The vampire's inquiry rang in Cy's ear, "What do you want in return for these?" What was it the boy wanted more than anything? The one thing he could think of was seeing his sister, Ivy, when she got home the next evening.

"Um," Cy mumbled, "th-there i-is one thing."

The vampire girl gently moved her hands to cross Cy's chest and gently grasp his shoulders, "What would that be?" She whispered in his ear.

"W-well…" Cy swallowed, "my sister… she's been out of town the last three days, o-on a business t-t-trip in the city of V-Vacuo. I k-kinda m-miss her, y-ya know?"

The vampire's expression softened a little, "You have a sister?" She inquired, "Any other siblings?"

"Two brothers and a baby sister," Cy said with a tear rolling down his cheek, "all dead, along with both of my parents."

The vampire raised an eyebrow, "What a tragedy," She said, "If I were still human, I'd actually feel something – perhaps an iota of sympathy – but alas, I haven't had any emotion bits of thought in the last century and a half."

The words were cold and Cy huffed, "So I guess you're going to kill me, keep the things I'm giving you out of empathy for being virtually alone, and risk my sister calling out an all-points bulletin and amber alert to find me thus putting your existence on the line? You'd be killing yourself if you killed me, just my amateur opinion."

"What makes you think anyone would come looking for you here?" The vampire asked.

"My sister's got connections with the country's top medical personnel," Cy replied, "She, herself, is a doctor with several eyes from the country's top medical facilities looking into her work. If something were to happen to her only surviving sibling, don't think she wouldn't pour every cent she has to her name into tracking me down."

The vampire pondered her decision for a moment. On one hand, she'd be able to once again taste the honey sweet blood that coursed through this young boy's veins. On the other, doing so would mean she'd need to move again in the bitter and unforgiving cold of the impending winter. She admittedly hated the cold. The hood and cape she had was barely keeping her above freezing in spite of how well maintained she'd kept the house she'd been living in since the inner-city had been shut down and left to the mercy of Mother Nature. She didn't want to run the risk of a tantalizing morsel like this boy escaping her, but there was still the mysterious sensation she'd felt in her chest the night before when she'd first let this boy go. This phenomenon had to have an answer, she just needed to find it. "Very well," She sighed finally, "I'll let you go… But…"

"What," Cy asked.

"I need you to promise me one thing," The vampire said.

"Um, okay," Cy stammered as every nerve ending in his body crackled like a brush fire, "Wh-what is it?"

The girl held a finger to Cy's nose, "Promise me that you're not going to tell anyone about this place."

"I swear, I won't tell a soul unless you approve it," Cy said crossing his hand over his heart.

The girl looked at him, the predatory fire had softened into a sort of juvenile curiosity, "And for that, if you need to get rid of more clothes or bed sheets and stuff…" She smiled slightly, "… well, I'm not going anywhere."

"I-I'll remember that," Cy said.

"Ruby," The girl said. Cy raised an eyebrow, "My name is Ruby."

"I-I'm Cypress," He said, "but my friends… and these two witchy girls two years older than me, call me Cy."

Ruby moved to sit cross-legged in front of this fascinating boy whom she'd only now introduced herself to. She sat there with her elbows on her knees and her chin on the tops of her hands, "You're a very perplexing young boy, Cypress," She said.

"What makes you say that," Cy asked.

Ruby gave a look that screamed Is this boy joking? "Where do I begin," She asked, "How about we start with the fact that you let me in your bedroom last night? No one with common sense does that."

"Maybe I wanted to do something different," Cy countered with a smirk.

"Really?" Ruby asked with a less than amused look on her face, "Well try this logic bomb on for size. What fool comes to said vampire's dwelling after said vampire said to stay away from her territory?"

Cy's face wilted, "A fool who knows what it's like to be stuck out alone and cold in the middle of the rain." He said in a near dead voice.

Ruby's face softened again, "What do you mean?" She inquired.

Cy closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose and let out a shaky sigh, "I'd rather not talk about…," He said with tears running down his cheeks, "… that night in the rain. I can't… not now," He swallowed hard, "Please don't force me to."

Ruby's eyes softened to that of a tone of sympathy, "No need to tell me," She said, "I already understand. I understand more than you know."

Cy smiled, "Thanks," he said, "I'll be going now before it gets too dark."

Ruby got to her feet, "Wait a moment," She said, "I'll walk you home."

Cy blushed, "Uh, o-okay."

"Don't get bashful on me," Ruby said flatly, "it's a thank you for the clothes and bed sheets, nothing more." She closed the door and removed her cloak and the clothes she'd pilfered on the eastern end of the city near a large shanty town and rummaged through the clothes that Cy had brought. She picked out a plain black t-shirt, a pair of black pants, and a black and red flannel shirt. She'd had hand-me-down clothes before, but they were always worn thin and smelled horrible. These felt different, they felt soft and warm against her skin. She sniffed the shirt, it smelled of cotton rather than stale perspiration and other bodily fluids. She hugged herself and shimmied in the bliss of the moment, moaning at the feeling of warmth blanketing her body. A sudden contraction from her formerly dead heart pulled her from her blissful day dream. She looked at the door, "Qualis est iste?" She said to herself in her native Latin, "Cur me tale monstrum misericordiam exhibere?" She looked down to her cloak, tattered and worn. It was the last thing she had of her home, her earliest memories from one hundred lifetimes ago, she knelt down and picked it up, "Fatendum enim est similis tui, huh?"

Cy and Ruby walked through the moonlight forest and into the park. The boy looked at his reluctant companion, Ruby. She looked back at him as if she only half cared about his gesture of kindness. "You know, staring at me isn't going to help you figure out what you want to know, Ruby," Cy said.

"You make it sound like you're an easy book to read," The silver-eyed girl muttered, "But, I'll have you know, I've read entire libraries in this extended lifetime of mine. You're more difficult to understand than the most random and badly written manga."

"Yeah, I…" Cy paused but kept walking, "wait, you read manga?"

Ruby blushed, "I pretty much read a majority of the world's published works and then, one night I wandered into this book store over on the west end of Vale. That's when I found myself reading a well-drawn comic book thing that backwards, boy did I look silly doing that. This older guy looks over and said 'first time reading a manga, huh?' and then he says, 'Gotta read it in the opposite direction. Weird, I know, but you get used to it.' He offered me a muffin to eat while I read." Cy raised an eyebrow for the umpteenth time, "I didn't eat it," Ruby stated, "I pretended to space out until he left."

Cy smiled, "I guess Umbra said he'd see you later."

"Yeah, he…" Ruby's eyes widened, "… how did you…"

"The guy's known for hanging out at the local bookshop's Manga section, offering muffins," Cy replied with a smirk, "He and I met the same way in the RPG section, and sense then we've been playing Dungeons and Dragons in my living room every other Saturday night."

Ruby snorted and laughed, "You play D and D?" She asked, "I thought were strange before, but this takes the cake."

"You read the books on it before, didn't you?" Cy asked.

"So what if I did?" Ruby asked, "It's not like I'm going to get a chance to play it anyway."

"You have Umbra, his friends, and I," Cy said, "We're always trying to find other people to join in on our story."

Ruby shook her head, "I don't think I trust you enough to take you up on that offer yet."

"Then we'll just have to wait before giving that a shot?" Cy asked.

"I never said…" Ruby started.

"You said yet," Cy rebutted, "Meaning the possibility exists."

Ruby turned her head away from it and cursed under her breath, "I swear, you humans are all alike," She grumbled.

"You have no idea how wrong you are," Cy said catching Ruby's attention, "I go to school with a few people who I swear are too odd to be human. There again I've got friends in every class at the school."

They stopped in front of the apartment building where Cy lived, "Well here we are," Ruby said, "Will you be going to sleep for the night?"

Cy looked at his watch, "It's only seven thirty," He said, "The police in this area don't start enforcing the curfew until about ten, and I don't go to bed until ten thirty."

"Are you suggesting I follow you into your home like a stray puppy?" Ruby asked unamused, "Sorry, I may be a vampire living in the woods, but I do have standards."

"Which explains why your house looks so well maintained," Cy said.

"Exactly, the place was a shambles when I first got there," Ruby stated, "and that was a week after they shut down that part of the city."

"Well, I could always invite you into my room," Cy said, "if you don't mind scaling the wall again."

Ruby sighed and rolled her eyes, "You're just impossible to get rid of," She said in a breathy whisper.

"Fine, you don't have to if you don't want to," Cy said, "It was only a suggestion." He turned and walked to the door, "I hope you stay warm over the next few days." He said looking over his shoulder, but Ruby wasn't anywhere to be found, "Looks like I'm playing bachelor again tonight."

He walked in and said hello to the man behind the desk, "Anything for room three twenty four, sir," He asked.

The man looked in the mailbox, "Ah, lemme see~" He dragged out the last syllable as he perused the boxes, "Oh, here you go kiddo. Your sister's supposed to be getting back in the morning, right?"

"That's the plan, but I don't know what time," Cy replied as the man handed him the mail from the box.

"And your four friends are coming too, for that Dungeons and Dragons night you do every other week, yeah?" The man asked.

"Yup," Cy replied flipping through the mail to make sure nothing was out of place.

"Okay, kid," The man said handing Cy a tote bag with four two-liter bottles of soda, "I know what the whole gaming thing is about, though my games back in the day were Chess, Scrabble, and Monopoly. But, I do know you gotta stay awake for those crucial moments of play."

Cy took the bags and chuckled, "You've got a point there, thank you," He said, "Have a good night, and thanks again."

"Hehe," The man laughed, "Don't mention it, kid. Now, where was I?" He asked as he sat down in his chair and picked up the Sports section of the local paper "Huh, Paperboy in the sixth?"

The apartment Cy shared with his sister was quaint, but it had room enough for the two of them plus at most six other guests. His sister, Ivy, was a medical assistant at Vale Central Hospital and though she made enough to afford a bigger apartment, she wasn't one to drop a lump sum of cash on a place that she and her brother were bound to get lost in. So she settled for an affordable apartment near the Vale Police Department's main office and close enough to the park for she and Cy to be able to jog to and back in the early mornings and afternoons.

Cy set the four bottles of soda in the refrigerator and took out a carton of eggs, a bag of shredded cheddar cheese, a package of Bacon, and the butter. He set them on the kitchen counter and began cooking a bacon and cheddar omelet. When he'd finished, he made two pieces of toast and sat down to eat, "I could sure use this after the eventful evening I've had," He said as he savored the taste of his handy work, "And I've outdone myself once again." He said after a few bites, "Ivy's certainly missing out, I think this is my best yet."

When he'd finished his meal, he washed the dishes and put them away. He then walked to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and changed out his bandage. He walked into his room, sat down on the side of his bed and plopped down on his back, "Wow," He said, "I actually had a conversation with a vampire, a girl vampire." He said, "I don't know what's stranger, that or making a deal to help Melanie Malachite pass in Math."

A tapping at Cy's window cut his train of thought. He crawled over and opened it. He looked over and saw Ruby looking at him, "I believe it's still customary to invite a girl in," She said, "Unless the rules have changed in the last few centuries and I was somehow the last to know."

Cy was a little taken aback, "Uh, please, come in." He said, "Just have a seat on my bed."

The girl crawled in through the window, "And if there's a next time, I promise I'll come through the front door." She said sitting cross-legged as Cy shut the window.

"So, uh, what changed your mind?" The boy asked.

"Well," Ruby replied, "in spite of my better judgement, I felt an odd sensation in my chest a block away from here and decided to make my way back here."

"An odd sensation," Cy asked in mild shock, "Like what?"

"Like a heartbeat," Ruby replied, "And I hadn't felt that since I'd been turned, and that was a full millennium ago."

Cy was in a state of disbelief, "My gosh," He said.

"And if I may be frank," Ruby said, "It's a little disturbing as to how well you're taking this."

"You wouldn't be the first to think my fascination with these sorts of things was disturbing," Cy said as he looked over to his books, "I mean I can't think of any other eleven year old who has so many works of horror on his shelf while everyone else my age is interested in Cam Jansen and Nancy Drew."

"Those were two series that were better than they sounded," Ruby said.

"Yeah," Cy said, "And I'll admit, I did have a small crush on Cam and Nancy when I was younger."

"And yet another reason why I look at humans strangely," Ruby deadpanned, "you look at the female race as beautiful and then objectify their redeeming qualities. When one comes around older and more visually captivating, you throw the previous one aside like a discarded piece of trash."

"I've honestly never liked a girl for looks," Cy said, "for me it's always been about intelligence and creativity."

Ruby rolled her eyes, He says that now, but he'll change like most men and some women these days. She continued to look around the boy's room. Manga, works of fiction both new and old, and Dungeons and Dragons lined a few modest shelves along one wall. On one wall were a few posters, one of them being from a manga she'd remembered reading recently about a boy wanting to be a great ninja in spite of events that had happened only moments after his birth. She looked over to Cy's desk. It was surprisingly the cleanest part of the room. On the corner near the wall was a photograph of Cy and three other kids around his age. There was one person who stood out to Ruby, a girl wearing glasses with white hair and blue eyes. The solemn and dignified look on her face reminded the vampire girl about someone she'd met in the last two centuries. It couldn't be her, She thought, she passed away within the last hundred years or so. Perhaps this girl is a descendant, or distant relative of the like.

Cy looked to where Ruby was staring, "Oh, those are my best friends," He said casually, "If you'd like to meet them, they're coming over tomorrow night for a round of D and D."

Ruby shook herself out of her bewilderment, "Um, if it's going to be stormy the next few days or so," She said, "I think it'd be best if I stayed at my home until things subside."

Cy thought about this for a moment, "Oh," He said sounding mildly disappointed, "You're right. I understand."

Ruby looked out the window, "It's probably best if I get home while it's still clear out anyway." She said as she opened the window, "Remember what I said, and tell no one about me or where I live."

"I remember," Cy said, "and I'm a boy of my word. I won't tell anyone."

"Farewell, Cypress." Ruby said leaping from the window ledge and jumping across the rooftops toward her home in the forest.

Cy sat there for a few more minutes, "Wow," He stared in awe toward the forest for the second night in a row, "The last two days have been just full of surprises." He gave a yawn as he reached over and turned the light off. He lay on his bed looking at his ceiling, remembering Ruby's face and her gentleness in comparison to the night they first met. "I just hope she'll… be okay the next… few… days." Cy said as his eyes closed.

Ivy, Cypress' big sister, was just entering the Vale City Limits as the rain kept falling steadily on her windshield. She'd driven a full two hours from the City of Vacuo and was glad to be home. Vacuo was tragically undergoing a gang turf war and the influx of casualties had almost gotten to her. The war itself had been more of an internal struggle for dominance sparked by leaders of an infamous gang of radicals known as the White Fang, Sienna Khan and Adam Taurus. The underground had become a forbidden zone with S.W.A.T. Teams aiding local law enforcement in patrols of the area, but there was hardly anything that could be done.

It was this reason why Ivy was against Cypress doing any jogging when it got dark. There was a faction of the Fang present in Vale, and although they kept to themselves, there was always the possibility of the war slithering its way into Vale. Ivy knew moving from the city would mean her brother would need to say goodbye to everyone he held close, so she promised she wouldn't bring it up unless there was no other choice. However, there was a spark of hope in this lack of violence, the Vale faction's leader was in constant contact with Commissioner Ironwood of the Vale Police Department. The fact that such regulation of an infamous organization set the wary public at ease, but the public was ever aware of the possibility of shady deals between the police and the Fang. In recent public announcements, Commissioner Ironwood addressed the issue of possible illegal activities between the Fang and Vale PD as being a fabricated rumor brought on by paranoia.

But whether or why, Ivy was ever vigilant in making sure her only surviving sibling wasn't at risk of being approached by known members of the Fang. Cypress himself kept his distance from the Fang's turf on the North West side.

It was seven in the morning when Ivy made it to her usual parking spot, the rainfall had lightened, but the wind had picked up slightly. She made quick work of grabbing her luggage and running to the door of the apartment building. "Oh, Ivy," The man behind the desk greeted, "didn't expect to see you home so early today." He took Ivy's rain coat and offered the young woman a cup of coffee, "I guess the Civil War in Vacuo is that bad, huh?"

Ivy took a sip of her coffee, "It's not cataclysmic yet," She said, "but there are more and more people being brought into Vacuo General on a daily basis." She turned her head, "We lost a young man on the operating table because I hesitated, he was from the Khan sub-faction." The desk clerk frowned sympathetically at her, "I know I don't care for the White Fang that much, but I feel powerless just being limited to patching the casualties up time and again. There was one man who came back in three times in three days in a row. Each time he looked progressively worse."

The clerk put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't beat yourself up over that, Ivy," He said, "You only did what you could. If nothing else, you did something to help people in need, that's all a doctor can do in a situation like that."

Ivy finished the coffee, "I suppose you're right," She said handing the clerk the empty mug, "Okay, on to my number one concern. How's my little brother been?"

"Hehe, that kid brother of yours still hasn't woken up yet." The clerk said, "Either that or he's up cooking something for you."

Ivy's stomach growled loudly, "I hope it's the latter," She chuckled nervously. "I woke up early and left my hotel before I had a chance to eat breakfast."

"Hopefully that cup o' joe's enough to at least get you to your room," The clerk said, "I know he missed you a bit while you were gone."

"Thanks Mr. Viridian," Ivy said grabbing her things and making her way to the elevator.

When she got to the room, she unlocked the door and stepped inside and was greeted by her baby brother hugging her by the waist, "Welcome back," He said.

Ivy chuckled, "Hey Cy," She said ruffling her brother's hair. She looked around to see the boy had kept the apartment in reasonable condition. The dishes and clothes were washed and put away, save for Ivy's unmentionables, Cy had his boundaries and Ivy accepted that. "Looks like you were busy keeping this place in decent shape while I was in Vacuo."

"Yeah," Cy said stepping back, "I'm just glad you weren't caught up in that crazy gang war."

Ivy moved to the dining room table and pulled up a chair. She sat down and looked at her brother, "Look, the only that matters is that I'm here and not on a stainless steel slab in the county mortuary," She said, "So, let's forget about that issue for now and focus on the immediate elephant in the room. What's for breakfast, I'm starving."

Cypress gave a bemused sigh, "Scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes," He said, "with maple syrup."

The young boy walked into the kitchen and came out with two plates, which he placed in front of his sister and at his place at the small three-person dining room table. In the center, he set a plastic bottle of Miss Butterworth's maple syrup. Ivy held out her hand and Cy took it in his own and they bowed their heads, "Lord, we thank you for the gifts we are about to receive. That they may give us the strength we need to go about the day and nourish us as you nourish our minds with wisdom and our hearts with the will to carry on with the wishes of the departed. Amen." She said, "Now let's dig in."

"Yeah, let's," Cy said as he picked up his knife and fork.

"So, anything interesting happen while I was away," Ivy asked.

Cy swallowed a bite of his pancakes, "Well, Melanie Malachite accepted an offer that Miss Nikos set in motion yesterday."

"Oh," Ivy inquired, "what sort of offer?"

"Well, Miss Nikos partnered her up with Azure and I yesterday in class," Cy started, "and as thanks for helping her with her class work, she said that as long as Azure and I help her pass Miss Nikos' class, she won't be a jerk to us."

"Sounds like quite the offer," Ivy said between bites, "Think it may lead to a truce with you and Melanie?"

Cy pondered this, "You know I schuck at dipolmashee." He said with his mouth full. He swallowed before continuing, "So I'm not gonna coerce her into a cleverly laid out rouse."

"Oh, trust me; I know you're not like every other boy in that school," Ivy said, "With the exception of Azure of course."

"Yeah," Cy said. He huffed, "Ivy, remember how you said not to go jogging at night?"

Ivy sighed, "Cy, why bring down the mood with telling me you did just that?"

"I was under a lot of stress from classes on Thursday," Cy said, "Plus, I was under Coach Lazuli's orders. I needed to jog at night at least once this past week in order to meet the requirements to stay on the pre-registration list for track team."

Ivy remembered a talk with Coach Xenokles Lazuli about such matters. She couldn't help but feel foolish for overlooking that one detail. "Did you at least have all the things we talked about on hand?" She asked.

"The whole safety checklist," Cy said, "from the hoodie to the security whistle and luminescent arm straps."

"And your phone," Ivy asked.

"Fully charged and in my sweat pants pocket." Cy said.

"Okay," Ivy said, "and I know it frustrates you to no end about how many times I ask you if you have those things. But, I'm your sister and I worry. You're the only immediate family I have left."

Cy smiled, "I know, and trust me, Ivy, I'm not one to do that regularly."

"With good reason," Ivy smiled back.

They finished eating, washed the dishes and put them away. Ivy went to unpack and check-in with her boss at Vale Central Hospital. When that was all said and done, Cy went to designing the maps for the latest segment of his group's Dungeons and Dragons campaign. "Got the drinks all ready for tonight, little bro?" Ivy asked.

"Yup, Mr. Viridian gave me a bag of four two-liter bottles of soda last night," Cy replied not taking his focus off of the graph paper in front of him. He was drawing out the intricate maps that his friend Umbra would be directing the group through during this new campaign that would be strewn out over the next few months. Game night would be part D and D, part Smash Bros. of the party's choosing based on a vote, part Pokémon battles. They did this to suit the needs of all parties involved. Winter was the surprise when she first showed up the first game night they ever had. Cy and Azure were impressed with how the girl with the silver spoon knowing her way around a game board and a Pokémon battle. The group always had fun on these nights, whether it was clear or not. Tonight would be great for more than one reason, and Cy would be in for the most fun ever.

A/N: Here's the translations for the Latin used by Ruby - She questions why Cy shows mercy towards a blood sucking monster. She then goes on to think that Cy's one of the few people who can see past everything about what Ruby has become since she turned.

This vampire rendition of Ruby Rose is pretty fun for me to write and develop. I'm keeping a few elements from the canon version though, and I'll be bringing that into play more and more as this story progresses. And those who've read and watched the Swedish film Let the Right One In, I'm basing Ruby's early stages on Eli.

Well, that's chapter 3 done :) I hope you all enjoy it. Feel free to leave a review.

See you next time,

~Cluny