Authors Note: Tr1ckydr1v3r officially apologizes for the long wait. And now, your update.

Chapter 9: The Family

Traverse Town – 1:00am

Sora, Riku, and Sophie had taken shelter in a nearby tavern to avoid anymore attention being drawn towards them. Luckily no-one saw either her or Sora bearing fangs, and they were able to slip through without detection. They rented out one room with one bed, which was only used by Riku (seeing as Sora and Sophie can't sleep in night time, being vampires and all), but Riku couldn't sleep anyway, fearing that Sophie might be a spy or something, and try to kill him, or take all his blood. He also, sadly, felt the same about Sora. Those thoughts were driving him crazy, and wouldn't let him sleep. He kept looking over his shoulder to make sure they weren't creeping up on him, until Sora noticed it while he sat, thinking to himself.

"Riku… just go to sleep…" Sora mumbled, worrying about his long time friend.

As Riku was about to protest, he felt sleepy, as if Sora's words had an effect on him. At first he wanted to stay awake, but something was telling him to 'sleep as commanded'. He yawned, and decided to let the issue go, falling asleep almost in an instant.

"That was fast." Sora said to Sophie, who was just sitting on the floor on the other side of the room.

"Vampires can easily convince humans to bend to their will, Sora. Be careful what you say to your friend, you might take his free will away."

Sora felt his stomach twist at those words. He didn't want to hurt anyone, especially Riku. He would never want to hurt him. Or Kairi. Or any of his friends for that matter. It seemed like every second he lived as a vampire just made his and everyone else's life worse. Deciding to break the silence, Sora asked Sophie:

"Frank said you're going to help us, right?"

"Pfft. I'm only doing it because I have to, but yes, I will help you."

"How will you help us?"

"Information. Well, all the info I have, anyway, which isn't much."

"Well, what do you have?"

"Wake the human up first, would you? I won't repeat myself."

"Can you call him Riku, please?"

"No." Sophie said, coldly. Sora went over to Riku and nudged him, but he didn't wake up. He started prodding him several times before hitting him, but Riku did not wake up. He didn't move.

"Well, how do I wake him?"

"Idiot! You told him to sleep! So tell him to wake up!"

He thought about it, thinking it was crazy, but he decided to let up, and say it to Riku.

"Riku, wake up."

At that moment, Riku began to stir. He slowly woke up and looked around the room, stopping when his aqua eyes met Sora's blood red eyes.

"Ohh... did I fall asleep?" Riku asked, not knowing how he fell asleep.

"Well, duh! Now are you two boys finished? I will not wait any longer!" Sophie complained.

The boys took their original positions (Sora on the chair, Riku on the bed, but now sitting up) and waited for her to begin talking.

"Okay. Here goes. You two are the target of an ancient and long-lasting vampire family that has run for generation to generation. The family originally began when two pregnant mothers were bitten by vampires, and they became Ghouls. Before you ask, if Frank didn't tell you, a Ghoul is what happens if someone who is bitten loses all their blood. They become under control of the biter.

Anyway, as I was saying, the mothers became Ghouls just after the babies were delivered, and as it turns out, one was a boy, named Draque, the other a girl, named Elizabeth. However, because they were supposed to be human, but ended up as vampires, they at first went through a normal human's life cycle."

"Meaning they eventually died of old age." Riku spoke out with the obvious answer.

"Wrong. They actually had the ability to age when they wished, and also regress back to a younger version of themselves, so they still were immortal. But it wouldn't have made sense if they were still babies. But, anyway, they first showed their imminent strength when they were around 6 years old. They had been living in an orphanage all their lives, and no-one wanted them because of what happened to their mothers. Back then the world they lived in was quite more religious than most worlds today, so the church fed it into everyone's minds that they were the devils children. They were mistreated, abused, beaten, and the church condoned it.

But as I said, when they reached 6, they found out who bit their mothers. It was two brothers, who had been experimenting with the power of the heart and the blood that ran through it. They delved too deeply into the subject, and infected themselves with it naturally, becoming full vampires. Not knowing what had taken them over, they were blinded by the bloodlust, their hunger. But when instead of killing them, they bit the attackers, thus marking them. They were told that from here on out they would obey their every order, or suffer the consequences. Their next target was several key people in their world, including the priest that owned the orphanage. They killed him in the fashion that you would kill vampires: with a silver stake through the heart.

After that, they quickly became feared, killing people that they didn't like, or turning them into vampires. Now normally, if a human becomes a vampire, they would be addressed as a 'half-vampire'. But that family has a special ability to make a human a full vampire, as if they were born that way. They always kept to themselves, refusing to condone vampires turning humans into vampires for the fun of it, and without permission or orders to do so. They also, for that matter, despise 'half-vampires'. They have always had one goal: to force the existence of vampires into other people's lives, to make us acknowledge their existence. Eventually, they had kids. 2 girls and 3 boys, alongside several other people they had bitten, including the two brothers that bit their mothers.

But about 1300 years ago, the family fell into disarray. The sons and daughters began to disagree over what should happen with the family, whether they should go all out against the humans, or resolve it peacefully, or even just leave them alone. The father and mother were disgusted at all their children, and using their power, put the family into a deep sleep, never to wake up. But unfortunately, the spell went wrong, and it affected them as well. The whole family became cursed, and supposedly died, but the people that weren't directly linked to their bloodline survived, but had to leave the world they were buried in, because by then, Vampire Hunters had come into existence, and without the bloodline to protect them, they were weak and vulnerable. A few died while escaping, but most survived, again including those two brothers. They carried on their lives, hoping they would get their chance to bring back the family.

And 1200 years later, it happened. By then the brothers were the only ones left, the others killed by Hunters or just disappeared so they had to do it on their own. They raided the world that the family was buried in, and killed everyone there, taking every last drop of blood they could take. Eventually, they found the family, and because they had been 'marked' by the heads of the family, they were able to undo the spell, and bring back the family. Now they have resumed their objective, but it hit a rock when they decided to take out all possible opposition. You. The brothers had once again resumed their job as being servants to the family, and their objective was to bring back a ghoul. They decided to take you out, Sora, as not only would this do, they would effectively take out a possible future threat."

"But what about me? Aren't I a possible threat?" Riku asked, a bit annoyed they might think of him as nothing.

"Why do you think the other brother tried to kill you?" Riku remembered that encounter in the alley, how he was weak and inferior to the other man, something he hated to be, unless it was Sora, cause he knew Sora should be better than him.

"Anyway, they screwed up. Not only were you not taken out, Sora was able to avoid becoming a Ghoul, when he took in blood from one brother. The other brother did not have extensive knowledge of Ghouls, thinking they needed a bit of blood for the transformation to be perfect. It cost him his life, and as a replacement, he was the Ghoul instead. To avoid trouble with the family, however, he kept his mouth shut about it. But it seems age had taken its toll on the last brother, as he had forgotten that someone who worked for them could read minds, so they knew right from the start they went for Sora. Wile this annoyed the family, and even more so when they found out you survived. But they decided not to kill him, as he is still useful to them. But once his usefulness is gone, they will 'deal with him' for his disobedience."

Sophie had finished talking, indicated by the moment of silence in the room.

"Wow. That was a lot to take in. But, you haven't given us complete info, like what the brothers names are, what the family's names are, not counting the father and mother." Riku said.

"I don't know them, so be happy you know anything, because your whining is getting on my nerves!" And with that, Riku shut up.

"God, what time is it?" Sora asked, feeling sleepy "It's near dawn, isn't it?"

"The sun rises faster in Twilight Town, so it'll be visible in a couple of minutes. I suggest you sleep, Sora, okay?" Sophie told Sora, a hint of caring in her voice, but Riku doubted this (he also heard it).

"Okay, I feel sleepy anyway…" Sora yawned. Riku, even knowing that vampires slept during the day, still found it weird.

"Riku, we need you to stay in this room. There may be Hunters after us." Sophie requested

"But why?"

"While some Hunters know not all vampires are bad, others believe even if it was an accident, they should all die, good or evil. Even if it's you Sora, who has done much for good."

"Okay, I'll stand guard. They're human, so maybe be weaker."

"Maybe, but not by much."

Riku wiped his face with his wrist, and summoned his keyblade. He stood ready for anything.

Unfortunately, he would find trouble in a little while.

End Chapter

Authors Note: So what do you think of this chapter? Hope it doesn't appear rushed. Next chapter at the weekend, hopefully. See Ya!