one who suggested that he feed off of me. He has no say in the matter what so ever."

The team looked from Dante to Guggenheim, all of them a bit worried. "Dante, what about Sophie, and Zhalia?" Guggenheim inquired. "What if he gets hungry and feeds off of them? Think about the safety of your team."

"I have, Guggenheim." Dante answered calmly. "Lok doesn't let the girls anywhere near him anyways; it's more of a cub's instinct. He growls at them whenever they get too close."

"Besides," Sophie said standing up, "Like Dante said, Lok's our friend and our teammate. We're standing beside him…well as close as we can get for the next year… through the thick~n~thin."

Zhalia nodded her head in agreement. "Just as I told the kid earlier, he's stuck with us." Zhalia stated.

"I can't believe it…" Guggenheim said, before looking at Lok. "I'm sorry, Lok, it's not that I'm not grateful for the help you've been to the foundation, however, I do not trust what you have become; willing or unwilling…" he turned his attention back to Dante. "Dante, take him to a vampire group. He would be better off there."

"No." Dante said firmly. "Lok came back because his sire wasn't around and he felt safe and secure here. I'm not going to abandon him after he has placed such a trust on us."

"Dante this is not up for debate."

"Like hell it is." Dante retorted. Then looked over at Lok and saw the boy was starting to get a bit worried. A small amount of pain and anger appearing in those blue orbs. "Lok why don't you go back to bed. You were woken up way too early." Lok nodded before standing up and going upstairs. Once the teen was back upstairs, Dante turned his attention once more to Guggenheim. "Guggenheim, just because he is now a vampire doesn't mean anything." Dante continued. "He still wants to help out the Foundation even now despite his few limitations. I shall train him; you or the others won't have to worry about him."

Guggenheim seemed to consider that, though he was still wary. Noticing that the man was close to changing his mind, Dante continued, "and also maybe now we can finally bridge the gap between our two races. Allies if you will, we cannot be at war with the vampires forever (though granted it is a one sided war). I mean wouldn't that be hypocritical to judge a race based on their traits. They're the walking dead, we summon titans. Are we that different? Both the seekers and the vampires live in secret societies, hidden away from ordinary people, yet walking along side them. There are probably people who know about our existence who think that we're all thugs who do nothing but fight and destroy, isn't that what you're doing to vampires?" The girls looked from their team leader back to the head of the foundation. This was starting to get deep…almost like a soap opera…almost.

"Dante, we are nothing like the vampires."

"How so?" Dante crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow to the older man.

"We don't drink blood, we are living beings, and we don't kill without cause…"

Dante raised a hand. "that's where I'm going to have to stop you…no we don't drink blood I'll give you that, but there are some cultures who eat bugs, there are some who eat snakes and dogs, I mean really. You can't judge a culture or group of people based on their appetite. True we are living, but so are they, they breathe, they have a pulse they just happen to have dead blood cells and don't have to breathe. They can die like we can. They can be killed like we can; is it harder to kill them sure, but they can still die. So in essence they are living. Now 'we don't kill without cause'? Now that's an untrue statement. Humans are more vicious and violent towards each other than vampires are, sadly enough. Vampires go by clan laws very seriously and they take care of their clans. However when a clan member goes against the clan laws and places them in grave danger then that member is killed in order to protect everyone else. Some humans kill for no reason. They kill for protection. They are like a pack of wolves; they take care of each other." Dante shook his head. "Let's just put it this way, you suck at arguments, Guggenheim."

Zhalia smirked as she leaned back in her seat; this was starting to get interesting. She has seen Dante and Guggenheim argue before but this is the first debate she has ever seen them have. And from the looks of it, Dante's winning. She could see it on the way Guggenheim shifted nervously in his seat, and judging by the look in Dante's eyes, he noticed it too.

"Dante, it would be best that…"

"That Lok stays here." Dante finished, and smiled. "Excellent idea Guggenheim! We're going tonight to get him some clothes so that he can walk in the day time."

Cherit snickered behind him, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Making the two girls turn to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

Guggenheim sighed, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to win the argument with the younger male. "All right Dante, you win. Lok is under your care." Guggenheim said with a defeated tone. "However if I hear about him feeding off of anyone unwilling then he's gone."

"You make him sound like a pet." Dante muttered. "Well, glad to see you've made the right choice." He said before leaning back. "So, are there any missions you want us to do?" he asked now that the debate was out of the way.

Guggenheim shook his head. "None, I was calling to check up on Lok. We'll contact you when we get some." He said before the line went dead.

The four sat in silence for a moment, before Zhalia looked at Dante. "So, how does a vampire dress if they wish to walk in daylight?" she inquired.

"Anyone have any black eye-liner?" Dante inquired back, which made Cherit snicker some more after remembering the boy's reaction to it.

"You're making him turn Goth?!" Sophie exclaimed.

"It's the vampire's choice of clothing. It protects against the sun's rays and it keeps people away from them." Dante said. "If Lok wants to fit in with other vampires, and trust me there are plenty around Venice, he's going to have to dress like them in a sense. (A/N I don't like conformity, but I wouldn't mind this ^_^) Besides," Dante leaned back in his seat. "He doesn't have to act like a Goth what-so-ever…I know plenty of vampires who are anything but Goth…they just wear the clothing…" Dante sighed and looked back at the TV. He knew for a fact that Guggenheim didn't like vampires, but for him to say that to a Huntik operative to his face?!

Sophie, Zhalia and Cherit seemed to be thinking the same thing he was, if the looks on their faces as they too looked at the screen was anything to go by.

"Well that was an awful thing to say." Cherit muttered obviously talking about Guggenheim's statements about vampires being savages. "At least you showed him a good thing or two, I say."

"Yeah, that was completely uncalled for." Sophie agreed.

Dante nodded, before yawning. He was still pretty tired himself, after excusing him from the rest of the team Dante walked back upstairs, though he could hear the others still talk amongst themselves about the conversation. Dante shook his head as he walked towards his room, they weren't going to drop that subject for awhile, at least Cherit and Sophie aren't anyway.

Dante entered his room to see Lok sitting on the bed with his knees brought up to his chest, his chin resting on his arms and a sad look in his eyes. "Lok?" said teen looked over to Dante and gave a small smile before placing his chin back on his arms. Dante moved over to the bed and sat beside the teen. He should have been asleep… "What's wrong?" Lok's gaze turned downwards, a whine ushered past his lips. "Is this about what Guggenheim said?" Dante asked, figuring he had hit the nail on the head.

A nod. Dante sighed and placed a hand on the younger's shoulder. He didn't have to say it like that. Lok wrote sadly after he had picked up his board. After all I've done for the Foundation to retrieve the Amulet of Will…he talks about me like I'm some sort of wild animal, and wants me gone…just like that!

Dante nodded in understanding. "I know. Guggenheim went a bit overboard with that." Dante said. "He shouldn't have said that to you. He's just ignorant to anything with the paranormal. He's the kind of guy who fears anything that is either unknown to him or anything that would be considered unnatural to normal mortals. He didn't trust me for a little while after he found out I was studying with some vampires. He didn't trust Peter much either, it took that man about 2 years to trust us again." Dante looked at Lok. "He'll trust you again, Lok. It will take awhile, but he will begin to trust you again."

Do I have to leave? Lok asked worriedly. He didn't want to leave the safe house, nor did he want to leave Dante. He felt extremely vulnerable whenever the man wasn't around.

Dante shook his head. "No. Me and the girls convinced him to let you stay, though you were going to do so anyways." Lok gave a small smile. "Now, enough of this. You need to get some sleep. We've got somewhere to go tonight."

Where?'

Dante smirked. "You'll see, now go to sleep."

Lok nodded before curling back up underneath the blankets and was soon sleeping fairly deeply. Dante sat there for a second watching the young boy sleep. This kid was going to be in for many years of hardships. Dante smiled as he picked up the board and marker and erased what the boy had written before setting it on the bedside table. Even though there were going to be hardships, he knew the young seeker beside him could get through them. He always had a knack for that.

Dante yawned as he crawled back underneath the covers as well, before drifting off into sleep. Making sure to set his watch to zap him awake at right before sunset before he did so.

TBC…

R.D.D.G: kk here's chapter 4, I hoped you liked it, and don't worry Guggenheim won't always be a jerk…I just wanted him to be for this chapter he'll be less ignorant as time goes on ;). I think it's kind of cute the way Dante sticks up for Lok, ne? Oh and I've got a question for my readers, I was thinking about bringing Defoe back into the picture (since he's one of those obsessed and crazy villains that you can't seem to be without. Rassimov was just too serious for me)? So tell me what you think about that and I shall see you in chapter 5.