Chapter 3

Ohhh, I can't believe this. That new club was supposed to be around here somewhere. All these alleys just look the same. I am really starting to get scared now. To many horror movies and warnings from mamá have turned the shadows into monsters.

"Excuse me, señorita?" a voice from behind said. I spun around to meet one of the most handsome men I have ever seen. He was dressed with black slacks and a form fitted blue, collored shirt. His white skin and blonde spikes where nearly glowing, but his eyes caught me. They seemed to have a light of there own, like two blue bonfires. I just barely caught what he said next, "You shouldn't wander at night, you don't know who could be hiding in the shadows." he said in a purr while walking towards me. I was so caught up in his eyes that I could barely make a sentence.

"I-I was trying to find th-the new club. I'm meeting mis amigas. Qu-qué saba donde es el club?" I asked quietly. Somewhere in my mind I thought that he might be one of those people hiding in the shadows that he warned me about, but his eyes swept the thought away.

"Hm, I'm afraid I don't know Spanish. Perhaps you should forget the club and go to sleep," he said now in front of me with his hands on my shoulders, his eyes never leaving mine. All I could think of were his blue eyes. For some reason I could hardly keep my own open.

"Pero, mis amigas . . . " I whispered out, his arms the only things keeping me from falling.

"Relax señorita, just go to sleep," the eyes said. They were asking so nicely, so I closed my eyes. The last thing I felt before I went unconscious were two little pricks on my neck.

- - - - - - - - -

After I had my meal I ported to the edge of 'The Town That Never Was'. 'The Town That Never Was', whenever someone says the name out loud, I always expect some lightning and thunder to strike in the background. One time when the superior was giving the tour to Luxord, he spread his hands out dramatically and said the name. As soon as he said it, I made some illusionary lightning behind him. It was the only time I've seen Luxord outright laugh and Xemnas outright angry. Incidentally, later that day, I began looking for a house outside of the town. I did that stunt back before I 'froze over', quoted from Demyx.After everything calms down again though, I need to talk Larxene into doing it so I can take a picture.

Anyways, I ran to the center of the town, which when you don't need to breathe and are super strong, took a couple of seconds. I paused outside 'El Baile Muerto'. It must have been quite a sight to everyone, human or otherwise, to have a lifeless body come crashing down on you and your dance partner. I refocused myself though and continued running towards the center of town. In the center of town is Castle Oblivion. With thirteen floors above and below, it is a strange place to find out in the middle of the forests in Washington.

It kind of sucks that you can't portal directly there, or anywhere on the street for that matter. The rules though are smart, and have saved this town on multiple occasions. Since the 'no porting on the streets' rule is only for this town, any foreign entities are already noticed as being foreign. The rule for the castle is more than a rule though, it is physically impossible. I don't know what the Superior did, but he, and maybe a few others, put up a barrier around the entire 26 floors of the castle. What with only one doorway and the walls made of so much metal and rock that even a vampire couldn't get through, it truly is a fortress.

As soon as I got to the front doors and got inside I ported to our meeting room. It looked exactly like a gentlemen's smoking room without the whiskey and cigars. It had twelve huge armchairs, that looked oddly like thrones, though I never questioned it, with numbers 1-13, excluding 8, on the back. They all faced inward making a circle.

When I walked in five chairs were missing their occupants. I waved to the others that were already there and collapsed on my chair. As soon as I got settled Demyx and Zexion ported into the middle of the room. I looked up at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Hello Demyx, Zexion. Did you get lost in the corridors?" I asked. Zexion just looked at me, and I gave him a small smile to show I was joking. After that he relaxed and they both went to their seats. After he got there though, Zexion tilted his head and sniffed the air.

"Where have you been? You smell . . . foreign."

I raised my eyebrow, a bad habit that I picked up over the years since I don't talk much, at his word choice before I answered him. "I told you I was going to get breakfast before coming here. I dropped by Madrid."

"Spain?" Luxord questioned, pausing from his floating game of solitaire.

"I like Spanish food," I replied. Xaldin snorted and Vexen said something like 'morbid humor'. "When are the missing three supposed to show up?"

"Soon," Lexaues said, looking up from his book, "They are just checking up on Larxene. They should be down any minute."

We all just amused ourselves, mostly using our abilities, to pass the time. I was having immense fun distorting the light around other's faces creating illusions. Demyx couldn't stop snickering from where he was sitting. I think I even got Luxord and Lexaues to smile, which is quite a feet. It seems when you die, you lose the ability to be expressive. We all abruptly stopped when three portals appeared in the room.

Xemnas, Xigbar, and Saíx walked in and sat down. Xemnas looked at everybody before he started speaking.

"As you all probably know, Larxene ported into the middle of 'El Baile Muerto' at 6:15 PM today critically injured. She will recover in a couple days time. Marluxia is with her now and is ordered to stay there. We don't know where she was or who attacked her. Until she wakes up I think it would be good to see if any of you have any information on any strange occurrences."

"Strange occurrences?" Zexion questioned.

Xemnas nodded his head. "Any of the true sects wouldn't risk themselves by openly attacking us. They would fear the repercussions to much to do that. What little clues we have point to a completely new enemy," Xemnas finished to Zexion and directed his next words to the circle, "Does anyone have any information?"

"Back in Maine, some strange things were starting to happen," I said trying to remember. Everyone's attention was focused on me.

"Strange things?" Xemnas asked in a voice that was somehow making fun of my word choice and asking me to continue at the same time.

"Yes, strange things," I rolled my eyes, "I don't know what sect they were with, but there was a large influx of learning slayers. I didn't want to be their final exam so I left. They weren't sporting any specific crest or color, I just thought that their elders didn't want to draw any unwanted attention by flashing signs. I thought nothing of it," I finished with a slight shrug of my shoulders and looked at the others. They were all absorbing the information. After a couple of seconds the silence was broken again.

"I was over in one of the caves by the oceans, about a week after Roxas moved. I had just got the last couple of things that Roxas wanted but I didn't want to pass up the chance to play in the caves. The cave I would normally go to had a really good echo, which is probably the only reason why I heard it," he paused looking around to see if the others were listening. With an encouraging nod from Zexion, he continued, "Right when I got in I heard chanting coming from inside the cave. The chants though were from wican and witch teachings so I just blew it off and left. They probably weren't even in that particular cave, if you go far enough back there're all connected. A normal person wouldn't have been able to pick it up. It didn't occur to me until after I was home that they were . . ." he was wildly gesturing trying to pull the word from the air. After a minute he just settled and said in a little voice, "off."

"What do you mean by 'off'?" Zexion questioned from across the circle. Demyx started thinking and gesturing again until he snapped his fingers.

"Back when I was a water priest for my village I presided over all the magic in the there. I would train the water witches and wicans. We always taught to take and give, like the tide. It was a constant circle of give and take with the energies that we pulled from something other than ourselves. Whoever those people in the cave were weren't following that rule. They were forcefully taking the energy and not giving any back."

"You were a priest?"

"What do you mean?"

Xigbar and Vexen looked at each other. They both asked their questions at the same time. After Vexen was sure that Xigbar wasn't going to interrupt with any more useless questions, Vexen continued.

"What do you mean?" he repeated.

"Well . . ." Demyx said while scratching his head, "It's like having a roommate. Both of you would pay the bills and clean the house. Everyone is happier, it takes less work, and is just plain manners. The same thing applies. If you don't, it will be harder to take power the next time, and there is a bigger possibility of backlash. The only people that don't obey that law try to take energy from an element that isn't theirs, or they just don't care. The rule of give and take is the very first thing you learn in the teachings."

"I believe I might have something to add," a British accent said from the other side of Demyx, "I was off in some pub or another and was listening in on some young fangs," he paused when he saw our confusion.

"Vampires," Xigbar filled in. Everyone's face changed at once.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. Point is, they were talking about a whole new breed of vampire haters. They said that this new sect was taking in anyone that wasn't satisfied with their own clan's law, witches, slayers, and even regular humans. Don't know if it's true, but it fits our situation extremely well, don't you think?" Luxord finished resting his head back on his hand.

"It would make sense since none of the original factions would attack one of our members without provocation. Only a young, green group would believe that they are strong enough to take on the organization. I believe the next question is what are we going to do." Saíx said.

"No, the right question is what can we do," Lexaues said, "all we have is an unconscious teammate, 2 unrelated incidents, and 1 rumor. The only thing we can do is make sure that we keep our heads near the ground, and our ears even closer," he finished in his same quiet way.

Xemnas nodded, "Is there anything else that anyone can add?" When nobody moved, he started issuing out orders, "Xigbar, Luxord, you two will track down those rumors that you heard. Demyx, you will show Saíx and myself the cave where you heard the chanting. Then you, Roxas, and Zexion, will go and try to find out more about the new recruits. Xaldin, you Lexaues, and Vexen will be on shifts here. One of you will stay here to watch over Larxene and the town. The other two will go out and look for more information. You three can decide amongst yourselves about the length of the shifts. Roxas, you need to tell us where you moved to now, we need to know where everyone is. These people mean to kill us, and we will return the favor in time. Until then, stay on your guard. We will stagger these missions, and inform the others when they happen. We will take no chances, and if some of you haven't figured out," here he paused and looked directly and Xigbar and Demyx, "these are stealth missions. We will show this enemy what happens when they mess with Organization XII." When he finished the last sentence, Saíx and Xigbar had a feral grin on while the rest of us showed our agreement with tight nods and hard eyes. "Everyone is dismissed. Expect the date for your missions in the next few days."

Everyone nodded and 10 different portals opened simultaneously all heading to their respected person's favorite brooding place. I think all of us could taste the feeling of something big coming up on in the air.

Disclaimer: Don't own any kingdom hearts or final fantasy anything. I just own the plot idea.