Secrets Held Within

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The year is 1864, and a traveling youth by the name of Dark finds himself stuck in the small town of Azumano. During his stay he discovers a mysterious mansion, and suddenly finds his destiny intertwined with that of it's enigmatic occupant.

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Chapter 11

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Krad, finally regaining his senses, immediately ran towards Dougan and Dark, tackling the larger male to the ground.

Dark fell to the floor roughly, and rolled away just as Krad and Dougan fell in a heap to the floor.

Krad looked up, hissing, "Dark—get out!"

Standing up quickly, Dark backed away, watching the whole seen in shock.

The white haired man stood up, and even as Krad tried to get up kicked the blonde roughly in the side. There was a sickening crunch of bones, and the blonde yelped in pain.

Still, though, Dougan was not done and bent down, jerking the blonde's hair in an effort to get him to his feet. Krad did so, liquid welling in the corners of his eyes as he tried to fight back the pain.

As Krad stood, the white haired man still holding on to his hair let his grip fall from the golden hair to the cross tied at the end. Growling, he clenched his fist over it and tore it away, hurling it to the floor.

The object slid across the cold, icy floor and spun to a stop in front of Dark's feet, but he didn't notice. He was too busy watching as Dougan drew the blonde close to him, smirking evilly as he pulled down the blonde's collar, "Why Krad, I didn't know you wanted to do that again."

Just as Dougan had done to Dark, he licked the blonde's neck in the area he chose to sink his teeth into, and the blonde closed his eyes—knowing what came next.

The man opened his mouth wide, sinking his teeth deep into the pale flesh of Krad's now exposed neck and the blonde gasped from the pain, his eyes tightly closed.

He stayed in that position for a long moment, and then chucked the blonde to the floor like a lifeless doll, saying only, "You taste as sweet as ever—if only you still had blood coursing through your veins.

Krad whimpered lightly, drawing his hand to his wound and placed it over his neck.

"Krad!" Dark yelled, in so much shock that he nearly ran to his friend. The only thing that stopped him was when the blonde looked up and glared at Dark, his eyes gleaming as if each was a burning ember.

Dougan smiled, and looked at Dark, "Oh, my. I almost forgot about you."

The darkly clothed man began to walk slowly towards Dark, as if taking his time and savoring the sweet moment.

'Damn…' Krad cursed to himself, and painstakingly rose to his feet, stumbling towards Dougan as he tried to cause a distraction.

His plan worked, for the white haired man turned to regard the blonde curiously before saying, "More?"

He reached over to the blonde, embracing him with great arms as he bit deep into his neck again. Fighting back the pain quaking throughout his entire form, Krad looked into Dark's eyes, and then down to the golden cross lying to the floor.

Dark followed Krad's gaze, and took a step foreword to retreat it—knowing fully what the blonde wished of him. He reached down to pick up the golden object, and winced when it made a loud grinding noise across the marble floor.

Dougan released his teeth from Krad and slightly turned his head as he tried to see what had caused the commotion behind him.

Krad though, knowing if Dougan saw Dark the plan would fail, quickly formulated a plan, and spat, "Why are you here?"

Dougan seemed not to notice, and immediately jerked his head back to look at the blonde. "My dear, I've missed you. And I've been watching you for some time…I was almost getting bored, so I just had to step in.

From his pocket, while in the tight embrace of Dougan, Krad pulled out a tiny golden earring in the shape of the cross. He'd taken it out just earlier, he recalled, and while the older vampire was rambling, took the opportunity to jab it through his chest.

Dougan twitched as a stinging sensation fluttered through from his chest. Eying the small object that now protruded from him, Dougan looked up at Krad, growling, and hit the blonde forcefully square in the chest—sending him flying across the room and into the wall next to his bookshelf.

"Did you think that would kill me?"

Weakly, Krad sputtered, "N…no…"

And then he smirked, watching with heavy eyelids as Dark picked up the cross and impaled the white haired man through his back and pierced his heart. He could clearly see the tip of his golden cross protruding from Dougan's chest.

"But that will!" Dark yelled, stepping back as Dougan's flesh began to burn and sizzle in every place the cross touched.

"What…how could you have—!" the figure roared, clutching the cross as he tried to wretch it free. His efforts were to no avail, and bits of his skin melted away, burning into nothing more than smoke.

Dark watched in horror, and then shook his gaze from Dougan to Krad, running to the blonde. "Krad—Krad, are you all right?"

"I don't…actually…I don't…" Krad mumbled weakly, his body raging in pain. He winced, and looked up at Dark before saying, "I don't think so…"

Dougan still shrieked in the background, and each of the other males turned to regard the villainous figure as he finally disappeared wholly, his screaming dying of in the night as the golden cross fell, clanking heavily to the floor.

"Good…he's gone…" Dark said, kneeling down next to Krad, "Come on, let's see if we can't patch you up…"

"No, don't worry about me—I just need a little time to heal…"

"Krad…if you haven't noticed, you're injured pretty badly—I think you might need a little help," Dark murmured to the blonde, as he attempted to scoop him up gently.

"You have to go," Krad said, fighting as Dark tried to pull him up.

"Stop struggling—I'm not leaving you alone!"

"It's dangerous here!" Krad said, eventually prying his broken form away from Dark, and falling backwards to land next to the cross that had killed the other vampire. He ignored Dark for a moment, his mind wandering as he reached out a hesitant hand and grasped the cool metal tightly.

Dark walked over, removing his cloak and dropping it over the other's shoulders before lifting the still protesting blonde with ease and gently holding him in his arms, "Look Krad, you need to heal and you need someone to help you, I'm going to do that, but like you said, it's not safe here. I'm going to take you to the Harada's Inn—you were there the other night, right?"

Krad's struggling ceased, and he looked at Dark, "How did you know about that?"

Dark smiled, "It doesn't matter—all that does it that we get you to a safe place where you can heal."

Dark walked to the door kicking it open as Krad argued, "But you and everyone else will be in danger!"

"Of what?"

"Of me!" Krad hissed, a certain urgency in his voice. He slipped deeply into Dark's cloak in fear that being out in the open might cause him to react with the moon. Thankfully, however, the moon had slipped behind a voluminous sheet of dark clouds.

"Don't worry, everything will work out just fine; I'll make sure nothing happens," Dark said, reassuringly patting Krad's shoulder as he held him.

The blonde was silent for a long moment, and than said, "I'll let you take me there under one condition…you have to promise me something…"

Dark nodded as he walked down the snowy path quickly, holding Krad tightly wrapped in his cloak, "Sure—what is it?"

Krad hesitated, and then spoke calmly, "If I start to…you know, transform…promise me that you'll do whatever you can to stop me from hurting anyone—detain me, incapacitate me…if you have to…destroy me."

Dark looked at Krad with pained eyes, and opened his mouth to speak.

"Shh—no," Krad said, stopping him, "I've been around for far too long…my life ended so very long ago, and I'm tired. Tired of everything…" He sighed, ignoring the numbing pain that still coursed through him, "If I start getting out of hand…"

He said no more, but pulled his good arm out from under the blanket, revealing his golden cross clutched tightly. Without saying a word, he gently urged it into Dark's hand.

In return, Dark said nothing, and refused to even look at the blonde.

Narrowing his eyes in discomfort, Krad turned his gaze away from Dark and stared dully at the snow-covered ground.

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Yes, well, Dougan was only in this for a short time, I'm afraid, but who really cares. No one liked him (and for good reasons) and so…well, now he's gone. I will update soon, and I apologize for this chapter. Honestly, I don't think it's very good, but…well, I guess I'm never really satisfied with anything I do…

If I don't update my stories for a while, it would be because of hurricane Wilma, not that I've abandoned them. If you were to watch the weather channel ,when they show the path it's taking…the eye of the storm is actually going to pass write over where I live…oh well. The power will probably go out, so…erm…yes…