~O~

Alice had hurried to the park the moment that she was sure the others were sound asleep and wouldn't notice her sudden absence. She could just see how they would react if they discovered that she had gone out in the city at night, when things were at its most dangerous.

They'd flip out if they ever found out. Alice reached the park, relieved to find that all of the streetlights were on, chasing away the shadows that could house those that would want to cause her harm. She began to look around for Shun, to see if he was already there.

And he was. He was sitting on a nearby bench, not quite in the light of a streetlamp, but not in the shadows either. Alice found herself smiling a bit. The previous tension she had had about going out in the city at night, started to melt away when she saw him; she was already feeling safer.

"Hey," she called out. Shun turned his gaze to her, and a small smile played on his lips as he strode up to her. "Hey," he said back, "Thanks for doing this, Alice. I know you didn't want to come out into the city at this time, but I really needed to distract myself for a bit."

Alice smiled and waved her hand dismissively. "It's nothing, really. I don't mind it. If anything, it feels good to get out of Marucho's house after all of this time," she said honestly. Shun nodded. "Very well, then." He started walking down the sidewalk, and Alice hurried after him. When she had caught up to him, she asked, "So, where are we going?" It was a good question.

Since the killings started, not a lot of businesses stayed open once the sun fell. Only a few restaurants kept their lights on, or superstores like Walmart and such; places that had to be open for the public at all times. Shun shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know. Anywhere is fine with me."

Alice chanced a quick glance up at Shun. She thought he looked even paler than last time, and his eyes seemed to reflect the unsteady tone in his voice that she had heard over the phone. She also took note of the black jacket he had on.

"The sun isn't out now. There isn't really much of need for that jacket, is there?" she asked casually. Shun glanced down at the long sleeves of the jacket and finally said, "I just threw it on, in case it got cold tonight." Alice knew how drastically the temperature dropped at night during the summer as the world cooled down from the sun's unforgiving rays, but it was never cold enough for a jacket.

She pushed her growing suspicions away; this wasn't time for her to be asking him question or persecuting him about anything, it was time to provide him some relief from the stress that his new life had placed on him. They walked along the sidewalks for a bit before Alice caught sight of a small diner that was still open, even though it appeared there were no other customers inside.

Upon seeing the diner, she realized that she was a bit hungry; she hadn't really eaten a lot at dinner that night at Marucho's. Alice turned to Shun and asked him, "Do you mind if we stop and get something to eat?" Alice couldn't help but wonder, now that Shun was a Vampire, if he had to even eat food to survive, or if he could get everything he needed from blood.

With that thought, the puncture wounds on Alice's neck throbbed a bit and she brought her hand up to touch them. Before leaving Marucho's, she had taken the band-aids off the two, small holes and saw that they had healed back over almost completely; all that remained were two dark spots that could have passed as a scar or something similar.

"I don't mind," he told her. Alice nodded and followed him across the street to the diner. A bell above the door chimed as they entered, and the waiter behind the counter suddenly tensed up, obviously ready to act in case the two of them were there to kill him.

To reassure the frightened man, Alice told him, "We're not here to cause any trouble. Just here to get something to eat." The man appeared to ease up a bit, but still remained apprehensive. Alice didn't blame him. It had probably been weeks since anyone came into the diner late at night for something to eat.

So, it was only natural to assume that whoever might come in now meant to harm people. The waiter stepped out from around the counter and approached their table, a small notepad in his hands. "Do you have any idea what you two might like?" he asked calmly, even though his slightly trembling hands betrayed the confidence in his voice.

Alice glanced down at the menu in front of her and said, "I think I'll just have a small salad, dressing on the side. And a glass of water, if that's alright?" The waiter nodded and turned his attention over to Shun. "And you, sir?" Shun glanced up at the man and said, "Just some water to drink."

The waited nodded again and retreated back into the kitchen to fill their orders. When Alice was sure the waiter was well out of earshot, she leaned a bit closer across the table and asked Shun, "Did you…..You know? Drink any blood before you left?"

Shun rested his elbows on the table and told her, "Don't worry about me falling into Bloodlust like last time. I should be fine." Alice realized how he had taken her question and quickly corrected herself. "That's not exactly what I meant, but that's good to know. What I meant was that you don't look all that well, and I was wondering if you had gotten enough," she explained.

To most people, having a conversation about the consumption of blood would have been strange, taboo even. But even though it was still a bit odd, it didn't bother her. She knew this was now a part of Shun's life, and she accepted it. If Alice didn't, then who would?

She was the only person that knew about Shun, which meant that she was the only person that he could openly talk about this to as well. So, Alice pushed aside the strangeness of the kinds of topics they were on at the moment.

Shun leaned back in his chair and said, "I assure you I've had enough for the night. I'm just worn down from all of the stress…" Alice then remembered why Shun had called her and asked to see her; to get his mind off of some things that were happening. "You mentioned about a lot of things were going on…..Do you want to tell me about it? You know you can," she told him.

Their waiter suddenly appeared at their table and set down their drinks and the salad that Alice had ordered. They thanked the man, and he went on his way. Shun stared down at his glass of water and wiped away some of the sweat on the side of the plastic glass.

"Let's just say I've been under a bit of stress lately, and I finally couldn't take it anymore and got into a bit of a fight with another Clan member…..It's nothing really major…..I just needed to get out of their and cool down some before I did something stupid." Alice nodded and took a bite of her salad.

She knew Shun wasn't being entirely honest with her at the moment, but at the same time, he wasn't really lying either. It was more like he was tweaking the truth, not letting it all out but remaining honest. Alice decided not to press him for the truth; if he wanted her to know, then he'd tell her.

She was his confidant, after all. He could tell her anything. They sat in the diner for about fifteen more minutes while Alice finished her small meal, and after a bit of determining on who would paid the five dollar bill, Shun won. The waiter collected their money and thanked them for their business on the way out.

The two of them now stood outside in the cool night air. Alice took in a deep breath of it, and reluctantly exhaled it. It was so nice to be out of the house after all of these weeks. She knew staying locked up there with the others was for her own safety, but it had been getting to the point of driving her crazy.

"Alright, then. Now where to?" she asked. There wasn't really much else they could go to at this time of night. To be honest, Alice had been surprised they found that diner open. Shun tucked his hands into his jacket pockets and told her, "I don't know. How about we just walk for a bit?"

Alice smiled and nodded. It sounded good to her if it meant helping Shun out, even if it was only a small thing as walking along beside him. They started down the sidewalk again, sticking close to the lights casted by the streetlamps.

After a bit of walking, Shun suddenly said, "I just want to thank you again for this. It really does mean a lot to me." Alice smiled as a bit of pride welled up inside of her. She was truly glad that she could help Shun in his time of need. "It's no problem, Shun. I'm here for you whenever you need me, just remember that," she told him.

Up above, on the rooftops, Alice thought she heard something run across. She stopped walking and looked up, only to find nothing there. Shun stopped along beside her and asked, "What is it?" Alice shook her head and told him, "I….I thought I heard something. Must be on edge more than I thought I was."

Shun rested his hand on her shoulder and told her, "You have no reason to worry. I won't let anything try and hurt you." Alice touched the hand he placed on her shoulder and said under her breath, "I know, Shun." The little moment of panic she had felt seconds ago, slowly melted away and vanished with Shun's reassuring words and touch.

She then noticed something as her hand rested on his for that short moment; he was trembling ever so slightly. Alice probably wouldn't have noticed just by looking at him, but she could just barely feel his fingers and hand quivering. Her worry began to mount.

"Is something wrong? You're trembling, Shun," she said to him. Shun instantly pulled his hand off of her shoulder and stuffed them inside his jacket pockets. "Yeah, I'm fine," he told her and smiled slightly to reassure her. But Alice knew better. She knew something was wrong.

It couldn't have been his Bloodlust, though, because he hadn't acted like this at the time. When he had been starving for blood, he had been in nothing short of pain and in tears. A slight tremble in his hands told her that it was something else entirely. "Come on. Let's keep on walking. It's not safe to stay in one place for too long," he said to her. Alice didn't mention anything else about the trembling in his hands, and followed after him.

Several more times, Alice thought she heard something running along the rooftops overhead, and every time she looked, there was nothing there. They then came to a spot that was shadowed by lack of streetlights, and Alice felt her heart speed up a bit with anxiety.

She wanted back in the light, where she knew it was somewhat safer. They walked past an alley between two buildings, and suddenly Shun tensed up. He threw his arm out and pushed Alice behind him. "Get back!" he snapped at her.

Before she could ask what was going on, she saw the savage, glowing red eyes in the darkness, followed by low, menacing growls. The eyes came closer, and soon Alice could make out the shapes of at least six people, if they could even be called people.

They looked like humans, but their canine teeth were elongated into fangs, and their mouths turned up into twisted grins. Not to mention that they were nothing short of skin and bones. Vampires, Alice thought in horror. They looked nothing like what she had become accustomed to; she thought all Vampires would look like Shun, or how she imagined Sinclair to look through Shun's description of him.

But these were monsters in front of her. These were the things of nightmares, the things that had been killing hundreds of innocent people in the night. And now, Alice was standing only mere feet away from them, with Shun standing between them.

The Vampire in the center of the group stepped forward and sneered, "Well, well. Look at what we found here. It's Sinclair's little pet…..And he's got a little friend with him too. How sweet." Shun narrowed his eyes at the six Vampires and growled. When he did that, Alice noticed that Shun's fangs had come out and looked just as menacing as the fangs of the Vampires in front of them.

She had to admit, he looked frightening. But she would never let Shun know for a single moment that she had been somewhat afraid of him. The Vampire in the center looked at the five others that flanked his sides and said, "Get him. We're going to bring him to Lord Alexander, dead or alive."

The Vampires charged at Shun, and the raven-haired teen met them head on. Alice, heart racing and hands trembling, stumbled back until she found her back against a brick wall. She watched in the darkness as two Vampires pinned Shun down, and he easily kicked them off, stood up, and faced them again.

Within seconds, Alice could smell the coppery scent of blood, but she didn't know who it was coming from. Don't let it be Shun. Don't let it be Shun, she silently begged to anyone who would listen to her pleas. Alice then felt her body go rigid as something suddenly dropped down beside her.

Slowly, she turned to find that the head Vampire of the group now stood in front of her, a devilish grin on his face. Alice started to cry out, but the Vampire covered her mouth with his hand and leaned in close to her, his face only inches away from hers. She started crying, and the Vampire used his free hand and wiped her tears away.

"Now, now. Don't cry, little girl," he hissed through his twisted smile. Alice screamed into the hand that covered her mouth, but her cries for help were muffled. The Vampire inhaled the air around Alice, and then licked his lips.

"Such pure, rich blood you have, my dear. And it probably tastes better than it smells. I'm sure Lord Alexander won't get angry at me if I enjoy you for myself instead of dumping your precious blood into the mixtures," he purred and ripped the sleeve off of Alice's shirt, exposing her shoulder.

The Vampire placed his face in the crook of her neck and licked her skin, sending a chill of repulsion and fear shooting through Alice's spine. She then felt the razor-sharp tips of the Vampire's fangs grazing along her skin where he planned to tap into her veins.

While right there below her ear, the Vampire said, "It appears that somebody else has already tasted your blood as well. Shame. I was really hoping I would be the first to pierce your veins. Oh, well."

The Vampire reared his head back, readying himself to bite into her flesh. Just before this, Alice worked her mouth free of her attacker's hand and screamed through her tears, "Shun! Shun! Help! Help me, please!"

~O~

There were too many for Shun to handle. He was used to one-on-one combat, not five-on-one. Every time he would knock one down, another was there to fill in the fallen slot. He had drawn blood from several of them, but none of those wounds would turn out fatal in the end.

"Shun! Shun! Help! Help me, please!" he heard Alice scream. He felt his body go rigid as he turned around to find the leader of this small band of Vampires looming over Alice, his fangs inches from piercing her neck. "Alice!" he shouted.

Using his advanced speed, Shun left the midst of the battle he was in and hurried over to Alice's side. He made it there just in time, and ripped the Vampire off of her, slamming him down onto the ground and temporarily stunning him. Shun then turned his attention over to Alice and checked to see if she had been bitten; she hadn't.

Her body trembled as she cried and continued to scream for somebody to save her. Shun grabbed a hold of her shoulders and said gently, "Alice, it's me. You're fine. He didn't hurt you, I promise." She continued to cry and shake her head, oblivious to his attempt to calm her down.

Shun then remembered what lurked around behind him, and he turned to find all six of the Vampires stalking towards them. He growled in aggravation. There were just too many for him to handle on his own, especially when he had none of his weapons on him to fight back with. The lead Vampire held on tightly to his shoulder, where he had landed after Shun threw him down, and hissed, "Don't you know it's not polite to pull somebody away from their meal?"

Shun narrowed his eyes at the Vampire and snapped, "She's not your meal." The Vampire chuckled and said, "I see. She's your meal, then. That's your scent all over those bite marks. I didn't know Sinclair was allowing his underlings to feed from humans now."

Shun growled, which only earned a chuckle from the head Vampire. "Oh, he isn't? If that's the case, then you've done a bad thing, haven't you?" The gang of Vampires started to close in on them. Shun knew he didn't stand a chance against all six of them, all while keeping his eyes on Alice to make sure she didn't get attacked again.

An idea then popped into Shun's head. It would be a long shot, but it was all he could do. He spun around and grabbed onto Alice, holding her tight against his chest. She was still crying, and more than likely didn't realize who was holding her, for she struggled against him.

But he held on tight, refusing to let her go. Shun, still facing the gang of Vampires with Alice now in front of him, focused the anger and aggravation that had built up inside of him, and closed it eyes, allowing it to seep to the surface. Then, he snapped his eyes open, sending an invisible force rushing towards the Vampires.

He watched as they were slung into the brick walls beside them with such great force, that the bricks seemed to chip. There were sickening sounds of bones crunching from the force, and the six, limp bodies of the Vampires fell to the ground in heaps.

They didn't move after that. Shun loosened his hold on Alice, and she took that opportunity to break away. When she did, she ran towards the bodies of the Vampires and froze. Her eyes, filled with horror, locked onto the pools of blood that had started to seep from the shattered skulls of the monsters, and she clamped her hands over her mouth to suppress a cry or scream.

She staggered back from the sight, and next thing Shun knew, she was falling to the ground. He acted quickly, catching her just before her unconscious body fell to the concrete. He held her tight and lightly shook her exposed shoulder.

"Alice. Alice, wake up," he said gently, but she didn't stir. She's in shock, Shun realized. He didn't blame her, though. She had just nearly been killed by a Vampire, and then saw the gruesome carnage that he had caused on the bodies of their attackers. Shun picked her light body up and debated on where to go from there.

Where she was staying at, the Marakura's house, was much too far of a walk away, especially now that the scent of blood filled the night air. Shun knew Vampires would be swarming after this. But the enclave was closer, and the Vampires there didn't drink from humans. "She should be safe there," he said aloud, "I hope."

Shun knew Sinclair probably wouldn't be too pleased to have a human brought into the secret Vampire enclave, but Shun didn't have much of a choice; he had to get Alice somewhere safe. With his mind made up, Shun left behind the scene of the fight and hurried back to the enclave, Alice in his arms.

He knew all of this was his fault. He shouldn't have asked her to leave the Marakura's mansion for something as mundane as a walk to help clear Shun's mind; he could have walked on his own. If he had just done that, then she wouldn't have been attacked, she wouldn't probably hate him now.

The only thing Shun was thankful for, was the fact that the adrenaline that had kicked in during the fight had overpowered the withdrawal symptoms that had started to set in on their walk. But he knew that wouldn't last much longer.

Within half an hour, Shun reached the enclave. Being that it was nighttime, the Vampires inside would be awake and roaming about. It would be almost impossible for him to sneak in with an unconscious human in his arms. Shun opened the hidden door and stepped into the main room.

Much to his surprise, there wasn't anyone inside. It then occurred to him that everyone might either be in the Training Rooms, or out in the city on one of Sinclair's missions. He wasn't going to complain about it though. Shun, taking advantage of the current situation, hurried to his room before anyone spotted him.

Once inside, he closed the door behind him and went over to his bed, where he sat Alice down. Her orange hair spread out on the silken pillowcases like a fire. Shun sat down on the edge of the bed beside her and ran a hand through his hair. This was all his fault, there was no way around it.

He had almost gotten her killed because of his selfishness and overconfidence in his fighting skills. Shun glanced back over at where that Vampire had almost bitten her neck. The monster had ripped her shirt sleeve away to gain better access to her neck, exposing much of her shoulder.

Shun leaned over and gently touched the two, fading scars of where he had bitten Alice several nights ago. And without being able to help it, his mind went back to the memory of how intoxicatingly good her blood had been. His fangs sharpened, and his mouth watered at the thought.

Next thing he knew, Shun found himself mere inches away from her neck, his fangs itching to bit into her skin, and his breath ragged with anticipation. He was just about to give into the temptation and sink his fangs in, but Alice turned over and was now face-to-face to him.

Shun flinched back a bit, half-expecting her to scream when she realized he was about to take advantage of her current state and drink her blood. But he noticed her eyes were half-open and glazed over; she was still in shock.

She stared at him with a blank expression for a moment, and then fell back unconscious. Shun stood up from the bed and walked across the room, where he sat down on a small sofa and rested his head in his hands, while his elbows sat on his knees.

He really disgusted himself sometimes. How could he promise to keep her safe, when he could hardly keep her safe from himself? Shun glanced back up at Alice's sleeping form and sighed. If she ever forgave him for that night, it would be a miracle.

Another chapter done! I've been waiting a while to get this scene done, and I feel so relieved to be done with it; you have no idea how bad it's been nagging at me. There's another scene I'm ready to do, but not till the next couple of chapters. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~