((A/N: Yay! I got three whole reviews! Since I got so little, I think I'll reply to you guys.

Becca – Thank you so much! You are too kind. You described Chase better than I could…!

Kates – Yes, vampires are hot. They're one of the reasons this story is rated T… Anyway, I think you'll like this chapter. It's got lots of vampires in it.

Ellis1788 – I'm glad you think it's cool! Here's the next chapter.))

2

For the first time in his life, Francis wanted to die. He wanted to disappear off the face of the earth. Fade from existence.

No one would care.

He was shaking as he kneeled before his king. His father. Only biologically, though. He was no longer respected as a son of the king. Not that he ever was before; his brothers disrespected him because he was the youngest, his people disrespected him because he never acted as high-and-mighty as his father and brothers, and his father disrespected him because he was his son. Oh, how the irony gods mocked him.

Zir, King of the Vampires, sat on his throne, watching his son cower in terror beneath him. Disgrace? Oh, he had passed that line long ago. Zir had put up with his son's unorthodox ways for far too long now—it was time for Francis to experience the consequences of his actions.

The two sat in silence in the empty, dark room for what seemed like hours to Francis. Finally, Zir spoke.

"Do you have any idea what shame you've brought to this nation?"

Francis winced. "Yes, sir."

"Are you regretful?"

"Yes, sir."

Zir was quiet for a moment. "That's a lie."

Francis said nothing.

The king motioned for him to stand up. His son did as he was told. "I'm sorry," Zir said. "I must do this for our—" He stopped. A long time ago, it had been their kingdom. King Zir, his wife, and his five sons. Now, years later it was King Zir and his three sons. His wife and his eldest son were dead. He had just disowned his youngest son. It was all a matter of honor. "I must do it for our kingdom."

That was something the king had said many times before. But now the word "our" did not include Francis.

Francis said, "May I bring anything with me?"

The king shook his head. "You will survive on your own."

"I see." He was on the brim of tears now. He just needed to ask one more question before he could leave. "Is there any way that I can ever regain my place in this family?"

Zir thought. "Ask Gnai. He will know."

Francis nodded and left the king's presence.

He walked through the castle hall for what he hoped would not be the last time. He had never quite enjoyed the building, nevertheless, it had been his home. He passed many of the castle servants as he walked. They all stared at him as he went by. That was something, he decided, he would not miss about this kingdom.

Francis spotted Gnai the moment he left the castle. He was in the royal garden, caring for the plants, as usual. Although that was the job of the royal gardener, Francis thought Gnai did a much better job at it. He made everything look so much brighter.

Francis smiled at Gnai. Until a moment ago, Gnai had been his favorite living brother. Now they were only related biologically. Although Francis didn't really understand that.

"Hello, Gnai," he greeted his brother.

Gnai looked at Francis. He did not smile. His face remained as grim as the faces of everyone else in the kingdom.

Francis felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He decided to ask Gnai what he needed to know, and just leave. "I asked Father—I mean, His Majesty something that he didn't know the answer to. He said to ask you."

Gnai nodded, but his expression remained the same. "What is it?"

"Is there any way I can regain my place in this family?"

The elder looked surprised. "Yes, actually. I believe there is."

Francis smiled brightly. So brightly, everyone in the area turned his or her head. The sky was cloudy today and everyone was dressed in black, as usual; not to mention that everyone was gloomier than usual on this day, because of Francis. His smile was a strange sight indeed.

Gnai simply ignored his younger brother. "Come with me." He walked out of the garden. Francis followed.

The elder entered the castle again; going into a large dusty, room filled with books. Hardly anyone ever entered the library. Francis enjoyed reading every now and then, though. Gnai was also quite fond of it, which was why he was considered among the wisest beings in the kingdom.

Gnai took a book of a shelf, dusted it off, and opened it. Unlike many of the other books in the library, this one had a title. It read, "Honor". Francis began to feel the sink-ing feeling again.

Gnai spent a few moments flipping through the pages. Finally he stopped at one place and began to read. "'When one brings dishonor to one's family, the family may be so disgraced that they may want to disown—"

"Yeah, I know that part," Francis said impatiently. "Can you hurry up and get to the good stuff?"

Gnai's expression changed neither to annoyance nor amusement; it merely remained grim. That both irritated and scared Francis. Out of all his brothers, this one had been kindest to him; laughed at his jokes; talked to him. He was still in higher authority, and so he often looked down on his little brother, but not nearly as much as almost everyone else. Now, he was just as disappointed in Francis as everyone else.

Gnai had been the middle child before his oldest brother died. Naturally, that meant that he was ignored. That gave him a lot of time on his own, to learn and to read. He also felt like it was his job to keep those older than him on the right track, and to set an example for those younger than him. He wondered, now, if he had set a good enough example for Francis.

He skipped ahead a bit and continued reading. "'There is one way to redeem yourself, if you are disowned. A—'" He stopped.

"What? What is it?"

Gnai finished reading it himself. "According to the old vampire laws, it says that you must bring Father the seven Crystal Dragon eggs."

Francis's face turned pale—paler than it already was. "Oh." Well, that was it, he decided. He was never coming back. He would never see Gnai or his father or his kingdom again.

Although their existence has never been proven, Crystal Dragons are the supposedly most rare, longest living, and most dangerous known species that has ever been discovered. There was only one left in the entire world when Francis was alive, and legend had it that it dwelled in the heart of the Infinite Forest. Every one billion years, it laid eggs—seven eggs, of seven different colors. Each of them was made of crystal, and when they hatched, the dragons also looked as if they were made of the glittering glass. Hence the name.

All Francis had to do was to be fortunate enough to be alive when a Crystal Dragon laid eggs, and be fortunate enough to get to the heart of the forest alive, and be fortunate enough to steal dragon eggs without getting killed, and be fortunate enough to get out of the forest alive with all seven of them.

Francis plopped down on the ground. It must have made him look quite weak, but he didn't even care any more. "Well," he said hopelessly, "I guess I'll be going then."

"Not yet." Gnai motioned for Francis to stand. "It just so happens that tomorrow is the two billionth birthday of the only living Crystal Dragon."

Francis stood up as he was told and shrugged. "So?"

"So tomorrow will be the first time in it's life that it lays eggs."

Francis broke out in a smile again and threw his hands in the air. "Score!" Suddenly his smile faded. "But…how am I ever going to get Crystal Dragon eggs?"

Gnai gave a sigh. "I don't know. But perhaps this will help you." He reached into his pocket and took out a small compass. "Let it be your guide."

Francis took it. He smiled again. "Thank you. I'll miss you." He hugged him.

Gnai was too surprised to do anything. Then, after a moment, he hugged his little brother back. "Francis," he whispered in his ear, "I want you to remember something." He tried his hardest to keep his expression from changing.

"What is it?" Francis asked.

"Don't let anyone ever change who you are. Not Father, or me, or anyone else. To me, you'll always be my little brother.

Francis nodded. "Okay." After a moment, he let go, waved goodbye, and left the library. "Bye, Gnai!" he shouted as he went out the door.

"Goodbye, Francis," Gnai whispered. He hoped with all his heart that he would see his little brother again.

Francis was in considerably good spirits; he said hello to everyone he saw and he hummed merrily as he walked. This, of course, turned quite a few heads. He was interrupted, though, when his other two brothers walked in front of him.

The first one to speak was Cimu. He was the heir to the throne—he had been since his older brother died. He tried a bit too hard sometimes to act like king. He was never extremely fond of Francis, but that didn't really matter now. All that mattered was that Francis had been a disgrace.

"What, may I ask, is wrong with you?"

Francis smirked. "No."

Cimu raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I said no."

The other said, "What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Hirono was the second to youngest, and he absolutely despised Francis. Before his little brother was born, Hirono was a spoiled brat, like most younger children are. Francis wasn't a spoiled youngest child (because he was different; he was shunned), but when he was born, Hirono was not the youngest any more. There was really no reason to spoil him.

"You asked me, and I quote," Francis explained, "'What, may I ask, is wrong with you'. So no, you may not ask."

Hirono was very short of patience. "You have no authority to speak to me like that!" He leapt at Francis.

"Agh!" Francis managed to dodge his brother's sharp claws and fangs. "You idiot! You can't suck my blood or any of that crap! I'm a vampire, like you!"

That didn't stop Hirono.

He leapt at his younger brother again, but Francis was lying on the ground from when he dodged, and so he didn't have time to move out of the way. When his brother landed on him, he kicked him in the stomach.

Hirono fell off, clutching himself. "Owww! Cimuuuuuuu!" he whined.

Cimu groaned. "Francis—"

"Yup, whatever!" Francis took off running. "Bye guys! See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!"

Everyone in the entire kingdom watched as he ran off.

Francis didn't have to run very far before he entered the woods. The Vampire Kingdom was located in a small clearing in the Infinite Forest. Of course it wasn't too deep into the forest, but it was deep enough that bandits were too frightened to go there. No one had ever discovered the kingdom and lived to tell the tale.

Francis sighed. He was on his own now. His only chance was to find the Crystal Dragon eggs. He took a deep breath and looked at Gnai's compass.

It pointed in four directions, but they weren't north, south, east, and west. Instead of north it had a picture of a golden heart surrounded by trees—the heart of the forest. Instead of west there was a picture of a mountain; obviously to illustrate the mountains. Instead of east there was a picture of blue waves—the ocean. And instead of south, there was a picture of The Vampire Kingdom. Beneath the picture, written in small calligraphy, was the word "Home".

Francis smiled. He would do this.

Of course, he had heard that even if you did manage to get to the heart of the forest, finding the Crystal Dragon's nest would be almost impossible. It would be well hidden, and he didn't know how big the heart of the forest was exactly. He remembered Gnai telling him once that there was someone who would be able to find out…

"The princess!" he shouted all of the sudden. That was who could find the eggs! Something in her blood or something, Gnai had said.

Francis decided there was only one thing he could do. He would kidnap the princess. Of course that would be a task almost as impossible as taking Crystal Dragon eggs.

The Vampire Kingdom was only one of the many small realms in the land. There were many different kings and queens and princes and princesses and all that, but there was one huge kingdom, called The Crystal Kingdom by coincidence, that ruled over most of the land. The king—King Garath—claimed to pretty much be the king of the world, but everyone knew that wasn't true. He just happened to own more land than anyone else.

Garath and his wife Meredith had only one offspring: their daughter, Sam. Because she was their only child, the king and queen wanted to keep her as safe as possible, so it almost impossible for someone to talk to even her, much less kidnap her.

Francis thought. He would need some major help. But how would he get it?

"Well, King Garath is super rich, right?" he told himself. "And he'd do anything to protect his daughter. If someone were to kidnap her, I'm sure he'd pay any amount of money…"

Money really had no meaning to Francis. If he kidnapped the princess, whoever helped him could have all the money they held her ransom for. All he had to do was find the dragon eggs before the king paid the ransom.

This was going to be very, very difficult to pull off.

Francis turned around and headed for the edge of the forest, to find someone to help him. He would have to hurry—dragon eggs took between one day and one month to hatch. He hoped the deadline would be closer to a month.

As he neared the edge of the forest, he thought about his name. Before, he'd always been addressed to as Prince Francis. Now it was just Francis. That sounded kind of boring to him.

"Fred!" he said to himself. Yes, he liked that name. He would be Fred…the Friendly Blood-Sucking Vampire! He laughed to himself.

When he reached the border of the woods, he saw what looked like a young wizard walking around. There was a wizardry school nearby, if he remembered correctly. Fred wasn't sure what good a young wizard would do, but it was better than nothing.

"You," he said.

The wizard froze. His eyes became the size of saucers.

"Yes, you. The one who looks like he's about to wet his pants." Fred smiled to himself. "So, you look like a guy who could use some money."

"Yes!" the wizard cried. Fred was pleased. This was going well.

"Good, because I happen to have a job for you." He realized that he was still hidden behind some trees and that the sun was already down, so the wizard must not have seen him very well. He walked out of the trees. "Yo." He sweatdropped and gave the wizard a peace sign.

For a moment the young wizard just stared. Then he seemed to gather up his courage, took a deep breath, and then he opened his mouth. "GAAAAA!"