Chapter Seven- Reunion

"Zane, you okay man?" a classmate asked the next morning, seeing the dark circles under the vampire's eyes.

"I'm fine. Bad dreams last night." Indeed, his dreams had been full of white turning black, flashes of red, white wings turning black and leathery, and dark laughter that rang in his ears. Zane would wake up breathing heavily before falling back into a fitful sleep and waking up from another nightmare. After the third time this happened, he gave up on sleep and did some homework that would be due on Monday as this was Friday morning.

Zane revived a little with his morning blood, but was still sleep-deprived. Crowler noticed this and felt responsible. He shouldn't have answered Zane's question but he was curious about light ones turning dark and now he's had nightmares about it. Crowler, having told Zane, ended up having his old nightmares re-surfacing, though not as bad. Fortunately, I have a remedy to insure he sleeps well tonight. As his class left, Crowler sent a message to Zane's PDA to come to his office after classes were over.

Zane rang the chime outside Crowler's office, intrigued by the message he had received. It didn't say anything beyond a summons to the office but he knew he wasn't in trouble. He heard, "Enter," and did so to see Crowler at his desk who smiled at him.

"Zane, my boy. I could tell you had nightmares last night. I did, too." He paused and Zane saw circles under Crowler's eyes, but not as dark. "So," the older man said, "I thought I'd help tire you out so you can sleep peacefully."

"Sounds great, Doctor. What are we doing?"

"Looking over manager resumes. We look at their qualifications, compare them to one another, and draw up a list of ones we want to interview."

"That sounds like a lot of work and it might do the trick."

"Have a seat then and I'll bring up the files." Crowler put in the algorithms for the Vampire World Web and then his account where he printed out some resumes, passed a few to Zane, and then looked over the ones in front of him.

Hours later, Zane leaned back, rubbing his eyes. He had looked through countless resumes and it gave him an idea of how many vampires there were in the world. Some of the applicants he liked while others he did not. "Doctor, what did you say in the posting?"

"It was simple. Wanted: Manager for light vampire duelist about to graduate. I made sure the job was only seen by light vampires, though that is no guarantee."

"When it's time to interview, how do you plan to conduct them?"

"Well, you will be present for one. Another will be a request for them to unfurl their wings to prove they're light and not dark ones who disguised themselves to look like light ones. I will quiz them over their knowledge of Duel Monsters as you question them about their resumes. You deserve the best manager we can find."

"Of course." Zane stood and arched his back before pulling out his PDA and sending a message before looking at Crowler, who seemed curious. "Alexis is keeping Atticus company tonight and I just asked if I could drink-," he paused as his device pinged. He looked down and frowned: His message had bounced back, claiming it was unable to deliver it. "The message didn't reach her."

"Impossible. She has to be around here somewhere." Crowler opened his secret trap door and his senses of the location of people; an ability he gained and found useful at times. He was very familiar with the bio-readings of every human and vampire who lived on the island and he scanned it as he gave Zane some blood. He found everyone…except Alexis. He couldn't sense her!

"Alexis is missing," he gasped.

"How do you know?" Zane asked, putting down his empty glass.

"You remember I told you some very special vampires can gain an extra ability? I can locate people by their bio-reading and I know the ones of everyone on the island, but I can't sense Alexis."

"Let's start with her last known location," Zane suggested. The two vampires rushed over to the infirmary, meeting up with Jaden, Syrus, Chazz, and Chumley.

"Why are you here?" Jaden asked.

"Alexis is missing," Zane stated.

"No one can find her and she was last seen here," Crowler added, pointing at the infirmary. The group entered and gasped at the sight of Atticus half out of his bed! They rushed over, got him to the floor, and his head rested on Zane's lap. His eyes opened and he croaked, "She's…gone. He…took her."

"Who took her?" Zane asked.

"Ti…tan," he said.

"Titan?" Jaden repeated. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"He's…a Shadow Rider. Showed up in the Shadow Realm, saying he dueled you, Jaden, and lost."

"Oh!" Jaden exclaimed. "Him! He called himself the Shadow Duelist last time. So his real name's Titan."

"Where did he take her, Atticus?" Zane asked.

"The abandoned dorm. I need to…save her." Atticus struggled to stand and with Chumley and Jaden draping his arms over their shoulders, Atticus pulled on an Obelisk coat, and the gang made their way to the abandoned dorm; as they did so, Zane checked Atticus' heart: still strong and steady. That's good and he's awake which is even better. Hopefully he doesn't end up unconscious again once Alexis is safe.

The sun was rising as the gang stood outside the dorm, Atticus and Alexis embracing one another. Atticus recalled how he ended up in the Shadow Realm. He said he and others were called to the basement for a test that turned out to be a lie. He admitted he never figured out who lured him there but did know who called him for the test: Professor Banner!

That was quite the bombshell as everyone there knew Banner had a Spirit Key. If he's in on it, then he shouldn't have a key, Zane thought. He could open one of the gates with it. Zane's thoughts whirled with the implications as they headed back, failing to notice Atticus drawing up beside him.

"Zane, it's great to see you again," Atticus said, startling Zane slightly.

"Same here, Atticus. I missed having my best friend around." Zane smiled and Atticus blinked.

"Zane? Are those…fangs?"

Zane's smile vanished as he sighed. "They are. I dueled Camula the vampire and lost but instead of sealing my soul into a doll like Crowler, she turned me into a vampire."

"Why'd she do that?"

"She claimed she loved me. When she turned me, I fell into an enchanted sleep and, in that state, I acquired knowledge about vampires and found that I am a light vampire who has healing powers for most part along with other abilities."

"But you do drink blood, right?"

Zane nodded. "Twice a day and only a little each time. I can remove memory of the attack so only those who saw me turned and you, know I'm a vampire."

"How are you gonna be a pro duelist with this…condition?"

"I'll cope. Who knows? Maybe I'll encounter a vampire manager." Zane gave a shrug.

"That would be lucky. You said you drink twice a day?"

"That's right. Morning and night."

"I guess light vampires can stand sunlight as it is day." Atticus then seemed struck by a thought and asked urgently, "Zane, are you thirsty?"

"No, but I should drink before I get a headache that says I need blood."

"Well, go ahead pal." Atticus tilted his head and gasped a little as Zane bit him, drank a little, and then healed the mark.