[IC] Vampire Mafia

[Azalea]

CURRENT TIME IS 11:26 PM
As the moon remained hidden behind the grey clouds, Adrien Szetella accompanied the darkness on a midnight stroll. He could hear the pitter-patter of raindrops crashing against his red umbrella and the streetlights told his eyes that nobody except him dared venture outside on a stormy night. The amusement park closed over an hour ago, but Adrien did not own a car, so every morning he walked to work on foot. And every night, even on dark rainy nights like this one, Adrien walked back home the same way.

The wind trying to steal his umbrella, Adrien suddenly heard a loud gunshot in the distance. He stopped and turned his head to see behind him, but didn't notice anything dead on the road. Not about to be like one of those stupid people in movies, Adrien ignored the gunshot , looked forward, and continued merrily walking home.

THEN, he felt something grab his shoulder. Alarmed, his eyes glanced toward his shoulder and saw a pale, ghostly looking hand. Adrien calmly and slowly turned his head around and met a pair of terrifying blue eyes.

"Do as I say or I'll kill you."

CURRENT TIME IS 12:01 AM

Adrien felt like the wind would send him flying into the sky at any moment. The storm worsened and he couldn't see anything in front of him with all the rain. His umbrella, left on the side of the road all alone, was forced to be abandoned

"We're here."

Then man he met earlier ordered him to stop and Adrien didn't dare disobey. He couldn't see anything in front of him because they ventured far from the streetlights and the pounding drops of water didn't help him see any better. He had no idea where he was.

"Where are we..?"he asked casually, as if he hadn't been threatened earlier.

"We're at the Don Giordano's mobile steel fortress."

Vencentio
CURRENT TIME IS 11:23 PM
After three nights of hell, the vampire finally managed to escape the Rioz hideout. He ventured there on a top secret mission but a rat in the Giordano betrayed them and caused Ven's discovery. "Asshole..."he muttered under his breath, licking the blood off his lips. His ocean colored eyes glared into the corpse of the traitor who caused his capture. It took a lot of strength to take down the vampire with just his fangs and raw strength, especially since he hadn't fed and received torture from the enemy.

Feeling himself growing weaker Vencentio took off and ran from the hideout, though he did not manage to leave unnoticed. A few minutes after escaping he heard a gunshot and felt a bullet press into his chest. The pain surging through his body, he stopped and knelt on the ground. His hearing becoming disoriented, Vencentio did not notice the other vampire walk behind him. His breathing becoming shallower, another random force hit him in the back and he fell face down into the concrete. "Ugh..."he mummured, slowly turning his head to stare into the face of a Rioz vampire.

Lucikly for Vencentio, the vampire was a dumbass and knelt down to mock him, thinking that Vencentio was rendered immobile due to the bullet. Ven took that chance to strike. He stretched his arm out and grabbed the vampire's head, tearing it off with his brute strength. After decapitating the dumb vampire, Vencentio pushed him away and slowly got to his feet. Feeling even worse, he swayed from side to side like a drunk man on the road. Once again, luck was on his side, and he noticed a lone human walking in the rain.

Taking a deep breath, Vencentio endured the pain and ran towards the boy. Placing his hand on the human's shoulder, when the boy met eyes with him he threatened, "Do as I say or I'll kill you."

CURRENT TIME IS 12:01 AM

Forcing the boy to carry him on his back, Vencentio felt relieved when he arrived at the meeting place. When the boy started asking questions, he was so glad to be safe again that he didn't mind answering him.

"We're at the Don Giordano's mobile steel fortress."

As soon as those words left his lips, Vencetio felt magic in the air. Though to human ears it was covered by the pounding rain and the storm, the vampire could hear the fortress heading their way. A few moments later Protettore's fortress was parked in front of Vencentio and the human. Sadly, he could not endure the wounds any longer, and he collapsed on the ground. He did not lose consciousness, but Vencentio knew that he needed to get the bullet removed from his body and drink blood. He didn't feed from the human earlier because he didn't want the boy to lose strength and not be able to carry him. And he didn't have the energy to hold him down and get to his neck...much less walk inside the fortress without any help.

[Midorimacchi]

VALENTE
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Turn.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Turn.

Valente watched with amusement as his eyes followed his boss pace around his office, the nail of his thumb between his sharp teeth, his eyes glued on the floor. The Don was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice that Valente had spread himself out on his beloved wooden desk, resting against it like a bed. In any other occasion, Protettore would break the neck of anyone who touch his favorite mahogany desk that his uncle had given him as a gift, no questions asked. But here Valente was, sprawled across it like some model on a magazine, his golden hair fanned out like a halo. He probably should've been worrying for his life right now, but he knew that the Don's thoughts were on something more important to him than a silly desk.

Finally, after an hour of watching him pace about, Valente decided to open his mouth. " Y'know, if you keep pacing like that, you'll make a hole in the floor~!"

Protettore didn't even look at him.

Valente huffed, sitting up on the desk and fixing his shirt neck that had somehow slipped over his shoulder. It was no fun making fun of the boss if he didn't get a reaction. He was about to get up and leave when Protettore pulled the thumb from his mouth and spoke.

" Where is he?" His words were like poison. Valente even flinched. " It's been three days! Three whole days!"

Putting his guard up incase he was attacked in a fit of anger, Valente leaned away from the vampire, a cheerful smile on his lips, " Whoa, Whoa, calm down Boss. I don't know where h-"

Protettore's hands clutched his shirt, pulling the wizard towards him, " Use your godamn magic shit and find him!" He growled, his nail's making holes in Valente's shirt. Damn it, and it was an expensive one too....

" Y'know I can't do that Boss! If I could, I would...but y'know....the barrier I put up won't le-ugh!"

He was pushed back violently on the desk, Protettore looming over him. Valente could see the raw anger in his eyes and he gulped, feeling his boss's cold hand wrapping around his throat. " I don't give a shit about the barrier. Take it down and find him." His grip tightened.

Valente gasped and tried to pry the vampire's hands off him, but it was like steel. He could feel his oxygen supply being slowly cut off. But...Protettore wouldn't kill him...right? Suddenly, words flashed into his mind.

" .... Don Giordano's mobile steel fortress."

Before anyone left the fortress, Valente would put a charm on them so if any of the Giordano's members said those five words, the fortress would automatically find their location, no matter where they were, and change direction to pick them up. And since Vencentio was the only one who left the fortress in the past few days, it must have been him! "Boss!...Boss! L-Let me go..!" He tried to wiggle from his grasp, but it only got tighter.

" Will you find him?" Protettore questioned, his nail's digging into the soft skin of his neck. If this kept on, Valente would be done for!

" He's outside!" He gasped with whatever breath he had left and Protettore immediately let him go. In a blink of an eye, the mafia Don was off of him and heading towards the door, " Open the main doors." Was his only order.

Rubbing his tender neck and sitting up, Valente flicked his wrist and the main doors to the fortress opened. With that done, he sighed shakily and laid back down on the desk, closing his eyes.

" Damn impatient man..."

PROTETTORE
Why was this castle so damn large?! Protettore thought as he ran through the endless hallways and corridors. Sure, the wallpaper and expensive carpets were nice to look at and all, but it was a bitch to run through when you needed to get to the front. Even more so when your office is on the top floor out of many.

But with Protettore being the boss that he is, made it to the front doors in half the time anyone else would have and raced right out of the doors, not even caring if it was raining or not. He was expecting Vencentio standing there, waiting for him to greet him at the door, but when Protettore didn't see him, panic started to set in. Instead of his loyal right hand man standing there, some measly human was in his place. That fucking wizard! Lying to save his own ass! He automatically thought, murder flashing in his eyes. But before his anger could completely take over him, he sensed Vencentio. He flicked his eyes from the human to the ground and was surprised to see Ven there.

Not caring that he was wearing an expensive suit that could probably feed a family in a third world country for a month, Protettore fell to his friend's side, his eyes going directly towards the gunshot wound in his chest. " Fucking Rioz bastards, they'll pay for this,"But as much as he wanted to go over there and kill them himself, he needed to take care of Ven first. He was still conscious but he looked so pale, which meant that he needed blood. " Valente, come here!" In one swift motion, Protettore scooped Ven in his arms, bridal style, and carried him into the castle. As soon as the entered, some of Protettore's lower men appeared and tried to take Ven out of his arms, but Protettore just pushed them back. " Fuck you, get the human." He ordered one of them to do.

Luckily, one of his very lavish living rooms was right next to the entrance, so Protettore went in there and carefully put Ven on the sofa. Behind him, he could hear the doors closing at the audible pitter-patter of the rain stopping. He shook his hair out of his face so he could see Ven better. " Is it just one gunshot wound?" He asked, though he had so many questions for him, but he knew that this wasn't the time or place, so he saved them for later.

He gingerly moved Ven's shirt out of the way so he could see the wound better. He had experience with bullet wounds, he did grow up on a pirate ship afterall, but he didn't have the equipment for it and right now, his heart was beating a million times a minute. " Dammit, where is that bastard?" He was about to stand up to go find that wizard himself, but as soon as he was going to, a loud pop sounded and Valente magically appeared, a carefree smile on his face.

" What's up Boss?"

" What took you so fucking long?" Protettore asked immediately, but shook his head. No, there were more important matters to address here. " Remove the bullet from his chest."

Valente was surprised to see Vencentio, who was normally so cool and collected, so out of shape. It was almost amusing. But he kept his real thoughts and his outer expression far away from one another so his boss didn't throw a fit. Keeping the smile on his face, Valente leaned closer to inspect the wound. " Hm.....no prob Boss!" He laughed as he pushed him out of the way and rubbed his hands together. Closing his eyes, Valente placed his hand over the bullet wound and wiggled his fingers. Of course, the finger wiggles were completely unnecessary but he liked to make a show of things once in a while. And it wasn't as if Vencentio was going to die right then and there.

After a few more seconds of finger wiggling, Valente got down to business. He chanted a spell under his breath that attracted metal items and focused the recipient of that attraction to his hand. He had to be careful to keep his hand still so the bullet would come out cleanly, so he ceased his finger wiggle...for now. Six or seven seconds later, the bullet popped out of Vencentio's body and went right into Valente's hand.

" Ya see that Boss? Wanna keep it as a so-whah!" He flailed as Protettore viciously pushed him out of the way, causing Valente to topple over and fall on his back. But Protettore didn't care! He was already cutting a straight, neat line across his wrist with his nail and offered it to Vencentio, " Here, drink it."

He had a hole cellar full of humans that could give Vencentio their blood- hell, there was even a human standing in that room- but Protettore's mind wasn't functioning properly and he didn't trust human blood to fix Vencentio's wounds. The blood had to come from a vampire if they wanted to see rapid results.

[Azalea]

Adrien
"W-Whoa, wait, are you talking about the vampire mafia?"he asked, though before he could get an answer the man collapsed. Suspecting that the guy was actually a vampire, Adrien didn't know if he should help him. He really could kill him.

The rain pouring down even harder, Adrien nearly jumped out of his skin when the doors of the large fortress opened. A male in a suit emmerged from the building and picked up the vampire like he was his bride. "Maybe I can sneak away now..."he muttered under his breath, taking a few steps back. As soon as he was about to turn around and run for his life, Adrien felt cold hands grab at his shoulders. Too prideful to scream but not strong enough to fight back against his captor's strength, before Adrien knew it, he too was carried into the Don Giordano's mobile fortress.

The room he was brought to was close to the entrance so Adrien did not see any of the interior clearly. Now that he was out of the rain he could feel his body shivering violently, especially since he had been walking in the rain with a vampire on his back for more than half an hour. Trying not to think about how tired and cold he felt, Adrien focused his attention on the three men near the couch. One was the guy he helped, one was acting violent, and the last did some sort of magic. He had heard of wizards and vampires existing, but until now Adrien never crossed paths with one.

Watching as the violent man slit his wrist and forced blood into the lips of the injured vampire, Adrien felt his stomach churn. He didn't mind blood, it was the cut that bothered him. He hated anything sharp or seeing something get sliced.

Vencentio
Not at all resisting Protettore when he wrapped his strong arms around him and carried him into the building, Ven could feel himself becoming weaker with each second passing. "Yes, the gunshot is...the only dangerous one."he mummbled, having a hard time speaking.

Before long, Valente appeared and Vencentio thought he was going delirious. His finger was swirling and for a second believed that something was wrong with his vision. But no, the wizard was just doing his usual theatrics, and Vencentio realized this when he felt the bullet pop out of his chest. "Thank you. You're a life saver, Valente."he thanked before sipping the blood from Protettore. The pain that linger slowly began to vanish, like when a child watched as their balloon drifted away into the sky.

His friend's blood truly was powerful: whatever the Rioz did to make the bullet hurt a vampire was nulled by Protettore. Vencentio took a little more blood from Protettore than he wanted to, but on the bright side he felt better.

"UUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

Before he could thank his best friend, a noise from the corner of the room caught the vampire's attention.

Ju-On
A basketball in her hand, the ghost stared at the beautiful man with golden hair. Yes, he was perfect! Making herself visible so he could see her, June slowly stepped towards him and even though there was no wind her white dress was swaying.

"UUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."she said, handing the basketball to the wizard. Translated her speech was, "YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL, LET'S GET MARRIED. SINCE I HAVE DON'T HAVE A RING TO PROPOSE WITH YET, HERE IS A BASKETBALL." but sadly, Ju-On could not express her feelings with words.

[Midorimacchi]

VALENTE
Valente rolled his eyes as he picked himself off the floor, shaking his head lightly. Really. If anyone had just walked in right now, they probably would've mistaken this for a scene from a Spanish novella by how dramatic everyone was being. Dusting himself off, he was about to exit the room when a strange gurgling sound from behind him made him stop. Just like everyone else, he watched in confusion as a woman suddenly appeared in the corner of the room and slowly made her way to him. She had crazy, tangled black hair and was wearing a long white dress, but the thing that caught Velente's attention the most was the random as hell basketball in her hands.

" What the fu-" He backed away slowly as she got closer and made that weird sound again. She handed the basketball over to him and he almost dropped it, fearing it to be cursed. An awkward moment passed by where nobody said anything, not even the short tempered Protettore, and Valente simply stared at the basketball, then back to the random girl. " Uhm....yeah." Quickly, Valente threw the basketball to a random person in the room and vanished into thin air. A second later, he reappeared in his bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief. Incase another wizard or something managed to get into the moving fortress' walls, he had placed even more charms in his bedroom so that it was the safest place in the castle. He wasn't sure who that random chick was in the living room, but he didn't wish to see her again anytime soon.

PROTETTORE
" Who the fuck is this? How did she get in here?" Protettore questioned, turning his attention to one of the vampires standing by the human, one of his supposed "guards". " Get her out, now." But as his men moved to apprehend the mysterious woman who looked like she had never owned a hairbrush in her life, she vanished into thin air, just as Valente had done! For a moment, Tori wondered if she was a wizard just like him, but quickly realized that he didn't care. Right now, his top priority was Vencentio, and he didn't have enough time to hunt the girl down personally.

" I want the whole fortress on alert," He told the three vampires by the door, rolling down his sleeves, the cut on his wrist had already healed, " I want two of you to go up to the mage's room and see if the crazy hair bitch is in there. And tell everyone that if they see that woman again, move to kill and bring her to me." The two guards nodded their heads and rushed off down the hall, leaving only one guard left and the human that Vencentio had brought with him. " And you, take the human down to the cellar. I'll be there after I take Vencentio to his room." The other guard nodded just like the others and took the human male by the arm," Don't struggle." He warned as he pulled him away from the living room.

Now that there was only two of them left, Tori sighed and pushed his wet bangs away from his eyes, " Can you stand? Or do you want me to carry you again?" He grinned playfully.

[Azalea]

Ju-On

"Uuuuhhhh...."

Ju-on slithered into the hallway, escaping the vampires who tried to capture her. "Uuuhhhhh...."she mummbled as she flew through the fortress, making sure to mask her presence from the powerful vampires. She was smart enough to understand the dangers of remaining in the Giordano fortress, but her desire to see that beautiful wizard again kept Ju-on from leaving! He had taken th basketball from her hands and even though he threw it away, in her mind him being the first one to hold it meant that they were engaged.

She could sense a high concentration of magic on a higher floor and telported to the area. She appeared in front of a door but when Ju-on tried to pass through it, some sort of magical barrier stopped her from entering.

"UUHHHH!"she yelled, angry that the wizard locked her out.

Ju-on took out her frustration by dribbling her basketball, which had magically appeared in her hands, and let the sound echo throughout the hall.

Adrien
"O-okay..."he muttered to the guard.

Adrien didn't have the guts to resist the vampire. He wasn't stupid, he had seen those movies where dumb people stand up for themselves and they die! He did not want to end up like Cedric Diggory from Harry Potter, meeting his tearful end with only a word.

Once again being escorted by vampire guards, Adrien wondered what would happen to him. From what he had seen there was a spirit on the loose...he was a prisoner in a haunted fortress owned by the vampire mafia, that was protected by a wizard. Was he going to have his blood sucked or something?!

The guard brought him into the cellar and shoved Adrien inside before he could run away. When Adrien heard the lock click, the young human sighed and sat down on the floor. "I'm doomed."

Vencentio
Vencentio didn't know what what was going on anymore but he couldn't shake the feeling that the ghost was familiar. As Tori yelled at his men to apprehend her, he wondered what happened to the basketball. They could have lured her out with it or something, but he figured that Protettore would eventually just have the mage use his magic to find her if the guards failed to capture her.

He quitely watched as Protettore sent the last guard out of the room with the human boy who had helped him. He was slightly curious as to what his friend would do with him, but Vencentio could ask about him later.

Chuckling at the vampire's grin, Vencentio thought about his question for a moment. "Hmmm...depends on where we're going."he answered playfully. "I can walk, but not far! If we're going to your room, which is allllll the way on the top floor, you'd have to carry me Tori."

Ryuunosuke
"Alright, if I stab Ryo then then maybe I can stun him long enough to rip off his face!"he cheerfully plotted, sharpening a knife in his room. Ryuu had concealed weapons and traps all over his room out of fear his brother would try to kill him in his sleep. He needed to be prepared to attack back if Ryo tried anything.

A sincere smile on his face as he held up his freshly sharpened blade in front of him, he layed it beside him and reached over for a can of soda made for vampires unoriginally called Blood Soda. Ryu had recieved a box from his grandparents and it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. It was blood, but it was also soda! A vampire drinking Blood Soda was like human drinking soda and a vampire feeding on fresh human blood was like a human drinking water. It wasn't as healthy, but it could still satisfy your thirst!

As soon as he finished his can Ryu tossed it into the trash and went back to sharpening his weapon. A few minutes later the young vampire started hearing running through the hallway. Wondering if something had happened, he grabbed a few weapons and made his way to the door. Looking both ways for any sign of Ryo, he cautiously left his room when he saw that his brother wasn't around. He walked around and found the nearest set of guards.

"What happened here?"asked the curious vampire.

"Ah, sir, Vencentio has finally made his return."informed the guard. Ryu smiled at that thought and was glad he was back.The guard did not mention the state the don's right hand man had been in so Ryu did not realize Vencentio had been nearly dead when he arrived. "But why is everyone running?"asked Ryu.

"The don has ordered us to find a spirit that appeared in his room."

At those words, Ryu's malicious grin appeared. "I see..."he said, rubbing his hands together like a villain. If he found that spirit, then surely his father would like him more then Ryo! The young vampire ran towards Valente's room, hoping the wizard could give him some sort of charm to help him find the spirit.

The strange thing was that the closer he got to the mage's room, the more he could hear a strange sound. It sounded like a basketball was bouncing and the dribbling just became louder and louder. Even stranger, when he arrived up at the wizard's domain, Ryuunosuke saw another set of guards. Half of them were lying on the ground knocked out while the others were in a defensive stance. "What the hell?"he muttered, reaching for one of his concealed guns. He couldn't see who was attacking, but right in front of his eyes a vampire was knocked down and into a state of unconsciousness...by a basketball?

"Uwaa!"screamed the guard when the basketball hit his face, before he fainted. Ryu was a bit shocked to see one of his father's guards go down so quickly, but now that the guard wasn't standing Ryu saw who had attacked him, standing in the distance. A creepy looking woman with crazy hair and a white dress was holding a basketball. "Is that...the spirit?!"he gasped, bringing the gun out in front of him. Hmph...she's creepy but Ryo is still uglier...

When the guards noticed Ryu's presence a few of them panicked, what would happen if they failed to protect the don's son?

"Sir, leave this spirit to us-"

Before the vampire could finish his plead, he was attacked by the spirit with the basketball.

[Midorimacchi]

VALENTE
" What the fuck is this?" Valente weeped to himself as he pressed his ear against his door. From behind the charmed entrance, he could hear the pained cries of Protettore's bodyguards as they fell one by one, and the strange "Ugggggh" sound that the creepy spirit had made in the living room. This could only mean that the spirit from before was going on a rampage and was taking her anger out on everyone in the fortress! Where the hell is Boss? He thought to himself, looking around his room for some sort of weapon incase he needed to protect himself. What kind of boss was he if he let everyone in his domain die?! But then he remembered that Vencentio was still wounded somewhat and shook his head. Leave it to Protettore to be completely distracted at a time like this!!

Suddenly, a cold chill ran down Valente's spine as he heard the cries of pain coming closer and closer. What if that basketball the spirit had given him was some kind of curse?! What if he was the spirit's target?! The mage bit his nails as he continued to cry to himself, " What the hell does she want from me?! Why is she doing this?! I'M TOO BEAUTIFUL TO DIE LIKE THIS!!"

Over the screams of the fallen, Valente heard a familiar voice from the other side of the door. It was Ryuunosuke, one of Protettore's adopted sons! Personally, Valente liked to call him " Uno " and the other one " Ichi " because really, the names Ryuu and Ryo sounded so much alike that it was hard to remember who was who. It was only a coincidence that Uno and Ichi both meant the number one in different languages, but who the hell cares about that right?

Valente leaned closer to the door to make sure it was the Boss' son. " Oh no, he's gonna die too!" He told himself. He didn't particularly like either of his son's, but he knew his Boss would be pissed for eternity if one of his sons died. I have to do something! The blonde magician jumped to his feet and wiped his tears away, swallowing his fear of the creepy spirit. Throwing open the door, Valente yelled out, " STOP!" in hopes of pausing whatever murderous action the spirit was probably engaging in and lifted his finger.

Since I'm way too lazy to write this in detail, Valente has similar magic to Fai from Tsubasa, so he writes out attack spells using his finger and yeah. So he did that and managed to trap ju-on, and her evil basketball, in a protective bubble where she couldn't hurt anyone else. He couldn't just make her disappear and it was almost impossible to kill a spirit, so he did the next best thing. He used a curse. Targeting one of the humans in the cellars down below, Valente whispered a curse, forever chaining one of the humans from below to the spirit. Once the curse was complete, the spirit could not leave that person's side until that said person died. It wasn't the best plan Valente had, but it was a temporary solution to this problem.

Opening his eyes and finishing off the curse, Valente watched as the spirit vanished, dropping her basketball on the ground. Writing out another tiny spell, a box appeared around the orange plastic ball and Valente quickly sealed it with his left over magic. " There we go! No nightmares tonight!" He congratulated himself and gave himself a mental high five. Going over and grabbing the box, Valente handed it to Uno, " Here, give this to your father and tell him to keep it safe!"

RYOICHI
It just so happened that Ryo arrived on the scene at the worst possible time.

" MAMA, MAMA?! YOU'RE SAFE?!" Ryoichi cried as he kicked open the front door, completely drenched from head to toe from the rain outside. He was poorly dressed, considering the terrible weather, only wearing a pair of shorts and a black muscle shirt, but it didn't look like it affected him much. His wet hair was covering his eyes and like Protettore, he flicked them out of the way as he approached the sofa. " Are you hurt Mama? Did those bastards hurt you? Can you walk? Do you need me to take you to your ro-"

PROTETTORE
Tori's eyes narrowed as his cockblocking son barged into the room, totally killing whatever kind of mood he had been trying to set. It was times like these that made Protettore wish he never had kids, and believe me, this wasn't the first time he had thoughts like this. After allowing Ryo to fawn over Vencentio for some time, he pushed Ryo's shoulder harshly, breaking him out of his rant. " Take Vencentio back to his room." There was no use in trying to get the moment back, so he might as well make Ryo do the work for him.

Ryo's eyes lit up as his father talked to him, nodding his head ecstatically, " Sure thing Papa!" He whirled around and got into a crouching position in front of the sofa, " I'll give you a piggyback ride Mama!"

It was only when he watched Vencentio disappear up the stairs on Ryo's back did Protettore remember that he had more pressing matters at hand. Somewhere in the castle, there was a creepy spirit who didn't know how to take care of her hair running around the fortess and the human that had appeared with Vencentio. He had given the guards the responsibility to track down the spirit, but considering how useless they could be, he had his doubts that they actually managed to do it.

Pulling out his leather gloves from his suit pocket, he slipped them on and straightened out his suit so he looked more presentable, and more threatening, and made his way towards the cellar doors. Vencentio was safe for now, but Protettore wanted to know what the unnamed human knew about how Vencentio got his wounds and why he was with him at the front doors.

RYOICHI
Coincidentally, to get to Vencentio's room, one would have to pass by Valente's room as well, meaning they would get a firsthand view of the aftermath of the great " Ju-On" battle. And also Valente handing the basketball over to Ryuu.

Once again, Ryo arrived on the scene at the worst possible time. He had been chatting to his Mama about his adventures in the mountains, fighting bears and climbing trees, all in attempts to become stronger, when his eyes caught sight of Ryuunosuke. In an instant, anger flashed through Ryo's eyes and determination to show off his new strength flowed through his veins.

" TAKE THIS MOTHERFUCKER!" Ryo yelled, jumping into the air and kicking Ryuunosuke right in the back, knocking him to the ground, all the while keeping a good grip on his Mama so he didn't fall. " Always keep your eyes open loser! You'll never know when the awesome me will attack!" Ryo laughed as he placed a foot on Ryuunosuke's shoulder, keeping him to the ground.

VALENTE
" NOOOOO!" Right before Uno could take hold of the basketball, Ichi had kicked him out of nowhere, making Uno loose balance and the basketball fall right through his grasp. Valente tried to catch it before it hit the ground, but the basketball fell too fast and disappeared into the floor. " NOOOO!!!" He cried again as he fell to his knees, not caring about what was happening with Uno and Ichi. He had placed another charm on the basketball before handing it to Uno to make the basketball become invisible once Protettore put it somewhere safe, just to make sure no one would ever find it again. But since the basketball never reached Protettore, it was now lost in the castle somewhere, invisible and just waiting for someone to find it, God forbid it be the spirit.

Valente curled into a ball and began to silently cry to himself, knowing full well that Protettore would make him personally search for it.

[Azalea]

Adrien

Out of nowhere, Adrien couldn't move or speak. A sharp, sudden pain jolted his body and slithered down his spine. He felt like insects were crawling underneath his skin and Adrien suddenly could no longer breath. Panicking at the sudden attack on his body and the fear of not being able to breathe, Adrien collapsed onto the floor.

"UUUUUUUUUUUOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

Hearing the shriek zapped him back to reality and the random burst of pain had vanished. Confused, the young human slowly sat up from the floor and only to feel petrified for a good minute as he stared at the angry looking ghost woman in front of him. Holyshitomgfirstvampiresandnowascaryspiritwithbadh airfuck. he screamed in his mind.

He would have yelled out in terror at the spirit, whose white dress had spots of blood stained on it, but the spirit had glided towards him with incredible speed and started choking him. Adrien was forced to look into the eyes of the spirit. He was afraid her blue eyes glaring at him with hatred would be the last thing she saw, but to his surprise, she let go.

"UUUOOOHHH."she growled again, rubbing her neck as if she was in pain.

Ju-On

That magician may have been beautiful, but his charm had angered her! He chained her to a not!beautiful human boy and took her basketball away from her. Ju-On was not pleased, especially since she realized she could not kill the boy herself. When she tried to choke him, she felt the effects as well, meaning she was unable to kill him and stop the charm in time. She would have to wait until he passed away of old age or was murdered by a third party, if she tried to finish him off herself she would destroy herself in the process! The spirit, furious, realized she was stuck with this boy. "UUUOOOHHH."she yelled, seemingly disappearing into the darkness.

She was still attached to Adrien though, it was like whenever Yugi was possessed by the Pharoah and only Adrien or someone like Valente could see her.
Vencentio

"Mama is fine, Ryo."he gently answered, though Vencentio had a feeling his words went ignored because the young vampire wouldn't stop asking his worried questions. While it was nice to have his 'son' feel concerned about him, couldn't he have barged in at a better time? He wanted to be with his best frien after going through that crappy experience! Plus Vencentio was having fun playing around with Tori; it was always amusing to pretend they were a couple and confuse their subordinates. If they saw Vencentio being carried by Protettore up to his room, questions definitely would be raised! But he didn't complain, and he quickly got over his initial annoyance.

"I'll inform you of the details of what I discovered after I rest, or when you request the information, sir."he told the mafia boss, speaking formally now that they were not alone. Vencentio was then carried out of the room by Ryoichi, at Protettore's request.

"Why don't you tell me all about your training?"he asked his son, preferring to listen and not wanting to talk much. Stories of fighting bears and climbing trees that towered the highest of buildings were told by Ryoichi as they travelled through the fortress, but as they neared Valente's room, Vencentio narrowed his eyes. Those guards...they're alive but unconscious, what happened, I wonder.... he thought as Ryuunosuke felt the impact of Ryoichi's show.

Not at all surprised that Ryoichi randomly attacked his brother, Vencentio was more worried about the unconscious vampires than the feuding brothers. "Ryoichi, your strength is impressive, but we need to get to my room so that I can rest..."he calmly reminded, not wanting the boys to fight while there were already so many issues that needed to be taken care of. He was beginning to feel really tired and just wanted to go to sleep. Maybe if he praised both of them, they would not fight, which probably wouldn't worl. "Let's keep moving Ryoichi, and Ryuunosuke, you took that attack pretty well, but it looks like Valente over there isn't taking things too well. Check on him and the guards for me?"he requested both boys, hoping he could prevent the fight from continuing. He slid off of Ryoichi's back and placed his hand on his shoulder, stepping backward and moving Ryo with him so that his foot would get off of Ryuunosuke's back.

Ryuunosuke
As he was about to take the basketball, the prized trophy that would surely earn his father's love, Ryuunosuke found himself shoved into the ground by his idiot brother's foot!

"You..."he growled, looking up as he glared at the laughing Ryoichi. The anger flaring inside him, Ryuunosuke almost didn't notice that Vencentio was being carried on that devil's back. It was only when he spoke that the young vampire noticed Vencentio's presence. "Wha-...ah...yes, I will..."he answered, feeling proud at Vencentio's praise. He did, in fact, take Ryoichi's attack well and that was because he was much stronger than his stupid brother!

When Vencentio helped Ryuunosuke become free from Ryoichi's foot, he stood up and brushed off dirt off his clothes. "But right after I beat this asshole brother of mine into the floor."he threatened calmly, his tone as cold as ice as he cracked his knuckles. Without another word Ryuunosuke threw a punch at Ryoichi's face.

Vencentio
Well, he had tried...somewhat. Stepping aside from the quarrel, he let Ryuunosuke attempt to fight Ryoichi. Not paying attention to what the two forever angry brothers were doing behind him, Vencentio walked past the unconscious guards and towards Valente.

"What happened here?"he asked the traumatized wizard, kneeling down so that he was at eye level with him.

[Midorimacchi]

VALENTE
Valente could hear the scuffle between the brothers around him but wasn't bothered by it, too busy crying to himself to take notice. He did look up though when Vencentio approached him, his face a watery mess with tears and mucus, but his face still managed to be beautiful, " The basketball! It was...and then he...and now its gone! What do? Where is it? Why now?" He rambled, clinging onto the front of Vencentio's shirt for dear life. " The basketball holds the magic Vencentio! Without it anything can happen! We need to find it!"

RYOICHI
" Thank you Mama," Ryo said placing his hands on his hips, basking in the praise. Protettore hardly batted an eyelash at his accomplishments, so receiving such positive criticism from his other adoptive parent meant the world to him. After his father actually acknowledging his existence earlier and Vencentio's kind words, nothing could bring him down! But his warm feelings were short lived when a fist connected with his cheek.

" Ow! You fucker!" He yelled and tackled Ryuu to the ground, his fists flying and nails scratching. All of his strategic mountain training went out the window and there was only red anger in his eyes.

[Azalea]

Vencentio

"Calm yourself, Valente, and dry your tears. Can you sense where the magic is?"he asked the shaken wizard. He felt too tired to deal with any of this and certainly did not understand why there was a magical basketball on the loose. "Focus on locating it while I deal with the young ones."he instructed before turning away from the wizard and walking inbetween the fighting vampire boys.

"Children."he called out endearingly both his hands catching the fists of Ryuu and Ryo. He waited until the two stopped squirming before speaking once more. "Mama has something to say to you, please listen before you resume your fight."

"Ryo...didn't your papa give you a task to escort mama upstairs? Don't you want to please him by finishing what you have been assigned to do?"he reminded, staring at neither of them. The last thing he needed was to fight over his attention right now, the boys fighting over Protettore all of the time was enough of a headache. "And Ryuu, it's great to see you again...and it would be even greater, if you help Mr. Valente right now, it will make me and papa very happy."he instructed, releasing them from his grasp and stepping back from between them. He briefly looked back from the bickering brothers towards the sobbing wizard.

Vencentio was so done.

Ryuunosuke

"Mama, you're back?!"he shouted, startled that Vencentio appeared out of nowhere. His fist was caught by the older vampire, and no matter how hard he tried to squirm out of his grasp so that he could give him a welcoming home, Ryuu just wasn't strong enough. Fortunately, his brother was no better, and couldn't move either. "Of course, Mama!"he cheerfully accepted the request, carefully keeping his eyes on both vampires. As soon as Vencentio stepped back, Ryuunosuke continued to fight his brother, this time striking for his legs. If he could break them, then he couldn't take Mama upstairs, and then Ryuu would be the one who had to do it. He could fulfill both missions! Papa would be mad at Ryo and happy with him, this plan was perfect!

Adrien

"What just happened?"he whispered, relieved as the spirit vanished. Alone in the cell, he sat against the wall with his legs folded to his chest. Now he had not only the vampire mafia, especially the scary vampire don, to worry about but also that crazy ghost thing.

[Midorimacchi]

VALENTE
Valente's crying had covered up Vencentio's conversation with his children, so he heard none of it. Instead, he remained splayed out on the floor, crying to himself about the lost basketball. The LAST thing he wanted was that spirit to find the charmed sports ball and regain her magic, just to come back and haunt him all over again. Just as a fresh wave of tears welled up, he suddenly came to a realization! While he couldn't find the basketball any time soon, he could find the human that he spirit was tied to and make sure he didn't cause any trouble, like find the damn thing. " Yes..yes that's it," He sobbed, trying to get back on his feet, but was having a hard time doing so, " The humans! The HUMANS!" He cried out as he began to stagger out of the hallway and towards the stairs. Fortunately enough for him, the brothers were still fighting each other and didn't witness his current state of desperation. Because he normally isn't this uncool! Promise.

PROTETTORE
It was strange being in the human cells with no intention to feed. Even though he was born as a vampire and has controlled his bloodlust most of his life, he still found himself having to hold back from attacking one of them. So as he walked through the cellar, he stayed as far away from the cells as he could and held his breath. It was never a good thing for a vampire to be in a room full of humans, especailly in a blocked off space as a cellar. But he needed to find out what happened to Vencentio, and the human that had came in with him had all the answers. Before he reached the last cell, which was previous empty until a few minutes ago, his cell phone jingled.

From -> Trixxtal
Subject -> ??????

- RINBO *3+&T '!^8+ ?? heLP PLZ....!!!!!! -

Years of receiving messages exactly like this one had made Protettore into an expert at reading his poor technologically challenged uncle's messages. Apparently Jecht's hair color had suddenly turned into an assortment of colors, resembling a rainbow, and Trixxtal thinks that Valente was the one behind it. Letting out a dramatic sigh, Tori pocketed his phone and continued towards the cell. The hatred between Jecht and Valente had been going on for years, ever since Tori first found the wizard hiding out in a bar. Luckily, Jecht's unrelenting hatred toward wizards didn't pass along to him, but out of all the species, wizards were one of his least favorites. Anyway, the feud between them had been going on for years, Jecht shit talking Valente any time the chance arises and Valente returns by pulling small pranks. Nothing too big, or else Jecht would literally find a way to kill him, no matter how important the mage was to Tori, but enough to get on his nerves. But Tori could deal with that mess later. Right now, he had things to do. Opening up the cellar door, Tori found the human male that had lead Vencentio through the rain to his fortress, sitting alone in the room. Getting straight to the point, he crossed his arms and glared at him intimidatingly " What happened back there? Tell me everything."

[Azalea]

Adrien

The teenager sat in the corner of the cell, shivering from fear. Traumatized by that horrible spirit, wherever it went, he kept his eyes wide open and he glanced around the cell every few seconds out of paranoia. Adrien heard a strange jingling sound and jumped a bit, wondering if someone else was near. At that thought, his nightmare came true and the terrifying vampire he recognized as the mafia don stepped into his cell. The vampire demanded to know what happened and his intimidating glare paralyzed Adrien with even more fear.

He wasn't stupid, and thankfully didn't ask a stupid question like "What are you talking about?" that would surely lead to his death, since asking stupid questions earlier nearly got him killed. Assuming he was being asked about the injured vampire he met tonight, Adrien immediately thought back to what happened.


"Do as I say or I'll kill you."he heard the man threaten, and Adrien stared into weary but at the same time powerful eyes. "W-w-what?"he muttered stupidly. Adrien couldn't run away, even if the man wasn't grabbing onto his shoulder, it was like his body wasn't in his control anymore.

"Don't pretend you didn't fucking hear me you foolish boy, now, will you obey me? Or will you die?"

Adrien couldn't look away from the man's furious gaze. "Y-Yes...I'll obey you...sir."

The man nodded his head and removed his grip on Adrien's shoulder, but the human didn't dare run away. "I am injured and I require you to take me to a certain location."he instructed. Adrien received vague directions to some place he had never heard of. "I understand..."he said, feeling the rain beginning to fall harder. What luck. And even luckier is that he could of sworn that there was blood on the man's chest. "Are you...going to be ok?"he asked hesitantly, earning an unreadable expression from the man.

"Carry me to our destination."he ordered, ignoring Adrien's question. The boy simply nodded as he awkwardly began to carry this probably dangerous man on his shoulders. He stayed quiet the entire time, too afraid to ask questions, and just listened to the man's instructions. At times, he heard his passenger mutter things like "Fucking traitor" or "Glad I killed them all" or "Damn gun" or some other vulgar complaints. When Adrien realized they had reached their destination, he gathered the courage to ask, "Where are we..?"

"We're at the Don Giordano's mobile steel fortress."the man answered.

Adrien took a breath in order to try and calm his nerves. "Y-Yes sir..."he began, hoping that being polite would spare him from being killed by the vampire after he told the story. "I was walking home tonight a-and someone grabbed my shoulder. It was the...man...from earlier. He said to obey him or die, so I said I would obey him."he paused, trying to remember what happened next. "He told me he was injured and needed me to take him somewhere. So, I carried him to the spot where you found us earlier. Um...we didn't say much to each other so I d-don't know for sure what happened but-"

He coughed suddenly, and dreading that the vampire would be angry if he didn't hurry with his story, he continued. Adrien called onto the master skills he developed over the years of watching anime and other tv shows and reading manga and comics. He had a talent at looking at every little clue and resource to create theories that were usually right. He even made extra money by placing and winning bets with his co-workers about what would happen during a series. "But he did say things to himself. If I piece together what clues I heard...he kept cursing about a traitor. I think someone betrayed him to...Rioz? He mentioned that name more than once. Yes, Rioz...So..someone betrayed him to Rioz and he fought and killed the traitor, at some point he got shot and injured, but he won and after he escaped he found me."he deducted. Adrien prayed that this answer would satisfy the vampire and that the spirit would not show up suddenly and anger him even more.

Jecht

"THATS IT! TRIXXTAL, PACK YOUR THINGS WE ARE GOING ON A TRIP."he shouted, angrily looking into the glass that reflected the image of him with rainbow hair. Jecht scowled and threw the mirror at the wall, smashing the object into pieces before turning to the other vampire.

"WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A NICE LITTLE VISIT WITH THAT DESPICABLE WIZARD THAT TORI KEEPS AROUND AND I'M GOING TO SEND HIM TO HIS GRAVE! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM! HOW DARE HE MESS WITH MY HAIR?! HE IS GOING TO PAY, TRIXXTAL, HE IS GOING TO DIE."

[Midorimacchi]

PROTETTORE
Protettore listened carefully as the human recalled the actions of what happened and tried not to butt in to ask questions. He needed to deal with this quickly and then find out what the situation was with that mysterious long haired woman that had shown up in his fortress, so he had no time to waste. " I see...." He muttered darkly, tightening his hands into fists, " Rioz, those fools. Just wait until I see them again..." He trialed off in an ominous tone, completely ignoring Adrien now. The Rioz family were always one step away from getting their shit wrecked, but now that they had somehow convinced one of his men to turn on him, and had hurt Vencentio in the process, then they were going to pay. And soon. But for now he had this human to deal with, a spirit to find and sort out, and then take down the Rioz once and for all. But with Vencentio resting, he would probably have to take Valente and Marcellina with him and make this a personal mission. Just the thought of getting back into the field and killing some Rioz scum got his blood pumping.

Turning his attention back to the human, Tori grabbed the back of his neck and brought him closer, bearing his fangs, " Your information was useful, but you know too much about my fortress' location and members so you must die now." He said, completely unfazed, and tilted the boy's head so it exposed his neck. He leaned in, ready to deliver the bite of death when-

"WAIT!!!"

VALENTE
It was only by Oz's divine greatness that Valente managed to get to the cells in time to stop Protettore from killing the only hope he had left. He arrived just as his Boss was about to swoop in for the kill and he cried out, " WAIT! NO! STOP!" Protettore, thankfully, stopped in time and turned to face him with the darkest expression the wizard had ever seen on him. " What do you want? As you can see, I. Am. Busy." His words were like venom and Valente felt like crying all over again. But he pulled through and held his ground. If he could face off against the Prince of Hell, he could face Protettore. Maybe. Probably. Hopefully. So he threw on his best smile and approached the vampire and his prey. " Wellllll, you see here Boss, remember the creepy woman from before? The one with the hair? Yes, well, I managed to stop the threat and took away her powers! Yes, go me! But...well...after a series of unfourtante events, THAT I COULD NOT CONTROL!!!!, Imightofaccidentlybondedthespiritandthathumanyou'reholdingandifhediesshewillbreakfreeandpossiblykilleveryoneinthisfortressoutofanger."

There was a moment of silence between the three men. Valente was gasping for air, the human was probably stunned and Protettore had on his best poker face. Finally, after Valente regained control of his breathing, Tori released the human from his clutches, only to push him towards the wizard, " This is your mess so you clean it up. If I see that bitch again Valente, I will hold you personally responsible. And even if I can't kill you, I will make it so you wish that I had." He spat and stormed out of the room. Valente laughed as the Don retreated up the stairs, but it was more of a hysterical 'ohmygodialmostdied' kind of laugh that quickly turned into sobbing. If only those two idiot children of Tori's had kept away and not messed any of this up, Valente could be relaxing with an ice cold glass of tea or something, instead of babysitting this human. Speaking of which....

" Hello there!" He ceased his dramatic cries and turned towards the human. " You're probably wondering what is going on and why you've possibly seen a spirit with long hair around, but don't worry I'll explain everything so your little human mind can understand, okay! Also, it looks like we're going to be the best of friends now so we might as well know each other's names, right? I'm Valente and I'm going to be your protector from now on!" He beamed and held his hand out for the other to take.

TRIXXTAL
Trixxtal was worried that Protettore hadn't received his message of distress when he didn't receive one back. Had Protettore gotten his message? Had he sent it correctly? No matter how many times someone taught him, Trixxtal could never get the hang of this...'texting' thing that everyone was so crazy about. Oh, how he remembered the fond memories of when sending messages were as easy as writing a letter in a bottle and sending it off into the waves, or through the post office or carrier pigeon or what have you. But now, now you had this stupid electronic device with too many buttons and too many functions that just got on your nerves and what made it worse was that this new model that Jecht bought him didn't even have buttons. It was just a screen that lit up when you touched it and that only made Trixxtal more confused. When he didn't receive a message back within the next few minutes, he decided to abandon the hope that Protettore would help him out and tried to deal with Jecht's anger himself.

" I don't know Jecht, I kind of like it? It suits you! The colors really bring out...your personality?" He tried, but failed at consoling the enraged vampire. Honestly, Trixxtal felt like going over there himself and slapping that moronic wizard into next week for daring to touch Jecht's precious hair, but he had to be sensible about this. No matter how much they hated that blasted wizard, he was vital for Protettore's safety and well being and needed to stay alive. But then again, it had been a while since they saw Protettore and Ryo and Ryuu and it would be delightful to see them again. " No, you're right, let's kill him. Let's kill him in his sleep."

[Azalea]

ADRIEN
The fear in his eyes, he felt as if he was staring into the grim reaper's gaze when the vampire sentenced him to death. "No! I don't want to di-"

His plead was cut off when the vampire clutched his neck and Adrien couldn't speak, he couldn't do anything. He felt paralyzed and he felt his heart beat faster when he felt something sharp touch his neck.

"WAIT!!!"

And just like that, Adrien was spared.

His entire body was shivering and he could barely register what was happening. He stared at his savior- with his blond hair, he looked like an angel, his wonderful angel- and tried to listen to every word he spoke. Adrien could barely keep up with what his savior was crying about, but he had managed to make the killer vampire go away, so he was obviously a good person!

And after the man regained his composure and greeted him, Adrien titled his head and then gave him a smile. "...Adrien."he murmured, grasping his hand.

"Thank you, Valente."he said sincerely.

At that moment, the frightening woman appeared. Adrien froze and was about to say something, but the woman just kissed Valente's forehead and left as quickly as she appeared. "Um...Uh...well at least she didn't try to kill me this time...she must...like you."

JU-ON
"UUUGGHH ❤"

The sudden appearance of a beautiful man speaking to her host caused her to come out of hiding. She kissed the gorgeous wizard on his forehead before fading away.

JECHT
"My personality?"he repeated, but Jecht's anger only increased. "Ah, I understand even more now! That sneaky bastard with his hidden meanings! The wizard intended to insult my personality, did he? Rainbow hair? Is he trying to say something is wrong about us, Trixxtal, by turning my hair this color? HOW DARE HE INSULT YOU. He will PAY."he shouted. Jecht, despite his enraged shouting, managed to hear Trixxtal's suggestion.

The vampire paused his rant and cracked a gleeful grin. "YES,"he agreed eagerly, "Yes, he shall die. The damned wizard will finally die. In his sleep sounds too painless though, don't you think Trixxtal? We shall have to think of better ways for him to die on our way there. Oooh, I love it when we play murder."

Jecht, finally calmed down, whipped out his own phone. He bought only the best and up to date technology, so his was a similar model to Trixxtal's.

"Hello Ryuu-oh? I interrupted another fight with your brother, didn't I? Hello, Ryo, I didn't know you were back from your mountain training already. Anyways, tell your father that Trixxtal and I are coming to visit. Yes, I will bring you both presents. Well, see you soon."

After the call ended, Jecht smiled at Trixxtal. "Well, we should get ready for our trip. Come on, Trixxtal, let's go pack our clothes!"he exclaimed excitedly, grabbing the blond's wrist and pulling him towards their bedroom.

RYUUNOSUKE
"You son of a bitch, I am going to slit your throat."he growled, dodging a punch from his brother. He wished he had brought a dagger with him so he could have actually slit Ryo's throat like he wanted. Ryuu got hit with another kick that sent him onto the ground, consequently sending his cell phone flying out of his pocket. "Bastard, if my phone breaks because of you I'll-"

He heard his ringtone all of a sudden and paused, but that moment of distraction let him get hit in the face by Ryo again. "Fuck."he muttered, scrambling on the ground to grab his ringing phone. He recognized the theme and knew Jecht was calling. "Quit your shit, Grandpa is calling."he explained as he answered the phone, placing it on speaker to rub it in his brother's face that Jecht was calling him first this time.

"Hey grandpa! I was just in the middle of kicking Ryo's ass. You don't have to greet that asshole! And alright, I'll tell him. Are you giving me a gift again? Fine, but you don't have to get Ryo a gift. See you soon, bye."

He shut his phone and glared at his brother. "I'm outta here, I don't have time to put up with you!"he shouted, quickly retreating from Ryo and running down the hall.

VENCENTIO
Thankfully, he met Marcellina on his way to his room.

"I appreciate you taking me to my room."he thanked, a weary smile on his face as he stood in his doorway.

"No problem boss!"she reassured cheerfully, waving as Vencentio shut his door.

He sighed and when he finally made it to his bed, the vampire fell into a deep sleep.

MARCELLINA
After escorting Vencentio to his room, the vampiress walked down the hallway attempting to figure out the situation. She noticed a few people waking up from losing a fight and heard rumors of Vencentio being brought to the fortress by a human, some sort of spirit causing destruction, and another fight breaking out between Protettore's sons. So far she only confirmed Vencentio's return and she frowned, wondering what kind of spirit could be causing havoc.

She hoped that it did not destroy any of her clothes. That would be devastating.

Marcellina heard footsteps approaching and barely had time to react as one of Protettore's children, Ryuunosuke she thought, ran past her. She blinked and looked behind her, wondering where he was running off to. She shrugged her shoulders and continued her walk in order to find Valente. Her best friend was a wizard, so perhaps he knew about spirits.

KRO
Kro narrowed his eyes at the human before him and resisted a sneer. "You expect me to work with children?"he spat, pushing the documents away from him. The papers slid from the folder and nearly fell off of the table.

An elderly man stared down the demon coolly, pressing his fingers together. "Mr. Gyll, I-"

"That is Lord Gyll,"the demon interrupted immediately, "to you, human."

The man did not respond for a moment and merely kept his face expressionless in front of the demon. "Lord Gyll, then, I assure you that their youth will not be a hindrance. Mr. Evans and Ms. Harper are-"

"Inexperienced in real combat, no doubt, only in little fights with vampires they can barely hold their own against. What did that file say about that Eric Evans human? Something about petty mind tricks and kissing as his power, that sounds pathetic, at least the female seems to show decent potential."hissed Kro, clearly unhappy.

"You should not underestimate them..."the man remarked and Kro growled.

"Is that a threat, human? I do not need you to find my master,"the demon scowled, "This alliance is merely for convenience sake - I can take on a cowardly wizard and a handful of vampires on my own. You have no unique abilities like the young humans you command, so do not speak to me about battle when you have not experienced the dangers of war yourself."

The man frowned at the demon's arrogance but he did not want to anger him further. He needed to proceed with cautious with such a dangerous ally. "Yes, you have made that quite clear these past few days...well, the operation will not commence until more data has been gathered. I do not know where you are currently staying, but if you keep your end of the deal, then feel free to take stay here if you'd like. Everything you need to know is in the file. It might be beneficial to meet your comrades, too."he advised.

The demon just waved his hand absently. "Very well,"he acquiesced suspiciously easily, "I shall remain in this building and not harm anyone. That is what you desire, right? To keep tabs on the vile demon. Lucky for you, this arrangement is favorable for both of us." Kro stood up from his seat and grabbed the files in front of him before stepping out of the door.

[Midorimacchi]

VALENTE
Valente froze when the spirit appeared and kissed his forehead, sending a cold shiver down his spine. He had forgotten that by hanging out with Adrien there was a higher chance of seeing that creepy spirit, but it was better to keep an eye on things then to blatantly ignore it. He would just have to toughen up and bare through it! So what if this creepy spirit was in love with him? He wasn't fazed by it! He grew up with ten brothers and a fearless sister so he knew how to brush things off easily! But despite saying all that, he couldn't stop the feeling of his heart sinking when he thought about the future.

Quickly wiping the spot the spirit kissed with the back of his hand. his mood did a total 180 and he clasped Adrien's shoulders with a happy smile," Well! Let's pretend that never happened okay? As I was saying, we're going to be the best of friends now so let's get you out of his dingy cellar and into your own room! As of now, you are an honorary member of the Giordano family! Well, maybe not a member? I think you have to be a vampire to actually be a member...but I'm a member, and I'm not a vampire, but maybe I'm a special case???" he paused, looking into the distance with a glazed stare. He quickly snapped out of it though and returned his attention to Adrien, " Anyway, you might not be a member but you're going to stay here from now on! Atleast until I find that basketball I'm looking for....So if you've ever seen Beauty and the Beast, you're Belle, the Boss is the Beast, and I can be that smooth talking candle thing!" He explained as they walked up the stairs to exit the cellar. He wasn't totally sure if Protettore would allow this human to live in the fortress, but it wasn't like they had alot of choices.

RYOICHI
Ryo took it as a personal insult that his Grandpa chose to call Ryuu rather him, but didn't let it get to him. There could be a number of reasons why Grandpa Jecht called Ryuu and not him so he didn't dwell on it. He did brighten up when Jecht greeted him and he piped up, " Hi grandpa!! I'm even stronger now!" He stuck his tongue out at his brother, in addition to flicking him off, and listened to what his Grandpa Jecht was saying. When the call ended, Ryo was ready to throw another punch, but Ryuu fled before he had the chance. " Yeah, you better run, weak bitch!" He called after him, watching him leave. " AHAHAHAHAHA did you see how quickly he retreated Mama?" He turned back to where he left Vencentio, only to find it empty. " Mama?? Mama?!" Panic flooded his veins at the thought of Vencentio missing! It was his one job, and he couldn't even do it correctly! But damn it if anyone was going to find out he failed, especially that bastard Ryo, so he started his search for his Mama, hoping not to run into his father or one of his underlings.

But luck was not on his side today.

AMPELLIO
" Don't worry, Marcy took him," Ampellio mumbled through a mouthful of bread, holding an entire footlong sub in one hand and a plastic bag in the other. Ryo stopped his frantic searching to look at Ampellio with an unreadable expression. The older vampire merely smiled and took another bite of his meatball sub. It was no secret that Protettore's children didn't like him too much, but Ampellio didn't mind. As long as he had Protettore's interest, he could make it through anything. And since these were Protettore's children, even if they weren't blood related, he tended to treat them nicely. " Here, I got these for you to share with your brother, but since he ran off, I guess you can have them all." He offered the plastic bag over to Ryo, who took it slowly and peered inside. " This is just convenience store junk! I can't eat this, I need to loose fat, not gain it!"

Just like a shift in the tide, Ampellio's smile faded into a frown and he narrowed his eyes at the boy, " You think I would buy you junk food, Ryoichi? Do you think I would allow you to eat such disgusting things? No. I have collected the best, the only best, and most nutritious food for you to aid your training." All too suddenly, Ampellio was right in Ryo's face and reached into the bag, pulling out a HotPocket and waving it infront of the startled vampire's face, " Did you know that HotPockets have ZERO trans fat per serving and are a great source of calcium? Not only that but they contain seven essential vitamins and minerals, in more than thirty different varieties?? Their iron, niacin and riboflavin are at fifteen percent! Fifteen percent, Ryoichi, and you think this is garbage?"

"N-no! I mean...I d-didn't know, I'm sorry!" Ryo took the HotPocket that Ampellio had been holding and cradled it carefully in his hands, " Thank you so much, I'll go heat this up right now!" He stumbled over himself to run to the kitchen and Ampellio chuckled to himself as he watched him go. " Just as planned," he commented before taking a couple more bites of his delicious sandwich and continuing on his way to Protettore's room.

It wasn't that Ampellio was an avid food enthusiast--well not just that anyway--but he enjoyed manipulating people into doing what he wanted, and if he wanted someone to eat a HotPocket, then they were sure as hell going to eat that HotPocket, and enjoy it.

[Azalea]

Adrien
He felt uneasy about Valente's words, certain that Belle only got a happy ending because the Beast fell in love with her. Adrien felt 100% sure the terrifying vampire who tried to murder him a few minutes ago definitely did not care about him, so he guessed that his survival was not something he should put his hopes in. He assumed that his promotion to honorary member did nothing about his status as a prisoner. "So if you find the basketball...I die?"he asked warily, beginning to doubt his savior. He then realized that he should attempt to stay on Valente's good side regardless, and quickly changed the subject. "Well anyways, you said you are not a vampire? What are you, Valente?"he added with an attempted polite tone, following the blond out of the cellar.

Ryuunosuke
Sipping on some soda in his room, Ryuu casually laid on his bed as he held his phone out in front of him. Hello, dad. I got a call from grandpa and he said him and grandma are coming to visit us and asked me to tell you. he wrote, double checking his message twice for spelling errors before pressing send. While he would have liked to tell his father in person, Ryuu had no idea where he was at the moment, and searching the whole fortress was unproductive. Still, a sense of worry filled him at the thought of his father never getting his text. What if he got scolded for not relaying the message? The young vampire sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, figuring he could blame his brother somehow, then grabbed his video game to help distract his mind of that fact that Ryo exists.

Marcellina
"Valente, there you are!"she shouted happily, waving her hand before sprinting over to her friend. He appeared distressed and for some strange reason, a human was trailing behind him. Marcellina did not see any sort of restraints on the human and she wondered who he was, especially when she noticed his outfit because it sucked. "Oh, a human! Are you bringing someone their dinner? Is he for me, Valente?"she teased, and then giggled when she saw the boy's face pale.

"Relax! I'm just kidding, I already fed. And where did you buy that outfit you silly human, it looks so plain!"she added, purposely attempting to mess with the human, and to her amusement she saw the boy frown. He apparently did not dare to say anything back at her, not that he could since she always looked fashionable even if she was dressed in rags, so Marcellina quickly lost interest in him.

"Anyways, Valente, I heard rumors of a spirit and I saw some of our men unconscious. Do you know anything about it?"she asked, her voice a little more serious.

Izel
"I request salt!"he yelled as he barged into the kitchen, a determined look on his face. "It is of the urgence of importance, my fellow clansmen! A spirit is loose and I must perform a ritual to protect Lord Anastasio from her clutches. I have gathered the other necessary items for this ritual and-"

"Ay, calm down vampbro, I got the gist of it."a young pink haired man interrupted, a container of salt in hand. "Gotta creepy chick wanderin around here and makin this place twice as crazy. Just don't use all of this for your weird cult ceremonies. And, uh, don't try to use humans for blood sacfrice again, bro, thats not cool cuz I gotta clean that up and you vamps get all crazy with the smell of too much blood and the boss might get mad that you wasted food."he continued to say, hesitantly handing Izel the salt.

"To you I am grateful, my friend!"he thanked, turning around and running out of the kitchen doors. He dodged the nephew of Lord Anastasio as he exited and immediately began to run towards the office.

"My lord!"he shouted frantically, searching for Anastasio. "My lord!"

Olivier
After handing Izel the salt, he watched the vampire run out of the kitchen. He sighed as he finished cleaning the counter, wondering how he managed to befriend Izel in the first place, and was about to start to mop the floor when he heard someone else enter. Olivier realized it was one of the boss' sons and immediately set down his cleaning materials to approach the young vampire. Oh man time to get into butler mode again. he thought, then noticed the hot pocket in Ryo's hands.

"Hello sir, would you like me to warm that up for you? Or get you anything at all?"he asked politely, making sure not to speak informally in the presence of his boss' son.

[Midorimacchi]

PROTETTORE
Now that the spirit problem was (somewhat) controlled, Tori had the time to finally check up on Vencentio. He didn't know if he made it to his room or not, but he had given his son an order to do so, so he probably had. Tori knew that his son's would never defy him, especially on something concerning Vencentio, and pride swelled in his heart. It hardly ever showed on his face or actions, but Protettore was actually very proud of his sons.

His phone beeped again as he was going up the stairs and he stopped to sigh, expecting it to another broken text from Trixxtal about Jecht's hair, but was surprised to see that it was from Ryuu. He read the message and simply sent back an Okay before closing the phone and resuming his trek up the stairs. He had forgotten to talk to Valente about messing with Jecht's hair, but now that he and Trixxtal were dropping by, they could do it themselves. It was poor timing for them to visit, considering the evil spirit was still hanging around, but it would be useless to tell them not to. Jecht was probably going to beat the shit out of Valente, or try to, and there was no stopping him once he decided on something. Protettore didn't even plan on intervening with this strife unless Valente was winning or Jecht had beat him within an inch of his life. He just hoped the spirit reacted kindly to his uncles because he has had enough weirdness for one week.

On his way to Vencentio's room, he stepped over the unconscious bodies of his men that were strewn across the floor. It unnerved him that the spirit was stronger than his own men and he planned to do more training exercises when they healed and Videl came back from the city. If the spirit ever attacked again, with a little of his 'special training' and Videl's one hit death punch, they would be ready...

Get Valente to heal the people in the hallway. And for fuck's sake get them out of the hall. He texted Ampellio, not bothering to seek him out in the castle. He reached Vencentio's door and opened it slowly, not even stopping to knock, and saw him asleep in his bed. A soft smile graced his lips and he silently closed the door behind him, leaving the vampire to his rest.

Now, next problem.

He took one more lasting look at his unconscious men before heading to his brother's office.

VALENTE
"Well, aren't you just a burst of sunshine," Valente huffed, frustrated over this human's pessimism. Sure, the chance of him dying in this fortress of vampires was high, especially because of the blood running through his veins, and vampires, y'know, DRANK that blood, but it wasn't like Valente was going to let him die! Having that spirit on the loose was his worst nightmare and he was determined to do everything in his power to keep that from happening. Even if it meant he would have to be Adrien's guard dog the whole time. " Of course not! I just told you that we're best friends now, so how can I let my best friend die?" He smiled, but his whole demeanor changed in an instant due to Adrien's next question. "I....Er..." He was wary about telling others that he was a wizard due to the Wizard Council breathing down his neck. There was no telling who they had sent out to search for him and who those people talked to and who Adrien had met before coming here. There was no evidence that Adrien knew any other wizards, or even knew about wizards at all, but it was better safe than sorry though.

" I'm a human, just like you. Just a simple, plain human, yep. I dabble in light magic here and there, hence the creepy woman hanging around you, but other than that, completely normal!..Oh look, Marcellina!" He called out enthusiastically as she approached, eager to change the subject away from himself. " This is Adrien, he's joining the family as of today! It's kind of...a special case," He laughed nervously, trying to signal to Marcellina with weird hand gestures and facial expressions to not mention that he was a wizard. The poor wizard was forever paranoid about his uncle finding him and dragging him back to Wiz, where he would most likely be executed....or given over to the demon clan. All of Protettore's men had been instructed to never mention Valente to anyone, just as precautions; even Protettore's uncles, who didn't even like him, kept his existence a secret for the safety of everyone else. And sure...he would tell Adrien one day, but he figured the poor kid had been through enough already.

"Ughh, that spirit is the bane of my existence, I swear to Oz." He shook his head dramatically, fresh tears welling up in his eyes. " Why was I cursed with such a beautiful face? Why, oh why?? Damn my beautiful genetics!" A single, shining tear slipped down his cheek.

AMPELLIO
It was only by chance that Ampellio had been passing by the wizard when he got Protettore's text. As Valente spoke with Marcellina, he soundlessly approached them, stopping right by the human. " Ah, Marcy, Lenti," He greeted them, using the same strange nicknames he had made up since their first meeting. " Adrien," He nodded to the human. How he knew the human's name...? Well, that was a mystery. " Here, I have your lucky items for today." He reached into his plastic bag, exactly identical to the one he had given Ryo--and when had that gotten there?!--and pulled out a paper talismen. " This is for you Lenti. I got it off an exorcist. It's special and only works once, so use it wisely. And Marcy, this is for you. They say that goats blood is an ideal gift for beautiful ladies. Also, it comes in handy for Satanic rituals, though if you were to summon Lucifer, I suggest your own blood instead," He calmly side-eyed Valente, who was already crying behind Adrien.

" And for you Adrien, here," he pulled out a book--and where did that come from?? the bag didn't even look strong enough to carry all those items! and where had his sandwhich gone??!--and offered it to the human. " If books helped keep Belle entertained in the castle, then I hope they do the same for you." In the distance, Valente sobbed loudly, but Ampellio paid no mind. As suddenly as it came, the bag was gone and was replaced with his cell phone, showing them Protettore's text, " The Boss wants you to heal the people in the hallway Valente. Marcy, you and Adri can assist him in taking them to the medical room. I hope you enjoy your gifts and always praise your lucky stars for another day of gracious life. Amen." With that, he continued down the hallway. He had to prepare the rest of the fortress for the arrival of Jecht and Trixxtal, and a mystery third guest.

Behind him he could hear someone telling Valente to please stop crying.

ANASTASIO
Truthfully, when he imagined joining the mafia, Anastasio pictured guns an action, illegal drug smuggling and assassinations...not desks and paperwork. It wasn't all bad, since he had Izel for company and he got to see his brother everyday, but there were times when he got bored. Just like now as he stared down a giant stack of papers that he had to order alaphabetically, as well as degree of importance. He let out a sigh and began at the top, until he heard Izel yelling down the hall. He quickly sprinted to the door and opened it, poking his head out to see Izel running towards him, salt in hand. " I told you this wasn't necessary Izel, my brother probably fixed it already. Afterall, Mister Mancini is on his side and I've heard he can do anything!" His eyes sparkled in admiration, his hands clasped together." But I'll help you setting up the ritual if it'll help you feel better."

RYOICHI
"Yes," Ryoichi sat down at the table, throwing the hotpocket over to Oliver. It was still in it's packaging so he didn't care if it hit the ground or not. Infact, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to eat it...but then Ampellio's face filtered through his mind, making him shiver. He began to twiddle his fingers as he waited for the food to heat up until he remembered Oliver was in the room, " Hey, my grandparents are coming over, so make this place look good, okay? They were pirates once, but they still like this place to be cleaned," He commented, flicking a piece of left over food off the table. Strangely, for vampires, they sure did eat human food alot....

[Azalea]

Adrien
"Oh yes, I'm a burst of sunshine, probably the only sunshine anybody in this place will get to see." His retort dripped with sarcasm. Adrien crossed his arms, continuing to give Valente an uncertain look, but his features eased at Valente's declaration of not letting him die. The emotions he felt when Valente saved his life flared up again at the reminder that maybe he could trust him after all. "Oh...sorry. I've never really had anyone to rely on so...um I don't know much about how real friends act, only what I saw on tv." He felt foolish saying that, knowing Valente probably wouldn't care. He couldn't think of an appropriate response, but at the mention of magic, his ears perked up and Adrien listened carefully. "...Light magic? That's incredible! I thought that was only in the tv shows I watched. So ordinary humans can use magic? Would I be able to learn?"

His questions left unanswered as a woman approached, who Valente introduced as Marcellina, Adrien felt the color drain from his face as she asked if Adrien was dinner. He frowned, unsure of what to say, but to his relief Marcellina laughed and assured she was only joking. When she started talking to Valente like they were best pals, and Valente started to become distressed and curse his genetics or something, Adrien saw the confusion on Marcellina's face."Um, the spirit goes after beautiful guys, apparently..."he clarified, feeling a bit more at ease now that he could see she wasn't gong to kill him.

The fear returned when yet again another vampire approached, greeting him by name. "H-hello." He replied nervously, listening to the vampire give gifts to the others. Valente's sudden crying didn't help to ease his anxiety at all and Adrien couldn't help but wonder if this was another intimidating vampire like the boss, since Valente started sobbing because of the don too. He felt ashamed for hoping that Valente would help him again despite his savior's obvious distress. But instead of threats or taunts, the vampire handed him a book and his eyes lit up as accepted the object. "F-for me?" He muttered, both surprised and genuinely filled with gratitude. "Thank you." He saw the vampire in a new light and did not bother to hide his smile while he stared at the book, too happy to notice that the vampire should have had no way of knowing about his and Valente's conversation earlier.

Adrien did not have any idea what the book was even about and he was a high school drop out who normally gave no fucks about books; but, this was his first ever gift. Even if it turned out to have incredibly dumb content, he was still going to cherish it and attempt to read it. He took a closer look at the cover, noticing that the book actually seemed quite worn. Adrien did not see any words so he opened to the first page, murmuring aloud in confusion, "Property of M.Z.?" Perplexed, the human turned to a different page and read the first line he saw.

"He had been having these weird thoughts lately, like 'is any of this is for real or not?'. And when he fell asleep those thoughts trasnformed into dreams that took him into what felt like a new world away from his poor village, to a beautiful magical city on the ocean he later learned was named Atlantis. And he later realized he was chosen, a Prophet of Oz, and the future hope for his people. But his story begins much earlier; earlier, to when a young wizard named Faize Ceres met Valhalla Mancini."

Valente increased sobbing behind him brought him back to reality and he carefully shut the book, noticing it was now just the three of them. Adrien stared at his new friend for a moment, uncertain about how to help him feel better. "Um, Valente, please stop crying..." He began to say, awkwardly placing one of his hands on Valente's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. He forgot that Valente was human, like him, and he was probably just as afraid of vampires as he was and now Valente had to take care of him on top of that. Plus, there was the terrfying spirit causing chaos, so no wonder Valente was breaking down!

Marcellina
"Oh, so the spirit likes beautiful men then? Oh this is trouble, Valente, you're the prettiest face here! But don't worry, I'll find you a mask to wear so maybe that will keep her away." She felt proud of her idea, obviously, if this spirit was going to torment her best friend because of his pretty face, then she had to make sure the spirit couldn't recognize him!

Suddenly, Amepellio appeared out of nowhere, like always. Like most other vampires she felt nervous around his presence, but Marcellina always tried to act friendly despite what she assumed was Ampellio's vendetta of tormenting her best friend. It would be worse for Valente if the both of them got on the other vampire's bad side. "O-oh thank you for this, Ampellio." She gave him an unconfortable smile, even though she felt bad for Valente, "Rituals are more of Izel's thing, but blood is definitely my favorite gift."

She nodded at the text from Protettore and turned to the other two boys. The human was reading a passage from the book he got out loud, and when she recognized the word "Mancini", she did not even feel surprised that Ampellio had given the human a gift that would torment her poor Valente even further. Thankfully, he stopped reading further, and although she was curious as to where Ampellio had even found a book from her bro's home world Marcellina knew they had to focus on the boss's task first.

"Yeah, it will be alright Valente, after we take care of the others I'll personally make you a disguise from the spirit, and then the three of us can pretend this never happened. We can just hang out in my room and I'll even provide snacks if you're hungry."

Izel
"Of course I trust the capabilities of my lord's elder brother and the wizard follower, if you trust them! But even so, I must guarantee your protection for spirits are not to be underestimated. They are the worse sort of damned creatures in this world. And my lord, yes your participation is helpful, we shall start immediately!" He frantically rushed into the room, the salt firmly clutched into his hand. Izel quickly observed the room, his head turning right to left to right to left and up and down and up and down before looking back to Anastasio.

"I have decided the best area to conduct the ritual."he explained, fiery determination in his eyes, "That exact spot right over there." He pointed to what appeared to be the center pinpoint of the room; an area on the carpet a few feet in front of Anastasio's desk. Izel stuck his hand in his pocket and retrieved some sort of golden amulet from his village before he suddenly grabbed one of Anastasio's hands and, pleading "I apologize for daring to come into contact with the skin of your vessel, my lord, but I must gift this amulet to you before the ritual. It will be what protects you from the spirit," left said amulet in his palm.

Izel then led him to the spot he chose earlier, and placed the salt in Anastasio's other hand.

"Lord Anastasio, I will explain how the ritual works. We will make a circle out of salt and then you will stand in the center with the amulet and then I will...was it the word in your language? Ah yes, recite the chant and present my offering of my blood. Just a few cuts on my arms should do..."he explained, and a proud smile crept onto his face. "To make the ritual more effective I would gladly amputate one of my arms, or present a few humans for the offering, but I am still forbidden to do so...unless you change your mind and I may?"

Olivier
"Of course, young master. I am assuming they shall arrive soon," he began to say with a forced smile at the thought of Ryo's grandparents arriving, employed by Protettore long enough to know that Jecht and Trixxtal liked to announce their visits last minute if they even bothered to let anyone know ahead of time, "So I will begin momentarily. The fortress will be spotless." The microwave beeped and Olivier carefully handed Ryuunosuke his food. "Careful with this...hot....hot pocket. Well, unless you have any other requests of me, I am going to start cleaning the fortress now."

I bet these vamps made a mess in the damn fortress, just before the vampgramps gonna show, I just know it. This place always gets fucked up just before they arrive. I bet the creepy ghost chick screwed up the place too. he thought, mostly from experience of having to clean up the fights between Ryuunosuke and Ryoichi, then cleaning up Jecht and Valente's fights afterwards. He was also dreading to see what happened with the spirit and how much he would have to fix.

[Midorimacchi]

VALENTE Valente's gross sobbing had drowned out anything Adrian had to say, so he didn't hear when he said 'Valhalla Mancini'. If he had, he would have packed up shop right there and hit the road, never to be heard of again. He liked Protettore and Marcellina just fine, but he couldn't be around others who knew about his homeworld, or the Council, or anything even remotely connected to his past. He knew that he couldn't keep running forever, but he couldn't stop now, especially now that he knew that his little brother was looking for him. He finished sobbing with the help of his friends reassurances. " T-thank you, that sounds really great," He told Marcellina, pulling a handkerchief from his shirt sleeve, magically, and used it to wipe his tears. " C'mon, we should do what the Boss told us..." He muttered reluctantly and began to walk over to the discarded bodies on the ground. They weren't even worth healing if they couldn't fight off a simple spirit, but orders were orders. He began healing them one by one, placing his hand on their foreheads for a minute or two, before moving on to the next one. " They should wake up in the next 30 minutes. I know Boss said to move them to the medical room, but they'll be fine if we leave them here. It'll be like they're having a slumber party!" He cooed, his earlier distressed mood gone. As he reached the final guy, his phone jingled in his pocket. The text was from Protettore and Valente could already tell what it was going to be. From -> The Boss Subject -> You Idiot -- My Uncles will be arriving soon. I want you to escort them over here. And fix Jecht's hair before he kills you. -- Valente laughed loudly and showed the text proudly to Marcellina, " Looks like the grandpas are coming over! I hope Jecht likes the new hairstyle I gave him! Centuries of having the same hair style should be a crime, y'know. I don't know what he's so angry over." He had even been so kind enough as to give Jecht multiple colors instead of picking one for him. The least he could do was be grateful. He gleefully texted Protettore back that the job was done and that he would be leaving the castle. All the magical seals and charms would still be in affect in Valente's absence, but the fortress would no longer be able to move. " Well, jobs done so I'm off. Oh, Adrian! You haven't met the Grandpas yet. Oh, you'll love them, they're real fun! Make sure to compliment the one with the rainbow hair, he worked really hard on it," Valente laughed and casted a protection spell around himself. It blocked out his magical energy, so others wouldn't be able to sense him, and it also served as a barrier, incase Jecht tried to attack him. Again. " If you could, can you watch over Adrian? Make sure he doesn't get into trouble, or that...er, no one wants to eat him." He asked Marcellina, his most trusted confidant in this place. After a quick transformation spell, turning him to a beautiful golden bat, Valente casted another spell, this time a transportation one, and he arrived at Trixxtal and Jecht's private Island. Or well, what he expected to be their island. Everything was dark, cramped, and smelt slightly of sweaty feet. He heard muffled voices from above, but couldn't quite guess where he was. It was only when a sudden ray of light appeared and a foot was coming towards him did he realize where the spell had landed him. Before he was smushed to death, Valente sunk his tiny teeth into the foot and heard a loud yell, the foot retracting instantly and the shoe falling to the floor. Valente hastily headed towards the light and emerged out of the shoe, flying up to the ceiling where he was safe, and looked down. Damn, so it hadn't been Jecht that he had bit, but Trixxtal instead. But it was all good, he wasn't that fond of the blonde anyway. TRIXXTAL " Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Trixxtal cried, hopping around on one foot while carefully holding his wounded one with his hands. He had only been getting ready to leave for Protettore's fortress and went to go grab his shoes. He wasn't expecting to be bitten, or for a bat to come flying out of it. He had only worn those boots yesterday anyway, so there was no way a bat could be living in there without him noticing! He looked up at the ceiling, finding the bat, and was about to try to shoo it out the window when he noticed the strange color of it's fur. It dawned on him then that this was not any ordinary bat. " Jecht! Jecht!" He cried out, hopping to their bed so that his bloody foot didn't have to touch the floor and ruin their perfectly white rug. " Oh, you're going to fucking get it this time." He muttered darkly to Valente.

[Azalea]

JECHT

"Look, Cece, everything is packed!"he exclaimed, patting the puppy on the head. Cece barked happily and nuzzled her snout against the vampire, causing Jecht to smile. The trip to Tori's was a spontaneous decision and Jecht had no idea how long he and Trixxtal would be staying there, so he packed for a week just in case. Cece would have to come along as well; there was no way he would leave his precious puppy alone for a week. "Come on, in you go!"he said sweetly to the dog, placing her into the pet carrier. Satisfied that everything was ready, all they had to do was wait for the damn wizard to show up to take him and Trixxtal to the fortress.

"Jecht!Jecht!" the cries of Trixxtal suddenly reached his ears and caused Jecht to frown. "I'll be right back, Cece."he said before heading towards their bedroom.

When he arrived, Trixxtal was on the bed with a bleeding foot. "Your bleeding?"he asked with concern, wondering what could make a vampire bleed like that. So concerned for Trixxtal he did not notice the other guest in the room and he immediately went to inspect his beloved's injury. He gently grabbed the foot and saw blood dripping from two puncture wounds. "A bite?"he asked confused, but Jecht cared little about the details at the moment. "Wait here."

He set down Trixxtal's foot and quickly went to the bathroom, and just as quickly as he left, arrived back in the room with a bandaid and disinfectant. He was unsure of what bit him, but even with vampiric healing, Jecht did not want to risk infection. "So, what happened?"he asked Trixxtal, cleaning the wound and placing a bandaid on bite. Jecht had noticed Trixxtal looked like he was in a bad mood, but he figured that it was because he got bitten in the first place.

Then it all became clear when he saw what Trixxtal was staring at. Jecht glanced towards the ceiling after placing the bandaid on Trixxtal, finally noticing the presence of the bat. The color of the animal caused him to scowl and he immediately summoned lightning to his hands. "Valente."he hissed, shooting his lightning attack towards the wizard's bat form.

[Midorimacchi]

VALENTE Valente struggled to hold in his laughter at the sight of Jecht worrying over Trixxtal's foot and only just managed to keep it in until Jecht left the room. With the vampire gone, Valente let out his hysterical laugh and if he was in his human form he would have doubled over by now, holding his stomach from all the laughter. " Ahaha, that's so great!! You guys are too cute!!" He breathed out between giggles. This earned him another hard stare from Trixxtal and a shoe thrown in his direction, " Shut up Valente!! You wish you had half of what me and Jecht feel for each other!" Valente continued to laugh harder at Trixxtal's statement. He had been around long enough to see most aspects of the grandpa's relationship and he was perfectly honest when he said that he wanted a relationship nothing like theirs. His poor heart wouldn't be able to take all the stress they go through. He was about to tell Trixxtal as much but then Jecht came into the room and he promptly closed his mouth. He listened as Jecht asked Trixxtal what happened and heard the blonde mutter " Him," before pointing up to where Valente was. It was smart of him to place the shield up before coming here, because the bolt of lightening Jecht shot at him came as no surprise and he laughed gleefully as the bolt bounced off the barrier and hit a particularly distasteful piece of art hanging up on the wall. " Now now Jecht, do you shoot lightning at all your guests or am I just special?" With a flick of his wrist, he returned to his original form but remained floating in the air where he was safe. The barrier still remained around him, just incase Jecht threw another bolt at him, along with the blocks on his magical energy. TRIXXTAL Trixxtal grimaced as the picture frame fell to the floor, ruined. He had taken so long to decorate each room according to the mood and he had spent hours choosing out that specific art piece! And now it was ruined all because Valente wouldn't let Jecht hit him! " He hid in my shoe Jecht!" He complained, " Waited until I tried to put my shoe on and then viciously attacked me!" He glared up at the golden haired wizard as he replied, " Oh give it a rest! You vampires bite people all the time, I don't see why you get so mad when someone does it to you! It's like they say, karma's a bitch!" The wizard erupted into laughter again and every giggle just made Trixxtal angrier.