This is turning out longer than I expected. Well, in this chapter, Yugi proves to be too easily trusting and not who she wants to be, and I probe to be busy. X.X Which reminds me:

I don't know how many of you know this, but I worked as a ghostwriter for 2 years until I quit it. It wasn't because I wasn't making enough (I was actually making really good money and had loads of people asking for my work). But it felt like my soul was being sucked out oto write a novel in three or four weeks just for someone else to take credit for.

But I'm still opened to commissions if anyone wants a certain kind of story. ^.^ Just PM me if you're interested. Don't worry, I'm cheap for my fans. But it could be a great Christmas present for anyone you know-or for yourself. I can do at least 10,000 words a week.

Chapter 20

A long week of numb sleeplessness finally came to an end for Yugi. She said good-bye to Joey at the gate, aching almost as much as Joey was that she had been grounded from seeing anyone, especially her best friend, then went home and collapsed on her bed. There, she listened to the distant taps and grumbles of the house and the lazy traffic outside. She closed her eyes to sleep, but her brain, which had been dead when she needed it, spun and twirled.

Red eyes. Sharp, shark-like features if viewed one way. Earnest, gentle man if viewed the other.

She had made the right choice. Her and Joey were safe. She was back to school and had been able to catch up in her school work. Crisis averted. Well, as far as school went. Her mother had grounded her for 'running off with Joey to camp.' At least the bite marks on her neck had healed enough for a band-aid, heaven forbid she have to tell her mother why her neck was bandaged when there was a vampire scare.

For the world had changed while she had been locked away in her tower. Every day new deaths, new attacks, came in, with the majority happening in hospitals where those who were bitten and bodies were inevitably brought—and where new born vampires awoke crazed with blood.

Without her notice, Yugi's fingers trailed up to her neck where the scabs had been picked off. Even the band-aid had raised suspicion.

But Joey and I didn't turn…

A girl and a boy in their grade had, though. And killed two nurses.

I should feel more afraid.

She told herself that every day, but even as she stared up at the same patch of ceiling molding that she had been staring at for the past hour, all she could feel was the numbness. It almost hurt, like the numb that comes from cold. Even when she wondered if she could have somehow prevented this by staying with the vampires and screwing up everything with Joey, all she felt was a twinge in her stomach.

And she didn't know why.

The red sunlight faded to the gray of twilight. Yugi sat up. She did her homework with a bland concentration she wished she could have had during the lecture. She did some cleaning and then went down to make dinner. Mother making dinner? That was a fine, sexist idea there. No, Yugi or Grandpa made dinner. Mother would probably eat out. Mother worked. Mother had a dream, a career, a life. Cooking was for the unambitious. Nevermind the fact that Grandpa worked as well. He did it as an act of love, though.

Yugi pondered where that strange bit of wry bitterness came from as she flipped sliced potatoes and hotdogs in the pan. Bits of cooked potato clung to the spatula like clumps of buttered flour. Grandpa past through to sniff at dinner, thank her, and start small talk about school. Yugi answered naturally, as she had no reason not to. Grandpa didn't notice, or was too polite to, though she did see him frown.

Dinner was served. They ate. The leftovers were set aside for mother. They went to the living room and watched the news together, rife with bold headlines of the number of deaths and brief clips of deranged, fanged people that were supposed to be dead launching at the camera or hapless victims.

At some point, her grandpa snorted.

"Give us the weather already. Like running around with your head cut off like a chicken is going to change anything." He patted Yugi's knee. "Say, what do you think about heading to the mountains until all this blows over?"

"I can't, I have school," she said, realizing too late that she had said it too flat.

"Didn't you say half your class had already ran for it?" he gave a low, mirthless chuckle. "God damn apocalypse is upon us."

Yugi shrugged. Numb. She couldn't seem to care. "Could we take Joey with us if we did?"

"Course. Heaven forbid her block of a father think to go anywhere. I still say we call social security on him."

"She's almost eighteen." And Joey had adamantly begged Yugi's grandfather not to, as it would have meant the splitting up of their duo. The two girls had always had something a bit deeper than friendship between them.

"Meh."

And he fell quiet, once more tuned to the screen.

For some reason, the only half-born attempt at feeling even some of the alarm and care from the news from her grandpa unnerved Yugi. She got up and went upstairs to the bathroom. She stared at her reflection for longer than she cared to know, then stripped and showered. It was a while before she got out, but the TV was still on downstairs and she didn't hear the voice of her mother.

She didn't exactly walk to her room. She lingered in the hallway. Took a step. Wondered at herself. Took another step.

What is wrong with me?

She thought she could see the bottom of the numbness now, and it wasn't numbness at all. It was a maw, gaping and empty. A want so deep, so hopeless, and yet so vast, that it just hunt open like the jaws of a dead whale.

And yet, the depth only sucked the life from it, leaving it to surface to her chest and heart as numbness. Cold, unfeeling, vacant numbness.

But what is it that I want?

Joey's presence at school had alleviated it, but it hadn't left entirely.

The metal doorknob to her room was cold against her clammy palm. She shrugged to herself and opened it, eyes trailing along the bottom of the door as it ruffled the old, brown carpet.

And to a pair of sturdy, men's boots.

Before she could completely register that someone was already in her room, hands whipped about her, shoving her into a familiar chest with almost break-neck speed. The air rushed out of her, but not before she caught a whiff of lemon and sage.

It was like a curtain was thrown back. Sunlight burst into the dark numbness, dissipating the darkness as though it had never been there.

Too quickly the arms pushed away and she was left cold and stunned in the doorway. The vampire shrunk back into the darkness, just visible by the orange stripes from the street lamp through the blinds. Just like the first time they had met, his eyes glowed red. But, for once, it didn't frighten her.

"I'm sorry," said Atem quickly. "I shouldn't—I meant to just bring something and leave, the message is there, I just—I had planned too—"

"It's fine," she said, just as quickly, shutting the door behind her. "Lower your voice. Someone might here you."

"Ugh, sorry."

She didn't turn on the light, knowing well from the low-lit days in Kaiba's mansion and Atem's apartment that vampiric eyes saw through the night as well as she did the daylight. And, for some reason, the thought of blinding him unnecessarily didn't appeal to her as it should.

For a long minute, they stood there in awkward quiet. Yugi tried to understand why she only felt normal now that he was there. Was she developing an addiction for life threatening situations?

"I should go," he said at last.

Her stomach jerked. "Wait! Why are you here?"

"To drop this off." He lifted something that looked like a bottle in the dim lighting. "It's the same stuff you used when…you were at my place. It should stop vampires from catching your scent, which should hide you pretty well should a hungry one pass by. I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a bit of a commotion going on in Domino."

Her mouth actually tried to smile at that. "Kind of hard not to notice, especially if you've recently been kidnap by two of them." She blanched. "Not that it was that bad! You weren't, like, kidnapping kidnapping, you were just—"

"Call it for what it is," he said, and she couldn't help but flinch at his harsh, flat tone.

She hugged her hands to her chest, hopelessly confused as to why her heart fluttered so painfully. She had hurt him. "I'm sorry."

"Why you would even say that," he started, sounding somehow just as bemused as her, but hesitated. "I should go."

She nodded and, even though she could feel the cool draft from the open window behind the blinds, she stepped aside from the door.

But the seconds grew longer, and he didn't move. He just stayed there, as though frozen.

"Yugi," he hesitated yet again. "I…I had decided…it was best if you didn't know…"

"What?"

He sighed and his brilliant eyes disappeared. "I…Joey's been attacked."

The darkness and cold came rushing back, but with none of the kind numbness. The blood rushed from her face so quick she wavered. Just as she fell back against the wall, his hands reappeared on her upper shoulders.

"Kaiba found her. She was dead, but her body is showing signs of the change. I think whatever resistance her cells had to the change was weakened when she died and that's why she's been human till now."

The hands at her chest clenched so hard her nails bit into her knuckles. Perhaps smelling the breaking of skin, the warm hands moved to hers, carefully prying apart her fingers with an unyielding strength.

"You can't go to her now, Yugi, no one can. I'm sorry. It's too dangerous."

"When?" she heard herself say.

"When?"

"When can I see her? When will it be okay?"

"…Yugi, I have almost three hundred years of experience in tempering my blood thirst. If even I can't have human relationships—"

"You are not going to keep me from Joey!"

He jerked back, withdrawing his touch. "This is why I was not going to—"

"So I wouldn't know?" She had always been docile to the point of irritation for others, but now she shoved at him with all her strength. She heard the ornaments on her desk rattle from impact. "So I would just wake up tomorrow and find Joey's gone and never know why? You think that's better?"

"Yes," he said instantly.

"That's not your place to decide!" she all but shrieked.

"I think it's perfectly my place, as I can't let you die. Nor can I let that girl experience what it's like to kill who you love the most with your own hands."

Whatever was in his voice struck through her like a slap of cold water. In an instant, her brain snapped together the connections: he had grown so attached to her because she was the first person he had allowed himself to connect to for centuries. Whether people wanted to or not, they subconsciously sought out those connections. To have the strength to deny such an intrinsic need…

"But just because you don't go to her doesn't mean she won't come to you." The bottle was pushed into her hands. "Use it every day. Please."

"Joey wouldn't hurt me," but even the words sounded plastic in her ears. They had come mechanically, as though her brain were intent on following a pre-programmed script.

"The monster within her doesn't care." And again she heard the proof in his voice.

Moved by that empty, hollow sound of him, she reached through the dark and found him instantly. She meant to hit him. Meant to smack him hard enough to get this stupid bad dream rolling and away, maybe even convey just how much she suddenly hated him. But her arms failed her and melted on contact with his warmth instead. That lone, violent intention had sucked out all her energy, and a skin pealing howl wound up in her chest, but she clamped her jaws tight against it, alarmed.

To her surprise, he held her up, cradling the back of her head against his shoulder and burying his nose into her hair.

"I'm sorry," he croaked. "This is all my fault."

He couldn't help it, she wanted to tell him. As he said, the monster that possessed them was uncaring to who its victim was. It was the whole reason he had brought her the stupid bottle. But she knew if she opened her mouth, something inhuman would come out and grandpa would definitely hear. Why he hadn't come up already was a mystery.

A soft pressure against her head distracted her from the pain of her cramping throat and a tendril of a whine escaped her. Three more kisses atop her head and down to her face stopped her from allowing herself to believe that she had just been feeling things.

It shook her. Unended her control. Brought the denial charging towards the back of her mouth.

As though sensing what she needed, he lifted her up and to the window. The next thing she knew she was outside in the chill, up in the air, held aloft by his huge, tent like wings.

And whether she wanted it to or not, the howl came, along with her angry tears. If he wanted to help, if he was going to be so tender as to kiss her, he should take her to Joey, not let her humiliate herself by falling apart at the seams before verifying there really was nothing she could do—that he was even telling the stupid freaking truth. And dare he care to be comforting, he should have given her hope, not apologize. Apologies did nothing.

But, instead, he just flew her above the skyline and let her cry.