Hey guys, it's Riku again. I've been busy with end of the semester stuff, but I have popped in for the chapter update today! Here it is!

Chapter 9

Saru laid down in bed and tried to doze off. His eyes had started to close but he tried to keep them open. Even though he knew he should... he didn't want to fall asleep... not yet. But he couldn't help it as his eyes fluttered a few times before they started to close for a final time. The last thought on his mind was hoping he could get some peaceful sleep. It was one thing he hoped that could happen. However, his mind was far too focused already. His dream seemed to begin simple enough, with nothing major happening; but, gradually it began to fade into something else. There was a presence about that particular sequence of events that was almost haunting. It was something near to him; something… familiar.

A young Saruhiko laid on his bed, curling up his knees to his chest. He clutched one of his pillows tightly as he let his tears soak into the sheets. A few minutes later he heard footsteps coming from the hall.

"Saru? Are you okay?" a sweet, kind, feminine voice asked.

Saru didn't answer or move though. He was far too upset to answer. He didn't want to answer, not after what he had just learned. The bed sunk slightly behind him, and he figured that she was now sitting behind him.

"Saru," she whispered softly. "I know you still are trying to understand, but you know you can talk to me."

"I don't want to understand though! Why… Why do I have to be a vampire all of a sudden…"

In the next second he felt arms push underneath him and pull him up off the bed. He slowly looked up to met eyes with her… with his mother. His mother...with her light brown, braided hair, and deep green eyes. She looked at him with those, kind eyes, and smiled.

"I know sweetheart, I know it's probably tough to be adjusting to it. But you need to be strong, like I know you can."

"But I don't know anything about being a vampire! And you aren't one so you can't help. And my stupid father never was ever around to even tell me he was a vampire," Saru grumbled as he continued to be cradled by his mother.

His mother stiffened slightly. "You don't say that about your father. I know… you never met him, but he really is a very nice man. He may be a bit overly charismatic and all of that, but he does have a deep sense of caring and compassion."

"If he is all that, then he should have f**king been here for me and not just abandoned you to raise me by yourself."

Saru then felt his ear being pulled. He winced as he looked to see a displeased look on his mother's face. "We do not use that kind of language Saruhiko. I know he made a choice that may have not been the best, but I know he still cares."

"Sure…" Saru pouted as he sighed heavily.

"Now come on Saru, it's your thirteenth birthday today. Why don't we go out and have some fun?" she asked as she ran one hand through his hair.

"Can we really though?" Saru asked quietly, as he tried to stop the tears from coming back. "Won't people look at me weirdly and hate me? Cause now my vampire stuff has awoken?"

The arms wrapped tighter around him and pulled him closer. "I won't let anyone think that about you. You are the most wonderful, and sweetest son ever. And if they can't see that, then that is their problem. But people don't hate vampires as much as they did in the past."

Saru smiled a little after hearing his mother speak kindly to him. No matter what would happen, she would always find a way to cheer him up. He finally wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder. "Thanks mom."

The doorbell rung in the next second.

Saru's mother let go of him and placed him back down on the bed. "I guess I should go and see who-"

The sound of the door being broken down made both of them nearly jump. Footsteps were heard coming closer and closer. His mother took a step forward before spinning around to look Saru directly in the eyes. Never before had Saru seen such fear and worry in her eyes. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tighter than before.

"Saru, I want you to listen carefully to me. I don't want to risk you trying to running away…It would be too dangerous if they saw you… so just please… stay put until it is safe," she said in a hush voice as she picked him up and carried him to the closet. She then placed her hand on top of his head as a magical glow formed.

She was casting a special protection spell over him. A pretty powerful one from how it felt as it flowed around Saru. He just didn't know why she was doing it. He couldn't figure it out. It wanted to try and ask her, but everything was happening all to fast for him. She gently kissed him on the forehead before stood up slowly, tears now filling her eyes. She grabbed the door to the closet and started to close it.

"Never forget that I will always love you Saru," his mother said as she choked on a sob.

The door closed on Saru and he stood there in the near darkness. The only light that he could see, was the faint light coming from the cracks in the door. Saru was still confused though. He still didn't understand why his mother was doing his. So slowly he opened the door less than an inch. Though he didn't see his mother anywhere in the room.

He stepped out when he heard a loud crash coming from downstairs. Saru felt his heart beating rapidly against his chest as he ran out of his room and to the staircase. Just down the stairs he saw that there was pieces of furniture knocked over and glass shards were spread across the floor.

"Is it a burglar? But it's the middle of the day… That doesn't make any sense," Saru thought to himself as he slowly approached the edge of the staircase.

"Aah!" a familiar female voice scream.

It was his mother.

Now he was really scared.

He then saw he body slide across the ground near the staircase. "Mom!" He ran down the stairs without a second thought and tried to get near her. Just as he neared the last few steps he stopped and looked up.

There was a man standing across the room with a couple of others standing behind him To Saru he was several feet tall and was wearing a lot of black and held a long sword in his left hand. He had long silver hair that flowed down, past the middle of his back. He was staring down at Saru's mother before slowly looked up to see Saru.

Saru froze as he saw the glare from the man. It was a dark and menacing glare that was far scarier than Saru had ever seen before. He smiled coldly as he tilted his head back slightly.

"Ah, there's the monster. So you were lying then," the man scoffed as he walked forward.

Saru wanted to move, but he still stood there frozen. He wanted to run away, or go to help his mother, but the glare that the man was giving him scared him far too much. Then his mother slowly stood back up and walked forward a bit.

"I won't let you get any closer," she replied as she stared down at the man. "You are not going to hurt him."

With the flick of her wrist, a glowing white barrier former at the bottom of the staircase up onto the ceiling. Saru pressed against the magic barrier as he watched with wide eyes as she tried to conjure up more magic to her hands.

"You will leave now," she said in a dead serious voice.

The man rolled his eyes. "I will not. You are harboring a vampire, and the vampire is your own child. We cannot have a wretched creature like that invading the schools and causing problems for everyone. He must be disposed of."

Saru watched as his mother did not move an inch. He couldn't see her face, but he knew she must have had that strong, serious face as she stared at the man. She took in a deep breath as she spoke up once more.

"I said you will not hurt him."

There was a pause before the silver-haired man spoke again.

"Then you will pay the price."

The man shifted slightly before holding up his sword and lunging forward. He could see that his mother was starting to cast some magic, preparing for the attack. But Saru closed his eyes and covered his ears as he heard his mother scream. Her scream was anguished and pained, but then it just stopped.

Saru opened one eye to see that the long blade was now sticking right through her abdomen. Saru could see that there was blood heavily stained across the tip of the blade and slowly dripping to the floor. Aside from that his mother was slumped over on the sword, unmoving and having no sign of breathing.

A sense of utter fear and horror swelled up in side of him as he screamed. Tears blurred his vision as he watched the man jerk the sword back effortlessly. Saru watched as his mother dropped to the ground with a thud, and laid there as a pool of blood started to form around her.

A unamusing expression spread across the man's face as he sighed. "And I thought a human with high magic powers would put up more of a fight. What a waste."

"Moooom!" Saru screamed as his breathing became faster and faster. He pounded against the magic barrier, but it did nothing. He tried to glare at the man, but when he saw how cold his expression was, all he felt was fear. "H-How could you!?"

Stepping closer the man chuckled. "Don't you understand? You are a vampire. A monster. And monsters are evil and must be purged from this world."

"I-I'm… not…" Saru started to say as he took a step back. He knew the barrier was still up, but the slowly approaching man, made him want to turn and run away. Yet he didn't want to leave his mother dying there. He wanted to believe that she could still be alive. He could maybe save her.

"You are though. One small little monster, and therefore I must kill you. All I have to do is break this barrier, so don't try to run away."

The sword clashed against the barrier, sparking with flashes of light. Saru let out another scream. He knew he wanted to run, but now his legs felt as still as stone. He only could stand there, frozen in place as the barrier slowly started to break.

Saru woke up with a short scream, though he quickly tried to calm himself down. His eyes were still blurry as he felt the tears streaking down his cheeks. He sat up as he pressed his hands to his face. He kept trying to take in deep breaths and his tried to calm down from what he had just dreamt.

"Just a... nightmare… a nightmare of that… memory…"

After a few minutes of deep breathing he finally sat up straight and ran a hand through his hair. He knew he usually would have that nightmare the closer he got to his birthday. After nearly twenty-four years, he expected it to always show up. But it still scared him up every single time. Even though he was no longer a kid, it still haunted him deeply.

Once he had evened out his breathing, Saruhiko reached over to his nightstand and grabbed his glasses. Seeing as he wasn't going to get anymore sleep, Saru got out of bed and left his room, making his way down to the kitchen. He paused when he turned the corner, having found Zexion passed out at the table. Scattered around the sleeping brother were newspaper clipping along with a few other documents. Saru just walked passed and got a bowl of cereal, before heading back to sit beside Zexion at the table.

In his curiosity, Saru started skimming through some of the articles, which he quickly discovered were reports pertaining to supernaturals' deaths and their suspected killers. Most of the articles were showing that it was the group of supernatural hunters. Upon closer inspection, Saru saw that a lot of the papers were far older that he thought they were. A lot of them were from nearly a century ago, and had more frequent events of supernatural deaths. The most recent dated articles had the events spread out and were not as violent as the older ones.

Zexion groaned as he stirred slightly. His back shifted as he soon pushed himself up into a sitting position. He blinked as he looked over at Saru before yawning. "Saru… what are you… what time is it…" He glanced around to see that there was faint light bleeding through the curtain covered windows. His eyes shifted to the kitchen clock and he saw that it was a quarter past noon, far too early for either of them to be up.

"Couldn't sleep," Saruhiko answered between bites of food.

Zexion rubbed his eyes before slowly nodding. "Ah… I see. I guess I must have lost track of time here. I don't even remember falling asleep."

"Hunting hunters?"

"Yeah… What you said before… it made me think about something I really hadn't given much thought to. Not for a long while anyways," Zexion said as his eyes looked over some of the papers on the tablet. "I know that today things are a bit better between humans and supernaturals, but there are still a few red areas. But when I was a child, things were much harsher. A lot of things really started to escalate for a while back then..."

There was a pause before Zexion spoke again. "I think… there could be some connection."

"Hm?" Saru hummed in curiosity as his mouth was full of cereal.

"The… man who killed your mother, and the supernatural hunters group that started up from when I was young. I believe that he most likely is apart of the same group."

Saru looked at his brother in curiosity. "What makes you think that?"

"You mentioned one particular thing that caught my attention. You said the man that came after you had silver hair. Well… sometime after Zack got me and took me in, the most well known and dangerous supernaturals hunter group surfaced. And it was lead by a man who had silver hair."

"I highly doubt that it's the same monster of a man." Saru quipped before eating more.

"I don't mean to say that. But I think he could very well be related to the originator," Zexion stated. "Um… sorry if the subject matter bothers you, I just started to think about it and got lost in doing research."

"Too tired to care at the moment," Saru replied before continuing. "Do you have any way to track them down?"

"Huh?" Zexion asked, a little surprised. "You mean finding where the supernatural hunters base may be?"

"Uh hum." Mumbled out Saru with food in his mouth.

"Well… I wouldn't know exactly where to look. They are secretive and no one has ever been able to give a location on them. But… Saru, you shouldn't try to go after them. It would be reckless and dangerous. From what they have done before, all of the members in that group are skilled fighters. You would get hurt… or worse… you know… you would be killed."

Saruhiko looked at Zexion with an odd expression. "I might be a bit crazy, but I'm not suicidal."

Zexion sighed. "I just don't want you to get yourself in over your head. I know you most likely want revenge, but unless we can figure out a solid plan, I wouldn't just go recklessly looking for them."

"I only care about the one hunter, the rest of the group doesn't concern me," Saru had finished his cereal and stood up to put his bowl in the dishwasher.

Zexion hummed as he started to gather up the newspapers and report articles. "Hmm I see. If I do find anything… then I will let you know."

"Hn." Saru hummed as he turned back to face Zexion. "Do you by chance know when Zack is usually free?"

"Not exactly sure. You know how he is. Here one moment and gone the next. Though judging by the time, he should be done with the day job soon. He'll probably be back eventually," Zexion replied. He then started to wonder why exactly Saru would ask that all of a sudden. He thought to ask him, but he knew he probably wouldn't get a proper answer from him.

So this was a fun chapter for sure, things have been revealed a little. I wonder if you guys can guess who was in Saru's dream. Let's us know your thoughts! Thanks for reading and hopefully one day Hika and I can be in the author's note at the same time XD