The car rolled to a stop in front of a high metal fence, Videl staring out the front window as she blanched. Of all the places for them to end up, it had to be here. The trail that Chichi found had led them right to the Soare Clan Mansion, the last place on Earth she wanted to be. First Gohan, now Chichi was making her come to this God-forsaken place. Really, she needed to get new friends.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Videl questioned, glancing over to the older woman.

Chichi nodded her head confidently. "Yep, I can definitely sense one of our targets here," she confirmed, her eyes solely focused on the building. A second later, however, they began to drift to a different part of the mansion. "Wait, I can sense two of them. There are two people in this place with my tracking spell attached to them."

"You said you tracked two of those signals to this city right?" Videl asked. Upon seeing a nod from her friend, Videl looked back at the mansion. "At least we only have to make one trip for both of them."

Chichi grinned at her. "I knew it was a good idea to call you. Already you're bringing me luck. Now, how do we get into this place?"

Videl sighed. "You do know what this place is right?"

"Nope, not a clue."

"This is the Soare Clan Mansion. This is where all the vampires in the city come when they want to wallow in their own self-importance."

"So…you mean this place is crawling with vampires?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean."

Chichi frowned at the mansion. "Then the two people we're looking for might not even be my son."

"He could be a vampire, you know."

"Perhaps," she relented. "But I ask again, do you know how to get into this place?"

"Other than the front door? There are servant entrances all over the place. Let's park the car and I'll show you to one." Falling silent, Videl steered the car away from the fence and headed a small distance away. Pulling off the road, they came to a stop next to an overgrown tree, its branches drooping down as if the weight of its leaves was more than it could bear. Turning off the engine, the two got out of the car and walked to the fence. Once they got there, Videl began walking along side of it, Chichi walking beside her and keeping quiet.

Eventually, Videl came to a stop and grabbed onto the fence, staring through its bars as she looked towards the mansion. "On the side of the mansion, do you see that small, glass building towards the back?"

Looking to Chichi, she saw the woman squinting her eyes to find the building she was speaking of, her eyes returning to normal when she did. "Yeah, I see it."

"We need to get inside of that building. That's the greenhouse and only servants ever go in there. It's where most of their food is grown since they're rarely allowed out of the mansion and the Head of the House doesn't send for supplies outside of the house often. He's cheap like that."

Chichi smirked at her for a moment before raising a hand in between them. "I have us covered here," she said to Videl's confusing. Snapping her fingers, the two were suddenly in the greenhouse, the humid air surrounding them as plant life thrived.

Looking about with wide eyes, Videl soon focused them on the witch. "You have got to teach me how to do that."

"Another time, my dear. Now, where do we go from here?"

Shaking her head, Videl tossed away her enthrallment and became serious. They had a job to do after all. "Follow me." Taking off, Videl led them to a door that opened up into a hall. The luxuriousness of it clashed with the more modest appearance of the greenhouse, but neither woman let that overwhelm them. Hurrying down the corridor, they soon turned into a branching hall, quickly moving through that one until they reached a fork. Stopping, Videl looked to Chichi and asked "So which way?"

Chichi furrowed her brow as she stared at the wall in front of them. "The closest signal is coming from in front of us. As far as I can tell, they're standing still. Do you have any idea of what could be there?"

"There are a few audience chambers in this part of the mansion if I'm not mistaken," Videl replied. "To get to them, we go left."

"Then left it is."

They hurried down the corridor, though by this point something began bothering Videl. Where was everyone? This was the mansion, so it should have been crawling with activity. There was no sign of the usual hustle and bustle of the servants, nor the prowling of various vampires. It was starting to unnerve to girl. Yeah, she had infiltrated the mansion before, but it wasn't this easy to do.

The longer they went unopposed, the more she felt uncomfortable. Something was wrong, she could feel it. Even as they turned into a hallway with curtains lining one side of the hall, the feeling grew worse and worse. However, the curtains were drawn open at various points, revealing wide open doorways which light poured out of. Slowing down, the two women approached the nearest opening, being careful not to disturb the drapes. On the other side of the opening was a balcony, a stone railing sitting atop miniature marble columns lined its edge. Beyond the railing, they could hear loud voices, making the two pause and look at each other.

Cautiously, they moved through the opening, keeping themselves low and peered through the openings the columns provide, seeing a large gathering of vampires below. The room itself was reminiscent of a throne room composed completely out of marble with identical balconies lining the walls, three on opposite sides of the room. On the floor was a rich red carpet the rolled from a set of doors on the bottom floor and crossed the room until it reached a dais on the opposite side. On the dais was what was best described as a throne, a vampire with neatly brushed hair and an expensive suit standing in front of it.

Though she didn't recognize the vampire, she did recognize another vampire that approached him, that one being Crane. With the way Crane was deferring to the other vampire, Videl assumed that he was Crane's boss. "I must ask of you, milord," Crane was saying, standing meekly in front of his leader. "The Celox you're so intent on collecting, why are you? I believe I speak for the rest of us when I ask you of this."

The vampire looked at Crane irritated. "I would have thought our trip to the hospital would have explained that to you."

"But we were interrupted by that vampire hunter. We never heard Baisser's report."

"And you didn't have someone retrieve his research? I'm disappointed with you Crane. Fortunately I had no such lapse and had the report delivered shortly after we returned to the mansion last night."

"I apologize for that error, milord, but even so, the rest of the men wouldn't know its purpose even if they had been allowed to read the report."

A hand went to the vampire's face as he pressed it and moved it about, causing his face to contort somewhat; it was his way of showing exasperation, Videl observed. "Very well, I see your point," he acquiesced. "As you know, when a mortal has an open wound, the body causes certain portions of the blood to clot and seal the opening. For some mortals though, their ability to do this is hampered and thus require the Celox to stimulate this ability. As vampires, we have an accelerated healing factor that renders this process useless."

Several of the vampires below looked to each other, the reasoning still escaping them. To be fair though, Videl was having a tough time understand as well. "However, both races have the same blood flowing through their veins. While the mortals can continuously create more blood, vampires must drink the blood of others to obtain theirs, thus restricting the amount of blood within them. Now, the report shows that if you administer the Celox to a vampire, it will cause the blood inside them to clot, decreasing the blood flow and the amount of blood within their body. With the lack of blood, the vampire's body begins to shut down and eventually dies due to what the body thinks is a lack of blood."

Crane seemed to catch on to what his boss was talking about at that point. "You mean this stuff could kill a vampire? Like a poison?"

"That's exactly right," the vampire said, his eyes coming to life. "We can kill any vampire by slipping this into any blood source they have access to. The blood banks, the hidden stores in each mansion, everything. And the best part, they wouldn't know what was going on until it was too late."

By this point, the rest of the vampires had similar looks to their leader's, except for Crane. He still seemed to be piecing something together. "So we use this Celox to poison our own kind. Why? I don't see the point in trying to kill our own kind with this stuff."

"That's because you're not thinking big," the vampire declared. "Why eliminate small fry when you can go after the big fish?"

"You mean…the Council?" Crane spoke carefully.

"Now you're getting it. Going against one of them head on is suicide and I do not play the fool to anyone. With the Celox, we can take out each and every one of them without them being the wiser."

"So that's the plan? Just poison them and seize power?"

"In a nutshell, I suppose," the vampire admitted. "Of course there would be a breakout of turmoil as other vampires tried to fill the power vacuum our coup will create. Leaping into a bloodbath like this would be utterly reckless of us. That is why we aren't putting all of our eggs into one basket. You did remember to bring the package I requested."

"Yes, milord!" Crane said, his voice rising in volume. "You there," he pointed at a nearby vampire. "Retrieve the package."

Immediately, the vampire bowed and left the room. It didn't take him long to return with a jewel-encrusted box, the light glimmering on it as the sight of it stole the breath of anyone who laid eyes on it. There was a large yellow jewel on the top of the box, cut into the shape of the sun. It had a round center with wavy spikes extending from it to portray sun raises. As stoic as he could look, the vampire carried it to the lead vampire and held it out to him.

"Now, if we are to create a power vacuum, we obviously will need an ace up our sleeve when the power struggle starts," the vampire explained. At this, he opened the box, an even brighter glow emerging from within. A large smile grew on the vampire's lips, his eyes sparkling with mirth. "And this is our ace. It is a weapon I have spent most of my immortality searching for and now it is in my possession. With this, we will be unstoppable."

Out of the corner of her eye, Videl noticed Chichi pale abruptly. Turning to look at her, she noticed the witch staring intently at the box, terror creating a mask on her face. "What is it?" Videl whispered to her. "What's wrong?"

Immediately, Chichi grabbed her shoulder and began pulling her away from the balcony, stopping when they were back in the hallway. "Chichi, you're starting to scare me," the dark-haired girl said, worry in her voice.

"That box," the woman eventually said, "I don't know what's in it, but I can feel immense magical energies from it. What ever his plans are for it, he can't be allowed to use it."

"How bad is this thing?" Videl questioned, her eyes enlarging as her friend began to fret.

Chichi paused for a moment, trying to order her thoughts before she spoke. "Think of it this way: if this guy is going to a knife fight, he's bringing a tank with him." At that, Videl could feel her stomach drop. This just couldn't be good. "We have to get whatever's in that box away from him, no matter what."

At this Videl nodded her head. However, something else occurred to her. "But what about the people we're looking for in this place? We can't exactly look for them if we have to fight a vampire hoard."

Chichi bit her lip at that, her eyes flicking over to the doorway for a moment before looking back at Videl. Closing her eyes, she began to concentrate on something, what the girl didn't know, but soon a growl came from her witch friend. "That man in there, he's the one my spell is attached to."

Videl turned to look out the doorway and stared for a moment. "I really hope that's not your son."

"Of course he isn't," Chichi hastily confirmed. "All it means is that he was in the same area as my son for what ever reason."

Looking back at the witch, Videl couldn't help but voice a growing possibility, at least a growing one to her. "I hate to say this, but do you think your son may have become a vampire?"

That gave Chichi pause for a moment, but a very brief one. "He…may have," she croaked out, but then shook her head to calm herself. "Regardless, there are more important matters at the moment. We have to get our hands on that box."

Videl nodded her head. "What do you want me to do? I don't know what kind of use I can be in there, but I've got your back."

Chichi gave her a small smile before something struck her. "Wait, perhaps you can do something else." Looking around, the witch frowned at the hallway, not finding what she was seeking. "Do you have something small, something you can hold it in your hand?"

Immediately, Videl began searching her pockets, pulling out a few coins and her car keys. "I have these," she said hesitantly."

"They'll have to do." Grabbing one of the coins, Chichi mumbled something incoherent—at least to Videl's ears they were. A second later, the coin began to glow a faint blue. "I've made this coin sensitive to my tracking spell," Chichi began to explain. "The closer you are to the source, the bluer it will get. Find the other person here with the spell attached."

Videl blinked at that. "How will I know if he's your son?"

"Just…find someway to keep in touch with him. When this is over, we can arrange for a meeting. In the meantime, I'm going to get that box."

This time Videl nodded her head. "Okay, I'll take care of it." Pausing for a moment, she looked deep into Chichi's eyes. "Are you sure about this?"

"Positive," she replied with a reluctant expression. "Now go. Things are about to get rowdy."

Chichi watched as Videl hurried away. Sighing, she steeled her nerve before heading back to the balcony. Checking to make sure the vampires were still there, she used her teleportation spell to move herself quickly to the bottom floor, standing behind all of the vampires. This of course put her in direct sight of the lead vampire.

Jerking his head back from her sudden appearance, his eyes bacame ablaze with rage. "Who are you?" he demanded, causing all of his men to look behind them and see her. "How did you get in here?"

"My name is not important," Chichi said, keeping herself calm. Focusing on the jewel-encrusted box, she pointed a finger at it and said "You have opened a forbidden chest. It calls for me to reclaim it. I ask of you to turn it over to me for resealment."

The vampire narrowed his eyes at her. "A guardian I see. I should have expected as much from a powerful artifact. Unfortunately, I cannot acquiescent to your demand Guardian. This artifact is too important to me."

"I must insist," Chichi pressed. "You are dealing with powers you do not fully understand."

"Oh, I believe I understand them, Guardian," the vampire scoffed. "I have done my research on this artifact. I know that it was made by the gods of the ancient world as proof of their existence to all mortals. However, most mortals have chosen a new god to follow, so I do not see any reason to return something which has been cast aside. In fact, I will not cast away a weapon such as this; I know the power it holds."

Reaching into the opened box, the vampire removed what appeared to be a mask made of solid gold. Its face was smooth like a porcelain mask, expressionless with lidless, blank eyes. A jewel in the same cut as the one on the box protruded from the forehead, resting beneath a bejeweled crown. The light bounced off of its polished surface, nearly blinding anyone that looked into it. "I, Omul de Suveran, am now the keeper of this artifact and all of its power. It is as much mine as it is the Sun God's, for which it resembles." A grin appeared on Suveran's face as he lifted the mask to his face. "And I see no reason not to test its power."

Suveran then pressed his face into the mask and removed his hands, the mask staying on his face. Chichi could feel dread well up in her stomach as the very threads of the magic realm reverberated, lashing out from the sudden disturbances the mask created as its powers were assumed.

It was then that Chichi felt another presence behind her. Turning her head, she found the vampire Suveran standing behind her, the blank, irisless eyes of the mask staring right at her. Jerking her head around, she saw no sign of Suveran ever standing near the throne. As she turned her head back, she just managed to catch the vampire swinging a fist at her.

Had it not been for instincts, the punch would have caved in her skull. On instinct, she had put up a barrier spell just in time for the fist to hit it, the power of it crushing the barrier and subsequently sending her flying through the air and across the room. Her flight came to a stop when she hit the wall, letting out a cry of pain before dropping to the floor. Part of the marble composing the wall cracked and broke into pieces, sprinkling her with bits and pieces of debris.

Panting as she recovered herself, Chichi unsteadily pushed herself off the floor, standing in a crouched position. Before her, the crowd of vampires parted to either side of the room, Suveran strolling towards her leisurely. Shaking her head to clear it of the pounding going on in it, she called upon an offensive spell, a ball of fire forming in the palm of one of her hands. Growling, she thrust her hand out and fired the fireball at the vampire, aiming to burn him to death.

However, Suveran merely batted the fireball away with the back of his hand. The fireball flew high into the air and collided with a wall, sending out flames in a small radius of the impact site. "Surely you can do better than that," Suveran's voice came out. It was strange sounding, as if it were hollowed out and casted out with a bullhorn. It was the most clear, yet contorted voice she had ever heard. "This mask belonged to the Sun God. Fire means nothing to me."

"Then how about this?" Chichi called out as she called upon another magic spell, slapping her hand on the floor before her to channel it. A moment later, the floor in front of Suveran exploded, a large wooden spike shooting up and impaling him through the torso, the vampire's body slumping on the diagonal spike.

For a moment, Suveran just hung there motionless. Then his head perked up, his arms moving to place his hands further down the wooden spike. "Much better," he approved. "Had I been my usual self, that would have killed me." At this point, smoke began to waft around his hands, rising up in increasingly larger puffs of smoke. "However, this mask does more than give me immunity to fire." The spike then burst into flames, Suveran waiting a few seconds before moving himself to stand up straight, the spike breaking around where his hands were, leaving a charred stump of the pike on the floor as blacked pieces sprinkled to the floor from his front and back.

As the charred fragments fell, Chichi could see a large hole ripped out of the vampire's shirt, parts of his suit jacket frayed somewhat. However, the damage done to his clothes were not reflected on his body as unmarked skin was revealed through the hole.

"I am now more than just a mere vampire. I am Suveran, the Sun God!" the vampire declared.

Chichi did not like the sound of that one bit.