Authors Note: So far, so good. Thanks for the reviews. They are appreciated. Now for the next chapter.

Chapter 3: Not So Easy Anymore

Destiny Islands, Sora's House – 2:00am

Sora came to in his bedroom, and could hear the whispering of his friends… wait, whispering? They wouldn't whisper that loud, would they? Maybe they were right next to him, though. As he began to sit up, eyes still closed, he heard someone breathe a sigh of relief

"No way…" Leon said, but was interrupted by a punch to the back

"Don't worry us like that! I thought you said he was dead!" Tidus screamed.

"But… I felt his pulse, and there was nothing, I'm not lying!" Leon defended himself, but Aerith was giving him a look that meant 'shut up'.

"Hey Sora, you alright?" Tidus asked him, literally in his face. But he was used to this, so he wasn't frightened, so Sora didn't flinch.

"Yeah, I feel… fine?" Sora questioned himself as he opened his eyes. He had taken a massive fall, a bite wound to a main artery in his neck, and he felt great?

"Whoa…" Tidus got a shock and took a step back, frightened at what he saw. Sora's eyes were blood red, no longer the light blue they had always been. But Sora didn't know… yet.

"What? What is it?" He was still oblivious to it.

"Your eyes… Look in the mirror." Sora did just that and was surprised at what he saw. The colour of his eyes was the same as the vampire that attacked him.

'What the hell?' he mouthed, but didn't speak.

"Sora why are your eyes red, and more importantly, how that hell are you in such a good condition after what happened a few hours ago?"

"I… don't really know." Should he tell his friends that he drank blood? That he may be a vampire? No. Sora decided to hold back. "All I remember is falling out of the room and that's it." Sora lied, fearing what they may think if he told them. But he gave the game away as he gave that childish smile he had been perfecting all his life.

"Sora, you have fangs."

Although Sora knew this, he played dumb and licked his tongue along his teeth to check. They weren't wrong, and what had happened wasn't a dream.

"You don't think?" Tidus said.

"It… couldn't be... vampires don't exist…" Leon said, and everyone had worried expressions on their faces.

"Unnh…" Sora put both hands on his head, moaning in pain. He could hear their heartbeats, and it was like being constantly hit in the head with multiple hammers.

"Sora?" Leon asked, thinking Sora was something else.

"I… can hear... hear too clearly… I can hear your heartbeats, and it's giving me a headache."

"Wait a second…" Leon came up to Sora, and checked for a pulse. He found nothing. "Still no pulse. But then you should be dead…"

Just then, running footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway, and then someone burst into the bedroom. It was Riku, but he looked like he had been running for his life.

"Sora… you're okay… so you weren't attacked… that's good…" Riku said, exhausted.

"Actually, Sora was attacked. Tidus went to help him, and I came a little while after, but in the end…" Leon was cut off.

"Bitten? Was he bitten by a guy wearing a black cloak?"

"We don't-"

"Was. He. Bitten?"

"We don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? Either he was, or he wasn't!" Leon hated to lie, but Tidus wouldn't have it.

"Yes. Yes, he was bitten. Leon saved Sora, but the attacker took off. But what happened to you? We tried to contact you, but it was switched off. Can you explain that?"

"You think I had something to do with this?"

"No, but we'd like to know what happened to you."

"I got attacked as well. By this guy in a big, black trenchcoat. He went on the offensive, and was very fast. I couldn't keep up with him. He was gonna try and bite me by the neck, but police sirens were in the distance, so someone had seen our fight and called them. He then told me that he expected 'my friend was in a worse predicament than me' and ran off. I was gonna go after him, but he was way too fast. I lost sight of him in a few seconds, and didn't see him again. Without thinking, I ran for home to check on Sora, but someone hit me from behind and knocked me unconscious, and when I came to, I was in the same alley, but soaked by the rain."

"So you didn't get bitten." Leon asked, curiously.

"No. I checked. I'm fine."

The room went silent for a few seconds, until Sora sat back down on his bed and spoke out.

"If you guys don't mind, I'd like to be alone with Riku." He said with sadness in his voice, a rarity for Sora.

"Okay. We'll call Kairi as well-" Leon was cut off.

"No, I don't want to worry her. We'll do it in the morning."

And with that, Leon, Tidus and Aerith left, leaving Riku and Sora alone.

"You alright?" Riku said, with worry evident in his voice and his expression.

"Yeah… I'm fine. I guess…" Sora stayed silent after that. Riku knelt down and hugged Sora, comforting him.

"This is usually one of those moments when I'd tell you that you're fine, but… if I said it now… I'd be lying through my teeth."

Sora began to cry, but made no sound.

Meanwhile…

An abandoned house on the outskirts of the island, all boarded up, no light from the out side able to penetrate the wooden windows. Inside, there was nothing but two chairs, old and ragged, but useable. On one of these chairs sat a tall figure in a black trenchcoat. He sat there silently, as if waiting for someone. Then, a loud bang came form the roof, possibly what was left of the attic. From the, a figure, bloodied but able to walk, jumped down and landed on the floor, by the chairs.

"So… you failed... and yet you succeeded…" the man in the chair said, overlooking the wounds the other carried.

"Failed? If I remember… you failed as well! At least I made progress!"

"You know better than to take that kind of tone with me, brother."

"But you screwed up!"

"On the contrary, merely a change of plans…"

"Yeah, just so you can look good in front of Master? Pathetic! You won't even live up to your failures!"

"Actually, the change in the plans was ordered by Master himself. I did forward it to you, but you obviously chose not to hear it. And don't tell me you were unconscious, I know you laid there for the key child after you and he fell."

"Ungh…" he was angry, gritting his teeth.

"You succeeded in the fact that he is no longer among the living. You failed in the fact he is still moving of his own free will. Your objective was to take all his blood, and turn him into a Ghoul. But you failed. He is one of us now, and I don't think Master will be very pleased. In fact… he poses even more of a threat now."

"But-"

"This is failure that Master refuses to tolerate, and neither do I." With that, he stood up from his chair and promptly kneed his 'brother in the gut. He cried out in pain as he fell to his knees. "The Maser requires a Ghoul for his objective, whatever that may be. I will not disappoint him." He then bit down on his neck, sucking all the blood from him, as his eyes turned from blood red to stone grey. Lifeless, he fell to the ground. He walked over to a wall that had no windows on it, and a dark portal with a person standing in it opened. He nodded to the figure, and before it closed, he uttered:

"Mission Accomplished. I have a Ghoul in my custody."

The portal closed, leaving no trace of it ever being there.