Greetings!

This is my first fan fiction. I'm a big fan of YGO, and consequently of YGO GX too. However, because that I do not live in North America, my TV stations have never broadcasted GX on air. Therefore I've watched only 2 episodes of the dubbed anime, downloaded from the net, and I would like you to bear in mind that the personalities of the characters in this story are based on the Japanese series.

The story is a bit of a mix of Van Helsing/Underworld/Constantine elements, but I've tried to make it as original as I possibly could.

Enjoy!

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Chapter One

The light danced delicately on the drinking glass in her hand. Nonchalantly she turned it in her palm, around and around, and watched the sparkling brilliance with her brown, unblinking eyes. Frowning, she slipped the thick glass back onto the wooden table and stretched herself out on the long seat, making herself comfortable.

"Stop fidgeting, Alexis." Her elder brother commented softly opposite her.

Alexis Rhodes smiled lazily back. Atticus sighed.

"Did you have too much to drink?" He questioned.

She shook her head. "You know that I can't get drunk even if I wanted to." The blonde sat upright again. "I'm just bored. When is he coming?"

Atticus Rhodes let his long brown fringe fell over his eyes as he checked his wristwatch. "He's late already." He looked out of the misty window worriedly. "I don't know about this, Alexis. This never happened before." He reached out a black-gloved hand to sweep away the moisture on the windowpane. The sky was raining heavily and the wind out in the night streets of Domino were bitterly cold. The few pedestrians wrapped themselves up in jumpers and scarves as they scuttled across the road, out of range of the biting weather. All the Rhodes siblings could hear were the splattering of water on the pavement and on the window. The warm golden light emanated from the lamps inside the café, casting Atticus's shadow onto the tall, dark window. Amused, Alexis studied her brother's features in the flickering light.

Atticus's eyes were focused out into the night, his gaze intent and alert as he searched for the man they are supposed to meet. His hands, both covered in black gloves, rested on the table in uneasy restlessness, the ten fingers tapping the wood rhythmically. He was dressed in a black windbreaker and donned a navy scarf to protect him from the wind. Alexis lowered her eyes and crossed her fingers, also clad in gloves, and startled when her brother jumped up from his seat.

"There! Can you see him?" Atticus jabbed at a point behind her outside on the pavement, his eyes glowing.

Alexis, frightened by her brother's sudden change of demeanour, also jumped up. She didn't have a chance to look out of the window, though; Atticus was already dashing out through the doors. She hastily paid for their drink and pulled her white jumper closer about her before going after her brother into the stormy night.

She was greeted by a particularly nasty gust of wind that almost blew her off her feet. It whipped her long blonde hair into her brown eyes, temporarily blinding her. Alexis pushed her hair behind her and stood squinting in the rain, trying to find Atticus again.

"Lex!" Her brother's terrified voice sounded a little to her left. She sprang towards him, and gasped when she saw that the man they were to meet lay at Atticus's feet, his body shrivelling before the siblings' very eyes. Atticus looked up at her, his angular face pale and helpless. She knelt beside him and tried to help the dying man but it was no use; his flesh was burning to her touch. Soon, he was nothing more than a damp pile of ash in the middle of pavement.

"There goes Don Zoolag." Atticus whispered. He pulled his scarf higher up as he coughed in the cold wind. Alexis, however, began searching on the ground.

"What are you looking for?" He asked and stood up.

Founding a bullet shell, Alexis grinned grimly and stood up beside her brother. The siblings' jeans were soaked through, but neither of them minded much. She presented the shell to Atticus. "Hunters." She answered his question.

Looking down the street, Atticus narrowed his eyes. His brown orbs began to glow softly with a blue light, and almost hypnotically, he raised a finger and pointed down into the shadows. Alexis followed it and soon saw the warm outline of a human moving quickly away, much too quickly even for a drenched traveller.

Without a word they set out; their prey darted in and out of small alleyways, dark and difficult to navigate. They were about to enter one of those when Atticus stopped. Alexis looked at him concernedly.

"Talk about prefect timing." Atticus murmured as he fished out his vibrating cellphone, and Alexis sighed when he made a face at the screen. "It's Fontaine. I bet she wants me back."

"I'll go after him," Alexis said. "Don't worry."

"I'm more worried about you than any Hunter." He nodded at her. "Thanks. Be careful."

Alexis gave her brother a reassuring smile and disappeared into the thick curtain of rain drops. Atticus moved under a dirty and dripping awning and answered the call.

"Rhodes."

"Master Rhodes," a female voice rang out, clearly irritated. "What took you so long to pick up?"

Atticus practically turned on the spot in frustration. "Mistress Fontaine, do you have any idea what just happened? Don Zoolag was killed before we ever had words with him; now he's nothing more than ashes in the gutter. My sister and I were chasing a possible Hunter when you called, and you're wondering what took me so long to answer?"

Fontaine paused. "I'm sorry, Master Rhodes, but it is the wish of Master Sheppard that you return to the Academy to attend the Council immediately."

"But I just said I'm chasing –"

'There, there, Master Rhodes, calm down." A strong male voice replaced Fontaine's and Atticus stopped speaking, out of respect more than anything else.

"I know that the Hunters have returned. As a matter of fact, that is the reason I am holding this meeting," Sheppard's voice boomed out of the speaker. "I'm afraid you will have to curb your eagerness in capturing that Hunter, Rhodes, Mistress Fontaine and Master Amnael are all ready and waiting for you."

Atticus hesitated. "Alexis is still after him. I don't know –"

"The foremost thing you should know is that you're a member of the Shadow Council, responsible for the well being of every vampire in the city of Domino." Sheppard's voice became stern. "This charge lies especially heavy on you, Master Rhodes, since you are our Head of Defence, as you have been for nearly forty years. Alexis can take care of herself. What you need to do is return to us as soon as possible, do you understand?"

"Yes. I do."

"Good," Sheppard commented. Atticus could imagine the powerful Shadow Master's satisfied smile. "Then I expect you to be back within ten minutes. See you soon, Master Rhodes."

Atticus disconnected the call and looked around grimly to make sure he was alone. Casting one last look down the alley at the direction his sister headed to, he turned back to the way they came and departed in a wisp of black cloud for his master.

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Alexis had lost all senses of direction.

That was not something she thought would be possible. After all, she has been roaming around this city for one hundred and seventy-four years, and she knew it better than the back to his hand. But this contrast downpour of rain heavily impeded her vision and when she emerged onto a main road with hundreds of people milling about, she no longer knew who she was after.

The rain had since become a soft drizzle while Alexis wandered. She didn't want to go back to the Academy because she hated the long and arduous Council discussions as much as Atticus. Besides, what's there to talk about? Fontaine's financial reports, most likely. Alexis almost snorted. Occasionally Immanuel would enlighten the Council with his new developments in weaponry and medicine, however there's never much to report in Atticus's case. The notorious Hunters have disappeared from Domino ever since their heavy defeat decades ago, and there are little threats present for the Department of Defence, which was headed by her brother. At least, that has been the situation for well nigh forty years.

Tonight was different though. The bullet she found was much too familiar: it was just like what the Hunters used, except it was stronger now. It was no longer the crude wooden bullets they were accustomed to, but something more deadly, something that they've only heard from fables drifting into Domino from other vampire colonies in neighbouring cities. It was a ultra-violet bullet, used to incinerate vampires from inside out. Alexis narrowed her almond-shaped eyes in hard resolve; her fighting instincts were rekindled while her mind was lost in thought. She was so absorbed in her musings that she did not notice the man coming towards her hurriedly, and the two collided, hard.

Alexis lost her balance and tripped over her own boots. Her arms flailed about trying to grasp something, anything, when a pair of strong muscular arms took her by the shoulders and steadied her. For a moment she thought Atticus had come back for her, and was rather disappointed to find an unfamiliar facing looking concernedly at her under a wet mop of navy blue hair.

"Are you alright?" The man asked in a deep, unfathomable voice, his expression undetectable as he moved into the shadow of a doorway with her. All Alexis glimpsed as a pair of glittering steel blue eyes.

"I'm fine," she replied, acutely aware of his hands on her arms.

"You shouldn't be out alone at such an hour in this place." The man said, bending down to her so she could hear him above the splattering of rain, now again increasing in intensity. Alexis's nightsight enabled her to detect his outline, to see his pulsing red arteries beating only a foot away from her face. She bit her lip and silently thanked her stars that she had the foresight to feed earlier in the night.

He released her suddenly. "I do not wish to frighten you, but there have always been rumours in this part of the town, rumours of haunting, and even of creatures… vampires, so the stories went. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

She was glad he couldn't see her grin in the darkness as she replied a yes.

"Urban myths or not, I can't say," the man continued. "I've known people who had some unpleasant encounters at night, however, and I hope to spread the word so there will be no more victims. Please, take care of yourself."

"Sure, I will." Slowly, Alexis replied.

The man stepped out of the doorway. Now that he was exposed to the faint light of the distant streetlamps, Alexis saw that he was tall and dressed in a long, sweeping black coat, his pallid skin standing out starkly against it. He pulled his collars higher around his neck with his slender hands as he nodded at her, and set out swiftly away without a backward glance.

Alexis slipped out of the doorway, her eyes fixed on the retreating figure of the mysterious man. When he finally walked out of her sight she turned around, only to be greeted by the imposing figure of the Academy building. She sighed and resigned herself to go into the building at last. Closing her eyes, she moved herself as quickly as a breeze up the road and into the tightly closed doors of the Academy in the blink of an eye.

She didn't look above her, of course, but high up, on the topmost office of the Duel Academy, an old and bald man, his eyes clouded with memories, looked down at her thoughtfully.

"It seems, Miss Rhodes, that our chance has finally come."

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I hope you liked this. My update rate would be roughly one chapter every 2 weeks, feel free to leave comments!