RESPONSES


Eve-Of-Misery

Toli: Thanks for the review! We're glad you like the story!


Phoenix727

Toli: Yeah, don't you just love the villains that have a sense of humor?

Mena: Yeah, sorta. Hey, what's the inside joke? I'm curious! And we're partial to stories that are nice to Tea too. It seems like a lot of people hate Tea/Anzu and want to bash her in stories. That kinda stinks.

Toli: True. And about Yugi/Tea romance...Honestly, I wasn't planning any. I was going to have a little Joey/Tea romance, and that doesn't add very much to the story...but the way the story is going, it will be hard to have Yugi/Tea romance. Sorry if that disappoints you or anything.

Mena: Please continue to read and review anyway!


Kameeko

Mena: Sorry. We need a continuous villain and, well, Yami's it. It's a weird thought, ne?

Toli: Sure is. Trust me, we are going to write AND post this whole story. Actually, in writing...I'm working on the next to last chapter, so don't worry...we're going to start backing up chapters on disk so we can keep the promise.

Mena: Yes, because it totally sucks when you're into a good story and the author suddenly discontinues it. But we won't be doing that, promise! And thanks for reviewing!


Masami, Mistress Of Fire

Toli: Poor Masami! Evil giant curvy cast! Lemme sign it! (signs Toli T. with giant marker that magically appears)

Mena: Damie-chan! I have got to see some of your pictures! (flashes puppy dog eyes) Pleeease?

Toli: Yeah, you should tell him you've started drawing pictures of the two of you, Mena!

Mena: Sisterrr! You weren't supposed to tell!

Toli: Masami, I believe you about the air thing! I was standing at the top of my stairs, and I heard this evil voice say "You're next!" and then I was on my way down the stairs...I didn't break anything, but I crashed into Mom...she was carrying the fishbowl...our fishes fell onto the carpet...and Mani vacuumed them up. One died. Oh well, we still got twenty-six more! Anyway, thanks for reviewing! Hope you enjoy the next chapter!


raiki casinio

Mena: Hey! And welcome!

Toli: Glad you like the fic! Hah, "bloody", that's like a joke, since this is a vampire fic, and there's going to be lots of blood...

Mena: All right, Toli, enough! Please! Anyhow, hope you enjoy the chappie!


Ksaturn

Mena: Hey! Welcome to the world of vampires!

Toli: We're so glad you like the story! And vampires do rule. The guys are hot in a bloody kind of way...

Mena: And you're obsessed. -.-; Anyway, hope you enjoy the next chappie and thanks for reviewing!


Gijinka Renamon

Mena: Hey! Welcome! Glad you like the story. We hope you continue to read and review!


kristen89

Mena: Heya! Welcome!

Toli: Aww, Yami's the big loving older bro. Too bad he's evil. Sorry--I can't tell you what happened with the time. It's one of the vampire's secrets. Keep reading, though, and you'll find out how!

Mena: Thanks for your reviews!


Toli: Hi everyone! (waves bandaged hand)

Mena: Hello! (waves bandaged hand)

Jesselda: They still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Toli: Please enjoy the chapter that has helped to injure us both!


SEVEN: Murderer

Tea made it to her aunt's apartment in record time. She unlocked the door and threw it open. Inside was dark and empty.

"He's gone!" Tea exclaimed. "Oh no. His brother must have found him!"

She quickly changed into a black tank top and black pants and her trench coat, complete with gun and sword. As she ran around that side of town, she wondered and wondered about the strange passing of time. How had it happened? Had she maybe been knocked unconscious?

A loud scream came from her left. Tea turned, alarmed. It sounded familiar. She headed quickly that way.

Tea saw two familiar figures standing over a body on the street. She jumped down. When she landed, she startled them both and caused them to look at her. It was Joey and Serenity.

"What's wrong?" Tea asked.

Serenity looked terrified. "It's--it's--" she couldn't even talk.

"Some vampia got Tristan!" Joey answered for her.

"What?!" Tea walked over and looked down at the body. Sure enough, it was Tristan, with two puncture marks on his wrist. He was definitely dead; she could tell that before she checked for his nonexistent pulse. The fact that his face and arms were death pale betrayed the fact that he had been drained of all of his blood.

Tea stared at the puncture marks. "This is strange," she said. "These puncture marks are a lot smaller than any I've ever seen. They're both less than an inch, I can eyeball that, and the marks that normal vampire fangs leave behind are usually at least three inches long since they drag their fangs through the flesh. I wonder..."

"I bet it was Yugi," Serenity cut in. "His fangs were really small, remember? I bet he went crazy and came after the first person he saw! I'll bet he's on the loose right now killing more innocent people and sucking out their blood. I'll bet you anything. I'll bet!"

"Serenity, calm down," Joey said. "It couldn've been Yugi. Even if he ain't at Tea's apartment, I'd sooner believe dat psycho brotha of his kidnapped him than he broke his own word. He was so hell-bent on keepin' his promise. He wouldn' do dis."

"How do you know?" Serenity cried. "You don't know if he really meant it. Maybe he was stringing us along the whole time, hoping to suck our blood instead, but Tea took too long coming home so he went out to find a meal instead of wait for delivery!"

"Serenity!" Tea exclaimed, slapping her near-hysterical friend across the face. "We don't have any proof yet, so don't jump to any conclusions!"

Serenity almost glared at Tea as she put a hand across her rapidly reddening cheek. "Okay, okay. I won't say anything else about it."

Suddenly, a body landed on the street right in front of them. All three jumped, and Serenity let out a brief scream of surprise. Tea stared at the body, and she thought she felt her heart stop.

"Tea," Joey said slowly, "izzat...is dat yer aunt?"

"It is," Tea said, staring at her aunt's lifeless form. There were two puncture marks, identical to the ones on Tristan's wrist, showing through a large tear in the shoulder of her jacket. "She's been murdered by a vampire."

"It's Yugi, I tell you!" Serenity screamed. "He's done it! I just know it!"

While Joey tried to keep his sister from exploding from hysterics, Tea's head snapped up to see where the body had fallen from. Up on the roof of the closest building, leaning over the street, was Yugi. He had a shocked look on his face.

Without a word, Tea jumped up to the roof. Yugi stared at her. She no longer saw the look of pain in his eyes, and she was shocked out of her skin to see a trickle of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth.

"T-Tea," Yugi stammered, "Please, before you jump to conclusions, let me explain--"

"Did you kill my aunt and Tristan?" Tea demanded, cutting him off.

Yugi's head shook wildly. "No! No I didn't! It was--"

"Then how come there's blood coming out of your mouth, like you just had a snack?" Tea went on.

Yugi looked guilty. "Well, I did have some blood, but--"

"You creep." Tea cocked her gun and pointed it at Yugi.

Yugi's eyes went wide. "Wait!" he cried. "Please, don't kill me! Just let me explain!"

"No," Tea said shortly. "I've given you your chance to explain before. How could you do this? We said we'd help you. It isn't my fault I was late. Why would you go and do this? Why would you murder when you vehemently said you would never do such a thing!" After a moment's silence, Tea spoke again. "I should have known better than to trust you. You and your cute little innocent face and heartbreaking story. Every vampire is exactly the same. Bloodthirsty, evil, coldhearted, merciless, and deceitful. And you're the worst."

Yugi's eyes had begun to fill with tears. He reached up a hand and wiped the blood from his mouth, almost fearfully. He didn't speak however, and that was a good thing, for Tea would have shot him immediately had he said a word. She was about to pull the trigger anyway, when he suddenly vanished, and left one of Yami's wisps of black smoke behind. She stared at the spot where he had been, and then lowered her gun and turned and leapt off the roof.

She landed back on the ground where Joey and Serenity were. Joey looked up. "Where'd ya go, Tea?" he asked.

Tea sighed and looked down, not wanting to answer.

"Did you see Yugi?" Serenity asked. "Or Yami? I hope Yugi's okay."

"It took me a while, but I finally convinced Serenity dat Yugi ain't t' blame," Joey said with a proud smile. "So, what did happen?"

They were met with silence. "Tea?" Serenity asked again.

Tea looked up. "It was Yugi. He killed Tristan, and he killed my aunt. He said so himself."

Serenity gasped, and Joey looked shocked. "He what?!" Joey exclaimed.

"I knew it. I knew it was him!" Serenity cried, half in anger, half in triumph.

Joey, unbelieving, took a step forward. "No way. It couldn've--he said--he couldn't..." He grabbed Tea's shoulders. "Are ya sure, Tea? Did he really say he killed 'em? Are ya sure?"

"Yes!" Tea shoved Joey's hands away. "He did it! He murdered them both! He lied to us, Joey, all of us!"

"No way!" Joe cried, shaking his head violently. "He said he wouldn' do it! He couldn've gone back on his word!" He looked angry, and hurt. "We were gettin' along so well..."

"Well, get over it," Tea snapped. "All he was doing was stringing us along in his evil bloodsucking game for some reason only he understands. We should never have trusted him!" She turned and bolted.

Joey watched her go, anger boiling inside of him. Was Yugi really as evil and deceitful as Tea had said? The little guy had seemed so passionate in his stand against being a vampire. He could remember Yugi asking about the chicken nuggets, and suggesting Tea lock him up in her room so he couldn't escape and hurt someone. Was it really all just a lie? Then why had he done it?

Serenity put her hand on Joey's shoulder. "Sorry, big brother," she said sincerely. She knew how much he liked hanging out with Yugi.

Joey sighed. "Well, what can ya do, sis. If that's the way it was goin'..." he trailed off. They stood together in the night.

"Hey, you two." They turned to see an unfamiliar blond wearing all black and carrying a gun suddenly beside them. "Tea's friends, right? You'd better get yourselves home. There are vampires out."


THE EMPTY PARK

Yugi didn't look up when he heard the rustle. He didn't care anymore. It had been very stupid for him to go along with Yami's suggestive plan. Why didn't he think of the fact that Tea would think he had killed those people before? He had been in so much pain it had seemingly overridden his normal tenacity.

Yugi remained in his position, knees pulled up to his chest, arms resting on top of his knees, face buried in his arms. He was crying, and rather hard.

"I told you."

Yugi still didn't look up when he heard his brother's familiar voice.

"Why was it so hard for you to believe me? All right, so perhaps my idea wasn't the best of them all, but she never even gave you a chance to explain. She didn't even let you finish a sentence. She was so ready to kill you on an assumption. You can't depend on humans, Yugi. Do you understand that now?"

"It's not fair," Yugi said into his knees. Then he looked up angrily at his brother. "But it's your fault! You were the one who killed those people! Why wouldn't you come and admit that?"

"I told you, I had to go kill a vampire slayer," Yami lied. "Besides, that was a wonderfully convenient way to show you how quickly humans are to believe the worst. It's better to be a vampire. We don't have those kinds of problems."

Yugi rested the side of his head on his arms, faced away from Yami. He didn't say anything, and neither did Yami. Yugi closed his eyes and wished he could simply drop dead where he sat. He didn't want to be living such a nightmare. He almost jumped in surprise when he felt his brother's arm sliding around his shoulders.

"You know it hurts to see you so upset," Yami said softly.

On impulse, Yugi turned around and buried his face into Yami's chest. He was so sad. He cried himself into a major headache while his brother just sat there and soaked up all the tears with his shirt. Finally, when Yugi quieted down, Yami spoke. "Ready to go home yet?"

Yugi looked up and saw that the sun was coming up. All these weeks of running and hiding and suffering; was he going to just give it all up and resign himself to being a vampire? Was it all just a big, stupid mistake? Was he just supposed to be a full-fledged vampire? He was ready to give up; he was completely exhausted in every way possible. But something in the back of his mind, something as persistent as the pain had been, told him that there was something more, he had something else he could be, and he could be better than a vampire. He couldn't give up. Not yet!

Yugi sat up and removed Yami's arm from his shoulders. "I'm not going with you," he said in a quiet, calm, clear voice, staring his brother right in the eyes. "I'm not going to be a vampire. I want to be a human, and nothing else. What I did during the night was a mistake I'm going to regret for as long as I live. But it won't happen again. Yami, I'm sorry, but I'm not going anywhere with you."

Yami stared, appalled and angry. "Why?" he demanded. "Why would you want to be a human? What is so damn fascinating about them?!"

Yugi stood up, his tears gone. He wasn't sure he knew the answer. "You might want to get out of here," he said. "The sun's almost up."

Yami stood slowly, glaring at Yugi. "You'll regret making this choice," he said dangerously. "I don't know how you plan on becoming a human, but if you do, somehow, by some freakish chance, all you'll be is food for vampires. I'm not exactly certain why that thought seems to delight you so much." Then he disappeared, and left behind one of his wisps of smoke.

Yugi turned and slowly left the park as the sun came up completely and brought on the morning.

END CHAPTER


Toli: I'm done with the chapter! I hope you enjoyed!

Mena: Yeah!

Jesselda: Nooo.

Toli: Please join us next time!


Slain trivia

Vampires are hurt by sunlight, but artificial lighting does not affect them because it does not contain ultraviolet rays (the vampire-killing factor) like sunlight does. Therefore they can walk under streetlamps and not be affected, and have artificial lights in their houses when they need them, and so on.