Nappa breathed heavily, pacing in the castle dining room. He had locked the castle up tight and checked several times to make sure he hadn't missed a single window, door, or crevice. The castle was locked down for the day, but he was still feeling more pressure than he needed.

With the vampires asleep for the day and his master unavailable to assist Nappa and counter any attacks with his or even Kakarot's impressive powers, Nappa had the burden of protecting the castle resting on his shoulders alone.

No one had arrived yet to attack the vampires he served, but he knew an attack was inevitable before sunset. This was the only time they would be vulnerable. Nappa tapped his foot anxiously as he crossed his arms and stared at the front door he'd had to repair after Piccolo's break-in. That lousy bastard was certainly going to be a problem. Nappa could feel it.

"How did this happen?"

Piccolo looked at Dr. Brief, then the empty cell, then at the ground. He didn't directly have anything to do with Goku Son's escape, but he had discovered the disappearance hours ago and couldn't say he was disappointed by the turn of events. Having been on the night watch, Piccolo was the first to discover Son's absence from the cell. He wasn't going to ring any alarms to retrieve him, though.

Not only did he want to face a fully transformed Kakarot, but he knew by the time he discovered that empty cell that Vegeta had probably already started his ritual. It would have been a massacre, sending a group to attack the castle that night. Still, Piccolo wasn't prepared with an excuse for avoiding attacking the vampires now that it was daytime.

"I designed this cell myself," Dr. Brief continued, "it should have been inescapable."

Piccolo crossed his arms. "Someone must have helped him escape."

Dr. Brief sighed heavily and rubbed his head. "How are we going to tell everyone?"

"Tell us what?"

Dr. Brief's eyes widened as he slowly turned around to see the young woman to match the voice, crossing her arms and scrutinizing his expression. He gulped before nudging Piccolo. Piccolo refused to look at her. All he had to do was step aside so Chi-Chi could see into the room and…

"Where's Goku?!"

"He escaped during the night."

"I can see that, Piccolo." Chi-Chi seethed. "and who was it that assured me locking him in there would keep him safe? This was your great plan?"

Piccolo scoffed under his breath, avoiding Chi-Chi's searching gaze. It was rare for Piccolo to feel guilt about anything, but damn it, that woman was almost making him regret his decision to allow Kakarot's transformation. Now he was going to have to tell her that her beloved Goku was never coming back – he was gone already.

"Chi-Chi," Ox King barged into the conversation in alarm, "what's wrong, honey?"

Chi-Chi waved a hand violently towards the empty cell. "Look! Goku escaped." Her glare softened into a sorrowful grimace as she raised a hand to her teeth to gnaw nervously on her fingernails. "We should have never locked him up in there. If only we could tell him it was a mistake, maybe he'd stay with us."

"Where would he go?" Ox King asked.

Piccolo turned to give the older man a withering glare. "To the only person not intent on preserving his humanity."

Chi-Chi gasped. "No, he didn't! He wouldn't!"

"Where would you go if you were him?"

Chi-Chi looked at her father to respond to his open and honest question, but one more look at Piccolo, and she knew what he said was true. Goku must have felt he had no one to turn to after finding himself locked up. If he managed to get out, it would be Prince Vegeta he would go to, not Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi sniffed as her eyes brimmed with tears. She wouldn't let herself cry, not now. Not if there was still a chance to save Goku before it was too late. She had to apologize to him – she had to let him know that she would accept him no matter what he was.

She looked intently at Piccolo. "We need to get him! It's daytime." She looked at everyone around the room as Mrs. Brief came in, leading Mr. Roshi along with her. "It should be safe, shouldn't it? Can't we go to the castle if Goku's there?"

"No." Piccolo said. "You can't go to the castle, not even in the daytime."

Mr. Roshi scoffed in disbelief. "Why not?"

"First of all," Piccolo sighed heavily, "Goku isn't Goku anymore. Not if he spent the night there."

"If he's not Goku," Mr. Roshi asked, "who is he?"

"Kakarot. And that means we have two dangerous vampires lurking in that castle." Piccolo narrowed his eyes at Mr. Roshi. "You remember how our first attempt went over there. They still have Nappa for their protection."

"Wait." Chi-Chi closed her eyes and shook her head. "Who is Kakarot? I don't follow."

Piccolo clenched his jaw, preparing himself for the lengthy conversation he was in for with that question. He looked at Chi-Chi and Ox looking back at him cluelessly, then Dr. and Mrs. Brief, who looked just as oblivious, and then Mr. Roshi, who appeared more wise to the seriousness of the situation, but also very curious to hear what Piccolo had to say. Piccolo took a deep breath and gestured towards the end of the hall. "You all might want to sit down."

Nappa stood with his hands on his hips, looking down upon his resting master in the dark tomb. His heart had been racing all day, and he knew it would continue to do so. He was only relieved that his master had treated him so well the night before. He would not let Prince Vegeta down. Of course, his master had made it clear that Kakarot was very important. Nappa supposed that meant he had to serve him, too. From what he was sensing from the other, recently-turned vampire sleeping beside his master, his power was something Nappa didn't want to oppose. He would gladly serve Kakarot as well, if he was anything like Prince Vegeta when he woke.

However, Nappa was a realist. If he was really going to commit himself to this servitude, he knew there was a good chance that he would die before the vampires could make their escape. He only hoped they would leave as soon as possible. He had just gained immortality, after all. He didn't want to throw it all away to be killed by some hunter and a bunch of worthless weaklings.

In the study of the Briefs home, Mr. Roshi, Mr. King, Dr. Brief, Mrs. Brief, and Chi-Chi sat, looking expectantly at Mr. Piccolo as the stern man paced slowly in front of them, gathering his thoughts. Piccolo stopped pacing to meet the gazes of everyone else in the room.

"Mr. Piccolo," Chi-Chi said, "aren't we wasting time here?"

Piccolo smiled sadly. "It's already too late."

Roshi adjusted anxiously in his seat. "Are you saying that Goku-"

"Vegeta turned him last night. He's been waiting for the opportunity to turn him. He wouldn't have missed his chance."

"What?!" Chi-Chi stood indignantly, before turning accusing eyes on Roshi. "Mr. Roshi, weren't you the one on watch last night?"

Chi-Chi ground her teeth as she stared down at the old man cowering in his seat. She couldn't believe what Piccolo just told her. There was no way that it was too late to save Goku. He couldn't end up like Bulma. With her eyes burning and her chest clenching with fear, Chi-Chi shook her head and glared at Roshi again.

"How could you let Goku get away?" She hissed.

Ox King placed a hand on Roshi's shoulder and apologetically met his daughter's gaze. "Don't blame him, Chi-Chi. He was called away by someone and asked me to take over." Ox frowned down into his lap. "I thought I had plenty of time to get down to the cell, but by the time I made my way over, I saw Mr. Roshi seated in the hall again. I thought I didn't need to relieve him."

While Chi-Chi looked speechlessly at her father, Piccolo narrowed his eyes at Roshi. "What happened?"

Roshi shrugged with a frustrated frown. "Yajirobe told me someone was at the door to see me, didn't tell me who, but when I went, there was no one there."

The others exchanged suspicious glances as Piccolo frowned pensively to himself.

Roshi continued, "I accepted the tea Yajirobe offered from the kitchen, and then headed back to the cell. When I returned, I was just so tired that I settled into the chair and drifted off. That was before you came to relieve me, Piccolo."

Piccolo hummed pensively. "When I arrived," he peered at Chi-Chi before amending his statement, "I didn't check the cell, because everything seemed quiet."

What he was going to say was that the cell was already empty, but he didn't want to explain why he dismissed Roshi and did nothing about the disappearance for hours. However, as accepting as the Briefs and Mr. King seemed of his explanation, Miss King and Mr. Roshi exchanged a suspicious glance.

Chi-Chi crossed her arms. "You didn't think to check the cell?"

Piccolo frowned back at Chi-Chi. They couldn't prove anything, and there was no way for them to call him out. But Piccolo's true intentions were going to be made apparent soon enough, anyways. There was no way they could stop him now, so he might as well come out with the truth of his past.

Piccolo glowered as he spoke, "Fine. I did check it. I allowed Son to finish his escape."

The others in the room gaped at him in disbelief. "What?"

"Have none of you noticed by now?" Piccolo scolded. "I'm different from you people. I know much more about these creatures than you will ever understand in your short life span."

Roshi furrowed his brows and tilted his head. "You are different, Mr. Piccolo. I can see that now. But...what does that have to do with releasing Goku, when you knew the vampire would take him from us?"

Piccolo crossed his arms. "Being turned by Vegeta returns him to his true identity-Kakarot."

"Kakarot?" Ox King asked, perturbed.

"And this Kakarot," Roshi frowned pensively, "is of some importance to you?"

"Yes." Piccolo chuckled. "He is of great importance. You see, I come from a long line of extraordinary people. My own father was a great king. He was a great hunter as well until the day he died, from what I've heard."

"King? Hunter?" Chi-Chi raised a brow. "Where do you come from, Piccolo?"

Piccolo ignored Chi-Chi's question and continued. "King Piccolo, my father, was killed by a vampire shortly after my birth. Sadly, I never had the chance to know my father, though I did inherit his abilities and his throne."

"King Piccolo?" Roshi stroked his beard with a pensive expression. "Most countries no longer have kings, and I know the names of the ones that exist. That King, I do not know his name. If my thinking is correct, he must have reigned hundreds of years ago."

"Yes, at the same time Kakarot lived, as well as hundreds of other vampires who plagued our kingdom. My father took the throne by saving our people and destroying their kind one by one with his unique abilities."

Chi-Chi fell into her seat, absorbed in the conversation. "So, what happened to him?"

"A vampire named Kakarot killed him." As the others gasped, Piccolo growled and continued, "Not just any vampire could take down my father, but I swore an oath to my father's grave once I came of age and understood my gift. I swore to take down every remaining vampire in the kingdom, and to avenge my father's death. I've never been able to find Kakarot."

"Not until now." Roshi finished for Piccolo, with a deep sigh of understanding. A moment passed as everyone in the room gathered their thoughts.

Then Chi-Chi sprung to her feet and lunged for Piccolo, just as Ox stood to hold her back. "Chi-Chi!"

"You let my Goku be killed by that monster just so you could have your petty revenge?! Kakarot was already dead if he and Goku are supposed to be the same person! Goku was good! You know that!" Chi-Chi squirmed violently in her father's iron-clad grasp, the futility of escaping causing her to growl in frustration. "You monster! You just killed an innocent man!"

Piccolo boldly turned to face the angered woman, as well as the other judgmental faces in the room. He snorted in amusement. "If he's no longer Kakarot, why did he choose Prince Vegeta over you, Miss King?"

Ox King balked. "Ch-Choose Prince Vegeta?"

Chi-Chi shook her head in denial as her eyes brimmed with tears. Then she finally pulled free of her father's grasp to come face to face with Piccolo. "What are you saying?"

Piccolo frowned. "Those vampires are bound to each other. I've never seen a vampire desire something the way Prince Vegeta wanted Kakarot the other night."

Dr. Brief gasped and rose to his feet with Mrs. Brief's hands in his. "Are you saying Goku - I mean Kakarot and Prince Vegeta are lovers?"

Piccolo gave a curt nod. "Most likely."

"So he is no longer Goku, he's no longer human, and he's no longer good?" Roshi clenched his jaw and shook his head. "What do you propose we do now? Hunt and kill Goku?"

At Roshi's incredulous tone, Piccolo sneered. "It's what has to be done. You don't want your town to be terrorized by your precious Goku now, do you?"

"What I want," Chi-Chi growled, "is to save Goku."

Piccolo raised his chin. "You can't."

Roshi frowned and lowered his head. "The people of this town admire Goku-they always have, since he was a young boy. Chi-Chi." He looked up to seek the despondent gaze of the defeated young woman. "If we can't save Goku, the least we can do is save his reputation. We can't let him hunt for blood here. We need to stop him before it's too late."

Chi-Chi met Roshi's serious gaze, pressing her lips together as she thought over his suggestion. She couldn't form the words on her lips, not to tell Roshi that she only wanted Goku back and alive, not to tell him that Piccolo was a greater monster in her eyes than even the vampires, not even to wish Roshi luck with keeping himself safe. All she could do was nod silently in agreement.

"Good." Roshi huffed in relief, releasing a breath he'd been holding as he anxiously awaited Chi-Chi's answer, half-expecting her to blindly feel the need to protect the vampire Goku had become. He turned his gaze on Piccolo. "Mr. Piccolo?"

Piccolo sighed, his gaze flickering to Chi-Chi as he answered. "I'll do it. I'll kill both of them."

Mr. King shook his head fervently. "You can't do it alone."

"Yes, I can."

When Piccolo moved to dart out of the room, Roshi raised a hand, stilling the powerful man by his chest. "Before nightfall."

Piccolo scowled, but nodded in agreement as Roshi withdrew his hand. "Before nightfall."

As Piccolo darted out of the room, Roshi turned to watch after him, thinking the same thing the others were probably thinking about the untrustworthy vampire hunter. He wondered if Piccolo would stay true to his word. From everything the vampire hunter had revealed about his grudge against Kakarot so far, Roshi doubted he would simply kill the vampire while he rested, before he even had a chance to rise. Roshi knew the town would have to be vigilant tonight, for the sake of their safety, and for the sake of Goku Son's bright memory, which could easily be wiped away in a single night if he was anything like Prince Vegeta when he woke.

Roshi should have trusted his dubious feelings. Piccolo had his own cause to fight for, which wouldn't be satisfied by staking vampires as they slept. When the night came, the game would change. That was just what Piccolo was waiting for.