BEFORE YOU READ THIS CHAPTER, READ THE LAST. CHANGES MADE MUST BE READ IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S UP AHEAD!

This month I will update early because tonight I'm going to turkey (big grin). I hope you'll enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to tell me what you think of it.

Laying out baits

Monday started a little different in the four Dreamers' homes. Bakura was up first with the breakfast made when Ryou made it to the kitchen (that was a very rare occasion), Kanaka had made lunchboxes for her sons (she had never done that before), Yukino had made something special for lunch for hers (which she only did on their birthdays), Mrs. Ishtar patted Malik's hair when he came into the kitchen and Isis let him go first into the shower because her first class started later than his (before she had occupied the bathroom for half an hour even when she knew Malik had to hurry away).

The night before Yugi, Yuni and Yohim agreed to wait with their next draw until Crow was close enough. Close enough it was. When Yugi walked to school his hair stood out from his body like thin spikes. It still surprised him the hairs on his head didn't stand straight out from his head like an explosion.

"Hi Yugi," Ryou greeted when the tense youth appeared to their usual meeting spot.

"Crow is very close," Yugi hissed out the corner of his mouth, a long emphasis on 'very' to make his best friend understand just how close the old vampire was.

"How can you tell?" Ryou asked softly, making sure the people who passed wouldn't pay it any mind.

Yugi pulled up his sleeve and swiftly showed Ryou how his skin was covered with goosebumps. Ryou had to stare even as the sleeve recovered the arm.

"Is that normal?"

"I suppose. Before I never noticed the raise of my hairs as it was always cold when they approached. Now when it's warm it's different. I feel the warmth on my skin, but the sensation of him near is freezing me up from inside. I'm so cold. Please tell me if my hair start lifting."

"…Sure. Whatever you want." Then he became serious. "Could he stand around the corner?"

Yugi shook his head with an assuring smile. "No, I may not be able to tell the exact distance, but I will know before we dump into him. He's in town, that's all I know."

"Hey, Yugi, Ryou!" The teens turned to see Malik and Seto run up to them from the school gate. "Hey guys, have you read the newspaper this morning?" Malik asked, waving with this morning's paper.

"No, the paper's brother's in the morning," Ryou said.

"And I never have time." Yugi turned to the classmate of his brother. "What are you doing here, Seto? Your class won't start in half an hour yet."

"Making sure you've checked the news."

"You really should check this out." Malik held up the centrepiece and both Yugi's and Ryou's eyes widened. In front of them, smiling charmingly from the painted paper was no other than Crow in the flesh.

"Pegasus J. Crow arrives to Japan." Yugi's voice was soft like a breeze.

"There's more," Malik said lowly and lowered the paper. "This man is CEO for my father's corporation. I found dad by the table this morning and he said he would rather live in his own home when he worked so near and then he showed me this."

"Even more," Seto said from his place behind Malik. "It was on the news this morning. This man is among the richest in the world. No one knows where he comes from, if he has family or anything. There are no certain dates for birth or age or such things but he is very interested in women between twenty and thirty of age. However. No one seems to notice where his women go to, or that they disappear like they were never there in the first place. He always keeps the headlight on himself and nobody seems able to move it away from him."

"Did they say all that on TV?" Ryou asked.

"No, I checked the web."

"That's our Crow alright," Yugi said bitterly, his eyes a haze of green, blue and brown.

Before anything more could be said the bell rang.

Crow's arrival was the talk all around school that day. All four kept their eyes open for news of why he was in Japan. During lunch break they gathered in the library with every newspaper and reportages from the internet they could possibly find. Malik held up a paper.

"Here it says it's the first time Crow, or Pegasus as he calls himself now, is officially in Japan."

"First time officially," Yugi emphasised. "That means he's been here before. Probably to grill Ken about the princess."

"Not only him." Seto pointed at a line in the paper. "Here it says that he has some friends here. More than one."

"Yes, he must know the late king was here as well."

"But the king would never give her reincarnation away, right?" Ryou said hopefully.

"No. The king died when he protected the princess, that was his purpose of… staying alive?"

"I think the phrase you seek is 'stay among the living'," Malik said helpfully.

"Yes, that was the one. Thanks Malik. However, the lack of personal data doesn't seem to bother anybody much. It's the mystery that keeps him interesting."

"It sure as hell bothers the police and politicians," Seto informed, holding up another paper. "He refuses to go to the dentist as well. There are no records at all about visits to a doctor or dentist or anything the like. He's never sick and never seems tired. And the lack of family appears to be a sore spot."

The other three stared at him. "Where did you get those data?" Malik asked.

"I'm good with computers," was his only answer. "The thing is; Pegasus is abnormally healthy."

"Of course he is," Yugi almost hissed. "He's dead, he's nine hundred years old and the females he feed on keeps him going. That man's become even more of a devil than Sanguis."

"Who's Sanguis?"

The quartet spun around and stood face to face with Anzu.

"Oh, hi. We didn't see you there," Yugi said.

"I see that. Who's Sanguis?"

Ryou, Seto and Malik all looked to Yugi, like Ryouko, Kyoko and Malin had looked to Yuniko.

"Many people," Yugi said.

"A sect?"

"No, one person made of many."

Anzu frowned at him. "You mean like Frankenstein or something?"

"No, one whole body with many people in."

Anzu lifted a finger as she tried to come up with an explanation she understood herself. "Now you've lost me."

Yugi smiled. "Some things are not made to understand. You don't have to get it, the important is that someone does, and in this case that someone is me."

Anzu was about to ask something more when suddenly Mr Scot walked up to them. Yugi stood, eyes wide with recognition.

"Mr. Scot."

"It was some time since I saw you, young Mr. Atemu. I heard from your brother."

Yugi stared and Malik frowned in confusion. Malin recognized the face from somewhere far away, but Ryouko and Kyoko had never seen him, and Tea had probably never even heard of him.

"Yes," Yugi said softly. "It was some time since I saw you too."

Mr. Scot smiled a little. "But I doubt it will be the last time we meet. I am history teacher for your brother." He gave her a look that made Yugi smile bitterly. "But I suppose you already knew that."

"Yes, I suppose."

Mr. Scot nodded and turned to leave. "Oh, and by the way. Crow is an old friend of mine and may stop by."

Yugi's heart leapt into his throat and his eyes widened even more.

"What was that all about?" Anzu asked. Yugi was unable to take his eyes from where Scot had disappeared, but he somehow managed his face to smile, though it was visibly strained.

"Irony, Anzu," he said and looked at one of the journals on the table, staring at Crow's picture. "Only irony."

"That was… that was the priest who died that time?" Malik had started his outburst loudly, but when everyone turned their way he lowered his voice to a whisper. The group sat in a café now when school had finished and they kept discussing the Crow problem.

"No doubt about it. I didn't think he'd survive to our time as well."

"Who was he?" Ryou asked.

"A friend of Yuniko's brother. He's the one who revealed the vampires' weakness against crucifixes. But he died trying to protect her about a year after Atemu's death in 1628."

"Was it Crow who killed him?" Ryou asked. Yugi noticed how a man who has just passed them stiffened and took a seat behind him. He saw Seto noticed too.

"No, Aku did. It was Malin and father Scot who followed the princess to the northern field that night, but I don't know how he managed to turn back when she ordered to horses back home."

"He fell off," Malik informed. "Malin couldn't do much to help him and could only hope the princess would protect him."

"Well, it was the other way around actually, though not as successfully as she would have hoped. Aku got angry about his presence and the princess fainted."

"Why?"

"Don't ask me, I don't know."

Seto caught Yugi's eyes and asked silently what he was doing as the man behind Yugi and Ryou was still obviously listening. This time Ryou noticed his gaze and frowned at Yugi. The green eyed boy leaned forward on his elbows.

"It still astonishes me how such a giant can mix with humans."

"That's right," Malik said with a slight frown, showing he had thought about it too. "Crow is so big, and that eye of his too. Are the tears really enough to hide all that?"

"I don't know about that either," Yugi answered. "I'm still confused I could feel his presence so far into the morning. The sensation lasted into second class."

"Can it be his inhumanity that shines through the barrier?"

"His sort can't be more or less inhuman. They have all been humans once, though I'm having my doubts about Crow. Since he served count Dracul his family must have been close to him, or he is a child between Sanguis and some other woman."

"You mean those creatures can breed?" Seto asked horrified.

"Beats me, I hope not." Then Yugi sighed heavily. "The past doesn't really make much sense in today's light. The important here is that Crow, or Pegasus, is grilling Ken, and probably had contact with Yuniko's late father and even Scot, only to get his hands on me, and probably won't care if anybody else gets in his way. Tell me one in today's society that honestly believes in the supernatural."

"We do," Seto said blinking. Yugi had to laugh.

"True. But besides us. The mediums? Hardly. They communicate with the dead, but hardly believe in what we are doing, or what Crow actually is. The one eavesdropping in the seat behind me surely doesn't."

Seto, Malik and Ryou all turned to look at the head that tried to hide in his coffee cup.

"Haven't your mother told you it's rude to eavesdrop?" Yugi asked as he stirred his tea before taking a sip.

The man had no choice but to come around, only to be surprised.

"Rashid? What are you doing here?" Malik asked.

"You know him?" Seto asked.

"Of course I do. Rashid is my cousin."

"I didn't expect to find you here, Malik," the man said with his deep voice. He was tall with darker skin than his cousin and black hair tied back into a low ponytail. "You never liked public places."

"Things changes, cousin. Take a seat. These are my friends, Yugi Atemu, Ryou Kazuki and Seto Kaiba."

"Pleasure to meet you, boys."

Yugi's green eyes pierced Rashid's heart with their intensity, before they softened. "Of course. I understand you're interested in Pegasus J. Crow."

Rashid flushed at the smirk covering the young boy's features. He was way sharper than his childish appearance gave him credit for. And he spoke like an upper-class boy. "Yes," he said softly and swiftly passed his ID over the table, revealing his position as detective.

"I see. Well then, I suppose you people are more interested in his shadow than what he does in the light of day."

"I couldn't help but hear you talking about him."

"Of course not, especially not when it involved murder." Rashid flushed again and the three teenagers looked at Yugi, silently asking how much they could tell him.

"Listening to you, it's hard to miss you know a lot about Pegasus."

"I know what I know," Yugi said calmly. Rashid paid little attention to other than him, and Seto had to show him not only Yugi was filled with information.

"Pegasus is only a taken name."

"Yes," Ryou nodded. "His real name is Crow, a monster who kill to live."

"You make him sound like a professional murderer."

"He is," Malik said, much to Rashid's surprise. "In a way, just that he doesn't kill to make a living."

Rashid stared at the younger boy at his side. Malik's face of bitterness he was used to, it was the depth of his eyes that surprised him. He really had changed.

"How long have you lived here?" he asked.

"Oh… two weeks, I think. Why?"

The older frowned at him, not understanding the sudden light he could see in the purple orbs. Had Malik's eyes always been this bright? When was last time he had looked his cousin in the eye?

"I see you noticed the change from the reserved teenager to this sharp-tongued young man." Yugi said with another smirk. He was playing with Rashid as he worked out a plan with Yohim and Yuniko.

It's risky, Yohim warned.

'Perhaps,' Yugi answered.

There is nothing to win if you are afraid to lose, Yuniko said wisely, and Yugi agreed wholeheartedly with her.

"Back to the subject, please," Rashid ordered. He noticed Yugi was playing with him and wouldn't tolerate it. "You don't have any idea how long the police, both nationally and internationally, have worked to put this guy in chains and throw his ass in prison."

Yugi, Yuniko and Yohim all stared out of the same pair of eyes and right into Rashid's soul, grasping his heart in warning.

"You do not know how long this war has been."

The three saints released their hold on the human and Rashid gasped for breath. Laying a hand over his chest he made sure his heart was still beating. "W-what..?"

"A simple warning, mister. You would do wisely to not anger us again."

Malik turned to his cousin, warning and truth in his eyes. "This is way too much for you to understand, Rashid. As long as Yugi is alive Crow must keep himself in a leach. The moment Yugi dies he is free to hide the sun and poison the earth."

"What?"

"Throw his ass in prison?" Ryou almost taunted. "That's the same as leading him to a feast. Don't forget the wine and cheese."

"What the hell are you..?"

"It's no use, mister," Seto said from Malik's other side and glanced at the grown man from the corner of his icy eye. "Humans can't fight the likes of him."

Seems like we lost of chance, Yohim sighed.

Not yet, Yuniko cut in, looking sly and exited. This will save us a lot of time.

Yugi's eyes lit up as Yuniko's thoughts reached him. The queen of Scotland was the same old cunning monarch she had always been.

"Tell me, my friend, what do you know about a woman named Yohim?"

"Yugi!?" Ryou burst out. Seto and Malik just gaped at him.

"Never think I've heard the name before," Rashid said with a confused frown. "That's no Japanese name."

"No, she was a gipsy from twelfth century. But I am positive you've heard about Dracula."

"Who hasn't?"

Yugi shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't really matter. Did you know that the vampire character Count Dracula is based on a real person?"

"Yes I do. Vald Dracul of the Dragon clan."

"What do I hear? You really know your vampires."

"I always loved those stories, but that's not what we're discussing here."

"Yes I am. Let me keep talking and you will know what I mean. Yohim, Ma Yoro as the gipsies named her since she was married, had a cousin Dracul wanted to marry. Since the girl didn't have other relatives he needed Ma Yoro's blessing, which she refused to give. That of course led to some complications which ended with Ma Yoro and Dracul fighting to death."

"Hey, wait a second, that's not how Vald Dracul died."

"And how do you know?"

"I've read all about it."

Yugi smiled strangely, like someone asking a question while already knowing the answer. "And how can you be so sure what you read in those books is the truth?"

Rashid opened his mouth to answer, only to find he didn't have any, so he closed it again. Yugi pointedly raised his cup and swallowed the last of his tea.

"Time is fleeting, and in those days it was the kings who decided what should be documented and what should be left to forget."

"And how can you be so sure your story is true?"

Yohim immediately glared back at him, like he was an insect before her. "Because I was there."

The dark man swallowed thickly as Yugi's green eyes returned.

"Sorry 'bout that. But you really should watch your tongue; Ma Yoro is a proud woman."

"And strong," Seto added with a suspiciously female voice. "The men of our clan didn't respect her only because she was the clan leader's wife."

By now Malik's cousin was way beyond confused.

"Where were we? Oh yes, Yohim and Dracul fighting. However, there is always some straw of truth behind all those wild stories about supernatural creatures like werewolves, ghouls and vampires. Sadly, the true history is today shrugged off as fairytales and bed-time stories."

"Vampires do not exist," Rashid said firmly.

"Of course not," Yugi said as he waved Ryou out so he too could stand. He placed a warm hand on the detective's arm, lowering his voice. "That's why Crow's green eye glows in the dark."

Rashid was pushed to stand by Malik and Seto who quickly followed the green eyed teenager. He stood there holding the place on his arm Yugi had touched. It still felt strangely warm after his touch.

"What did you do, Yugi?" Malik asked nervously.

"Don't worry about your cousin, Malik," Yugi smiled. "I will protect him the best I can, and I am sure Crow is much too interested in me to have time to hurt him."

They walked in silence for a moment, until Ryou clapped his hands. "Well, I think Bakura said something about making sushi tonight. Anyone interested?"