Thanks so much to my reviewers! Northern Trash-x, Mittzy, Dancers of the night, Kyro and The Duelist's Heiress!
WARNING! Hyperness from me played a part in this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh.
This chapter has been revised.
.xCHAPTER 5x.
A Christmas Eve
He needed blood. He couldn't seem to push it away any more. It didn't help that the day had been filled with blood so now, so were his thoughts. He didn't just want it; he needed it. He was craving it. That beautiful substance that resided inside the human's delicate veins, so beautiful, so rich and succulent. He could feel himself drooling at the very thought.
Keeping to Egypt's vampire law for the long years he had lived in Japan had been hard. Since he was two he had been taking blood, and now in order to stay unknown to the world, he had taken his fill only when he desperately needed it. Water was a good enough substitute, it didn't taste of anything, and the occasional cold drink was almost as nice as blood but nothing could beat it. He could not wait another day. Keeping himself from guzzling down the red liquid during the day was hard enough and his will power couldn't hold any longer.
Lying to the others had been so simple. They had no idea what he was. They were not safe around a vampire, the naïve fools. Yet they didn't know about his secret.
Checking all was silent, he carefully crossed the room, cautiously stepping over various blankets and pillows. He knew who his victim would be. He could see the boy's pale neck illuminated by the light of the half-moon that hung in the inky black sky. He crept forwards, unable to take his glinting pale purple eyes away from the boy's delicate neck.
He knelt down next to the bed, muttering a few words. A small ribbon of black energy emitted from the blond's raised fingertips. The ribbon slithered through the air, rather like a snake dancing through water, eventually finding it's way to the sleeping boy's partially open mouth.
Now certain the boy wouldn't wake up, he sank his sharp glittering fangs deep into the boy's neck, the skin soft and easy to penetrate. Blood dribbled down his chin as he drank deeply, closing his eyes, his face a picture of pure bliss.
.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.
Bakura was roughly shaken out of a deep sleep by an anxious looking Atem.
"Whadoowakemefor? Sunotupyet! Isleep..." He closed his dark brown eyes again, pulling his duvet over his head, hoping the other hunter would leave him. He had no such luck.
"Oh will you get up already! Stop acting like a child! The sun is up I just haven't opened the curtains yet idiot! Pegasus wants us at work in half an hou-"
"I GET IT!" Malik jerked awake and rolled off his couch in a tangle of blankets. He sat up, eyes looking lopsided and hair sticking up a lot more than usual. He rubbed sleepily at his eyes
"W-wha-where? Did you find it?"
"Find what?"
"The toaster."
"What toaster?"
"But you said you'd lost it..." He looked slightly confused. Atem rolled his eyes.
"You were dreaming you fool! Now hurry up!"
.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.
Now don't get me wrong Atem wasn't a workaholic, he had just got a whole lot more serious about hunting the vampire since the incident the other day.
He wasn't about to let Marik slip out of his grasp like he had all those years ago. To him, catching and killing the vampire wasn't just to rid the world of such a dangerous creature, but to avenge the attack on Téa and to regain Pegasus' trust.
The others, he felt, were slowing him down. They were too much like little children and acted in a way he would expect his brother to. He couldn't hate them for it though, if they were still kids at heart that was good wasn't it? Yet he had lost his inner child ten years ago when he realized his wrong-doing. Even though he had been a teen himself, 16 to be exact, he had felt so much guilt that he had almost forgotten how young he was. Then with that, he had forgotten how to be young. After that day he had been so engrossed in work that people often did mistake him for a full grown adult.
Maybe, just maybe, after the vampire was dead, he would be able to feel more like a kid and enjoy his life more. But for now he had work to do.
.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.
The three hunters arrived at headquarters, they pushed open the door ready to face a positively fuming Pegasus, telling them to 'get a move on they were late' and so on... But this never happened.
Instead they were met by a beaming Master Hunter, dressed in a hideous red and green suit as a change from his usual faded red one.
"Ah there you are boys! I was just about to call you!" The 'boys' looked slightly confused at his not-a-care-in-the-world attitude.
"Someone's been on the whiskey." Malik muttered, earning small snorts of laughter from Bakura.
"As a matter of fact I haven't Mr. Ishtar, but I did break into the white wine spritzers last night!" He gave a childish giggle before continuing. "I was having a think last night, (Malik: Must have hurt, More snorts from Bakura) and I came to think of how hard you have all worked for me this year. (Bakura: This is going somewhere good, Malik nods) And considering there is only one vampire left and he's not going to be much trouble, I have decided to give you your Christmas break back!"
"YES!" Bakura and Malik both jumped into the air, punching it with their fists.
"B-but sir he's still a thrmmmphnnmphumm!" Bakura had grabbed the tri-colour haired hunter, his hand wrapped around his mouth.
"I HAVE THE KILLJOY!"
"NOW WE TORTURE!" Malik gave a wild laugh and ran around in giddy circles. Atem pushed the white haired male away.
"What are you playing at?"
"Come on can't we have some fun? It's Christmas stop being a workaholic! Everyone's got to have a break even you... think of how thrilled Yugi will be! He'll have his brother for Christmas!" Atem considered this.
"I guess so... hey what about your brother? Don't you care if he's happy?"
"Nope!"
"Thats harsh 'Kura, he is your brother..." Malik was sat indian-style on the floor, leaning back on his hands.
"Since when have I actually cared for that little runt? Until he gets his act together and start acting like a boy I refuse to call him family." The albino told him.
"Thats even more ha-aaahhh! Get off!" Bakura sat smirking on the blond hunter's back.
"Not unless you buy me a drink."
"Fine, now geroff!" As soon as the albino moved however the blond tackled him and it wasn't long before the pair were wrestling, their goal... to stand up. Atem rolled his eyes and watched them a smile forcing itself onto his lips.
.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.
To his surprise, Yugi woke up last. He was amazed to see that both Ryo and Marik were sat up, washed and dressed, and quietly chatting. From what he could hear, they were discussing something to do with orange juice.
Yugi grabbed a pair of jeans, boxers, a plain white T-shirt and a leather choker, then went to the bathroom to change. He returned after having ran downstairs to get a plate of toast and jam accompanied by three glasses of water. He set the tray down on his desk.
"I was wondering how Marik was going to get breakfast without your Grandfather knowing." Ryo said as he helped himself to a piece of toast.
"So was I, but Grampa wasn't in the room so I kind of sneaked it up here, he won't mind." He too picked up a slice and bit into it, Marik followed suit.
"I was saying to Marik before; what are we going to do when Atem and Bakura get home? We can't exactly hide him in the closet." Yugi stopped chewing and cast his eyes down. He really hadn't thought about that.
"I have got a house you know, and I can get in and out without anyone noticing. Really I'll be fine." Marik insisted, wiping crumbs from his mouth.
"Ok if you're sure... hey! It's snowing!" Yugi ran to the window. "And Grampa's just gone out! Come on! I want a snowball fight!" Ryo and Marik grinned and followed Yugi downstairs.
.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.
The three friends had a long day throwing snowballs at each other, making snowmen and attempting to create igloos (none of them worked, in fact every single one caved in on the creator leaving them covered head to waist in cold snow), only entering the house to drink some hot soup or, in Marik's case, eat a sandwich for lunch.
They had been lucky that Atem was out for the whole day as he would have recognized the vampire straight away and most definitely killed him. When the trio finally returned to the comforting warmth of the game shop at around 7 o'clock, they were welcomed by a large piece of Christmas cake and a mug of hot chocolate.
Solomon Mutou was more than happy to have Marik and Ryo to stay over for the night and due to his blonde hair being long enough to hide his pointed ears and fangs kept well hidden, the kind elder was oblivious to the fact that he had allowed a vampire into his home.
Their luck even exceeded to past midnight when Yugi's older brother came in and entered the living room, where the three teens were watching a film. He failed to recognize the vampire sat next to his brother due to the huge amount of alcohol that was clearly blurring his vision and clouding his mind. The hunter sat on the arm of the sofa next to Marik and even started speaking to him, before trudging out of the living room to bed.
Unable to stop laughing at the stupidly close encounter the three forgot the film and went up to Yugi's bedroom where they almost instantly fell asleep.
.xCHAPTER 5 ENDx.