This is a chapter I believe a lot of you have wanted to see and have waited patiently for. You'll see what I mean soon enough and I'm sure it'll make many of you happy. Enjoy!

"So there's a new vampire hunter?" an amused voice inquired. "That is quite unexpected."

Crane nodded his head slowly, if not fearfully. "And did this hunter impede your mission, Crane?"

"The cargo has been delivered," the old man replied, swallowing as he paused. "We loaded all we could and left as the rest of my men dealt with the vampire hunter. As of right now, I have no idea as to his present condition though a number of my men have been slain."

"So some of the cargo was left behind," the voice concluded. "As long as the specified item was retrieved, then a few leftovers should be harmless. If the hunter is indeed alive, he would never guess our intent. However, it does pain me to not know of his whereabouts. What else do you know of this hunter?"

"He is young. Inexperienced. But he shows potential to be a serious threat," Crane reported, relaxing somewhat. "As you are aware of, most beginning hunters are rarely capable of taking down several vampires."

"Several? How many was he able to dispatch?"

"At last count," here Crane paused to sigh, "Ten able body vampires. I had brought fifteen to speed up the job."

"Ten you say? Then this is no inexperienced hunter. He has experience, but he may be new to the area." A pause. "Perhaps it would be best if we tied off this loose end of yours. Set up a job, I care not what it is. I will be assigning you a counteragent. See that this matter is taken care of, Crane."

Crane bowed lowly before making his exit. Leaving the room, he began to hurry to his quarters. He had a trap to set up.

Butterflies flapped around in her stomach as she rang the doorbell. It had been a long time since she had felt this way. Usually she was so confident, so calm; now she was on the verge of being a wreck and all because she had agreed to meet a guy at his place.

How in the world had that happened?

It had started with that laundry episode of hers. Ever since she had met Vanyel, she found herself enjoying someone else's company, other than the people she ended up feeding on. It had gotten to the point she had started looking forward to running into him. Everything had changed though, when he had asked if she wanted to stop by his place for dinner.

She had stared at him like an idiot before saying yes.

Videl had gone out of her way to look nice for this. It was one thing to go to the Laundromat looking like something the cat dragged in, it was another looking that way when going to someone else's house. Was this what people in this day and age do for dates? It had been so long since she had gone on one that moonlit walks were last considered the norm for dates. That and dressing up. Maybe that was some of her old upbringing popping up, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she wanted to leave the best impression this time. Dressing up just happened to be one of those things that impressed.

So did not feeding on the person you're trying to impress.

The door opened a few moments later, Vanyel appearing on the other side and giving her a big smile. "Just in time!" he said. "I'm almost done with the meat. Come on in and make yourself at home."

Returning his smile with one of her own, Videl entered the apartment, the door being closed behind her. Vanyel's place wasn't anywhere near the luxury she was accustomed to, but it did have that homely feeling to it. "Take a seat anywhere you want," the young man said as he retreated into the kitchen, returning to what ever task he had previously been up to. Seeing that the best seat to keep her eyes on the guy was at the kitchen table, she sat down in one of the chairs, looking to him as he busied himself.

"You've got a nice place," she commented, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Thanks. It's a miracle I even found it," Vanyel replied. "I hope it wasn't too hard of a place to find. I know it's not in the best location."

"It was no trouble," Videl waved off. Smelling the air, she almost moaned from the delicious aromas she detected. "I don't know what you're making in there, but it smells great."

Almost instantly a plate was set down on the table in front of her, much to her surprise. "I aim to please," Vanyel chuckled as he sat down across from her, his own plate there as well. Time seemed to disappear then as the two of them ate and chatted, Videl feeling more and more at ease as the evening wore on. What they were eating and what they talked about didn't mean anything to her at this point.

In case you couldn't tell, she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

Unfortunately, the night decided to take a turn for the worst. It had been so unexpected, she almost missed Vanyel's smiling, friendly face drop to one full of murderous intent. The table was suddenly tossed out from between them and Vanyel had lunged at her, some weapon pointing right at her. She barely managed to get her arms up as he crashed into her, knocking her chair over and causing them to crash to the ground.

The next thing Videl knew, Vanyel was hovering over her, something sharp in his hand slowly descending upon her despite Videl doing her best to hold it off. With one hand grasping his weapon, his other hand on top of it, the sharp point lowered excruciatingly towards her. Videl had her own hands grasping his forearms, trying to fight it off. A sense of dread filled her stomach as her eyes finally registered what was in his hand.

A sharp, wooden stake.

Going on instinct, one of Videl's legs shot up, aiming to slam her knee in his groin. Unfortunately her legs weren't in the best position to do that and she ended up ramming her knee into Vanyel's stomach. Putting as much strength as she could into her leg, she forced Vanyel's lower body up into the air, causing him to flip off of her and land on his back somewhere above her head. Rolling onto her stomach, Videl shot up onto her feet, just in time to see Vanyel back on his own, flipping the stake in his hand.

Then with a thrust, he drove the stake at her, Videl jumping back to keep some distance between them. Closing in on her, the young man swung his other hand at her, balled into a fist. Blocking that, she found another thrust being aimed at her, this time stopping the strike by thrusting the palm of one of her hands down on top of Vanyel's hand, forcing the wooden point down and nowhere near stabbing her. Jumping to a side, Videl barely missed being cut as Vanyel swung the stake through the air, slicing at her.

This, however, left her opponent wide open and Videl took complete advantage of it. Closing in, she poured as much of her vampire strength into her arm and slammed her fist into Vanyel's chest, sending him flying away and slamming into the far wall. A loud bang was heard as the sheetrock cracked from the impact, various wall decorations shuddering from their places.

Okay, what the hell was going on? Why was Vanyel trying to kill her? They had been having a good time hadn't they? And why was he using a wooden stake? Didn't mortals normally use knives? Well, only the ones that weren't vampire hunters any…

Videl felt her stomach drop. Oh crap, Vanyel was a vampire hunter. How the hell did she not see this? The entire time he had been hunting, befriending her to get her in a place he could kill her. Anger began to flow through her. That…that bastard! He wouldn't be leaving this room alive!

Grabbing a nearby chair, she raised it above her head and threw it at Vanyel, letting out an enraged war cry as she did so. Vanyel recovered faster than she had expected and rolled out of the way as the chair shattered against the wall. Getting back onto his feet, he strode towards her purposefully.

Then for some reason he threw his stake at her, the point flying right at her at an amazingly high speed. It was easy enough to dodge as her sidestep indicated. Idiot, now he was defenseless. She would just have to show him just how dumb he was as she tore him apart, piece by piece.

Unfortunately, she somehow wasn't paying attention as well as she thought as she found herself being tackled by Vanyel, the two of them careening into Vanyel's living room area and crashing into his furniture. Videl lost the guy in the mess somehow, but she wasn't going to let him get an advantage on her. Getting back to her feet, she looked around for Vanyel, finding him getting to his feet as well. Snarling, Videl grabbed onto the end of the couch and swung it off the ground, aiming to use it on Vanyel like a baseball bat on a ball.

She hadn't counted on Vanyel catching the other end with no more than a strained grunt. Caught off guard, Vanyel forced the couch towards her, causing her to move backwards until she felt her back hit the wall, the couch end crushing her against it. Oh God, he was strong too? This just wasn't fair! For a moment, the couch moved off of her before it was rammed back on her upper body and head, causing her to hear a crunching sound. She had no idea if the sound was from the wall or the back of her skull but Videl knew she didn't like it. Not one bit.

The couch was pulled away then, allowing her to drop to the floor in a heap. Dazed and battered, the room seemed to spin around her. She moved one of her hands to the back of her head, felt something wet there and moved her hand in front of her face, seeing a red substance on them. So that sound was from her head. Not…good…

A loud thump was then heard, but Videl ignored it. The room needed to…stop…spinning…right now. Seriously, it needed to stop. Heavy footsteps closed in on her before she felt herself being lifted off the floor. The next thing she knew, a hand latched around her throat and began to squeeze, shutting off her air flow. That helped stopped the room's spinning for her, though her new oxygen-deprived brain was not what she would consider a good development. Faintly, she could hear Vanyel mumbling something; something that made no sense to her. It didn't last long as she heard a whooshing sound. Raising his other hand, Videl made out a very long, very sharp looking rod…thing, and its point was pointing right at her heart. If her mind wasn't already going nuts about the lack of oxygen she was getting at the moment, it was going into overdrive at this point. No way did she want that monstrous thing sticking in her body!

Letting out a weak cry, she put as much of her limited strength as she could and kicked her leg forward. Whereas her earlier knee had missed her target, this time her foot made contact with Vanyel's soft spot, causing him let out a choked gasp. Letting go of her throat and the metal weapon, both of his hands went to his crotch, causing Videl to drop to the floor as she gasped for air. Somehow she managed to land on her feet and stayed on them, a small miracle if she ever knew one. However, Videl knew if she stopped now, she was as good as dead. Putting everything she had left into her hand, she slammed her fist into Vanyel's face, sending him flying away, flipping through the air until he crashed into the opposite wall, bursting right through it and landing in the room on the other side.

Collapsing to the floor, Videl sucked in as much air as she could. Already her stressed mental processes were recovering, allowing her to focus back on the situation at hand. Looking at the floor, Videl immediately caught sight of the metal weapon Vanyel had brought out and lunged for it, picking it up and holding it out in front of her. Looking towards the hole she had last seen her attacker, she waited with baited breath as she heard some groaning and rustling. Eventually, Vanyel climbed through the hole he had made, shaking his head to clear it before he looked to her. There were small trickles of blood going down his face, bits of sheetrock and tile falling from his body. That must've been the bathroom he had landed in. Swallowing, Videl called out to him "Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to kill me?"

Vanyel stared at her for a few moments, one of his hands rubbing the back of his head as he tried to sooth a bump or something back there. That made Videl feel slightly better. He deserved every lump she gave him. "It's my job," he eventually said flatly. "You're a vampire and I'm a vampire hunter. I'm supposed to kill you."

"I never tried to hurt you!" she shot back. "I was minding my own business until you showed up and tried to stake me!"

"It's not me I'm fighting for. It's for the people you hunt at night. The ones you feed off of because you're a monster. One that shouldn't even exist."

"I have no choice but to live this way! Animals attack people all the time, but I don't see you trying to kill them!"

"Animals are just mindless beasts that act on instinct. You're completely sentient; you know the difference between right and wrong. You know—"

"That's not my fault! I already told you, I didn't choose to live off of other people! If I had it my way, I would have lived my life the way it was intended to be!"

Vanyel stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "Then why are you doing this?"

"Because I'm not going to kill myself just because of a lifestyle. I became a vampire without even consenting to it. And you're trying to punish me because of that!"

Vanyel shook his head. "I don't know what you're going on about and I really don't care. What I do care about are the people you'll be feeding on, killing, or changing to become just like you. I'm not going to stand aside and let you get away with it."

Videl gulped, taking a step to a side, the one closest to the door. What she really wanted to do at this time was make a run for the door; run and never look back. Unfortunately, she didn't have the angle on this guy and he could easily catch her so right now she needed to put herself in a better position. Because of that, she needed to stall the guy for time she knew she didn't have.

"Why are you doing this? You must know there are hundreds, if not thousands of vampires around here. Are you going to try and kill them all or something?" she asked.

Vanyel nodded his head, keeping his sights on her despite her movement. "Every last one."

"You're insane! There's no way you could kill that many and live!"

This time he shrugged. "Won't know until I try. I may die, true, but at least I'll take down as many of you as I can."

Videl stopped moving, choosing to stare at the guy. He wasn't kidding, he really was going to try and kill every vampire he could get his hands on. While that included her, she couldn't help but feel like he might get pretty close to that goal. There was no way he could or would succeed, but he would definitely take out more of them than they could of him.

Feeling resigned to the fact that she probably wouldn't be making it out of this room alive, Videl slowly lowered the spike in her hand, though not too far down. She still wanted to keep something between her and this guy, even if he could get around it easily. "Then could you do me a favor?" she asked softly. "There's this guy…I would like it if you could kill him."

Vanyel cocked an eyebrow at her. "Is he some kind of ex-boyfriend or something?"

Videl paused for a moment, considering that before shuddering in disgust. "Something like that. He's the guy that turned me into a vampire. I've wanted to kill him for a while now but I haven't gotten a chance at him. So if there's any way you could see to it that he dies, I would really appreciated it."

Vanyel's face softened at that. Great, now her killer was feeling pity for her. Could this day not get any worse? "Sure, I can do that," he said. "Do you know where I can find him?"

"The local mansion, I would think. He likes to move around though. Sometimes he has a place in the city, other times he's out in the country. Last I heard he was staying at the mansion."

The young man looked at her puzzled. "Mansion? What are you talking about?"

At this, Videl looked surprised. "You don't know about…?" she trailed off. "But that's common knowledge. There's always a mansion vampires like to congregate at. Most even prefer to live there."

Vanyel seemed troubled about this. "I seem to have missed something," he finally stated. Jerking his head back to her, he then asked "How knowledgeable are you about vampires?"

Videl gave him a dirty look. "Um, I am a vampire. I think I would know about my own kind."

"Good. I need information. I want to know everything you know about vampires. Every last detail, every last scrap of information you have."

Videl cocked an eyebrow at this. "And you want me to just give this all to you? Umm, you do realize that's treason amongst my people."

"And right now your life is in my hands," Vanyel said, a small smile appearing on his lips. "I'm giving you a slight reprieve from death, or do you not want that?"

Her eyes widened. Was he serious? He had to be messing with her. Why would he want to keep her alive? For information? No, that couldn't be it. "So let me get this straight, you're going to let me live if I tell you all I know about vampires, right?"

"Seems that way," he said.

"And what about my request?"

"I can still do that if you want." For some reason, part of Videl felt that even had she not asked for that, this guy was still going to do it. It didn't matter if he had a reason or not, he had a job to do so any extra incentive didn't really matter.

"So that's it? I just tell you all I know and you'll let me go?"

"For now."

Her eyes narrowed. "You plan on killing me at some point, don't you? That's some incentive you've got there."

Vanyel shrugged. "I told you, it's my job. Now are you going to talk or should I just finish you right here, right now?"

Videl bit her lip. She had a temporary get-out-of-jail-free card—more like a don't-kill-me-now card—and she would have to be crazy not to use it. On the other hand, this guy still planned on killing her at some point. A long term survival plan would have been more welcomed, but right now she only had one choice.

She opened her mouth.

Videl had only woken up moments earlier, but she was alert enough to know that something was off. Specifically, Gohan had his hand bandaged and she had never seen him hurt that obvious before. Yes, he got hurt on more than one occasion, but he had always managed to conceal those wounds from her.

"What happened?" she asked, her eyes trained on the bright white wrapping.

Gohan looked up from what he was doing, seeing her staring intently at him. Following her gaze, he found the center of her attention. "I burned my hand last night. Nothing to worry about."

She cocked an eyebrow. "And how did you manage to do that?"

"Grabbed the barrel of a gun as it was firing."

"And you did that because?"

"So I wouldn't get shot."

Well, that was a legitimate reason. Still, he was usually more careful about such things. "So I'm guessing you're going to lie low until it heals."

"Probably the best idea, but you never know," Gohan replied.

"So then what's our next move?"

Gohan thought for a moment. "It would make sense if I kept after Crane. After all, he did get away and vampire hunters make a habit of tying off loose ends. I would also imagine that the shipment he was involved with is not at its final destination. There must be some place they want to take it and put it to use and it's doubtful the safe house they took it too is that place."

Videl nodded. "I'll keep my eyes and ears open then. Crane would have returned to the mansion to report his progress. Someone must have seen him return in a troubled state of mind." Letting out a sigh, Videl then added "I think I'll have to make a return trip to the Soare Mansion. Ugh."

Gohan gave her a small smile. "Sorry about that. We should have tailed the truck to their safe house instead."

She shrugged in answer. "Shoulda, woulda, coulda," she said. "I had a feeling I'd be going there more than I ever wanted the moment you told me to go. So sit back, relax, and enjoy yourself while I go slave away on this never-ending mission of yours." A mischievous feeling appeared in her. Walking to Gohan, she placed a hand lightly on his shoulder and slowly dragged it down his arm. "After all, it seems my job in this relationship of ours is to start things off. What do you mortals call it again? Foreplay?"

A blush began working its way up Gohan's neck, causing the girl to smirk. She hadn't done that in awhile and it made her feel good to put it back into action. Without looking back, she sauntered off, very aware that her comrade was doing his best not to look at her. Whether he was succeeding or not, she didn't know but it mattered little.

Very little did when she felt like teasing.