Vampire Knight Love at First Bite?

"Risi!" My eyes snapped open and I shot up straight. "Risi!" I sighed and flopped back on the pillows. "Risi please!"

"My god Kane it's two freaking a.m.! Why the hell are you here?" There was a pause.

"Just open the door. Please?" Maybe it was because he sounded like a little boy who was in trouble or maybe it was because Kane Kerune said please twice in the span of one minute, but whatever it was I grudgingly swung my legs out from under the covers and padded to the door, yawning. I reached for the door handle, but a familiar churning in my stomach made me stop. It was the feeling that announced a level E vampire.

"Kane are you alright?" There was another pause, this one spanning a few heartbeats too long.

"Yes." But Kane's voice was small and hesitant. I backed away from the door quietly.

"Well ok then. Give me a sec to get my robe on." I lied, dashing across my room to grab my Artemis Rod. "Got it. The door's open. C'mon in." I watched as the door knob slowly twisted open. I held my breath, thumb on the release switch of the Artemis Rod. The door swung open and Kane stood there, a knife pressed dangerously close to his throat.

"You are so…gullible, Sorissi Yagari. They said that you were a legend, that you could sense a level E vampire a mile away, but I entered this house completely unhindered. I even got myself a little slave for protection, but he proved to be not needed. You have lost your touch my dear." A young woman with blood red hair stepped out of the shadows. Her eyes had the tell-tale red tinge to them. The level E I had sensed.

"I see my reputation precedes me." I said calmly. "But if what you say is true, about having lost my touch and being so gullible," I pressed the release button and felt the Artemis Rod slid out noiselessly, "then why, pray tell, am I so prepared?" The woman faltered, her grip on the knife pressed to Kane's throat loosening. "I've met regular vampires better than your pathetic ass. Stop hiding behind Kane and face me yourself. Unless you're too scared." My finger hit a hidden switch and two knives popped out on both ends of my Artemis Rod. "I am as legendary as they say and I'm not afraid of anything. Especially not a vampire as disgraceful as you." I sneered. Snarling, the woman flung Kane aside and charged at me. I dodged to the side and swung my Artemis Rod towards her. She jumped back and one of the knives barely missed her chest.

"You insignificant little brat! I am Yukuri Kein, the legendary level E vampire that works for Jace Kinlu!"

"Thanks for the information Yukuri. When I'm done with you, I'll go after your boss, Jace was it? I will then proceed to topple your whole operation, one vampire at a time." Yukuri shrieked in rage and threw herself at me. I flung myself in the opposite direction, landing on top of Kane, who grunted in surprise. "Oops. Sorry Kane."

"Whatever. Just move." He hissed, throwing his body aside. I scrambled up and ran to the window. In order to fight Yukuri properly, I needed space.

"Hey Yukuri! You want me? Come get me." I unlatched the window and stuck one leg out.

"Thanks for the offer Sorissi, but you're not the one I'm after." I paused, fear creeping into my mind. "I just needed to distract you." I wrenched my leg back in and spun around just in time to see Yukuri disappearing down the hall. I gasped.

"Deseru!"

Deseru woke with a start, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Yanosa, Risi's backup guard, peered at Deseru.

"Lady Deseru, are you alright?" Yanosa asked, her light green eyes showing nothing but concern.

"Yes I'm fine, thank you Yanosa." Yanosa dipped her head and returned to her post by the door. After a while in silence, Yanosa spoke.

"You know, I could have sworn I heard your name a few minutes ago, Lady Deseru."

Deseru started, looking at Yanosa's back. "Yes I... I heard it too."

Yanosa said nothing more, just sighed quietly. Deseru lay awake for a while longer, unable to fall asleep over the thumping of her heart. It soon became clear that the noise Deseru was hearing was not her heart beating, but an outside noise. She sat up slowly. "Yanosa is everything alright?" The only response was more thumping. Deseru pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to control her growing fear that something was very wrong. "Yanosa?" There was a high girly giggle, followed by the intoxicating scent of freshly spilled blood.

"Oh Lady Deseru!" A syrupy sweet voice crooned into the darkness. "Lady Deseru, come out and play! I know you smell the blood and I know you want a taste. Yanosa's blood truly is delicious." The voice continued to croon softly, but Deseru heard nothing over the roaring in her ears. A figure dressed in a billowing black gown swayed towards Deseru, lips moving hypnotically. The roaring subsided long enough for Deseru to hear the voice whisper.

"Yes. Give in to your thirst. Give in to it. Give in to me." A pair of glowing red eyes leveled with Deseru and she jumped back, the hold of her thirst gone. The woman had long, brilliantly crimson hair and paired with the black dress and pale skin, it was instantly obvious that this woman was a level E vampire. Deseru screamed and pushed herself back even further, tumbling out of her bed and landing with a loud thump. She got to her feet quickly and stumbled to the window. In her mind, Deseru knew that if she couldn't get the latch open in time, she'd be dead. Like Yanosa. A pang of hunger hit Deseru, this one worse than the last one. She fell to her knees, coughing and gasping heavily. A red tinge surrounded her field of vision as Yukuri waltzed over to her. "Deseru Kerune your time is up." Yukuri laughed and bared her fangs. She swooped down on the defenseless pure-blood, grinning wildly. Out of nowhere a blade pierced Yukuri's shoulder. She screamed in rage and pain then whirled around. Risi stood in Deseru's door frame, looking sadly down at Yanosa's dead body. Yukuri hissed angrily. "Can't you just learn to mind your own damn business, you meddling little twit?" She spat, standing up and ripping the blade out of her shoulder. A few drops of Yukuri's blood splattered onto Deseru's face. Deseru reached up and touched the drops with her fingers and cautiously placed her fingertips on her tongue. Hunger flared again, strong and urgent. Deseru forced herself to stand. The room spun and she crumpled back to the floor. She looked up through the red haze in her brain and saw Yukuri advancing towards Risi, who stood there, not reacting, just staring.

"No...Risi...fight..." Deseru's words were lost in a fierce wind that ripped through the room. Yukuri stopped looking puzzled. Deseru realized that she was the source of the scarily powerful wind. Suddenly, the wind stopped, followed by the ground shaking hard. Yukuri lost her balance and fell to the floor, fear and panic behind the blood red eyes. She got to her feet unsteadily, only to be knocked down by an even harder shake. Deseru narrowed her eyes. Was she doing this? That was impossible. Everyone knew that pure-blood vampires couldn't control the earth. But there was Deseru, making the ground move with only the thought of keeping her best friend and guardian alive at any cost. There was another earth-splitting shake and the ground beneath Deseru's bedroom sagged, support beams groaning in protest at the amount of pressure being put on them. She gasped and closed her eyes, forcing her mind to go blank, to make the shaking stop before they all fell to their death. Mercifully, the shaking did stop, but when it did Yukuri found she could stand again without falling and continued her slow advance to Risi, who was still staring at Yanosa's blood-drained body. The hunger that plagued Deseru returned with a vengeance, rendering Deseru a useless huddle on the floor, desperately trying to get up and rush to the aid of Risi, who made no attempt to move or fight. Deseru closed her eyes and felt tears leak out of them. She would lose her best friend, her life, and most likely her brother and father. Level E vampires hunted pure-bloods for one reason: to gain their powers. And they didn't stop till the entire family was drained to avoid any conflict. Deseru felt cold all over and waited for the sounds of tearing flesh and dripping blood, but they never came. What did come was the sound of a gunshot from the hallway. Deseru lifted her head with a start. She knew that noise. She would have been able to tell even in a crowd of gunmen who that shot came from.

"Zero!"

A tall, lean figure stood outlined in the doorway, silver pistol raised at the ready, cocked and pointed dead center on Yukuri's chest. Yukuri's breathing became shallow and panicked. Zero stepped out of the shadows, the moonlight hitting his features, illuminating the glow of his lavender colored eyes and his shaggy silver hair. "Next time I won't miss." He growled, pushing Yukuri back with just the force of his gun, still trained on her chest. She hit the wall and with his free hand, Zero plunged a knife into Yukuri's damaged shoulder. Yukuri winced, but kept silent in fear of angering Zero any further. Zero turned to face Deseru, eyes soft with concern. "Deseru? Are you alright?" He asked quietly, approaching her carefully, as if she were a wild animal. Deseru didn't reply, just swallowed convulsively, knowing that it would do her no good until she had blood in her system. Zero's eyes widened upon seeing hers, still glowing red in the darkness. He smiled and knelt before her, tilting his head slightly. "I wouldn't normally do this, but I know that Risi will kill us both if you don't feed and if I don't help you." He tilted his head even more, his smooth unmarked neck looking very inviting to Deseru. "Go on. I don't mind." Deseru hesitated for a second more, then leaned forward and bit into Zero's neck. They stayed in that position for a few minutes, Deseru leaning on Zero, while Zero supported himself with one hand and supported Deseru with his other. Soon, though, they broke apart, Deseru breathing heavily, licking the last traces of blood away from her lips right as Risi became animated again. She wobbled to her feet and lurched across the sagging room, dropping to her knees next Deseru, sobbing quietly. Deseru put her arms around Risi's warm body, whispering quietly.

"Risi. Risi it's ok. Risi look at me. I'm fine now, and so are you and Zero. Yukuri won't hurt me anymore. Please stop crying."

"Deseru..." Risi sobbed, gripping Deseru tightly. "I was so scared...I thought I was going to lose you." She looked up at Deseru, her deep blue eyes meeting Deseru's dark brown eyes.

"But you didn't. I'm ok and I'm still here. Please don't cry. I'm safe now." Deseru put a gentle hand on Risi's cheek, wiping away the tears. Zero joined the hug on the other side of Risi, slowly tracing circles on Risi's upper arm.

"Listen to Deseru, love. She's right. You're safe, she's safe and that level E isn't going anywhere for a while." Risi looked up into Zero's face who smiled wryly. "What? You seriously didn't think I'd leave Deseru alone with only one novice guard did you? I just stepped away to refuel. When I got back, the whole house was shaking and I could hear Deseru screaming." He turned his pale purple eyes to Deseru. "By the way, why was the house shaking? You weren't behind that, were you?" Deseru blushed and shrugged.

"I'm not entirely sure what happened, to be honest. I just knew I had to save Risi and that I'd do anything to do so. The house just started shaking..." She let her voice trail off, trying to sort through the convoluted memories of what had just taken place a few minutes earlier. Zero looked at Deseru with a small smile and lifted Risi up off the ground.

"Well, whatever happened we're all still alive and that's all that matters." He looked down at Risi. "Are you ok to stand?" Risi took a deep breath and nodded once.

"Yeah I'm ok now. I was just..." She paused, searching for the right word.

"In shock?" Deseru supplied, running her fingers through her long brown hair nervously, wincing when they hit snags. Risi breathed out another shaky sigh.

"Yeah. In shock. But I'm ok now. Zero. Thank you." Zero smiled at his girlfriend.

"Always welcome." He set Risi on the floor, keeping one arm wrapped around her waist for support. "So...what do we do with her?" He pointed at Yukuri, who was still cowering against the wall, blood dripping down her injured arm and pooling into a large stain on the carpet. The old Risi, the one who always took charge in situations like this, looked around and assessed the damage.

"Well...there's only one way I can think of right now." She looked straight at Deseru. "It requires you to go wake your father..." She stopped talking as Deseru's jaw dropped.

"You want to do what?!" A voice yelped from the door. Deseru, Risi, and Zero turned to face the door. Kane appeared his eyes wide and scared. Risi nodded, rubbing the back of her neck in thought.

"I know it's dangerous-"

Deseru cut her off with a scoff. "The only thing more dangerous than waking my father up before he wants to is angering Lord Kaname Kuran, which I might add, we have already done." Deseru snapped, throwing a glare at her brother. Kane's eyes widened.

"Hey. Not my fault. You'd figure a name like _that_ would have some sort of fanfare attached to it." He grumbled, crossing his arms in annoyance. Deseru bristled at hearing Lord Kaname referred to as "_that_." Risi saw her friend's annoyance and stepped in between the quarreling siblings.

"Not right now guys. We don't have time. Zero, Deseru, come with me. Kane, stay here and guard Yukuri." Kane nodded and stepped closer to Yukuri. His body went ramrod straight as he stood centimeters away from the pool of Yukuri's blood. Risi's eyes widened as she shouted a stream of orders to Zero. "No! Get him out of here! Now! Zero, don't argue with me, just move!" Zero grumbled, but launched himself at Kane, knocking him off balance and sending flying into the wall. Kane was up in an instant though, snarling at Zero.

"Get out of the way Kiryuu." Kane hissed, normal green eyes glowing like blood. Zero shoved Kane further out into the hall.

"Not on your life, Lord Kane. Now please, let's leave this place and get you calmed down." Zero's calming words seemed to be working until Yukuri spoke up.

"Why? Let the pure-blood drain me. Save me the suffering." her voice was ragged and hoarse. "I have nothing left, not now that I've failed in killing Lady Deseru. Killing would be doing me a favor." Now, Kane was struggling even harder against Zero's hold. Burning with rage and hate, Deseru stalked over to Yukuri, brown eyes flashing gold in the light.

"You. Shut the hell up. We don't grant favors to lowly commoners like yourself, especially not the ones who are so pathetic as yourself." With every ounce of anger and strength she had, Deseru reached forward and slapped Yukuri. The sound echoed throughout the room, stopping everyone in their tracks. Yukuri's eyes began to tear up, but Deseru had turned away, her anger gone and replaced with fatigue. "Just get her out of here. I honestly don't care if Kane kills her or not. Get her out of my sight." Swiftly, Risi helped her best friend climb back into bed.

"Of course, Lady Deseru." Once Risi was sure that the young pure-blood girl was comfortably settled, she turned to Yukuri, her long blond hair swishing around her body. "Let's go bitch." she snarled, yanking the vampire up by her injured shoulder. Yukuri cried out in pain but Risi just gave her a shake. "Shut it. No one cares about your pain." Yukuri looked up at the hunter, crying silently.

"Why are you being so harsh?" Yukuri whimpered, stumbling to keep up with Risi as they rushed down a long corridor. Risi came to an abrupt stop, yanking Yukuri by her shoulder again.

"You almost killed my best friend. You killed one of my own. You threatened the entire Kerune family, the family I've been ordered to protect and serve for the entirety of my life." Risi pulled Yukuri close. "You still want to ask why I'm being so harsh?" Yukuri said nothing else, just stared back at the vampire hunter in fear. Satisfied Risi turned away and kept walking, dragging Yukuri. "Lady Deseru may not care for your future, but I care about hers. Therefore, I shall not kill you, tonight. You will go back to your master and tell him exactly what happened the way it happened, or I will want to know the reason why." Risi shoved Yukuri forward, baring her teeth. "And if I find out that you have failed to comply with my orders, I will kill you and everyone you work for, one by one. I will save you for last, and force you to listen to the dying screams of everyone before I slowly torture you until you are begging for death." Risi pressed her deadly Artemis rod against Yukuri's throat. "Are we clear?" she growled, pressing harder when Yukuri didn't answer.

"Understood." Yukuri gasped her red-tinged eyes wide with fear. Using the Artemis Rod, Risi pushed Yukuri towards the darkened road.

"Good. Now get out of my sight before I decide to kill you."

Yukuri took off down the road. Risi watched to make sure she was gone before turning back to the house. Slowly, Risi made her way back up to Deseru's suit. When she got to the door, Risi quietly opened it for fear of waking up Deseru, but she saw she had no reason to fear that. Deseru was awake, sitting in bed while Kane perched on the edge of her comforter, hanging his head in despair. Zero stood next to him, staring straight ahead. All three of their heads snapped up when Risi entered. Instantly Kane was on his feet, standing before Risi.

"Risi I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to lose it I promise it won't ever happen ever again please forgive me." for the first time ever, Risi saw tears pooling in Kane's deep green eyes. Risi smiled gently and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Kane. I understand and I'm not angry with you. It's ok." Kane stepped back, wiping at his eyes angrily. Risi then turned to her best friend. "Deseru, what are you doing awake? You need your sleep." Deseru shook her head.

"I couldn't sleep, Ris. I know you set her free, I know she'll tell her master everything out of fear, but what if her master decides to come after me? How can you protect all of us by yourself?"

Risi sighed and sat down heavily next to Deseru. "I don't know Des. But I think we should get you out of here, all of you. It's not safe right now for you guys to be in this house while the threat is still on the loose."

Zero moved to stand by Risi. "And how do you propose we get them out of this house?" he asked, sitting down next to his girlfriend. Risi shook her head and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Well, I have an idea but it's a crazy one..."

"What is it Ris?" Deseru pressed, leaning forward.

"We send you to Cross Academy..." Risi muttered, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.

"What? Are you crazy? Lord Kaname already hates my brother and by default my family! How can we expect him to let us into Cross Academy?" Deseru exclaimed.

"I did say it was crazy." Risi snapped. "But that's only one part of the plan. The other part, the way we would get you to Cross Academy, would be to talk to your father. As soon as possible."

"Risi!" Deseru yelped, her brown eyes widening in shock. "Are you insane? The only person more upset over the incident with Kaname than me is my father."

"I know I know but I think if we tell him what happened and how much danger all of you are in, he'll understand. And I think if we tell Lord Kaname about it as well, he'll be more than willing to let you guys in. Don't pure-bloods have like a policy of protection or something for each other?"

"Well...yes we do...but I have a hard time believing Kaname will let us in after what my idiot kid brother did to him." Deseru sputtered, bringing her hand to her mouth.

"But that was your brother, not you. And if you tell Kaname you're worried about your family's safety he'll allow Kane to attend as well." Risi pointed out, tilting her head in thought. "It might just work Des."

"Are you sure Ris? If it doesn't work...what'll we do then?"

"We'll worry about that if we get there. C'mon we gotta get your father. I don't want to wait much longer." Risi stood up and offered her hand to Deseru. Without further complaint, Deseru took her friend's hand and the two of them walked to the door.

"Good luck." Kane said, waving good-bye. The girls got to the hall and Deseru turned to Risi, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Can I throttle him?" she asked, breaking into a smile. Risi laughed and smiled in return.

"No. Not yet."

3 weeks later

"Deseru, are you ready yet? The car's gonna be here any minute!" My best friend and bodyguard, Sorissi Yagari, stood at the foot of our grand staircase, hip cocked and foot tapping impatiently. She tilted her head, long blonde hair cascading across her face. "I take that back. It's here now." she sighed in irritation, picked up her small suitcase, and disappeared outside, muttering something about me being slow. I smiled and grabbed my own suitcase. I descended the stairs slowly, running my fingers along the cracked wall. Memories of the night three weeks ago flooded my head, making my knees quiver. I had to close my eyes and grip the railing to keep upright.

"Ignoring it won't make it any better."

I gasped and whirled around. "Zero! You scared me!"

Zero's lavender eyes softened and he smiled gently.

"Apologies, my Lady. I didn't mean to startle you." He shook his shaggy hair out of his eyes and steered me down the stairs by my elbow. "Come on. We don't want to make Risi wait any longer."

"Well put Zero. If your highness is ready, we really must go." Risi snapped, shooing us out the door. Risi had become more snappish and short-tempered as of late, but I wasn't entirely sure why. I speculated it was because she had been tricked by a level E vampire and had almost lost me because of it. That had hurt her pride and I knew she was angry at herself, but I didn't think she was being fair to herself. Zero's thoughts cut through my thoughts.

"Lady Deseru." He bowed low and opened the car door for me.


End file.

Vampire Knight, Drama, Romance