Hey, guys! Really sorry for the delay in updating; things have been busy. But they're winding down now, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to have more frequent updates.

As things are right now, this story is looking to be 22 chapters total. So we're getting near the end...

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With Riku's cases to keep us occupied, Donald, Goofy, and I became much busier over the next couple of days. It was time-consuming, but, as Donald said, it brought in the money. So we contented ourselves with them, and threw all of our efforts behind getting them resolved. Granted, they weren't quite what we were mostly used to, but we had taken a fair number of normal cases before, so we knew what we were doing. And, every night, I was able to return home to Kairi, who always made my day better.

However, the day after Riku's call, Xemnas's body was discovered in the dumpster. Lea, of course, had a good deal to say on the subject. "So, he was murdered," he said during another phone conversation.

"I don't suppose you've ruled out suicide?" I suggested. "Maybe he realized what he had done and stabbed himself."

"With what? There was no weapon on the scene. Besides, how would his body have gotten into the dumpster? And given the number of people with a grudge against him, it isn't hard to believe that one of them carried it out. No, we're treating this as a homicide."

"How much progress have you made?"

He sighed. "Not much. There isn't a whole lot we can do here. There's a huge list of suspects, and nothing that we've found on the scene points to anyone in particular."

I tried to keep the relief out of my tone. "Do you think you'll be able to find the guy who did it?"

"Honestly? I doubt it. There aren't many people here who really want to punish his killer—though none of us condone murder—and we don't have much to go off of. We'll try, certainly, but there's only so much we can do."

"Right. Well, I hope things turn out best for everyone."

"You and me both."

"Speaking of which, how are his kids holding up?"

"Not terribly, as far as I know. They'll be put into a foster home, and with the amount of attention that they've gotten, it'll probably be a good one."

"That's good to hear."

"Yeah. Oh, by the way, I heard that you gave Isa a bit of a hard time yesterday?"

I scowled. "More like the other way around. He was being rather…forgive me, but intrusive with his questioning."

"Was he? That doesn't seem like him."

"Could he still be mad about that time at Donald's?"

"Oh, I guess. Well, I'll talk to him about it."

"Good. How's his case coming along?"

"The disappearance of Will Turner? He doesn't have much to go on, either—though probably more than me. Turner was supposed to return from a trip on the third, but didn't show up. His girlfriend thought his flight had been delayed, or something, but when he didn't show up for another day, she got worried and called it in. His doorman saw him go in that night, but he never got to his apartment."

I frowned. "Then whatever happened to him happened inside the building?"

"Looks like it. Be careful, Sora. If there's someone dangerous hanging out there, you need to be on your guard."

"Right. I'll keep an eye out."

"Good. Well, I have to go, but I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. Bye."

As I hung up, I thought about the Turner case. What had happened to Will Turner? If what Lea told me was accurate—and I had no reason to believe otherwise—then he would have disappeared soon after the Xemnas affair, possibly right outside my apartment. What had happened? Had someone done something to him? Had he left of his own accord?

Well, I had my own cases to pursue. The police would have to deal with that one.

And pursue them I did. I enjoyed the two cases that we were dealing with, though they both required a good deal of effort and concentration. But the day after Xemnas's body was found, we had completed one of them, and were nearly done with the other. The next day, a Sunday, we managed to resolve the other (not wanting to put it off just because of the day of the week).

On Monday, we went out for lunch, to a small outdoor café a couple of minutes from the office. "I gotta say," said Goofy, "this is working out pretty well."

"Yeah, no kidding," agreed Donald. "Not only are we getting a lot of business, but we're getting our names out there, too." He grinned. "Maybe some day, we'll be as popular as Riku."

"Wouldn't that be nice," I said. "Of course, then the majority of our cases wouldn't be as interesting."

"No," said Donald. "But, sometimes it's nice to take a break from werewolves, spirits, and vampires."

"True," I agreed. "Though aside from Kairi, I can't remember the last time we took on a vampire…"

"You can't?" asked Donald. "Come on, Sora. It was that fat vampire trying to hypnotize a guy so that he would like her." He thought. "Though I seem to have forgotten their names…"

"That was Ursula, wasn't it?" said Goofy. "Ursula Pieuvre. And she was hypnotizing Eric Seiler."

I nodded. "Right…and we were hired by Sebastian Crabbs, because his friend, Ariel Fishman, had been dating Eric for a while, but then he suddenly went for Ursula." I grinned. "Good times."

"Aside from almost being hypnotized and killed ourselves, yes," said Donald.

"Oh, you have to put a damper on everything, don't you?" I said teasingly. "Come on, remember how exciting it was?"

He admitted to that.

We finished our lunch, then headed back to the office. As we did, I noticed something. "Hey," I said in an undertone, "do you guys notice the blond guy behind us? Messy hair, tall, pretty muscular, wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans, with a Bluetooth earpiece in his right ear?"

Surreptitiously, the other two looked behind us. "Yeah," said Donald.

"I think he's been following us ever since we left the café," I said. "He got up with us, too."

Donald frowned. "What do you think he wants with us?"

"I don't know."

We continued on our route, occasionally checking to see if the blond man was still behind us. He always was. When we got to the building where our office was located, he followed us in. "Think he'll follow us to the elevator?" asked Donald.

"Only one way to find out," I responded.

We hit the button for the elevator, and the doors slid open. We stepped in, along with a couple of others…and the man followed us. "What floor?" I asked, before pushing our own button—if he really was purposefully tailing us, he would go to the same floor we did, but if I didn't push our button, he would have no way of knowing.

He quickly glanced at the buttons. "Twenty-second."

Damn. The top floor. Now we would have to get out before he did, and he would know which floor we were on. And there weren't a whole lot of people who worked on the thirteenth floor…

I pressed the button for the twenty-second floor, then thought of something, and pressed the button for the fifteenth floor instead of the thirteenth. Now, we would throw him off.

The elevator rose, dropped off a man at the eighth floor, went up again, and came to the fifteenth. As the doors slid open, we got out, and walked quickly away from the elevator as the doors slid shut, and the strange man went out of view. "Good thinking, Sora," said Goofy, once the elevator had started moving again.

"Thanks. Now let's get down to our office so he won't be able to find us."

We made our way to the stairwell, descended the two flights of stairs, and made a beeline for our office. "Why would he have been following us, though?" said Donald.

"No idea," I said. "But let's hope he doesn't show up again."

"And if he does?"

"Then we'll try to find out what he wants."

We entered our office, and had just sat down and began work when there was a knock on our door. "Come in," I called.

The door opened…and in stepped the blond man.

I forgot to conceal my surprise, as did my companions.

"Not too bad," said the man. "Asking me what floor I wanted, then getting out two floors up from your real destination." He tapped his earpiece. "But I've got all the information on you, Sora Parker." He frowned. "Or, at least, what's on record."

I stood up. "Who are you? And what do you want with me?"

He closed the door. "I am interested in why you and your companions were discussing vampires at lunch today."

I blinked. "So, you've been eavesdropping on us, too?"

"By accident," he said. "I heard one of you mention vampires, and I started tuning in."

I frowned. "What's your interest in vampires?"

"What's yours? I believe you were talking about past experiences with them, were you not?"

I had no idea who this guy was, or why he was so keen on the idea of vampires. "We might have been."

The man frowned. "Hmph. Insistent upon being vague, are you? Well, I know what you said, anyways." He took a step closer to me. "So, let me tell you this. I know vampires exist. I know what they can do. I know what their strengths are. I know what their weaknesses are. I have studied them for years. And I believe you know a thing or two about them, too."

He knew about vampires? Wait…he could be baiting us. "Oh?" I said. "Then what can they do, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?"

His mouth thinned. "You insist upon making absolutely sure, don't you? Fine. Regular ones can hypnotize people, and can hide in sunlight, which reduces their vampiric powers and makes them look human. They have heightened senses, and can't be killed as easily as a human. They are weak to silver and fire." He paused. "Good enough?"

It was. Though there were many representations of vampires in fiction, some that probably had those characteristics, the ones that he named matched exactly those of actual vampires. Unless he was guessing, and I didn't think he was, this guy was familiar with them, all right.

"Okay," I said. "You've convinced me. And, yes, I know a few things about vampires, as well. But who are you that knows this, and why did you come to me?"

The man reached into his coat pocket. "My name is Cloud Strife," he said. "I'm a vampire hunter."

A vampire hunter? What did he want? It didn't have anything to do with Kairi, did it?

"I'm on the trail of one particular vampire right now," he continued, pulling out a picture. "Looks something like this."

He showed me the picture, and I was relieved to see that it didn't resemble Kairi in the slightest. It was a tall, well-built man, rather handsome, with long silver hair, even longer than Xemnas's. "Who is he?" I asked.

"His name's Sephiroth. He's a monster, exceptionally dangerous. He's taken more lives than I can count." His face soured. "Of course, he's been around for centuries, so he's had plenty of time to do so."

"Centuries?"

Strife nodded. "He's an old and powerful vampire. A special kind, in fact."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"There are multiple names for it, but I believe the most common is vampiraga."

Vampiraga. "This Sephiroth guy is a perfect vampire?" I said.

He nodded gravely. "That's why he's so dangerous. I've been on his trail for years, but he's always managed to evade me." His face darkened. "Sometimes taking important lives in the process."

"And he's in the area?" This was actually scary; a vampiraga was a killing machine (provided that it was evil, though I had never heard of any cases otherwise), nearly unstoppable and exceptionally powerful.

"I believe so." He took out another picture. "This was taken a few days ago, in the area."

It was a picture of Xemnas, being led out of the courthouse, escorted by a couple of police officers. In the background was a multitude of people, with one face circled that resembled the image of Sephiroth. "Are you sure that's him?" I said.

"Nearly certain. I don't know who else it could be." He frowned. "When I learned some more about this picture and heard that the man in it had disappeared, I immediately assumed Sephiroth was responsible. But then he turned up in a dumpster, dead of a stab wound. That's not Sephiroth's style. If Sephiroth had killed him, he would have disposed of the body in a much more thorough manner, and would have drained all of his blood, first. He wouldn't have resorted to something as crude as a knife.

"But just because he didn't kill that one man doesn't mean he's not here, and still killing. I need to find him, and when I do, I'll take care of him once and for all."

I still wasn't sure what this had to do with me. "So, why are you telling us all of this?"

He looked at me oddly, as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "Don't you want to help me hunt him down? He must be stopped! Surely you know that."

"Yeah, sure," I said, "but I do have work I need to deal with…"

His frown deepened. "I thought this was your work. Do you not hunt down these creatures and put an end to them?"

"Sometimes," I said. "But I'm an investigator. I take cases that often involve supernatural creatures, and I deal with them as necessary."

"You deal with them as necessary? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, sometimes it involves killing them, but I do keep my eyes out for a way around that."

His incredulous look did not falter. "You don't always kill them? Why not?"

"Why should I?"

"Because they are unnatural abominations and must be eliminated."

My expression hardened. "That's a rather bigoted thing to say."

"Are you suggesting it's not true?"

"I am, indeed. You can't just kill creatures because of what they are. That's genocide."

"No, it's protecting the human race. They're dangerous, and—"

"What if not all of them are? I've dealt with a few creatures that ended up turning out pretty well." Naturally, Kairi was at the front of my mind.

"Then you are soft-hearted, and it's a wonder you're still alive."

I glowered at him. "I don't let petty emotions get in the way of my thinking."

"Petty emotions?" He looked livid. "You think my emotions are petty?" His voice rose. "I have lost friends and family to these goddamned creatures! You expect me to forget that?"

I sympathized with him, but I also knew that that didn't mean that he had to be so closed-minded. "I'm sorry about that," I said, "but I lost my parents to supernatural creatures, too, and…"

I broke off. Maybe that wasn't such a good counterexample.

"And what?" said Strife.

"And…I don't view all supernatural creatures as killing machines."

He was silent for a moment. "What kind of creatures killed your parents?"

"Harpies."

"And what do you think about harpies?"

"They're violent, unstable creatures who should be avoided. But—"

"You see? I feel that way about vampires, except that they should be eliminated, not just avoided."

"But harpies' personalities are innately violent."

"So are vampires'."

"Not necessarily. A vampire was once a human. It can retain its human emotions."

Strife shook his head. "Not for long."

"So, then, a new vampire might not be all that bad."

His eyes narrowed. "Maybe. But that's not the point."

"Isn't it? You've just agreed that I don't always need to kill these creatures in order to resolve my problems with them."

"I have said no such thing. A new vampire may not be a menace, but given time, it will grow into one. It is best to deal with it before that becomes the case."

He was pissing me off with his implications about Kairi. "Then we strongly disagree on that point."

"Oh? What's the best way to deal with it, then? It will be forced to live off of blood, away from humans. Eventually, it will grow apart from humans, and see them as sustenance. And then, it will begin feeding on them."

"What if you managed to make friends with a vampire?"

He scowled. "Don't be stupid."

"I'm not."

"You can't be friends with a vampire."

"Why not?"

"They cannot be tamed."

"They're not wild animals."

"They're as good as."

I frowned. "Are you basing this off of fact, or opinion? Because it sounds like you're just unwilling to accept a possibility that runs contradictory to your limited viewpoint."

Strife said nothing for a moment, then grabbed the pictures he had shown me. "I can see that I'm getting nowhere with you. If you're content to let this monster roam free, then be my guest. But I'm going to take care of him." He started out.

"Wait!" It was Goofy, who hadn't spoke since Strife had entered. "Sora's not saying that he doesn't want to help you."

I'm considering saying that, actually, I thought.

"We want to help stop this guy, if he's dangerous. We may have differing views, but we do both want to preserve human life. Does that still mean that we can't work together?"

Strife paused. After a moment of thought, he turned around, facing Goofy. "You would be willing to help me?"

"Sure." He turned to me and Donald. "We can do that, can't we, guys?"

I glanced at Donald, who nodded hesitantly; he knew what a vampiraga could do, and didn't want one running around any more than I did. I sighed. Strife may be disagreeable, but it did sound as though his cause was important. "Fine," I said. "Goofy's right; I do want this vampiraga taken care of. We'll just limit our collaboration to this case."

He considered my offer, then nodded. "Very well."

We spent the rest of the day discussing the situation and how we would go about dealing with it. Strife—or Cloud, as we came to know him—had some other people searching for Sephiroth, but with little success; New York was too big of a place to find anyone easily. Essentially, at the moment, all we could do was keep an eye out, and if we found Sephiroth, tail him…but very discreetly. If he found out he was being followed, he could easily kill us.

Extreme caution was something that Cloud continually pressed. I felt my heartbeat rise as, stone-faced, he described everything Sephiroth had done that he knew of, including killing his girlfriend, Aerith. I had never taken on anything like a perfect vampire before, and it would, undoubtedly, be the most dangerous experience I had ever had.

But one was in New York City. And I became determined to stop him.

Afternoon passed into evening, but we still continued to go over tactics to dealing with Sephiroth, including just surviving him, in the case of an encounter. After a while, though, the three of us expressed a desire to return to our homes, and Cloud agreed, though he said that we would continue where we left off the next day.

As I returned home, my thoughts went back to my argument with Cloud about closed-mindedness. Sure, I still didn't approve of his, but…was his situation similar to mine? Was I prejudged against harpies? After all, the last time I had come into contact with them…

My thoughts persisted up through my arrival at my apartment, so when I returned, Kairi noticed. "What's wrong?" she asked after I sat down with her on the couch. "You look troubled."

I sighed and told her about Cloud, how he had followed us to our office and wanted us to help him deal with Sephiroth. At the mention of a perfect vampire, she, too, became worried. "I hope he's not nearby," she said.

"So do I. But New York is a big place. The odds of him residing in the area are pretty slim."

"Let's hope so."

After that, I continued my story, telling her of my argument with Cloud over how to treat vampires. She was glad that I had stuck up for her, but, as expected, was upset with how Cloud saw her. "He's just one person who thinks like that," I said, trying to reassure her.

"But there are more. And you're working with one of them."

"Only for a little bit, and only out of necessity." I put an arm around her. "Don't worry about what other people think. I think you're great."

"Of course you do." She smiled. "But thanks anyways."

After exchanging another kiss, she asked, "So, it's the argument that got you upset?"

"Well…" I sighed. "Partly."

"What else?"

"He asked how I felt about harpies, trying to draw a connection between my feelings about the creatures that killed my parents and his feelings about the creatures that killed his loved ones."

"What did you say?"

"I said that I thought they were violent and unstable." I bit my lip. "What if I do view them like he views vampires? If I met a harpy on the street—hypothetically—would I be able to restrain myself?"

"You're not like him, Sora," said Kairi emphatically. "You're an extremely nice person, and very considerate."

"Thanks, but…" I paused. "I never told you what happened with the harpies that killed my parents."

She blinked. "Do you want to?"

I hesitated for a second, then nodded. "You should know."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. It's a painful memory, but one I might have to face."

"All right, then."

I took a breath and began. "After I had been working here for a couple of years, I got a call from Aqua Taiko, Riku's mom, telling me that his dad had been attacked. By harpies."

Kairi sucked in a breath. "The same ones?"

"There was no way of knowing. But regardless, I left the business to Donald and Goofy for a few days and went to California, with Riku, to see how he was doing.

"He was in the hospital, but conscious and in stable condition. I visited him, and we discussed the attack. He said that he had been investigating one of them, and she had turned the entire flock against him. He had managed to endure their assault; since his offense wasn't too severe, they didn't go all the way and kill him. But he was still scratched up pretty badly.

"I was pretty mad at them, but he warned me again not to go after them with revenge in my heart. Somewhat reluctantly, I didn't." I paused. "That is, until after what happened the next day."

"What was that?"

I hesitated. "The harpies carried off a child."

Kairi raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"I'm not sure why. Probably for food, maybe for other reasons. But a little girl was reported missing, with only some large feathers at the scene. I knew what had happened." My face darkened. "And that was the last straw. I vowed to take care of this harpy problem once and for all.

"I didn't tell anyone; I didn't want to drag them into this. I set off into the nearby hills, looking for their nesting grounds. They actually weren't too hard to find, if you knew what you were looking for. I found them clustered together on the side of a cliff.

"I crept up on them, and saw them doing what looked like feeding. I thought of the missing girl, and wondered if they were eating her. Then…I thought of Naminé, and if they had done the same to her." I paused. "That's when I snapped. I got out my gun and began shooting as many of them as I could. There weren't too many, and by the time they recovered from the suddenness of the attack, there were even fewer. They tried to counterattack, but I had the advantage of range, and mowed them down."

I paused for a moment, breathing heavily. "It was a massacre. I even went through their nests to make sure I hadn't missed any. I found a couple of eggs…and smashed them."

Neither of us said anything. But I managed to continue. "I realized what I had done soon after I returned to the town. I was horrified with myself, and wondered what kind of person could do what I had done.

"Fortunately, Riku found me, in my numb state, and brought me to his dad. I told the both of them what had happened. His dad was disappointed in me, but didn't rebuke me; he could tell that what I was experiencing was punishing enough.

"After that, I thought that I couldn't deal with supernatural creatures anymore. But Riku's dad talked me back into it. He said that everyone made mistakes, and that the best that we could do was learn from them. I had let my emotions get the better of me, but it was a learning experience, and I needed to move forward with the new information." I grinned. "He's a great guy, Terra Taiko."

"So," said Kairi, "you're worried that you killing those harpies had made you closed-minded and prejudiced against them?"

"I'm worried that I haven't been able to get over my hatred for them," I said. "I…I only ever saw them as monsters. But I keep wondering if it would have been possible for, for instance, those eggs to be taken somewhere else, hatched, and raised as nonviolent creatures? Could I have even not killed the harpies, and come to an understanding with them? What could I—"

Kairi brought her mouth to mine, silencing me. "Sora," she said after pulling away, "stop worrying. Riku's dad was absolutely right. You did something bad, but the fact that you realize that it was bad speaks volumes. You have emotions, which everyone does, and you have a conscience, which not everyone does. You may let your emotions get in the way of your judgment, but only for a little bit. You don't persist in it. I think that, if you're having these thoughts and you met a harpy, you wouldn't automatically resort to violence. You'd know what you'd done, and look for a different way to deal with the situation. You're that kind of person, Sora." She smiled. "And even though I haven't known you for too long, I feel like I've gotten to know you well enough to know that."

"You really think so?"

"Of course."

I exhaled. I did feel better. "Thanks, Kairi." I put my head on her shoulder, smiling affectionately. "What would I do without you?"

"You seem to have gotten along well before I came along."

"But that's nothing compared to now." I looked up at her. "I feel so at peace with you around. Like…everything's right. I look forward to seeing you every day, and I think about you all the time. Before, I had friends, but wasn't with them all the time, and I was often alone in my apartment. Now, I have a comforting, intimate companion who's always with me and…whom I love."

She blinked several times. "What?"

I lifted my head and looked at her. "I love you, Kairi."

It was a heavy statement, but it was true. I knew it was. No second-guessing my decision. This was how I felt.

She looked stunned, her mouth hanging open. "Love me?" she repeated.

I nodded. "I do."

Slowly, the words, and their meaning, sunk in, and a smile spread over her face as tears came to her eyes. "Sora…I…I…"

I took her in my arms. "I love you," I repeated.

"And…I love you, too," she sobbed.

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Hooray for sappy love scenes! (Sorry; I can be a sucker for that sort of thing.) Next chapter won't take as long to post, I promise.