And, we're back! I hope I didn't leave people in too much suspense. Here is chapter 21, only 3 more chapters to go.

Something has bugged me about this chapter, and it's not the victims or the survivors... oh well, I may come back and edit the events. Or maybe not.

This chapter once more jumps perspectives. (sighs). I'll help you all out with their names at the top.

Bites, Blood, Immortality

Chapter 21

As dawn breaks, a pile of ash is all that is left.

Mathias

The setting sun is the time when we say goodnight to the sun. We aren't scared though, it will return tomorrow. It always has and it always does. Because as much as we know that our globe is round, we know the sun will rise again.

But there is something we may not always know. Will we meet again, after we part? The most likely answer is yes, but there are times when you do worry and you do wonder... what will happen?

If your car crashes are you all right? Call me, I will need to know.

If you fall of a ladder, how did it go? Tell me, because I cannot know.

If you get lost, when will you return.

If the sun rises, will you still be here? Or are you forever gone?

Mathias woke with a start. He was cold, he had slept in a sitting position on a small ledge. Parts of him ached more than ever, from the various amount of bruising and wounds that had been forced to heal overnight.

Beside him Gilbert stirred as well. The pale German opened his eyes, to look around confusingly. It took a while for any of them to remember where they were.

Sadly, his third companion, Arthur, was not doing well.

Arthur looked ready to fall off. The British vampire was silent, but Mathias could tell that he was in grave pain. There were darkening spots on his flesh that looked almost contaminating. He was breathing harshly, barely able to breath. It wasn't far from it now.

"He needs help." Gilbert concluded. "Look, I know you want to check on Lukas, and we must confirm what happened to Vlad. But Arthur needs us, and Francis will never forgive us if we don't do anything to help."

Mathias nodded, slowly.

"You go and check on Lukas and Vlad. I hope Lukas made it, but..." Gilbert didn't finish, but Mathias understood. There was a chance that both could have survived, which he sadly had to hope for, even if every limb in him wanted Vlad dead.

Gilbert stood up as much as he could, and hoisted Arthur to his back. Mathias had to help him slightly. The German vampire started to climb down, taking it as slow as possible. This was far from easy, as he had another vampire on his back. And he couldn't use both hands to grab on to the mountain.

Mathias watched them for a moment until he set off in another direction; to where he last saw Lukas.

-000-

Tino

Tino was scared. It was undoubtedly so. He had refused sleep and struggled to stay awake when dawn came. Beside him Berwald, who had no possible way of fighting it, did fall asleep. His body went limp, resembling the corpse he truly was. It was something haunting about how people look when they die. Films can never portray the emptiness that follows when the soul leaves the body. A vampires soul is condemned from the moment he or she is turned.

The small Finn sighed deeply. The sight of Berwald reminded him of the nights when they first had gotten to know each other. When he would sleep next to the dead man, despite that he had been alive back then. The Finn traced his lovers feature, resting his hands beneath Berwald's chin. His hand slowly travelled downwards, to gently touch the closing wound. It had a sickening dark colour, and he hoped that it would be all right. The fact that Berwald was still there was a good sign. If he started to crumble... well...

Tino took his hand. He thought back on all those years as these two had been together. He could still remember the initial fear and yet childish curiosity he had the first time he ever saw a vampire. It had nearly condemned him for life, after all he knew they existed, and he was never frightened enough to run from them. Even if Berwald had tried to end their growing relationship more than once. In one way Berwald had been to blame for some of those old problems and maybe Tino simply was like that. He could forgive even if those memories sometimes were painful. He remembered a conversation he had by the Finnish and Norwegian borders, after Berwald and he had to part when the Maker's bond broke. Lukas had strictly told him to forget about the Swede and to resent him for all the pain that had been caused. Parts of Tino had, but other parts knew that eventually he would miss Berwald.

He briefly wondered what would have happened if Berwald had succeeded to end their relationship back then. What would have happened if Tino once thought logically about what he had given in to and remained mortal, to one day die? In the earliest days he couldn't even consider immortality, there had been too many important things. But still, the world had seemingly been against him. And, he was sure he would have hated his life if he did. Not that a vampire's life was ever perfect.

But who could ever blame Berwald for not being one of those handsome fellows that women swooned over. It had happened several times, Tino could specifically recall one time when the Swede even had to go on the run from women who liked the more silent and mysterious type. You couldn't really blame his lover for being loud. That was Tino's role instead.

The hours passed slowly. Luckily it seemed that the vampires that may still be left had fallen asleep as well, because Tino couldn't hear anything other than his own breathing and the occasional scurrying of animal paws, mice or rats? His body was heavy, and he knew if Berwald knew he was torturing himself like this he would be angry. Berwald had always been looking after him. Whether he liked it or not.

-000-

Hours had passed. The feeling of sleep disappeared, and to his horror Tino realised he had fallen asleep.

"Great, you're one hell of a guard dog." he murmured, as his body slowly got back to normal. It took him less than half a second to remember Berwald and his wounds. Quickly he turned his head to see how Berwald was doing.

Greenish-blue eyes met him, and Tino felt relieved. Berwald had survived it.

"Evenin'." The Swede said. Tino squealed in happiness, and scurried over to his side.

"Ber!" How are you feeling?"

The Swedish vampire scrunched his nose.

"Like a house has fallen over me. Where are we?"

"You don't remember. The same room when we were attacked by Gemma."

"I remember."

Tino smiled. It was good to know that Berwald had recovered. The wound had looked so deadly, he had not been sure he would have made it.

"Where's the others?"

Tino's smile faltered.

"I don't know. I haven't heard from anyone. We've been alone here since we won."

"We won?"

"Yeah, I don't think she will come back anytime soon. I cut her head off, had too. I thought she killed you."

"Good."

Berwald made some movements to get up, but something seemed to hold him back.

"What's wrong?"

"Weak, can't move."

"Maybe you should still rest? You've been out for hours."

Berwald relaxed a little.

"Maybe." he agreed. Tino lay down as well, there was nothing else he could do. He didn't know much about how their bodies worked, and how to help his lover recover faster. Berwald smiled, as Tino moved closer to hold him. Silent tears started to trickle, the worries of the last night finally caught up to the Finn.

"Don't worry, Tino. I'm fine." Berwald reassured him. "I'm fine."

The Finn quickly silenced him. Slightly moist lips descended upon the slightly startled Swede. But Berwald didn't seem to be offended by the kiss. He simply kissed back.

It was as if they were celebrating what had happened, without really knowing the outcome.

-000-

Lukas

He was cold. He was hungry? Was he dead, he simply didn't know. He couldn't move, he couldn't feel himself in anything. It was as there was no physical form left. He seemed to be just something that was, without either body or soul. He simply was, but what was he? He couldn't answer? Was such an answer even necessary? He didn't know.

Something bright seemed to engulf whatever he had become. If this was truly death, why did vampires fear it? It wasn't scary nor was it dark. It didn't even feel empty. And yet he somehow knew that he was dead, he had to be. After all, vampires had no souls, right?

He felt himself land. How could he feel himself land? How did he have any form? Wasn't he simply nothing? Then again, how did he know that he had flown? How did he know he was something.

This wasn't right, this was wrong.

Lukas!

He didn't understand.

Lukas!

Wait, what?

Lukas... open your eyes.

Open his eyes? How?

Just open them. It will be all right.

And Lukas did. He felt heavy and completely beaten, as if he had fallen off a cliff. Moments later he realised he had.

"Lukas!"

Mathias called him. Looking towards the direction he could hear his voice the Dane was sprinting towards him, pure relief and shocked amazement danced across the Danes features, and as soon as he arrived by his side, he fell to his knees.

"Mathias?" Lukas murmured weakly.

"Fucking shit, never scare me like that!" The Dane said and held him close. Lukas felt Mathias tremble. He was crying. What had happened.

Slowly the current events came back to him. He had fallen off the cliff, he had brought all his strength to make sure Vlad did not escape. But where was he? Where was Vlad?

"Mathias, where's Vlad?" he asked weakly. He didn't even know he was that weak. His body must have spent all night trying to repair the wounds inflicted on him. He was hungry, starved from the amounts of energy that must have gone to get everything back to function again.

Mathias helped him turn his head towards an area where there was nothing but a pile of clothes. The same clothes that Vlad had worn when they chased him. Lukas did not understand.

"I think he's gone. I don't know how, but you must have pushed him away from you. This is a safe spot, look around. There's a shadow. You got lucky."

Lukas shook his head.

"It makes no sense. We tumbled down together. I held him close, I didn't want him to escape."

"Then he must have tried to escape on his own, but the sun caught up with him. Just proves how mad he really was."

Mathias turned back to him.

"Can you walk?"

Lukas tried moving his legs, but he couldn't get them to function.

"No, I don't think my body has healed properly yet. I can't move my legs."

Mathias smirked.

"It seems like you can still not live without me." he said mockingly.

"Shut up." Lukas bounced back, but he honestly felt relieved. Mathias collected Vlad's clothes as well. There was still a possibility that the vampire had escaped, but Lukas didn't honestly think so. What vampire would run away in the snow without boxers? That insane, even by Vlad's standards.

But it still did not explain what the hell had happened.

Mathias carried him bridal style back to the entrance, which was still open. There the others had gathered just inside the doors. Eduard and Feliks looked a bit battered, but otherwise fine. Romano had a sling around his right arm, which was broken, but otherwise he simply looked tired. Basch looked perfectly fine and unscathed, and even had a few shots lefts in his rifle. Francis was another story, he was completely distraught, with reason.

Gilbert had brought Arthur only moments before their own arrival, and the French vampire immediately went to his love's side. But even Arthur's expertise of dark magic and arts couldn't save him. The vampire looked worse, almost hollow, like something was eating him from the inside.

Gilbert was of course relieved to see them both, so was everyone. Mathias showed him Vlad's clothes that they found, and laid Lukas to sit down leaning against the wall, so he got a perfect view of what was happening with Francis and Arthur.

And he could hear them as well.

"I'm sorry, Francis. I know I promised to come back, but not like this."

"Arthur, what 'appened to you?"

The British vampire sighed.

"He got me in the end." he chuckled. "Who would have thought that was possible after all this time. Just proves what a big mouth I can be."

"Arthur, is there nothing we can do? Is there no way."

"I don't know. I have never seen anything like this. It must be something Vlad discovered. Mathias... Mathias, did you find him?"

Mathias, who stood beside Gilbert to occasionally slip in a few details, turned and said.

"We found his clothes by the foot of the mountain. We cannot of course be completely sure he's gone, but we think so. If not, he is running around completely naked by the mountains now."

Arthur smiled.

"That would be beneath him. That's good, then that means Francis will not be in danger anymore."

He turned back to his French lover.

"It's cruel, isn't. Just when I finally got to my senses, I'll be forced to leave you again."

Francis was crying, Lukas could see and he didn't blame him. He was crying as well.

"Je t'aime." the Franch vampire whispered silently.

"And I you. I love you, with all my heart and it pains me to leave you like this."

The French vampire bent down to capture Arthur's lips in one final kiss. Arthur responded weakly. It was a kiss to say goodbye. Lukas felt his own throat choke as he watched them. He had hoped there would be no more goodbyes.

But of course there had to be. This had been a war. And in wars, someone was bound to die.

The kiss ended. Arthur closed his eyes. He seemed ready to pass on.

"Je t'aime." Francis whispered yet again. Silent tears fell from his face as he spoke.

Arthur smiled. Then he faded as his body turned to ash.

Francis bent over what remained of his lover, the ash and the clothes. Gilbert walked up to him.

"He wanted to say goodbye to you. He told me when I carried him here. He wanted to die by your side. He loved you, he always has."

"I know." Francis said between choked tears. "But it doesn't make it any easier."

-000-

Emil

Elizaveta and Emil had gone to find Tino and Berwald, and they had, after having walked around half the dungeons. It had not been the most welcoming of sights. Tino had been so relieved about Berwald's survival that when the Swedish vampire was able to move they had proved their love for each other in the more intimate way. Emil sadly was the first to find them, and felt scared for life. What else would you feel to see one of your friends with someone's dick up their ass.

One thing was sure, Tino could be quite loud. And the two of them hadn't even considered the possibilities of someone else hearing them.

Which had been very obvious. That's how they had been discovered. (Though Emil had been sure it was the sound of torture).

"I cannot believe you two!" Elizaveta had scolded the two lovers as they headed back to everyone else. Two fully developed vampires, fucking like rabbits in the middle of the devil's den. Did you lose your brains or something?"

"But..." Tino started.

"Shush... I don't want to hear excuses."

She grabbed Emil around the shoulders with an arm, which was difficult as she was slightly shorter than him.

"Not to mention you scarred poor Emil for life." she reminded them.

Elizaveta had become much more outspoken and somehow it made Berwald smile. Emil couldn't understand why.

"Glad to see you're back to your old, normal self." the Swedish vampire said. Elizaveta simply turned away from him.

"Shut it, or I'll treat you the same as I did to him." she snarled, talking about Gilbert.

"What changed?" Tino asked, curious as well as to what had given her some of her old strength back, and sanity.

"Feliciano." she said simply. "He was nice to me, unlike most of you lot."

"Wait, we haven't tried to judge you, did we?" Tino asked, quite offended.

"I was talking about the Mozart-wannabe and the Swiss army-knife." she said simply, which kind of made sense since both Rodeirich and Basch were turned by Gilbert. And the German had obviously spoken about their older sister as well.

Not to mention Basch could be very harsh in the way he spoke. And once Rodeirich didn't like someone he would eventually show it. He may have been able to hide most of his disgust, but most likely he had lost it at times.

That was eventually what Tino had explained to Emil later, as they reached the entrance again.

And of course, they arrived to see the scene where Francis still cried deeply for the loss of his love. It sadly did not take a genius to figure out what had happened.

-000-

Lukas

Lukas saw Emil arrive and was relieved to see him. With him came Elizaveta, followed by Tino and Berwald. All four stopped at the scene, and looked equally as shocked and surprised by the sadness of everyone. Especially the latter two, whom had both been rather happy to this point. So why were everyone sad?

Lukas saw Eduard approach the group to inform them what had happened. Elizaveta paled, Emil looked shocked and Tino clung to Berwald by the arm, and seemed to stare at him with surprise.

Once Eduard finished explaining Elizaveta ran up to Francis. She didn't much, just held him and allowed him to cry. Berwald seemed to hold Tino closer and Emil walked over to him.

Lukas looked up. Emil bent down to examine him.

"Are you okay?" Lukas asked monotonely.

"Yeah... you?"

"Been better."

"Obviously."

The Icelandic vampire looked back over his shoulder to watch as Francis now clung hopelessly to Elizaveta, who patted him on the back. Gilbert made a move towards them, but the Hungarian wouldn't have him close.

Emil stared at him.

"Lukas... where's your cross?"

Lukas lifted his hand to touch his hair. That was strange, his cross was gone. With a sad sigh he guessed it must have fallen off when he fell, which was strange. The cross had always been there, and sometimes seemed magically attached to him.

But he suddenly felt oddly naked without it. It was given to him by his father, whose face had paled within his memories. To lose his most valuable possession...

"I don't know. Must have fallen off when I fell from the cliff."

"You... WHAT?"

And Lukas had to explain, while the saddest scene unfolded in front of them. Maybe it wasn't the time to fight about trivial matters, but Emil didn't seem too happy that he had lost it.

-000-

It was later a sad group that left the dungeons below Matterhorn. Romano, Basch, Mathias, Berwald and Gilbert had to work together to close and seal the entrance. The doors were unnaturally heavy, so there was probably no human that would ever notice the entrance and seeing how the snow fell it would soon be impossible to tell someone had been there.

Basch lead them to Geneva, where he had a private house they all could stay for a few days to recuperate. It was a busy city, but at night of course life isn't as potent as when humans walk around during the day. So, their large group might have looked a bit suspicious. But it was necessary for them all to meet up, to mourn together, to console each other and to talk about what they would have to do.

After all, there was one more problem that they had to consider again.

Hunters.

The thing was, they had no idea what had happened to the Hunters. And more strange the Hunters had seemingly vanished ever since the vampire activities died.

"We need to investigate this." Rodeirich had said, and so they had. He got assigned to go to Romania and the inn, to find the place half full, with very scared vampires and most fled upon his arrival. The Austrian vampire was known for his social skills, despite his usual polished demeanour, but he had at one point hosted huge parties during the Era of what he liked to call proper etiquette.

Elizaveta, Gilbert, Basch, Berwald, Tino and Mathias had spread through Europe, to see if they could discover and clues about the Hunters. Somehow, this proved to be more difficult than they would have liked to admit. It seemingly seemed as if all Hunters had vanished from the face of the Earth. No one could understand how or why?

Feliks, Romano in the company of Feliciano had gone to investigate any possible escape Vlad could have done, no that they believed that he was alive, but they had to find some sort of evidence that he was gone. Or, so they hoped.

Antonio went south to meet up with Heracles and the rest of their southern comrades, who still hadn't arrived.

Finally, Lukas and Emil went to Transylvania to properly look through Vlad's archives and hopefully to find any kind of records as to what had happened and the many things Vlad had been working on. They knew now that they would need to dig deep to find anything.

Mathias had complained, but this time it had been Emil who had stood up and talked him down. Lukas had been equally as surprised as everyone else who saw them.

"No, no... no, no, no, no... I refuse to let you go to Transylvania when we still aren't 100 per cent sure whether Vlad is alive or not!" Mathias had told Lukas. The Dane had literally held Lukas down as he said it, making Lukas fight back.

It had been Emil who split them apart, and snarled viciously at the Dane. The Icelandic vampire had almost thrown him off.

"You!" he had started. "Should remember that Lukas can do what he pleases, when he pleases and that you have no rights to say what he can and what he can't!"

Mathias had glared at him equally as viciously.

"Lukas, restrain your Nursling from things that don't matter to him." Mathias had barked back.

"Shut up!" Emil bounced back. "Gilbert told you to help them out to hunt Hunters, then do so!"

"Don't even think you can tell me what to do!" Mathias had said menacingly.

"He's my big brother, and I have as many rights to defend him as I see fit!"

The very reply Emil had given had surprised Lukas and made him speechless. He didn't know when Emil had started to see him as a brother, less alone a big brother, but his actions reminded him of Erik so much that he couldn't find words for it.

No, not Erik alone. This was Emil who spoke.

The Dane moved in to properly start a serious fight, but Gilbert stepped in to haul him back. Instead, the German vampire had dragged him by the scruff of his neck to the door and they were out. Mathias had tried to kick his way to freedom to the point that Berwald took him by the legs.

Tino and Basch simply shrugged and walked off with them.

And so, Emil knew his and Mathias relations would be strained. And he voiced this as he followed Lukas to the station.

"He's going to kill me, isn't he. I probably shouldn't have agitated him. He's much stronger than I'll ever be."

"I doubt it. Besides, he should get used to it." Lukas had said with a rare smile.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the two of us still have near a hundred years together. So he should learn how to share."

Emil smiled back, an even rarer sight.

"Oh, I almost forgot." the Icelandic vampire said, and took something out from his pocket. He handed it to Lukas, who looked down at the small object.

It was a hairclip, a cross, very similar to the one his father had given him. But it was slightly lighter. His old hairclip was made of actual gold, a family heirloom handed down by generations. This was a simply cross in some cheaper material. But the action itself almost brought tears to his eyes from joy.

The train that would lead the one more step towards their goal arrived. Lukas threw his rucksack over his shoulder. He had no idea what awaited him today or tomorrow or any other day. But for once, he felt as if life had finally settled into something peacefully pleasant.

And so it would be, but just for a little while.

-000-

As dawn breaks, a pile of ash is all that is left.

-000-

Review replies: (somehow I almost forgot, I'm so sorry!)

justaguest: Thank you for telling me about the spelling. I was extremely tired, and missed a lot of mistakes. And, I know what you mean. We all wish we can meet again after our earthly lives are gone, but vampires don't have a soul in the same way. Or at least not to what they've been able to figure out. But who knows, maybe there is something out there where they can meet again. After all, I don't see any of them continuing to live on to the day when all human kind has died out and there is nothing left on Earth, but the survivors will live for quite a while, a few more centuries at least. And Lukas lives for now, but I will keep Vlad's fate as open for a while. You will, by the end of this story, know what happened to him, but as for now. Maybe he somehow lived, maybe he died. I am not letting these guys go yet, I've still got 3 more chapters to write after all. More to come, especially around Lukas and Emil. And thank you for reviewing, it made me really happy that you love the story.

A/N: Is Vlad dead or alive? What do you think? And what of the Hunters? I still have so many things to finish...

And as for how could Berwald survive when Arthur did not? I like to think that he just got really, really lucky. Sometimes luck is a part of life as much as logics.

I know Arthur is skilled with magic, but he had no preparations or no knowledge of this type of magic. It was created outside his area of expertise, by an unknown vampire with a lot of skills. So, he wouldn't know how to stop the infection. I like the idea that it is a poison fed from hatred. The more emotional you are, the more likely it is to kill you. This is something I think of when I think of Gemma, because in my mind she was a woman who had a number of ups and downs emotionally. Arthur had a lot of emotions going on, in particular revenge for his Maker and for his brothers, which made the poison infect him quite easily. Berwald on the other hand had less to worry about, sure he had Tino, but he trusts Tino as well. He had some tough times before this story takes place to learn this lesson. His instincts often tells him to keep his lover safe, but Tino can handle himself pretty well.

He still got knocked out for several hours, so I think that counts for something. But, yes, danger is over and he will live.

I did not include this because it didn't seem relevant, but since I figured so many of you would ask, I thought I should include it here. Hope to see you all soon. My weeks are getting ridiculously busy, since I'll leave for China in 2 months.