AN: A great big 'THANK YOU!' to everyone who's reviewed so far and a great big 'SORRY!' for not thanking you all sooner! But now I've finally gotten my act together and I'll answer a few questions/comments.

alostblackcat : Actually, the idea for vampire's inability to enter a dwelling without being invited first came from Dracula. At least, I think that's how it worked.

LadySaturnGirl: Thanks for your numerous reviews, and thanks for the comment about Death Certificates. I did some research, but I wasn't sure if I had it right. Besides, I had to edit a few things from the original I stole the format from. By the way, Yugi isn't a vampire… yet. I hope that will becomes a bit more clear later on.

Shinigami: Wow! Never actually been threatened with a blow torch. Sorry you were so upset. I didn't like writing the chapter, but I had to because it's important for the plot. If you're sticking around, I've got a side chapter about Malik.

And of course, thanks to MeeLee who is/was BETA reading for me. Boy did she whip me into shape. Still got the scars. Wink Anyway, go read her original fiction on the sister site to FFN. It's really good!

Chapter 7: Blood in the Air

Name: Bakura

Begin Entry

After Ryou came to my house, we didn't do very much. We mostly talked and Ryou got over his initial 'jitters,' if you can call it that. He was still a little antsy, but once he understood that he couldn't escape no matter what and he couldn't kill me, he stopped trying so hard. He still wouldn't let me touch him without a struggle and he was a little guarded, but for the most part those few days were calm—at least, until Marik and his hunter were executed. Of course, that was when everything got pretty damn hectic, so I guess those two days were just the calm before the storm.

Anyway, I knew something was wrong when I felt sick, and I don't mean a little dizzy. I was shaking so bad that I couldn't stand without some sort of support and my head was spinning at the same time; a headache was beginning to form.

I was in the kitchen with Ryou when it happened. I was actually pretty close to the event so I barely had any warning before it struck and when it did, it hit like a tsunami. I clung to the wall and desperately tried to hold back the waves of nausea that were pushing and pulling at my stomach.

In my defense, I did make it halfway to the bathroom before I lost control and began to vomit like crazy. I covered a large portion of the floor and walls before I managed to get my head over the toilet. To put it nicely, it wasn't pretty and I was still pretty busy praying to the porcelain god when Yami and his slave arrived.

So there I was, dizzy, shaking and sweaty, with a headache the size of Japan, heaving stomach acid into my toilet while Yami, the leader of all vampires, stood on my front porch, trying not to faint or be ill himself from the energy produced by Marik's death.

(From what I gather, Yugi, Yami's slave, thought we were dying and I'm pretty sure he was close to pissing himself in fear. What the hell was going on in Yami's relationship with Yugi, I haven't a clue, but at the time I wasn't too interested. I'm still not terribly interested.)

Ryou told Yugi to stay outside with Yami, but he stayed inside. He looked torn, as if debating with himself. I suppose half of him was dying to fuck everything and chance a runner, but the rest was too scared to chance it. I hadn't hurt him yet, but even a baby hunter knows not to mess with an angry, powerful vampire if you can avoid it. I suppose another part of him wanted to kill me while I was out of commission. If I had been him, I would have. It was a perfect opportunity for the most part, but he lacked a weapon and Yami was waiting on the porch. He probably didn't fancy his odds for getting away with it, which probably would have been fucking awful.

Anyhow, it was almost a good half an hour before Yami and I were back to anything resembling decent health. I brought out a couple of bottles of water and a few cans of Spaghetti-O's, which the four of us ate cold. We didn't really speak; we just sat there, re-hydrating and getting some of our strength back. Yugi and Ryou didn't eat much, so they finished first. Yami finished his food before I did, but he hadn't been nearly as sick as I had been, and I ended up being sick in the bushes outside my house twice. At any rate, no one said anything until I was done with my meal.

"Marik?" Yami asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah. It must have been close by; I felt it pretty fucking strongly, without much warning."

"How much warning?"

"About ten seconds."

"One kilometer from here? Are you sure?"

"Would I bullshit you?" I asked and there was a slight pause. "Don't answer that. And I said 'about,' dumb ass. It could have been anything from ten to twenty seconds."

"Shit. What are the odds we're going to find him with that kind of freaking radius to work with, huh?" Yami snorted and I shot him a glare.

"We aren't going to find him, you ass!" I snapped angrily. "We're looking for a corpse, remember? A fucking stiff!"

"I know it hurts to lose a child…"

"Shut the fuck up, Yami. I don't want to hear any of that shit leave your mouth again," I snorted as I looked the other way. "Forget it; just forget it. If we're going to find his body, we'd better get the hell on with it. Come on, Ryou."

"Hold up, you stupid… ugh," Yami growled as he grabbed Yugi by the arm and hurried after us. Yami trailed behind for a few minutes while he made a couple phone calls, called in a favor or two and got his child, Mai, to organize a few search parties.

"Bakura? What's going on?" Ryou asked as we hurried through the section of the city we had been given to search. Yami and Yugi, who were also with us, looked over to see what I would say.

"When a vampire dies, they release a certain energy that only other vampires feel. The stronger the dead vampire, the further the shock waves travel. I was really close to where Marik died, and he was really strong, so I took a hell of a beating; that's what made me sick."

"Don't you know where he is?"

"No, but we need to find him. We've still got to fucking bury him." I shrugged. "It's a custom."

"And… what's a child?"

"A vampire's child is someone that a vampire changed."

"Changed?"

"Into a vampire. I was Marik's master and he was my child, see? Christ, I thought you were a fucking hunter."

"I am! But we never learn anything about vampire culture. It's never been part of our training; we just learn to… uh… kill," Ryou admitted, blushing though I had no idea why. I heard Yami's cell phone ring and Yami called for a break while he answered it. We stood around for a moment while Yami talked with his caller. After a minute, Yami muttered a goodbye and hung up.

"And?"

"They found him. No one's touched him but we'd better go down there and have a look. It won't be long before someone calls the police and they come poking around."

"How… bad is the stupid fucker?" I asked.

"They're not sure. There's a lot of blood, but he's face down, so… yeah."

"Okay. Let's go," I sighed, as I looked down the street.

We didn't have far to walk, actually. It was only a couple of blocks and down a rather long alleyway. The area wasn't deserted, per se. There was a Seven-Eleven across the street from where Marik was lying but the store was closed for repairs and the other small shops surrounding it were closed. There was also an apartment block a bit further down the street, but considering the area, the residents probably weren't terribly concerned with gun shots and shouting.

I know we were incredibly lucky that no one had called the police about Marik's body by the time we got there, but at the time I would have welcomed a decent fight with some sort of goddamned authority figure.

Whatever.

By the time we got to the sight, Yami and I had both picked up the strong scent of a hunter and there had probably been more than one of those fuckers there.

"Shit. Hunters," Yami muttered, pointing out the fucking obvious. I looked over to see that he was clenching and unclenching his fists in anger and his eyes had narrowed into slits. "Killed by fucking hunters."

"Yami," I warned, sensing the growing anger in him.

"What?! 'Yami' what?! Calm down? Relax? Don't make a scene, Yami? Well, fuck you, Bakura! This was another unpro-fucking-voked attack, and you know it. Marik was never armed and he never messed with hunters. No one gets to his age by doing that!" Yami shouted at me before he turned his attention to Ryou. I had, stupidly, shot a glance over at Ryou, who had begun to move away from Yami, and Yami's eyes followed my gaze. I cured my idiocy and took a step towards Yami, hoping to divert his attention. I was wrong.

"It's your fucking kind, you bastard. You lot think you're so fucking good and pure, but you're nothing more than scum! You're terrorizing my people! You're hurting them and all my people want is peace, you hear me? Why don't you leave us the fuck alone, shit head! All this means is war, get that? We don't want a goddamned fight, but now were gonna have to. What have you got to say?!" Yami hissed as he reached out to grab Ryou, but I took another step closer and gripped his wrist, pulling my body between them. Yugi put a calming hand on Yami's back to try and calm him down, but Yami only spared him a passing, scathing, glance.

"Shut. Up," I hissed, shaking Yami to refocused his attention back on me. I gripped his wrist tighter and gave it another small shake. "Don't be fucking stupid, you ass."

"Don't be stupid? It's his fucking type that causes us, our kind, pain. The only good hunter is a fucking dead one."

"He's not involved, shit head. You can't fault someone for their blood," I sneered, knowing full well that, for Yami, heritage and being blamed for the faults of your family hit harder than a foot in the balls ever could.

"He's still a damn hunter," Yami snorted as he wrenched his wrist free, but he backed up and returned his attention to Marik's corpse. We were silent for a moment; Yami watching Marik, and I watching Yami. "You wanna?"

"No," I sighed, looking down the street in a pitiful attempt to appear casual. I noticed that Ryou and Yugi had backed off a few steps, as if standing a distance away out of respect for the moment. Or perhaps it was fear of Yami. Interesting; I'd never actually thought of it like that. "You can if you want to."

"Fine, fine. Leave it the fuck to me and I'll do all the dirty work," Yami grumbled as he knelt next to Marik's body and rolled him over. "Oh my…well, shit. There's a hunter over here."

"What?" I asked, mildly surprised.

"Yeah, here, in the bushes; it looks like he was dragged here though. Jesus, he's stiff as a board with a damn bullet through his heart. Hmm, and two more in his chest. Holy fuck; these are silver bullets, hunter bullets. You'd better take a look at this, Bakura. I mean, killed by his own kind? It's the only way, but…" Yami frowned as he motioned for me to get nearer. I walked over and looked down.

"Damn it. That's Marik's boyfriend," I whispered, recognizing the boy's face. "Just… oh, fuckin' hell."

"Who is…?" Yugi asked as he and Ryou walked over. I heard Yugi give a small gasp of surprise as he saw the body of the hunter. "Oh, my God… Malik."

And Ryou began screaming.