The Vampire Detective 2 – Second Grace

Prologue – A Nightmare in Reality

Disclaimer – Story is mine. Characters (most of) are Gosho's.

Warning! Strong themes of vampiric nature from the very beginning. I don't see why you would turn away now, since you should have read the first story first, and also because this is only featuring in small parts, but you have been Warned.

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The corridor was dark, in a human way. In a vampire way, it was lit more than enough by the overhead lighting, which flickered on and off, buzzing in his preternatural hearing like bees and wasps. Everything was more enhanced than usual. His body, if not his mind, was on the hunt.

He was arguing with the Kid. The human Kid, who smelt of silk and smoke and blood and magic. It was intoxicating. He found his fangs sharpening at any given moment in their conversation, if it could be called that. Blood pounded in his ears and he could feel the Kid's blood doing the same in his system.

But he wouldn't. Not, apparently, because of anything other than the fact that the idiot trusted him. Felt that he didn't trust himself enough. That he would be able to bring himself out. He wasn't so sure.

When he finally did give in to his cravings and his need, he did so quickly, so that he wouldn't chicken out at the last moment. Fangs sunk lightly into skin and he drank of the liquid that kept him alive. He supposed that it was a fair deal; their people had been trying to kill him and his, so their people would keep him alive. Simple. Right?

Except that the more he had, the more he wanted. He only just stopped himself when the first person started to go limp and began with the other lying next to them.

He thought that he heard raised voices. He ignored them. So this was what it was like. . .

The voices grew more and more insistent. Closer and closer to him and his prey. With, for a human, quiet steps that he nonetheless could hear as clearly as he could the slowing heartbeat of the man he was currently attached to.

Insistent. Worried. Panicked. Scared. Fearful. They had that right. He was ten times as powerful as any human, even one with magic in their veins.

He half heard and half felt the hand snake tentatively towards his crouched shoulder. Someone wanted to interrupt him! To take him away from his. . .

His head whipped around. Fangs still bared, one of them caught right through two or three layers of clothing to slash through skin underneath. Then his head tilted upwards and his eyes saw a face and it was his face and he was afraid, afraid, so afraid –

But he couldn't stop himself. Fangs continued hurtling towards that place, gravitated there.

Blood –

Kudo Shinichi woke up in his bed, sweating profusely. The air around him still rang with a horrified scream which he knew even without hearing it was his own. A hand lifted to his face, dragged hair away from his eyes.

He hauled himself out of bed and looked at the clock. Too late to be called night and too early to be called morning. He groaned, but it came out shuddered, his breaths coming as gasps.

He had been having the nightmares close to every night ever since the event had happened. It hadn't, of course, happened that way in reality. In reality, he had been shocked just enough at seeing Kaito's face, a perfect match for his own save for the violet tinge in the boy's eyes, a mask of fear compelling him to be able to stop. He had just sat there shell-shocked at what he had almost done, had done, tears slipping out of his eyes. Kaito had tried to comfort him, but that wasn't worth much when he knew that he had been the one to give the thief – his friend, damn it – a worse wound than he had ever received at a heist.

He hadn't felt himself to be trusted. He had told the others, all of them, eventually, what exactly he was and - vaguely, as he wasn't ready yet for the looks of disgust - what had taken place. Hakuba had recovered quickly. Koizumi had looked more than slightly disapproving, though of what he didn't know. Hattori had looked serious, and Ran . . . Well, Ran just promised to be there for him no matter what anyway. He didn't deserve her as a friend, and if that incident had taught him anything, it had been that he couldn't afford to have her as anything more.

Life, more or less, had gone back to normal. Or at least a semblance of normal.

Life always does, thought Shinichi, as he went down to his kitchen to get himself something to stop the shakes. Possibly with a little added caffeine.

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AN: And so there you have it. Various missing bits from the last chapter and epilogue of TVD, and setting the scene for the story to come. I've been looking forward to writing that bit for absolutely ages. P_^

Unfortunately for the story's many followers, I'm thinking of shelving it for a while to get the plot straightened out in my head. I will continue to write it whenever I can, but it will usually be into my notepad rather than my computer. This will also give me a chance to get on with various other stories I've either written or had in mind. As I said, it won't be stopped, I'll only be putting less effort in for a while.

I hope this pleases until the next chapter is finished P_^