Chapter 1: Midnight Arrival

The summer air was warm on the evening they came into the small American village. Two cars followed after the moving truck that lead them along the dirt roads of the small town. Sunako stared out the passenger window as she studied their new surroundings. It had been seven years and nearly two months since the Sotoba incident. Finally they would have a second chance to create their Shiki safe haven, and they wouldn't make the same mistakes they previously had.

After driving for some time, the vehicles came to a stop in front of a large house that was much too big for only six people. But it would become crowded in due time, if things were to go as Sunako had planned. The house was plain and paled in comparison to the Kanemasa mansion, but it was more than sufficient for their cause. Once the car was parked, the elderly child exited the car and went inside to explore their new home. There were approximately twenty bedrooms, each with its own personal bathroom, a large library, a game room put in at the request of one of her subordinates, a kitchen, a laundry room, a basement, and a large fenced in yard with a small playground. It was no small task finding a contractor with the means to build such a place. One bite was all it took to get him and his workers on the job.

As four of the other shiki moved box after box into their new house, the smallest of them ran by Sunako. Her thick, blonde curls bounces and swayed with her long dress as she ran, and her excitement was impossible to conceal. It warmed Sunako's still heart to see such joy from one of her own kind.

"Excuse me, Sunako." Turning, she saw one of the few survivors of Sotoba standing by her. It amazed the child-like shiki that he was able to get away; Ritsuko's sacrifice was thankfully enough of a distraction to let the young man escape the genocide of their kind. "Are you sure the plan will work this time? I don't want things to go the way they did back in Japan. I don't think I could bear it..." He fidgeted nervously as he spoke, running a hand through his honey blonde hair. The last thing he wanted was to make Sunako angry.

However, instead of anger or irritation, Sunako only smiled up at the perpetual eighteen year old. "There's no need to worry, Tohru." She spoke softly and calmly to the younger shiki. "Our plan has been reworked and revised by myself and Mr. Muroi so as to ensure our success. Now, would you please go and get Harriet to settle down into her new room? She seems a little overly excited."

Tohru smiled a bit and nodded before walking off to find the aforementioned Harriet. As happy as he was to still be alive, he still struggled to kill a human after taking their blood. His final moments with Ritsuko had greatly impacted him, and he had been able to teach himself to control his hunger so that he wouldn't take the lives of any more humans. But there was one other thing that still greatly upset Tohru to this day: Natsuno's death at his fangs. Never could he completely forgive himself for what he had done, and he believed that nothing could change that.

Jessica watched from her window as the new neighbors drove to their house. It was odd that they were moving into their house in the middle of the night. But they were big city people from what she had heard, so it must have been normal for them to do most things at night. She wondered what they would be like, or if there would be anyone her age moving in.

According to the gossip around town, they weren't a traditional family. There were two little girls, three young adults, and a man in his early thirties. No one is sure if any of them are related by blood and some even speculate that they're in the witness protection program. But regardless of what the other villagers thought, Jessica was excited to have new neighbors to talk to. No newcomers had arrived in their little town in years.

The young woman soon let a yawn escape her. She wanted so badly to get some sleep, but the excitement of the new arrivals was too much for her to ignore. 'Maybe I'll visit them,' she thought to herself. 'I have nothing else to do right now and I doubt any of the others are awake this late at night.' With a gleeful smile, she hopped to her feet and went out the front door, making a b-line for the house their new neighbors would soon reside in.

When she arrived at the house, Jessica stared in amazement at the house before her. It was enormous! "It's so big for just six people to live there," she thought aloud. These people must have been filthy rich to be able to afford such a place.

"Hi there!" A voice called out to the dumbstruck woman, snapping her out of her slight daze. Looking in the direction the vice came from, she met eyes with a woman who looked to be about her age. She was quite slender, with pale skin in stark contract to her jet black hair and eyes. Her clothes were simple, but fit her well and seemed to suite her overall appearance. The woman beamed an inviting and warm smile at Jessica before she spoke again. "You're one of our new neighbors, I'm guessing. My name is Nibiki Himiwara, but most people just call me Nibi." Jessica couldn't help but return a smile to the kind young woman.

"It's nice to meet you, Nibi." She walked closer so she could shake the other's hand. "My name is Jessica. I live just up the road from you guys." It only took a moment for Nibi to grasp her extended hand. Her shake was firm, but not constricting. Yet something about her seemed... off. The Japanese woman's hands were colder than an average person; not deathly cold, but certainly not normal.

It seemed as though she knew what Jessica was thinking when she replied. "Sorry if my hands are cold, Jess. I have severe insomnia, and a lower temperature is one of the side affects." Odd, it almost seemed like she had that excuse all ready before they even made contact. But the brown haired girl just brushed off and smiled as the two released their grip on each other. "Everyone else is inside unpacking. I'd better unpack my stuff too. But if you'd like, you can visit us again sometime. Fair warning, though: The two youngest and my brother have a condition that weakens their immune systems and keeps them from going outside during the day. So it's best if you come see us overnight."

Hearing that nearly broke Jessica's heart. "The poor things," she said in an attempt to give her sympathy and condolences. "I'd love to visit you again. Feel free to stop by my house at any time. Just watch out for my sister. She can get kind of nasty sometimes."

An eerie smile crept onto Nibi's face as Jessica spoke. "We'll make sure to visit sometime. It was a pleasure meeting you, Jess." Without another word, Nibi picked up the last few boxes of her family's possessions and walks inside.

"She was kind of odd," Jessica mused to herself before smiling. "Must be a cultural thing. It's so cool that a Japanese family moved it." A skip in her step, she headed back home in high spirits. Little did she know that she had invited a great threat into her home. A threat that would change the lives of the entire village forever.