Hunting in the Dark

Disclaimer: I don\'t own Beyblade, yadayadayada. Enjoy.

\"Blood has no actual nutritional value. It\'s primary use, beyond propelling warmth through our bodies, is to transfer oxygen to the extremities of the body. Theoretically, if a creature is unable to produce their own blood, they can use blood from other creatures as a source. After all, blood cells die within a fortnight of creation, so it\'s only logical that a creature that cannot create new hemoglobin would have to turn to an alternate source of the life-giving nutrient. Thus, we have vampires.\" - Dr. Satori Gashuu, Chief Research Scientist, Tokyo General Hospital

Chapter 1: The Hunt

The night club pulsed with energy, the lights flickering, the music deafening. Hot bodies rubbed against each other in a rhythmic dance of ecstacy, alcohol prevalent in the dank air. A young man with a toned body and silver and black hair moved through the crowd, the scent of humans filling his nostrils. It was night time...his time. His time to walk amongst the \'living\' as they so fondly called themselves. How foolish they really were. Life as they knew it had many different forms, and mere mortals would never understand just how complicated the term \'living\' could be. He smiled, glancing around the club briefly, his crimson eyes searching for a target. And they found one. A lone boy sitting by himself, nursing a drink and looking quite bored. Smiling maliciously, the man made his way over to the table and sat down next to his prey, smiling sweetly as he turned to face the boy. \"Hello there. You looked so lonely...I thought I\'d sit with you.\"

\"...oh. Um, thank you! My name is Daichi. And...you are?\" The boy smiled, his green eyes bright with happiness.

\"My name is Kai. It\'s very nice to meet you Daichi.\" Kai smiled, his teeth showing. Daichi\'s smile slowly faded as he noticed the somewhat sharper canine\'s in the older boy\'s mouth and gasped. \"What is it?\"

\"...you...you\'re a...\" The boy moved to get away, but Kai\'s hand was faster and clamped down on that small arm. \"Please! Let go of me!\"

The older boy laughed and pulled the shaking mass of flesh in his hand closer to him. \"I can\'t do that, Daichi. I promise I won\'t kill you. But you have to understand, I am VERY hungry. Please, do try to cooperate. I would hate to have to end the life of such a beautiful boy.\"

\"I...I...please...I\'ll...I\'ll do anything you ask! Just don\'t bite me!\" Tears streamed from Daichi\'s eyes as he was led away from the table and into a secluded hallway. He wanted to get away so badly. But no matter how much he struggled, the other boy was too strong. He was so afraid...so afraid...and then he felt himself pushed against the wall and yelped in pain. All of the breath left his lungs and he gasped as Kai bared those sharp fangs and started to lean in. \"Please...please...don\'t...I\'m begging you...\"

Kai pushed that beautiful head gently to his left, showing him that wonderful flesh on the neck that he so desired. \"Just relax, young one, and I promise it won\'t hurt too badly. Who knows, you might enjoy it.\" Then he sunk his teeth into that luscious neck and started to drink, Daichi\'s body shuddering against his as the life force drained from it.

\"...p...lease...\"

***

\"Name: Daichi Sumeragi. Age: 14. The boy is lucky to be alive. He lost a lot of blood.\" The doctor at the hospital handed the medical file to a young blonde man and nodded at his blue-haired partner. \"You gentlemen can look over the specifics of the report. If you want you can speak to Daichi, although he\'s not completely there. I doubt you\'ll get much in the way of accuracy from him for a few days.\"

\"Thank you, doctor. We\'ll go speak with him now.\" The blonde nodded to his partner and the two moved into the young boy\'s room. Daichi was hooked up to quite a few different IV\'s, the biggest of which contained blood. His neck was bandaged, his eyes puffy and pink from crying. The two boys moved into the room and winced at the sight before them. \"Jesus Christ, Takao...that demon must have taken at LEAST four pints of blood!\"

\"That demon didn\'t kill its victim, which means that he\'s either very kind or very stupid.\" Takao ran his hand through his ponytail and moved to Daichi\'s side, taking the boy\'s left hand in his right one. \"Daichi? Can you hear me?\"

The boy groaned and opened his eyes a little, looking to see who was there. \"Who...are you...?\"

\"I\'m Takao Kinomiya, Detective with the Tokyo PD. This is my partner, Max Mizuhara. We\'re here investigating the cause of your...well, I guess calling it an accident would be ridiculous.\"

The red-haired boy chuckled and coughed, his throat dry from lack of saliva. \"I can give you a description. And his first name. He was very...nice. Cold, but nice. Gentle even. I can\'t imagine why he didn\'t kill me. Most of their kind just drain us completely and leave us for dead. He actually set me down gently and told me he was going to call an ambulance.\"

Max raised an eyebrow as he wrote on his datapad. \"Well, he certainly sounds like a new type of vampire to me. Name? Description?\"

\"His name...he said it was Kai. Sort of tall...maybe 5\'6\"...silverish hair He was wearing black leather. Completely. That\'s it.\" Daichi coughed again and groaned. \"I\'m sorry, but...I\'d like to rest.\"

\"Of course. If you think of anything else, please call us at any time.\" Takao put a card on Daichi\'s nightstand and squeezed the boy\'s hand re-assuringly. Then he turned on his heel and stalked from the room, Max racing behind him.

They ended up in their car where Takao hit the dashboard repeatedly. \"Goddamnit! What in the fuck is going on with this one?! He must be a retard vamp or something!\"

\"As you said, Takao...very kind or very stupid. In this case, I think very kind. The question remains as to why, though.\" Max tapped his datapad and downloaded the information into their cars main computer. \"Draciel, begin processing the data. Crossreference with the Nightwalker database back at HQ and come up with possible targets.\"

Takao sighed and leaned back in his seat, the rain outside pounding the roof of the car in a strange, almost musical timing with Draciel\'s processing. \"But what does he have to gain by having someone identify him? Doesn\'t that make him an easier target?\"

The blonde chuckled and handed his friend a cup of coffee from their ever-stocked thermos. \"Perhaps he WANTS to be an easy target! Death wish vamps aren\'t something new. They\'re rare, though. They looooove their immortality. Enough to kill to keep it.\"

\"He\'s an idiot then. I swear I\'ll hunt him down now...\" Blue bangs covered angry eyes as Takao looked into his coffee. \"I\'ll find him and stop him...\"

\"You always do, buddy. You always do.\"

***

Kai wandered through the posh bar \'Kusanagi\', the alcohol caterer of the stars. If there was a famous person in Tokyo, they would show up at least once to Kusanagi before their visit to the capitol ended. Kai knew this which is why he was here. There was a famous person he\'d selected as his next target. Another young man who\'s acting career and monetary prowess made him one of the most powerful people in Europe. His name was Giancarlo Tornatore, but his nickname was Enrique. The rumor was that he took the name after he boffed his poolboy, also of the name Enrique. But rumors were just rumors. And there he was, the life of the party. \"This makes my job much too easy...\"

\"And I said to him \'Sir! If you think I am going to wear leopard french underwear, you are much mistaken! I would rather go the proverbial \'commando\'!\'\" Enrique smiled as his companions laughed at his story. Fame and fortune had their plusses, one of which was being able to talk to people who ALSO had fame and fortune. The other plus was being able to screw anyone he damn well felt like screwing, no questions asked. Lo and behold, he found a tasty morsel eyeing him from across the bar. His mental smile was larger than his ego. \"Excuse me bartender, please give that handsome young man a glass of the most expensive cognac you have. Put it on my tab.\"

\"Of course, Signor Tornatore. Right away.\" The bartender went to fetch the drink and Enrique watched carefully as it was set down in front of the young man.

The crimson eyes wandered over to him as the bartender said who it was from and a small smile played over those luscious lips. Enrique shuddered with pleasure and grinned maniacally as the young, pale man came over from across the bar and sat down next to him. \"Well, hello there.\"

\"You\'re certainly a friendly one, Signor Tornatore. How did you know cognac was my favorite?\" The crimson eyes sparkled brightly as they stared into Enrique\'s, slowly pulling the young actor into their trance.

\"My dear, I merely had a feeling you would only drink the finest of all liquors. It seems I was quite right! But pardon me, I do not know your name. What, praytell is it?\"

\"My name is Kai Hiwatari, Signor. It is an honor to meet a man of your caliber.\" The pale boy smiled, extending his hand for a shake.

Instead of shaking it, however, Enrique kissed it and looked into the crimson orbs with an impassioned glare. \"I would...be most pleased if you would accompany me back to my room this evening. It has been so long since I had companionship...\"

Kai held up a hand and nodded. \"Nothing would make me happier than to be your consort for this evening. Please, take me to your room.\"

Enrique smiled and excused himself from his guests, leading the pale young boy by the hand. Oh, how lucky he was this evening!

***

\"Name: Giancarlo Tornatore, aka Enrique. Age: 17. Also lost a lot of blood, but not nearly as much as that poor boy Daichi. And he\'s famous to top it off. We can keep it on the downlow for now, but the media is eventually going to hear about it.\" Max sighed and handed a datapad to Takao. \"Looks like our friend Kai has decided to really get our attention with this one.\"

Takao grumbled and looked over the datapad. Two attacks in 7 hours. This \'Kai\' was causing a lot of trouble and Draciel turned up 500 undead with the young boy\'s description. The field was wide and there was no hope of narrowing it down without more information. \"Can we speak with Enrique?\"

\"No. He\'s unconscious. Unlike Daichi he took the bloodloss fairly badly.\" The blonde tapped on his own datapad and brought up some more information. \"But it seems our vamp is developing an MO.\"

\"I see it too. First attack took place at a nightclub. Second one at a bar...or in proximity to one. He seems to go to placed where people are enjoying themselves.\" Takao\'s frown deepened. \"Which means we\'re fucked because there\'s over 400 nightclubs in Tokyo alone. 5000 bars! Jesus, this doesn\'t help at all.\"

\"Not necessarily. But in the long run this doesn\'t help too much other than the MO.\" Max frowned too and leaned back in his chair. \"So, we wait?\"

Takao nodded, his hand reaching for his coffee cup. \"We wait.\"

Authors Notes: Hope you enjoyed this first chapter! R&R!