[A.N.] Hello everyone! I promised I would rework my vampire fic, Shadow of a Dream and repost it when it was ready! Well, here it is! Special thanks to the one and only legend of 1xR Fanfiction herself: TheBlackRose for editing this and helping me keep going! Without further ado, the bigger, better version of Shadow of a Dream!

Prologue

Zechs pinned his former friend to the wall by his neck, rage boiling in his veins. His father's home was gone, burned to the ground and his family with it. His father, step-mother and baby sister had all fallen victim to the inferno that devoured the house not hours earlier.

Zechs and his father had been on a hunt. It was supposed to last only until the moon set, but the smell of smoke had called them back. His father ran into the blaze in a vain attempt to rescue his mate and youngest child. The fire caused the entire front of the house to crumble behind him, barring anyone else entrance. The ambulance bearing the bodies of the husband and wife had left a while ago. The search for his little sister was ongoing although little hope existed of finding anything of her tiny form.

"Have mercy, great wolf." The man choked out. Zechs tightened his grip.

"Mercy? My family is gone; burned to death because of your carelessness. There will be no mercy." His voice was a heartless growl.

"Th-they made me do it! They threatened me! They—" The man was silenced as the grip around his throat tightened yet again.

"Who are 'they'?" He growled again, eyes flashing with predatory fury. The man struggled to breathe and fought against the iron grip. Just as the man opened his mouth to speak again, a flash of light, so small and sudden that it blinded him, hit his captive. When he could see again, a hole had been burned through the man's forehead silencing him forever. The blonde man cried out, threw the man's limp body and punched the soot-blackened wall.

"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!" He felt a hand on his back and sensed the comforting presence of his mate as she placed her forehead softly between his shoulder blades.

"Oh, Zechs." She wrapped her arms around him.

"I failed." He forced the words out of his throat and felt her shaking her head.

"No," She stated and urged him to turn to her. He obliged, taking in her soot-covered face. Her soft Violet-blue eyes held unshed tears of her own bot for the loss of his family, and for him. "This wasn't your fault."

"Wasn't it?" He almost growled again, bristling at his own guilt, but her soft answer soothed him.

"You had no way of knowing we would be betrayed." She reached up, taking his face in her hands, gently. "You're too hard on yourself."

"Noin, I—" his thought process would have to wait as one of the fireman called out from across the lawn.

"We found something!"

Milliardo wasted no time making his way over, a sickening mix of hope and dread in the pit of his stomach. His heart froze when he saw a small bundle of dark soot-covered fabric that he didn't recognize; it was virtually untouched by the flames and lying a safe distance from where the blaze had once been.

He glanced from the bundle to his wife, afraid to be the one to open the bundle. He couldn't do it, couldn't stand to unearth what was likely the charred remains of a child. Stepping forward, his wife laid her hand over his and helped him pull back the fabric. It felt heavy, like a wool coat or jacket. Relief hit him like a wave of cold water when he saw the sleeping figure within. Curled up, safe and sound, was his baby sister. No soot, or sign that the fire had been near her could be found. He fell to his knees and scooped her up, cradled her to his chest and thanked whatever god was above.

His wife picked up the fabric and shook it out. It appeared to be a long, gentleman's cloak from another time. "Is this...is this your father's? Maybe he was able to-"

"No, my father didn't own anything like that."

"Then who…?" He shook his head. Whatever had saved her, mystical or divine, he didn't care.

"It doesn't matter. My sister is alive. That is all that matters for now." HIs wife nodded and dropped the jacket to the ground. He put one arm around her and cradled the child with the other. The sooner they left this area the sooner he could put this behind him. Even as he did so, he couldn't help but feel as though someone were watching them from the shadows. Perhaps the owner of the jacket had remained? He sniffed the air but found nothing but the smell of ash and death. As the beginnings of dawn crested on the horizon, they took the child and gratefully brought her home.