Disclaimer 1: I do not own zoids.

Disclaimer 2: The characters Ibeyla, Obscura, Spectral, Rollo, Rabe, Salca, Playzia and Driacoul do NOT belong to me. They belong to ShadowRebirth37.

Disclaimer 3: The characters Atherin, Azel and Eiji belong to ME. The towns Redai and Jurei also belong to me. I do not mind if Redai is used without my permission, it was just a name I made up on the spur of the moment. However, if Jurei is used please make note of it in your disclaimer.

Author's Note: Here it is, chapter 10! We left off last chapter with Van's friends joining our reluctant dark heroes. Irvine managed to get the 'scary' story out of Van, and now Van's trying to figure out a way to prove his earlier claim…

This is a collaboration fic between ShadowRebirth37 and me.

Thanks to those of you that Reviewed!!

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Ͽ Revealed Ͼ

Raven leaned over to Atherin. "I don't like that look he's giving us... damn... do you think he remembers the puncture wounds?"

"Most likely..." Atherin answered as he noticed Van giving them looks and he was too quiet...

"He's planning something..." Raven said, glaring at Van.

"Yeah...just keep your guard up... He's rash... He'll do something to prove it to them..."

"Yeah... but if he gets too close, Shadow'll eat him..."

"With his friends here? If you make any move to harm him, they'll radio in the Republic...then they will find out..."

Raven shrugged. "It'd be his own damn fault..." he said, leaning back into Shadow and crossing his arms.

Van's friends had gathered around the fire shortly after Van had. Irvine and Moonbay were still snickering about the 'scary' story that Van had told them. Van was up to something, both Atherin and Raven could tell...but they didn't know what exactly he would do. He was...unpredictable...the worst kind of person to have around when there's a big secret to be kept.

Raven crossed his arms and lowered his head. "I'm going to sleep..." he muttered to Atherin, his eyes closing. Shadow yawned as well, curling around Raven, falling asleep...

"Night, don't let me bite." Atherin joked quietly so only Raven heard him. He then went to watching the stars; he could count on Eiji to keep watch on things. Shadow was snoring quietly, her tail-tip curling and uncurling on the sand in her sleep. Raven was already in a deep sleep, his head down and arms crossed.

Atherin was resting on Eiji, not paying attention to Van and his friends conversing about something. As far as he could tell, it was just mindless talking...or the occasional quip from Van when Irvine said something to ruffle his feathers.

Van had spied that Raven and Shadow had finally fallen asleep and that Atherin wasn't paying attention to them. He took this opportunity to prove to his friends that Atherin was indeed a vampire. Before Raven, Shadow or Atherin could do anything Van grabbed Raven's left wrist and pulled his glove off and had managed to unwrap the gauze before Raven woke up...spitting angry...

"Van! What the Helkat are you doing?!" Raven yelled, jerking his hand away. Shadow awoke and raised her head, growling loudly.

"Proving that that boy over there is really a vampire!" Van answered unafraid of Shadow and Raven as he made a grab for his wrist again, turning it to show his friends the two twin puncture wounds.

Raven jerked his hand back. "Van! What the Furher is your problem?!" he snapped. Shadow roared and lashed her tail across the ground, getting agitated.

"Nothing's my problem! It's you that has a problem!! Why the Helkat are you harboring him!? He should be locked up somewhere! Not running around the planet!"

"I don't have a problem, Van! There's nothing wrong with Atherin!!" Raven snapped, Shadow snarling.

"Nothing wrong with him!? He drinks blood and kills people for it! How's that not wrong!?" Through out his and Raven's arguing, Irvine, Moonbay, Fiona and Zeke were watching Atherin, occasionally glancing back to watch Van and Raven argue. Atherin meanwhile, hadn't said a word. This was why he hated having people find out...this was the reaction the he received most...

"For the sake of Eve Van... just shut up and sit down!" Raven shouted. He was on the verge of just letting Shadow eat him...

Van was about to argue again until Irvine covered his mouth and forced him to sit. "Alright, that's enough out of you Van. But I think we deserve to have some questions answered."

Raven quickly covered up the wounds, putting his glove back on. He glared death at Van, Shadow doing the same, growling dangerously at him...

"Alright, I'll let you go Van if you keep your mouth shut." Van nodded and Irvine let him go. "Alright, now let me get this straight...you're truly a vampire." Atherin nodded curtly. "And you're saying that he's not dangerous?" Irvine asked Raven.

Raven nodded. "If he was dangerous, would Ibeyla and I still be alive?"

"Good point... But it's quite plain to me that he's had a taste of ya. Care to explain that?"

"He was 'hungry'... that's all..."

Irvine and the others looked a little horrified, but not so much as Van had when he had found out. "So...you just let him?"

Raven nodded. "Yeah...why?"

"And you're not bothered with it? Or what he is?"

Raven shook his head 'no'. "Of course not... I mean, it doesn't hurt, and Atherin hasn't shown any aggression towards Ibeyla and I, so why should him being a vampire bother me?"

Irvine thought for a moment. It looked like Van wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut when Moonbay hit him again. "Alright, works for me. He doesn't seem all that bad anyways." Irvine said after a minute. "Yeah, I can't imagine him really wanting to hurt anyone." Moonbay chimed in. "He-he. He's too sweet to do anything like that!" Fiona said smiling. Van was completely stunned. His friends didn't mind him either!? Was he the only one who was sane!?

Raven looked over at Atherin. "You're off the hook..." he said just loud enough for him to hear.

"I'm glad... I really didn't want things to turn ugly..." Atherin whispered back.

Van still wanted to make his point across...and he decided on the worst thing for Atherin at the moment. "...B-But what about that town Redai? O-Or what you were talking about earlier? A-About something not being under your control...and...eating…organs...?"

"Damnit..." Raven muttered under his breath. "Redai? What's he talking about?"

"...The reason I was heading for Imperial territory. ...I...I got caught...in Redai..." Atherin answered quietly.

"Got 'caught'?" Raven asked him, just loud enough for only him to hear, "What do you mean by that?"

"What do you think? Got caught 'feeding' that's what..."

"How the Furher did you get caught?"

"...I didn't know yet of the other attacks. I tend to only go into town when I need to, so I wasn't up to date on things. A curfew was on that town, someone was out after hours and not only did I follow him, but a police officer as well."

"Way to go... so now Van knows you're dangerous..." Raven said knowing Van was about to start screaming about how he was dangerous...

"...But it's not like...I can help it... I had waited until the absolute last day I could go without 'hunting'... So then I only have to 'hunt'...once every two weeks..."

"I know you can't help it..." Raven said, "... but is there any way you can survive without 'hunting'? I mean, alongside feeding off me?"

"...Not that I'm aware of... It's like asking you if you can survive without water..."

Raven shrugged. "It was just a suggestion..." he said quietly, "... but, does 'feeding' off of me help at all?"

"Yes... If it wasn't for having to 'heal' you I'd be fine for about a week... If I can get this body then two weeks...but I doubt that that'll happen... ...As soon as I get my 'feeding' schedule back in order, it'll be much easier to make sure I don't 'need' a whole body..."

"Well... sorry I got my ass nearly killed twice today..." Raven said.

"The first time wasn't your fault. However...you instigated the second one by challenging Van." Atherin replied. The others hadn't yet noticed their conversation, something to do with Van and not keeping his mouth shut... He believed he heard Irvine say something along the lines of 'Don't go causing more trouble for them or us...'

"Well... I couldn't let those Spyrix eat Van..."

"True, but it's in the past now. No need to drag it up from the pits of hell and sulk about it."

"Yeah... I don't want to remember how I nearly was eaten alive trying to save my worst enemy..."

Atherin nodded. There were things that he didn't to drag up either; they were better left in the pits of hell. He watched as the others finally turned their attention back to them, completely missing their conversation.

"I can't really say I'm all to comfortable with what Van said, but I guess there're things even out of your control..."Irvine said as he turned to face the duo again.

Atherin didn't answer, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself.

"Yeah... well... Van shouldn't have been a nosy little twerp and eavesdropped on our conversation..." Raven snapped at Van, "You know, I would've thought that after saving your sorry ass, that you'd show Atherin and I some respect..." he said loud enough for all his friends to hear.

"Yeah, well...I wouldn't have needed it if you didn't dare me to go into that cave!"

"Van...give it a rest... Raven's just gonna counter back and you two will be in an argument once more..." Atherin said, getting out some more candy.

"...I've been meaning to ask ya, kid, why do you eat so much candy?" Atherin couldn't answer Irvine, he had just put taffy in his mouth and was now trying to chew and swallow it.

"It helps with his blood sugar... keeps him from getting hungry, right?" Raven said, looking over at Atherin. Atherin nodded. Taffy wasn't something he enjoyed eating too often, it getting stuck on his fangs, but it had lots of sugar and kept him occupied longer than pixi stix did.

Raven nodded as well. He was still a little angry that Van had shrugged off the fact that he had nearly died trying to save his hide from the Spyrix. He could have just left him and saved himself, after all...

Atherin finally managed to swallow the taffy. /Note to self...NEVER buy taffy again! / Atherin thought as he worked trying to get the taffy from his fangs. It never failed. It always got stuck on his fangs!

Raven looked over at Atherin. He had to keep himself from laughing. "You having some problems there, Dracula?"

"Shut it. Better taffy stuck on my fangs than you, wouldn't you agree?"

Raven thought it over. "Yeah... I'd rather you be picking taffy off your fangs than me..."

"Thought so." Atherin said as he picked out another piece of candy, that wasn't taffy.

Raven went back to petting Shadow. She was still glaring at Van, wanting to pound him into the sand. Van was glaring back at Shadow. He couldn't believe this. His friends were siding with the enemy! Atherin was still eating candy, now leaning against Eiji who was rumbled as Atherin patted his nose.

Raven patted Shadow's head. "Give it a rest girl..." he said quietly. He knew putting everyone on edge wasn't the best thing at the moment. Atherin continued to eat his candy. He needed to eat a lot to make sure he didn't 'eat' one of his...companions...

Raven noticed the amount of candy Atherin was eating. "Atherin... if you're that 'hungry', I could let you 'feed' off me again... but after they fall asleep..."

Atherin looked at Raven. "You sure?" He asked as he looked over to Van and the others.

"Yeah I'm sure... you need it, and after all, I told you I owe you for saving my hide..."

"But that doesn't mean that you need to offer every time I look a little under the weather..." Atherin replied. "I'm not gonna hold it over your head."

"I know... but you 'look' bad... and you're gonna eat through all your candy at that rate..."

"Heh, you're right about that..." Atherin said as he peeked into his bag, its contents only a fourth of what it used to be.

"As soon as they fall asleep, I'll let you feed. Can you wait 'til then?" Raven said, joking slightly.

"Yeah, it's not gonna kill me to wait for another hour or two..." Atherin said.

"That's good..." Raven said, staring back into the fire.

After about an hour the others settled down for the night. Everyone had pulled their sleeping bags out and were starting to turn in for the night. To make it look like they were turning in to bed too, Atherin and Raven pretended to hit the hay. When Van had finally thrown off his suspicions and went to bed, was when they deemed it safe enough for Atherin to 'feed'.

Raven looked at Atherin as he pulled off his glove. "Okay... just be careful this time Atherin... I'm still a little weak from earlier..." he said, unwrapping the gauze from around his injured wrist. He held it out and turned away, waiting for Atherin to start feeding.

"Alright... I'm better off than I was earlier..." Atherin replied. He wasn't going to reopen the wounds he had made earlier; it could get infected that way... So he made another pair of twin puncture wounds and began 'feeding' again. He hoped that this would be the last time he 'fed' off of Raven for a while. He almost felt like a parasite, but Raven was the one telling him that it was alright.

Raven didn't feel much pain at all, but again it was the sound of Atherin swallowing that got to him. He closed his eyes, putting all his weight against Shadow as Atherin fed off him. He felt a little dizzy, but he 'thought' it was just because he was tired...

Atherin continued to 'feed'. He was tuned into Raven's heartbeat, making sure to stop at the first sign that he was taking too much. But, what they didn't know was that Van had woken up.

What Van saw when he woke was something horrifying! Raven was asleep and Atherin was 'feeding' off him with out his consent! He knew that Atherin couldn't be trusted. This is what Raven got for trusting a monster. But he'd watch; just to make sure that Atherin didn't attack him and his friends next.

Raven cringed slightly, feeling extremely lightheaded. He tried to tell Atherin to stop, but he couldn't. He could feel himself going. He groaned weakly and his body went limp, losing consciousness...

Atherin stopped 'feeding' as soon as he felt Raven go limp. He pulled his fangs from his wrist, blood dripping from his mouth again. Before he could do anything to make sure that Raven was alright, Van yelled; "You Monster!! I knew you couldn't be trusted! And now you've killed another person!"

"B-But--!!"

"Don't try any excuses with me! Zeke!!"

Shadow was awoken when she sensed Raven pass out. She opened her eyes and saw Atherin feeding off him. That didn't bother her; she knew Raven had allowed him to. But when Van woke and starting yelling, she took notice. She got to her feet and gently set Raven on the ground, focusing on Van. Zeke suddenly made a move towards Atherin, and she immediately pounced on him, pinning the younger male to the ground, preventing him from hurting Atherin or Raven.

Van's yelling had woken up the others. They looked over to who he was yelling at and saw blood dripping from Atherin's mouth and a motionless Raven. They put two and two together...but...if Atherin had really killed Raven then...wouldn't Shadow have attacked Atherin...instead of Zeke? Before Irvine could point this out to Van, Van pulled out Irvine's pistol and took aim at Atherin.

A little stunned about all this and not being able to get a word in edge wise with a raging Van, Atherin was a little slow to register what he was staring down. When it clicked, he stood up slowly, trying not to provoke Van anymore. Before he could move Van fired at him. "Ahhh!!" Atherin cried as he held his side, and fell to his knees... Before Van could fire again, Irvine stopped him and wrestled the gun out of his hands.

"Irvine! Why're you stopping me!? He killed Raven!"

"No he didn't Van! If he had Shadow would've attacked him! Not Zeke!!" Irvine shouted.

"B-But he was still 'feeding' off him while he was sleeping!" Van argued back.

Atherin's breathing was becoming ragged. It wasn't a clean shot...he could feel the bullet still lodged in him. He needed to get it out, or have someone help him get it out. Shadow turned and ran over to Atherin, whining loudly. She looked him over, growling in concern.

Atherin gritted his teeth, it hurt...like HELL! "Sh-Sha-adow... g-get bag...out-ta E-Eij-ji..." he gritted out. He knew that he'd need to bandage his side as soon as he or Shadow got the bullet out. Shadow held Atherin down, inspecting his wounded side. She growled at him and reached into the wound, pulling out the bullet with her claws...

Atherin cringed when Shadow reached into his wound and pulled the bullet out, when she had gotten it out he felt...different...and not in a good way. His breathing became a little heavier, his heartbeat thudding in his ears. His last conscious thought was.../..Dear Eve...no... Not...again.../ Before his eyes turned to a crimson red, his fangs and claws elongating and his reasoning vanished.

He sat up, Shadow having gone to get his medical supplies from Eiji. The first thing he smelled was blood...and a weak body, one that wouldn't resist him. His eyes fell on Raven, still unconscious, before he heard other people...others he could 'eat' later. To make sure they didn't interfere or escape him he used his 'charm', the others automatically went back to sleep without questioning why. He then turned his attention back to Raven. He wouldn't be able to escape him.

He stalked over to him, but before he could take him somewhere, Shadow got in his way. He growled lowly, his eyes lighting up in an eerie way, his 'charm' also affecting Shadow. She stood down, and curled up, going to sleep as well. He didn't feel like getting his claws all gunked up with organoid entrails today...not when there were more important things to do. He grabbed Raven and threw him over his shoulder, taking off a little ways. When they were about a mile away from the others he set Raven down and hovered over him, his fangs bared…

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Author's Note: ^^; This can't be good… What on Zi has Van done!? Will Raven wake up in time? And if so, what will he think of this development? Let alone of Atherin? You'll just have to wait until the next chapter!! Please Review!!