Chapter 12: Change!

Daisuke hadn't spoken words that could describe what he saw on that night, that very fateful night for days. And because of this, she felt responsible for her silly mistakes that had changed her life forever. However, the vampire who gave her his blood wasn't to blame. It was the one with the golden irises and white wings that looked like they were graced by angels. This was all of her doing, all her fault and now she was taking a punishment for it; one that meant that she would have to feast on humans to live. This was the first week of change and right now, no matter what Dark and Daisuke used to try to get her to drink, she completely refused to. It was no longer possible for her to look in a mirror like she used to. If she could look in a mirror right now though, she felt unsure of whether she would want to see what she had become. Besides she could see from point downward how extremely thin she had become. Dark had taught her how to kill, how to survive in such conditions as the night but she refused to do so. The first few days it was all easy for her to say that she had been eating when she was going out, but really she was only going out to examine how much everything had changed.

A fledgling like her would never starve herself like this, but she wasn't like them. Just like Dark, she had a soul, something that bled ever so freely when it decided that it should. Rubbing her neck slightly at where she was first bitten by the vampire who attacked her, she sighed, its undulated tones of what was once human echoed throughout the bedroom. Occasionally Daisuke would come to the locked door, trying to persuade her to come out into the open but she felt that it was now extremely dangerous for her best friend to remain around her – unless he was changed as well.

He can't be changed, he doesn't deserve this. He deserves a better life…She thought at what she thought was herself, that was until another sigh escaped from the back of her mind, one that put pressure upon her body.

Riku…you know that isn't possible, he's a hunter…I already broke the rules turning you.

HOW WAS THAT BREAKING THE RULES? She screamed into her mind. After all, she wanted to know why the vampire had become so secretive.

Because…you were a hunter yourself. How did you think that you have the strength to fight like you did? Not all humans have that strength!

That hit her, it hit her pretty hard. She wanted to know why the vampire was so secretive yet now, she realised that she preferred not to know. After all, it only leads to more questions. Examining the sign above her door, her face creased slightly as she realised that she could understand and speak foreign languages like that above her door.

"Ein Geheimnis ist etwas, das das zu mehr Antworten führt." She spoke only to herself as she read it out loud. It was a passage in German that talked about mysteries and how they would lead to more answers if anyone really wanted to look for them. A knock on the door shook her out of her temporary state of what she could only describe as a trance of some sorts. "Daisuke, leave me alone."

"No, not until you have fed yourself." At least the boy cared about this but the smell of powerful blood always crept to her nostrils every time he knocked on the door and tried to convince her.

"I'm not coming out!" On the contrary she could sneak out when the boy was asleep but she didn't say anything. Letting off no more words, the boy seemed to sigh before walking away. That was when the door broke into splinters, revealing a once amber haired young man, now covered in dust. "What the…hell did you just do?"

"Heh heh, don't worry about that! I asked Dark if I could do it and he agreed if it was the only way to get you out." She couldn't help but look him over. He had been training very hard how to fight and survive, ready for the battle between Krad and of course themselves to finally come rearing its ugly head. His cheeks appeared shapelier than what they once were and his torso also looked much more toned than what it was when they were both in school together. "…besides if I didn't do it, he would have and it would have been a lot more unpleasant than that."

"He's mad at me then?" She couldn't easily tell by the way that they had been having conversations between each other in there head, especially since the vampire always seemed to speak coolly or sarcastic when they were speaking like that. Now that she mentioned it, she could pick up on the vampires emotions now she was finally out of that room and it pained her to feel how hurt he actually felt because of what she was doing. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she never quite realised that Daisuke had walked off, only to be replaced be a cool pair of hands that pressed her against the wall.

"Look what you're doing to yourself Riku," Dark said as he forced her to look down at her unusually pale flesh. She yelped slightly as she felt pain erupt from the back of her neck but she looked anyway, and realised how truly scary she had become. Pale flesh thinly covered what looked like the small frame of a woman suffering from anorexia. "LOOK!" Tears were coming from her eyes as she realised what she had been doing to herself. Yet she did not care when she felt them hit the floor. The grip on her head released, her neck feeling relieved from the pressure yet she couldn't stop the tears, or the vampire from wrapping his arms around her. Feelings of pain coming from him didn't help as she tried to quiet, to stop the tears. And she sniffled once, twice, maybe three times before she finally stopped, feeling her mouth become covered by delicate lips that seemed to take all the pain away as each crushed against each other.

They each stopped just as Daisuke came back in with what literally looked like a crate full of blood. This was obviously for her to sustain herself for a while but she knew that she would also have to kill a human tonight if she was ever going to make it at all.

Dark cursed slightly as the blood packet he was trying to open burst within his hands. Both Daisuke and Riku noticed this and each began to snigger a little, before those sniggers turned into giggles and finally into laughter. He ignored them as he reached into the crate full of blood to try once again before being stopped by Riku who offered to help. Emotions often caused his strength to go slightly overboard on things like this and so he accepted the help, throwing a cushion at Daisuke to try and shut him up without much success since the younger man's skills and reflexes had been improved. The packet opened with ease, unlike the ones he had been trying to open. Just by drinking off of donated blood, Dark could already see the improvements in Riku's appearance. He had tried to starve himself once, after he had left Krad to go into the earth on his own. It was only just a week before he was found lying in the middle of an alley by Satoshi. That was how they both had the blood connection and it was Satoshi, not Krad who taught him about that.

Riku's laughter may have died down to the point where she was helping him overcome this but Daisuke's hadn't and when both Riku and Dark glared at him, it got worse until the younger man left the room, realizing how much of a fool he was being.

"He grows older but nothing changes…" He heard Riku say with a slight smile on her face. However, seeing Daisuke like that only reminded him of what he was like when he was alive himself.

"Nothing changes…unless you're immortal…"

Authors notes: I'm finally back at it and start to expect more german verses as the story goes on.