Let's see which moments in this chapter was a huge surprise...

To LunaEtSidera: Don't worry, the three other sisters are not gonna die, I can assure you. But there will a close call with one of them, that's all I'm gonna say. Now, for your question at the last segment: No, I am not going to use the traditional KH materials. I'm just playing around with the characters and putting them in a completely different world and genre. That being said, it's nice to know you're really interested.

Anyways, without further ado, here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

I own nothing except for my OCs.

Read, leave a review, but no flames.

Chapter 18: The Looming Shadow

Three days have passed, and the day of Caroline's funeral had arrived on a warm, crisp autumn afternoon. Despite the relatively decent temperature, the clouds gave off a dark gloom hovering over the witnesses of the burial of the unfortunate woman who had been murdered by an unknown cause.

Everyone came to attend; all of them dressed in black, in mourning of the one whose life were lost so suddenly. Mary and her sisters watched on somberly as three men carried the ironically grand casket into the dismally ancient crypt that Kairi and Xion had opened to rest their lost relative in, while Terra helped the men fulfill their job. Speaking of which, their cousins were also there in attendance, the both of them holding each other tightly as they tried not to cry too much during the solemn procession. An aging priest recited the final rites as everyone waited for the tomb to be closed, and as soon as the burial has been completed, the rites were finished with a prayer of peace for the fallen.

Afterwards, many of the visitors scattered off from the site for the funeral ceremony – most of them gave little words of sympathy to the family before returning to their homes, while a select few chose to stay behind and speak with the Chastain and Lander family a little while longer on petty things before leaving.

However, Mary couldn't keep her eyes off the dismal mausoleum even with its door closed securely, almost as though she were expecting Caroline to somehow come back to life and bang on the door to let someone know she's inside with the forefathers of the Chastain family. But she knew better than that. She knew that Caroline had been killed, but something in the back of her mind refused to believe that the fiend who trapped her sister simply chose to murder her. After all, the professor planned to investigate into the real cause of her death. Perhaps she could find something in her cousin Terra's library; he has plenty of books she could look into, so maybe she could do her research on the lore of the vampire and see what she can learn.

She needed to know what the real nightmare is. She must know the truth…

"Excuse me? You're Mary Chastain, aren't you?"

When she heard the young male voice, Mary turned to find someone new next to her as though he wanted to talk to her. But once she identified the blond hair and eyes similar to that of Ventus, she remembered that the person she was facing was one of the people her female cousins knew of and was due to marry.

"Oh, hello…I don't think we've met yet," Mary said awkwardly.

"That's alright. We haven't been able to meet personally up till now," the young man replied as he extended a hand out, "The name's Roxas. I run the clockwork shop within town, though I doubt you've been there."

"No, I haven't. We have yet to get more involved in exploring the town," Mary answered as she reciprocated the handshake, "But after what's happened to my sister, I fear that any exploration and interactions within town will have to wait a little longer."

Roxas nodded in humble understanding. "I understand what you mean. I am very sorry about your loss, Miss Mary. I hope you and your sisters will be able to cope with the unfortunate change."

Outwardly, Mary gave him a nod of appreciation for the sympathies, but her mind knew that it would hard for the family to cope with such thing with the horrors they'd seen before. In fact, she knew that neither he nor the other gentleman Sora is aware of what has been haunting the sisters ever since they got into town. Personally, she'd prefer not to get too many people involved because it dreaded her to think of how many more casualties they'd suffer; on her part, she'd rather that those directly in the family go through this personal hell than drag anyone else into the mix. That's why she had to act quickly, unless she does want the casualty on innocents to rise…

When the twilight had arrived and darkness was about to cover the sky, the family started to head on their way back home to settle other matters. Kairi and Xion had already left to resume their personal affairs, but it was pretty clear that they needed some time to come to terms with the tragedy. Everyone needed their spare time to gather themselves together and find a way to keep on going through their trying days.

But as they were heading to the coach, the sisters caught notice of four black horses coming towards the cemetery with four men concealed under black cloaks. When Mary caught the familiar features of the master as well as the man with the eye-patch and the man with pink hair, she froze tensely as though she were ready to get out should things get out of hand with this unwarranted meeting. Everyone else's emotions ranged from baffled to dumbstruck to find the strangers coming to such a dreary place at this time of hour; what could they possibly be doing, coming after a funeral had just been finished?

"Can we help you, gentlemen?" Terra asked them, uncertain as to what was going on. "It's not too often someone comes here as soon as it starts to get dark."

"What, is there a rule to not come here after dark?" Xigbar asked sarcastically.

Xemnas gave him a harsh glare, silencing him, before speaking to the family. "I heard that a tragedy has occurred within town, and wanted to know what happened. Though, given how all of you seem to be in mourning, am I to assume that someone close to you was lost?"

Jane nodded glumly. "Our sister, Caroline, was discovered dead a few days ago. She was murdered, but nobody knows who could've done it."

"How unfortunate…To think such misfortune had to strike you like that," Marluxia said with eerie pity.

Xemnas gave a curt nod. "Allow me to offer my condolences, young sisters. It is such a pity that Caroline did not have the chance to experience life because of the cruelest circumstances."

"Your sympathies are most appreciative, sir. It's been especially hard since…well…We had so much hope for a brighter future together, but it fell apart as soon as we learned about Caroline's fate," Mina replied, accepting the sympathy.

Something about the false sympathy given to them rang a few alarm bells in Mary's mind; Xemnas and his men were hiding something, she was sure of it. But she dared not say any accusations aloud lest she attract the wrong attention too quickly. Evidence is the first thing she needs before she exposes them for the fiends that they truly are.

"I don't mean to be rude; sir, but I'd best bring my cousins back home. We still have other matters to take care of," Terra politely interrupted, "but I'm sure we'll be ready to receive guests as soon as all three of them have recovered from the heavy blow."

A small smile crept on Xemnas's face at the invitation. "I look forward to our next meeting, good sir. Until later, then…"

Without anything else to discuss, Xemnas and his company continued on their way to the cemetery while the family gathered into the coach to depart before night fully covered the area. As they were doing this, though, Mary looked out the window to watch what the unwanted visitors might be doing among the tombstones and crypts scattered around the place. From afar, she could see them walking by unfazed by the dismal atmosphere, scanning the area as though they were searching for something. But then her suspicions increased when the last she saw was the three closing in on the Chastain family tomb, where Caroline had just been laid to rest; it made her dread what their intentions might be…

As soon as the entire family was far from plain sight, Xemnas waved his hand at the mausoleum door, causing it to open without effort as though the locks were nothing to him. Then, Xigbar moved on ahead to scan for the casket that the victim had been kept in, considering that he would know who had been buried inside the crypt just now due to what he knew from Xaldin's grisly exploits. Sure enough, with a sharp sense of smell and knowledge on the significant differences on the buried members of the family, the casket in which Caroline was placed in was located in the farthest region of the crypt close to the stained glass windows that began to gleam in the pale moonlight.

"Alright, here's where she is. Caroline Chastain, first victim of the family," Xigbar announced casually, "Boy, did they go through a lot of trouble to have her placed in the ancestral tomb? They must've thought she's no more. As if!"

Marluxia opened up the casket, able to get a good look at the results of Xaldin's work on Caroline. It was easy to see that the wounds she was inflicted with were still there despite the burial gown trying to keep her beautiful, but it was also noticed that the colors of her body didn't lean toward the deathly pale or the normal rosy coloration of a typical human being. That meant their follower was true to his intent on revenge against her; she has become one of the undead, and will be a nightmare to the common folk.

"Well, Xaldin certainly did an impressive job on her. That means it is only a matter of time until she wakes, hungry for the blood of other living souls," Marluxia commented in fascination, "It's a pity we won't be able to see how she will raise chaos and fear onto the public. I would've loved to observe how predatory she will get."

"Knowing that Xaldin has done his work is satisfying enough. We will leave this woman be, and allow her to give the survivors something to fear," Xemnas said while examining her body, "We shall see whether this will get the attention of our visitors first, or one of the Chastain sisters. Either way, she'll bring us much closer to the rest of them."

Xigbar laughed at this. "Wouldn't that be something? I'm certainly looking forward to a little more fun once we've found our opening."

After thorough examination of the body of Caroline, Xemnas carefully closed the lid as though he didn't want to disturb her and began to take his leave of the mausoleum.

"Come, all of you. We'd best leave this one alone, and let her make a little trouble on the townsfolk," Xemnas commanded, "We have other matters to attend to. After all, the invitation has been extended to us. We might as well take advantage of it."

"Honestly, Professor, I am surprised that you came to me so suddenly and asked for access into the library. After hearing about Miss Caroline's untimely demise and the mystery surrounding her death, I wasn't sure what to make of all of this."

"Believe me, Ansem; I am just as perplexed as you are about the whole situation. But I have reason to believe that there is much more to this than we think there is."

While the family was busy attending the funeral and seeing that Caroline is laid to rest, the professor went to pay a visit to Magistrate Ansem personally and see if he could gain access to his private library. Though it wasn't easy to explain to him the true reason behind it, he was able to explain somewhat about the strange circumstances surrounding Caroline's murder and that he wanted to find a connection with the mysterious illness of the patients in Terra's hospital. With this information on hand, the magistrate was willing to allow him to continue his research with what the archives have to offer.

"Well, then, since you might be very absorbed by your studies, I'll leave all of you to your studies until I tell you otherwise," Ansem said as he opened the door to the library, "I still have other matters to attend to, so take as much time as you need until further notice. If you've found anything, please let me know by any means."

"I'll see what I can do about it, sir. Thank you for your time," the professor thanked him.

As soon as Ansem was gone, Eraqus immediately began searching each shelf until he found an old book that told of the folklore of the vampire; immediately, he pulled it out and opened to read what the contents had to help him verify his suspicions as to the bizarre death and the haunting of the Chastain family. As he poured through page after page for a clue to his investigation, he found something that gave him all the answers that he needed, morbid and macabre though they may be:

'Among the many well-known creatures of the night, there is only one word that arouses a fear unlike anything else. One monster that has always terrified and intrigued the minds of mankind is called none other than the vampire. These creatures have been known by several names: the un-dead, nosferatu, vampyr… But all of these sum up what we commonly call 'vampire'.

'These creatures of the night come in many forms, even the form of those who have either died or have succumbed to their own dark vices in their past lives. Although many scholars have debated on the true origin of the vampire, none can deny that there are different methods for a person to become a drinker of human blood. In some cases, the victim would have his or her blood consumed either by their own volition or by force. In either case, once this process has been done, the victim in turn will become one of the undead themselves and prey upon the living – even on their closest loved ones without so much as a hint of remorse.'

After reading this, Professor Eraqus developed a strong vibe that this might've been what happened to Caroline when she was alone on the streets; if Caroline was indeed attacked by such a creature and that violently, then that means she was about to fall into a darkness that she couldn't escape from herself. It made him dread how he would have to explain the whole matter to the three sisters, and if he did, how could he explain to them the possibility of vampires hunting them down?

But then again, there had to be a reason those peculiar men – Xemnas and his loyal followers – had a keen interest in the sisters. He was sure that it wasn't simply to be on good terms with them; if anything, their speech and their movements had strong indications of dangerous beasts out for their intended prey.

To be sure, he kept reading on to find out what else there might be on the subject he was looking into. But the next thing he read was something that not even he anticipated in his life:

'However, what was uncommonly spoken of is that there are some cases of vampires that come into existence when the transformed succumb to their worst, darkest sides. Depending on the circumstance of the person's downfall, it is possible for the worst of emotions and cardinal sins to overtake the individual, and subsequently become the nightly beast after their deaths. These cases of vampire are significantly different from the usual undead as they retain an extent of their human instincts that they used to carry in their past life while also bearing the predatory nature of the fiends they have become.

'Unfortunately, such a creature is rather difficult to spot even among the humans that stroll through the night as they are capable of absurd amounts of restraint with their natural instincts and are very calculative about their intended targets. That means in order to locate this manner of vampire; one must make use of the normal means of protection in order to expose them for what they really are.'

As soon as Eraqus finished reading that last entry, the puzzles that he had encountered were quickly starting to come together; though he doesn't have all the pieces in place, he was able to finally find just enough information to help him trace the mystery of these horrors straight to the source. At the very least, he now knew where to begin the hunt for the real monsters behind the terror against the sisters! The only thing he had to do now was figure out how to convince them to believe the notion of vampires pursuing them…

Without another word, Eraqus immediately returned the book to its proper place and hurried out of the library. He knew that this was his only chance to launch the investigation in full, and he will need all the help he can get on this mission.

"I have to inform Ventus and Aqua as soon as possible. The hunt is now on!" he declared to himself, "As soon as I've updated them, I must find a way to convince the Chastain family to assist me in putting an end to the fiends that have been threatening them so. I can only hope that it won't be too late to save them…"

Under the cover of night, as soon as everyone was asleep, Mary took advantage of the silence in the house to sneak down to her cousin's library and commence with her own investigations on the things that have been happening around her. Not only did she want to know what her elder sister had become after such a merciless death, but she also wanted to know whether the contents of the journal she still has have a connection to the events that have been occurring now. As much as she didn't want to believe in the notion of something supernatural, she couldn't help thinking that whatever the professor was convinced about had to have elements of the truth hidden from the eyes of the unaware folks who have forgotten the old superstitions.

Under the light of a single candle, Mary search through shelf after shelf for something – anything – that can give her a good place to start for her investigations. After a frustrating search, she finally found a single, untouched in contrast to all the other books within the room; the title only read Mysteries of the Fallen, which – to Mary – must mean to speak of subjects that not many would talk about.

Carefully, she opened the book and inspected each chapter until she found one particular chapter that bore the name of the person she meant to look into: Xemnas. Though she was anxious to find out what she needed to know that hasn't been revealed, another side of her couldn't help thinking that she might be taking too great of risks and will increase the danger against her. But her drive for knowledge convinced her to do as she intended, and she began to read what the contents had to say:

'If there is one mystery that has been filled with dark stories and tragedy that could keep any scholar guessing, one of these mysteries that have perplexed the minds of historians is that of the ancient nobleman under the name of Xemnas. But for all the speculation and superstition surrounding this mysterious figure, there are some elements of truth that can be found from what documents could be recovered from the libraries of old.

'Centuries ago, Xemnas was known to be one of the most respected and feared among the ranks of nobles that reigned over the countryside. Of all the many members of nobility, he was one of the survivors of a deadly plague that spread across the entire land; it was said that many of the peasantry and some of the nobility were affected by this horror, while others were able to barely escape the deadly death that caught the kingdom by surprise. When the surviving peasantry began a rebellion on the wealthy populace and skirmishes carpeted the cities within the realm, Xemnas aided a few refugees by bringing them into his province within the vast rural region of Hollow Bastion whilst hiding them from the battles that were commencing from afar.

'However, among the nobles that he welcomed into his province, none stood out much more than the frail noblewoman under the name of Hellene Steiner.

'The love between Xemnas and Hellene was legendary within the noble circles as not many people suspected that someone would be able to catch the attention of the aloof man who many had trouble approaching on a personal level. Some notes that could be found have strongly indicated that she was one of the crowning jewels among the highest ranking women with an exceptional beauty and innocence despite her unfortunately sickly conditions, which certainly gives historians all the more reason to believe that he was once actually capable of love regardless of his lack of socialization among his peers.

'However, with the untimely death of Hellene, a significant gap in knowledge has plagued the legacy of the man of legend. Though it was known that his beloved had died due to a powerful illness, no one knew where she had been buried nor did anyone know of the fate of the man who had treasured her in the first place.'

This was familiar territory for Mary when she started reading within the chapter and grew absorbed by what information the scholars and historians were able to gather around the mysterious man who was once so noble. She was able to pinpoint the things she had read in the old journal with the lore behind Xemnas, and was able to recall what she knew before. But then, she also remembered that the last entries indicated that he felt lost and angry that he had lost something important to him. She wanted to know what happened to him afterwards.

But when she turned to the next page, what she found raised her eyebrows at the speculations surrounding the vanishing of the mysterious noble.

'After the death of Hellene Steiner, Xemnas and a select number of servants under his employ mysteriously vanished along with a number of others who were in the service of the nobleman. Because of these strange circumstances, there were numerous ideas as to the fate of these individuals who had once lived within the walls of Hollow Bastion. Some people say that Xemnas wasted away in loneliness and subsequently died of a broken heart, and his loyal servants chose to die with him so as to not leave him alone; but there was no evidence as to such a notion due to lacking documents on the later life of the master. Others had reason to believe that he left the castle and disappeared to parts unknown and his servants vanished shortly after with no purpose left in the castle; but that theory was eliminated due to no indications of empty rooms and every piece of furniture still remaining inside the ancient structure.

'But many of the superstitious folk around the countryside had reason to believe that after the death of Hellene, Xemnas succumbed to his grief and anger at the loss of his love. According to the lore of the villagers that used to live within the area, he vowed to rise from his own death to curse every living soul until he can find his lost love and reunite with her once more. There were whispers that he willingly became a nightly creature and has since then terrorized the land with the intent on finding the one thing that could put his blackened heart at ease.

'While there are some scholars who find such a theory rather farfetched, this was by far one of the most persistent stories to be told in history. Until this day, we will never truly know what became of the mysterious man who was once a legend in his own right.'

Mary couldn't read any further on it as she fell into a powerful shock at what she had found within the pages of its mystery surrounding the one person she wanted to know more about.

It was disturbing enough when she wondered what became of the writer of the journal she had taken from the castle; but with what she had just read, it gave Mary all the more reason to believe that the writer of the journal was indeed Xemnas!

It all started to make sense to her: the peculiar stories that she had heard while they were at the castle, Xemnas's unsettling interest in Mina, and the secrets that they had unintentionally uncovered… All of the pieces were starting to fall into place! It was no wonder why she and her sisters were being targeted in the first place. They have caught a glimpse as to what their true nature is, and her younger sister Mina has caught the attention of Xemnas for a reason that only he knows. Why else were they being followed and hunted?

She knew that she had to relay this information to the professor as soon as possible, if only to delay any possible harm to come to her family at all costs. But she also knew that since she has found a answer as to the reason behind the seemingly endless nightmare, she would have to be extra careful when facing these powerful enemies; after all, given how she is, it's most likely her that would be getting marked for death…or worse than that. However, she knew that she had to take the chance, for her family's lives are on the line along with her own.

Unbeknownst to her, though, Mina was also wide awake – but for a completely different reason than what her sister has. Her thoughts had been plagued by confusion and grief, and had a lot of trouble understanding why her family had to experience such pain when they were supposed to be living a better life than before.

With all of this burdening her mind, Mina thought it would be best to speak with Mary if she's awake and see if she could get any counsel from him. But when she opened the door to her elder sister's bedroom, she was surprised to find that she wasn't there; there were some signs that indicated she had left the room when she was still awake, but she didn't have the faintest idea where Mary could've gone. Then again, if there was something on her mind, she would've gone to the only places she would know of within Terra's house to collect her thoughts. In hindsight, that would've been the best place to look for her sister; but she thought it best to not disturb her if she wants to sort it out on her own.

But just as she was about to turn and leave, something peculiar caught Mina's eye: on Mary's little desk where she would place her glasses when it was time to sleep, an old, well-loved journal was nestled near the corner, waiting for someone to pick it up. Having never seen such a strange thing before and her curiosity getting the better of her, she picked up the journal and took it with her back to her bedroom so that she could take a look inside its old pages and find out who originally owned it.

As she slowly read each page, she could easily tell that the writer was experiencing a variety of different emotions throughout the course of his life (she figured out that the writer was a man due to certain bits of grammar that hinted at this); but when she got to the parts where the person wrote of Hellene, she couldn't help feeling a nostalgic sentiment about the love that was shared between the two loved ones when all was peaceful and free of pain.

"She has to be a rather lucky woman to have met such a kind man," Mina commented to herself.

But as she read further, she found that the story took a drastically darker turn when she read about the tragedy of Hellene's illness and her subsequent death; she couldn't even resist reading into the final entries of the writer as he expressed his grief and his anger at losing someone who meant so much to him. It shocked her that he would speak as though he vowed a vengeance that would continue from beyond the grave, but it made her question why someone would do that out of sadness and rage?

"What did you do to yourself?" Mina couldn't help questioning. "What did you become?"

When she turned another page, she found one particular entry that raised her eyebrows, and made her heart fill with unease at what she had read:

'It has been years since I last wrote in this journal, and looking back on all of it, it intrigues me that I have become something different from an average human. When my despair and anger were at their worst, I felt myself changing from the inside out and it affected not only my mind but also my own well-being. At first, I felt myself getting weaker and weaker, but then I had the feeling of regaining my strength along with uncanny talents I never thought I'd be able to gain in my lifetime.

'One could say that I first experienced a brief moment of death, but when I returned to life, I have become a new creature yet I am still able to act and behave as I used to be when I was but a normal human being. But I felt it would be wrong if I had this immortality for myself; what few servants that never left my side through me personal hell were perfect individuals to share this transformation with, and through my own power, they have become what I am now. We have become creatures of the night, roaming in the darkness seeking fresh lives to sustain our dark existence. It took time, but with enough learning and education on the ancient lore within the library well as experience on the field, we were able to master our dominion over the long abandoned region of our old province and found a way to take advantage of any who would cross into our threshold.

'But even so, I have not forgotten my desires and intend to do what it takes to regain what I had lost all those years ago. Hellene is all I want back in my life, but surely she must've returned to live another life, perhaps better than the life she did before when her illness had hindered her so much. If I could just find her new form, I'll know who to bring into my life and give her the eternal life that I have come to possess.

'I need to be patient, though. But I am confident that I will find her, even if only in body…'

After reading that strange entry, Mina felt a powerful, painful headache cross her head; this caused her to drop the book in the midst of her distraction unknowingly as she tried to pull herself together. She couldn't understand how this painful sensation came to her so suddenly, but tried as she did to overcome it, she couldn't handle it too well. To make the situation much more difficult, when Mina was able to open her eyes to regain her senses, she was surprised to find that she was seeing the same apparitions of the sickly lady and her lover together; but she saw that the two were going through a rather sad moment as the man was holding the body of his love close to him, his face showing intense grief at the loss.

She couldn't help questioning what was happening to her and why only she could see these phantoms before her eyes. Mina knew that she was of sound mind, but it didn't help her situation as the pain in her head worsened; slowly she felt herself losing any balance she originally had and was on the brink of losing her consciousness without any answers as to what she was going through.

But tried as she could, ultimately Mina felt herself weakening until her legs finally gave out; the last thing she could remember was collapsing onto her bed and losing her vision until everything finally went black…

In the earliest of morning, just an hour before dawn, one of the men who manage the lampposts was simply minding his own business and working on putting out the lights to prepare for the coming morning sunlight. But then, in the midst of the serene silence of the early morn, a small groan was heard from somewhere in the streets. His curiosity getting the better of him, the man stopped what he was initially doing and followed the groan to investigate who it was. For all he knew, it might've been just a drunk man who wound up in the wrong place and is about to regain his senses; or perhaps it was just a homeless beggar waking up from a rough sleep, but who could tell?

But when the lamppost lighter looked around the corner of an alleyway, he was shocked to find a young man seated against the wall while pressing his hand against his neck. What could've happened there? There was only one way to find out.

To the witness's horror, it was discovered that the youth had two small wounds on his neck and he was looking rather pale and weak! But there may be a chance to help the poor lad before his ailment gets worse. Immediately, he called for help, and in a short time, a few residents came out of their homes to provide assistance while others called for the police and a doctor.

Later in the morning, the newspapers brought out the information to the public eye; many of the townsfolk were startled and confused as to what had happened hours before. According to the paper, when the police had been brought to the scene and a doctor took care to help the unfortunate victim, it was learned that the poor soul had been lured and attacked by a mysterious stranger – a woman, no less – but any description of her was few and far between; the most the investigators could get out was that the woman wore a red decorated dress, but that was all.

However, the papers covered that the victim claimed to have met this woman while he was walking home and was asked to accompany her because she didn't want to travel alone. After that, the rest of his memory was a blur and the last he knew was that he felt something pierce into his neck.

On the cover of the newspaper, the title boldly spoke what could be understood: Who is the Woman in Red?