~O~

Alucard's words had gotten to Alice; they had been the only thing on her mind as she walked back to her room. He had told her about his own past, and how everyone in the enclave had their own dark secrets. The thought that others around her were troubled as well, hadn't even crossed her mind since arriving at the enclave.

Everyone she had seen thus far, with perhaps the exception of Loran and Alucard, had always seemed happy and content with their surroundings, worry-free. None of them ever appeared to be troubled. This Clan is a second chance, Alucard had said.

Maybe that was why everyone was so at ease and didn't show any signs of being haunted by their pasts. But all that did was make Alice wonder what kind of dark secrets the Clan members were keeping concealed beneath the surface. Just how many of them were still secretly haunted by their past? She shook her head; her mind still wasn't anywhere near proper working order yet, so there was no point in delving too deeply into any of this.

Alice sighed and returned back to her room. She gingerly pushed the door open, which she had only pulled to when she left earlier, and stepped through the threshold. The hinges of the heavy door creaked a bit, making sound when she wished to move silently, but it didn't appear to bother Shun, who was still sleeping soundly, completely oblivious to the fact that she had left.

Alice walked over to the side of the bed and saw that he had moved over, leaving no room on either side for her to lay down, if she had wanted to. Alice, despite feeling fatigued and drained again, didn't wish to go back to sleep; she was still afraid of having another nightmare like the one she had had earlier.

So, seeing as laying back down in the bed was out of the option, unless she woke Shun up and told him to move, she strode across the room to a sofa that sat in the far corner. It was a piece of Victorian-style furniture, with ornate swirls carved into the dark, polished wood that surrounded the smooth, red fabric of the cushions.

Alice sat down in it, surprised to find that the couch was as soft as it was, even though it looked as if it hadn't been used very much. Shortly after sitting down, she started to feel her eyes grow heavy, and her mind slip away as sleep started to take hold, but she fought back. Alice refused to fall asleep and have another one of those nightmares.

She was tired of seeing Arthur Gehabich's past in her dreams. She knew his past, his story, so what else was there to see? Alice doubted that there was much else, but she still didn't want to risk having two dreams about the Vampire Hunter in one night, or rather, one day.

But her body and mind were screaming two different things; one wanted to sleep, while the other fought back. She struggled against the two for a while, then finally succumbed to defeat and drifted off. And much to her relief, she dreamt of normal things that time, and not of Vampires or Hunters.

~O~

Shun yawned as he woke from his slumber. When he sat upright in the bed, he brought the heel of his hand up to his eye and rubbed away the last of the sleep that lingered in them. He had slept rather well that day, except for the one time when Alice had woken him after her dream, but other than that, he felt fairly well-rested for the first time in weeks. Shun began to wonder if it had anything to do with Alice drinking his blood earlier.

She hadn't taken too much, only enough to make him a bit light-headed and weak-feeling, but it might have been enough to tire him out enough to fall into a heavy sleep. Shun then glanced down to the spot on the bed beside him where Alice had been sleeping, and found that it was empty.

He began to think that she might have already gotten up, but caught something out of the corner of his eye and found her sleeping on the sofa across the room. He raised a brow in confusion. Why had she moved over there? He shrugged it off, figuring that maybe he had accidentally kicked her or something in his sleep.

Shun climbed out of the bed, grabbing the blanket off as he did, and strode across the room over to where Alice slept on the sofa. He draped the blanket over her. She didn't even stir. Shun felt relieved that she was able to sleep soundly, seeing as how troubled she had been earlier; he had been somewhat worried that her troubled mind wouldn't allow her to get a decent rest.

So, to Shun, this was a good sign, a sign that suggested to him that maybe she was finally coming to terms with being a Vampire now. Then again, as he had come to know in the past month or so, looks could be deceiving. Shun didn't want to think like that, though.

He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. He left her side and walked out of the room, where he proceeded to make his way back to his own living quarters. When he got back to his room, he went straight to his dresser and pulled out a fresh set of clothes to wear, which consisted of a pair of jeans and a black shirt; black clothing was common-place in the enclave.

Shun quickly changed into the new clothes, taking the old ones with him into the bathroom and placing them in the hamper there. He then turned around and looked at his reflection in the mirror behind him. His hair was messed up enough that it needed to be fixed, so he combed his fingers through the short, black locks until everything fell back into place, seeing as he still hadn't gotten hold of a comb or brush yet.

His eyes then fell on the two, faint puncture wounds on his neck. They had started to fade as they healed up, leaving behind only two, dark spots that could have been mistaken for a trick of shadows. Shun brought his fingers up and touched the spot on his neck. It had been weird, having his blood drained. It wasn't like it had hurt anything; in fact, after Alice had bit him, he hadn't felt much at all.

But through the numbness, he had still been able to feel his blood leaving his body as she drank, a sensation that could only be described as weird. Shun hadn't minded it, though. Alice had needed blood at the time, seeing as she had been falling into Bloodlust. It had been just like the first time he had taken blood from her; he had been in the same situation.

So, he had been more than obliged to return the favor for her in her time of need. But just how long could they really go on like that, with him taking blood from her and vice versa, considering the that, due to the Imprint, she might can only have his blood like he could only have hers?

It was still an uncertain fact at this point whether or not she could stomach blood that wasn't his, and they hadn't tested it out last night when she had been falling into Bloodlust because there hadn't been anytime. In a way, Shun could now understand why Vampires were unable to have an Imprint with another Vampire, other than it being supposedly impossible; it was nothing but a never-ending cycle of give and take.

But there was nothing they could do about it now, unless one of them were to die, and Shun didn't even want to start thinking about that. He removed his hand from the puncture wounds on his neck and exited the bathroom. From his room, he could already hear the enclave starting to come to life for another night. He heard the chatter of Clan members as they walked past his room.

Shun sighed and left out of his room. He figured that Sinclair would probably address the Clan about what Gillfrey had informed them of last night, that Zoran had been the one to take over the Society. So, Shun started towards the main room to wait and see if his hunch would be right. As he walked, he passed by a handful of other Clan members that were leaving out of their own rooms.

He gave them a supple nod as a greeting, which they usually returned, and continued on his way. Shun still felt strange at just how quickly he had assimilated into the daily-life of the enclave, when not a month ago everything about it terrified him and felt so unreal. Now, he could hardly even remember how his daily routine had gone when he had been human, other than going out early in the morning and training with his grandfather.

Shun stopped dead in his tracks; his grandfather hadn't even crossed his mind since the battle with Alexander. A heavy knot formed in Shun's stomach, a knot that made him sick; not just physically sick, but also mentally. The weight of his grandfather's death was still heavy on him, he realized. Shun shut his eyes tightly and tried his best to push away as much of the memories from that day as he possibly could.

He tried to push away the images of the all of the blood that had been spilt by his hands, the smell and taste of the blood that still seemed to follow him wherever he went. Shun wished he hadn't thought back to that day, wished that he had continued to remain occupied with other problems, like Gillfrey or Zoran's betrayal. But now that the memory of what he had done to his grandfather was fresh on his mind, Shun knew it wasn't about to go away anytime soon.

He leaned against the wall as a way to steady himself, and ran a trembling hand through his hair. His fingers caught on several knots that he had missed earlier when he fixed his hair. He wanted nothing more than to forget the horrible sin he committed, to forget his grandfather's blood that had been on his hands when he finally came to his senses as the drugs and Bloodlust wore off.

Shun shook his head. It wasn't like he had meant to kill his own grandfather, but he had had no control. His body and mind had been ravaged by Alexander's drug and Bloodlust, a deadly combination that he never wished to experience ever again. But, regardless of whether or not Shun could have stopped himself, the old man's death had been his fault because of the choices the raven-haired teen had made.

If he had never started using the blood mixtures, he might have had a chance at fighting against his Bloodlust, which would have ultimately stopped him from killing his grandfather, if he had been successful in doing so. Shun rubbed the sides of his arms, suddenly overcome with a chill as more of the mental images resurfaced, images that had been floated around in the back of his mind, waiting for something to trigger the memories so they could come forward again.

He knew that those images would always be there, would always reemerge and remind him of what he had done. Shun pushed himself off the wall and tried his best to recompose himself before he went into a full-on breakdown.

He took in several, deep breaths to calm his trembling nerves, but relaxing his mind was another story. There was nothing he could do on his own to distract himself from the images that danced around in his head; the only thing he could do was wait for something to come along and distract him for the time-being, just as the trouble with Gillfrey and Alice had done the past couple of days.

Shun would need constant distractions like these, or else his mind would wander and he would start to remember, and when that happened, the pain would come back and torment him. He took in another shaky breath and started walking down the hallways again. But instead of heading towards the main room like he had previously been doing, Shun was going in the opposite direction, and for good reason too.

He figured that walking around would help clear his mind and relax him enough to the point that he would be able to pull himself back together. Shun walked for a good distance down the hallway before he finally encountered a passerby. He was about to nod his usual, cordial greeting, a sign of respect to a fellow Clan member, when he realized who it was and stopped himself. It was Gillfrey.

The white-haired Vampire had on the same clothes as he did yesterday; a long white military-like uniform that had the golden ropes on the shoulders. He also wore the same smug expression. The Count narrowed his lilac-colored eyes at Shun and said, "Ah, it's you, the one that was in the study yesterday that defended that Gehabich girl."

Gillfrey's voice was laced with malice. Shun nodded, even though there was no need for him to respond to the obvious. "That would be me," he said shortly. Gillfrey's lips turned upward into a sly grin that reminded Shun of a fox. "You know," the Count said, "Next to her, you might be the second biggest eye sore to me that I've seen so far. Not only have you created an Imprint with a Vampire, something that I don't believe has ever been accomplished before, but you also stand up for that creature."

Shun narrowed his eyes at Gillfrey; the Count certainly had picked a bad time to be saying such words. The raven-haired teen took a step closer to Gillfrey, never once allowing his gaze to waver, and said, "I suggest you watch what you say here. There might be some Clan members that don't take too kindly to your words, me included. If I hadn't been more concerned about Alice yesterday, I would have fought back against you, but sadly my priorities were elsewhere."

Gillfrey's wry grin turned down to a scowl. "If you think that, because the blood that Turned you is Sinclair's, you're strong enough to take me on, then you are sadly mistaken. I am the Count, the strongest Vampire in the world. Only in your dreams could you defeat me," Gillfrey hissed.

The air around the two of them suddenly grew icy cold, and Shun realized that the Count was using his powers. He took a step back, readying himself in case Gillfrey did decide to attack. But as quickly as they air turned cold, it returned back to its normal temperature.

The Count wrinkled his nose up, as if he had seen something disgusting, and said, "I still can't believe that Sinclair wasted his blood on the likes of somebody like you….You and that girl both have blood in your veins that neither of you deserve." Gillfrey walked around Shun and added, "Now, if we're done with our little discussion, I'm off to go and check on my injured guard."

The Count walked off down the hall, eventually vanishing from sight when he was far enough off. Shun continued to stand there, rooted in place. All of his previous memories about his grandfather were now replaced with a hatred towards the Count. Their conversation had been enough to distract Shun away from the painful memories, but now, rather than feeling weighed down with guilt and sadness, Shun felt something that could be even more detrimental; anger and rage.

Chapter title based off the song A Dangerous Mind by Within Temptation. Oh, thank the heavens I don't have school tomorrow. I needed a day off, like, seriously. I haven't been in school a full month yet and I'm about to die. Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, so read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~