I noticed a lack of reviews for this story, though this story has been viewed. That's all right. As long as people are viewing, reading, and liking it I don't need reviews at all. I'm particularly proud of chapters seven, eight, and nine of this story. I look forward to finishing it and moving onto to other ideas.
Chapter Eight- Bloodlust Frenzy
Ryou slept most of the day away, awakening around mid-afternoon. He brought in a few of the smaller furniture and placed them in the living room. It was almost night by the time Ryou brought in the last of the small pieces, left the house, and drove over to the mansion. He arrived in time to see the gang assembled outside with the last of their possessions inside a few cardboard boxes Ryou had purchased when he rented the van. Bakura slid into the passenger seat while the others rode in the back with their furniture.
"You guys sure packed up fast," Ryou commented as he drove.
"One of the perks of being a vampire," Bakura boasted.
Ryou nodded as he pulled into the driveway. He heard the back open up as he turned off the engine and got out. He saw Yugi and Yami coming down the retractable ramp, carrying a queen-size mattress, and he gaped at them. He knew vampires were strong, but he never saw it being utilized until now. He quickly shook himself from the awe-inspiring sight and rushed to the door to unlock it so that they could carry it to their room. As they passed through the door, Ryou saw Bakura and Seto carrying another mattress of the same size down the ramp. The two of them carried it upstairs as well while Joey walked in with Yuri in his arms and settled in an armchair before pulling out a blood bag and feeding her. Once the bedframes and all the boxes had been brought in, Ryou called everyone into the living room.
"Now that we're all moved in, I have something for all of you." Ryou reached into his pocket and pulled out five rings that each had a key hanging from it. "I had these made the morning after learning about the notice."
"Thank you, Ryou," Yami said, taking two of the rings and passing one to Yugi.
"Yes, thank you," Seto chimed in, accepting his key as well as Joey's.
"Well, it just makes sense," Ryou said as he handed the last one to Bakura. "After all, you live here now. Speaking of which, I need to return the van since we don't need it anymore."
"I'll accompany you," Bakura said. "I can get us both home from the rental store fast."
Ryou smiled. "Okay. Let's go." The two mates left the house and when they returned about thirty minutes later, they discovered that the bedframes and bedroom furniture had been moved to their respective rooms. They headed for their room and proceeded to put Bakura's bed together as well as put his furniture in place. Bakura insisted that his full-size bed be placed beside Ryou's own and the white-haired boy could hardly say no to the idea. Once their room was in order, they went upstairs and helped Seto with putting the bed together and unpacking the boxes.
Ryou snuggled up against Bakura who was deep asleep and unaware of his mate's presence which made sense since it was daylight. The only hint of daylight was the room wasn't as dark as it would be at night. He was trying to drift back to sleep after waking up briefly; he had to go to work later and he wanted to get as much sleep as he could. He eventually fell back asleep and when he next awoke, he looked at the bedside clock and saw that he had enough time to get something to eat before getting dressed and going to work. He slipped out of bed and started getting ready, wishing he didn't have to work but knew his boss was expecting him and he would never dream of calling in and fake being sick for that felt wrong to him. Once he was dressed, he lightly kissed Bakura on the cheek and said, "See you later." He left the room and was out the door.
It was about two hours later when the rest of the house's residents woke. Bakura opened his eyes and rolled over to see Ryou's well-made but empty bed. Oh yes, that's right. He had to go to work today. He'll be back at about one in the morning. He rolled over again and stood up, stretching and yawning. He grabbed the blood bag on his table and drank from it before storing it and heading for the living room. It was decided that he would watch the baby while the others went out to feed, particularly Yugi as he hadn't used his fangs to feed yet and he needed to do so. When he got to the living room, he found Joey there with his daughter sitting in a bouncer that Ryou had brought home shortly after they moved in. "Hey, Bakura," Joey greeted. "Thanks for doing this, I need to get some fresh air and I kind of want to practice my powers and magic to make sure I'm doing it right."
"Whatever," Bakura scoffed. "I could never understand why Seto and Yami want to keep their victims alive."
"Well, I want to because they might have a family or a loved one. Besides, a lot of corpses showing up every night would look suspicious and aren't we trying to not draw attention to ourselves?"
"Yes, that's true."
"Okay, then. Well, gotta go. Seto's waitin' for me and the others have already left." Joey waved a goodbye to Bakura who merely nodded as the blonde headed up the hall to the front door.
Once the pair was outside, Seto said, "So, ready to put your lessons into practice?"
"You bet."
"You know you won't be successful on your first try, right?"
"Possibly, but I may surprise you."
"Then let's begin the hunt and you can show me."
Yugi and Yami hid in some bushes in the park, waiting for criminals to show themselves or at least Yami hoped so. He had heard that muggers had robbed people walking through the park and hadn't been caught due to the fact that they wore masks to conceal their identities. He had felt anger at hearing that innocent people were being preyed upon by these criminals and decided to administer his own brand of justice.
"Uh, Yami? What if we actually walked around the park? Maybe those muggers will try to rob us."
Yami blinked at the suggestion before looking at Yugi. "Why didn't I think of that in the first place? Good call, Yugi. Let's go." He stepped out of the bushes and Yugi followed suite. They started walking in a random direction, making casual conversation, and looking around as if hoping they wouldn't run into trouble. In short, they were trying to look like teenagers enjoying a night out in hopes of enticing their victims to come out of hiding.
And their hopes were not in vain. They had just passed under a canopy of trees when the leaves overhead rustled and two men dropped down in front of them. Both were dressed in black shirts and jeans and wore dark ski masks over their faces. Both had cocky grins on their faces and they each held a sharp, glittering knife. One was taller than the other and he was the one took a step forward and said, "Well, well, what do we have here? Trespassers. Listen, twerps, give us all your money and valuables and we'll let you pass through our turf. If you don't, you will be sorry."
"I guess we'll just have to backtrack since we don't have any money or valuables to give you," Yami said. He put an arm around Yugi's shoulders and turned both of them around to see the shorter man blocking their path.
"Now, was leaving the way you came an option I gave you? No, it wasn't. Since you two don't have anything, I guess we'll have to kill you."
"Is that so?" Yami asked calmly. "You can try." He caught Yugi's eye and smirked. He enjoyed toying with his victim since he had long perfected his technique and looked forward to showing off for Yugi. He quickly dashed behind the tall man, leaped onto his back and bit into the neck before anyone could react.
Yugi whirled around to watch Yami's attack and found himself fascinated by how quickly Yami had moved. There was no hesitation on the pharaoh's part when he bit down. It was like one moment Yami was leaping onto the man and the next moment he had sunk his fangs into the neck. The man screamed in pain and Yugi felt a thrill of pleasure race up his spine. This was his first time seeing Yami attack someone since he was turned and he was awe-struck by the event.
Suddenly, Yami called, "Yugi, look out!" Yugi had a feeling he knew what Yami was warning about: The other man was about to attack him. He took two quick steps forward and took a step to the left before turning around. He heard cloth tear and felt a brief bite of pain before he completed his sidestep and looked to see that the upper part of his left jacket sleeve had been slashed and there was a cut on his arm to match. Blood dripped out of the cut and the sight of it caused Yugi to look at the man through a red haze as he leaped at him.
Yugi leaped toward his victim, all innocence gone from his face: A dark, feral hunger dominated his face. Yami watched in horror, dropping his dead victim, as Yugi harshly plunged his fangs into the throat of the human and drank him dry. As the body tumbled to the ground, Yugi threw back his head and let out a wild, maniacal laugh that sent shivers down the pharaoh's spine. Why was his angel acting like this? What was wrong with him?
He rushed over to his mate and grasped his shoulders. "Yugi? Yugi, are you all right?"
Yugi grinned at him, blood still on his fangs. "Oh, I'm feeling better than all right," he answered in a dark tone that Yami had never heard before.
Yami's mind raced. What happened and what do I do now? Maybe I should take him home and hopefully he'll be himself again by the time we get there.
"Yugi, let's go home."
"Why? I'm ready for another attack."
"No. We're going home." Yami grabbed Yugi by the waist, slung him over his shoulder and headed home, ignoring Yugi's protests the entire way.
The sound of a voice in the hallway caused Bakura to look up from his book. That sounds like Yugi, but he sounds angry and …dark? That can't be right. Yami appeared in the doorway with Yugi over his shoulder and a concerned look on his face.
"Something's wrong with Yugi and I don't know what to do," Yami stated as he sat in a chair, put Yugi on his lap, and used his arms to keep him there, as the younger vampire was struggling to escape.
"Well, tell me what happened, pharaoh." Bakura asked, putting the book aside.
"We went hunting criminals in the park, using ourselves as bait. We found them and as I was showing off my technique, one of the men tried to attack Yugi. He tore the sleeve and cut Yugi a little," he nodded at the jacket. "And then, Yugi suddenly lunged at the man and sucked him dry. After he did that, he let out this wild laugh that gave me the shivers. When I insisted we go home, Yugi said he was ready to attack someone else."
"Hmm," Bakura said as he crouched down and lifted Yugi's head so he could look him in the eyes. The boy's violet eyes looked darker than normal and there seemed to be a hint of red in them. He stood up. "I believe I have a diagnosis."
"Diagnosis?" Yami repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, a diagnosis. Remember, I took night classes to become a doctor. I also found a book on vampires that turned out to be written by an actual vampire. As I was saying, I believe Yugi is suffering from a bloodlust frenzy."
"And what is that exactly?"
"Simply put, it's a condition that occurs when a set of circumstances occur. First of all, when a vampire hasn't feed on a human at all and when an attack turns violent or threatens their lives."
"That's what happened. Tonight was to be Yugi's first night feeding off a human and then that man attacked Yugi and drew blood. But, how do we get the Yugi I love back?"
"I suggest knocking him out for the rest of the night. He'll wake up tomorrow and be his normal self again. I also recommend that he feed on humans on a regular basis and use the bag for say, date nights."
Yami nodded. "Sound advice Bakura, but let me do this my way." He rubbed his hand across Yugi's hair and murmured into his ear. Yugi's eyes slid closed and he went limp in his mate's grip.
"What?" Bakura said.
"A simple sleeping spell. It'll keep him unconscious until tomorrow."
"Huh, useful. I wonder if I can do that."
"Let me put Yugi to bed and I'll come down to see if you can."
Joey and Seto arrived home to see Yami and Bakura in the living room, the tomb robber had his eyes closed and he seemed to be chanting words. He stopped chanting and Yami said, "That's good, but I don't know how we can find out if you can use the spell."
"What spell?" Seto spoke up.
"A sleeping spell. How did the night go, Joey?"
"Not bad. I can't erase memories, but I can heal the bite marks and use the power of persuasion to make the person forget the encounter."
"Actually, persuading the person to forget is just as good as erasing the memory. I'd say your night was productive."
Joey grinned at Yami's praise. "Thanks. Hey, where's Yug?"
"He's…sleeping. There was…an incident. Yugi suffered a bloodlust frenzy."
"A what?"
"Bakura says it's a condition that occurs when a vampire hasn't bitten a human and when the vampire is threatened with violence. Yugi, until tonight, had been getting his blood from the bags Ryou brings home and when his victim slashed at him with a knife, it sent Yugi into the frenzy."
"Ah, man. What do we do?"
"Everything's going to be all right. I used the sleeping spell to keep Yugi asleep until tomorrow when he'll be himself again. Bakura suggests that Yugi feeds every night and only drinks from the bag on date nights."
"And I expressed an interest in learning that spell which is why the pharaoh was teaching."
Yugi awoke slowly. He lied on his back, staring at the ceiling before stretching his arms upward and then stifling a yawn. There was a squeak as Yami sat up in their bed and regarded his mate with concern. "Yugi? How are you feeling?"
"I feel good, but a little confused. I don't remember getting into bed."
"That's because I put you to bed. You weren't yourself last night."
"I wasn't? The last thing I remember is a jumble of images. I saw the man I attacked, then I saw you, and then Bakura. Yami," Yugi's voice shook. "What happened to me last night?"
"It's called bloodlust frenzy. It happens when a vampire hasn't fed on a human and then the attack turned violent and you, for lack of a better word, lost control."
Yugi was sure that he wasn't pale already, he would be now. "I lost control? Is-is there any way to stop this was happening again?"
"Yes. You just need to feed every day and only use the blood bag for when we go out on dates."
"That sounds good because I don't want to go through that again. I was probably scary."
"It scared me because I didn't know what was going on. But now I do and I will not let you to go through it again, either. Now, let's go out and find our victims for the night."
You probably guessed that the next chapter will be the last one and you're right. Next time, VS II will be finished at last.
