Authors Note: I missed Saturdays update! Whoops! I had a heap of college work to do, so I couldn't do it, and also, nothing was coming to me about what to write next. So, apologies if this next chapter seems rushed.

Chapter 8: Traverse Town

Traverse Town – 9:00pm

Riku and Sora got lucky. It seems that Traverse Town shared the same time cycle as Destiny Islands, so it was around nine when they reached the city.

"So… got any idea who we're looking for?" Riku started the talk, asking the obvious question.

"I wish he'd told us what she or he looked like, but either way, let's not start any trouble until we find her." Sora replied.

"Why no trouble?"

"Because as you've noticed, I'm unarmed, except for these gauntlets."

"You idiot! Did you forget you have the Keyblade?"

"No, and I can't. I already tried."

Sora stretched his arm forward, and tried to call the Keyblade to his hand. But nothing happened. No light. No sudden weight addition to his arm. No Keyblade. Nothing.

"OK, is there anything else I don't know?" Riku was already getting frustrated.

"Nothing Frank didn't tell you."

"I don't trust him…"

"Look, enough arguing, and let's focus on the task at hand, okay?"

"Fine, but still-"

Riku was cut off by a bunch of people tackling him out of nowhere, and pinning him to the ground. The one who held his arms showed his fangs, quickly revealing himself to be a vampire. Just as he was about to bite Riku, Sora came out of nowhere and tackled them all, allowing Riku to get to his feet.

They were all vampires, as it turned out. But they looked like a bunch of thugs.

"So that's the kid…"

"Yeah, that other guy said that this is the kid. Man, this twitch is worth all that money?"

"Doesn't matter, its money or nothing. Let's get em!"

They came full force at Sora and Riku. Riku didn't hesitate to draw his Keyblade, the Way To Dawn, while Sora just put his fists up, but in the back of his head was embarrassed, as he had never once engaged in melee combat. Without thinking, he threw a punch at them, and hit the front man on the shoulder. The silver left a burn mark on the vampire, but he didn't seem that phased. So he threw another punch, harder this time. He aimed for the head, and struck right on his target. The punch went all the way through the vampires head, and after a few seconds, he disintegrated into dust, ash, and flames. Riku caught a glimpse of this, and was shocked by this. He felt even more afraid. But Sora was doubly afraid. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He felt guilty for taking the vampires life, even if he was sort of already dead. He looked at his right hand, the hand that punched through the vampire, as if he had blood on it. He felt so much like he did. This distraction allowed the other vampires to take down both Sora and Riku, and pin them to the floor, much in the same fashion Riku had been pinned down a moment ago. They stared at their prey, and licked their fangs.

But before they could bite down, three gunshots were heard. Riku and Sora opened their eyes to see the two vampires that held down Riku dissolve, and one on top of Sora dissolve also, leaving one holding Sora. Sora quickly overcame this by head butting the vampire (not wanting to kill him), and knocking the sense out of him.

"So you two have finally arrived. It's about time!"

Sora looked around for the source, and he found it pretty quickly (to his own surprise). A girl stood on the roof of a nearby building, wearing a mix of black, red and blue. She had long black hair (much like Franks but not messy, it was straight and taken care of) and was wearing black gauntlets, no silver seen on them, but they were the same black material Sora and Riku had on theirs. Her eyes were blood red, indicating she was a vampire.

She ran over to Sora and checked him, also checking the still visible bite mark he had on his neck.

"You don't have enough blood running in you."

"Huh?" Riku said, giving her a 'What?' expression."

"He needs to take in more blood."

"Thought I got enough from Frank."

"Well, you didn't. Vampires need a lot more to survive. So you need to feed."

Sora shook his head at the idea, as he didn't want to feed. He wanted to stay mostly human.

"It's okay; you've got a free sample right here." And with that, she picked up the dazed vampire.

"Wait a minute…"

"Look, I don't have time to be fooling about. Every known vampire is after you, so we can't just stand here. Either you take his blood, or I leave you both here."

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

"Shut up, human! Don't tell me what to do."

""Please, Riku, just leave it."

Sora thought long and hard about what to do. But as he thought, his Anti saw an opportunity.

'Do it…'

Sora was unable to respond. These thoughts were becoming his.

'FEED… you must… to survive…'

Sora looked at the vampire that the woman had now dropped on his butt. He suppressed the greed that was taking him over at this point, and just grabbed the vampire. He took some time to think about it, but in the end, finally bit down. He sucked the blood out of the vampire. He was there a few minutes, eventually dropping to his knees as he wouldn't let up. Riku had his back turned, not wanting to see his best friend degraded to this. He wanted to cry. He knew that this was Anti-Sora working its magic, making Sora take all he could.

Eventually, Sora had sucked the vampire dry. Seeing his use served, the girl pulled out her pistol and shot the vampire-tuning-ghoul in the head. He disintegrated immediately. Before, Sora showed remorse, compassion for the vampires, not wishing to take their lives. But Sora was smiling now, showing no emotion except satisfaction. He shuddered for a few seconds before clutching his head in pain. As quickly as he left, Sora's normal personality returned.

"Ungh… what happened?"

"You fed." The girl said.

"Come Again?"

"You fed for blood."

"No… I didn't, I… did I?"

"You fed on a vampire, so it's okay. No harm done."

Riku wanted to hit her then and there. She was oblivious to what Sora briefly became. It angered him ,as well as made him afraid, that Sora might be this way forever. He wanted to block those thoughts out, but he felt something telling him he was right.

He already hated the girl that had saved them. While she was quick to get the job done, she was too straight with things, and seemed to rush him and Sora, particularly with the blood issue.

"So, what is your name anyway?"

"My name is Sophie. 63 years old. Became a vampire at 17."

17 was how old Sora was now. A bit ominous, Riku thought.

"Come on. If you wanna stay alive, stick with me. You have a few things to be updated on."

Riku went to follow her, but noticed Sora was still kneeling on the floor. He helped him up, but noticed Sora was crying, though making no noise. He knew why Sora was crying. The painful reality of things were still just beginning to settle in for Sora. And it was all bad.

End Chapter

Authors Note: Sorry for the rushed chapter, but you deserve something. It's not as long as the previous one, but that's just too bad, in my opinion. I don't really care how long they are, anyway, so long as everything I wanted to write is written, and it arrives on time.

Next chapter on Tuesday (hopefully).