Ryou sat in the backseat of the car, staring out the window. He and his family were moving to a new house in a new town. His sister Amane sat in the other backseat of the car. sulking.
"Mom, Dad, I don't want to move into a new home. I liked my old home," Amane whined, throwing a mini-fit.
Mrs. Bakura sighed. Amane had been complaining about this for the past six months ever since the parents first announced to their children that they were moving. "Why don't you give your new home a chance? Maybe you'll grow to like it. You can make new friends," she said.
"No! I liked my old friends!" Amane fumed.
"Why can't you be more like your brother, Ryou? He never once complained about moving," said Mr. Bakura.
"The only reason Ryou doesn't care if we're moving is because he had no friends in our old school. But I had lots of friends, and I never wanted to leave them," Amane sulked.
"That's not a nice thing to say, Amane," said Mrs. Bakura.
"Well it's true!" said Amane.
Ryou didn't say anything and continued looking out the window. He didn't want to get involved in the argument between his sister and his parents. Amane continued to complain the whole car ride.
When at last they arrived at their new neighborhood, Ryou noticed that all of the houses were nice-looking except for one house, which had boarded up windows and seemed to be in disrepair. The metal fence surrounding the home was bent out of shape. The entire estate looked to be haunted. But other than that house, the entire neighborhood looked like a pleasant place to live.
The Bakura family arrived at their new house and quickly settled in. They moved in all their furniture and began unpacking their belongings. It would take a few days to completely unpack everything, but for now they unpacked all the essentials.
Amane sulked in her room for the rest of the day. However the next day, she went to her new school and immediately made a bunch of new friends, being the social butterfly that she was. In about a week she had completely settled into her new home and was comfortable with the move.
Ryou was a quiet boy and didn't plan to make any new friends at school. But on the first day of school in this new town, a boy named Yugi Mutou sat down next to him at lunch and started a conversation with him.
"Hi! May I sit here?" Yugi asked, pointing at the seat next to Ryou.
Ryou lifted his head and nodded, then went back to eating his lunch.
Yugi set down his lunch tray on the table and sat down. "My name is Yugi. What's your name?"
"I'm Ryou."
"You and your family are the new residents who just moved into Kame Street, right?" Yugi adked.
Ryou startled. "How did you know?"
"I live on Kame Street too! My grandfather runs a game shop nearby. I guess that makes us neighbors."
"Oh my! I guess it does. It's nice to meet you."
"You should check out my grandfather's game shop sometime," Yugi suggested.
"Sure! I love games. My favorite are board games, especially Monster World."
"Do you play Duel Monsters?"
"Well no, I haven't played it.
"I play it all the time! Maybe I can teach you how to play!"
"That would be nice."
That day Ryou and Yugi became fast friends. Later, Yugi would introduce Ryou to his other friends, Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu. Ryou invited them all to his house to play Monster World, and Yugi started teaching him how to play Duel Monsters. And thus Ryou was welcomed into the friend group.
A month went by, and Ryou settled comfortably into his new home. Everyone in his family seemed to be happy, including Amane.
But there was one thing that lingered in Ryou's mind. He couldn't stop thinking about the haunted-looking house in the neighborhood.
"I place a card facedown and end my turn," said Yugi.
"I special summon a monster in attack position," said Jounouchi. "It's my battle phase. I attack with my monster."
"I activate my trap card, Wall of Disruption" Yugi said, flipping over a card. "That means each of your monsters in attack position lose 800 attack points for each monster you have on the field. Since you have three monsters on the field, your monster now has zero attack points!"
"Oh no!" said Jounouchi.
"My facedown monster has 1600 defense points. That means you lose 1600 life points from attacking my monster," Yugi said. "And you only have 800 life points left, which means I win!"
"Gah! No! Rematch! I want a rematch!" Jounouchi cried out.
Ryou giggled. "You lost to Yugi three games in a row, Jounouchi," he said.
"Now do you understand how to play the game?" Yugi asked.
"Mostly, yeah. It looks like fun. I'd like to try it," Ryou said.
"Maybe you'll have better luck beating Yugi than Jounouchi's been having," Anzu snickered.
"I won't lose next time!" Jounouchi said, and everyone around him laughed.
"Class is about to start. I don't think you'll have enough time to start a new game," Honda said.
"Okay, then how about tomorrow we can try playing together," Ryou said.
"That would be fun!" Yugi smiled.
The gang sat down at their seats, waiting for class to begin. Ryou and Yugi's seats happened to be right next to each other, enabling them to talk.
"How do you like Domino City so far?" Yugi asked.
"It's good. I like the neighborhood I moved into," Ryou said. "It's just...there's something that's been on my mind."
"What is it?"
"Well, I can't help but notice that there's a haunted house on Kame Street. It looks really old and abandoned."
"Oh that house! That's the old haunted last time someone lived here was eight years ago," Yugi said. "However the previous owners of the house disappeared without a trace one day, and it's been abandoned ever since."
"Really? The owners just suddenly disappeared with no explaination?" Ryou questioned.
Yugi nodded. "That's right. Nobody knows what happened to them. They were a normal family living here when all of a sudden they vanished. And now the mansion is rumored to be haunted, so I would suggest staying away from it."
"Haunted? That sounds exciting,"
"You've got to be kidding me. You're not actually interested in going in there, are you?" Jounouchi cut in, for he had been listening in on their conversation the whole time.
"I'm interested in the occult. I find haunted places fascinating," Ryou said, his eyes shining with excitement. "And I've dealt with ghosts before. I know for a fact that not all ghosts are evil. Some of them just need a little help moving on to the next life. What if there's a ghost in that house who needs my help? What if they're lonely, or sad in mourning?"
Jounouchi shook his head. "You're a creepy kid."
"I really do mean it when I say you should probably stay away from the mansion. Nobody's been seen coming in or out of there for eight years. It's possible that something bad could happen if you go in," Yugi warned.
"I guess you're right," Ryou said, but for some reason he couldn't just let it go. His curiosity got the better of him, and he decided he just had to find out what was inside that mansion.
The next day when the school day was over, Ryou decided it was the right time to go exploring in the old abandoned mansion.
Ryou packed his backpack full of everything he thought he would need in case he ran into ghosts; crystals, incense, herbs, white sage, essential oils, and an occult board. Then he set out alone down the sidewalks of Kame Street.
The gate that led to the front lawn of the mansion was wide open, so Ryou easily slipped inside. He walked up the cobblestone path to the front door. Even though Yugi said that nobody lived in the mansion, Ryou still believed it was good manners to ring the doorbell first. He pressed the doorbell, he could hear a loud, thunderous ringing come from inside the mansion. He waited a moment outside in case somebody came to answer the door, but nobody showed up.
Ryou tried the doorknob, and it turns out it was unlocked. The door creaked menacingly when he swung it open. "Hello? Is anybody home?" he said as he went inside.
The inside of the mansion was surprisingly well-kept. There was a living room with lavish furniture; a couch, a cabinet, a coffee table, and a fireplace. Ryou rubbed his finger across the mantle of the fireplace, and it was surprisingly clean. There was no dust. Maybe somebody did live in this mansion after all.
He continued to explore the different rooms downstairs. It was a lavish, huge mansion with several corridors leading into many sitting rooms. As Ryou went around the house he lost track of the number of rooms he explored.
He entered one of the sitting rooms which had a large bookcase against one wall, and an oil painting of a blonde woman against another wall. He took a book from the bookcase and flipped through it absentmindedly.
All of a sudden, Ryou had the suspicion that he was being watched. He closed the book and put it back on the shelf. "Hello? Is somebody there?" he called out. He felt a presence looming behind him, but when he turned around there was no one there. He wondered if it was his imagination.
"Um, I apologize for invading your house. I didn't think anyone lived here," Ryou spoke again. "I'll be leaving now." He went towards the exit, but all of a sudden the figure of a man appeared in the doorway. Ryou took several steps backwards while the man took several steps forwards.
The man was dark-skinned with sandy-blonde hair and kohl makeup around his eyes. He laughed haughtedly at Ryou's frightened expression.
"Going so soon? But you've just gotten here," the man said with a sinister grin. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Malik." He stuck out his hand for a handshake.
"Um, it's nice to meet you. I'm Ryou," said Ryou as he extended his arm and shook Malik's hand. "So you're not a ghost?"
"A ghost? How laughable. No, I'm a vampire."
Ryou chuckled, for he thought it was a joke. But then all of a sudden Malik grabbed hold of Ryou's shoulders, lurched forward, sank his sharp vampire fangs into Ryou's neck, and started drinking Ryou's blood.
Ryou gasped. There was pain at first but it quickly dulled into numbness. He felt a little bit light-headed as he stood there with Malik sucking blood from his neck. Around thirty seconds later, Malik stopped drinking and let go, wiping the excess blood off his mouth.
It took Ryou a moment to orient himself. He touched his neck to check for an open wound, but there was no bleeding.
"That was delicious. Thank you for the meal. It's been a long time since I've tasted fresh blood," Malik said as he licked his lips.
"You're really a vampire," Ryou said dazedly.
"Yes I am. Don't worry, I used my vampire venom to seal the wound. You're healed up instantly."
"Oh. Okay." Ryou still felt dizzy, so he walked over to one of the armchairs and sat down in it.
Malik sat down in an armchair across from Ryou, casually crossing his legs and resting his cheek against the palm of his hand. "So tell me Ryou, what brings you into my home?"
"I heard that this mansion was haunted, so I assumed that meant there were ghosts living here who were stuck and unable to pass on," Ryou said, opening up his backpack and showing Malik the contents. "I wanted to help the ghosts pass on, and I even brought supplies for it. But since you're not a ghost, I guess you don't need my help."
"Oh, I do need your help, but for a different reason," Malik said, licking his fangs. "Since you're here, how would you like to stay for dinner?"
"Are you going to use me as the main course meal?" Ryou gulped.
Malik laughed. "No, I'm not going to drink your blood again. I just want to welcome you as my guest and introduce you to the rest of my family. We haven't had a visitor in quite a while."
Ryou thought about it. It would be impolite to refuse such an invitation, plus he was curious to see more of the mansion. "Alright, I'll stay for dinner."
"Excellent! I shall notify my family." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a mirror. He rubbed the surface of the mirror, and by what could only be magic, the face of a man with a tattooed face appeared in the mirror.
"Yes Master Malik, you called?" the man said.
"Hello Rishid. I want you to prepare a meal for tonight. We have a visitor." Malik said.
"A visitor?" Rishid said surprisedly.
Malik turned the mirror around so that it was facing Ryou.
"Rishid, this is Ryou. Ryou, meet Rishid. He is my brother, as well as the cook," Malik said.
"It's nice to meet you Rishid," Ryou said.
"It's nice to meet you too. I must say I'm surprised. We haven't had one in such a long time," Rishid said.
Malik turned the mirror back to face himself. "Tell Isis and Bakura about our guest."
"With pleasure, Master Malik," Rishid said. Then his image disappeared and the mirror became blank.
"That mirror...was that magic?" Ryou asked.
"Why yes. This mansion is powered by magic, otherwise we would have run out of electricity and running water long ago."
"Could you tell me who you are, exactly? Why are you in this house? I thought it was abandoned."
"I'm one of the owners of the house, of course."
"You mean the owners who disappeared without a trace eight years ago?"
"That's right, except that we didn't disappear. What really happened is that we got transformed into vampires."
"How did that happen?"
"Oh, it's a long story. I'll tell you over dinner."