Chapter 4

"Guys, wake up!"

Yami sat upright as if hit with an electric shock. After he gave his eyes a second to adjust to the dim lighting, he looked around. Joey was standing with his gun in his hands, looking out the window. Yugi sat up too, a little slower.

"What's wrong?" Yami asked. Joey looked at him, his eyes full of alarm.

"Tristan's missing."

"Missing?" Yugi asked in shock. "How can he be missing?"

"Missing, like I woke up and he wasn't here." Joey said sounding frustrated. "I think he snuck out but I think I see vampires in the distance so I don't really wanna risk going out alone to look for him."

"Why would he sneak out?" Yami said standing up and looking out the window as well. Joey was right. There were definitely vampires walking about, around fifty yards away. Yami could see their shadows skulking about as if looking for something.

"Maybe he saw the Alpha or something?" Joey suggested. "Or maybe he chased a vampire away. Either way, it's unlike him to just run off without saying anything."

At the mention of the Alpha, Yugi shakily stood and looked out the window as well. "Well then we should go looking for him then."

"Woah, are you sure Yugi?" Yami asked. Yugi still looked like he was in a lot of pain but his determination was seemingly overriding it. "Maybe you should stay here…"

Yugi glared at him. "And do what? Draw on the walls?"

Joey gave Yami a, "Don't try and argue with him" look and put his hand on the door knob.

"Let's just do this. Stay close to each other and try and be quiet. Let's start by the factory and work our way out but stay out of sight."

Joey quietly opened the door and the three of them slinked out of the shack. It was still in the middle of the night so everything was still, save for the vampires in the distance. Without a sound, they inched around to the side of the building, out of sight of them. Yami was sure that the darkness that was tonight was darker than he was used to. He didn't remember the nighttime being such back a year ago. With that in mind, Yami made sure that Joey didn't walk into anything by accident because he was sure that it was almost impossible for the blonde to see a thing. However, even with his heightened senses, Yami found the extra darkness to be unnerving. Was it this dark every night?

They walked silently, careful not to accidentally kick dirt or brush against anything that would give their position away. Soon, the factory was in front of them, looming ominously in the darkness. Out of the corner of his eye, Yami saw Yugi point in front of them, and Yami immediately knew why. Another group of vampires were gathered in front of the factory. There were about ten of them, clustered together in a circle. The group seemed to be talking in harsh tones so the three of them inched closer to find out why. When they got within earshot, they kneeled by a bush and didn't move.

"But I still don't get it!" One of the vampires had said. "Vlad could easily could have taken out those brats! Why didn't he?"

"Well we were getting fired at with silver…" Another had said in a low, defeated voice. Due to the darkness pervading the air, Yami found it hard to see who was speaking or what they looked like. "A lot of us died…"

"Yes I see that, but silver doesn't hurt Vlad like it hurts us! He still could have taken them down, so why didn't he?"

"Does it matter?" This one sounded like a small female child. Hearing it took Yami's breath away because it sounded innocent yet full of darkness at the same time. "We really don't need him to destroy this factory. We can do it… In fact, I say we do it right now!"

There was a collective gasp.

"You can't be serious. You know how much silver is in there… what kind of wardings there are…"

"Obviously, I am," The little girl said. Even though her voice was small, she sounded older than all the others. "I heard that Aelfric has one of the humans who helped put it up. If we get him, then he can take down the wardings for us."

"…I don't think Aelfric will want to help us. He's too into looking down on us to do that…not to mention his rank…"

"So what if he's Vlad's right hand? If the Alpha himself was willing to come here and help take down this factory, he should be too!"

Yami saw Joey stiffen at that, confirming what he thought. Tristan was captured… and they planned on using him to take down the factory. They had to do something.

There was a murmur of agreement within the pack and something else was said before they all started to walk away. Without any confirmation with each other, the three of them followed the group as quietly as they could.

Yami thought about what the little girl said. Whoever "Aelfric" was, wasn't to be messed with if he was Vlad's right hand vampire. How were they going to get Tristan back by something so powerful? Yami thought about pulling Yugi and Joey to the side at some point to think up a plan. They couldn't just go in there with guns blazing, they would all be killed.

The pack led them through a housing development that was directly in front of the factory. The streets were lined up in a crisscross type fashion and all of the houses looked like the same, generic kind of suburban neighborhood. Yami, Joey and Yugi went behind houses and trees to avoid being seen as they tailed the pack.

As they got farther in, the number of vampires in the area, tripled. Yami saw them on the rooftops, in trees and on the streets. There were so many spread out, that he, Joey and Yugi had to stop following the pack if they wanted to remain hidden. Luckily, they saw which house the pack stopped in front of. Yami saw the pack stop in front of the house for a few minutes, before the little girl went inside, the other vampires around being extra watchful.

Joey motioned for them to step to the side of the house they were hiding behind. The three of them gathered out of sight on the back porch of the house.

"So what are we gonna do?" Joey whispered. "Tristan could be in there…"

"We can try to find a way to sneak in," Yami said. "Maybe we could find a diversion to get all the vampires to leave the area."

"That won't work," Yugi said, pulling out his gun. "We're going to have to kill them all if we want to get inside."

Yami saw Joey give him a shocked look. "What? We can't do that ourselves…there are too many of them!"

"We've taken on more than this before, Joey."

"With Tristan's help!"

"Yugi, we can't just kill every vampire that we see." Yami said trying to reason with him, which only got him a glare from the teen. "Look…if there really is a cure out there, then what will be the point in finding it if you kill all the vampires?"

"Yeah, that's right," Joey said, nodding. "There will be no people to turn back to normal if we kill them all pointlessly."

Yugi looked away from them as he spoke. "That's okay, because the cure is impossible to get anyway."

Joey blinked. "What makes you say that?"

"Because it is," Yugi looked back at them with a determined expression. "And it's kill or be killed out here. You should know that Joey."

"Yeah, but-"

"I'll do it alone then. If there's even a possibility that the Alpha is in there, I have to take the chance." Yugi said. "Come or stay. It's up to you."

With that, Yugi ran around the house, towards the vampires.

"Yugi stop!" Yami almost yelled but Joey pulled him back. "What are you doing?"

"Don't get yourself killed."

"But-"

"We can help him from afar. C'mon…"

Joey led him to the side of the house that had a fire escape ladder going down the side. He started to climb and reluctantly, Yami followed. When they got to the top floor, they climbed into an empty bedroom littered with clothes and a broken dresser. Joey ignored all of that and went to the window facing all of the vampires, took out his gun and pointed it in that direction.

Yami came up behind him. "Joey, why did-"

"We're not gonna stop Yugi when he gets like this. I've tried and failed once before and learned my lesson…so the best we can do is help from afar. I'll shoot anything that gets too close."

Feeling nervous, Yami looked out the window as well. Yugi was pretty close to the first set of vampires but none of them were alerted to his presence yet.

"This isn't right…" Yami said in a whisper. The intensity to which Yugi had changed was frightening him. If there was one thing that Yami learned while sharing a body with Yugi, it was that solving problems with kindness and compassion were the most effective ways to survive. Now, Yugi was going against everything that he taught him. Joey gave him a sideways glance, before focusing his eyes back outside.

"He doesn't usually get like this," he said with a sigh. "I think seeing the Alpha earlier set him off."

"Yugi's never…" Yami whispered again. He couldn't even properly say what was in his mind because he was so shocked. "…I just can't believe…"

Joey nodded in understanding. "I think you can fix him though."

"What? How?"

"Well…" Joey sighed taking his eyes temporarily off the impending battle. "I think that you can get his memories back…and if that happens, then maybe he'll turn mostly back to normal."

"Mostly?"

"Well yeah…" Joey looked back outside but as if not really seeing it at all. "There are some things that happened that we all will still remember that will haunt us for the rest of our lives…"

"Oh…"

"But if we get out of this mess that we're in now, promise me that you'll get his memories back."

"Of course," Yami said, feeling as though he would have tried to do it anyway. They all helped him get his memories back. "But what are the chances that we'll get out of this mess?"

Yami looked back outside, and looked at the vast numbers of vampires that he could see…and that was just in plain sight. There could very well be more lurking in the shadows. How was Yugi supposed to take on all of them himself? Joey looked at him seriously.

"I think that there's a good chance that we'll walk away from this…as long as the Alpha isn't in there."

Yami blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah… I've caught Yugi fighting sometimes… this really shouldn't be a problem."

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of a gunshot echoing off of the vacant buildings. Yami and Joey looked outside to see mass confusion around a vampire that was shot dead. Three more shots and dead vampires later, the enemies finally realized that Yugi was there, picking them off with silver bullets. Vampires started to jump of the houses and climb out of the windows of certain houses to attack. In a few seconds, they would all be on top of Yugi.

"Joey…" Yami said warningly.

"I got this," Joey said, aiming. In a second, Joey fired of five shots. Yami covered his ears but the sound was still deafening. "Good thing we stocked up…"

Yami looked on and saw a lot of dead vampires already. Joey was a pretty good shot himself. Looking in the middle of the crowd, was Yugi, fighting more than Yami had ever seen anyone do. If he moved any faster, Yami wouldn't have been able to follow him. Yugi sliced with blinding speed, and at the same time, was avoiding all of the other attacks. None of the other vampires could hit him. Within five minutes, most of them were dead, and Yugi was still untouched. However, more vampires in the distance had heard the commotion and were on their way as fast as they could run…which was pretty fast. Some of the ones that were coming had guns themselves.

"Joey," Yami pointed at the incoming enemies. "Get those!"

"Got it," Joey pointed and shot again. This time, a few of the closer vampires grew smart to their whereabouts and were coming right for the house they were standing in. "Don't forget about your gun!"

"Oh…right," Yami pulled it out and prepared it just like Yugi had taught him to do. He aimed at the closest one, and pulled the trigger. The vampire was shot but Yami was not prepared for the kickback, so the gun flew out of his hand and landed in the back of the room somewhere.

"Why didn't anyone tell me it would do that?!" Yami said feeling frustrated, rubbing his hand.

"Don't worry, I've got these," Joey said. He was still aiming his gun for the next shot but Yami could still see Joey smirk. "Go find your gun."

Ignoring the sounds of more guns firing, Yami went to the back of the room and found his gun on top of a pile of clothes. He picked it up despite the fact that he wasn't sure if he wanted to use it again. However, sounds from behind the closed door caught his attention. It almost sounded like someone walking up what he was sure were stairs. But Yami realized that someone was behind the door too late and it flew open. Joey whirled around and Yami stepped back. Two vampires stood in the doorway, one male and one female, their eyes glowing bright red. Yami barely had time to yell a warning before they were on top of him. The female had pinned him against the wall and the other took Joey's gun before he had a chance to fire it and snapped it in two. Both pieces clattered to the ground, and the remainder of the silver bullets inside rolled away in different directions. The male vampire chuckled.

"Thought you could get a one up on us, eh humans?"

"What do you want to do with them?" the female snarled, her teeth showing more than they should have. The male looked at Joey.

"I'm pretty hungry…this one looks delicious."

"Yeah there's no way you're gonna suck me dry!" Joey said defiantly. He pulled out a small knife but the vampire smacked it out of his hand and it clattered to the floor much like his gun did. "Hey!"

"This won't take long," he said bearing his teeth.

"Well hurry up." The female holding Yami said. "I want to kill this one."

As the male vampire got closer to Joey, Yami tried desperately to think of something to say to distract them. However, nothing came to mind. He tried to get out of the woman's grasp but her hold was too strong. Joey was about to get sucked dry and there was nothing that he could do to help. Images of Grandpa and Tea dead came to his mind's eye and he was unprepared for what came next.

A sudden power surge that had nothing to do the Puzzle came over him. He suddenly felt like he could do anything, and yet it was power that came in a detached way. He didn't care about what was going to happen except that these two vampires were going to die. He could feel his strength grow and his nails extend. Before Yami knew it, had stabbed the female through the chest with the knife that was on the floor a second ago. The vampire fell to the floor in a heap, and it didn't take long for the male to attack him as well. Without thinking about it he used the knife to cut the man's throat. He fell just like his comrade.

"Dude!"

Yami looked at Joey, and the look of fear that he was giving him caused the vampiric power to fade back into dormancy as it was before. After the power faded, Yami looked at the bodies of the vampires in realization of what he had done. The fact that he had accidentally killed them crashed down on him and he could only look at the blood covering the floor in shock for a moment.

"You okay man?" Joey said. He still sounded fearful.

Yami shook his head to clear it, still shocked by what he did. "Yes Joey… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…"

"What brought that on? Cause that was kinda freaky."

Yami felt ashamed of himself for giving in to the powers of the vampire. While using it, he felt less human, and it was frightening. He looked at Joey.

"I didn't want him to kill you…"

Joey's eyes softened at that and they stood in silence for a few seconds before Yami realized that something felt wrong. He looked at the window and realized that silence was the problem. There were no more shouts, gun shots or screams. Joey seemed to realize this as well and they both walked to the window to see what had happened.

Bodies littered the streets of the neighborhood. They were in the roads, hanging out of windows and draped over roofs. Yami could smell the blood from where they were. He didn't have to search long for Yugi because he was one of the only ones standing. There was him, and the little girl that had gone into the house before. They were having a conversation, but even with his heightened sense of hearing, Yami couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Come on," Yami motioned for Joey to follow. They both exited the house and cautiously jogged over to where they were standing.

"Who are you?" the little girl yelled as they got closer. Yugi turned to look at them too, and Yami was shocked to see that his eyes were red, much like the vampires from before. The glow faded after a couple of seconds though and he retained his normal look.

"They're my friends," Yugi said turning back to her.

"What's going on?" Joey asked. The little girl huffed.

"We're making a deal."

"What? Why?"

"Because they said that they would kill Tristan if we continued." Yugi said sounding angry. "You didn't tell me what you wanted in exchange."

The little girl smirked, her vampire teeth showing. Yami got nervous. He knew what she was going to ask for. All vampires wanted the silver in that factory destroyed or buried somewhere, that was a fact. Yami was positive that she was going to ask for them to get rid of their protections on the factory. However, her answer surprised him.

"I want you to battle Aelfric. He's next in line after Vlad."

Yugi looked surprised. "Why?"

"Because I want some entertainment. This city got so boring since all the humans left…well…most of them anyway," she added looking at Joey. After fluffing her pink dress, she crossed her arms and looked at Yugi in annoyance. "Well? What's it gonna be? If you took down all these guys by yourself, then you should be able to battle Aelfric!"

"What? Don't do it Yugi," Joey said. He grabbed the gun from Yami's hand and pointed it at the little girl. "I'll do this instead."

"If you kill me," the little girl said calmly. "Then Aelfric will automatically turn your friend into a vampire. Then you can fight him instead."

"Joey…" Yami muttered to the blond. "Put it down."

After a moment's hesitation, Joey complied. Yugi looked at him.

"It's alright Joey, I'll do it…. but not just for Tristan. If I can beat the next vampire in line after the Alpha, then I'll know that I'll have a chance against him…"

"Don't be crazy, man! Those top tier vampires are in a different league from all these other ones. You'll get yourself killed!"

"I have to do this!" Yugi said sternly. "I have to make it up to all of our friends…somehow."

Joey looked confused. "What?"

Yami looked at Yugi and felt as though he was doing this more than what he said. There was a hidden meaning behind his words and there was a sudden connection between the two of them that wasn't achieved in over a year. Yami took a step forward.

"Then I'm helping." He said. Yugi opened his mouth as if he was going to protest, but then stopped himself and nodded. The little girl laughed.

"Fine, that won't make much of a difference mind you. Aelfric will plow you both to the ground."

"You two are crazy!" Joey protested looking back and forth between the two of them. "What makes you think you can take on this guy?"

Yami thought about it, and knew where Joey was coming from. He himself just proved that he couldn't control his vampiric powers yet, and he and Yugi's friendship was still rocky. However, Yami knew that he returned from the afterlife for a reason. If this wasn't it…

"Well let's get this started then!" The little girl brought her hand to her mouth and whistled. Yami and Yugi covered their ears. When she was done, silence reigned and everyone looked at her in confusion.

"What was that for?" Joey asked.

"Really, must you call me that way?" said a voice to their left.

Yami immediately looked to see a figure on the roof. Before he had time to register the figure's appearance, it jumped off of the roof and landed next to the little girl.

"Now Nina, you should know better than to call me that way," he said straightening up. "So these are my challengers?"

Aelfric was muscular and tall. That was the first thing Yami noticed about him. He looked like he could lift a crowd of people with no problem and he was dressed in a red robe that had the sleeves ripped off, as if he wanted to show off his muscular arms. The hood to the robe was intact however, and it was placed overtop his head so that only a few locks of his long golden hair could be seen. Aelfric gazed at them with harsh red eyes that glowed in the darkness.

"They don't look like much. Are you sure that these are the ones that Vlad was going on about?"

The little girl, Nina, rolled her eyes. "Do you see what's around you?"

Aelfric blinked and looked as she said, as if truly seeing his surroundings for the first time. "Huh… that sucks…"

Nina gave him an angry look. "They're all dead! Don't you want revenge?"

Aelfric chuckled, the sound reverberating off of the streets. "For them? They were nothing… not even strong enough for our cause." He looked at Yugi and Yami with interest. "What I do care about is what Vlad has been telling me. Apparently, one of you were the first vampire he's turned in a very long time…not me. Tell me… which one of you is it?"

"Why does it matter?" Yugi asked, looking tense. Aelfric eyed him carefully.

"Because the first that are turned, are the strongest vampires that an Alpha can make. The more that are made, the weaker they get. For the longest time, Vlad tells me that I was the first he's ever created…that I couldn't be beaten. Now, I learn that this was a lie, and that there was one more before me…"

No one said anything so he continued.

"Then I learn that something went wrong in the transformation process… that the first vampire that Vlad created was only half of a vampire…" Aelfric took a step forward. "A half vampire… something that is at half of the power of a regular vampire… yet still the first. I must know… how strong you are."

Yami was getting more and more nervous. Aelfric was radiating a strong power that was due to burst at any moment. This vampire looked like no joke and Yami was starting to second guess fighting him. However, he knew that leaving wasn't an option now, and they had to get Tristan back somehow.

"If we battle you and win, then you must promise to set our friend free." Yami said, his voice showing confidence that he didn't think he felt. Aelfric smirked, showing his long fangs.

"Fine, but before we start I must know a couple of things…" he looked from Yami to Yugi with a look of confusion. "You two are very similar… yet only one of you was turned by Vlad… how is that possible?"

Sharing a quick glance with Yugi, Yami decided to answer truthfully. "We don't know…"

Aelfric's brow furrowed as he looked at Yugi. "… You were the one he turned… I can tell. Tell me… why did you not fully transform when Vlad turned you?"

"Defeat me and I'll tell you," Yugi said simply. Aelfric chuckled.

"If you wish." He shifted himself into a defensive stance. "Let's go."

Before Yami know what to say, Yugi was already running towards the vampire with a silver knife in hand.

"Yugi, wait!"

Nina jumped back as Yugi ran up on Aelfric and started slicing at him. However, despite his size, Aelfric was very fast. He dodged every attack that Yugi tried to hit him with and once there was an opening, he knocked the knife out of his hand. The knife hit the ground with a clatter and skid off somewhere in the sea of vampire bodies. Yugi jumped back as Aelfric waved his index finger at him.

"Ah ah, no toys. If I'm going to see what your power is like, you must fight only with your vampiric powers."

Without waiting for any sort of response, Aelfric sprinted towards Yugi, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall of the nearest house. Yugi tried to break free but he looked like he was having trouble. Aelfric smirked.

"As a vampire you should be able to get out of this hold easily." Aelfric eyes then narrowed. "Ah, but you are wounded? Well then this is going to be a bit harder for you, isn't it?"

Yami decided that enough was enough. If they were going to survive this, he was going to have to endure using his vampiric powers, like Aelfric wanted. Yami reached within himself, thinking about what happened inside that house only minutes before. The feeling came over him again and the power of the vampire made itself known.

Immediately, he ran over to Aelfric to deliver an attack. However, he ran faster than he was anticipating and accidentally slammed himself into the large vampire's side. Not expecting such a reckless attack, Aelfric was caught off guard. He was pushed five feet to the side, and dropped Yugi, who landed on his feet giving Yami a shocked look.

Yami didn't have time to say anything to Yugi though, as Aelfric was already straightening up, rubbing his side.

"Not bad," he said looking more interested than he had five minutes ago. "But you're going to need more than that to defeat me."

"Don't worry, we've got it," Yami said. Without warning, he ran over to the vampire again intent on hitting him again. However, Aelfric was ready and dodged the attack. He parried with extended claws but Yami could feel it coming and was able to dodge it. But what Yami didn't see coming was a kick aimed his way. He was sure that he was going to be hit with it and sent flying but what he didn't expect was for Yugi to parry the kick himself, and using Aelfric's size against him. The vampire was spun in the air from the force of his own kick and tripped to the ground. Yugi looked at Yami angrily.

"If you're going to leave yourself open like that, then don't fight."

Yami was going to retaliate but Aelfric stood up looking excited. He dropped his hood and waist long blond hair fell, partially covering his scarred and built face.

"Looks like we're starting to get serious. If you are, then I will too!"

A red aura started to emanate from the vampire and Yami could feel the power causing the air to become oppressive. Then, the aura coalesced into Aelfric's open palm into a large ball of energy.

"Let's see how you two hold up against a doom blast," Aelfric said before he fired the ball of energy towards them. After he fired it, the ball doubled in size as a wave of death.

Yami's immediate instinct was to get out of the way but then he realized that Joey was right behind them. If they moved, then Joey could get seriously hurt.

As if the attack was coming in slow motion, Yami looked at Yugi and knew that they were both thinking the same thing. They had to stop the attack. Without thinking, Yami put his hand on Yugi's shoulder, a way to brace them both for what was coming. However, as soon as he made the contact, a spark ignited between their souls. Their powers combined and Yami felt as if he was made whole, although he didn't ever remember not being so. Old memories came to his mind of when he and Yugi were a team and in the same body, working to achieve the same goal.

The energy that was created out of these memories surged outwards from both of them, as if they were one again. The surge hit Aelfric's attack, and sent it right back from where it came from. Unprepared, the vampire could only brace himself from being hit with his own attack. There was an explosion of energy, and Yami immediately let go of Yugi and the energy surge died down. Aelfric screamed and when the dust cleared, he was looking angry and disheveled.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that…" he said.

Yugi gave Yami a sideways glance as if he was thinking the same thing but then directed his full attention back on Aelfric. Without a warning, he ran up to Aelfric to attack him once again.

"No, stop!" Yami yelled because he knew attacking a powerful vampire head on wasn't going to end well and he was right. Aelfric seemed to be ready this time and dodged Yugi's punch. Quickly, the vampire grabbed Yugi in his injured shoulder and forced him to the ground. The teen was then unable to move and Yami could only imagine how painful that was. "Let him go!"

"Why don't you make me?" Aelfric smirked at him, his eyes glowing red. Yami knew that he was baiting him, but he didn't know what else to do. The vampire had reopened Yugi's wound so that blood started to soak his shoulder again and Yugi seemed to be unable to throw Aelfric off. Without much consideration, Yami did the same thing that Yugi did and rushed at the vampire.

Reaching for the power inside of him once more Yami extended claws that he didn't think he had and slashed at the vampire. The attack hit but he might as well have hit steel, as it didn't do any damage. Yami jumped back and Aelfric smirked.

"Your power is nothing," he said, extending his own claws. He looked like he was going to say more but before he had the chance, a whip and a thunk permeated the air followed by Aelfric's scream. "Argh! What is this?"

Yami immediately saw what had made the vampire scream. A knife was sticking out of Aelfric's arm, and by the way the skin around it started to sizzle, he knew that it was a silver knife. Aelfric noticed too and he stood, quickly taking the knife out of his arm.

"Who…?!" he yelled looking around.

Yami immediately knew who threw the knife. He looked back at Joey who was wearing a satisfied smirk on his face.

"That's what ya get for messing with my friends!" the blond said. Aelfric immediately got angry.

"Human, this is not your fight-"

"Aelfric," Nina piped up and walked over towards him. "The fight is done. The poison from the silver is going to overtake you if we don't treat you now."

Aelfric looked like he was going to argue but seemed to think against it. He nodded, and then looked at both Yami and Yugi.

"This isn't over." He said

Then Aelfric and Nina ran off between houses and out of sight. Yami looked at Joey with gratitude.

"Thank you, Joey. That was an excellent shot."

Yugi shakily stood up not looking happy. "Except that it scared him off."

"Sorry man, but you guys weren't gonna win that fight," said Joey. "He's just too strong."

"You don't know that!" Yugi rounded on him. Joey started to look angry himself.

"Did you forget what we came here for? Remember Tristan?"

Yugi blinked, as if he indeed forgot that they originally came out to save Tristan. Yami shared a nervous glance with the blonde.

"Let's just go and look for him," Yami said starting to walk towards the house they saw all the vampires at earlier. "He should be this way."

There were no more arguments and their walk was silent until they got inside. The house was indeed devoid of any vampires, but it wasn't like Yami was expecting. He thought that when they got inside, that they would find a sort of torture chamber with red curtains and blood coating the walls. Instead it looked like a rich family lived there, complete with a plush couch, a fancy rug and black silk curtains coating the windows. The three of them stood in the living room admiring the décor.

"Well… this is nice," Joey said testing the couch. "Think this can fit in base?"

"It wouldn't even fit through the front door," Yugi said. "Besides, we don't have a way to get it there."

"Hmm…yeah. I guess we'll need a different spoil of war."

Yami ignored him. "Tristan!" he called out. There was a ringing silence that followed before Joey called out as well.

There was no answer until there was a loud bang from down the hallway to their left. Joey jumped but quickly regained his composure and ran over to the sound. He stood in the middle of the hallway and looked at each of the five closed doors that occupied it. He winked at Yami.

"Marco!" he yelled. There was more silence and Yami couldn't help but look at Joey with confusion.

"Joey, what-"

"Polo…" came a soft voice from the room farthest from the entrance to the hallway. Yami and Joey shared a surprised glance. That didn't sound like Tristan…

Joey quickly opened the door and Yami and Yugi joined him in the doorway. The room was dark but Yami had no trouble seeing who stood in the middle of the bedroom with a look of shock on his face.

"M-mokuba?!"

Thanks guys for all the reviews and favs! You actually remind me to publish! lol!

Let me know if anyone has any bright ideas!

Yugisrose