"Morons," the vampire with long green hair coolly said as he strolled into the room. He was Dartz. Against one of the walls was a healing tank. Inside the tank floated a red haired vampire. "Will he survive?"

"Yes," a vampire with short blonde hair named Raphael replied. "We were able to get him back here in time. Amelda should be fully healed in 24 hours. Keith however was not so lucky."

"Who did this?" Dartz demanded.

"Atemu," a tall blonde haired woman hissed.

"Someone didn't do their job," Dartz calmly murmured as the large doors to the room opened once again and in walked Siegfried.

"I see my healing tank has some good use after all," the pink haired vampire said with a smirk on his face. Siegfried and Dartz didn't care much for each other but they knew they had to work together to complete their goal. "What's wrong? Did your five goons have trouble capturing one vampire? And doesn't Ishtar work for one of 'elite' vampire squad?"

"Shut up!" the blonde woman told him. "It's hard enough to keep my true identity safe. Besides Kaiba's pet came by in the afternoon, we couldn't risk there being more of the Pharaoh's friends around. We would have had Malik easily if he didn't have some help!"

"Expect the unexpected," Siegfried replied with a triumphant smile on his face.

"If that's the case where is Seto Kaiba?" Dartz asked with an amused look on his face. "I do believe it was you who said that you'll take care of him."

"I'm not stupid enough to go one on one against Seto," Siegfried told him while frowning. "As soon as I find his stupid little adopted brother, I'll get Seto easily."

"Really?" Dartz asked with amusement. "Because I heard from our insider, Mokuba Kaiba is currently at Atemu's palace. I suggest you find another way to capture Kaiba."

"I'll find a way," Siegfried said determinedly.

"Alas that task will have to wait," Dartz replied. "It seems that the vampire who helped the dear Malik Ishtar was Pharaoh Atemu."

"Impossible, we were both there," Siegfried scoffed with a shake of his head. "We shot, stabbed him, tied him up in chains and then dumped him off the pier. Vampires are immortal, not invincible."

"I saw him with my own eyes," the fourth male vampire in the room said, speaking up for the first time. He was Varon. "Raphael and Mai had already been knocked out by Ishtar. He came out of nowhere and bit Amelda almost killing him. We though he was dead until Raphael picked him up and discovered he was barely breathing. He then knocked me out by throwing me against the wall. I doubt Keith lasted long after that."

"So you admit you were knocked out?" Siegfried asked and Varon nodded his head. "There you go. You received a concussion and imagined it was Atemu. It could have even been the little starfish that the Pharaoh likes so much."

"You are more foolish then I thought if you're not going to take this news seriously," Dartz told him.

"Do not try to boss me around like you do those fools," Siegfried hissed while pointing to Varon, Raphael, Mai and Amelda in the healing tank. "You and I are equal partners in this, remember?"

"And you should remember that I've lived for thousands of years longer then you," Dartz calmly replied. "We need to contact the Dark Priest and have a meeting to discuss this new development."

"Fine," Siegfried reluctantly replied. "But right now I have to take care of Seto."

"This is more important then Kaiba," Dartz argued. "If Atemu is indeed alive it will throw everything we've worked for in jeopardy. Don't waste this opportunity to act because of some person vendetta against Kaiba."

"Don't tell me what to do," Siegfried replied before storming off.

"Stupid humans," Bakura grumbled as busied himself in the kitchen with Ryou like always at his side. Bakura's other problem was that it was night and he wanted to go hunting but he knew that something could more easily happen to Ryou outside the palace. Therefore he had to make do with the food that they had in the kitchen.

"They're not normal humans," Ryou gently told him. "They're Atemu's friends. We owe them one for saving not only Atemu but Malik as well."

"Why can't we turn them then?" Bakura asked. "That would be fine."

"Not everyone wants to be a vampire," Ryou softly replied.

"Of course they do!" Bakura scoffed. "Humans live in fear! Why wouldn't they want to join us if they could?"

"I didn't," Ryou replied, his voice so soft it was barely a whisper. Bakura heard him anyway because of his advance hearing.

"What are you talking about?" Bakura demanded. Ryou never did give anyone details in what happened to him when he was turned, except the vampire who turned him was killed shortly afterwards.

"Remember how I told you I was bullied all the time?" Ryou asked and Bakura nodded his head. "Well one of the bullies was a vampire and one day he purposely had the beatings go on after dark so he attack me. Right after he bit me he told me that I would make a good pet for him, which was why he was granting me an immortal life so that I would always be able to serve him. While he was turning me, I managed to pull a knife out from his pocket and stab him through his heart, killing him. It was too late for me though; I could already feel myself changing. I wandered around for hours until I finally found Atemu's palace. He took me in and the rest is history."

"Why wouldn't you want to join us?" Bakura asked shocked over his lover's story.

"I don't necessary rank killing people for food on the list of things I like to do," Ryou explained. "I was depressed for a long time, until I met you in fact. I started to live again after we met and now I'm happy. The point I was trying to make is that not everyone is like you or Marik who loved becoming a vampire so you could spill all the blood you wanted."

"I see your point," Bakura replied with a small sigh. "I never thought of it that way before. All I remember from when I was a human was being determined I wasn't going to be a victim of my circumstances. Did you know that my entire village was slaughtered and that I was the only survivor?" he asked and Ryou shock his head. "Well it was and all under the order of Atemu's father who was Pharaoh of Egypt at the time. I vowed revenge and 15 years later I met Zork who turned me into what I am." Bakura didn't have to say anymore. They both knew the rest of his story. 3000 years later Zork had Bakura start murdering allies of Atemu and eventually was ordered to kill Ryou. Although Bakura had a number of sex slaves to choose from at Zork's castle, he had found himself oddly attracted to Ryou. Soon after he had turned his back on Zork and his help and the return of Seto was what was needed to change the course of the war and allowed Atemu to achieve victory.

"Lets turn in for the night," Ryou suddenly suggested and Bakura gave him an odd look.

"Why? I'm not tired."

"I didn't say anything about sleeping," Ryou pointed out to him and Bakura got a huge grin upon his face. Bakura then grabbed Ryou's hand and started dragging him off to their room.

Malik slowly opened his eyes and found himself in his own room at the vampire palace. Wondering what happened, he soon found Marik fast asleep in a chair next to the bed. With a shaky hand, Malik reached out and took Marik's hand in his own.

Marik's eyes snapped open as soon as he felt contact with his skin. With a small tug, Malik ended up pulling Marik onto the bed with him and they snuggled down on it together.

"How are you feeling?" Marik asked as he cuddled Malik's body close to his own.

"Tired," Malik sleepily murmured.

"Stay awake, you lost a lot of blood," Marik softly commanded, rolling over and leaning off the bed so he could reach the small refrigerator in their room. Opening the fridge, Marik pulled out a medium sized container full of blood. Picking up a goblet next to the bed, Marik filled the goblet with blood before handing it to Malik who greedily drank it all down.

"Now how do you feel?" Marik asked as he refilled the goblet, which Malik immediately started drinking from again, but this time at a much slower rate.

"Better," Malik admitted as the blood warmed him up and filled him with energy. "What happened? I remember trying to take on these other vampires but they outnumbered me. Then I could have sworn that Atemu saved me."

"That's exactly what happened," Marik replied and Malik broke out into a huge grin.

"Atemu's alive?! That's great! Where was he hiding the whole time?"

"Easy Malik you're still recovering from a nasty wound," Marik told him. "The idiot Pharaoh lost his memories and was hanging out with some humans. Isis was here a little while ago after she took care of those humans and said that he started getting back some of his memories when around Yugi but I doubt that it's a whole lot right now."

"I should see him and thank him," Malik said as he tried to sit up but was ended up being shoved back down by Marik.

"You're still weak," Marik reminded him.

"I'm fine!" Malik assured him. "His room is just down the hall. We can then go out hunting so I can rebuild my strength."

"No!" Marik angrily snapped and Malik shrunk back in fear. Never had Marik yelled at him like that. "I know about the blood sacrifice, Malik," Marik continued on more gently. "That's why those vampires were after you!"

"Oh," was all that Malik said as he looked away.

"Why didn't you tell me? I'm your husband!" Marik demanded to know.

"For a number of reasons," Malik softly admitted. "I didn't want to worry you for one, two I didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to try and free Zork and finally I knew you'd never allow me to do it."

"Damn right!"

"It was my choice! Atemu has done everything for us!"

"Calm down!" Marik demanded as he handed Malik another goblet of blood. Malik took the goblet from him and stared down at the red liquid. "You had a sword stuck through you only a few hours ago. You need to relax!"

"I volunteered for it, you know," Malik softly told him. "I was trying to find Isis and overheard what was going on. Atemu originally wanted Seto, Isis and Mahado but I convinced him to pick me instead of Isis. Then at the last minute he changed his mind from Mahado to Ryou because he figured that even if someone figured out how to break Zork's seal, they would naturally assume that Mahado was one of three and not Ryou."

"You shouldn't have done that," Marik said with a sigh. "Isis is smart. She knows enough not to go looking for trouble like you always do."

"I would die a thousand deaths to protect my sister," Malik firmly replied before finally taking a sip from the goblet. "And to protect you."

"I don't need protection," Marik scoffed, taking back the goblet from Malik and gulped down the rest of the blood. He figured that if Malik wasn't going to drink it he might as well.

"I know and you take such good care of me. I like taking care of you for a change."

"So who all knew about this?" Marik asked. "Because someone found out. I heard that Mana knew. I can't see her betraying Atemu but how did she find out?"

"Atemu tells her everything, you know that," Malik replied with a shrug. "They grew up together and he completely trusts her."

"And about the others?"

"Why do you ask?" Malik wondered.

"Because I think we have a traitor among us," Marik told him. "I don't think it was an accident that Atemu went missing. And someone knew that you, Ryou and Seto are the three needed to release Zork."

"Well its not me, Ryou or Seto since none of us are exactly looking forward to dying. Isis is also a negative, I'm all she has!"

"Plus Isis was with me the entire day," Marik told him before growling and throwing the goblet against a wall in frustration. "I'm going to murder whoever is after you with my bare hands!"

"You are the one that has to relax now," Malik said with a small smile on his face before getting back down to business. "So Isis is definitely out. It's not Mahado since he's just as loyal to Atemu as Mana. That's it."

"That can't be it," Marik sighed. "None of those would be traitors."

"Wait a sec, I just remembered something," Malik as he thought back to that day two years ago. "When I was looking for Isis, I saw Akunadin lurking around the halls for some reason. He's the one who told me Isis was with Atemu. He could have overheard everything!"

"I knew that old man was always up to no good!" Marik hissed as stood up and stormed out of the room with Malik hot on his heels.

"Where are you going?!" Malik cried as Marik stormed over to the door to Seto's room and pounded on the door. A series of curses rang from Marik's mouth when no one answered the door. "It's night! Of course he'd be out!"

"No one has seen Seto since this afternoon!" Marik informed him as he then tried both Isis and Mahado's doors but they too were gone. Finally he tried Bakura and Ryou's door, which was answered by a naked Bakura.

"What?" an annoyed Bakura snapped. Marik could see on the bed behind the white-haired vampire was Ryou, who was also naked but he was half covered by the bed sheets.

"It's Akunadin!" Marik cried. "He knew about the three sacrifices and Atemu trusts him enough that he would let his guard down around him!"

"Are you sure?" Bakura asked and Marik nodded his head. "That fucker! And he tried putting the blame on me!"

"Get dressed," Marik ordered but Bakura was already pulling on his pants. "We need to search the palace and find Akunadin."

"Where are the others?" Bakura asked as he threw on a t-shirt. Ryou was also now fully dressed.

"Not here," Marik grumbled as tried Mana's room. Fortunately the spunky girl was in.

"What's going on?" she asked. Normally Marik left her completely alone.

"Bakura and I are going traitor hunting," Marik quickly explained. "Find Kisara and get her to take Seto's human to Atemu's and Yugi's room. Get them to lock the door and tell them that whatever they do, they do not unlock it for Akunadin or any strange vampire he might have let in. I need you to then use your telepathic powers to contact Isis, Mahado and Seto."

"All three?!" Mana cried and Marik nodded his head. "Fine. What about the other humans?"

"This doesn't concern them," Marik replied. "As far as we know, Akunadin doesn't even know they're here."

"Wait a sec! You mean Akunadin is the traitor?!"

"Yes!" Bakura yelled at her. "Now get going!"

Mana scurried off to find Kisara and Mokuba, while both Bakura and Marik turned to their lovers. "Both of you need to go to Atemu's room as well."

"But-" Malik started to protest but Marik cut him off.

"No buts! It isn't safe right now for you two when we have no clue where Akunadin is! Even though Atemu can't remember anything he still has the skills to protect the two of you!"

"Be careful," Ryou said to Bakura before quickly kissing him. Ryou then ran off down the hall to Atemu and Yugi's room and pounded on the door. A tired Yugi opened the door and Ryou shoved his way inside. Bakura could tell that Ryou was explaining everything to Yugi before he disappeared from sight.

"Malik, go!" Marik commanded.

"No!"

"Malik, I almost lost you once tonight and I'm not going to let that happen again!" Marik yelled and tears started to fall from Malik's eyes before Malik hurried down the hall towards Yugi who was waiting for him.

"Come on, let's go," Bakura said to Marik and the pair hurried off to find Akunadin.

"You better come out Siegfried, I know you're here!" Seto yelled into the dark and empty park.

"I see you've finally made it Seto," Siegfried called back as he walked forward to where Seto could see him.

"How did you know about Atemu?" Seto demanded as he began circling Siegfried.

"Rumors?" Siegfried replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Such news like that of a missing Pharaoh would travel fast."

"No one knew except those to live at the palace!" Seto snapped as he continued to circle Siegfried.

"Such an old palace is bound to have leaks."

"And just who is the leak?"

"My secret," Siegfried replied with a smirk.

"Tell me and I might let you leave this park alive," Seto told him as he finally stopped in front of the pink-haired vampire.

"Seto, Seto!" Siegfried laughed. "It's not nice to threatened people. Especially to such an old friend as myself."

"You were never my friend!" Seto snapped. "You were a business rival who was always jealous of the success I had with Kaiba Corporation! Then you found out my little secret so once again you got jealous and found a pathetic vampire to turn you into one."

"Once again you are wrong. The Dark Priest is not a pathetic vampire but an extremely powerful one," Siegfried replied with a laugh. "In exchange for turning me, I gave the Dark Priest some very important information concerning you."

"Like what?" Seto asked with a frown upon his face.

"Like the fact that you were alive and you'd do anything for Mokuba," Siegfried said with a small sigh. "That was just the thing the Dark Priest need to convince you to come back into our world."

"Akunadin!" Seto spat putting two and two together. He should have realized something was up two years ago when he had been forced back to palace, which was around the same time that Siegfried became a vampire. "Why would Akunadin betray us and try to release Zork?! He was the one who blackmailed me to come back in the first place to help defeat Zork!"

"Because no one realized that Seto Kaiba was the great Priest Seto!" Siegfried told him pulling a move from all the James Bond movies by having a villain reveal all information to the hero. "Everyone, even the great Lord Zork, thought you were dead, which was why he wasn't targeting you. Akunadin thought that no one would believe him that you were alive so he blackmailed you into returning so that you'd now become a target for Zork to kill. But then that bastard betrayed Lord Zork and we had all underestimated how powerful you remained after so many years of being out of the game."

"Ahh but my power was weakened because I was not training for so long," said Seto. "I assure you, I'm now back to my full power."

"It doesn't matter, without your precious Pharaoh, no one will be able to defeat Lord Zork," Siegfried replied with a smirk. "Such a pity you won't be around to see Lord Zork return to power but alas we all know that you have to be sacrificed along with Ishtar and that little wimp Ryou."

"Who is 'we'? And what have you done with Atemu?!" Seto demanded.

"We are myself, Akunadin and Dartz, who I believe you know as well."

"Of course!" Seto snapped. Dartz was a long time follower of Zork but always had his own lackeys to do his dirty work, which was how he survived for so long. "I should have figured he was involved somewhere. But tell me! What did you do with Atemu?!"

"What didn't we do?" Siegfried replied with a smirk. "I suggest you start looking in the entire ocean. Perhaps along the bottom, since those chains we tied him up with were pretty heavy."

Seto lunged at Siegfried, the attack caught Siegfried by surprise as Seto had a reputation of keeping his cool under pressure. Seto landed directly on Siegfried who fell backwards to the ground, landing hard on his back. Seto then started choking Siegfried while he bared his fangs and bit down into the other vampire's neck. Siegfried struggled under Seto's weight as he tried to throw the vampire off of him, but Seto was not going anywhere as he drained Siegfried's blood. When Siegfried had finally stopped moving, Seto lifted himself up, sat back on his heels and pulled a golden dagger out from his trench coat. He then plunged the dagger through Siegfried's heart, making sure he was dead.

Seto!

Seto was startled when he heard the voice in his head as they so rarely used telepathy to communicate with each other. He, however, recognized Mana's voice instantly and knew that there must be trouble if she was contacting him.

Mana! Be careful! Akunadin is a traitor! He helped them kill Atemu and is trying to free Zork!

We know! We need you back here now! Isis and Mahado are both out! Marik and Bakura are tearing apart the palace trying to find him!

I'm coming!

Seto cut off the link with Mana and started running in the direction of the palace. Flying would get him there faster but he already had a headache from talking to Mana and he knew he would need his strength when he arrived. Therefore he ran, all while praying to the old Egyptian Gods he had known about so well when he was a priest of the Pharaoh of Egypt, that Mokuba would be safe.

Mana gritted her teeth in pain as Seto cut off their communication link. After finding Kisara and Mokuba, she had sent the pair to Atemu's and Yugi's room before retreating back to her own room so that she could contact Seto, Isis and Mahado in peace. Seto had been the first one she had tried since he had been missing most of the day and they had no clue whether he was okay or not. Fortunately he had been fine and now it was Isis' turn.

Isis?

Mana? What's wrong?

Isis' voice came loud and clear in Mana's mind but Mana herself was having trouble sending back words, worn out telepathically contacting someone for the second time in a row, and had to resort to not speaking in full sentences.

Akunadin! Traitor! Seto on way back! Need to contact Mahado!

Mahado is with me. We're coming back right now Mana!

Mana clutched her head in pain as her link with Isis was shut down. Stumbling to her feet, Mana opened her door and took a peak out into the hallway to see if the way was clear. Seeing that it was, Mana hurried down the hall to Atemu's room and pounded on the door, a few seconds later Kisara let her in.

"They're coming," she told them. "Isis, Mahado and Seto. I don't know how long it will be until they get here though."

"Ni-sama is all right?!" Mokuba happily cried and Mana nodded her head.

"We should be out helping them," Malik argued. "That's my husband out there!"

"Bakura is out there as well," Ryou gently told the blonde vampire. "But I know we need to stay here. Who knows how many vampires Akunadin has convinced to join him."

"Remember, Akunadin thinks that Ouji is dead," Mana reminded them. "He has no reason to prepare an attack tonight, since as far as he knows, Ryou is the only one left that is needed for the blood sacrifice. He'll be sneaky about it, since he doesn't know that we know about him."

"This is all my fault," Yami sadly muttered. "I can't remember anything and all of you are in danger because of me."

"Don't talk like that!" Yugi begged him as he wrapped an arm around Yami's waist. Both of them were sitting on their bed, Mokuba and Kisara were sitting on the floor and the others were standing around with Malik pacing back and forth. "This isn't your fault! Akunadin has been loyal to you for years! We would all gladly die for you!"

"Yugi's right," Ryou said. "I would have been dead long ago if it wasn't for you. I never asked to be turn and had no idea what to do. As for Bakura, you were the only one besides me to trust him when he first said he wanted to change sides and help us defeat Zork."

"Same here," Malik added. "I had no where to go after my father kicked me out of my home and Marik was not yet strong enough to survive during the day or to protect me. You took us both in and gave us a home."

"When Seto-sama disappeared for all those years and everyone thought he was dead, you allowed me to stay and serve you," Kisara told him, speaking quietly. "Then when Seto-sama returned you had no problem in letting me return to his side."

"We grew up together!" Mana cried as she flopped down on the bed next to him, feeling a lot better. "Even though no one knew we were vampires, you still didn't have a lot of friends since you were the son of the Pharaoh and so much was expected from you!"

"And you already told me you remember a little bit about what happened to me," Yugi reminded his love. "About how you found me, near death because some idiot who had been out after dark without a pass ran me over with his car trying to get home before a vampire got him. And how you took me back here and personally cared for me until you realized that that there was no hope for me to continue my life as a human."

"Yes, I remember that," Yami admitted. He remembered being out hunting that night three months ago when he spotted a young human that interested him since they looked so much alike. Not being able to make himself make a snack out of the beautiful human, Yami had continued on his way when suddenly he heard a sound of a car and then a thud behind him. Spinning back around, Yami watched as a car sped away and then he noticed a bloodily body lying on the side of the road. To Yami's horror he recognized the familiar spiky hairstyle. Rushing over to the body, Yami quickly saw that the boy was still breathing, so he lifted him up into his arms and quickly flew back to the palace knowing that the medical experts there were a lot better then at any hospital. For two days, he kept a watchful eye over the boy, who he learned was called Yugi, but the injuries Yugi suffered were far too great. Unfortunately for Yami he had fallen in love with Yugi during the short two days they spent together and after a long debate with himself, Yami decided to turn Yugi, praying to the Goddess Isis that Yugi would not be horrified with the vampire Pharaoh when he woke up. When Yugi finally opened his eyes after being turned, he had instantly fallen in love with Yami.

"We're all in this together," Mana told him all. "We're all dead if Akunadin is not stopped because Zork will rise again." Everyone in the room except for Yugi, Yami and Mokuba gave a small shudder at the thought of Zork returning. Zork had always been power hungry which was why he wanted to become a vampire in the first place. At first he allied himself with Atemu but ever so quickly his desire for power increased and had soon started plotting to over throw the Pharaoh. Many vampires joined Zork's side as he wanted a world without humans, since he believed that vampires were a superior race and deserved control of the world. After a nasty war, Zork was defeated and banished to forever remain trapped inside of his palace. With the threat of Zork over, Atemu decided that vampires should make a new start in Japan so the majority of vampires moved there and they took over the country leaving the humans, who now knew about them thanks to Zork, the rest of the world. 3000 years later Zork escaped thanks to the aid of Bakura, who proved to be quite useful as a thief. Wanting revenge, Zork followed the vampires to Japan to hunt down Atemu and another war took place, which ended when Zork was sealed away. That had only been two years ago and any vampire who was around back then feared what could happen if Zork once again returned.

A swift knock to the door, brought everyone out of their thoughts. "Who is it?" Mana called as she stood and walked over to the locked door.

"Akunadin," came the reply causing everyone in the room to freeze. "I found a shocking discovery and now can't seem to find anyone, but I knew you'd be looking after Yugi who is so devastated after the lost of Atemu."

With a scared and panicked look, Mana stared at everyone else in the room, wondering what they were going to do.

A/N - I felt bad for killing Amelda in the last chapter (eventhough I don't like him) so that is why I brought him back althought he won't be appearing in the story again until the sequel. When I selected five vampires to attack Malik in the last chapter I used a random number it wasn't until later when I realized that during the Doom arc you see five main members of Dartz's group (that is why Mai is suddenly a vampire and is suddenly evil). Unfortunately I could not remember the name of the first guy that dueled Yugi in Domino right at the beginning of the arc and I'm currently missing a lot of my Doom episodes so I couldn't check. That's why I used Keith as the fifth member even though I know it's inaccurate.

Destiny - I was originally going to use Bakura but I ended up changing it to Ryou since I really didn't have much for him to do.

Maruken - Bakura and Yami have a love/hate relationship in this story because I can't make Bakura into a complete goody-goody, lol.

SilverWing147 - Thank you.

Duenna - Thanks.

December jewel - Thank you as well.

yaminakathy - Thank you very much!

Chelsea - Thank you for your review! I agree with you about Pegasus, which is why he won't be appearing in this story. Perhaps in a prequel he will appear using your idea of starting out as a villian and then defects because I like that idea. I tried keeping the characterization accurate and usually if its wrong its wrong for a reason (for example Jou who was acting OOC because of Yugi's death and with Kaiba who is supposed to be more like Priest Seto then Seto Kaiba). I've also tried not to bash anyone since too much bashing happens in stories, I think. I acutally hate Anzu and Honda but so far they've been fairly main characters. The biggest person I had trouble with not to bash was Siegfried but I figured a little bashing there was okay since he's supposed to be a villian.