I awoke with a suddenness that I never experienced before. My full consciousness came to the forefront of my mind and I instantly took in my surroundings. I was inside a silk-lined coffin and I had no idea how I ended up there. I couldn't remember anything about the last few... days... weeks months? What the hell was going on?

My throat burned for some reason and I could almost feel my lips thin from lack of moisture. That was a completely foreign feeling for me to experience and I had experienced a lot of weird things. Then again, I was currently in a coffin and couldn't hear anything outside of it. That could be good or bad. Good if I was in a room with nothing else. Bad if I was buried underground in a grave.

I carefully moved my hands from my sides and up my chest to brace them against the silk lining of the top. There wasn't any light at all, and yet, I could see just fine. I wasn't going to focus on that right now, though. I pushed lightly on the casket top and it didn't move, so I braced myself and pushed hard.

I heard the light crack of a lock breaking through wood and the top flung open several inches, hit something with a wooden thunk sound, and bounced right back down. I let out a sigh of relief, because that meant I was interred in a crypt and not buried underground. It also changed my thoughts about how to escape.

I wasn't breaking through concrete, so pushing on the top of the casket would be getting me nowhere. I very carefully rolled over onto my belly and tried to bring my legs up under me. I had to push up with my arms and my back against the casket top, which opened it several inches and gave me just enough room to kneel in a very tight crouch.

With my back bracing the top, I easily reached through the opening and felt around the front of the casket to see if it was concrete. I felt rough like stone and I hoped beyond hope that this was the opening where the casket was inserted and not the back of the crypt. I turned my hand and knocked on the concrete lightly, then sighed with relief when I heard a hollow sound.

Now the hard work would begin.

It took me three hours to use the pin in my lapel flower to work out one of the metal pins from the casket hinges. It was made of steel and was several inches long, which meant it would be perfect for what I was going to do with it.

I easily used the lapel pin to tear at the top of the silk lining at the head of the coffin and pulled it away and the padding from the wood, then I started using the hinge pin like a chisel and worked at wearing away at the corner of the casket.

It took me six hours to weaken the glue and attachments there and I smiled at my work. Taking my time and not using the hinge pin like a hammer had let me keep it intact and it never failed to work at gouging more bits of wood out from where I needed it to.

I spent a minute carefully turning myself around and I moved my upper body down where my feet had been, then placed my heels on where the head of the casket was. I shimmied down to bend my knees an inch, braced myself by holding onto the sides, and kicked as hard as I could with both feet.

The wood snapped with a loud crack sound and I laughed with relief. With more free room to move, I carefully switched back to facing the right way and felt around the edge of the sealed opening. I nodded at it being an attachment and not formed into the concrete around it, and started working around the entire edge with the hinge pin.

Surprisingly, the concrete wasn't as solid as I thought it was. It had either been a weak batch or they only used a common mortar to seal it and not more concrete. That was great for me, because only two hours later, I easily kicked the sealing block out of the way. The chilly air was more than welcome, even if I didn't really feel it.

I slid out of the hole and stood up as I looked at the piece of concrete I had kicked out of the way. Thankfully, it hadn't broken, so I picked it up and slid it right back into the spot I had come from. It felt snug, probably because of the roughness of the concrete and not because of my work to scrape it up all the way around.

Now that I was out of there, I glanced around my much bigger prison. It was almost a cliche crypt, except there were no names on any of the blocks. Even mine was blank, which told me I had been kidnapped and stored here. I wondered why anyone would do that, since I had covered up my tracks perfectly. Not even the police had any clue about who I was or what I had done.

I shook that thought off and went to the small metal door. It looked worn and well used, so I wasn't nervous about opening the thing. I also somehow knew it was still night out and that I had about an hour or so of darkness left before the sun came up.

That thought made me feel extremely parched and my lips thinned even more. I felt my teeth grind together as I fought against the overwhelming feeling. I couldn't afford to let myself be ruled by my instincts. That would get me killed. I wasn't stupid and I wouldn't let whatever was wrong with me affect me.

I checked the handle and it wasn't locked. That was a bit of a surprise, considering they should have locked it to stop grave robbers. That thought made me pause and I quickly checked my pockets. My wallet, money, keys, and my goddamn lucky charm was missing.

I'm going to fucking murder the asshole that dared to rob me! I thought as anger flowed through my bones and muscles. It was like a drug shooting through my system and I felt a strength unlike anything I ever felt before.

I opened the metal door and the handle crinkled in my hand. I ignored that and shut it, silently thankful for the well-oiled hinges, and I glanced around at my surroundings. It was a private graveyard behind a huge mansion and there was no one around. I wasn't sure how I knew that, I just did, and I crept with a purpose towards the back door.

Before I could think about opening it, it opened on its own and there was the asshole that robbed me, because he had my lucky charm hanging around his neck. I let out a low growl and my hand swiped across his neck in an instant to take my property back.

The shocked look on his face made me smile, then I noticed four thin furrows in his skin. They slowly split open and blood like molasses slowly bubbled out of them and flowed down his neck. I lifted my hand and saw my nails had grown into razor-sharp claws and grinned. I put my lucky charm into my pocket and made a victory sign.

His eyes widened, which gave me an idea, so I shoved my fingers into his eyes and shattered the eye sockets before I wiggled my clawed fingers into his brain. The man seemed to shiver and stayed standing, until I withdrew my fingers. He slumped to the side because his hand still clutched onto the doorknob, then he slowly slid to the floor.

I knelt and searched him, retrieved my keys, wallet, and money, and thought about entering the house and seeing who else might be around. When I felt out with whatever I did in the yard, I could tell there were fifteen other people in different rooms of the house.

Yeah, I won't have the element of surprise if I go in there. I thought and easily pulled the body up into a fireman's carry and closed the door. I looked down and mentally sighed, because there was nothing I could do about the blood on the step. However, I did see a tub of mortar beside it, which gave me a great idea.

I took it and the body as I went back to the crypt. I easily entered it, removed the front of my hole, and shoved the body into my coffin before I used the mortar and sealed the front concrete piece to it. I left the crypt and put the tub back beside the step and then walked around the manor house.

I made note of where it was and the address, then stayed out of view of all the windows and left the property at a jog. I needed to find out where I was, find shelter for the day, and maybe a snack or two. Or ten. I was really thirsty and my immediate need to escape was done, so I had nothing to distract me anymore.

*

Who knew that old people tasted like jerky? I asked myself and finished draining the 82 year old man that had been outside to pick up the morning paper.

I only had about fifteen minutes left before sunrise and the urgent feeling I had to get out of the sun was pushing me harder than my thirst was. That didn't mean I couldn't deal with both at the same time, so I had.

“Mortimer! Where are you?” An old lady's voice called. “Come back inside!”

Don't mind if I do. I thought and carried the old man's body inside.

The old lady was at the kitchen table and she looked a little better than the wrinkled old guy and had some meat on her bones. I tossed the paper onto the table in front of her and she made a huff sound and started to read the headline.

I had already checked it and I was still in my own hometown in the United States. It was kind of a shock to find out that there was a whole pack of vampires living there, too. You would think that after a few years of running around in the criminal underworld that I would have found some kind of evidence that there were creatures of the night out there... and then I realized I probably had, didn't know it, and they kidnapped me, killed me, and made me one of them to cover it up.

Well, two could play that game. I thought and bit into the side of the woman's neck. She let out a moan, which was a little odd, then her old hands reached up and tried to hug my head.

I chuckled at her embracing her death like that, then I felt it. There was something there inside of her. It wasn't just her blood like the old man had. It was... it was... I somehow sucked it up when I concentrated on it. She let out a shuddering breath and her hands let me go as she died. I knew then what it was as an unconscionable amount of weird energy filled me.

It had been her soul.

The blood tasted rancid now and I pushed her away and spat out the last mouthful I tried to take. I gagged a bit and held a hand over my mouth, because I didn't want to get sick and throw up the meal I just had. I went to the sink and rinsed my mouth out and spit that out, too. Thankfully, the water didn't taste awful or made the rancid taste worse.

No drinking from the dead or recently dead. I thought and then frowned. Would that also mean no blood banks or donations? Would that count as dead blood, too?

I shook my head and ignored that for now. Those were problems for later. Right now, I needed to clean up and I needed to hide for the day. The clean-up didn't take long because they had a basement, so I carried their bodies down into the darkness and piled them in the corner. I went back upstairs and locked the place up, took the paper, and went back downstairs.

I settled down on a discarded chair and started reading the newspaper. I had a long day to get through, assuming the rising sun didn't automatically knock me out. That would suck.

When the moment came, it felt like something plucked a violin string inside of me. I didn't know if it was magic or what; but, I felt like I was a lot weaker with the sun up, even after my meals. I also knew that if I was caught out in it, I would die. A flaming bonfire was the image that appeared in my head and I chuckled.

If I ever did want to do a whole lot of damage when I decide to die, going out as a flaming bonfire that lit everything around it on fire as well, sounded like a cool thing to do.

*

As soon as the sun set, I felt that violin string get plucked inside of me and I knew it was safe to move around. The problem I had was that those fifteen other individuals could also move around safely. It was the only time I had thought not having one of those mobile phones was a bad idea, cancer causing new technology or not.

I was also sure that my old contacts wouldn't want anything to do with me in my new form. It wasn't any inherent knowledge from before either. No, it was because of what happened to me. If any of them discovered what I was, I was sure that they would be disposed of in a similar fashion. Then again, as far as I knew, one or all of them could already be what I was.

I couldn't take that chance, though. I was a survivalist at heart and putting myself into unknown danger went against everything I believed in. It was why I hadn't tried to go up the stairs during the day to use the telephone to call a few friends of mine. I was afraid of both the sun and what my voice would sound like while feeling physically weaker than I normally did.

I left the basement and made my way up to the ground floor of the house and thought about ransacking the place to cover my tracks, then shrugged. The two old people were near the end of their lives anyways and that was probably why the old man didn't have much of a soul left and the woman's was only a small thing. It was quite invigorating, though.

That gave me an intriguing thought about what a nubile young soul would taste like. I just had to remember to drain them of blood first before trying to consume their soul for the energy boost. I went towards the front door to leave and passed by the living room. My much sharper eyes caught sight of a pile of yarn with two needles stuck into it and I felt the urge to go knit a nice pair of mittens.

I blinked my eyes and shook that odd thought off and went out the front door, locking the place up and wiping my prints off of the handles. Basic Crime 101 was to leave no evidence behind. The bodies didn't count, since they would be a complete mystery to the authorities. Of course, that assumed they didn't know about the supernatural and would get it right away.

That made me chuckle and I jogged down the street. I stopped at the first phone booth I came across and called 911, reported not seeing the old couple on my street all day, then said I saw someone coming from the Manor House three streets over that morning and going back there tonight for a party. When they asked who I was, I gave a fake name and hung up.

I knew they could track a land line within fifteen minutes, so I used the phone again and called one of my old buddies and set up a nice little bit of arson for the next day at the Manor House address. It was an easy ten grand for the guy and I told him to make sure to take out the basement, too.

I hung up and ran down the street and through an alley between two properties and up another street. I slowed down to a walk when I saw a police car cruising down the street. I walked with a purpose, just so they wouldn't think I was up to something bad. They still slowed down to give me a good look, saw my nice suit, and sped up again.

That's why you should dress nice when committing crimes. I thought with a chuckle and started to jog. I needed to find a bus stop, another pay phone, or a bar. Yes, a bar would be better. I could drink for a bit, grab a special drink from whomever I picked up, then I could call for a cab to go back to my place. With what my situation was like now, I would have to leave after putting a few affairs in order.

It was going to be tough to move all of my assets on such short notice; but, the profit loss was acceptable if I turned a few things over to my associates with the word that things were getting hot for me and I had to lay low for a while. They'd understand and I'd have a lot more ready cash without emptying my bank account. I'd do that later.

Right now, I had a thirst for a nice young vintage of blonde with long legs. Intelligence optional.

*

Oh my GOD! Blondes are fucking delicious! I thought as I slurped out the lifeblood of the thoroughly fucked twenty-two year old woman in her bed. I had bitten her inner thigh on the femoral artery and it just gushed right into my mouth and down my throat.

I felt whatever energy inside of her flicker, which meant it was time. I concentrated on it and sucked hard. There was almost a physical pop of sound as I swallowed the blood and soul down my throat. I felt it go down my throat and I laid down on the bed with my eyes closed, because I had a feeling this was going to be awesome.

Suddenly, stars burst behind my eyelids and my entire being was filled with joyous energy. I was right! It was fucking awesome! My body shook with pleasure as my very being absorbed that sweet, sweet, soul energy. I tried to open my eyes and I couldn't, because my body wanted to wallow in that feeling for as long as possible.

It took me a good five minutes before my body would respond to my mental commands and then it was like I was drunk. I laughed out loud at how stupid that was, because I was sure she had been drunk, which meant I could now get drunk on other people's blood as long as they were drunk first. That was funny, because alcohol no longer did anything for me if I drank it directly.

“Right, right. Blitz the blonde before draining her. I need to remember that.” I said and sat up, my body energized and my mind clear, despite being drunk. Uncoordinated was the state I was in when I tried to stand up. “Yep, I'm totally loaded.”

I stumbled around her bedroom for a few minutes before I seemed to shake most of the effect off. I also felt a bit less full, which was good to know. I could choose to power through things, assuming I had freshly eaten. Now I had to wonder how long I would stay drunk if I just rode it out?

I shook that thought off and cleaned up, wrapped her body up in the bloody blanket, and stuffed her into the laundry chute. At least, I hoped it was a laundry chute. I shrugged and tossed the other evidence of my presence down there as well, since it didn't really matter. I was leaving tomorrow and there was no way they could gather enough evidence to extradite me back here to stand trial.

I locked up and left her apartment, rode the elevator down to the ground floor, and went out the side door. I caught a particular smell and walked around the back of the building. I looked at the huge garbage container and saw the end of the blonde's blanket sticking out of the top. I climbed up and pushed her body in towards the center, then rolled a couple of garbage bags on top of her.

With the thing that full, the garbage service would be picking it up soon and the strong rotting garbage smell would cover up any decomposition that happened. I hoped off of the container and walked away down the alley, whistling a little tune, and thought the garbage chute worked out much better than a laundry chute.

*

It didn't take me long to hand over all of my hustles to the right people. They were actually pretty happy to hear I was in a spot of trouble and paid me a bit more money to see the back of me sooner. Yeah, yeah, I was a bit of an asshole. So what? It was just business... that I was now completely out of and they were glad I wouldn't be back for a while.

New identity papers were easy to get, even official ones, so I did that for a measly thousand dollars for a rush job and packed an overnight bag with some toiletries and all of my mostly ill-gotten gains. The taxi ride to the airpot was a quick one, too. The airport itself was nearly deserted and I went to the ticket counter.

My sharper eyes went to the departure board and landed in the next outgoing flight. I asked her about it and she said it was booked solid. I asked about the next one and it was the same. When I sighed and didn't ask about the next flight, she checked the lists for me and said she had a seat available on a plane to Japan in an hour.

I didn't really have any particular destination in mind, just that I wanted to leave as soon as possible, so I accepted the ticket and went to the waiting area with my single overnight bag filled with untraceable cash. The look of shock on the security guard's face when it went through the x-ray scanner was priceless.

It wasn't until I was walking away from him that he told me I would have to declare it when I landed. I waved and boarded the plane, because I knew exactly how to deal with customs people. Japan, here I come! You'll never know what hit you.

*

Thanks to my supernatural luck, the plane flew the right way and kept me in the dark for the entire flight. It only took about twelve hours and we technically flew backwards in time as we crossed time zones. It was neat, to say the least. Only two short stopovers and I was dropped off in Tokyo, Japan.

The customs officer took his sweet old time counting out every single bill in the bag and even bundled them up for me. It was a great service and only cost me five hundred bucks. The guy was almost salivating as he called his boss and said a rich investor was entering the country and needed a few recommendations on cheap properties to buy.

Let me tell you, nothing gets people moving like earning a commission on a property sale. I was given a list of some of the more lucrative areas, then a list of everything else. There were a lot of empty properties in a relatively small town on Honshu Island, Japan's main island, and they loaned me a car and a driver to go there.

I had never heard of Kuoh Town or the school academy there, so that was perfect. If I hadn't heard of it, then no one else back home would have, either. Hiding was going to be easy as pie there.

*

I didn't bother trying to rent a room or anything for the night and went right to the recommended real estate agency. Not surprisingly, the driver went with me inside and seemed to either guard me or wanted to make sure I really was going to get his boss a finder's fee.

I didn't mind, except the walking snack would have to be let go unmolested and untasted. The young dark-haired woman behind the counter seemed like a much better meal, anyway. I smiled at her and she blushed and smiled back. We easily worked out a deal for several properties in the same area and she even included a rundown warehouse that could be used for storage.

That was perfect, because I could empty the houses of their normal crap and had somewhere to put it until I fixed them up and turned them into high end rental properties for a steady income. I had thought about selling them for a profit, until I remembered exactly how many other properties there were in the area. I didn't have enough capital to buy them all and get a lock on the market, though.

So, working slowly was the best bet. When I had my feet under me and with a legitimate business to launder money through, I could branch out and really start the money rolling in.

I was given the keys right away and the young woman offered to tour the properties with me. I accepted, of course. Who could say no to a quick take-out meal? I sent the driver back to the airport with his confirmation papers that I really did buy some properties, and went with the sales rep in her tiny economical car to the first property.

It was a dump and needed a lot of work. When I said so, she cringed. I apologized for my crassness and gave her a tender hug. Her blush was epic and she wouldn't look up at my face. I couldn't resist licking my lips with all of that blood so close to the surface of her skin. She smelled a little spicy and it was quite mouthwatering.

The second property was only a couple of houses down and was in much better shape. I approved of both the mid-western style mixed with Asian culture and she looked pleased. The last house was a street over and the warehouse was four streets past that.

We passed an old rundown church on the way to the warehouse. It was an honest-to-God Christian church in the middle of a fully Asian community. When I asked how that was possible and where all the Shinto and Monk temples were, she laughed and said the church had been a fad years ago and quickly emptied.

The temples were out in the countryside near the larger hills and small mountains and I promised her I would visit one as soon as I could. I did not tell her that the thought of draining a Shinto maiden was enough to get my molasses-like blood pumping fast, as if it was normal blood.

The sales rep took me back to her place after my polite request to have a cup of tea with her. She went all out and did the whole Asian Tea Ceremony thing, with the robes and everything. The tea was actually quite tasty, as was the sales rep. I didn't drain her, though. Killing the very first person I met in this town would be stupid. Plus, having her under my power and reporting to me was much better.

I didn't know I could do that, though. It just came to me when I was feeding and chose to spare her life. I think she was called a Thrall or something, so I ordered her to go back to her normal life and to live it like she usually did. If she had any problems, she was to tell me immediately. Oh, and to arrange the telephone and power in the second house for me.

I licked her neck and healed the bite marks to hide the evidence, left another deposit between her legs to her delight, and I left her apartment to go to my new home. I had to check and make sure I could find and secure a place to hide during the day. The last thing I needed was to be caught by a random beam of sunlight, either directly or reflected from something.

*

Saji Genshirou, or Genshirou Saji as it's stated in the local culture with family names first, was on his normal patrol of the area and looking for anything unnatural, when he felt an odd presence nearby. He was out in public, so he didn't deploy his Sacred Gear bracelet, even though there were only a few pedestrians around that he had previously passed. It would prove to be his downfall.

“Aren't you a strong and tasty little morsel.” A silky male voice said out of the darkness of the alley.

Saji turned around to face the voice, not really considering it a threat yet, and he never saw the two fingered slash that sliced open the jugular vein in his neck. He hadn't even felt the razor sharp claws. The feeling of liquid flowing down his skin was what gave it away. He tried to look down and reached for his neck at the same time to check what happened, so he didn't see the handsome young man that stepped out of the cloud of darkness.

That handsome young man had large fangs grow out and easily grabbed the distracted Saji and hauled him inside the darkness and started to feed. Saji barely even struggled as he was quickly drained of most of his enhanced blood. The attack had been too sudden and he was unprepared to face such an experienced predator.

“Oh? What's this?” The handsome young man asked the mostly dead Saji. “I can feel your strong soul as it fights to survive, morsel.” He said and sucked on the neck wound to keep the blood flowing. “But, there is another piece of soul in there, too. I thought vampires were the only supernatural creatures around, so what are you?”

Saji was barely coherent from so much blood loss and didn't answer.

“I think I'll take the piece first, just in case, then I'll consume yours.” The handsome young man said and did exactly that.

The darkness grew thicker as the vampire swallowed the partial soul and then his body started to glow. He let out a low chuckle as information filed his head about what it was and who he was snacking on.

“Well, well, well. It seems my supernatural luck has brought me a rare treat. Something called a Sacred Gear that absorbs power, which is similar to my own ability. How fitting is that?”

Saji could only let out a soft groan in response.

“Don't worry, my latest snack. I won't let your magical power and long life go to waste.” The vampire said and laughed, then clamped his now blue glowing fangs onto Saji's neck and drained him of his lifeblood, his power, and finally his soul. All three together were quite filling for the newly empowered vampire.

*

Sona Sitri sat in the Student Council Office and felt something was wrong. She didn't know what it was, though. She didn't ignore her feelings and quickly sent messages through her shadow familiar to all of her peerage members to find out how their patrols were fairing out. All of them responded as soon as they were contacted, except for one. Her newest member, Saji.

“Find him.” Sona ordered her familiar and it faded back into her shadow and disappeared. She closed her eyes and waited for her familiar to emerge from the shadows near the target. It took a lot of concentration for her to see through her familiar's eye directly, instead of using a crystal ball like her associate Rias did.

To her surprise, her familiar soon emerged from Saji's shadow and she saw through its eyes and where it was. What she then saw shocked her to her core. Standing there above her peerage member's dead body was a young man that was mostly shrouded in darkness.

“What's this? Another offering of mystical energy?” The handsome young man said and plucked her familiar out of Saji's shadow and held it up to his face. “Thank you very much.”

The last thing Sona saw through her familiar's eyes were two glowing blue teeth and then her connection was severed. She felt the sharp loss of her familiar like a blow to her heart. It was a loss unlike any she had felt before, because it had been torn from her and not simply cut off, which left her reeling both magically and mentally.

It wasn't until her Queen returned ten minutes later that Sona recovered enough to not freak out about what just happened.

“Tsubaki, we have a problem. A huge problem.” Sona whispered and looked at the girl that was what she had always dreamed she would be like in a perfect world. The same glasses, similar intelligence, similar height, and then the differences that she lacked. Large breasts, shapely hips and backside, and exuding sexiness. Tsubaki was the perfect embodiment of all her insecurities and wishes.

“President, what happened?” Tsubaki asked and saw the state her King was in.

Sona was pale, weak, and trembling slightly. “My familiar...” She shook her head. “From what i just saw, we have a rogue vampire in the area and he murdered Saji.”

Tsubaki caught her breath and covered her mouth with a hand. “N-n-no, it... it can't be...”

Sona slowly stood, her legs barely able to hold her, then she set her mouth to a firm line and her back straightened as she made a decision. “Contact everyone and have them recall their familiars from the search, then get them back here immediately. I need to call Rias and let her know what happened.”

“President... Sona...” Tsubaki whispered and put a hand on her King's arm. “What about Saji?”

“We can't go out there blind, Tsubaki.” Sona said, her choice made. “Bring everyone home and ensure their safety first. Then we can worry about recovering our friend's body.”

Tsubaki nodded and gave her arm a squeeze, then she left the office at a fast walk.

Sona took several deep breaths before she reached for the phone and dialed. It took a moment for it to connect and then it rang several times before someone picked it up.

“Mellow.” A muffled voice said.

“I apologize for waking you, Akeno. Please put Rias on the phone. It's an emergency.” Sona said, her voice flat.

“Right away!” Akeno answered, immediately awake. “Rias! RIAS! Wake up! It's Sona!”

There was the sound of ruffling cloth, probably a blanket being thrown off.

“What happened?” Rias asked, also wide awake. “You never call this late.”

Sona liked the abruptness. “We have a rogue vampire in our territory.”

Rias was quiet for a moment. “That's not really an emergency and could have waited until morning.”

“He killed Saji about thirty minutes ago and my familiar ten minutes ago when it found the body.” Sona informed her and felt justification when Rias sucked in a sharp breath. “I've already sent Tsubaki to recall everyone and their familiars to return here for a full meeting. I had sent them out to search when Saji didn't report in from his patrol.”

“Damn.” Rias said and sighed. “All right. We'll be there as soon as we can.”

“Thank you.” Sona said and hung up without saying goodbye. She sat down and felt her energy leave her at the realization of the enormity of the problem. How did a vampire enter her territory without her knowing about it? How many people had he killed already if he was moving up to hunting devils in a devil controlled territory?

Sona's thoughts paused as members of her peerage started to return. She felt relief as she saw each of their faces and they also felt relieved when they saw her concern for them. Thankfully, it didn't take long for everyone to show up with Tsubaki being the last and gave her a nod.

“Thank you.” Sona said to her as her Queen took up her position at her back. “Rias should be here momentarily.”

No sooner had she said that when a teleportation circle lit up in the corner of the room and Rias, Akeno, Koneko, and Yuuto Kiba appeared in a flash of light. They walked over to the other peerage and Rias sat down across from her co-ruler of the Kuoh territory.

“Tell me everything.” Rias said in a soft voice, so it wouldn't be seen as a demand and only a friend asking for details.

Sona smiled slightly and then frowned slightly as she told them everything she saw and heard. Needless to say, they were all horrified.

*

I felt incredibly powerful after my second supernatural snack of the night. Surprisingly, the little creature that had popped up to spy on me had a power that was also similar to my recently discovered inherent ability to manipulate shadows to hide in. It had tasted a little gamey, like a wild animal, which meant it hadn't been created and only domesticated into service.

The power to change a shadow into a portal was a nice one, though. It made me wonder if it always had that ability or did it gain it when it was made into a familiar? In either case, I now had an absorption ability that enhanced my own vampire power to do a similar thing and my shadow manipulation power had evolved as well.

Learning how to use shadows properly might take some getting used to, though. I had tried to step into the shadow of a pole and only my foot and part of my calf had fit and then got stuck. It took me several minutes to dislodge myself and I sighed, because such a versatile power would have been wonderful if it worked with any shadow.

Unfortunately, it looked like the power only worked for shadows that were big enough for me to enter and exit through. That meant I couldn't jump into a dog's shadow and jump out of another person's shadow to attack them, unless both the dog and the person were bigger than I was or bigger than my own shadow was.

Funnily enough, I could not enter my own shadow, even when I made it bigger. I could successfully make it bigger and wrap it around myself, though. That would be both fun and versatile to use for sneaking, as long as it was dark out. Doing it with any large sources of light around would make me look ridiculous as a blob of shifting darkness walking around.

I made my way back home and avoided the other things I was starting to feel around me. I didn't know if it was because I was becoming more powerful or because of what I ate. Then again, I supposed it didn't really matter, since it was starting to let me figure out who was supernatural in some capacity and who wasn't.

I was a street away from my house when I felt a pulse of power. It was barely at the edge of my perception and it caught my attention, so I changed where I was walking and followed the feeling. It didn't get any stronger as I approached it, which meant whomever it was, must be releasing it subconsciously.

I approached the normal Japanese suburban house from the backyard and easily climbed up the side of the house to the window of the room I felt the power in. My eyes widened when I peeked in and saw a teenager with funny-shaped brown hair jerking on himself as he stared longingly at a girly magazine.

My enhanced eyesight easily saw the nude model had huge breasts and she was cupping them together and offering them up to the reader, which the eager young man thoroughly enjoyed seeing. His hand sped up, as if he was close, then he let out a groan and a few little white spurts of fluid shot out and landed on the magazine page, right on the model's large breasts.

I watched as the young man sighed happily in post-orgasm bliss, then a look of horror crossed his face. He started panicking and grabbed the tissues he had nearby, which he clearly forgot that he had nearby until it was too late, and he started dabbing at the magazine to absorb his expulsions as he muttered about being so stupid to ruin a perfectly good wanking magazine like that.

I waited until he seemed to give up before I silently opened his window and slipped into the room. He was so distracted with his disappointment that he didn't feel the cool wind of the night as it ruffled his hair. He also didn't react when I grabbed him and sank my glowing fangs into his neck.

He had surprisingly little energy and his blood was lackluster. I was starting to question my senses about him having power, then I found the extra bit of soul inside of him. It wasn't active like in my last snack, so it had been a lot harder to find. I did the same thing to it, though. Consuming it first was the priority and then I could finish off the teenager.

I suddenly felt my power double in strength and I completely sucked him dry in the next moment. His pitiful little soul was barely worth consuming when compared to the spare soul piece he had. I still ate it, because every little bit helped.

“Issei, are you still up?” A woman's voice asked.

I let the boy's body fall onto the floor with a soft thud and walked over to the door of his room. I didn't bother trying to emulate his voice to make her go away and opened the door instead. The look of disappointment on her face quickly changed to shock when she saw me instead of her son.

“Hello, my lovely.” I whispered and I was suddenly inside her head and saw her desires.

Miki Hyoudou was a bored housewife that had a pervert for a husband and an even bigger pervert for a son. She was grateful for him not trying anything with her, despite how much he ogled her. The thing is, she fully accepted that her son would eventually try to grope her if he didn't find a girlfriend soon.

“Allow me to give you one last thrill, Miki.” I commanded and she stared into my eyes, completely lost in them. It was enough consent for my lack of morals and I stepped back to let her enter the room. She ignored the body of her dead son on the floor and stripped off for me. Her long brown hair went to the top of her ass and she had a great body, even if her face was a little lacking without any makeup to highlight the good parts.

I stripped off as well and scooped her up into my arms. Miki kissed me passionately as I brought her over to her son's bed. The adult magazine was pushed aside and I was inside Miki a second later. Her indecent moan as I entered her, made me want to keep hearing that sound, so I kept going instead of draining her.

We went at it for about half an hour and Miki had quite a few orgasms before I was ready myself. I wasn't going to miss this opportunity, though. I drove my glowing fangs into her neck and drove my rock hard erection into her at the same time. Both went in to the hilt and Miki moaned so loudly that I was sure the neighbours had heard her.

I let my shot go inside of her, getting her off on both the pleasure of me filling her up and sucking the blood out of her neck. My powers were still boosted for some reason, so she didn't last long and I consumed her soul when she was only a withered husk. I was only a little surprised that she was just as tight, the difference being she was no longer pliable.

I pulled out in disappointment and would have to remember to thoroughly have my fun before I ate everything my bed partner had to give. Of course, with her recently consumed soul digesting inside my metaphysical self, I knew she had left her husband in their bed.

Since I couldn't leave any loose ends, I went to their bedroom and punched the idiot in the head to knock him out. I bit his neck to suck him dry and it was over in moments. Again, like his son, his soul was barely worth consuming.

I carried him back to Issei's room and put him and their son onto the bed with the mother, chuckling at what people would find in the wreckage, and went downstairs to the kitchen to get the cooking oil. It wasn't much of an accelerant; but, once it was hot enough, it would keep burning. Luckily, I also found some lighter fluid, matches, and a few discarded newspapers in the trash.

I went back to the room and poured the cooking oil over the three of them, posed in compromising positions of course, and put the newspapers into the trash beside the bed and splashed lighter fluid on it and the bed. I flicked the lit match at the trashcan, knowing it would delay the fire enough to build up a good backdraft, and slipped out the bedroom window and closed it.

I smiled as I walked away from the house and could hear the fire crackling and spreading slowly. By the time I was back at my house, the controlled fire would be licking the ceiling of Issei's room. It wouldn't be long before it would spread to the other rooms and outside and probably lighting the place up for the whole neighborhood.

That was when I had an odd thought. Did the Japanese even have mobile fire services? I chuckled at that and went to my secured basement. Even if I had the inkling to go and be a spectator to the show of a house burning down, I wasn't stupid enough to return to the scene of the crime.

*

Sona and Rias stood off to the side of the scene of the massive fire with their peerages arrayed behind them. They had only exchanged worried looks and didn't speak, even if the both of them knew the significance of what the fire meant. It had been the home of the boy they had both investigated, because he had a trace of some kind of Sacred Gear inside of him.

Sona thought it was a basic Twice Critical and let Rias have him to recruit without a fight, which Rias appreciated. The problem was that Rias hadn't found him interesting enough to do more than observe him for the last few months and hadn't made any move to approach him. Now it was too late.

The two Kings of Kuoh nodded to their peerages and they quickly spread out to use their magic to contain the fire to the sole house and to douse it if they could. They would worry about taking care of any witnesses later.

Fifteen minutes later, the fire was out and a good portion of the house had been damaged and was surprisingly still intact. The two young women entered the house and they easily followed the trail of flames to the stairs and went up them, their wings deployed, just in case the floor was unsafe.

They entered the bedroom and saw three burned and charred corpses on the small bed. Neither girl were surprised to see the larger corpse on the bottom, what they suspected was a woman in the middle, and the smallest corpse on top.

The only question the two girls had was why the threesome had continued as the fire raged.

“They were already dead.” Sona suddenly said into the silence.

Rias sighed and motioned to the bed and the room. “Neither of our magic is good enough to detect anything in this mess.”

Sona gave her a searching look.

Rias sighed again. “Fine. I'll suffer it this time.”

Sona smiled slightly and looked back at the bed as Rias left to call her brother, Sirzechs Lucifer, the Satan of Domestic Affairs. Both Sona and Rias knew that Issei was the top corpse and wondered why his Sacred Gear hadn't activated to save him from dying.

“What really happened here?” Sona asked in a whisper as the sun's rays slowly broke the horizon.

*

I woke that night with the same suddenness as the first time and it was still a little unnerving. I did like being fully cognizant immediately, so I assumed I would become used to it eventually. I didn't need to yawn or anything, either. That alone was worth the odd feeling of being instantly awake.

I made my way upstairs and checked for the deliveries of construction supplies that I had my real estate agent arrange for me. They were arrayed in the garage and I was relieved that everything I needed to fix up the place was there. I went inside and sorted out the most necessary things, like the toilets and shower stalls, and went back inside to go down into the basement to turn off the water.

I went to work pulling out everything that needed replacing, which was fairly easy when you had supernatural strength and could tear out anything with your bare hands. No tools required. Putting things back together was a bit harder and brute force was not going to be my friend with that part. Finesse and patience was needed and I did my work for most of the night.

I skipped going out, since I still felt energized from my hearty meals from the night before. I didn't know how long that was going to last, since I was new at this whole scourge of the night thing. It would take time and experimentation for me to figure out exactly what I could do and how long I could go between feedings.

Well, necessary feedings anyway. Like hell I was going to starve myself when I had so many women out there that were just waiting for me to wreck their lives and consume their souls. I had to wipe the drool from my mouth after thinking about that and went back to work. My house wasn't going to repair itself.

Because I couldn't go out without showering, that meant I had to wait for the stalls to set and the sealant to dry. Since I didn't sweat, I wasn't worried about the smell. It was the dust and dirt that I needed to clean off of both myself and my clothing.

Dammit! The washer and dryer need to be moved. I thought and started on that job. I wasn't going to potentially kill myself every few days by having to go upstairs to do the laundry.

*

Grayfia Lucifuge wasn't sure what to make of the evidence she had gathered at the site of house fire the next day. In some respects, it made perfect sense. In others, it was ridiculous and made the actual evidence very confusing, assuming it was actual evidence and hadn't been planted. At the very least, she knew that the father and son had shared the bed with the mother.

The spell to show traces of semen had made what was left of the room glow, which meant it had been all over that room. Only someone that had a lot of sex would leave that much residue on everything.

With nothing else left to investigate, she teleported from there to the set coordinates to meet with Rias and Sona to deliver her findings.

“What can you tell us about the fire, Grayfia?” Rias asked her as soon as she appeared in the Occult Research Club.

“Greetings and salutations to you too, sister-in-law.” Grayfia said, sternly.

Rias opened her mouth to respond and Akeno slapped a hand over Rias' mouth. The Queen whispered into her King's ear and Rias sighed.

“I apologize for not greeting you properly, Grayfia. It's been a long night, none of us have slept much, and this mess has cost me...” Rias paused when Sona coughed. “...has cost us some valuable resources that were desperately needed for the future.”

Grayfia nodded. That was one of the things she had discovered after a few extensive detection spells. “The boy did have a sacred gear. A sealed Longinus.”

Rias felt her stomach plummet and everyone else gasped, especially Sona, because she had dismissed the pervert as unimportant.

“I couldn't tell what one it was, since it was sealed and it hadn't awoken.” Grayfia explained.

“Can you guess why it didn't activate when the host's life was in danger?” Sona asked.

Grayfia nodded again. “He wasn't endangered from the fire.”

It was Rias' turn to gasp this time.

Sona nodded back. “I suspected they had died before the fire was set.”

“They did, only not long before. Minutes to an hour had passed between their deaths and minutes for the fire to start burning them.” Grayfia admitted.

“So, it was staged.” Sona said and some of her concerns validated.

“No, they were together in the bed.” Grayfia said and produced a report for her with the spell details on it. “I'm not sure what to make of everything I found, however.”

Sona flipped through it quickly and her eyes widened. “There was that much residue?”

“The entire room glowed, even after it had burned. It was soaked in.” Grayfia informed her.

Sona clamped her mouth shut on what she wanted to say in response to that. She read the rest of the report and shook her head. “This is so contradictory that it's not believable.”

Grayfia smiled slightly. “Those were my thoughts exactly. Which evidence was the real evidence? Who in their right minds would use cooking oil while having sex?”

Those words had everyone fall silent as they thought about it.

“I thought he was an innocent and pure-hearted pervert.” Rias said, sadly.

“That's why I didn't kick him and the other two members of the Perverted Trio out of the school.” Sona told them. “Despite their vehemence and vocal proclamations, all they do is peep on girls and are too cowardly to do more than that. There was no worry about them ever assaulting anyone.”

The rest of the student council, all members of Sona's peerage, nodded their heads in agreement. As devils that had been long accustomed to sin, peeping was such a mild act of lust that they didn't really consider it a crime.

“Did you have any luck finding out who set the fire?” Sona asked as she closed the report.

Grayfia shook her head. “I couldn't find any footprints in the yard outside or magical residue around the property. The matches, newspapers, and lighter fluid were all traced back to the kitchen and were not brought into the house for the crime.”

“Convenient.” Sona said and sat back on her chair and rubbed her chin as she thought about it. “Was it planned or was it a crime of opportunity? Maybe a crime of passion? Did they search Issei out to remove him or did they just stumble across... him doing that with his parents... and chose to remove them for it?”

“Their backgrounds don't shed any light on anyone that would hate them so much to murder them and burn their bodies.” Rias said and handed over the file she and her peerage had composed of Issei and his family. “Not even the girls of this school hated him enough to do anything to him except beat him up for not running away with his friends when they were caught.”

Sona read the file and she had to agree with her friend.

“I'm going to miss his leering eyes and blatant lechery.” Akeno suddenly said into the silence.

“You would.” Rias said with a smirk and Akeno smirked back.

“What are we going to do about this?” Sona asked and passed her the file back. “Can we handle having a murderer that likes setting fires while we search for that rogue vampire?”

“Excuse me?” Grayfia said and the room's temperature suddenly went ice cold. “What was that about a rogue vampire being in your territory?”

Sona sighed at letting that slip out. She was distracted with worry after her peerage member had been killed and she hadn't kept herself in check. “Saji Genshirou was murdered last night, as was my familiar.” She waved to Tsubaki and her Queen left the room at a fast walk and returned with their remains.

Grayfia examined the both of them for the next half an hour, casting spells and writing things down to keep a record of everything. When she cast the spell to check for the remnants of the Sacred Gear Saji had, the black glow on the boy's arm and in his chest, made Grafia gasp.

“What is it?” Rias asked as Grayfia stepped back from the body. “What spell was that?”

“It's an old spell that checks for soul corruption.” Grayfia said and they were all surprised. “It was the easiest way for a devil to check if a new contractor was indebted to another devil. Back then, you couldn't try to claim someone else's property without informing them, then you either fought them for the claim or bought them off.”

None of the people in the room knew how to respond to that.

“The spell showed that Saji's soul was claimed.” Grayfia said, her voice empty.

“Why did you gasp when his arm glowed?” Tsubaki asked, because anything that made Grayfia nervous, gave her a terrible feeling.

Grayfia couldn't lie about it and held in her sigh. “The soul piece of the Vritra Dragon that was bound inside the Sacred Gear... was claimed, too.”

That shocked them all and they took a step backwards, as if being near a dead body was going to affect them. That Grayfia had stepped back already, urged them to keep their distance even more.

“What are we going to do?” Rias asked, her voice soft and unsure.

Grayfia let out the sigh she had been holding. “A rogue vampire in devil territory falls directly into the Foreign Affairs Minister's hands.”

“No!” Sona gasped and saw Grayfia's sad expression. “Dammit, dammit, dammit.” She said and then closed her eyes and sighed. “Fine. I'll call her.”

Grayfia put a hand on the shoulder of the young heiress. “I need to report this to my King.”

“Thank you for coming, Grayfia.” Rias said, her voice full of gratitude.

The older devil woman nodded and walked over to the teleportation circle, activated it, and disappeared in a flash of light.

Rias stood beside Sona and silently supported the Sitri heiress as she made the call she dreaded to her siscon of a sister, Serafall Leviathan.