I won't even mention the lateness of this. It is appalling enough as it is.

Last time…

Kaiba, I realized, had not fallen to the ground. Instead, he had rushed forward on unsteady legs. He was bending over a dark shape which I couldn't make out on the ground in the middle of the now-spent circle shields.

I took several deep breaths as Kaiba tended to the thing he'd brought into this world. Slowly, Kaiba managed to pick it up.

Silent and ominous, ashen-faced and determined, Kaiba trudged out of the shrine, carrying the pale, motionless form of a child.

Dead & Dying

Seventeenth

Katsuya's View

Kaiba and his three "guests" had been in the shrine for quite some time. I shifted, trying to be silent. This tree was getting uncomfortable. I'd gotten up early and gone outside, making sure to hide myself close to the shrine.

All of Kaiba's employees were informed that the shrine was for the dead body of Kaiba's brother. That was partially true. The shrine was for Kaiba's brother—but not for his dead body.

Kaiba Mokuba's soul was taken by a rogue necromancer, who Kaiba had killed in a rather hideous way personally soon after. I offered to guard the shrine for Kaiba, who accepted coldly. Kaiba began working obsessively to find a spell that would free Mokuba's soul from the limbo in which it resided.

Kaiba found the spell several years later, but couldn't do it alone. Discreetly, he searched the nation for people possessing enough magical skill to help him. The search was mostly fruitless. That was when four trespassers happened to drop into Kaiba's lap. Of course, I was under strict orders not to tell anyone about these things.

I finished the last pastry I'd nicked from the kitchen and tried to find a more comfortable position. Trees were never meant to be used as couches.

I hadn't slept very well last night. I'd worried over the diary for quite awhile, and then figured out a plan to get it back. It wasn't a very good plan—actually, it sucked—but it would have to do. Kaiba had probably looked at the first picture, been thoroughly disgusted, and tossed it aside. There was nothing for it. I licked some icing off my fingers.

I was happy that Kaiba was getting his brother back. I hoped and prayed that Mokuba's return would make Kaiba a happier person.

However…I'd promised myself that I would leave when Kaiba got his brother back. He would no longer need me, anyway. He'd no longer want me around, what with the entire diary fiasco. I'd already packed my bags this morning. Mokuba's return was bittersweet.

Then I smacked myself mentally. How could I be such a sick person? This is what Kaiba wanted all along. I should be ecstatic for him.

I will be.

Steps were approaching—weak, laden steps. I shifted ever so slightly to the left, so I could see the path from inside my tree without being seen myself. All the guards had supposedly been removed from the area.

Kaiba moved into my line of sight. He was carrying—a body. I bit my lip. The shock of long black hair was too distinctive to mistake—that was Mokuba. Was he all right, though?

Then I saw it—Mokuba's chest rose and fell comfortingly. He was just asleep, though pale and thin.

Kaiba looked equally pale, but his face was no longer the impassive mask. Worry creased his forehead; he was biting his lip and panting slightly. Restraining myself from jumping down from my tree and offering my help, I waited until Kaiba had passed far enough away.

When he was as far as I dared let him go, I quickly climbed down the tree. I gave Kaiba a wide berth, and sprinted around him. Carrying Mokuba, he was much slower.

I dashed up to the mansion and used a side door to get in. It was dark in the small sitting room I'd entered. Thankful that there was nobody here, I took a few deep breaths. It would look way too suspicious to arrive in the kitchen panting.

I dusted off my uniform and picked a stray leaf out of my hair. I was presentable. I walked quickly across the foyer—good, Kaiba wasn't here quite yet—and into the kitchen.

Several maids and cooks were in the kitchen, bustling about. The kitchen was a large, long room, with cupboards and counters lining the walls. An island counter ran the length of the room, divided in the middle and at the ends. Impeccably clean white and blue tiles and the occasional piece of stainless steel glinted in the bright lighting.

"Ouch!" Someone smacked me from behind. I turned around, miffed.

"Katsuya-san, you were just in here," accused Seishima-san. "Hungry again?"

I knew she was just teasing. "Yes, I'm hungry, okay? So…this is mine now." I snatched a roll filled with meat and cheese out of the basket she was carrying.

"Katsuya-san!" I dodged Seishima-san's next attack and moved back towards the door to the kitchen. Kaiba would be here any second now, any second now—.

The main doors banged open and Kaiba shouted for his hired help. Instant mayhem reigned in the kitchen as the maids and servants all made for the door.

I tucked myself into the niche behind the fridge and stayed until the rush had passed. Then I dashed out of the kitchen with a slightly surprised look on my face.

"Mokuba!" Seishima-san said softly, as though she barely believed it. Kaiba made quite a scene in the middle of the foyer. Ringed by his shocked employees, he was holding what looked like the dead body of his brother. Both of them were ashen-faced and drawn. Kaiba was wearing a set of strange robes, and looked like he was about to collapse.

"Dinner. All of his favorites," said Kaiba. "Clean his room. New sheets. Find the best doctor in the country and get the man here now. I don't care how."

For once, nobody jumped to Kaiba's command. Seishima-san bit her lip. "Kaiba-san…he's dead. Just—"

"He's alive!" Kaiba sounded almost desperate. "Go!"

There was silence again. Nobody moved. Almost everyone here had seen Mokuba 'buried.' Now it looked like their employer had suddenly lost it. I could see Mokuba was barely breathing.

"Well!" I yelled. "You heard him!" I shoved the person nearest me, which created a domino effect of stumbling people. "Get the hell out of here!" Suddenly, movement filled the foyer as everybody except Kaiba, Mokuba, and I rushed to do as they were told.

Kaiba took a deep breath, seeming not to have noticed me. He moved one foot slightly, but swayed on the spot.

Under normal circumstances I would never have dared to seize Kaiba around the middle, but these were not normal circumstances. So I wrapped my arms around Kaiba, supporting him from behind. His legs gave out right about then and he slumped against me. I wasn't thinking about how I'd dreamed about this.

"Kaiba-san! C'mon, man, get it together—." Kaiba weighed less than I did, but he was taller. He also had a death grip on his brother, which made him quite unwieldy.

"Katsuya-san?" Kaiba said.

"Yeah, Kaiba-san, it's me. Let's go—up we go—." I lifted Kaiba up a few inches and turned us in the direction of the elevator. "Okay. It's just as far as the elevator, Kaiba-san, you can do it."

Kaiba slid down an inch or two. "Here—give me Mokuba," I said, trying not to drop them both.

"No," Kaiba said fiercely.

"That's fine, that's okay." I backed off. I kept moving towards the elevator—ten steps now, nine steps—.

I heaved Kaiba back up again and we made it another three steps. Kaiba was barely moving now. Was he going to black out? He would probably kill me for having seen him in such a state of weakness, but I couldn't think about that right now.

I flipped Kaiba around, so he was facing me, and then, with a mighty heave, got him draped over my shoulder. How he was still holding on to Mokuba was a mystery. I got the three of us to the elevator, which opened cheerfully.

"Mokuba's room," I told it.

"Mokuba's room is off-limits," MOKI told me. I nearly swore, but Kaiba probably didn't want his brother hearing all the colorful words I knew.

"My brother's eyes are blue," said Kaiba tiredly. "Override all security parameters on Mokuba's room." Evidently that was the password, because the elevator door whooshed shut and the elevator itself sped into motion.

I leaned against the rail around the edge of the elevator, Kaiba's knees digging into my gut and one of his shoes poking my thigh. I was never happier to hear the elevator door ding.

I turned around with difficulty and lurched out of the elevator. Mokuba's room was decorated in varying shades of blue and green, all light colored. It was a bit like walking into the sea.

The room was L-shaped, with the elevator door at the bottom of the short part. A large flat-screen TV hung darkly on the left-hand wall. Two tall shelves framed it, full of games and movies. Game consoles, a DVD player, and a VCR were housed in a cabinet below the TV. Green beanbags, a blue couch, and a couple of end tables were opposite the TV. The carpet was fuzzy blue—lighter than the couch but darker than the blue curtains across the room from me.

The window stretched all the way across the far wall, covered by recently dusted curtains. I continued into the room. In front of the window was a desk. A laptop lay closed on it. I recognized it as Kaiba Corp.'s latest model, even though that had only come out six months ago.

At the top part of the L was a king-sized bed with fresh sheets. In the back of my mind I thought, Damn. Those people are fast. A canopy was draped over the bed. The bathroom door was to my left, surrounded by pictures of Mokuba and his older brother. The walls were a soothing pastel turquoise.

I dumped both Kaibas onto Mokuba's bed. "Last…bottle," said Kaiba, eyes closed. His hand drifted heavily towards his robe—an inner pocket, maybe?

I opened Kaiba's robe a little. All he was wearing under it was a white linen shift with a beautiful silver dragon on it. I bit my lip hard, to keep focused as I pulled away more of Kaiba's outer robe. What kind of sick, one-track mind did I have!

I found the inner pocket at last. It contained a little glass bottle.

"Mokuba…" said Kaiba wearily.

"Yeah, Kaiba, I got it." I yanked the top off the bottle and opened Mokuba's mouth. He was barely breathing now. Shit! Leaning over the pale, black-haired boy, I poured a few drops of the liquid in the bottle into Mokuba's mouth.

Mokuba swallowed reflexively, and I poured more of the stuff in his mouth. Once the bottle was empty, I yanked the blankets out from under both Kaibas. I draped the blankets over both of them. Mokuba was wearing a funerary suit, the creepiness of that finally getting to me.

Suddenly, the elevator dinged again. Several people burst into the room. Some of Kaiba's security was there, a few maids, and a doctor still in his surgical green clothes. The doctor was suspended between two of Kaiba's beefier bodyguards, looking rather apprehensive.

"Put the guy down," I said. My voice was confident and commanding, unlike how I felt. Kaiba's bodyguards let the doctor down.

"Get to work," I snapped. "All of you—give the doc whatever he needs." I backed away from the bed a few steps, but stayed watchful.

The doctor pulled the blanket away from the pair of Kaibas and looked them over. He took a deep breath, and began his work.

Yami's View

Damn, I was sore. The sun had crawled a good ways across the sky before I felt like moving. I rolled over onto my back. My face felt weird where part of the stone I was lying on had made an imprint. I rubbed at it.

Auru had asked Rino if he was alright a while ago. Rino said he was, but didn't have much energy. We all felt highly drained.

My stomach growled. Great. I was hungry. If vampires are too low on blood, they don't eat. Eating requires blood to digest the food and get energy from it, and since the blood isn't replenished, it can be dangerous. Eating myself to death was a rather repulsive concept.

But more to the point, I was filled with Yugi's blood, and I was hungry.

I sat up carefully. Once the world had grudgingly stopped spinning, I looked around. Auru and Rino were both still lying on the ground, visibly alright. The pool had stopped steaming, and the grey sky had turned somewhat blue.

"Shadows of the black sky, I call you now—." The pair of wings I managed to summon with those words was weak. I kept them there, though, as I stood up cautiously.

The world didn't spin so much this time. I flapped my wings a couple times. Nothing happened. Damn, I'd have to do a running take off.

"Auru-kun, Rino-kun—I'm going back to Kaiba's mansion."

"Okay," said Rino. "I think I'm going to lie here for a tad longer."

"If I wasn't so damn tired I'd love to have you lying there for quite some time," griped Auru.

"Shut up," replied Rino. "Yami—here." I walked over to Rino's outstretched hand. A tingling feeling washed through me. "The invisibility will only last you until you get inside," said Rino apologetically.

"Thanks," I replied. "Don't stay out here too long."

I forced myself into a run, getting some air under my wings and managing to lift off. I barely cleared the obsidian wall around the courtyard.

My flight path was a straight line towards Kaiba's residence. Since I was flying instead of walking, it took less than ten minutes to get back to the mansion. It was still far too long, though.

The mansion wall loomed up before me. I picked out Yugi's window and angled towards it. I slowed down quite a bit to avoid hitting the wall, reaching for the windowsill.

Flapping my fading wings gently, I wrenched the window open and levered myself inside. A tingling feeling washed over me again, pins and needles taking my invisibility away. I allowed my wings to vanish and gravity roughly deposited me onto a blue padded window seat.

"Yami?" Yugi had been sitting in his bed still, writing in his journal. I could smell the ink and paper. "Yami—are you okay?"

"Very tired, Yugi, but okay," I answered. I leaned against the window frame.

"Here, Yami—." Yugi tossed his journal aside and came over to me. He was obviously not thinking about the clothes he was wearing: a pair of dusty blue boxers. He came towards me and I completely lost my train of thought.

Yugi shut the window behind me and pulled the drapes closed. "Come on." Yugi draped my arm around his slim shoulders. "Just a couple steps and you can lie down."

Yugi was warm and inviting to the touch. I stood up and moved with him the few steps it took us to reach the bed. I sat down, toed off my shoes, and, grateful for the brilliant person that invented pillows, lay back. Yugi grabbed his journal and opened it, heading for an armchair. He was probably bursting with curiosity about what I had done that morning, but wasn't peppering me with questions. Something stirred in my chest. Then, annoyingly, my stomach voiced its needs again.

"Yugi?"

He turned. "What?"

"I'm really hungry…would you mind getting me something to eat?"

Yugi reached for his pants. "Sure."

"Thanks." I closed my eyes. Yugi had had the lights on in the room. "And—could you turn out the lights when you leave?"

"Okay." I heard the pull of a zipper and the rustling of cotton. Yugi walked across the room and flipped the light switch, plunging the room into total darkness.

The door clicked open and snapped shut. My thoughts slowed down, drifting from the thing Kaiba had summoned to Yugi. I slid down in the bed, which smelled strongly of him. Finally, I entered my vampiric oblivion. The darkness here was even more pure. I floated in it, resting.

The door to our room clicked open again, a little later. I smelled food—fresh bread, aromatic cheese, many different fruits mixed together in a salad, water, and Yugi. He padded into the room quietly.

Abruptly there was a harsh bang. Yugi sucked in a breath sharply. He moved again, more slowly, towards the bed. Apparently he'd tripped and hit the table.

"Yami?" he whispered.

"I'm still awake." I sat up and reached for the tray in Yugi's hands. "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied. Yugi curled up at the head of the bed near me, hugging his knees to his chest. He was watching me. I picked up the roll and buttered it quickly. It was gone a minute later. The cheese followed. I took the spoon in hand and dug into the fruit dish. It was sweet and juicy….

Yugi was bleeding. I could practically taste it…I wanted to taste it….

"Yami?" Yugi spoke softly, about to ask me something.

"Yugi…." I set the tray aside as though in a dream. I wasn't thinking rationally anymore. I leaned over Yugi, turning to face him. Now I was a predator. "You're bleeding, Yugi…." My fangs were lengthening past my bottom lip. My stomach was sated but my bloodlust was not.

"Yami—." Yugi's voice wavered.

I leaned farther over him. One hand forced his knees down, straightening Yugi's legs, and the other toyed with the bottom of Yugi's white cotton T-shirt.

I traced Yugi's ear with my tongue. He shivered. "Off," I whispered. Yugi's hands went slowly, reluctantly, to the bottom of his T-shirt and pulled upwards. I followed his hands with mine, feeling his warmth. Blood was rushing to his cheeks. He set his shirt aside. My fingers trailed down his chest. He looked so delectable…he smelled absolutely tantalizing….

My tongue ran along his jaw, fangs brushing warm skin. "Yugi…where are you bleeding?" Yugi's blush burnt even redder. I knew perfectly well where he was bleeding, but I loved to ask. "Tell me…."

Yugi drew breath slowly, trying to be calm as he brought his fingers to his hip, barely touching the denim well below the waist of his pants. I smiled. One of my knees slipped between Yugi's legs as I bent down.

My fingers worked the button on Yugi's pants. My other hand rested against his neck, feeling the pulse there increase as I touched him. His zipper slid down and so did his pants, helped along by his tentative, innocent hands and my questing, demanding fingers. I tossed his pants aside and knelt between his legs, forcing him to keep them spread.

Yugi went perfectly, unnaturally still as my fingers stopped at the waistline of his boxers. I slid a single finger under the cloth. I licked my lips, tongue darting out between my fangs.

It was his left hip that he had hit against the table. The wound was fresh and untended; I could tell just by the scent. Had Yugi not wanted to tempt me with it by asking for healing? The smell alone was temptation enough. I hooked another finger under the waistband of his boxers and pulled, just enough to expose his bloodied hipbone.

The cream-colored skin had been torn just a little, just enough for blood to seep through. The area around it was already beginning to darken, deep purple starting to show itself. I traced around the wound with cool fingers, Yugi watching my movements with both anticipation and fear.

I bent down and licked the blood from the cut. Yugi trembled. I held his left thigh and right hip, pinning him down and preventing escape. He whispered my name and I licked again, pressing harder. A small noise escaped Yugi's lips.

"More?" I asked seductively, fangs displayed in a predatory smile.

Yugi nodded and closed his eyes.

I bent down again and cleaned off the blood seeping from the cut. He tasted sweet and succulent, fresh and innocent. I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back against the pillows. I still held his thigh and hip, preventing him from closing his legs to me.

Yugi's leaning back meant his wound wasn't trapped in the cleft where his thigh met his hip. I moved closer to Yugi, listening to his breath hitch and his heart beat.

"Ready?" The droplets of blood seeping out of Yugi's porcelain skin had me transfixed.

"Yes," breathed Yugi.

I sunk my fangs into the cut, primal instinct writhing with fulfillment. The warm, metallic taste of Yugi's blood ran through my fangs and over my tongue.

"Yami…" Yugi whispered, in a voice that I was beginning to love. His hips struggled to rise and bury my fangs deeper. I was ecstatic to oblige his wishes.

I pushed my fangs in harder, spreading the original cut wider. Yugi whimpered, but his hips rose up again invitingly…Kami-sama take me now….

I tightened my hold on Yugi's thigh and hip and drove my fangs in even deeper, relishing the luscious, coppery taste, the cry that escaped Yugi's mouth, and the feel of warm skin under my lips.

Something brushed the side of my face—something hard. I pulled my fangs out and looked up at Yugi, who was blushing profusely. His eyes were open, a mix of fear and shame shadowing the lust. Letting my eyes trail back down Yugi's chest, passing his navel, I saw what had brushed me.

I leaned over Yugi, putting my face barely an inch from his. My right hand left his right hip and settled between his legs.

"Yugi…." There was a grin in my voice. His eyes shut tightly. I ran my right hand temptingly over the bulge in Yugi's boxers. He bit his lip. I did it again, slower, rewarded with the smallest of jerks from Yugi's hips.

"Stop biting," I said softly. Yugi released his lower lip from his teeth's firm grip, but nearly bit down hard again when I ran my hand over his crotch once more.

"I'd rather be the one biting your lip," I said, claiming Yugi's mouth again. Another slow stroke from my right hand drew a quiet, wanton moan from Yugi's throat. A brief pause for breath, and then I slid my fangs inside Yugi's mouth. One careful movement punctured his lower lip as my right hand moved over Yugi's crotch. I tipped Yugi's head farther back against the pillows as his vocal cords betrayed him. The metallic taste of blood seeped into my mouth and Yugi's.

My right hand slid between Yugi's legs again, pulling an appreciative moan from Yugi. His hips lifted to meet my hand. I let go of his thigh, hooking both hands in the waistband of his boxers—

Someone rapped at the door. Damn them! I was suddenly filled with intense anger. I kissed Yugi quickly and stood up. I strode towards the door, with the intent of giving whoever it was a piece of my mind.

I yanked open the door to find a maid. "The tray, please," she said. I capped my rage, barely, and spun around. I went back inside the room and grabbed the tray. I handed it to the maid rather brusquely and shut the door again, locking it both physically and magically. I strode back into the room, pulling off my shirt and tossing it aside.

But Yugi was no longer there.

Chapter 18 is being beta'ed as you read this.