Whew! Hey, guys, sorry for the slight delay. Junior year of college is busy...

So, here's Chapter Eight. (Anyone notice the Star Wars reference?)

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Five hours later, after seeing Hayner to the hospital, meeting Riku and Donald and Goofy there, finalizing our story with them, meeting a sick-with-relief Pence and fending off his constant slew of thank-yous, meeting with Chief of Police Squall "Leon" Leonhart and relating my altered version of events (along with Riku, Donald, and Goofy), being assured that he would put out an APB on the mysterious red-haired woman, getting a call from Hayner's parents offering me many profuse thanks for finding their son, and going out to dinner with the other three, I returned to my apartment, weary after the day's events.

"Tough day, Sora?"

I glanced up to see the friendly face of Roxas White, the evening doorman, whom I had met a few times and with whom I was on friendly terms. "Hey, Roxas," I replied with a smile. "Yeah, it's been pretty busy."

"Did you get a lot done, at least?"

My smile widened. "Yes. Yes, I did."

"Good to hear," he replied. "Well, I won't keep you. Get some rest."

"Thanks. See you later."

"You, too."

I headed in, took the elevator up to my floor, and went straight to my apartment. I stayed wary, however; the possibility of the vampire returning had not left my mind, and I didn't want to be caught off-guard. But I was still wearing my contacts, so at least she couldn't hypnotize me again.

I opened the door to my apartment and stepped in. I was alert, but my instincts (honed and reliable after several years of hunting supernatural beings) did not tell me there was anyone in my place. Still, I checked each room before finally sinking onto my couch to relax. I pulled out my phone to text the others and let them know that I had gotten back safely; we had all agreed that it was possible the vampire would come after any one of us (though most likely me, since she knew my name and face and since I was the one who had defeated her), and so we had decided to check in at regular intervals. I sent the text, then picked up the remote and did some channel-surfing, looking for a satisfactory program to watch while I relaxed. Eventually, I found a channel that was airing The Exorcist, and set the remote down and watched. I liked a good deal of horror movies—they certainly resonated a lot with what I did. (I had never been called to exorcise a demon, like Father Karras, but it was a possibility.)

In actuality, several popular horror stories have a basis in fact. One of the most iconic, Bram Stoker's Dracula, is in fact based on actual recounts of encounters with a vampire much like Count Dracula (though with some features added in and some features taken out). The vampire in question, whose identity remains unknown, was one of the first known instances of another creature, one with many names, but most commonly referred to as a vampiraga, or perfect vampire. Possessing unnatural speed and strength, heightened senses, and extraordinary regenerative powers, among several other abilities, a vampiraga was one of the most feared and dangerous creatures out there. Easily able to overpower a human, facing one without proper equipment and preparation was fatal. And there weren't many things you could do against one. Take decapitation, for instance. For a regular vampire, cutting its head off would kill it almost instantly. A perfect vampire, however, would be incapacitated, but would still be very much alive, and could even grow its head back after a short amount of time. Stabbing it in the heart, again fatal to regular vampires, would only be a nuisance to a vampiraga—unless the weapon was made of the right material. A stake made of oak wood, for instance, would have a greater effect than most other stakes. The best material to use, however, was silver. Vampires in general had a weakness to silver: touching it was painful, and being injured by a silver weapon was excruciating. Perfect vampires followed this rule; stabbing one in the heart with a silver instrument would cause it immense pain, greatly incapacitating it for several minutes (especially if the weapon was left in; this would almost permanently cripple it). The only way to actually kill a vampiraga, though, was to burn it. Burning it and its bones would destroy it forever, and was the only known way to do so.

I had never seen a vampiraga, and neither intended nor expected to; they were exceedingly uncommon (thankfully). I was dealing with a vampire at the moment, but I knew she was not a vampiraga, otherwise she would have killed me when I ruined her plan, and contacts would not have protected me from her hypnosis.

I watched the movie through its end, and then, tired in both body and mind, I dragged myself to my bedroom and went to bed.

But then, it happened again. I did manage to sleep soundly for a while, but eventually, I found myself in the same place I had been many times before: the dungeon. Across from me, the figure stood, and I felt panic rise up again. Whoever it was, they were deadly.

But this time, something different happened. As the figure turned, it raised its arms up to its head and grasped the hood. I tensed; was the identity of this person about to be revealed?

I think I might have guessed who it was right before I saw. But it became certain when the hood came down, and the red hair became visible.

My eyes widened. "You!"

I sat bolt upright, breathing heavily. She was the figure from my nightmares? Had my dream predicted my encounter with her? Was she destined to have some sort of major role in my life? What did this mean?

My thoughts were flying wildly, but then I thought, Hold on. There's nothing that you've seen that suggests prophetic dreams. This all has a perfectly natural explanation.

I began to calm down as I came up with my explanation. I had never seen who the figure actually was before today. Before that, it was just a faceless manifestation of my fears. Now, I can put a face to it, since I'm worried about her coming after me.

I felt myself relax. That made sense…yes, it was a good explanation. It was nothing other than the manifestation of my subconscious feelings; wasn't that what dreams were, after all?

Still, it was hard to get back to sleep.

The next day started off easy. I slept in, despite myself; I had had a tough week. Besides, it was a Sunday, when our office was closed, and so I didn't have much to do. I ended up rising around nine-thirty, and took my time getting ready for the day. After checking my phone, to make sure the others were okay and there were no messages regarding work I needed to do, I rang up Twilight Hospital to find out how Hayner was doing, and learned that he was in stable condition, expecting a blood transfusion soon. Satisfied, I hung up and went to my bookshelf and browsed my collection, intending to just do some reading. (The other three, from the vampire case, were occupied that day: Donald was spending it with Daisy, Goofy was visiting family, and Riku had said that he had some work he needed to take care of.) After selecting a novel and spending a few hours reading, I ate lunch, and after that, did some Internet surfing, and after that, cleaned my apartment.

I did say that the day started easy, didn't I? Well, that quickly changed.

It was about a quarter after five, when I had just started thinking about dinner, when my phone rang. Noticing that it was Lea, I picked it up. "Hey, Lea."

"Sora."

He sounded like something was wrong, so I sat down and adopted a serious demeanor. "What's up? Is there a problem?"

"Possibly," he said. "Try not to get too freaked out, but that woman you told us about yesterday? She was spotted just a few minutes ago, right outside Donald's place."

I froze. "What?"

"We sent over a team as soon as we heard."

"Is Donald okay?" I asked urgently. If anything had happened to him…

"I called him just a minute ago, and he sounded fine. Don't worry, Sora—I highly doubt she would be stupid enough to capture Donald, when everyone's on the alert for her."

Lea's assurance wasn't very effective; he didn't know what this woman was. "I'm going over," I said, getting up.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea; we're trying to keep the area as secure as possible."

"Lea, he's one of my best friends. I'm not going to stay put while he's in danger like this."

Lea sighed. "Ugh, you have to be so stubborn, don't you? Fine, but don't get in the way."

"I'll find out how my friend is doing first. Then, I'll worry about getting in your way."

I hung up, and immediately grabbed my things. I debated over whether or not to take my gun, and eventually decided on it; if that vampire showed up and wanted to harm me or my friends, I would be prepared to retaliate.

Donald lived in a small house in Queens, which was a short distance from my apartment, but it felt like hours before the taxi driver finally pulled up and I got out. Police cars were already stationed there, and various officers milled about. "Lea!" I called, seeing my friend's spiky red hair.

He turned to me as I approached. "Sora. You got here quickly."

"Where's Donald?"

"Inside."

Another police officer, this one with long blue hair, walked up. "This is an official police investigation," he said to me. "I'm going to have to ask you to stand back."

"That's my friend in there," I snapped, pointing.

"Geez, chill out, Sora," said Lea. "Donald's fine, and so is Daisy."

I blinked before remembering that Donald had scheduled the whole day with his girlfriend. "Still, I'd like to talk to him."

"You can wait," said the blue-haired officer.

I glared at him. "Would you be able to wait if that was your friend in there?"

The officer opened his mouth to continue arguing, but Lea cut it off. "Forget it, Isa," he said. "It's not that big a deal, and it's not worth the trouble he's going to give you." He motioned to me. "All right, Sora, come on in."

The blue-haired officer, Isa, looked affronted, but let me pass. Without further ado, I ran inside, where a couple other policemen could be seen or heard going through the house. "Donald?" I called out.

"Sora?" came his voice from further in. I followed it and found him and Daisy (a woman in her late twenties with blonde hair and a very prim look) in the kitchen. "Sora! What are you doing here?"

"Lea called me, and I wanted to check in," I said. "How are you doing?"

"We're fine," Donald assured me. "We didn't even hear anything about it until Lea called and told us she was around."

"Who called it in, then?"

"One of the neighbors. He saw her looking around the house, remembered her description from a police report, and phoned it in."

"How's he doing?"

"Fine. There are a couple of officers over at his place, making sure that she hasn't hidden out there or anything."

I nodded, then glanced at Daisy. "How are you holding up, Daisy?"

She looked worried, but replied with a steady voice, "Well, the police are here now, so we're safe." She drew slightly closer to Donald as she said it.

"That's true," I said. "Do you mind if I speak to Donald for a moment?"

She frowned. "Why?"
"I have some things I'd like to say to him."

"And you can't say them here?"

"I'd prefer to speak in private."

"What do you need to say?"

I shot a look at Donald, who intervened. "Don't worry, Daisy, it'll just be for a minute," he said reassuringly. "And we won't go far. We'll just be in the other room. We'll be right here."

Daisy still didn't seem ecstatic about the arrangement, but conceded. "Okay."

Donald leaned down and kissed her. "Just sit tight; I'll be right back."

She smiled at him. I felt a slight pang of jealously, but it dissipated quickly as Donald and I walked away. "What do you think this means?" he asked once we were out of Daisy's hearing range.

"I don't know," I said.

"Is she trying to get revenge on all of us?"

I frowned. "So soon? I'd think it would be in her favor to wait; we're on the alert, and she has literally all the time in the world."

"Maybe she's impatient."

I shrugged. "Could be." I moved on to a different point. "Well, if she's after us, then we have to protect ourselves. What have you got?"

"Daisy wears contacts, so she's safe from hypnosis," said Donald. "She's also got some silver jewelry that I can try to encourage her to wear."

I nodded. "Good. And yourself?"

"Well, I've got my wits and my gun."

"Anything else? Vampires have a few weaknesses."

He thought. "My porch is made of oak wood."

"That's hardly useful. Do you have silver? Light?"

"I could get some high-powered light bulbs."

"Do that. Then look up vampires in the Supernatural Guide, find some of their other weaknesses, and do what you can to exploit them."

"You should do the same; after this, she's more likely to come after one of you than me."

"Fine, but make sure you don't slack off. That might be what she wants you to do."

"Yeah. Right."

We returned to Daisy, and I called Goofy and Riku to let them know what the situation was. Both were still busy with their day's schedule, so they couldn't come over, but I assured them that Donald and I were both safe, and urged them to take any and all precautions they could.

About a half hour later, the police told us that their search had turned up nothing, but they would keep an eye out, and send an officer by Donald's house at random intervals. I offered to stick around and help Donald with his precautions, and he admitted that another person would be a comfort. "For Daisy," he quickly added. "I mean, I have nothing against you being here, but, you know, I'm pretty much over being shaken up." He drew himself up as he said this. "But I don't know if Daisy is."

So, I went out with him and Daisy to buy bright light bulbs for his house. When we got back, it was late enough for Donald to invite me for dinner, and since they both looked like they could use a guest, I accepted. Daisy made a very nice pasta dish, which, as I commented, was much better than anything I would have made myself at my own apartment. She smiled at the compliment, and the mood lightened after that, with Donald and I telling amusing stories to get everyone's mind off of the incident.

After dinner, I helped cleaned up, and, sensing that Daisy was ready to spend some time with just Donald, thanked them and took my leave. "Thank you, Sora, for thinking of us and coming over," said Donald.

"Any time," I said with a smile.

I left the house and, luckily, found a taxi almost right outside. I hailed it, gave the driver my address, and he drove off.

I thought about the vampire on the taxi ride back. Was she going after each of us now, or was this a part of something bigger? She could have been staking out Donald's house before attempting a break-in, but wouldn't she have taken more care than that to avoid detection?

With that, a new thought came to me. Maybe she had allowed herself to be seen, in order to draw our attention to Donald and away from…what? Me? That was very probable; she would be more likely to want revenge against me than the others. Well, I wasn't about to be caught off-guard.

It was about then that I realized that the driver was going the wrong way. We were drawing near my apartment, but he was taking a route that would take us a lot longer. "Excuse me," I said, leaning forward, "are you sure this is the right way?"

"Yes," he said, in a rather flat voice, I noticed.

I frowned. Something didn't seem quite right…then again, maybe I was just being paranoid. But when the driver pulled into an alleyway, I knew that something was going on. "Excuse me, I'm not sure—"

But the driver gave the car a sharp turn to the left, setting it almost perpendicular to the alleyway, and brought it to a halt. "Here's your stop, sir."

I sat there for a moment, not sure what to make of the situation. This was clearly not my apartment. We were only a block away, but no taxi driver would mistake an alleyway for an apartment building. "No, this is not my stop."

"This is your stop, sir," said the driver, more firmly.

I looked out the window, down the alley. Still not quite sure what to make of the situation, I opened the door and slowly stepped out. Turning around, I saw that the taxi had almost entirely blocked the alley, and it would be next to impossible to squeeze past it and get out. What the hell? I thought. What's up with the driver's behavior? And why did he bring me here?

Suddenly, my instincts alerted me, and I turned around to see a figure emerge from behind a nearby dumpster. As I looked, everything from today clicked into place: the sighting and the subsequent absence of the vampire, the strange behavior of the taxi driver, and the location. This had all been a trap, desired to lure me in. Donald had had nothing to do with it; he was merely used to get me out of my apartment. When I was ready to return, the conveniently-placed taxi would pick me up and take me here, where I would meet…her.

My hand fell to my gun, tucked into my jacket. "So, you didn't wait very long, I see," I said.

My adversary smiled, showing her fangs. "I can get impatient," she replied. "Besides, I thought you might have expected me to wait a while. We do have all the time in the world, after all. Quite literally."

Huh. That was almost identical to the expression I had used earlier. "I had considered that," I said. "But I also thought you might strike sooner."

"Didn't do you much good, did it?"

I gestured with one hand, while the other slid deeper into my jacket, and came to rest directly on my gun. "In my defense, this was a well-concocted plan. Not only did your being seen get me out, it shifted my focus to Donald, and on the ride home, I was too wrapped up in my thoughts to realize what was wrong until it was too late." I wrapped my hand around the grip of my weapon. "I have to say, you make good plans. It's a shame they all have to involve killing people."

She made a face. "Well, I'm a vampire. That's what I do, right?"

"Not anymore." With that, I whipped my gun out and pointed it at her, but she was ready, and ducked back behind the dumpster. "You're hiding?" I said. "Doesn't really help your goal, does it?"

However, a second later, another figure emerged from behind the dumpster. It was a middle-aged homeless man, in a heavy coat. "Gimme yer gun," he said, looking at me unfocusedly.

I gritted my teeth. "Really?" I called. "Hypnotizing other people to help you? That's the best you can do?"

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time for conversation, as the man began walking towards me, hands outstretched. "Give it to me," he repeated.

"Get out of here," I said loudly, but it had no effect, and he kept coming, getting faster and closing the distance between us rapidly. In seconds, he was right in front of me, and reached out for my gun. I pulled it out of his reach, and then, with right arm (the one holding the gun), shoved him to the side. But he was persistent; the hypnotization technique must have been particularly potent. Well, of course it was—I knew firsthand. He grabbed my arm, and I, knowing that the vampire would use this as her opportunity, forced myself to act, and kicked him in the crotch. I'm not proud of it, but it did get him to release me, and I pushed him back into the alley wall, where he sank down. The whole process only took a couple of seconds.

But it was enough. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the vampire rush out at me. I swung back to face her, but by the time I had, she had lunged, mouth open, and sank her teeth into my left arm.

I let out an involuntary cry. Now that hurt. A lot. My grip on my gun became weak, and it slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground. Now weaponless, I staggered back, as the vampire began to suck my blood. Forcing my right hand into a fist, I swung it in an uppercut under my arm, at her neck. I made contact, and she made a gagging sound and her jaws loosened, so I tore my arm away. The wound was very unpleasant, and it looked to me as if my left arm might be unusable for the rest of the encounter.

My adversary grinned and me and licked her lips. "Not bad," she said. "Type B, is it?"

I crouched down to pick up my gun, but she leapt at me, faster than I would have thought, and I was forced to turn my full attention to her, instead. I jumped backwards, out of the way of her initial attack, then went on the offensive myself, throwing punches with my right arm while making sure not to get bitten. Unfortunately, what hits I did manage to land didn't seem to do much to her, even though vampires could be stunned or even knocked out by a sufficient amount of physical trauma. I suspected that the wound on my left arm wasn't doing wonders for my strength, and prevented me from hitting her with my full force.

I needed my gun. The problem was, any time I tried to retrieve it, she further pressed her attacks, making me unable to concentrate on anything but keeping myself alive. I tried feinting, but she was quick enough to react to my actual strikes. And they were getting slower. If I didn't finish things soon, I would end up being the one who got finished.

Finally, I made my desperate move. As she made another lunge with her mouth open, I shoved my left arm forward, since it was already damaged, anyway. She bit down, but before she could fully sink her teeth in, I grabbed her arm with my remaining one, then lashed out with my foot, sweeping it across and hitting her shins. At the same time, I shoved her arm away from me, and she lost her balance, stumbled for a moment, then fell, landing in a seated position. The second she went down, I darted back to my gun and snatched it up. Turning back to her, I saw her get up and run at me again, but this time, I was ready, and swung it at her, catching her on the side of the head and sending her to the ground a second time. Putting my finger on the trigger, I pointed the gun directly at her head. After this encounter, I couldn't let her live.

She looked up at me, registering the situation. At first, she seemed defiant, and I prepared to pull the trigger. But then, her body slumped, and I saw defeat in her eyes. "Yeah, go ahead," she said, in a low and shaky voice. "Shoot me. It's what you all do to us, isn't it? After all, we're just killing machines. We should have died a long time ago, but instead, we're stuck in this eternal state, never aging, always feeding. It's best like this, isn't it? Just end it."

I blinked. This wasn't what I had expected, and it complicated things. No, it doesn't, a part of my mind argued. She's only acting. You've seen her act before; she's pretty good at it. She only wants you to let your guard down so she can attack again.

Another part of my mind stepped in. That doesn't seem like acting. She seems genuinely, well, despairing.

Of course she does. That's acting.

But this has a different feel to it than when she's done it before.

You were hypnotized then. Of course it has a different feel.

Not when she brought you to the warehouse, you weren't.

Another thought entered my head. Why isn't she trying to hypnotize me now? I don't have my contacts in…oh, damn, I forgot the contacts.

She probably thinks you're somehow immune, and isn't bothering, said the part of my mind that disbelieved the vampire.

Or she really just doesn't care, countered the other part.

She looked up at me, as my thoughts continued to swirl around. "Well? Are you gonna do it or not?"

She wants me to, I realized. She actually wants me to shoot her. But why? Well, to release her from her eternal life. Does she actually regret her situation, and what she's done?

I thought about my options. Then, I remembered Goofy's reaction every time we ended up killing someone. Was there another way?

I made my decision. Reversing my gun in my hand, I brought it down hard, so that the butt struck the vampire between the eyes. As I had hoped, the impact made her eyes roll back, and then close as her head slumped to one side. After nudging her a couple of times to make sure she really was knocked out, I straightened up. This wouldn't be easy, but it was what I thought I should do, and I would do it.

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So...what's this vampire's story? Was she being genuine, or just trying to trick Sora? And what is Sora planning to do with her? What are your thoughts/guesses/opinions? Let me know!

Also, I just noticed my story has got 666 views. That's awesome.