I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the affiliated characters. I do own Starlyte and the Dhampiri Clans, Hatuhukra and Fulira.
Dreams again, and they were coming frequently, much more frequently than she'd ever dreamt before. Though not like the one she'd had earlier, this dream was almost as life-like. She was starting to scare, not an easy thing to accomplish.
She sat up, and wiping the leaves off her, stood up. She pulled her hair back, the previous bun she'd had it in was a wreck, and she would not face anyone looking like this. Using her fingers to straighten her hair, she walked towards the sound of the nearest duel. It didn't sound like any of the previous duels she'd overlooked earlier that day. No, this one sounded almost real; like the monsters could attack at any given moment. She smiled inwardly to herself and kept walking, her pace brisk but comfortable.
When she came to the edge of the clearing, her voice and her breath caught in her throat. Kaiba stood in the clearing with the same regal bearing and the same cocky smile in place on his face.
Slowly, she made her way around the group that Mutou was traveling with, crossed the area of sparse tree growth, and hid herself in the trees behind Kaiba. She watched, fascinated by the reality of the monsters. They looked as solid as she felt.
The biggest shock was when Kaiba looked over his shoulder and caught her eyes as he summoned his Blue-Eyes White Dragon. His face lit up in a sadistic and feral smirk, almost as if he knew what she was.
She shrugged it off and faded back into the shadows, more than she was currently. She tried to ignore the look in his eyes, but she couldn't. She just couldn't ignore the way he'd looked at her. The shadows haunting his eyes, she knew those would never leave; but when he'd caught sight of her they'd lightened and changed. She shrugged it off again and watched as the dragon destroyed the black one in front of it. The one she'd saved, Joey, the blond, fell to his knees in front of Kaiba.
She ignored the trivialities of their words and opened the vial she had capped off earlier. She downed the entire thing and popped in a mint, she liked the taste of the blood, but she couldn't have the scent lingering on her breath. The little bit, Droplets, she had taken in earlier could last a few hours but not longer. This vial should stabilize her for the remainder of the tournament.
She closed her eyes and waited, waited for Kaiba to come anywhere near close enough for her to reach out and touch him. Anywhere near close enough to grab him and demand what he knew of her. She waited, and for what seemed like an eternity of seconds, he just stood, right out of her reach, his eyes searching the foliage. He shook his head and walked away from her.
'No one ignores me like that! I mean no one! Who does he think he is!' she followed him, her anger building inside, raging. Keeping to the shadows and watching his movements, she waited for the weak point in his stride to show. She saw it and waited for the next one.
When it came, she had her sword at his neck. She snarled as he just laughed. His hand gripped her waist and her grip faltered of the hilt of the sword. He took advantage of the slackened grip and knocked the sword from her hand. It lay of the ground, the light illuminating both their faces. She snarled at him again and he just laid his hand over her mouth to stop the noise.
He then kicked her legs out from under her and had her in his arms. Shock clearly showing on her face, he just stared down at her. His eyes lit with a feral glee as he saw her fear show in her eyes.
"So, a Fulira dhampira can fear then? I'm surprised." Anger replaced fear and she clawed against his arms as he finished speaking. His enjoyment only showed even clearer as she did so. The feral gaze had left his eyes and what she saw replace it was as strange as the emotion she saw in her dream. "Do you fear the fact that I know what you are, even though I do not know you name?"
"It is the fact that you knew from only one meeting that scares me. What are you?" she was grateful he'd had nothing to do with the dream from which she had just woken, the dream in which he knew her name.
"I'm merely someone who is intrigued by the mystery surrounding the legends of the dhampira. That is all."
"Liar!" she spit out that one word with enough vehemence to make him loosen his grip on her. She fell to the forest floor with a small thud. He recovered his wits and had her pinned quickly.
"I was expecting a bigger fight from a Fulira dhampira. But, a distracted one would be an easy one to overcome or defeat, wouldn't it?" he gave her a small smirk. "But, where are my manners. I forgot you were the one who actually gave me a reason to come back didn't you? You also made me make a place in my soul for the ability to love. I must hate you for that, shouldn't I? But I don't. I can't."
"So what, you never would have gotten out of there had I not! Besides, I needed your help."
"Oh, you needed my help, what for?"
"Jerk!" she freed her hand and flipped him over. She straddled his hips and held his hands above his head. "Never let your guard down, never!"
"Fair enough," She furrowed her eyebrows together, confusion lighting her face, but she did not give him a chance to escape her grip. "Confuse you did I? Good. You've got me confused enough as it is."
"How," her voice came out in a whisper, the sound shocking her own self, "how have I confused you?"
"By being part of a clan I've tried to disprove the existence of, of being the part of the clan that took my parents from my brother and me. For being someone who stole my heart at the first glance of the depths that lie in your eyes! That's why!" Starlyte recoiled from his words and stood up. Her eyes caught his as he stood and she fell against a tree. Her eyes connected with the ground and his shoes came into view.
"One of my clan was killing parents? I've heard nothing of the sort!" she looked back up and his eyes scared her, for however many unaccountable times since she'd first seen him.
"Yes. But, it wasn't one that would be directly related to you. No, it looked nothing like you." His hand came up and stroked her cheek. She found herself helpless at his touch again. "Of course, you would know nothing of it. The damn thing burned down the house after it had its way with both my parents." His thumb ran along her jaw and then his hand moved to cup the back of her head.
"Hatuhukra, do you know how long it's been since someone has had enough sense to actually see the truth of what I am?" she smiled lightly as she felt herself being pulled closer to him. She knew whatever he wanted she would be unable to resist him. She was his no matter what her mind tried to say. She'd been taken with him the same as he with her.
"Good. I like being a person who can do that." His mouth moved next to her ear and she bared her neck for him. Slowly she felt a prick, and then the full-blown pain of the bite of a dhampira. She closed her eyes tightly as a scream tried to rip its way out of her throat. She felt the blood that escaped his closed lips and she brought her hand up to catch it.
He drew back and she licked the blood that was on his lips off. Their mouths met and their tongues battled for dominance. He pulled back and shifted the collar of his trench coat to bare his neck. She swallowed hard before clamping her mouth down. A grunt of pain escaped his lips and she drew out just enough blood to take what he drew from her. The metallic taste filled her body and she felt like she hadn't for years.
This time she drew back and he took the blood from her lips. Meeting the need of both dhampiri, their mouths battled for dominance again as they fell to the ground, joining the leaves and claiming the other again and again.