Kai could sense that something wasn't right before he even entered the building.

It was the smell: it filtered out through the walls and, thanks to his enhanced senses, permeated his nostrils like a heavy perfume-and it was a scent he was now becoming far too familiar with.

Death.

He didn't feel any fear at that foreboding aroma, however-probably due to the fact that he hardly felt anything these days-and simply strode inside without knocking. The fact that he was able to do so meant the wards that had been placed around the building by Kaiba had been brought down. That, oddly, didn't concern the incendus much, either-although it did intrigue him somewhat.

His nose wrinkled when he crossed the threshold and the smell grew even more potent; it seemed to be coming from the bedroom, so Kai headed in that direction.

This is what throwing your lot in with itachi Uchiha gets you nothing but devastation

Tala was lying spread-eagled across the floor, his red hair in haphazard disarray around his head-and his white throat completely torn open with blood spattered all over it.

Kai stopped in his tracks at that sight, his hands dropping to his sides as he stared at his friend's corpse. Obviously, the wolf had been killed-and the mangled jugular most likely pointed to a vampire being the killer.

And kai had a feeling he knew who the culprit was

The Eidolons were behind this-he had no doubt about that. They'd probably wanted him to know that, too; they'd probably wanted him to know that this was what he got for joining up with Uchiha and the others. And it was most definitely Tala's punishment for helping them and stealing those files.

He wasn't surprised that this had happened; considering what they'd done to him just for unknowingly speaking out against them, he imagined that what they did to deserters would be much, much worse. Evidently, he'd been more than right; so he wasn't horrified or angry, either. Mostly, he was just empty.

Even before his transition he wouldn't have shown much emotion over something like this but now he didn't feel any, either it was just a cold nothingness inside him as he gazed upon the dead body of one of his oldest and closest friends

He'd heard vampires could turn their emotions off; apparently, that was all too true

Even so, though, that didn't mean he was going to just let this slide. He may not have felt the grief he should have at this turn of events-especially having been the one to cause it-but his whole vengeance quest wouldn't mean much if he let something like this go. Someone was still going to pay-and it wasn't just going to be the Eidolon he had imprisoned in the compound's dungeon.

Although that was how he was going to find out the location of the person he needed to punish.

Ray heard Kai approaching the dungeon cell where he was currently hanging before he saw him, and he knew without looking that he was in for another round of agony; that was, after all, the only purpose for these little 'visits' of Kai's.

He just barely lifted his head as Kai entered the dank, hardly lit chamber, but he could still see the incendus' cruel sneer from where he was dangling a foot above the blood-drenched floor. That was something else Ray had gotten used to; nothing seemed to give Kai more pleasure than seeing his suffering.

"Your friends have made another mistake, kitten," Kai announced in a deceptively casual tone, loping toward his captive with his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants, danger emanating from his every pore. Something was definitely wrong. "Your girlfriend killed Tala."

Ray flinched; oh, that was bad.

He knew what Tala meant to Kai, even if the incendus never showed it. And even though it was most definitely his fault for getting the wolf to betray the Eidolons-and making Ray kill her brother-there was no way Kai was going to let her get away with killing him. But Ray was going to be the first one to pay the price.

Kai was still talking, silky Russian accent cutting through the fearful haze beginning to creep over the Chinese lamia, saying almost exactly what Ray was thinking, "I may have been the cause, killing her brother and all, but he did owe me. And I wasn't planning on going after her-at least, not directly-but now, well, I can hardly just let her walk."

Ray startled when Kai suddenly blurred, reappearing right in front of him and clamping a hand tightly around his already bruised throat.

"Where is she?" the dual-haired vampire demanded, his tone dropping to one of almost deadly softness; but Ray could hear him just fine. In fact, he was all Ray could hear-him and his thundering heart.

It shouldn't have affected so much still-with all the horrible things Kai had done to him since he'd been delivered into his clutches, being choked should have been practically nothing. But it still hurt; Ray's breath still caught in his throat and his body still tensed with the pressure being applied to his windpipe. All his strength and all his endurance for pain had left him; he had not a single ounce of fight left.

So, instead of stalling or insulting Kai like he had done at the beginning, he simply surrendered and told Kai what he wanted to know.

"Probably…hiding…," he wheezed out hoarsely, every word a struggle as he gasped for air. He coughed as Kai's grip only tightened even more and forced himself to elaborate. "Lee…had…safehouse…in outskirts…of…Shinjuku…for…her."

He heaved, black spots blooming before his vision as Kai squeezed even harder, to the point where he was sure Kai was finally going to end it and kill him. Then, suddenly, he released his grip, and he slumped in his chains, both relieved and disappointed.

Before all this he never would have wished for death but now all he wanted was it to be over. He knew he'd brought this on himself by becoming one of the Eidolons but he couldn't take much more.

Kai wasn't done, however; as Ray was panting, still trying to get air back in his lungs, his hand strayed back to his neck, pressing hard against the throbbing vein at the base, and an unexpected heat exploded on his skin, causing him to let out an involuntary cry.

"Where exactly?" Kai pressed lowly, digging his nails into the lamia's collarbone, sending fire licking through Ray's insides, and Ray cried out again in protests even though he knew it wouldn't do any good. He was doomed to suffer all of the incendus' whims, no matter how many times he capitulated to his demands.

"Agate…Way," he groaned out, breaths wavering and fingers clenching with the agony currently racing through him as he strained to recall the details about the safehouse.

Kai pushed harder, likely trying to make sure that he was telling the truth-or just because he was turning into one sadistic bastard-and, when Ray simply let out another broken scream, he finally pulled back.

Ray exhaled raggedly, hoping that was the end of it. He wasn't sure that he was right about Mariah's current location; but really, what more could Kai do to him if he was wrong?

As it turned out, he wasn't.

Kai arrived on the street Ray had mentioned and was instantly able to recognize which of the buildings was serving as his target's current residence; he'd known Lee Yan well enough to know what he would consider a safehouse for his younger sister.

He flitted closer, using his enhanced vision to survey the location. It wasn't a terribly large building, with only two rooms-including the small kitchen in the corner where he was detecting the distinct sounds of a heartbeat and someone breathing.

Casting his senses out even more, Kai could tell that it was Mariah; he hadn't been around the female lamia very often, but he knew her scent as well as her brother's and could easily identify it since it was the only one in the vicinity.

His tongue flicked out to wet his lips in anticipation as he made his way around to locate a way in; it had been a while since he'd killed Lee and the fire inside him was calling for someone else to burn and consume whole. Far be it for him to deny it.

He released it, allowing it to snake out of his fingertips to attack the walls of the gray, unremarkable house; it caught on the bricks and mortar and began to wear them away, melting them to carve out a hole for him to enter through. He sauntered inside, silent and fluid as a ghost, to find the female lamia having jumped out of her seat, her fangs bared to defend herself from whoever the intruder was.

She didn't look shocked when she saw it was Kai; she did, however, look severely pissed off.

"Hiwatari," she snarled, eyes hardening into solid amber at the sight of the dual-haired vampire who had taken her lover and used him to murder her brother. "What the hell do you want?"

"You should already know the answer to that," Kai shot back smoothly, appearing supremely unaffected by her obvious ire at seeing him. "You took another thing away from me, so I have no choice but to take something else from you-namely, your life."

Mariah's eyes narrowed to slits.

"You stole Ray and murdered Lee-as far as I'm concerned, we're even," she snapped acidly, brandishing her claws at him, as if daring him to challenge her.

Which was exactly what he did.

"I disagree," he stated flatly, advancing on her, fire curling around his hands and extending out like a copper whip. His amethyst eyes blazed beneath his slate lashes, copper consuming her vision, his voice blending into the sound of the flames as he whispered. "We will never be even-not until every last one of you is ashes for what you've done to me. And, thanks to your mistake, you're going to be the next one who burns."

Mariah screamed and fell back, the flames wrapping around her entire body and searing into her flesh. Fire was the one thing that could defeat any vampire-even a lamia with their full powers.

It spread rapidly, overtaking her entire form. She writhed on the floor, trying to extinguish it; but it was no use. This was no ordinary fire-thus, it could not be put out by ordinary means.

Or at all.

I will turn them all to dust and cinders

Kai's gaze was completely pitiless as he drew more flames out of the ground until the room was filled with them, smoke permeating the air. He had no idea he could do this; it was all instinct, all subconscious, a manifestation of the anger that he couldn't feel. It destroyed the female neko-jin, scorched everything until her preternatural healing ability couldn't save her and she was nothing but a charred and empty husk.

The incendus inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of burned flesh and reveling in the echoes of her dying screams. The fire was sated-for now, at least.

The chessboard was nearly empty; now that he'd begun cleaning house, his pawns were becoming fewer and fewer. He had to admit that part-most-of that was most likely his fault, but it didn't matter. He wasn't concerned about the small losses, only the big win.

Orochimaru surveyed the black and white plank on his desk over his interlaced fingers, the cogs of his mind working to develop the next part of his plan. He had a feeling he was going to need to make a few adjustments; since he'd revealed the truth of the game to Kaiba, he'd assumed Itachi was going to be making a few alterations to his-and his were most likely going to be more…deadly.

He didn't want to admit it, but the Reaper was one hell of an opponent. Everyone else who'd ever been foolish enough to challenge him had always lost miserably thanks to his superior intellect. But Itachi-Itachi was more than giving him a run for his money. He'd evaded the snake for more than two years after leaving the Eidolons and played him for even longer than that while he'd still been a member; now he was keeping the snake even more than on his toes in this game of theirs.

The leader of the ghosts shook his head and let out a rueful laugh, He supposed he should have seen this coming; he'd heard all the things about Itachi being a genius and a ruthless killer. But he'd thought getting him on his side would mean he could use those things to his advantage; however, it had turned out to be to his biggest detriment.

When this thing had begun, he'd thought it would be an amusing diversion before he got his payback and the panther; but now it was evolving into a lot more. And he was going to have to find a way to adapt to that.

Luckily, adapting to situations was one of his best skills.

He lifted one of the black rooks thoughtfully as his mind began to turn to the possibilities of what he and his pawns could do next. He knew who the keys to all of this were and he knew he had to find a way to get them to come over to his side; he had to find a way to show them what a mistake they were making by trusting the Reaper.

That brought an idea to his mind; unlike Itachi, the members of his army knew everything was going on in this battle-including some things about the people he most wanted to turn against his enemy. And it was high time he used of those secrets to his advantage.

Orochimaru set the chess pierce down in one of the other empty spaces on the board in a decisive move; then, he used the hold he had over all of his followers to call the Noah of Pleasure to his office with a wave of his pale, thin hand.

The dark-skinned man materialized in the dimly lit chamber barely a moment later, his gold eyes flickering in the glow cast by the candles on his master's desk.

"Yes, my Lord?" he questioned silkily, arching a single immaculate black brow.

Orochimaru's lipless mouth pulled back in a bestial smile as he turned to face his subordinate and tilted his head forward slightly.

"I have a special task for you, Tyki," the snake said by way of a response, leaning forward in his chair once again. "You know the panther wants you dead-and you're going to give him the chance. You're going to challenge him-and when you have him alone, I want you to tell him the other truth about the man he's currently put his trust in."

Tyki's full lips also twisted into a malevolent sneer; oh, he liked the sound of that.

"It would be my genuine pleasure, master," he consented, bending at the waist in a formal bow before sinking through the floor to exit the office again. He couldn't wait to put this latest plan of his master's into action.

The panther wasn't going to know what hit him-again.

Kanda was alone in the compound's sitting room after Tekla and Itachi had left, pondering what the Reaper had said about earning his trust-and what he'd said in return. He'd never thought that events would lead them here; after the way their relationship had started out, he hadn't thought he would end up being the one who'd have to prove himself to Itachi.

He shook his head ruefully, lowering himself onto the couch at the far end of the room and lifting one of his long legs over the other. He couldn't remember ever being in this situation before; it had never really mattered to him whether or not anyone trusted him. It had never even mattered whether or not anyone liked him; it had always been up to everyone else to prove they were worthy of his trust.

Allen and Lavi had been the only ones who'd ever achieved that-and even then, it hadn't really been his choice. The both of them had just somehow wormed their way into his confidence, despite all his best efforts not to let them. And, as it turned out, the former had had his own agenda for doing so.

So many things had changed since those days in the order with his former lover and the junior Bookman; life had done a complete one-eighty on him.

To be honest, he'd kind of preferred the way things had been.

From the end to the beginning nothing stays the same the heartless try to find their hearts the hopeless try to find a hero the supposedly merciless are shown to be merciful and the ones we do not consider to matter show us exactly how much we don't know

There are people we shouldn't put our faith in-and people we should

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening behind him. He didn't open his eyes, though-not even when he heard footsteps approaching him.

"Your plan didn't work, you know," the familiar cool baritone of the younger Uchiha punctuated the air, as impassive as his brother's. "I know you only told me about my brother's deal with the snake because you thought it would make me turn against him or whatever. But that's not what it happened-and it never will."

Kanda wasn't immediately forthcoming with an answer, eyes still closed as he processed those words. He was only mildly stunned by that statement-Tekla had more or less told him the same thing earlier-and, to be honest, it no longer really mattered to him. Now that he'd made the decision to let go of his anger at Itachi and try to actually work with him, he did somewhat regret trying to get his brother to betray him. He'd known that was wrong; so, it was fortunate that it hadn't panned out the way he'd thought it would.

"I'm sorry," he said finally in a low, bland tone, eyelids half lifting to meet the younger bluenette's gaze. "I shouldn't have done that. I know it wasn't my place to tell you anything. But I wanted to hurt your brother for what he'd done to me and all the secrets he kept, and you seem to be the only thing he cares about enough that it would hurt if you were to be gone."

Sasuke's white forehead creased.

"What has he done to you that was so bad?" he queried shrewdly, brows furrowed.

The panther's eyes opened wider, darkening at the real puzzlement in Sasuke's tone; he'd suspected that he wasn't the only one who didn't know much about Itachi, but the fact that the Reaper's own brother didn't know this was a surprise.

"You don't know? He was the one who sent the Eidolons after my family, and he recruited the Noah-one of whom, in turn, recruited the person who brought me and lied about loving me for several years," Kanda explained flatly, turning away from Sasuke again so he wouldn't see his expression; he didn't want him to know how painful talking about this still was.

Sasuke seemed to pick up on that, and he understood-though he really wished he didn't. Just like with what Kanda had told him about the game, he wanted to say that he didn't believe any of that, but Itachi had done the same thing to him: he'd been the one to kill his family.

"But you're over that now?" he quipped, his eyebrows shooting up with unconcealed scepticism.

Kanda lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug. "I'm trying to be."

His companion paused, peering at him for a moment as if considering something for nearly a full moment before speaking again.

"You should," he stated quietly but firmly, taking a step closer to the couch where Kanda was sitting, forcing him to look at him again. "My brother may have his faults; he may have done some terrible things, but, underneath it all, he's really a good person-and the best person to have next to you at a time like this. If you're going to trust anyone, trust him."

No more room for doubt

Despite the seriousness of the situation, the corners of Kanda's mouth twitched. That was pretty much exactly what the Vampire Lords had said when he'd confronted them about Itachi's secrets; he supposed if so many people were telling him that, it had to be true.

Now all he had to do was earn the Reaper's trust in return.

He was saved having to respond by the front door opening once again, signaling Tekla's re-entering the sitting room, spinning a knife between her gloved thumb and forefinger.

"That was fast," Kanda commented, turning towards her.

Tekla smirked, tucking the knife back into her belt.

"Well, the Lee girl never was much of a fighter," she replied truthfully-then, her gaze shifted to Sasuke. "And now that you're back, Sasuke, I think it's time we get everyone together and put everything on the table. Everyone needs to know what the next part of the plan is."

They all came down into the sitting room, taking up different positions either against the wall or in one of the many chairs facing each other expectantly.

Since Tekla was the one who'd called them, she was the one who spoke first.

"I imagine most of you aren't really feeling like we're much of a team, and I think it's way past time that we fix that," she declared from her perch on the armchair next to Kanda, hands in the pockets of her jacket as she looked at each of her companions in turn.

"And how do you think you're going to do that?" the darkling demanded slightly acidly, narrowing his gray eyes with obvious disbelief. "We've all been lied to from the start-by you and by the Reaper-about everything. The other Legacies and I might have made our peace with it, but we aren't the only ones around here."

Tekla cast her gaze around again, shifting it from Chazz's granite stare to look at the others, searching their faces for any hints of reproach or anything else negative. The Cyber heir and the white dragon were completely inscrutable, while the prophet and the panther appeared calm enough.

But it was the incendus' expression that she was most interested by-or rather, his lack thereof.

She'd heard that when Kai had been told about the game, he'd been unfazed-and that was exactly how he looked. His inhumanly pale face was utterly blank, and his lean form was curiously relaxed, angled over the far wall next to the Uchiha brothers with his arms folded over his muscled chest and his head tilted low so his slate bangs veiled his eyes.

Clearly, he was exercising that ability that vampires had to shut off their humanity. And that was something she could work with.

The sorceress withdrew her hands from her pockets and stretched her arms out in front of her.

"Why don't we start by talking about the Eidolons a little?" she suggested by way of an answer. "Not everyone here knew exactly what they were about before running afoul of them; maybe hearing the truth behind the madness might help with all of this."

Chazz continued to stare at her, not saying anything. Kai was the one who spoke up this time.

"Give it a shot; let's see how it goes," he said, his Russian accent flat and toneless, like he didn't really care one way or the other.

No one raised any objections, so Tekla inclined her head and continued.

"It was meant to be a venture for peace, a way of culling all of the worlds armed forces under one power so they wouldn't be fighting each other anymore," she began her explanation soberly. "But Orochimaru corrupted it and turned it into a dictatorship. They brought him in because of his exceptional intellect, but he used it to take over, bringing in his own people and using the others to find those who he deemed special. Then, as I'm sure some of you know, he performed experiments on them to make their powers his."

"And those that weren't, the ones who were just ordinary, they were treated as nothing more than cannon fodder in Orochimaru's bid for complete dominance," Kanda put in scathingly, gaze flashing at the memories Tekla's words were evoking. He knew better than anyone what she was talking about-and he was sure Itachi felt the same way.

He looked over at the Reaper, wondering what this story was making him think about; but, as usual, the elder man was utterly unreadable, leaning up against the wall between his brother and Hiwatari with his back rigid and his eyes firmly shuttered. The younger Uchiha, though, had his jaw clenched; he probably knew what Kanda was feeling, too.

Tekla inclined her head a second time, agreeing with his statement.

"That's why I turned against them; that's why they made me ostracized and have been hunting me to the ends of the earth for years now. And that's why I decided I wanted to take them down," she finished fiercely, a hint of steel entering her dark eyes. She turned toward Kanda pointedly, prompting him to say something else.

"They murdered my family to get to me, and they made me fall in love with Allen just so he would keep me in line," he shared lowly, his focus still on both of the Uchiha brothers. "That was why I risked my freedom and agreed to join this fight-and why I'm still here, despite knowing the real truth behind it."

Sensing the questions about to be asked about Kanda's declaration, Tekla spoke again.

"Orochimaru is the one who began all this, and for that, I want to kill him myself." She paused, conjuring a forest green, leather-bound book from the air and laying it out for everyone to see. "And, thanks to this, that is something I finally know how to do."

That got a reaction out of everyone-well, almost everyone.

"That says how to kill the snake?" Sasuke asked sharply, pushing himself off the wall to get a better look at the open book.

Tekla smiled as the majority of the others did the same.

"It says how to kill all of the Eidolons, Sasuke,"she elaborated, running a finger down one of the fraying pages. "It's what Itachi, the Vampire Lords and I have been working on ever since the beginning; with the powers of the panther," she nodded at Kanda again. "The incendus," then tilted her head toward Kai. "The knight, the king and myself, combined with a particular ritual, we can take them all out at once. And the time for that ritual is drawing near."

"When?" Kai piped up suddenly, lifting his head so everyone could see his copper orbs flashing with unconcealed eagerness.

Tekla's smile widened a fraction.

"Two weeks," she stated with no small amount of eagerness herself.

The light at the end of the tunnel