~O~

Alice ran through the hallways of the enclave, ignoring the strange looks that she got from people that she passed by. Behind her, she could hear Shun calling out her name, but she didn't stop; he was the last person she wanted to face now. So, Alice ran faster until she reached her room, the one that she had originally woken up in after being unconscious for nearly three days.

Her hand wrapped around the doorknob as she hurried inside and slammed the door shut behind her. As soon as she did that, she turned around and locked the deadbolt, preventing anyone from gaining entry into her room. Alice heaved heavy breaths, from both running and crying. She leaned her forehead against the door, her palms also touching the smooth, wooden surface as well.

It was then that Alice noticed how badly her hands were trembling. Fresh tears began to roll down her cheeks. Why had this had to happen to her? What had she ever done to deserve this? Had she not lived her life well enough? Had she not been a nice, upstanding citizen? She sobbed as she thought about these things. Why did it always seem like the worst things happened to the best people?

Alice slid down the door and sat on the ground below, the last of her strength and will-power now gone from her. After what happened in Sinclair's study, she was drained and left exhausted; all she wanted to do was close her eyes and forget all of it. She shut her eyes, and when she did, her mind began to drift back to Gillfrey, to how his face had turned up in disgust at the sight of her towards the end of their conversation.

Alice unconscious began to rub the spot on her wrist where the white-haired Vampire had grabbed her and thrown her to the ground; it throbbed slightly. She then thought about Shun's reaction. He had appeared surprised. Then again, he should have been, seeing as he had just discovered that she wasn't what he thought she was. She also thought about how, when accused of being a Vampire, Shun had gotten defensive and denied it by saying she was human.

Alice didn't know if he had done that in her defense, or if he didn't want to believe it; she hoped for the latter of the two. Alice jumped when a rapid knocking sounded from the other side of the door, followed by Shun's voice. "Alice, are you in there?" he asked, "It's me. Let me in, please. I want to talk to you." His voice sounded concerned, but at the same time, Alice thought she picked up a slight bit of shrillness to his words; maybe it was all her imagination.

She remained hesitant to open the door, even as Shun pleaded for her to let him in. She was afraid to know what he would say to her, or how he might look at her. Would he be mad at her for not telling him something like this, especially when he had trusted her enough to tell her that he was a Vampire?

In a way, that possibility made Alice feel like a hypocrite. He had trusted her with such a sensitive, dark secret. And yet, she had been unable to go to him and do the same. "Alice, please let me it. I just want to make sure you're okay," he said through the thick door. Alice bit down on her lower lip, and if she put anymore pressure, she might have drawn her own blood.

Finally, after sitting on the floor for several more minutes, she stood up and unlocked the latch on the door and walked towards the ornate bed across the room. "It's open," she said as she plopped down on the plush blankets. The doorknob turned and Shun stepped inside. His eyes were wide, but when they saw her, they softened a bit. "I was starting to think you wouldn't let me in," he said with a sad smile, an attempt to lighten the heavy mood that Alice had created around her.

She lowered her head, hiding her eyes from him with the bangs of her orange hair. Alice felt him sit down beside her on the bed, but she didn't look up and meet the gaze she knew he had on her. "Are you okay?" he asked. Although, Alice had a feeling he already knew the answer to that question. "Yeah," she replied coldly, "Fine. Just fine." The iciness in her own voice was enough to surprise even her, so she knew that Shun had to have been taken aback as well.

She hadn't meant to put so much hostility behind her words, but she was still reeling from her previous encounter with Gillfrey. I really shouldn't take any of this out on Shun. It's none of his fault…., she thought to herself. A moment of silence passed between them before Shun spoke up again. This time, he said, "What about your wrist? It isn't hurt, is it?"

Without looking up, Alice moved her wrist around to show that it was intact, despite the slight throbbing she still felt from where Gillfrey had twisted it in an unnatural way. Another moment of silence went by, making the air even more tense, almost to the point of it being unbearable. But this time, it was Alice that broke the silence that hung between them. She slowly lifted her tear-stained gaze up to look at Shun and asked him, "Are you mad at me?" Shun's eyes lit up with surprise. "Mad at you? Why would I be mad?" he asked in confusion.

Alice straightened up a bit and went back to keeping her gaze adverted from him. "Because…..," she started but couldn't find the right words to say. What did she want to say? Because I'm a Vampire? Because I'm not human like you thought? Because…..Because…She shook her head and stopped the thoughts before they caused a fresh wave of tears to come crashing down.

Shun leaned towards her a bit, close enough that she could feel the heat radiating off of his body, and he asked her, "You think I'm mad because of what happened back in Sinclair's study? About them figuring out your past and that….." His voice trailed off towards the end, and that might as well have been a knife in Alice's stomach. Even Shun can't say those words, she thought bitterly.

Alice's hands, which had stopped trembling, laid in her lap in tight fists. Her eyes stung with new tears. "Yeah," she said unsteadily, "That's exactly what I mean. Are you mad because I'm some Vampire descendant of a Vampire Hunter?" Her words hitched towards the end as a sob escaped her. Out of the corner of her eye, Alice saw Shun shake his head.

"I….I don't really know how I feel about all of that, since it was all just suddenly said. I haven't had enough time to think over it and know how I should take it. But I can tell you for certain that I'm not mad at you. I mean, there's no reason for me to be. None of this was your fault." He was trying to make his words gentle, but they weren't doing much for her; Alice was still a torrent of emotions on the inside.

Shun ran a hand through his black hair and said, "Let's look at it like this. You have no proof that you're related to that Arthur guy, right? So, you can't say for certain that you're one of his descendants." Alice turned and looked right at Shun.

She told him, "I know I'm related to him. I've been having dreams where I've seen things happening in Arthur's life, things like him being Turned and sealing away his descendants' Vampire powers. It's like they're memories that have started to come back to me. And besides…..how else would you explain me suddenly becoming a Vampire so quickly, when I was human not three days ago?!"

She hadn't meant to raise her voice towards the end, but she was just so frustrated. And right now, Shun was the only one for her to let her emotions out on. Alice buried her face into her hands. She could feel the warmth of tears on her palms. "I didn't want any of this," she sobbed under her breath. Shun, who had been close to her a moment ago, drew back and said coldly, "It's not like I asked for this either."

Feeling as if she had been slapped by his words, Alice removed her face from her hands and looked at him in bewilderment. "What do you mean?" she asked dumbly. Shun crossed his arms over his chest and stood up from the bed.

"I didn't ask to be human one day and become a Vampire the next. It all happened to me in one night without much of a reason other than Loran didn't want to see some innocent idiot die. There have been too many times when I think that it would have been better if I had died during the Transition. And not only better for me, but better for you as well. That way, you wouldn't be involved in this mess either," he said harshly.

Alice hadn't even thought about what Shun had just mentioned. It hadn't occurred to her that, in a way, he had faced the same problem as she was going through right then. "This is different," she said defensively. Shun raised an eyebrow and asked, "How is this any different?"

She felt her anger bubble up a bit as her emotions took another turn. "It's different because you were at least human at some point! Me? I went through my entire life thinking I was human, that I was normal, only to go and suddenly discover that everything I've ever known has been a lie!"

The sudden burst of energy she got from her anger, vanished and left her weak; she didn't think she could keep on going through with all of this. Alice brought her hand up to her face and wiped away more tears with the heel of her palm. Her face, at this point, looked as if she had splashed water on it.

Shun sighed and sat back down beside her. "I'm sorry," he said heavily, "I let my problems get mixed up in this as well. What I was trying to get at, though, is that I know kind of what you're going through. I know what you're feeling right now; anger, pain, confusion. I went through it all too. I was just trying to make you feel less alone in all of this."

Alice felt touched by his concern; even when everything was suddenly turned upside down, Shun was still looking out for her. She wiped her face dry with the back of her hand for the millionth time and told him, "Thanks….It's just…..I don't know how to handle all of this properly yet…..It all came off to me as a major shock when I first found out, and to have Gillfrey throw it in my face only made it worse."

She shuddered at the memory of the Count's reaction, and how cold and hostile it had been; he hated her. Shun placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, his warmth chasing away the chill that had seemed to have unknowingly encompassed Alice, and said, "It'll get easier, I promise you that much. Trust me, even though I've come to accept this, there are still days that I want to refuse to believe it, that I think that I'll wake up and it will all have been a long, drawn-out dream. You…..You just learn to live with it."

Alice nodded. Oddly enough, she felt a bit more at ease, but that didn't mean she had already come to terms with her fate. If anything, she was far from coming to terms with it. She was about to say something to Shun when she was hit with another, unannounced wave of vertigo.

Alice groaned and held the sides of her head as she leaned forward. "Alice?" Shun asked, keeping a supporting hand on her shoulders in case she fell forward. The vertigo and nausea eased up a bit, but still lingered around, causing Alice to be uncomfortable.

"I'm fine…..Just a headache…..I've been getting them a lot lately," she said hoarsely. Shun narrowed his eyes at her and said, "I don't think they're just headaches, Alice." Confused, she glanced up at him. "Then if it's not a headache, then what is it?" she asked, not believing that it could be anything else. Shun kept his expression unwavering as he told her, "I think it might be symptoms of Bloodlust starting to set in."

Alice felt her eyes widen and her stomach flip. Bloodlust? She had seen Shun when he had fallen victim to it. He was normally in some kind of pain, and if it ever got severe enough, he would totally lose himself, as she found out not long ago. The thought of her body craving the crimson substance made her sick to her stomach. "I-Impossible," she said and shook her head stubbornly.

Shun's expression softened and was sympathetic. "I know it's not what you want to hear, but it's more than likely the truth. You have to remember that your Vampire nature has started to return to you, and sadly, Bloodlust is a part of that nature. And with that, you should have known that you'd have to drink blood eventually." The thought had crossed Alice's mind, but she figured she must have been so deep in denial, that she just assumed that she would never have to commit the deed of drinking blood.

She continued to shake her head, but all that did was antagonize her headache. Shun sighed and told her, "It took me some getting used to, and I still don't like it, but it's a part of this life." Alice was about to speak when she was hit with another, even worse, wave of vertigo, one that was strong enough to take her breath away and cause her to gasp.

She nearly fell forward, and if it hadn't been for Shun, she would have landed on the floor. He held her up, keeping her from falling. Her body shivered, even though she wasn't cold; if anything, she felt like she was on fire. "You need to get blood into your system. Now," Shun said sternly.

Alice shook her head and said defiantly, "N-No…..No…..I-I'm fine." She didn't want to drink blood. It was just so strange, and the thought of it made her feel sick to her stomach. But at the same time, another part of her, a more animalist part, craved the taste of blood. It scared her.

"Here, go ahead and take some of mine. You need to drink some now before you fall too deep into your Bloodlust and hurt yourself or somebody else," Shun said as he removed some of his shoulder-length hair to the side, exposing his neck. Alice found herself staring at his neck, an animal instinct drawing her to the vein that she could just barely make out underneath his skin.

But she quickly got a hold of herself. "N-No," she said weakly. She could feel herself slipping away, into the grips of what was known as Bloodlust, and she knew Shun was right; if she didn't drink any blood, she would lose it. "Just take it," he told her, "For all we know, my blood might be the only blood you can drink, just as your blood is the only kind I can consume because of the Imprint. If that's the case, then you won't be able to hold down any of the blood from the enclave's storeroom; I should know."

Alice's mouth was dry; she didn't know what to do. The edges of her vision started to grow foggy as she slipped further away. Shun looked dead at her with his amber eyes and told her, "Trust me, alright?" Alice, feeling utterly defeated and exhausted, nodded.

She leaned in close to his neck, stopping only mere inches away, and happened to glanced up at Shun; he looked as nervous as she felt. It then hit Alice that he had never had his blood drained like she had. She closed her eyes and gathered her strength; she had no choice.

Alice realized that her canine teeth had sharpened down to points, readying themselves to break through skin and siphon out blood, and she did just that. She punctured through the skin of Shun's neck, and she felt him flinch and tense up.

But not a moment later, he relaxed. Alice figured that he must have experienced the same thing she did whenever her blood was taken; a moment of pain, and then nothing but a numb sensation. She then felt the first drops of blood touch her tongue. The crimson liquid had a metallic-taste and was warm. Alice couldn't help herself now that she had tasted it; her remerging Vampire nature craved the substance after years of being locked away.

She now drank easily, the fact that she was really drinking blood hardly even fazing her. But a thought did cross her mind, and that was something that Gillfrey had mentioned earlier. He had said something about somebody committing an ultimate taboo for Vampires by drinking the blood of another Vampire.

Was she committing this taboo as well, even though it was possible that it couldn't be helped? If she was, then she already knew that this would cause Gillfrey to despise her even more. But she needed the blood, and Shun had offered his in her time of need. Alice took one last taste of his blood and removed her fangs. When she did, she could see the two, small puncture wounds she had left behind on his neck.

She quickly turned away and wiped any excess blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. Alice could feel that her face was flushed, but whether it was from embarrassment or from drinking the blood, she didn't know. She turned back around to face Shun, and found that he had fallen back on the bed and was out-cold.

She remembered when he had first taken blood from her. He had taken too much, and Alice had been tired afterwards; she figured this was the same situation. Alice yawned and felt her eyes growing heavy as well. She was drained, physically and emotionally, from the day's, or rather night's, events.

And on top of that, her mind was at ease after consuming the blood and putting an end to her Bloodlust. No longer feeling the will to stay awake and fight against her fatigue, Alice laid back on the bed beside Shun, and the moment her eyes closed, she fell asleep.

Another day, another chapter. Sorry for not uploading yesterday; it was my birthday and I had gone to take my driving test, which i passed! Yay! Now, I can finally stop depending on people for rides. And Monday, well, my friend wouldn't leave my house. So, yeah. Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, which ended up being way longer than I wanted, so read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~