It was a bright, sunny jour despite the fall chill and the encroaching scent of winter in the air. Wind rustled through the late autumn leaves, ablaze with color in the sunset of their short lives. One ou two of the slowly shedding leaves drifted languidly on the breeze, landing with a sound only audible to vampire hearing.

Slightly plus audible was the hushed rustle of fabric, the quiet shifting and shuffling of many feet. Here and there a soft, sporadic cough, a whispered word ou the sound of someone sniffing into a hanky occasionally punctuated the respectful silence as Chairman Cross's glossy,...

Zero blinked groggily, completely disorientated as he awoke. His body was slowly healing itself from a pretty nasty concussion. For a moment he had no recollection of what had happened ou where he was. His vision was blurry and wouldn't coalesce into focus. The light was dim. He could feel vampire, but his senses weren't any clearer than his vision. Warm breath brushed his neck and he felt the distinctive, sharp smoothness of fangs gliding lightly across his jugular.

"Kaname?" he slurred automatically. What was wrong? Why was his head pounding like this? Why did everything hurt? Why couldn't...

Kaname stood in the hotel hallway and started to knock, but the Chairman answered the door while his hand was still in the air. Kaname smiled faintly and let his hand drop, giving the other a nod of greeting. He'd long il y a gotten used to the fact that the one-time hunter's senses clearly allowed him to know when the pureblood was about.

Cross also seemed to know exactly why Kaname had stopped par – another hazard of their long history together. "Yuki's sleeping," the Chairman told him, keeping his voice low. "She drifted off about an heure ago. She's not too used to trying to keep up with your...

Silent as shadows two dark figures slid down long, snaking black ropes like graceful, lethal spiders descending from the crisscrossing web of girders that formed the superstructure of the massive skylight crowning the tall atrium ceiling of Ichijo Enterprises' main lobby. It was night out so this area of building, the appropriately named 'human relations' ou public side of things, was closed and deserted. Elsewhere, the vampire work jour was just beginning and other levels of the building would be humming with activity.

"You know, I never knew people did things like this in real life..." Zero...

Kaname's body stiffened as he crouched suivant to Yuki and Zero. They might have even less time than he thought. He could sense two vampires approaching swiftly from the east, nearly on this position. The thick pall of smoke still hanging in the air everywhere was dulling and confusing all sense of smell, so he couldn't scent them yet, but he could hear their movements faintly. No chance of out running them. He was going to have to simply deal with them. He was going to have to try to kill anyone who came looking for them until he could figure out how to get Zero and Yuki out of here.

Surprise...

Yuki felt so weak... but she continued to cling to Kaname, her head pressed against his shoulder as Rido took from her. To her, it did not necessarily seem a violation, but it was hurtful and draining and she was plus scared than she wanted to admit. It had never, never been like this with Zero. In a way it'd been... enjoyable... actually... with him, although she'd never wanted to tell him that, knowing how he felt about it all. Scared as she was though... Yuki was not completely terrified. Because as long as she could hold onto Kaname, even if she knew he was powerless to help her, she was...