Teratos High: Demon Hunters

At long last we have the next chapter. I do apologize sincerely for the incredibly long wait. Here is ZB's explanation:

Here’s chapter eight my lovelies. I’ve held this chapter hostage for long enough. I swear it’s not Kytrin’s fault. She was a fantastic uh... Beta would be too light a term, and co-author not enough credit... But you get the idea. She got her stuff done while I was the one dragging my feet. ZB’s fault. I apologize to any readers who remain!

Also, I can assure you guys that we are indeed working on the remainder. There is no set schedule for their release since obviously ZB and I have trouble keeping up with such things. But rest assured we haven't abandoned the story!

--::--

The bell rang and students began to pour out of the different offices and doors. They each paused upon seeing Yami and Mariku curled on the floor. Yami settled in a puddle of his own blood, and Mariku long since immobile.

Of course, that’s when the screaming started.

Instantly, the nurse swung the door open, shocked to find two students bleeding and in almost comatose states right before her.

She quickly barked orders, signaling for Mariku to be carried in by two helpers, Yami was left alone for a moment, her priority being Mariku - who was dangerously close to entering a coma. After Mariku’s stomach was clear and he’d been injected with a chemical to combat the venom, Yami was brought in.

The nurse sighed and prepped herself to work on a spell to stitch the holes in his hand and mend his broken bones. He would need to have his blood replenished, but he should be fine.

The nurse rubbed her temples and shooed away a couple of nosy students peeping through the window, “Why is it always so busy at Teratos?” She sighed wearily.

--::--

A flock of students stormed down the hall, none of the bodies breaking stride. Each was unstoppable in their unique way. The hall monitors were unable to stop them all, and frankly weren’t sure they’d survive intact if they tried, so they turned a blind eye and pretended not to see them.

Yugi was the first to crash through the white door with a red cross emblazoned on its center. His angelic face was lined with worry, and the nurse looked up with a start.

“Yugi!” She exclaimed softly and gestured toward the several open seats lined against the wall.

“How is Mariku, Miss Serenity?” Yugi asked anxiously.

“He’ll be fine. Please, sit down.” She tried to smile reassuringly; although something kept her smile from reaching her eyes. She was bothered, but Yugi knew from past experiences that there was no use trying to pry the information out of Serenity when she didn’t want to talk.

Serenity was hired as the only human teacher in the school. Along with nursing, she taught sports medicine and forensics to the students who were interested. But she was far from a typical, normal human. At the age of fifteen, she had discovered the ability to predict the future. Her specialty was death, and as such, she was known as ‘Serenity, The Prophet of Doom’.

Not a particularly glamorous or complimentary title, but the ability was useful as all hell. Serenity had also proved to be quite apt at the healing arts.

She nodded once, smiling softly, “He’ll be fine.” She repeated, “It was a close call though.”

“What happened?” Yugi took the seat closest to Mariku’s bed.

“Well-”

The door slammed open, Joey and Bakura each tried to squeeze into the room at the same time.

“Ah! Move it!”

“Quit! Let go!”

“I was here first!”

“Guys!” Yugi whispered sharply, exasperated, “He’s sleeping, and you’re going to wake him up!” He pointed at Mariku’s pale, but peaceful face, He was in a deep untroubled slumber. It was scary for the vampire.

Bakura and Joey instantly quieted, shushing themselves and tip-toeing into the room. They took their place by Yugi, first Bakura, and then Joey. Seto walked in slowly, the most civilized being in the group of friends. He took his seat beside Joey and scooped the blonde’s hand in a possessive grip. Which, for Seto, translated to an anxious one.

“What happened?” he demanded, cold eyes narrowed in anger. Yugi recognized that tone and expression Seto used. It was his: ‘I’m really worried, but I’m trying to play it off as irritation’ voice.

The nurse signed and stood up, “Are there any more of you?” She asked crossly.

Yugi smiled sheepishly, “No this it, there are no more of us.”

Serenity nodded, “Good, because I don’t feel like having to explain this again.” She pulled aside the second curtain, revealing Yami in a drug-induced sleep. Thick bandages covered his left hand, a blood bag fed into his left elbow and an IV drip was attached to the veins of his hand.

There was dead silence before a collective gasp echoed around the room, and a rather loud curse from Bakura.

“What happened to him?” Joey asked, “He looks like he’s had better days...” he looked at Yami, then Mariku, “They didn’t... fight did they?” The werewolf cracked his knuckles, “Because if he did this to Mariku, I’m ripping that IV out of him and shoving it straight up his-...”

“Joey!” Serenity said sharply, “This boy just saved Mariku’s life!”

Joey eyed her skeptically, “No way.” He said flatly.

“Yes way.” Serenity replied, doing a tolerable impression of a growl.

Joey scowled, “Even if a human was strong enough to haul Mariku here, why would he risk his neck, literally, for a vampire?”

“Because he’s one of us.” Bakura growled, a look of anxiety on his face, “I marked him this morning.”

“You what!”

Bakura glared sharply at his beta, “I said I marked him.”

“But why…”

Yugi stood up from his seat, ignoring his, quietly, arguing clansmen, crossed over to Yami, though some impetus he didn’t really understand, and stood there watching him. He allowed his hand to hover a few inches above the human’s forehead. He could not bring himself to feel joy that Yami had saved Mariku. He couldn’t even force himself to be glad they were both in good care. He was much more worried about the human’s health. Sleeper or not, Yami was still at least mostly human, and humans were notoriously fragile creatures, physically, when compared to demons, and Yugi had no way of knowing how much stamina Yami actually had.

A sharp pain constricted his chest and the incubi’s fingers rested gently on Yami’s clammy forehead. He brushed the thick golden locks of hair out of his face, marveling at the human’s beauty even while strapped to a gurney with tubes feeding into his arms. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to see the human’s ruby orbs open again. Or to hear him make a sarcastic comment that would leave Yugi biting back giggles.

“What happened to Yami?” Yugi asked softly. His eyes never left the human’s face, enraptured by the untroubled expression Yami wore. Beautiful. Yugi’s fingers traced a star on the human’s skin. He suddenly had to fight against the insane yearning to run his hand along Yami’s cheek and bury his face in the mortal’s multi-colored hair.

Startled by the thought, Yugi saw the close proximity his hand had with Yami and he yanked his arm back with so much force, his shoulder cracked in protest.

“From what I can tell Mariku bit Yami clean through his right hand, and shattered the bone, so of course, he consequently drew blood.” Serenity began, quite as if she hadn’t noticed the young incubus’ reaction to the human, but she was cut off from a soft groan from Bakura.

“He drank his blood didn’t he?”

“Excuse me?” Joey asked in confusion, “Who drank who’s blood?”

“Mariku.” Russet eyes looked at the nurse flatly, “Mariku drank some of Yami’s blood didn’t he?”

“What’s so wrong with that?” Joey shrugged, “He’s a vampire isn’t he? He drinks blood all the time.”

“Animal blood.” Yugi corrected, “Mariku hasn’t drunk human blood in such a long time, and it probably wreaked havoc on his innards.” Joey winced.

“So you’re saying that Yami’s blood poisoned Mariku?” Joey asked, exasperated.

Serenity nodded, a dark expression on her face, “That’s what it looks like.” She muttered. The group looked at her, but she ignored them and checked the clear bag dripping nutrients into Yami’s replenished blood stream. He groaned and flopped sideways on his cot.

“How did they get here?” Yugi asked, deep down inside he already knew the answer. He walked towards Mariku’s side this time; he didn’t trust himself near Yami’s bed again.

“Mariku carried the bleeding human right?” Joey said confidently, “They’re fragile, eh? Mariku’s tough. A little poisoning wouldn’t mess him up too badly!”

Serenity rolled her eyes and Seto sighed, “Mutt, just sit down and look pretty. There’s nothing you can do or say in this situation.”

“Eh? What do you mean? In a fight between a vampire and a human, a vampire would win, right?” Joey defended, offended by the frankness of Seto’s insult, “And I’m not a Mutt!” He bristled.

Seto rolled his eyes. There was no use explaining the tough mental barriers humans erected, the stubborn will, and the selfishness and evil which dwelled in each man’s heart. There was no denying the physical strength, but in a battle of will, humans would always survive and prosper. They were like the worst kind of cockroaches.

Probably why the species had survived for so long…

Yet sometimes, that wasn’t a bad thing. Sometimes humans were stubborn in the ways of good. Like fire fighters, or police officers. Charity workers, perhaps even gifted humans like Nurse Serenity. All of those were good humans. Maybe Yami fell under that category as well: stubborn and proud, but essentially good at heart.

“Yami carried Mariku.” Serenity pulled off her latex gloves and washed her hands. Yugi, Bakura, and Seto weren’t surprised, at least not horribly, but Joey certainly was.

“What?” Joey exclaimed, “How is that even possible!?”

Serenity shot the werewolf a cold look, “Mr. Wheeler, you seem to be under the impression that humans aren’t capable of basic survival.”

Blushing red, the werewolf stammered, “I never said that, I just meant-”

“Compared to a human,” Serenity’s eyes narrowed, “A vampire should be superior in strength and agility, correct?”

“Yeah! Wait! I mean- no! ...huh?” Joey frowned. “I’m confused...” He mumbled, sitting back down.

“Puppy, what she means to say is that humans are capable of taking care of themselves.” Seto smirked, “Or in case you haven’t noticed, I used to be a human and I can easily get you to bare your throat to me.”

Joey blushed bright red, ducking his shaggy blond head in his hands, “I plead the fifth...” He mumbled.

“That’s what I thought.”

Bakura frowned thoughtfully, “How do you know that Yami carried him?” He gestured towards his unconscious friend. “It could have been the other way around.”

Serenity pulled out another pair of latex gloves and stretched them over her hands, “Mariku was found next to the door with his back facing it. Yami was found in front of him. Their positions suggest that Yami sat Mariku down before passing out himself. Certainly the corroborating evidence supports that.”

Bakura just nodded, a feeling of pride washing through him, damn, but he’d found a good addition to their clan.

A soft groan came from Yami’s bed again, and his eyelids began to twitch and flutter. Automatically, all eyes were glued to him until the orphan rose slowly from his cot.

“Ugh, damn I have a hangover from hell...” Came a slurred comment. Subconsciously, he reached up with his right hand and pressed it against his forehead... only to pull it back and yelp in pain. Memories of what had happened to him came flooding back to him, and Yami was truthfully surprised to find himself alive and... Well, better than he was.

“Knocking your hand against anything might not be wise.” Serenity quirked an eyebrow from the sink, “Pain killers can only go so far, so try not to move it.”

“Really now,” Yami grunted hazily, “I couldn’t tell.” The orphans crimson eyes glared angrily at the late notice. He sat up and swung his long legs off the cot, invoking cries from nearly everyone in the room.

“Get your ass back in that bed!”

“You’ll hurt yourself!”

“Take it easy man!”

Startled, Yami looked up, having just noticed the presence of the four students, “What are all you guys doing here?” He glanced over at Mariku, “Oh, him. Is he alright?”

Yugi marched up towards Yami and shoved him back into the bed, “Lay back down!” He ordered sharply, and with more heat than he had intended to speak with. Yami looked at the small teenager stunned, and with growing anger, and Yugi, remembering his manners, gritted out a half audible, “Please.”

“Well I’m already lying down again.” Yami replied, perplexed by the incubi’s actions, “So how’s Mariku?”

“I flushed out his stomach and gave him an antidote.” The nurse replied shortly, “He ought to be fine, but he hasn’t woken up since I administered the shot.” She added hesitantly, a little worried

“He’s probably just sleeping then.” Bakura injected, “He sleeps more than the Greek god of night.”

Yami ignored the conversation and gave his hand an experimental flex. The nurse, catching sight of what he was doing, crossed the room with a furious stomp, “What are you doing! Didn’t I just tell you not to move that hand?” she demanded. Yami stared at her before giving his hand another good flex just to irritate her.

“The bone isn’t broken anymore,” Yami looked at his elbow, “But could you please take these things out of my arm?” he pointed at the IV and all the random tubing, “They’re driving me nuts.”

Once Yami was completely tube free - with a few more pierced marks, courtesy of an aggravated healer, than he had when he first entered, Serenity walked towards the desk and picked up her phone, “What’s your parents’ phone number?” She asked.

“Why?” Yami asked suspiciously. The last thing he was interested in was dealing with his so called ‘parents’ right now. The demons stared at him in surprise.

“Because they have to come pick you up now.” she replied, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Yami glared, probably more harshly than he intended, “No, don’t call them.”

Serenity was baffled, “But you need to go home.”

“I can survive for the rest of the day.”

The other students were now staring at Yami in curiosity. Why didn’t Yami want to call his parents? Was there trouble at home?

“Don’t be silly.” Serenity picked up the headset and dialed out, “What’s your number?”

A strange expression crossed Yami’s face before he mumbled, “404-382-5968.” A small smirk working it way across his face.

Serenity dialed the number, and instead of the orphan’s parents picking up the phone, it was a rude recording on rejection hotline.

Red faced and angry, Serenity whirled on Yami, “What. Is. Your. Number?”

The orphan brushed her off, “Sorry. You’re not my type.” A snort escaped him and he laughed drunkenly.

Serenity threw her hands in the air, “I knew I shouldn’t have dripped morphine into that IV!” She snapped. The students looked at her.

“Is that even legal?” Bakura demanded, “Can’t that kill a human?”

Serenity shrugged, “It depends on how much is given to a patent, but in high doses it could kill not only a mortal but a demon as well.”

Yugi was alarmed. His head snapped over towards Serenity while Yami was busy staring dreamily at a crack in the wall, “Then why did you give it to him?”

One of the nurse’s slender eyebrows shot to her hairline, “If you were a human with your hand broken in three places, and bitten through, you’d be begging me on a bended knee to shoot you up with the highest dose of morphine available.”

Yami stood back up and walked towards the door.

“Well, Yami seems lucid enough...”

The human’s hand missed the door knob. Yami tried two more times, and on the fourth attempt, he growled in frustration. “Someone open the stupid door!”

“But as you can see the morphine makes him disagreeable, slightly high, and lacking of proper motor skills.”

Seto’s eyebrows curved into a harsh ‘V,’ “Isn’t morphine considered a Class ‘A’ drug?” He said flatly, in more a statement then a question. Joey tilted his head to the side, “Is that bad?”

“Let’s just say it’s fairly illegal to administer it at a school.” Seto said frankly, “Or for that matter, anywhere other than a hospital.”

Serenity crossed her arms and scowled, “Don’t attempt to guilt trip me! I did what I had to do.” Yami walked over towards a chair and tried to sit down, landing on the armrest instead. He cursed loudly, “It might have been wrong to give him a drug that was designed for Demons... but-”

The students started, “You didn’t use human morphine!” Bakura snapped. Serenity looked a little bit disconcerted by the heat in the Chimera’s statement. Prophet or not, she was still human, and as such, wasn’t especially interested in pissing of the leader of the most powerful clan at Teratos.

“I work in a school for demons, what made you think I’d be prepared for a human emergency?” Serenity replied shakily. Her eyes seemed to darken when she looked at Yami; the human was still ignoring everyone, this time keeping his palms pressed against his eyes.

“You’re the nurse, you have healing magic!” Yugi exclaimed angrily, “Now you gave Yami a highly addictive drug, without knowing if he has any allergies or whether his parents would approve! Now he’s only lucid enough to curse and make smart remarks! I bet he can barely pee in a straight line now!”

“What do you want me to say?” Serenity snapped, “His hand was a mangled mess. Hell, it didn’t even look like a hand when I first got ahold of it.”

“It wasn’t a clean or pretty bite you know.” She huffed, “Mariku ripped his fangs out after they had already enlarged from bloodlust - he was too hasty to remove them from Yami’s hand. I can only assume the shock numbed Yami completely. Because, as far as I can tell, he should not have been able to move from the place he was bitten. I can hardly imagine him carrying himself and Mariku to the infirmary.” She smirked, “That’s human mulishness for you.”

“You didn’t answer my question!” Yugi snapped, “Why didn’t you use healing magic on him?”

“His body rejected my magic alright!” She burst out angrily, “It’s never happened before, and it works on humans and demons equally, but his body just wouldn’t cooperate!” She sighed, “Fortunately, once he took the pain killer, I was able to heal him... for the most part.”

She paused, thinking. “The shock and massive amounts of adrenaline pumping through his blood must have been what disrupted the flow of my magic.”

Yami shrugged, “I wouldn’t be able to tell you the answer to that very good question.” He gazed at the ceiling, crossing his arms, “I don’t even know how I made it here.” He snickered, “Probably with Mariku’s directions and all his profanities hissing in my ear...”

The demons started, unaware that Yami had been listening to the conversation, all the while being able to understand what they were talking about. He smirked dryly at their expressions.

“I’m not that high.” He muttered and rapped on his skull, “Still lucid enough to tell you not to look too deeply into this crap. He bit me, got sick, so I carried him over here. End of story, we live happily ever after, ta-da.” He sighed, “Just forget about it. Don’t be shocked that your demonic, witch, healing, whatever magic didn’t work on me. I’m a jerk. It probably didn’t like me.” He said crossly, and it was at about this point that the group decided Yami was, most likely, higher than a kite, “I just want to convince myself that none of this ever happened.”

The group nodded, but Serenity frowned, “Maybe, that’s probably the best decision for everyone. Forgetting about everything.” She said this meaningfully.

The group stared at the prophet, unsettled by her words, but Yami took it in stride.

“Thanks for the words of wisdom.” Yami quipped, squinting, “But when will I be allowed to get out of here- ?”

The door burst open again and two unexpected people stormed into the room. Yami blinked at them dazedly. What were they doing here? He knew Serenity hadn’t been able to call him.

“Mariku!” Marilyn gasped, rushing over to the vampire’s bed immediately, as if she had known where he would be before hand. Yami wasn’t sure if he should be amused or insulted. She turned towards Serenity, “What happened?” The million dollar question.

It was a question Yami wasn’t paying attention to. He was far to busy trying to figure out why the Sobeks would be here at all; much less care about Mariku. His eyes widened in sudden, horrifying, realization. The school. The school they had signed him up for. The one chock full of demons. The one where he’d been nearly molested and killed! The one where he’d been subjected to stereotyping and prejudices all day! And now they were here fluttering over Mariku seemingly unaware, or uncaring, that their ‘son’ was sitting here pumped full of morphine his hand having recently been broken in three places!

‘Those bastards!’ He thought indignantly, ‘They set me up! They knew about all of this and they set me up!’

Indignation abruptly morphed into furious outrage.

You!” He roared, leaping to his feet.

The others started; surprised at the ferocity Yami spoke with.

Marilyn and Cobalt spun around in shock.

“Yami, Why are you here? Why aren’t you in class?”

The orphan snorted before raising his voice an octave, “By ‘here’ do you mean this clinic, or this fucking school?” The last words ended in a shout.

Mariku, finally waking from all the noise, gave a garbled snort. He opened bleary eyes and Bakura’s worried face filled his vision.

“You okay?” The chimera grunted.

“I’d be better without your ugly mug in my face.” The vampire wheezed; lightly shoving his best friend out of the way so he could sit up. He heard a sound somewhere between a snort and a snicker, and tossed Bakura a grin when a strong hand appeared on his back pushing him gently into the position he wanted. However, anything he might’ve said was forgotten at the scene being enacted before him.

Standing in the middle of the room, looking both surprised and guilty, was his sister and brother-in-law. Now, this alone wouldn’t have surprised the vampire particularly. What shocked him was the sight of Yami, in a towering rage, squared off against them.

“Isis? Shadi? Wha-?” He began before Bakura squeezed his arm in their old signal for him to be quiet. Glancing over at his friend in confusion he was even more surprised to find the chimera watching the scene with avid interest. Just what was going on here?

He was not the only one totally unprepared for what happened next.

“What does he mean ‘Isis’ and ‘Shadi’?” Yami growled dangerously at his ‘parents’, “Wait, let me guess… those are your real names aren’t they?”

“Yami, please, we can explain…” Isis began nervously.

“Explain what?” The human bellowed, “Just what is it you think you can explain huh? How you barged into the orphanage and threatened everyone there if I didn’t go with you? How you sent me to this godforsaken place without so much as a warning?” He paused for a breath, “Do you have any idea the kind of crap I’ve gone through today thanks to you assholes!” He roared.

“Yami, it’s not what you think…”

“Not what I think? Not what I think!” Yami snarled, “You fucking lied to me you bastards! You threatened to close down the orphanage!” The rest of the clan watched in mute shock and horror as Yami, red eyes nearly glowing in his fury, blindly snatched up one of the waiting room chairs and flung it at them. Mariku made an abortive attempt to get up, but quickly settled down when Shadi and Isis calmly dodged the wildly thrown object, “You threatened to turn them out onto the streets! You… heartless…” He trailed off shaking his head.

The others waited with baited breath to see what their, apparent, clansmen would do next.

The human suddenly let out a bark of bitter laughter, “I knew it…” He mumbled quietly, “I just knew it was too good to be true.” He looked up at the Sobeks bitterness, rage, and disappointment clear, “You’re just like the rest of them. Lying, manipulative, arrogant bastards. Don’t care about anyone but yourselves.” He growled poisonously, “Can’t believe I actually thought you might be different…”

Not a word was spoken as Yami’s flushed face suddenly went pale, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he crumpled where he stood; the morphine and adrenaline having finally exhausted his system.

For a long moment no one moved. Then Bakura slowly stood up, and all eyes turned to him. The white chimera’s gaze flicked between the prone human and the stunned pair in the center of the room.

“Yugi. Joey.” The two named snapped to attention, “Pick him up and put him on one of the beds.” The chimera ordered. Incubus and werewolf obeyed without a moment’s hesitation or protest. Although it was rare for Bakura to exercise the position, he was their clan leader, and from the look on his face he was not happy about what he’d just learned.

“Bakura, please listen to us.” Isis pleaded.

The chimera quirked an eyebrow at her and crossed his arms, “You adopted a human under false pretenses, you threatened his human clan, and you threw him into our world without knowledge of what he was up against. An action that would have gotten him killed had Mariku and I not decided he would make a worthy initiate.” He said with deadly calm, “Further, you did so without scent marking him, or informing the rest of us.” His eyes narrowed, “I’m just dying to hear this explanation of yours.”

Isis winced, but Shadi stepped forward, “He’s my charge Bakura.”

Bakura blinked, “He’s what?”

Well that derailed him a bit.

“My charge.” The guardian angel replied evenly, “We’d intended to let you know sooner, and introduce him into this slowly, but there were delays in our move, and you were still tied up with Aname.” He shrugged, “We had no way to reach you.”

“Why didn’t you just wait to adopt him until after we were all back in town then?” Seto asked.

Shadi shook his head, “That wasn’t possible either. I’d received word that he was going to be adopted again soon.” The angel scowled, “I am his guardian.” He glared at the demons defiantly, “And I was not about to let him suffer at the hands of those ‘people’ any longer. I had to get him out of there, and adopting him as soon as possible was the only way.”

“By threatening him and the kids at his orphanage?” Yugi asked indignantly.

“Well what else were we supposed to do?” Shadi snapped, “I’m sure by now you’ve noticed he’s more than a little stubborn and hard headed. He sure as hell wasn’t going to come quietly, so we had to force his compliance.”

“By turning them out on the street?” Yugi shot back, “What would you have done if he hadn’t fallen for your bluff?”

“We would’ve built a new orphanage for those kids to go to Yugi.” Isis spoke up putting a restraining hand on her mate’s shoulder, “Or something like it.” She eyed Yugi reprovingly, “Surely you don’t think we would’ve done anything to harm them do you?”

Yugi flushed in embarrassment, “Ah, no Isis… I don’t… just…” He trailed off his cheeks burning.

The female vampire smiled gently, “It’s alright Yugi. I quite understand.”

“I’m not sure he’s going to though.” Joey spoke up eyeing Yami thoughtfully, “He may not be a demon, but from the looks of things he’s got all the attitudes of one.” He gave Isis and Shadi a hard look, “An’ good intentions or not you two fucked up. Royally. His trust’s been destroyed, an’ I don’t think rebuilding it will be easy.”

Isis sighed, “I know.”

Bakura sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, “You’re damn good at mucking up demonic protocol you know that angel?” The glare he threw Shadi was more exasperated than anything, and Shadi smirked back.

“Well someone has to. You demons are entirely too stuffy about your clan rules.”

Bakura snorted and threw up his hands in surrender, “Alright, a point goes towards heaven’s stupid plans on the chalkboard of life.” He looked pointedly at Shadi.

Bakura was aware of a Guardian Angel’s attachment to their charge. They were meant to protect and guide them, never making contact, but for Shadi to act so rashly... That meant there was something going on behind the scenes concerning the clan’s new packmate. The Chimera brushed the thought aside. For now.

Isis flicked her eyes back towards Mariku, who was doing a poor job of blending into his cot. “Yes, and as far as stupidity goes-” Her eyes narrowed to slits. “-What stupidity landed my dear brother here now?”

Everyone saw the change in subject for what it was. A change in subject. Go figure.

Mariku cringed, an expression of shame etched in his purple eyes. They were just beginning to return to their original shade of deep lavender, “I can explain Isis...” He muttered, embarrassed. The vampire looked down, avoiding his sister’s eyes, “I bit Yami.”

His sister closed her blue eyes, the skin on her face drawing tight, “Mariku...” she whispered, “Tell me you’re lying...”

The vampire gazed at his sister, humiliation evident, “It’s not like I meant to...”

“Do you have any idea how venomous Yami’s blood is?” Shadi snapped, and a sharp look was directed at him by Isis. The foster father continued, “You haven’t drunk human blood in years, what made you think you could do it now?”

“I think it’s time that we take you and Yami home.” Isis gestured for Mariku to climb out of the cot. The vampire frowned, “But I don’t want to go home!” He whined, “I don’t like it there...”

“You know you have to stay there until you graduate Mariku, it’s just a little longer.” Isis said patiently, “Then you can live wherever you want, even on New McEver Road with the rest of the demons who commute.”

Mariku pouted and Isis felt a surge of sympathy for him. Unfortunately it couldn’t be helped. Teratos High was essentially a magical finishing school. It was meant for demons and angels alike who wanted to integrate into the human world. Without a diploma from Teratos High, one technically wasn’t allowed to live in the human world. However that didn’t stop a large portion of demons and angels alike from sneaking there regardless. Most members of the clan had lived illegally in the human world for years before attending Teratos in fact. But that did not mean Isis was going to let her brother break the rules. Not this time.

Reluctantly Mariku got off the bed and stood by his sister, the thought of living in middle earth seemed to brighten his spirits; even if it was only slightly. He moved over to where his “nephew” was still out cold and shook his head fondly as he hefted the limp form into his arms. His gaze traveled down to where Yami’s hand, still bandaged from before, lay, and his eyes softened.

“I’m sorry Yami.” The vampire murmured to the sleeping human, “I know you don’t trust us now… but you’ll see.” He eyed Bakura out of the corner of his eye. The chimera just smirked and nodded fractionally. Mariku gave his friend a small smile and returned his attention to the sleeping human, “Welcome to our clan Yami. I promise you won’t regret this.”

An hour later the Sobeks pulled into their driveway thankful that their PR had managed to keep the reporters away. Not even the most intrepid reporter cared to argue with a demon no matter how disguised he was. Sighing softly Isis looked at her husband; whose green eyes met her gaze worriedly.

“What should we do?” Shadi asked in a soft whisper. He unbuckled his seatbelt and spoke in urgent tones, “We have to tell him the truth. If we don’t we may never gain his trust.”

Isis shook her head, “We must remain silent about this matter, if word were to get loose...” She glanced at her foster son, concerned. “So far, he has been deceptively pure.”

“That’s all damn well and good,” He looked seriously at Isis, “But we can’t keep playing with fire! We have to tell him,” The man looked down at their entwined hands and continued in a softer tone. “If we never tell him the absolute, honest truth,” His green eyes shifted up his wife’s tan arm, glancing up towards her face, “He will never learn how to trust...”

Isis squeezed his hand tightly, “We are here to provide him a family,” Her sapphire eyes glittered with their unspoken troubles, “We’re going to show him the good side of life.”

“But he views it as a sham!” Shadi growled. He glanced out the tinted window, “And well he should! This life on New McEver road is a lie, and he knows it.” He sighed, “Let’s face it Isis… we screwed up. What little trust he had in us before is gone, and I don’t know if we can get it back.”

He glanced in the rearview mirror at the still sleeping Yami, and felt his heart twist. So similar to Mahaado… so very much alike… He was pulled from his thoughts when he felt Isis gently direct his gaze to her, and pull him into a loving kiss.

“Stop it.” She commanded giving him a whack upside the head, “Trust can be rebuilt. You know that. We will get him back. We will just have to be patient.” She smirked, “And I very much doubt Bakura and the others will stand idly by while we wait.”

“That’s true…” Shadi mused, “I wonder what impressed them so much.”

Isis shrugged, “There’s no telling at this point. But whatever he did I’m glad they accepted him.” She hadn’t told Shadi how much deceiving her clan had bothered her, but from the look on the angel’s face he already knew. He squeezed her hand in silent apology and she gave him a grateful look.

“It will be alright.” She assured him, unbuckling her own seat belt. Her husband looked at her before smiling wryly.

“Is that a prediction?” He asked the vampire. She smiled and for the first time since this whole adopting business came around, Shadi could see Isis’s two tiny fangs poking out from her lower lip.

“It’s close enough that it could be considered as one.” She replied. The woman then raised her finger to lips gesturing towards Yami; who was showing signs of stirring at last.

The orphan groaned a little before opening tired red eyes. The morphine had almost completely drained itself from his system, leaving the human with the tiring after effects one experiences when they are high for the first time.

“Where are we?” He slurred, one eyelid drooping lower than the other. Isis gave him a calm smile.

“We’re at home.”

The orphan’s brow creased slightly. In his muddled, drug fogged mind Yami had trouble grasping the concept of ‘home’. It had a profound effect on him, and an undesirable surge of elation stole through the human. He honestly didn’t want to be happy. He really didn’t. But looking through fairy dusted eyes; the orphan saw everything he ever wanted. Even though his ‘parents’ had deceived him, and consisted of an odd mix of a vampire and a lord-knows-what, they were still parents, and he still had a home.

A tiny part of Yami’s comatose mind rebelled against such pansy thoughts, warning him that when this tiny bubble of hope burst, Yami would suffer a very painful blow. But Yami, in his post-angry state of mind, pushed those nay saying thoughts aside for the moment and lived as he had always wanted to live.

He smiled hesitantly at the vampire and jerked his head once in a drunken nod, “Spectacular.”

--::--

Yami roamed through the white Victorian house, shying away from the staircase. He didn’t want to tempt fate twice in one day, a single near death experience was fine by him thanks. If he was being specific, he had already tempted death roughly three times already. But who was counting?

Shadi rounded the corner, almost bumping into Yami. Noticing the scowl on the orphan’s face, he figured that the morphine and all of its side effects must have worn off leaving Yami behind in all of his foul-tempered glory. Shadi, being Shadi, decided to poke the gaping bloody wound in Yami’s pride with a salty finger by putting on the parental act that he knew would get on any child’s nerves if they had just gotten their hand almost chewed off.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” He inquired. The effect was almost instantaneous. Yami’s cheeks burned red with such morbid humiliation Shadi felt slightly bad; if only slightly. He was actually worried about his adoptive son. Some of the color had returned to Yami’s face, but it still hadn’t reached the deep caramel shade that would make any girl jealous.

“Go on to bed, you don’t want Isis to worry, do you?” Shadi said with a straight face. The usually independent teenager was stunned. Yami wasn’t used to people telling him what to do and when to go to bed. He raised his hand and then let it fall. Raised it again, but let it fall. Red eyes looked at Shadi with an expression of bafflement. Yami opened his mouth and closed it, repeating a process similar to his hand motions. He really wanted to glare at Shadi and tell him where he could stick his prestigious thoughts of concern, but Yami was still far too tired and hellishly confused to do a damn thing.

Now concerned, Shadi slowly raised an eyebrow, beginning to feel threads of remorse tighten around his conscious like a noose. He heard few strangled squeaks come from the proverbial angel sitting on his shoulder, and decided to have mercy on his charge, “You see Yami,” He stepped behind Yami and began pushing him up the stairs, “You need rest, you’re making odd hand gestures at me, and not the kind I’m used to...”

Not finding himself able to reply, Yami chose to comply with his foster father’s wishes and focused his concentration on trying to walk up the stairs at a reasonable pace. The last thing he wanted was Shadi - who was beginning to show an admirable sadistic streak for an angel - to find out about his paralyzing fear of walking up and down stairs.

Unfortunately, Shadi didn’t appreciate Yami’s efforts, “Can we possibly get to the middle landing some time before Thanksgiving?” He demanded in aggravation.

“What?” Yami shot back, “It’s not like you’re in any kind of hurry!” He took another grandfatherly slow step. Shadi breathed heavily through his nose.

“Are you kidding me?” He gritted through clenched teeth. Several thoughts ran through his head, ones that consisted of Yami deliberately walking unhurriedly up the stairs as an incredibly evil form of torture for the angel, although the idea was dismissed when he saw Yami’s hand firmly gripping the safety rail and the dead set look of deep concentration on the orphan’s face. It was as though Yami was absorbed with walking up the stairs and walking alone. A strange thought occurred to the guardian, ‘Is Yami afraid of stairs?’

If he was afraid, the orphan wasn’t doing a good job at hiding it. Shadi let go of Yami’s back experimentally and Yami, without Shadi support, clung onto the stair rail like a life line. The angel looked at the orphan in undiluted shock. Yami grunted at the bald man, glaring at him in through ruby slits, almost daring him to ask him any questions about his actions. Shadi took the bait anyway.

“Are you afraid of heights?” He asked, leaning against the white wall across from Yami. The orphan shook his head, “No.” He growled shortly. Of course not, they were only three steps up.

Shadi frowned, “Are you afraid of ledges?”

“No.”

“Wood?”

“No.”

Shadi was confused, “Then what are you afraid of? Why can’t you climb stairs at a regular pace?” He demanded. Ruby eyes turned towards him. There were so many reasons why Yami refused to climb stairs. He’d been pushed, tripped, stumbled, and tried to escape down them. And that didn’t even cover the times they’d broken, cracked, or otherwise threatened Yami’s life due to lousy structural integrity. Yami tilted his head, deciding not to tell Shadi the whole truth.

“Stairs and I don’t agree with one another.”

Shadi frowned, but accepted this as a valid argument. “Would you like to be moved to one of the rooms on the lower level?” He asked. The look of relief shone in Yami’s eyes, although the orphan tried desperately to hide his gratitude. The guardian smiled to himself pleased that he’d managed to find something to show Yami, at least a little, that he wasn’t the evil bastard his son thought he was.

“I’ll speak to Isis about it.” Shadi turned around and began descending the three steps Yami had taken. He paused, “Do you need help getting down?” He extended a hand towards the orphan, who looked at it warily.

Yami shook his head uneasily, “No. I don’t need your help!” He snapped. He hadn’t forgotten the episode in the clinic, and was still wary of these people and their motives. Shadi just smirked. He recognized the tone of unease behind his foster son’s words, and let it go. He knew that, trust issues aside, Yami wasn’t used to the hand of kindness being shown to him, but he also knew that eventually Yami would tentatively reach out to him as well.

And when that moment came, Shadi would jump at the chance.