You better be damn happy I updated this lol!

Thank youuuuu to everyone who sent me positive reviews in the many months (years) I was gone! This is why I love the fanfiction community. We're like a village haha. Ah, the next chapter in:

Cold Taste - Day 8

Disclaimer: All rights disclaimed to Disney and Tetsuya Nomura, as you know.

Note: WTF. I'm still alive!? Haha, well ...actually I wasn't. I had almost completely forgotten about this story (I is incredibly sorry!) but many of you die-hard fans (to which I am eternally grateful and in love with) nagged, pestered, and reminded me that I needed to continue this. Those studies I promised to pass before I would work on this again, well... they turned into completing high school, finishing two years of university, and a whole other shit load of things before I was rejuvenated with creativity again! Can you believe this madness? Haha. So I apologize to you all now if the style is not up to speed as it was in 2010 and if the story is lacking somewhat.

I need to get back into it. Whew! ...Gosh, when the last time I played Kingdom Hearts?

Enjoy! I am forever shocked by the fact that FF won't let me use both ! and ? in one combination. Grr.


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...

..

.

There was a war going on inside Naminé's heart. A kind of deep battle that was testing her humanity and allowing her very little time to justify herself or feel guilt for her actions.

She could not believe it as her heart pumped wildly under the moist perspiration of her chest.

Her first time, first experience, and she'd spent the night with, of all men … a vampire.

She... had sex with a supernatural being.

The proof was in the stillness of his body beside her, the chill she felt on his skin (even though their naked bodies were still melded together) and the …dried blood that stuck to her back in dark scabs that Sora seemed to gently fascinate in.

It was an unnatural feeling but it was there, the feeling of terror and comfort all cyclonic into one perfect balance of wonder.

Naminé felt it in the way Sora said nothing and did nothing as stroked her blonde tresses and looked to the ceiling in deep thought - probably contemplating the same kind of surprise she felt as to where they would go from here.

She stared down onto the contours of his muscled abdomen, marvelling in how the muscles under his sun-kissed skin rippled elegantly down toward his sculpted lower half. They weren't under the covers because they had collapsed in the frenzy of the night, and she had a perfect view of everything he had and had given her.

She felt slightly embarrassed now that the room was bright with the oncoming sun. What did he think of her body now that they had rested? She wasn't the curviest of girls and she was pale and skinny.

A frown developed on her face when Sora shifted in his place beside her, as he went to scoop his large hand around her waist to spoon her from behind. Maybe he didn't mind…?

Naminé looked around her bedroom still unconvinced. Now that the night of passion was over, the guilt and terror was beginning to show. She realised she didn't know anything still about Sora other than the vampire trivia ...he mentioned living for centuries and a family worse than him that lived in Florence for a while. Was Sora even his real name?

I'm so stupid! I'm just like those girls in those damn books Mina reads.

She gazed away from him. She missed how the silver chain around his neck shifted against his toned chest as he frowned in deep thought. When she'd looked away, he looked as she felt: reawakened shock. And it made her more afraid. Biting her lip, she was eerily conscious of the dried blood on her back. The thoughts had to be pushed away.

.

'So… why me?' Sora shook his head against hers.

'I …don't know. I just …don't know what makes you…'

.

Sora had stayed with her till morning, even though he didn't require sleep.

She had to find solace in that.

Naminé tried to relax as he felt him move. What was he going to do? What was shegoing to do? Nothing would be the same after this.

But while a rush of comforted pleasure came when his knuckles brushed the underskin of her breast, an equally painful hiss came through her teeth as he also grazed a long scratch he'd made on her back.

"Mi dispiace."

Naminé blinked and lifted her head a little to stare at him.

His electric blue eyes were gorgeous and unsettling like a beautiful painting depicting a dark story.

"I'm sorry?"

Her brows furrowed slightly together. Sora flickered his eyes to hers and a smirk split onto his face.

"I didn't know you spoke Italian too," he mused as his fingers went to stroking her hip. She shivered but shook her head in confusion.

He chuckled and his smirk transformed into a smile for her.

"I said 'I'm sorry' for the... you know," and he gestured to the long graze still red on her back. "It'll heal in an hour with my saliva."

Naminé blinked, still trying to process what he'd just said; on top of everything he had confessed to her last night, it was almost incomprehensible.

At first when Sora turned her on her knees and began running his tongue along her backside, she'd thought it was some sensual act in the heat of the night and she'd begged for more. But when they'd stopped to rest and she'd laid back, her skin erupted with a deep, sharp pain and Sora spent a few minutes apologizing for his nails and explaining the healing attributes in his saliva before they were at it again. She'd been too excited to have the man of her affections in her bed to really think about it.

Until now.

She raised her eyebrows.

"You speak Italian?"

Sora kept his gaze on her for a moment longer before looking back up to the ceiling, his pupils shrinking and his irises flickering yellow in the oncoming sunlight.

"My family lived in Florence in the 1700s so even after we left, we stuck to it for a while."

He rubbed his eye with the back of his hand before continuing.

"I also know Bulgarian and French. My Latin could be better but I've always hated it since Ans-"

"Say something to me,"

She gave him a shy smile. Sora looked at her with a delicate expression, watching the way her eyes flitted across his face and the tilt of her head. He licked his dry lips when the exposed area of her neck appeared and her blonde hair fell over her other shoulder. He mentally praised himself for not losing control at one point ever in the night because every chance he got it was so tempting.

She had screamed his name, he smelled her skin, her blood ran right beneath his touch, and they would kiss …but he had never once lost control of his fangs coming out.

They don't call me the strongest Strigoi for knowing.

Sora gave her a half smile.

"Non riesco a trovare i miei calzini."

He watched as her breath hitched in her throat and the sound of her heartbeat increasing. Who knew something so simple could turn them both on?

"A-and that means?"

Her blue eyes went wide as she felt herself lean into him. His hold tightened on her hip possessively as he sat up to meet her halfway. With his lips to her ear, he whispered in hair.

"I can't find my socks."

And he grinned when she scoffed and pushed his chest away with a chuckle.

"It sounded better in Italian, Sora."

The sound of his voice on her tongue again was foreign and wonderful.

Naminé shook her head. He laughed softly and moved away from her to lie back down. Sora looked out the window.

It's the eighth day...

Something about the way the brightening sky chilled his insides. Was something going to happen?

Vampires were gifted with that sense of heightened intuition. It explained why they were the most difficult predators to chase and track down - they always seemed to psychically know one step ahead if something was coming, even if they didn't get a clear understanding it. When he turned to head to Naminé's and watched as she gingerly started to pull her naked body of her bed, the feeling grew stronger.

He bit the inside of his cheek and felt his fangs poke him lightly.

"Naminé?"

He watched as her back bent down as she retrieved her nightgown on the floor. He felt a sick feeling in his stomach as he saw the deep cut still healing over across her otherwise flawless back. He silently hoped she wouldn't scar after that because of him.

She turned back to him with a small smile. Her crystal blue eyes were clear and sharp, in no way affected by any kind of compulsion on his part.

"Hm?"

"I..." he started to stay but the words were stuck on his tongue. He grew distracted by both the raw beauty of her body after a night with him and the dark red that speckled her pale skin; it was a reminder of who he really, truly was.

Suddenly images of the past week came rushing into his mind.

His family's shadowed by the outline of the fireplace...

A middle-aged man begging to let go as Sora sank his teeth into his neck...

Naminé's lustrous gaze as she stalked him down the street unwillingly...

His rage as he sat on the rooftop in the rain...

The story of the Strigoi...

Sora shook his head and sat up quickly. Naminé noted the change in his demeanour and scurried around the bed to sit in front of him. She hadn't found her underwear among the piles of their discarded clothes but decided, since it was her apartment and Sora was the one who ripped it off her, it didn't really matter this point. She was going to shower anyway.

"Sora, what is it?"

"Uh...I just, uhm..."

Sighing heavily for the effect, he reached for her hand and brought her closer.

"Let's …go somewhere for a second."

Naminé raised an eyebrow and felt like there was an episode of déjà vu.

"Will I be safe?"

Sora looked down to the floor then snapped his head up when he realised the apparent nervous tone in her voice. She asked one question, but bordered on the words of another: 'Will you still be there?'

Did she really think he was going to hurt or leave just like that after what they'd shared, after what he'd been through to get through to her? Maybe she thought he was just another douche who slept with a chick and bailed.

Well, she doesn't know exactly WHAT you went through, dumbass.

The thought made his expression soften; he'd tell her everything, everything, if she could sit through it and try to understand.

Sora smiled fully and genuinely for the first time all morning. He nodded and rubbed her knuckles with a clawed thumb.

"Yeah."

...

..

.

When the sun hits the ridge of the horizon just right, there is a flash of perfect white light that shimmers in the vampire irises and reflects back against the sky. They call it their mortal's pure light, a brief flicker where they are the humans they once were and what they once retained before turning.

Innocence.

A serene soul.

Incorruption.

It is not something many of the vampires choose to speak about because they pride themselves on their roles of leaving behind such fragile human life; they scoff and turn their nose up at mortality, acting as if the blood of a predator running through their veins is something to be grateful for... but they all secretly think it. What it would have been like to live so short, to harbour such a calm in their soul for a mere one hundred years than to never feel it at all for an eternity?

So when the sky is perfect and the sunrise is bright, families and individuals alike wait for that perfect moment, when that white light breathes into their spirit and they feel something they have almost forgotten: peace.

Vampires are not given that. In their hearts, lives a dark entity that clouds their perception of the world and life around them. They are forever tainted, inwardly conflicted, and always at war within themselves.

In Sora's heart, there was always calamity going on between his instincts and his morality.

He had rarely grown to question it, as he grew older, ageing only every couple decades when the stress of his conscious weighing his mind down. He could go years without feeling any kind of remorse for the actions he did, turning it off like a person would switch off a light, and just as well, switch it back on when he felt the need to. His relatives were more in-tune with their natural ability to do it than he was. It was just lucky for him, that they cared enough about him to not abandon him unlike what they'd done so to his father.

.

1756, Algeria

"Daniel...Nathan... I can't stay."

"W-Why, father? Where are y-!"

"Your mother will look after you. You cannot find me, after this has come to pass. Understand?"

"Father, w-we cannot remain like this. Larxene ...she told me there is a safe haven in Mayfair. Y-You can go there and-!"

"No, Daniel I-! ...I have no choice."

"..."

"Father, no!" And a terrible sobbing started as the much older man reached down to hug his three-year old son.

"Daniel ...look after your little brother. He will need you more than ever. You will both need each other."

"I understand."

"I may not have the strength to ...to live like this, but you two can. If you just lean on one another, you can do what I could not. Survive."

.

Sora shut his eyes and tried to shove the words away. It was like staring into a very old photograph, where the colour was washed out and the edges were cracked, but the image inside was still hauntingly familiar. He couldn't believe that he had been able to remember.

After that, his father never returned and Ansem gave Sora and Roxas a rather cruel upbringing.

They were constantly reminded that it was for the good for the family, to be able to withstand any sorts of pain and drama so that they may endure the tortures of immortality and passing of time.

He learned to run without regret, kill without remorse, and push people away as if they were nothing but pawns for a sick game he eternally played.

Roxas seemed to handle it better than he did, not in the sense that he enjoyed it, but in that he was mature beyond his age to understand that accepting the problem was easier for him and his brother than rejecting it. And Sora was forever grateful for that, especially since he was the softer of the two.

Sora didn't know why, but he knew he just had a more innate sense of justice that he could not challenge.

When Ansem yelled, he retorted back.

When Axel pondered, Sora would shower with questions.

And when Roxas finalized on a decision, his little brother tried to find loopholes.

Nothing was as black and white as the family had wanted, and Sora lived it in the grey. He could play the bad boy, oh yes, doing it better than most just to survive and earn respect. But that didn't mean he always able to turn off the guilt.

If Sora was honest with himself, the guilt was always there even when he smirked or ignored other people's problems. He just couldn't shake it.

.

'And that's why you'll make a better leader than Ansem, Sora,' Roxas would constantly say since the day when they were told that the Strigoi responsibilities would be passed onto him.

'Because I'm soft and he's always so grumpy?'

Roxas would grin.

.

"We never hated our father for his absence. If anything, I appreciate his decision. I doubt I would respect him less if he had been the one to grow us up in such a..."

Sora stopped for a moment when a particularly warm breeze rushed into his face and made the world still. He squinted into the increasingly orange sky relishing in the feeling. Naminé stared into his face, with her bottom lip beneath her teeth. She said nothing.

She tried not to focus on how far the ground was from their height.

She was still surprised that she'd managed to put on her jeans so fast and gone up to the apartment roof with him so she could 'watch the sunrise in his eyes' as he stated. It sounded cheesy, but Naminé didn't want to judge. If Sora wanted to share something with her, then who was she to refuse a vampire? But she guessed if she had wanted she could have had a choice since he said he was in love with her.

As abrupt and passionate as he was.

"I haven't talked about him in years." He shrugged. "Haven't thought about him in years. Is that ...wrong?"

Naminé wondered if he was really asking her and decided to come up with an answer as he paused to stare down at the buildings. She wasn't sure how'd they gotten to that point in the conversation but somewhere along her mumbling about planning her father's funeral …Sora began to open up.

She didn't think he ever would and so felt humbled and a little afraid by his change in demeanour.

What she had feared would be a love only fuelled by sexual tension, had somehow over the night transformed into a thing where Sora found himself capable of leaning against her feeling comfortable enough to share his most uncomfortable thoughts.

But am I ready for that?

Naminé looked back to the sky.

"Your first name's …Nathaniel."

Sora squinted his eyes.

"I pour my heart out to you and the only thing that resonates with you is my name?"

She shrugged.

"It's a nice name."

"I don't use it."

She shifted in her seat beside him and clasped her hands in her lap. It looked like she would have to call in sick for work. Again.

"Your father sounded very noble. Sometimes parents have to make cruel decisions to perform selfless acts. I know my father worked hard to make up for my mother not being around but …he said what she did in the time she was alive counts for the time she missed with me."

Naminé shook her head.

"Sorry, I'm …not sure what else to say."

Sora nodded. He knew this kind of story would be hard to address but he couldn't stop himself.

"It's okay, I just wanted to tell someone. My mother was the same before she died."

Naminé smiled.

"In time, maybe we can explain things to each other a little better, huh?"

Sora looked down at her and chuckled.

"Yeah, we're not doing such a hot job."

Naminé laughed softly and ruffled his messy hair. Sora rolled his eyes.

How affectionate.

Then the sky caught his attention. He nudged Naminé in the side.

"Here. This is what I want you to see."

Naminé blinked and watched the sun steadily brighten the sky to the point where it was ready to break over the horizon. Sora turned her head back to his face with a calm face, careful not to scratch her with his long nails. He really wanted to clip them.

"No, not the sun. Look at me."

Naminé's breath hitched in her throat but she nodded gently. What did he want her to see when the sun came up?

There was a comforting silence that hung in the air and Sora felt soothing pleasure in the steady increase of her anxious heartbeat. He smiled down reassuringly at her.

"It's okay," he muttered. She gulped down a lump in her throat.

Then the first rays of sun broke the sky.

In the orange light, their faces grew warm and the sun brightened their skin. Naminé smiled as the sun-kissed glow of Sora's natural tan shone handsomely in the morning light. She wanted to continue staring at him like this forever but then he turned his head abruptly to stare into the sun.

As she watched, his irises flashed white and remained the shade for a few moments. Her eyes widened.

Sora's eyes weren't ocean blue or eerily, amber …they were pure white, shockingly vivid against his black pupils. It was a strange thing to see – she'd expected his skin to glitter or his face to morph in a monster but this was a simple alteration of who he really was.

The white was breathtaking as it contrasted against the orange light around them. How did his eyes manage to do that?

It's because he's a vampire, dumbass.

And she smiled slightly. This was something that confirmed that fact even more.

"Wow."

The wind picked up and blew their bangs around. Sora spoke up.

"This only happens when we're facing the sun at this exact time. And only during the sunrise."

Naminé's face went crestfallen as the white slowly began to vanish away and back to his electric blue irises.

"Does it …hurt?"

Sora shook his head and finally blinked, rubbing his eyes as he did so. When he opened them, the white was gone.

"No, it tingles. But I feel this incredible calm when they glow like that. Like, my entire body is at peace and I don't have any cravings for anything whatsoever."

Naminé pursed her lips then went to reach his hand. It was weird how her emotions transformed around him; terrified, aroused, and relaxed all within less than a week.

But it was a welcomed kind of weird.

"I don't think I want to give you... that kind of help, Sora. But thanks for ...showing me this piece of you."

Sora looked back at her. Her face was fresh without makeup, her eyes were bright, and her hair was slightly tousled. She looked younger and more innocent than herself in her simple house clothes. His eyebrows furrowed together in a serious look.

"Naminé, after everything I've done to you …I feel like I should give you the world or something. I could show you everything I have and know and yet, I feel like it's not enough."

The mention of her father made her withdraw a little and Sora sensed it. He frowned slightly and pushed on.

"So long as you want me, I'll stick around but …I'll never be completely gone, got it?"

Naminé's heart pounded when he bent down to kiss her hand.

"I love you, you know that."

And Naminé who though nodded seriously, flourished inside with a rush of butterflies. She began to pull away and started to get up off the ground.

"I'm going to go put on the coffee maker," she mumbled shyly through dry lips. "Then, hopefully if you're still here when I get back ...you'll take a cup."

Sora nodded with a small smile and let her walk away.

When Naminé was no longer in view, he fisted his right hand in frustration.

This was bad, very bad.

"Fuck."

Naminé wasn't marked yet – she wasn't his. He'd arrived last night with the intention bringing her back to the mansion to do ...everything they'd done last night, in his room. Because that was the way it wassupposed to be!

Roxas' voice got stuck in his head.

.

"Then you have to bring her back here to the castle…

and bed her...

then you leave your mark on her."

.

Sora mumbled to himself.

"If they find out that I mated with her..."

Sora knew his family.

Ansem and the lot of them were... generations of cruelty. His family operated in the most gruesome and merciless of ways when it came to the safety of the family. Sora used to take enjoyment sometimes in the suffering his relatives or others threatening them. Now after one moment of weakness, he feared the same fates of them would befall him.

Rubbing his head again in frustration, he went to fiddle the end of his necklace as it lay against his black shirt.

He pictured Naminé's slender form in her kitchen, illuminated by sunlight as he listened to her fix the coffeepot, and the way she was probably flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder as she bent over the counter.

Naminé was ...she was the exception to all his mistakes in his life. Finding her and fighting recklessly for her was worth it. He wouldn't lose her, not now, even after he was the one that left her an orphan in this world. No, now it was his obligation to protect and look after her. He would gladly fight down every one of his family members if they so much as touched her.

And I would do it even if it wasn't my obligation to.

Suddenly, his ears picked up something.

"Ho-argh stop. NO! Who are you?!"

Sora's head snapped up at the sounds of a scuffle taking place behind the metal door that led down back to the apartments then what sounded like a powerful fist hitting the walls. His eyes widened in fear.

"Naminé?!" he cried and ran for the door. When it threw it open, a gloved hand shot out at his chain so fast, Sora couldn't dodge in time. It yanked him down until he was on his knees then a knee collided with his chin and made the roof spin.

Naminé screamed again in the stairwell and the sound of her struggling made Sora less focused on the attack made on him.

"Na-nami-!" he tried to yell but he coughed up saliva in his painful hunch.

"Idiot!"

A familiar male voice spat from above him. Then a quick slap to his head caused Sora to turn his head to ground.

"You fucking idiot!"

And when Sora looked sideways, he saw Roxas shaking with controlled rage in his black trench coat.

"R...Ro-xas!?" Sora choked out disbelieving.

Naminé gave one more shriek and silence followed, Roxas hauled Sora up to his feet again and punched him in the face. He shook him fervently with his fangs gritting.

"How could you? Do you realise what you've done?! You weren't supposed to bed her! You were supposed to bring her back!"

Sora watched through dizzy eyes as Axel opened the rooftop door and came into view with a dark look on his face. It always gave Sora a chill to see his usually jovial older cousin looking very conflicted and serious. Naminé was trailing behind him soundlessly.

"N-Naminé?"

Sora tried to move around Roxas but failing. He froze when he realised the stillness in her body and the ghostly way her walked across the floor.

When he gazed onto her face, he saw that her clear eyes were dull and dilated and her mouth was mouth slightly as she stared onto the floor.

"Why'd you compel her?!"

Axel said nothing and crossed his arms. Sora tried to lash out at him but Roxas yanked on his necklace and the younger brother pulled back violently.

"Fuck!"

The pain ripped through his neck. He went to throw a clawed hand out back at Roxas but the vampire grew fed up and kicked him in the back of the leg.

Sora was a terrible fighter when his emotions took over and his focus on Naminé prevented him from remembering to defend himself. He fell to the ground with a loud thud and tried to support himself on his hands. It was Axel who spoke gently and he narrowed his bright, green eyes

"Sora, we gave you a chance. You should have known the family would come for you after that little stunt Roxas pulled."

"But I didn-"

"You think we don't know? Sora, the girl reeks of vampire saliva!"

"Axel, shut up."

The older cousin made his mouth a tight line but said nothing.

"Roxas," Sora said as he tried to pull his head up. "Roxas, no. Leave her alone. I was going to br-"

Roxas interrupted with tired, angry eyes.

"Ansem gave Riku jurisdiction over your capture after I left. He's ...he's ordered for your imprisonment in the Dispel Chambers and that she be brought to back to the mansion."

Roxas' blue eyes flickered to Naminé's unmoving form and sympathy hung over his head.

The girl had a simple beauty and a gentle aura about her; if he weren't so wound up about his reckless brother, he would have complimented Sora for his apparent new choice in women. After every other prissy female Sora had chased around for kicks in his teens, Roxas comforted in the fact that Sora picked the kind of girl who wore old jeans, modest pyjama tops, and a simple look about her. She wasn't a Kairi, but she was still an effortless kind of beautiful.

He frowned when Sora started to shake his head.

"Guys! Please no, don't take her there! She doesn't know anything!"

Axel butted in.

"Then why does she not have a mark, Sora? Why is she even walking around without some kind of vampiric influence? You're letting her get away with the secret because you love her, I get it. But you're breaking Strigoi rules."

Roxas grabbed a fistful of Sora's hair and pulled his head back. Roxas leaned down over his head until their eyes were perfectly aligned with each other. Sora's widened in realization.

"Roxas, you're my brother. Don't you dare do this…"

He waited until he fought for Sora's pupils to parallel with his. Then after a moment, in a painful yell, Sora's irises turned brown.

Roxas glared softly.

"I have to."

Under Roxas' golden gaze and Sora's body slumped into submission. Axel solemnly watched Roxas threw his younger brother over one broad shoulder and lifted him up.

"I thought you were going to beat him senseless until he collapsed and complied."

Roxas responded with a deep frown as he continued to gaze on the hypnotized young woman behind his cousin.

"I was. But that would have taken too long and we don't have the time."

Axel frowned as Roxas approached the doorframe.

"V-on-V (vampire on vampire) compulsion is too dangerous. You sure it worked?"

He nodded.

"It does because I'm his brother. Remember that."

And Roxas moved past Axel into the hallway.

"Get her something more decent to wear before we head out."

Axel took the opportunity to stare at Naminé and frowned before beckoned her to follow him down the stairs. She followed like ghost and a slave.

He wasn't sure what was worse.

...

..

.

The air smelled of rosewood and ash, like someone was trying to cover up the stench of something dead and rotten with an overpowering sweetness. Naminé grimaced as the tang seemed to creep all through out her body and into her skin. Death was touching her, licking up her arms and legs and across her neck. Her blonde hairs stood on edge and she shivered with wet eyes.

All she could remember was closing the door to the rooftop and turning to head down to the stairs to her apartment. The next thing she knew, a tall shadow crept up behind her and she turned. Then clawed fingers, a shock of red hair, and green eyes...she had screamed as the shadow turned into a man. He held her still with a serious gaze and then suddenly... it was like nothing mattered anymore.

And that's what scared her the most.

The world afterwards went dark, someone had put a dark cloth over her head and she couldn't see. And the voices…

They came in and out like when someone was talking whilst she was asleep with a floor between them.

"…Lark Naminé Veile..."

A dark, Euro-accented voice broke once through the unnerving silence and Naminé felt her insides curl sickeningly.

"…name …an old elegance. Most intriguing..."

The second was higher and female but it did nothing to comfort her.

"…Stop! …her… Riku!"

She should have reacted when it was apparent that Sora was amongst the group of people talking about her, but she couldn't.

After that, it was like the sounds kept going on and off. Her conscience screamed in her head and her nerves were shot but …what could she do? Something pulled her to stay, and she wasn't willing to fight it.

"…Disspell Chamb…until…"

"No! …miné… Naminé!"

Then a long silence followed with distant mumblings by a man who sounded more like a demon to her. If she could, she would have cried and ran... away into night, from the darkness, and into her father's arms.

But he's dead. He's dead because of these creatures, and he's never coming back!

The cloth was eventually removed from her head.

When Naminé looked, she saw she was left alone in a dark room with a chair, crusted walls and candles lit high up. She stood there, somehow dressed in her old white-lace dress, for several hours, horrifically still and unable to move until the feeling began to wear itself away. Her boss, her rent, and the regular world were far from her mind.

Only one thought kept drumming through her head.

Compulsion is real.

Compulsion is real.

Vampires are real.

These people are all vampires.

And when was Naminé finally able to move her own body, she did nothing and thought of nothing but to collapse on herself and sob.

For the first time since her father's death, since her whole life had fallen to pieces, she cried loud and dreadfully for him with every breath she could take.

Nor Sora or his family members came to check on her.

...

..

.

Sora's hair was up at odd angles again and again, as his hands were running through them continuously in deep frustration. Several times he nicked his scalp with his nails because he never got to chance to clip them since before the last time he was imprisoned in the basement. They were longer than he had ever let them grow out, almost as thin as needle points, and just the sight of them almost turned his insides out.

I'm a vampire!… Naminé, I'm a vampire and you-!

"Argh!"

Sora threw his hands down at his side and squeezed his fists together so tight the sound of blood dripping down onto the stone floor was loud and quick like an open faucet.

"Hey, hey!"

Riku appeared in the celldoor window and slammed a fist against the door to get Sora's attention. His eyes were narrowed with slight concern but more because he was aggravated.

"What the hell, man? Stop!"

Seeing the man responsible for his detainment, Sora grit his teeth, and stormed up to the window. He gripped the bars, growling deeply from the sizzle that started to form in his palms where the holy water was freshly coated.

"Fuck you, Riku. As your future Strigoi I demand that you let me out!"

Riku scowled.

"You know you can't do shit from inside there, Sora. Cut the crap."

"I don't have to take any kind of orders from you, regardless of whether you're my friend or not. Ansem brought me down here for no damn reason."

"You know the reason. This is your punishment."

"For w-!"

"Is that girl …is she Naminé?!"

Sora paused, trying to quell a tantrum building inside him. Riku wouldn't mention her if he already involved in his imprisonment. He narrowed his eyes as the blue irises slowly began to melt away to gold.

"Where is she?"

Riku grunted and flashed his eyes angrily at Sora's.

"You know, you're really something! Here I am, trying to help you and you can't even pay attention long enough to your old friend t-!"

"You brought her here, didn't you! Riku, you better fucking get me out of here. I-!"

Riku's fist slammed against the door again and Sora stepped away when it finally felt like his skin was going to peel off and his flesh would burn.

"Damnit, Sora! Listen to me!"

"No, Riku! You're under Ansem's order, I get it. But she's in danger here!"

"You think I don't know that? Sora, you had sex with her, outside the mansion! You were supposed to bring her here, you've broken the third task!"

"I-"

"Do you not see how pissed I am?! Roxas is up there fighting with Ansem! Axel left after dropping you and the girl off! Everyone's upset with you… you might not even become the Strigoi now since you've finally proven to be so…so…"

"So what? Tell Riku, what have I been?"

"Negligent!"

Sora ran a bloody hand through his hair and Riku watched with a scowl as some of the bitter blood wiped across the right side of his face. Sora sighed angrily and flickered his eyes to the ceiling.

"Riku…"

"I wanted to be proud when they said you'd lead the family, Sora. But you've …you've grown so arrogant and cocky! You think everyone is at your beck and call and will let you get away with shitty stunts like this because 'oh, you're gonna be the boss one day'."

Sora snapped his head down again to stare at Riku with a dark look. This is what his friend really thought about him?

"Continue Riku, I'm dying to know what other lies you've been telling me!"

Riku crossed his arms, trying to gain composure of his shaky self.

"I stood by you, thinking I could help you. I thought I was doing you a favour."

"You're supposed to be my friend, Riku. Not my teacher. Why? You think you can do a better job than I can leading this family?"

"I know I can."

Sora shook his head. He couldn't believe this bullshit he was hearing. If there were ever a time where a man felt like his heart was breaking because he found out his buddy was only with him for the status, it would be now.

A moment of pause hung in the air; pregnant and stagnating like a terrible, awkward chill that made Sora sick.

He needed to get out of here, away from Riku, and away from this mansion.

…He needed Naminé – it didn't help that his senses were telling him something was very wrong was happening wherever she was. He needed a way out.

"Then prove it."

Riku had no immediate reaction on his face but the silence betrayed his nonchalant exterior.

"What?"

Sora took a step back, wiping his forehead from frustration as he did so.

"Open that door, and fight me, Riku. Prove to me that you can be a better leader."

Riku glared.

"See? You're doing it again. You think being the leader is all about power and survival."

"Isn't it?"

Riku scoffed.

"No wonder Roxas has to continue babying you."

That hit a nerve. Sora gritted his teeth, as his fangs split out. His eyes were still dangerously yellow but as a vampire already, Riku was unaffected by the appearance. He continued to belittle Sora mercilessly.

"You will be a terrible Strigoi. Always relying on the opinions and wisdom of your brother, your cousin, your elders, and your friends. And see how easily that worked out? You should be able to rely only on yourself."

And that surprised Sora. He never thought until this point that that was how Riku saw himself and the world around him. But then again, Riku never really talked about himself. It was a frightening thought. Sora frowned slightly and fisted one bloodied hand.

"No, you're wrong."

Riku tilted his head.

"Challenge me."

Sora raised his head just slightly to glare back at the silver-haired twenty-two year old.

"You should always be able to count those around you. I talk big about myself, I admit to that. I'm a dick. But I'd rather listen to what Roxas or Axel tell me than the bullshit spewing from your mouth."

As Sora went over the words in his head, he realized that Riku had never really come to the mansion a lot. Unlike Axel and Roxas who visited him in his apartment and came in and out of the house like he did, Riku was always absent or unwillingly to stop by if he had the time. He was always out on the town searching and prowling. Maybe that's where his self-righteous speech about depending on himself came from.

It made the frown on Sora's face sink lower as he stared onto his best friend.

"You don't accept them like I do. Why? Is it because you're from extended family? I didn't realize… that's pathetic, Riku."

Despite himself, Riku growled and wretched the door open. Sora had only a second to react before the other man had his throat in a choke hold. Riku's eyes were angry and golden.

"Don't you dare bring up my upbringing! I am a part of this family."

Sora choked on air as he tried to find his footing. He was considerably weaker than his usual self because he hadn't drank blood in almost four days. He narrowed his eyes threateningly.

"R-Riku. Don't."

If Riku knew better, he'd remember where he stood against Sora's prowess and strength. But the older man didn't and continued to squeeze his neck as he tried to push him back into the far wall. The runes around the cell glittered slightly in the torchlight at the appearance of a second vampire in the room.

Riku was furious and unlike himself, torn mentally from his hidden jealously for Sora and the life he was forced to live.

"Because of your apparent flaws, I've already reported your un-preparedness to Ansem and the rest of the family, Sora."

Sora grunted.

"Riku-!"

"You can't rule a family like this! You're a mess, you always have been, and I'm not going to jeopardize our livelihood like Roxas or Axel are by covering up your flaws!"

Taking the opportunity of Riku's distraction to get control of the situation, Sora quickly reached up to grab Riku's shoulders then bringing his knee upward, he jabbed it into Riku's stomach.

Riku released his throat to back away slowly with a dry cough and Sora used the open chance to punch him in the throat. As expected with heightened senses, Riku dodged it and recovered quickly, jumping back catching Sora's bloodied wrist.

"Sora!"

He tried to hold him steady to aim a jab at his neck, but the twenty-year old was stronger and managed to deflect it whilst twisting his arm down in the process. Riku grunted in pain and Sora hooked his leg behind Riku's, bringing him down to his knees. He kicked Riku in the side of the face.

When he was dizzied for moment, Sora moved around behind him and, in the same fashion that Axel had done the first tonight he had overdosed, he pulled Riku's hand all the way back behind him to subdue him.

Riku hissed and his body shuddered. Sora glared down at him.

"Where is Naminé!?"

The mansion had too many secret chambers and rooms for him to find her in one shot. He needed some kind of hint and he wasn't about to let up until he did. She was his responsibility now.

Riku gasped when a particularly painful spasm rushed into his arm.

"Na- …N-Naminé is a witness. S-She knows about us. You were s-supposed to hyp-hypnotize her!"

Sora didn't like his tone of voice was heading. There was some kind of finality in the way he was listing the girl's penalties.

"Riku! Answer me!"

"And then you go and sleep with her. In her apartment! The w-woman whose father you killed and left for the police to find! Th-Those are strikes one, two, and three!"

Riku cried out when Sora applied more pain than necessary to the twist in his arm but the younger man's eyes were clouded with golden rage.

"WHAT DID YOU TO HER?!"

Riku threw his head around to look back at Sora and glared when he did so, ashamed of the pathetic, arrogant vampire he had become.

Sora needed answers.

"Where is she?"

A dead silence. Sora's body went rigid with a chill.

And then Riku spoke spitting the statement so boldly.

"We're condemning her."

…Sora almost didn't believe it was him who had been the one to say the words. The brunette released his hold on Riku and spun on his heel.

He saw Naminé's face in his mind.

He saw flowers and moonlight …and her terrified gaze on a rapist that was drawing near to kill her.

He didn't need to hear anymore.

With angry, yellow eyes, Sora sprinted out of the celldoor before Riku could blink. He knew he was considerably stronger than his friend and could outrun him even whilst he ran on little blood consumption, but Riku's recovery would be quick.

Sora dashed up the basement's stairs and tore through the oak door into the wine cellar. He already heard Riku's feet pumping after him and he picked up speed.

"SORA!"

His name bounced off the dark walls around him in a dangerous echo and Sora grit his teeth, feeling his fangs pinch his lower lip. Sprinting through the open door to the main floor, he took a hard left into the darkened hallway. As he passed an open window, he realized it was sunset. He hadn't taken notice when he was down in the cell.

A whole fucking day has passed, and I didn't even know!

Feeling time slipping further away, he shifted his gaze to the interior of the halls and heightened his vampiric senses, searching for peculiarities and muttering desperately to himself as he did.

"Where is she…Come, on! Fuck, where is she?!"

Sora passed multiple doors, some open and others closed; every so often in his speed, he'd catch the glimpse of a family member sitting or standing within and just as quick, they'd disappear as he sprinted past. Their reactions were a mystery but it was easy to tell what they thought when the number of feet pursuing him from behind began to increase.

"Sora!"

He heard the voice of his second cousin, Larxene, shriek angrily and she followed behind Riku in the chase.

He almost crashed into his Uncle Sid when he turned a corner heading for the upstairs bedrooms, but quicker than any of the vampires, Sora was able to perform a necessary wall jump after twisting around the older gentleman's torso. Then he was off with a boost.

"Hey!" The blonde haired man immediately spun on his heel and after letting Riku, Larxene and other family members pass, he joined them in the pursuit. Their future Strigoi was on rampage, and whether for amusement or worry, the relatives did not want Sora behaving in such a manner.

The voices and angry thundering of boots and shoes behind him were like the bass of a drum pumping in Sora's ears. He drowned them out and focused his perceived senses on anything out of the ordinary.

Naminé's scent was different and compulsion wore off after several hours so there was a chance she would be moving around if they left her alone.

To hell with this, I'm getting her and we're getting out of here! They can deal with me later.

He was more concerned with her well being than his own. It would take an army to bring down Sora's endurance.

Too bad there was an army at his heels, but he really didn't notice.

Jumping a few more stairs to the upstairs living quarters, Sora took a hard right at the next corner. His cousin Demyx tried to push off the wall and throw a violent kick to his cheek but Sora dodged it and immediately spun to grab his leg. He pushed it back and threw a right hook to his temple, causing the older boy to hit the wall and succumb to a temporary blackout.

The rest of the family, which was about a group of ten now chasing Sora, rushed passed him unaffected. They were trying to keep at Sora's pace but were growing distance in the stretch. Many of them questioned why the grand halls had suddenly become longer to navigate but didn't say the complaint out loud.

Sora ducked under instinct when his great-aunt Lucille, as youthful looking as she appeared, swiped a clawed hand to his throat. She didn't attempt it to kill him but he kept going and avoided her disapproving glare.

When the running behind him suddenly got too loud, he couldn't take it.

"NAMINÉ!"

His cries drowned out the running and allowed him to focus again. He clicked his feet into high gear and shoved his chain necklace into his black shirt to avoid it catching on anything. He listened.

He heard a book page being turned…

…a crow caw in the distance…

…a slurping sound like someone was drinking…

…some mumbling far off in the distance like two people were having a conversation…

…a car drive past the road of the house…

…a whimper…

Naminé!

For all the years he'd grown up in this family. No one ever cried or made sounds as if they were afraid of something. Maybe in pain but …he knew. That was a whimper out of fear. Naminé was in the mansion.

Sora inclined his head down the hall and flickered his eerie yellow eyes to the right. Somewhere in the inner chambers behind one of the rooms, she was being kept.

He immediately ducked into a room and without blinking, Sora phased through the back wall. He melted in a cloud of black ash and reappeared on the other side in another bedroom, then again, into a powder room, and again, into a small parlour room.

If his heart were beating, it would have been pounding relentlessly. His throat was dry from thirst and his head pounded. Sora was angry, hurt, and desperate. He threw all his rationality out the window and couldn't fathom how manic everything had gotten around him.

Just several hours ago, he was with Naminé, confessing himself to her, and it seemed everything would be all right for the two of them.

Then he had to go and ruin it all by forgetting that he was a vampire. The soon-to-be head vampire! The one with the obligations to uphold and respectability to maintain.

Now he was forced to flee and jeopardize his title …or lose her forever.

He didn't look back as he heard the other family members continue to chase after him. They were slower, but persistent.

It made his eyes squint and his temples burn. The veins were visible underneath.

I'm almost there, Naminé. Just hang on.

Sora was about to phase through the wall of the grand library into a secret, inner chamber behind one of the bookshelves, but then a hand shot out and knocked into his neck.

Getting knocked off balance, Sora skidded sideways and had to catch a nearby chair to stop himself from falling. The momentum slowed him instantly and when he tried to pick it up again, Riku had already grabbed him around the middle and was dragging him to the floor.

When Sora looked up in the tumble to see who had stopped him, he saw Ansem putting down his gloved hand with a look a rage on his face. Roxas was beside him, stepping forward with a frown of worry.

"What i-"

Sora tried to answer him but Riku was already attempting to subdue him.

"R-Riku!"

Riku said nothing and tried, with hideous yellowing eyes, to hold him down. He had a look of murder on his face. Few of the other family members stopped in silence and recoiled back in disgrace while others rushed forward and attempted to help Riku hold Sora down.

Samuel and Pence pushed down on Sora's shoulders. Axel, with a solemn face, held his neck steady. Roxas tried to put a hand up to get the silver-haired man's attention.

"Riku! Riku, stop!"

"Enough of this foolish, Riku!"

But Ansem's voice went unheeded. Sora clawed at the carpeted floor and he tried to oppositely twist his back and arm away from Riku. The pain was coming, and while Sora was stronger, Riku was blinded by anger. Saliva ran down his chin. Sora cried out a painful sob.

"Argh!"

"Y-You are …a disgrace!"

Sora squeezed his eyes shut as they began to flicker blue again.

"R-Ri-!"

Roxas tried to call out again, this time, his face a mix of anger and confusion.

"Riku!"

"Look at everyone around you, Sora! Never has the whole family had to chase down one of it's own, in our own home before!"

Sora lifted his head and through half-lidded eyes, he saw that the number of curious, annoyed vampires had increased in the room. He spotted his aunts and uncles, his cousins, and several extended-family members. Kairi was near the front with a blank look on her face. He glared as he finally felt the number of hands pushing him down. He wanted to rip their limbs off.

Riku continued.

"You're fucking reckless and you're putting us all in danger! This isn't always about you! Did you also forget that we're in the middle of a war with the Nostradamus? You probably did, seeing as all you can think about is yourself! Your birthright doesn't just affect you, Sora. We need you to be the Strigoi in case Cassel-"

"Riku!"

Riku shut his mouth as he was going off topic. The political affairs of the family were unnecessary at the moment, seeing as Sora was too focused on a woman to really give a damn. The family continued to look in trepidation.

"The punishment you were held under is all because your own actions. You allowed Naminé to twist your focus and violate the traditional protocols of this family! Roxas was never so careless with Kairi."

Roxas tightened his mouth as he glared at Riku with malice. But the words resonated with everyone, including Sora. They were hateful, but true. Even Ansem didn't say anything.

Sora began to lean forward away from Riku as he got a better hold on his arm. He bit his lip and went down on one knee.

"F-Face it. She's a loose end! Her death is thanks to your contemptibility as a Strigoi!"

And when it felt like Sora would give out and accept the subjugation in an effort to calm Riku's fury, the older boy leaned down and growled in his ear. His fangs were dangerously close to his earlobe, going too far.

"She's not even worth it."

Sora's eyes snapped open. In a flash of blind fury and brute strength, he wretched himself from the hold of his relatives and a few of them inhaled sharply.

They were not prepared for what happened next.

Sora jumped up with a quick spin. He whirled around and faced Riku, grabbing each side of his face and digging his nails into his cheeks as he held him still. There was a dead look in his face.

Then in two clicks, he twisted Riku's neck.

...

...

..

.


So tell me, did that suck?

I hope they weren't terribly OOC. Sora sounds like a mush at times but he's a different vampire from the rest. I think he's a schizoid.

*He also isn't from Algeria. I don't know where I should have him born.

And does Non riesco a trovare i miei calzini, really translate to I can't find my socks? Someone tell me please, haha.

Lol, musical/emotional atmosphere provided by Take It All Away by the Tennessee rock band Red and You Look So Fine again by the group called Garbage.

Review! I hope I can update again. Oy, this was painful.