My stomach growled as I made my way down the dark streets, a growl loud enough to echo. "I should have just stayed there and ate," I grumbled to myself.

Tonight sucked. Not only was I confused about the case, but I was hungry, which made me pissy. None of the cafes or restaurants were open; the summer holidays meant vacation… for everyone. During the spring, the streets would be flooded with people enjoying the nice weather. Now that it was summer, everyone flocked to the beaches or mountains, leaving the town strangely deserted. I like it, the quietness, but sometimes I got an eerie feeling whenever I passed by dark alleys or abandoned shops.

I looked up to the sky as I walked, studying the lack of stars and the full moon that stared back at me. The night was clear, and for that I was grateful; if it had been raining I would have been more pissed off.

The sudden vibrating of my phone startled me. Reaching into my pocket, I flipped open the phone, saying, "Moshi moshi?"

"Kiryuu-kun! 'Alo!"

My eye twitched. "What do you want, Cross?" I asked in a low growl.

"The autopsy report just came in, and there's some very interesting information I thought you would want to know," he replied.

"… the victim is Yu Tou Yao."

"Eh?! How do you know that?!"

"Kaname identified her; apparently, vampires can tell a lot about a person by their teeth," I replied. "What did you find?"

"The marks on the bone were not left by a vampire; Miss Yao was eaten by dogs," Cross replied.

I sighed; the theory Kaname and I worked so hard on just burned and flew out the window. One more thing to add to my frustration. "So, there's no sign of cannibalism then?"

"Nope," came the reply.

"What else did you find?"

"Well, I was curious as to why our victim never shattered into a million pieces upon death, so I did some searching of my own. Shortly before she died, Miss Yao had been, how should I put this, formatted to fit a human profile, but somehow her fangs never changed," Cross stated. "I believe our killer meant to leave behind a body for us to find."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Kaname said the body was a warning meant for him as opposed to Yao's family; from what he said, they have no enemies."

"That's all I could find right now; are you on your way home?"

"Yeah, I'm almost there."

"Be careful. If this killer knows you have some connection with Kaname-kun, he might be coming after you as well."

Even as he said this, I approached a flickering street light. In other circumstances, I wouldn't find anything abnormal about this light, except for tonight something caught my eye. Emerging from the shadows were two large strays, the black fur on the back of their necks standing on end. I froze, watching their lips curl back to reveal sharp gnashing teeth. "Hey, Cross… let me call you back..."

"Hm? Why?"

Before I could say anything else, the dogs' vicious barks and growls were enough to send me spinning on my heel. Normally I would shoot at anything that attacked me, but last I checked, dogs can't become vampires, which meant my gun was useless. I ran as fast as I could, every once in a while looking back to see them cutting in close.

"Shit!"

I turned a sharp corner only to run into a chain-link fence. Swearing under my breath, I climbed up as fast as I could, but my efforts were useless. Sharp crushing teeth clamped down on my ankle, dragging me back to the hard asphalt. I scooted back against the wall as fast as I could, kicking at the snarling animal. I yelled as the dog thrashed its head about, tearing up my leg and ripping the flesh down to the bone. Yanking my gun from its strap on my belt, I whacked the dog across the forehead with the handle. However, the other dog caught me around the arm and pulled hard so I was twisted over on my side. Claws dug into my ribs and side as the second dog climbed on top of me and went for the back of my neck.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled, rolling over and sending the dog into the wall with a yelp.

I scrambled to my feet, desperate to get out of there. Blood gushed from the massive wound on my leg, and my arm hung limp to my side.

"Kiryuu-kun! What's going on?!"

Looking down to my hand, I realized I never did hang up on Cross. "Cross! Where are you right now?" I gasped.

"I should be asking you the same thing!" he replied in a worried tone.

I looked frantically around for something recognizable; if Cross could get here fast, then this whole ordeal was as good as over. "The bakery!" I cried. "The French bakery! I'm by there!"

"Kiryuu-kun, don't move from there. I'm coming to get you."

The phone went dead as he hung up. I gritted my teeth as I hobbled over to the nearest wall, sinking down and gasping for air. Luckily the dogs never returned; I wondered if I had killed them. I gently rolled up my pant leg, grimacing at the deep gashes in my ankle.

"Damn bastard…" I hissed. "I should have drilled a hole in his head…"

I didn't notice the small figure that had emerged before me, so I was caught completely unaware when two fingers touched my forehead. "Sleep," a soft voice whispered.

My entire body went numb as I stared blankly at the dark figure. Despite how warm it was, I felt a sudden chill ghost over my skin. "Who… are you…?" I mumbled before my head fell forward on my chest.

"I'm no one you should trust," I heard the voice reply before I slipped into a deep sleep.