Thankyou all reviewers! Spidey meets Wizard-Theif, dancers of the night, kyro, The Duelist's Heiress and Northern Trash-x!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own YuGiOh.

This chapter has been revised.

.xCHAPTER 7x.

The Other

"Well done, taking on those hunters...but now that I've found you, you won't have to worry about them much longer..."

Marik glared up at the approaching figure, inching backwards.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked nervously. The other chuckled and leaned against the opposite wall.

"All in good time, my friend." He looked down at Marik, grinning at his confusion. The young vampire's eyes were examining the male, trying to work out who he was in the dim light. He couldn't help but get an impression that he knew the other.

"You put up a good fight there, very impressive, why did you run away though?" Marik's gaze turned to the floor.

.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.

Atem slammed the shop door behind both him and Yugi. The noise caused their grandfather to awaken suddenly and almost topple out of his chair.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" The hunter bellowed. Yugi shrank back towards the living room door, eyes to the floor.

"Atem, calm down! What is the meaning of all this shouting?"

"Yugi has been with a vampire for WHO KNOWS how long and been HIDING IT FROM ME!"

"No he hasn't Atem, he's been here for the last two days with his frien-"

"WHAT? YOU LET IT IN THE HOUSE?"

"Now don't you shout at me young man! I didn't suspect anything as he was so polite and well behaved, even you seemed to get along with him nicely." Solomon folded his arms and looked at the hunter, looking slightly triumphant. Yugi stifled a smile.

"Don't try to make it sound like the perfect gentleman, because it never will be! And I wouldn't get along with it even if my life depended on it! What gave you that id-"

"You came in last night and sat next to him talking as though you'd known him all your life." Atem was stunned. He suddenly decided he was never going to drink again. Solomon went back to his seat and looked dangerously at the hunter, "Now I want you to apologize to Yugi for wrongly accusing h-"

"I, will not apologize for anything, HE has done wrong."

"Vampire or not he did nothing to hurt you or Yu-"

"TÉA IS DEAD BECAUSE OF IT!" Yugi and Solomon both gasped. "She died in hospital the other day. That thing stabbed her and it killed her!" Atem was red in the face, and small tears were showing in his eyes. He wasn't finished. "But you wouldn't know, of course you wouldn't. You never ask. You were to busy hiding that vampire behind my back!" Yugi looked up at his brother, almost in tears.

"B-but you did kill his sister, and he would never hurt us..." The hunter fixed Yugi with a gaze that showed sarcasm.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought they were all as bloodthirsty as each other, but if this one is different... oh wait! What's that on your neck? Is it a bite?"

The boy's hand shot up to his neck. True to his brother's words, he could feel two small scabs forming from what could have only been a vampire bite. Yugi looked up at his brother, tears starting to fall. His brother was wearing a smirk that made him feel terrible, "B-but he s-said..."

"Said what? He's your friend? He'd never hurt you? You could sit and eat lollipops all day and sing happy songs? I guess he's been lying to you."

"B-but he wouldn't do that..."

"Wouldn't bite you? You SAW what happened today! He ripped Seto's arm apart! He could have killed Bakura too and you think he isn't capeable of biting YOU?"

"S-so why did he stop when he saw me?" Atem blinked. Why had he done that? The hunter turned around and stomped out of the shop, declaring he'd had enough.

.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.

"You hurt Yugi did you? Well I must have missed that, what did you do to him?"

"I bit him."

"No you didn't."

"I must have done! I looked at him and he had a bite!"

"How can you be sure?"

"Because I was out of control! You saw me! I must have bitten him by accident! Like I said I was out of control like something was in control of my body, then I regained control and saw Yugi with a bite and I'm the only one that could have done it!"

"Don't worry yourself, you didn't bite the boy."

Marik narrowed his eyes. "How do you know that?"

"Two reasons. One, because the wounds weren't fresh, they were scabbing and two... " The stranger leaned closer, as though sharing a secret. "...because I did it." Marik looked horrified, the person was now laughing at him. It was then he recognized the stranger.

"But, you're.. you're a hunter... aren't you?"

"Of course, but also a vampire. You aren't the only one here." Marik's eyes widened in confusion and shock, his mind running through the past few days, the hunter in front of him had chased both him and his sister; he'd been willing to kill him yet he was a vampire? Seeing the confused look on Marik's face, he chuckled, "Wondering why I became a hunter are you?" Marik nodded. "For revenge."

"How so?"

The hunter sat on a box somebody had discarded into the alley, "Well, when I was about sixteen years old, my village was burned down by the Egyptian Vampire Council. They had decided the Transylvanian vampires were trouble makers and didn't belong in the vampire world, just because our ways were different, so they destroyed my people. But we had heard. We knew what they were planning, so we made plans of our own. It was decided that one person would leave the village. They would leave and be safe, whilst the other villagers would fight. I volunteered. I was to avenge the death of my village, to claim to be a victim of a vampire attack and gain the trust of a hunting group. I traveled far from my home to Japan. I don't quite know what drew me there, maybe it was the population, I can't remember. I joined the group of hunters you know today and stayed with them for two years. Then my revenge was completed by them learning of the Egyptian village you lived in, the exact village that was home of the council that burned my village to the ground. When you and your sister escaped the others were very annoyed but I found it highly amusing as it was almost like a game for me, but I kept my pleasure a secret. I left you alone, of course I knew where you were I just wanted more of a challenge when I killed you." Marik remained silent. He was unsure of what to say. The other chuckled, "You have a right to be shocked."

"But why do you want to kill me? I didn't even know of this until you mentioned it just now."

"It's all part of my revenge, if I leave one of your clan alive, you, how will my revenge be complete?"

"Why don't you just kill me then?"

The older chuckled once more. He was oddly calm about all of this, "That eager to die are you?"

"No! It's just I'm here in front of you and I'm still alive. I was wondering why." The older vampire shifted and looked at the younger, eyes glinting in the fading grey light of the afternoon.

"Because I wanted your death to be fun." He said. Marik glared at him.

"And how are you going to do that? Kill me slowly and painfully? Make me squirm?"

"Something like that, yes." Marik looked at the other vampire with disbelief showing across his face. He was way to calm. "You see," he continued, "now you are getting strong, with all of that energy stored up inside you, I thought it might be fun to fight for life, one on one if you like."

"Hang on a minute, energy? What do you mean by that?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Marik glared at him, cocking his head slightly, eyes narrowed, "Obviously not, fool."

"Ok! Don't get mad at me I just assumed you knew about sikuhoa.(1)"

"She-what?"

"Sikuhoa, vamparic energy. Basically you have normal energy that allows you to move and such, and sikuhoa, vamparic energy, that allows you to use all of your vampire... powers, shall we say. So, whenever you use your hearing, run at a high speed or transform, you use sikuhoa and this is stored when you don't use it. As you found out, storing up too much of this means you can become saturated, then it can all suddenly burst out unexpectedly. You haven't been using enough but your sister did, she was transforming into a cat at night, prowling the streets as transforming drains your sikuhoa most. That's why she couldn't run faster on the day we killed her, she'd used it up and forgotten to tell you about the whole thing." Marik frowned, twinging at the memory.

"So... why can't I remember anything when my sikuhoa gets out of control?"

"Yes you'd better be careful of that. If a vampire stores up too much sikuhoa then it starts to create a sort of, split personality for the vampire... no-one is quite sure of what the consequences are when this happens as it varies with each vampire, I have heard there was one vampire who was forced into hiding and stored up so much sikuhoa he turned on his family and killed them all." Marik's eyes widened at this last piece of information and he fell silent for a few minutes.

"Fine."

The hunter gave him a confused look. "What?"

"Fine, I accept. I'll fight you." Marik stood, wiping the seat of his soaking jeans. "One question though, what are the rules?"

"We are to use no man-made weapons or devices, only ourselves and there is to be nobody helping either of us."

"Fine. I've nothing left in this world anyway. When do we meet for this fight?"

"Tonight 10pm, in Domino Park."

"Wait... how do you know there won't be any hunters? Plus they know you so may try to help you, giving you an advantage."

"Ha! You think I'd let them interfere in a fight I've been waiting for these past ten years? I'll tell them what I am, and invite them to watch."

"What does the winner gain then? If the hunters know we're both vampires, no matter who wins our fight, they'll kill the other."

"Yes they would... So that makes it more interesting doesn't it? It all depends on how you want to die... by your own kin... or by hunter... Deal?" He held out his hand. Marik looked hesitant but grasped the hand tightly, glaring at the hunter.

"I'm going to make sure you tell the hunters though."

"Fine by me."

.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.

Bakura sat on the park bench brooding over the events of the day. His head rested on clenched fists attached to elbows that rested on his knees. He'd watched his brother walk home in tears. He'd watched his fellow hunters walk or storm home either scowling in pain or in anger. He had just ignored his brother's words and sat down, scowling a the floor, the anger inside him boiling higher and higher. But he controlled it enough to appear calm. He didn't seem to notice the rain.

It was about 10 minutes later that he saw Atem storming through the park and sitting under a sheltered bench in a huff.

The albino wandered over, seeing as there was nothing better to do.

"Well?" He asked.

"Well what?" Atem mumbled, not taking his eyes from the spot he was staring at.

"What was his excuse? Why's he been hiding it?"

"Why don't you ask your own brother for once?"

"Because if I try to talk to him I know I'll explode and probably kill him, and I don't think my father will be too happy. Unfortunately."

"He said the basic stuff, 'the vampire's my friend, he won't hurt me!' and I just got annoyed and left him to cry."

"At least you've got someone for him to cry on, I'll probably go back and the sofa will be drenched... what does he want?"

Atem gave him a confused look before copying his line of vision.

Pegasus was approaching under a huge red umbrella looking rather flustered. "Don't you two ever turn your phones on?" He asked shrilly, "I've been trying to contact you for the past ten minutes! Honestly, this is important! Malik says he's got news of the vampire, and no it's not your encounter in the supermarket." He added not looking too pleased.

"So where is he then?" Bakura asked, rather excited.

"He wants to meet us at headquarters in 10 minutes time, says it's urgent and could be a shock."

Atem looked concerned and immediately stood. Bakura, who was already standing, walked slowly out of the park trying to keep as far away from the hideous umbrella as possible.

.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.

Malik pushed open a set of double doors, revealing what looked like a normal secretary's office. Marik followed, looking interested yet nervous at the same time, "Why have you got a secretary's office?" He asked.

"It's basically so if anyone stumbles in by accident they don't see our headquarters straight away. Plus we need to sign in somewhere don't we." Malik explained.

He lead Marik over to a lift that was locked with a security code, the ex-hunter punched it in and it opened. They walked inside.

.xVAMPIRE CHILDx.

"Where is that idiot? Might have known he'd be late-"

"Actually he's on time, I said 3 o'clock and that is when I have arrived Bakura." Malik pushed the door shut behind Marik.

"THE VAMPIRE! HE'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" Seto screamed.

The blond looked over his shoulder, looking calm. "Oh yes, I forgot, you don't mind if he stays here for a while do you? You see he has to make sure I keep to my word." The others were shocked into silence. "I'll take that as a yes." He sat on a chair by the door, offering one to Marik who refused and stood near to the door handle. He wasn't quite sure whether he could fully trust the other vampire yet.

"Well then, I'll start with saying how much fun it's been throughout the years I've worked for you Pegs."

"Good...I think..." Pegasus' eyes were flicking from Malik to Marik and he was fidgeting with the sleeve of his shirt, obviously uncomfortable with a vampire being in the same room as himself. In his mind he was glad his personal secretary was sat next to him, writing down everything being said (He wasn't exactly sure why)... he could use her as a shield should the vampire attack, after all, all she seemed to do was sleep.

Malik continued, "But I'm afraid I will not be able to work for you anymore."

"Why not? Have you become friends with it too?" Bakura asked lazily a smirk resting on his face.

"No, but I will have to ask you something first you see, I have made plans to fight Marik at 10pm tonight and would ask you not to interfere."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Because Seto, we have quite a bit in common believe it or not." He stood up and walked over to the hunters, stopping to lean on a wall in front of the dark haired secretary who looked up at him nervously, abandoning her papers. "Believe it or not my home village was burned down by vampires, which is why I want to hunt vampires and is because I too am a vampire." He said this calmly and smirked as the hunters gasped.

Atem almost fell off his chair, "How can you be a vampire? You've been killing vampires since we met you... you've never needed blood!"

"Oh, I've needed blood, and I've been taking it too... right from under your noses. Your brother's blood is quite nice you know."

He stared at Malik in disbelief, "It was you... but he... and Yugi... but you..."

"Yes Atem, I. Bit. Yugi. Do I have to spell it out? Now before you run and get your weapons, I'm giving you some entertainment tonight. You can watch our little fight if you like, I'm organizing to have it in the park at 10pm like I've told you already. If you wanted to know it's because it was Marik's village that burnt mine down and that is why I would like nothing more than to blow his sorry little brains out, but I don't want any old hunter killing the last of the Egyptian vampires, I want to be the one to do it. The victor of the fight lives for as long as you let them, however should you interfere before Marik is dead there will be consequences." He grabbed the secretary by the neck and held her in front of the group of stunned hunters. She whimpered and started squirming. "Let me demonstrate."

Malik grabbed hold of the woman's arm and pulled. There was a ripping sound as her smart blue jacket began to tear at the shoulder, she screamed and Malik pulled hard, wrenching her arm off. Blood poured out of her shoulder and the girl screamed in agony, tears streamed down her face as she begged for him to stop. The vampire smirked and threw her arm at Pegasus. He gripped her neck with his other hand, she clawed at them with her remaining hand, screaming. Marik leaned closer, intrigued and knowing what was going to happen next; he'd seen his sister do the same.

The vampire tightened his grip, allowing only a strangled cry to emit from the secretary's mouth. He twisted. Her head came clean off, blood spurted towards the ceiling from her neck as her body fell to the floor with a heavy THUNK. Malik held the head up to his own and grimaced. "Wasn't very pretty was she?" He threw the head at Seto and cackled wildly.

He left the hunters to sit in shock and left the room with Marik at his heels.

"Confident you'll win aren't you Malik." Marik glanced at the ex-hunter sideways with a smirk.

"Of course, why?"

"Because you didn't say 'should you interfere before one of us is dead' you said before I am dead."

"Heh... because we both know I will."

.xCHAPTER 7 ENDx.

(1) Sikuhoa (SHE-coo-wa) I found out that in Japan when a word containing 'si' it is often pronounced 'she'. According to my research anyways :)