Warnings for this story:

Yaoi, explicit smut and blood play, scenes of dubious con, foul language and hints of gore.

Enjoy!

Folding his arms behind his back, Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, second in command, bows his head at the shrouded silent figure resting on a large, gold throne before him.

"Lord Yamamoto."

The figure on the throne lowers the black hood of it's silk robes, the face of an ageing, bald man, his wrinkled eyes nothing more than slits, coming into view.

"Captain Byakuya, I trust that you bring some news?"

"Yes, my Lord. The Espada clan have been tracked down in Karakura town."

Lord Yamamoto hums, clasping his hands together in front of himself.

"I see, and what action has been taken?"

"The elite Reaper unit has been sent out to deal with the threat, with clear instructions that the vermin are to be questioned and then eradicated, no matter the cost."

"I am very pleased to hear that. Tell me, the Lieutenant currently in charge of the elite reaper unit is your own sister, Rukia Kuchiki, is it not?"

"Yes, my Lord, it is."

"And you trust in her abilities to succeed in this particular mission?"

"I guarantee it, my Lord."

Yamamoto nods, leaning back in his throne.

"Then I will leave overseeing the matter in your very capable hands, Captain Byakuya. Nothing else matters, apart from eradicating the vermin that fills this world."

Byakuya bows, a long strand of raven black hair falling across his face.

"Of course, thank you, my lord. I will not fail you."

Byakuya turns on his heel, making to leave.

"Before you leave, there is one more thing I would like to question you about."

Stopping in his tracks, Byakuya turns.

"Yes, my Lord?"

"Has there been any word on the location of Aizen?"

"No, he has not been seen nor heard of for the past ten years, and any of the bloodsuckers we have managed to question can tell us nothing of him or his whereabouts, my Lord."

Lord Yamamoto does not seem to react to the news, only dismissing Byakyua with a curt wave of his wrinkled hand.

Without another word, Byakuya wrenches open the heavy, wooden doors of the chamber, heading out into the candle lit corridor, the doors booming shut behind him.

"ICHIGO, MY SON! TIME FOR SCHOO-"

A firm punch to the face sends the excitable, older man flying, hitting the wall roughly as the now awake teenage boy yawns and stretch's on his bed.

Rubbing his now bruised cheek, the dark haired older man smirks.

"You are getting more alert, my boy, seems Daddy's teachings are going well!"

The teenager rolls his chocolate brown eyes, running a hand through his sleep tousled orange spikes.

"Whatever, goat face. It's not my fault you're becoming predictable."

Isshin pouts, standing up and charging at his son once again.

"Predictable, huh? Then try to block Daddy like this, son!"

Ichigo lazily lift's up one of his legs, swiftly kicking his manic father in the stomach.

Isshin collapses to his knees, holding his stomach and groaning as Ichigo get's off the bed and heads into his bathroom.

"D-don't worry, Daddy will get you next t-time!"

Locking the bathroom door, Ichigo ignores the stupid threat and starts to get himself ready for another boring day of learning.

Once he's dressed and ready, Ichigo heads downstairs and into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pouring himself a fresh glass of orange juice.

One of his younger sister's, Yuzu, watches him worriedly as she loads some dirty laundry into the washing machine.

"Ichigo, aren't you going to eat breakfast?"

Rinsing out his empty glass in the sink, Ichigo shakes his head.

"You know I'm never hungry in the mornings, Yuzu, I'll wait until lunch."

"B-but, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially with your condition!"

"God, you're beginning to sound like Goat face. I'll be fine, I'll eat later I promise. Besides, it's never affected me before, you worry too much."

His other sister, Karin, is slouching at the dining table, a sports magazine in her hands.

"I don't know why you even bother any more Yuzu, you know the idiot doesn't listen."

"Hey, watch who you're calling an idiot, I'm still your older brother," Ichigo growls.

"That doesn't change the fact you're a big idiot."

Ichigo grabs his school bag and unlatches the front door.

"Whatever, I'm off. Tell Dad I won't be back until later tonight, I'm hanging out with friends after school."

Karin blatantly ignores him, her nose stuck back in the magazine, but Yuzu smiles and nods.

"Sure thing, Ichigo! But please remember to eat something soon!"

Sitting down at his desk, Ichigo rest's his chin on his hands as other students chatter to each other around him.

God, can't this day go any faster?

He loathes school with a passion, but he makes sure to keep his attendance up and study because he wants to keep his grades up.

After all, he needs to do good in school in order to get a good career in the future to earn a living.

Which now he thinks about it, sounds pretty damn boring.

Surely there has to be more to life than just studying, then working until you're eventually put in the ground with a plaque with your name on it being the only reminder to people that you were even alive.

And even someday that'll be gone too.

Huh, seems like his thoughts have gone quite morbid today.

"ICHIGO! THERE YOU ARE!"

Ichigo looks up, seeing his over excited, brown haired friend Keigo grinning down at him like an eager puppy.

"Hey, Keigo."

Keigo slaps his hands down on Ichigo's desk.

"Did you watch the news this morning? Please tell me you did!"

"No I didn't, why?"

Keigo gasps dramatically.

"Unacceptable! Dude, there was another of those weird murders last night, you know, body drained of blood again, wound to the neck. Like I keep saying, VAMPIRES ARE AMONG US!"

"For the love of God Keigo, there's no such thing as vampires, by neck wound they probably just mean a stab wound."

"NO NO, I'M NOT LISTENING TO THIS! YOU JUST DON'T WANT TO FACE REALITY ICHIGO, YOU'LL BE NEXT!"

Ichigo closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"I swear, if you don't stop acting like such a stupid ass-"

"OI MIZUIRO, GET OVER HERE AND BACK ME UP!"

A shorter, black haired boy comes over to the two, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Huh, about what Keigo?"

"THE VAMPIRE MURDERS DUDE! WE WENT OVER THIS LAST NIGHT!"

"Oh, that."

"YES THAT! ICHIGO IS TRYING TO BLOW MY DEDUCTION OFF AS JUST SOME STAB WOUNDS!"

"Well, that's not entirely impossible-"

"WHAT!"

Keigo puts his head in his hands, moaning sorrowfully.

"MY FRIENDS, ALL TURNING AGAINST ME! NOTHING BUT TRAITORS, THE PAIR OF YOU!"

Ichigo sighs with disinterest as Keigo continues to screech about how 'everyone hates him' and 'how could his two best buddies do such a thing'.

It takes everything in Ichigo not to sock him in the mouth just to stop the damn drama.

Keigo only shuts his big mouth when their teacher finally arrives and the days lesson begins.

Vampires.

Sheesh, what a stupid idea, Keigo just gets crazier every day.

After school's over, Ichigo, Keigo and Mizuiro catch a movie at the cinema, before grabbing a bite to eat.

As day eventually turns into night, they all head down to the quiet river embankment, sitting down in the dry grass.

Ichigo stares up at the dark night sky as Mizuiro and Keigo continue to chatter amongst themselves.

He doesn't really know why, but there's a sort of uneasiness pooling in his gut, which has been there for the past few days.

Maybe he's getting ill or something.

Oh, that reminds him.

Reaching into his school bag, he takes out his insulin and bunch's up his school shirt.

He loads up the needle and pushes it into his stomach, slowly injecting the contents before putting the dirty needle back in the container to change when he get's back home.

Keigo makes a face of disgust at him.

"Dude, do you have to do that in front of me?"

"Piss off Keigo, it's only a needle and besides, it's being injected into me, not you. Stop being such a pansy."

"SEE, BEING RUDE TO YOUR BEST FRIEND AGAIN! WHY ARE YOU SO PISSY LATELY, LIKE, EVEN MORE THAN USUAL!"

Ichigo shrugs, smoothing out his shirt again and fiddling with some pieces of grass.

Keigo suddenly get's back to his feet, heading off to under the bridge.

"I'm gonna go take a leak, don't you guys miss me too much!"

Ichigo rolls his eyes.

"You know, he is right about you though."

Ichigo stares over at Mizuiro, who is watching him curiously.

"Keigo, right? I don't think I've ever heard those two words together before."

"You do seem kind of distant and irritable, especially the past few days, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good, don't worry."

"AHHH!"

Ichigo immediately jumps to his feet, his eyes becoming saucers at the blood curdling scream, coming straight from under the bridge...

"KEIGO!"

Mizuiro starts to run down the embankment, but Ichigo grabs onto his shirt collar, stopping him.

"Stop Mizurio, I'll go, you stay here."

"BUT ICHIGO-"

"I'll handle it, stay here, do you understand me? No matter what you hear or see, stay here."

Mizuiro trembles, but stays put as Ichigo speeds off down the embankment, his brain gearing into fight mode.

Could it be something to do with the murders going on in town?

Surely not, no, it must just be that damned Keigo being overly dramatic again.

He probably just tripped and decided to scare the shit out of Ichigo and Mizuiro.

Right?

Ichigo skids to a stop when he reaches the small groove underneath the bridge, his eyes taking in the confusing scene before him.

Keigo is being pressed up against one of the walls by a tall, lanky figure, its long greasy black hair illuminated in the sparse light coming from the moon.

The guy's face is buried in the side of Keigo's neck, gloved hands pinning Keigo's hands above his head so he has no chance to even fight back.

Keigo's wide terrified eyes spot Ichigo, and his lower lip trembles.

"I-Ichi..."

Ichigo doesn't know why, but his feet seem frozen to the spot, only being able to watch the scene playing out in front of him.

Usually, he's more than ready to fight, to swing a few punches, get a few good kicks in.

But this feels...different.

Something in his mind is screaming for him to just fight, get Keigo out of the way and beat the living shit out of this perverted weirdo, but his body isn't co-operating.

The male plastered against Keigo seems to finally notice another presence, glancing back toward's Ichigo.

With a gasp, Ichigo's mouth falls open as he finally get's a look at the man's face.

His pale skin, his dark grey eyes that seem to pierce Ichigo to his very core, and worst of all, the man's wide, piano toothed grin.

His huge teeth are stained red, some of the crimson liquid dripping down his chin and smeared across his thin lips.

Blood...

Blood...

"Ichigo, h-help me!"

Ichigo turns his head to the side, a sudden wave of nausea overwhelming his senses, and he clamps a hand over his mouth to try to stop himself from vomiting.

He shouldn't be able too, not from this distance, but fuck, he can smell it.

No, he can taste it, taste it as if it were dripping on his own tongue.

It's sickly sweet, and something hidden deep down in him stirs, something that enjoys the taste, that wants more.

The lanky man smirks over at a distressed Ichigo, releasing Keigo's arms, instead pinning him to the wall with a slender hand wrapped around his throat.

Keigo gasps, struggling against the harsh grip.

"I told ya, there's no point in strugglin ya lil runt. And who the fuck is the strawberry, he yer friend?"

Keigo whimpers, the hand on his throat tightening it's grip as the taller male leans down, skimming his long tongue across Keigo's cheek.

As he watches, Ichigo's hand's ball into tight fists.

He has no idea what the fuck is happening right now or why he's feeling like this, but one thing's clear.

He has to step in and stop this freak from hurting Keigo any more.

"Hey, you lanky piece of shit!"

The creepy fucker glances over at him, his lips twisting into a sneer.

"The fuck did ya just say to me, human?"

Human?

He spits the word with such disdain, it makes a cold shiver run up Ichigo's spine.

But it's going to take more than words to make Ichigo back down.

"You heard me! What the fuck are you going to do about it?"

The guy growls angrily, releasing his hold completely on Keigo, who drops to the ground, choking and wheezing.

"Ya sure got some balls for a whiny human, don't ya boy?"

As the stranger slowly strides towards him, Ichigo stands his ground.

He doesn't take a step back, he doesn't run.

He won't back down.

As the distance is closed between them, Ichigo's eyes widen, his blood running cold in his veins.

He could already tell this guy was pretty tall, but shit, he must be at least seven foot, towering over Ichigo.

Ichigo swallows thickly, gearing his body up to fight as adrenaline thumps through his veins.

Once he is within touching distance, Ichigo lunges forward, throwing his fist out toward's the creepy guy's grinning face, but he easily catches it with one hand, tugging Ichigo toward's him.

Ichigo stumbles forward, bumping into the guys surprisingly toned chest.

Before he even has chance to put some distance back between them, he's spun around, one of his arm's pinned roughly behind his back, to the point he can feel the bones creaking painfully beneath his skin.

He has to grit his teeth to stop himself screaming out in pain.

"Come on, ya gotta do better than that if ya wanna keep yer pathetic life."

Ichigo grunts as a wet tongue traces the shell of his ear, warm breath ghosting across his ear.

"Name's Nnoitra, and I wanna hear ya scream it when I start rippin ya apart, pretty boy."

Ichigo's heart hammers against his ribcage, blood pounding furiously in his ears.

Nnoitra's nose brushes against his cheek, then the side of his neck, but he seems to stop there, sniffing at Ichigo's skin curiously.

"What the...what's up with yer smell boy-"

"Stop right there, there will be no more bloodshed from you tonight, vermin."

As relief blossoms in his chest, Ichigo tries to turn around to see the source of the all too welcome female voice, but it only increases the pressure Nnoitra is using on his arm, so he stops.

"For fucks sake, can't a guy jus have a lil fun without you bastards showin up?" Nnoitra grumbles as he leans back, but doesn't release his grip on Ichigo.

"Release the boy and surrender, and we may show you some mercy."

As Nnoitra cackles wildly, Ichigo tries to twist his arm free, grunting with the pain that flares up as he does.

"Oh really? That's real nice of ya slayer, but I'm afraid the only one who's gonna need mercy tonight is YA!"

Ichigo thuds to the dirt ground as he's suddenly released, and scrambles around wondering why.

Nnoitra is a few feet away now, a hand pressed firmly over his left eye, blood leaking freely through his gloved fingers and down his face.

What the...

"YA LITTLE BITCH, THE FUCK HAVE YA DONE TO ME?"

Ichigo stares over at who Nnoitra is screeching at, his eyes finding a short, petite female, dressed in a black, form fitting uniform, her shoulder length raven hair blowing in the slight breeze around them.

She grips a long slender sword in her right hand, dark blood now dripping from the edge of it and onto the dirt ground below.

Nnoitra trembles, his mouth stretched into an enraged sneer.

"FUCK, WHY AIN'T I HEALING? TELL ME WHAT YA DID YA FUCKER!"

The woman narrows her dark lilac eyes back at him.

"Must you use such vile language? I would have thought even your kind would eventually grow to have some manners, but it appears I was wrong. Now, are you going to surrender?"

Nnoitra hisses like a cornered animal, and Ichigo watches on in horror as two of his blood stained front teeth suddenly shift into long, sharp fangs.

"AS IF I'D SURRENDER TO SCUM LIKE YA!"

He spins back towards Ichigo, who scrambles backwards as Nnoitra lunges at him like a wild animal.

He closes his eyes, waiting for the inevitable hard impact and pain, throwing his arms up to try and protect himself.

But it doesn't come.

He opens his eyes, seeing the petite woman now crouched down in front of him, locked between him and Nnoitra.

Ichigo gasps as he see's the gloved hand that's protruding from her back, fresh blood spattering onto the dirt around.

Nnoitra steps back from her, panting heavily as her sword is ripped free of his abdomen.

He swiftly withdraws his own hand from her body, and the woman slumps to the dirt ground, face first.

Ichigo leans over her, putting his hands over the large wound to try to stop the profuse bleeding, turning his face away as the sweet smell once again invades his nostrils, this time much more potent since he's much closer to it.

He desperately will's himself in his head to keep calm, bear through it and keep pressure on the wound, a woman's life is at stake here.

A woman who just put herself in danger to save him.

He glances up at Nnoitra, who is panting heavily and sweating, his other hand now over the wound in his stomach.

Nnoitra growls down at him, before raising his head and sniffing at the night air.

"B-bitch brought friends. L-looks like I gotta go."

He leers down at Ichigo, a manic cackle erupting from his blood stained lips.

"Don't yer worry, I got yer scent now s-strawberry, one way or another, I'm gonna tear ya and yer lil friends limb from limb!"

Ichigo grit's his teeth angrily.

"RUKIA!"

Ichigo turns his head, seeing a heavily tattooed, red haired man, dressed in similar black combat attire to the woman next to him, racing down the grassy embankment.

Ichigo turns back to look at Nnoitra, but the guy's nowhere in sight, like he just vanished into thin air.

The red head races over to them, dropping to his knees next to the still woman.

"RUKIA, RUKIA WHAT HAPPENED!"

The woman groans softly, managing to slowly push herself onto her front and into a sitting position.

"Y-you shouldn't move with a wound like that!" Ichigo shouts at her.

Her steely eyes narrow at him, and his breath catches in his throat.

"Q-Quiet, boy. This is none of your c-concern."

Ichigo frowns down at her, removing his blood smeared hands from her wound when she smacks at them.

He put's them behind his back, not wanting to even look at the red liquid coating them.

The red head reaches into his belt, retrieving a small walkie talkie and holding it up to his mouth.

"Hirako, Rukia's been badly injured, and the Espada's escaped. Return to base and tell Inoue to get ready."

"What, he escaped? Jeez Abarai, you guys are getting real sloppy."

"SHUT UP AND DO AS I SAY!"

"Yeah yeah, don't worry I heard you the first time."

The man turn's his attention to a startled Ichigo, his suspicious eyes looking him up and down.

"Was it just you who saw what happened here tonight?"

Ichigo opens his mouth, about to say yes, when...

"ICHIGO, OH MY GOD I'M BLEEDING, IT'S STILL NOT STOPPING, I THINK I'M DYING!"

Ichigo sighs irritably, pushing himself to his feet and heading over to Keigo.

Keigo is knelt on the dirt ground still, his eyes comically wide as he holds onto the side of his neck.

Ichigo crouches next to him and nudges his hand away, looking at the wound.

Most of the blood is now dried, but some is still leaking out of the two rather small puncture wounds there in tiny beads.

Ichigo licks his suddenly too dry lips, before shaking his head and staring down at the dirt.

"Stop exaggerating for fuck's sake Keigo, you aren't dying."

Keigo gasps, clutching onto Ichigo's hand.

"YOU'RE FULL OF BLOOD TOO, DID HE GET YOU?"

"Well no, I-"

"He's been bitten?"

Ichigo glances up, the heavily tattooed red head looming over him, the wounded woman scooped up in his arms.

"If he's been bitten and not drained, there's a chance he could turn. And since you both witnessed this, you'll have to come with me too."

Ichigo raises an eyebrow.

"And if we don't?"

"Then I'll have to kill you both, here and now."

Keigo whimpers, clutching onto Ichigo's arm harder.

"Fine then, come on Keigo."

"ICHIGO ARE YOU CRAZY, WHO EVEN ARE THESE PEOPLE!"

Ichigo loops Keigo's arm over his shoulder, his eyes staring off at the other side of the embankment.

This guy obviously doesn't know about Mizurio, so he'll keep his mouth shut.

Chances are he didn't see any of this, so there'd be no point dragging him into this anyway.

"Both of you, follow me, and be quick about it. The more time we spend dawdling, the more chance there is we'll be spotted."

Ichigo nods, following the man up the other side of the embankment and into the night.

He glances over his shoulder just once, but there's no sign of Mizuiro or that Nnoitra guy.

"FUCK FUCK, FUCK!"

Nnoitra writhes around on the steel medical chair, his hand clamped over his still injured eye.

Another male, stood next to the chair and typing into a sleek silver computer glances over at him, reaches a white gloved hand up to move a stray strand of bright pink hair from his face.

"Please refrain from using such vile language in my medical bay, Nnoitra."

"FUCK YOU SZAYEL, WHY AIN'T IT HEALED ALREADY? DO YER FUCKIN JOB RIGHT AND THEN YA CAN TELL ME TO SHUT THE FUCK UP, YA PINK HAIRED BASTARD!"

Szayel huffs, turning his gaze away from the computer, leaning over Nnoitra.

"How can I put this delicately...well, it seems the slayer who wounded you coated their blade in some kind of poison that is stopping your vampire cells from regenerating the damaged tissue. That is also why the wound in your abdomen has had to be stitched. It is healing but very slowly, unlike your eye wound, due to the poison being concentrated on the first wound. So I would refrain from exerting yourself too much for now, unless you want your organs to pop out, that is."

Nnoitra growls up at him.

"THEN GET RID OF THE FUCKIN POISON, AIN'T THAT WHAT YA ARE HERE FOR?"

"I'm afraid this is rather advanced, even by my standards. I need time to examine it and create some kind of antidote, until then there is nothing I can do."

"WHAT? ARE YA TELLIN ME MY EYE'S STUCK LIKE THIS!"

"Well yes-"

Nnoitra jumps up from the chair, his slender hands coiling around the startled doctor's neck.

"YA BETTER FIND A WAY RIGHT NOW, OR SO HELP ME-"

"That is enough, Nnoitra, release him at once."

Nnoitra stiffens at the deep, monotone voice, before releasing his grip and turning around.

"Ulquiorra..."

The white skinned, smaller male stood in the doorway steps into the medical bay, his cold emerald eyes locked on Nnoitra.

"Szayel is here to aid us, not to be manhandled, is that understood?"

Nnoitra huffs, but sits back on the medical chair, scratching at his freshly bandaged stomach.

Ulquiorra shoves his slender hands into the pockets of his long white coat as he stares at him.

"You were warned about going out to feed alone, Nnoitra, especially now that an elite group of slayers has been deployed in this town. If you had been captured, they could have managed to get some information of our Lord out of you. I suggest you think next time before doing something so reckless."

Nnoitra nods silently, leaning back in the chair as Ulquiorra turns his attention to Szayel.

"For the time being, give Nnoitra an eye patch to cover his wounded eye, and start working on an antidote to this new trick the slayers have decided to use on us."

Szayel bows his head.

"Right away, sir."

Ulquiorra swiftly takes his leave, heading out into another, more darkened room, sitting down on a leather couch and crossing his legs.

There is an identical couch opposite, a muscular, blue haired man lounging on it, headphones blasting out some kind of heavy rock music, his eyes closed as he hums along contentedly.

After waiting a few moments, Ulquiorra narrows his eyes and gets back to his feet, moving over to the other couch and using a hand to push off the headphones.

The blue haired man grunts, his ocean blue eyes flickering open.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Ulquiorra towers over him, not in the slightest bit perturbed.

"The question is, what are you doing, Grimmjow?"

"Huh?"

"One of our own could have just been captured and killed by slayers, and you are lounging around listening to music as if nothing has happened?"

Grimmjow rolls his eyes, putting his hands behind his head.

"That's the dickheads own fault for not listening, I don't give a fuck about him."

"You should. We are the only vampires who have knowledge of Lord Aizen and his whereabouts. We cannot afford to end up in the hands of our enemy, for all of our kinds sakes."

"Jeez, shouldn't you be spending your precious time bitchin at Nnoitra instead of me?"

Ulquiorra narrows his eyes down at him.

"No, I shouldn't. The only reason the Slayers managed to track our clan down to this town in the first place is because you did not clean up properly after your meals. What were you thinking, leaving them out in the street for other humans to discover?"

Grimmjow doesn't reply, smirking coyly up at Ulquiorra.

"Unless...you did this on purpose."

Grimmjow's smirk turns into a full blown grin, his cyan eyes taking on a maniac glint.

"Took you a while to catch on there."

Ulquiorra hisses, grabbing onto the collar of Grimmjow's black leather jacket and tugging the bigger male to his feet.

"You damned fool! Why would you put our kind at such unnecessary risk?"

Grimmjow cackles, shoving away Ulquiorra's hand and sneering down at the smaller male.

"Why do you think? It's been a while since I got to sink my teeth into a slayer, and even longer since I found one that's been able to keep up with me."

"You did this out of boredom?"

"Sure did, and looks like I got my wish. Those stupid fuckers have sent an elite group after us, and I'm gonna pick them all off, one by one, like the fucking scum they are."

Ulquiorra sighs, turning away from Grimmjow.

"I should kill you for doing something so reckless."

"I'd like to see you fuckin try," Grimmjow growls heatedly.

Ulquiorra stares over his shoulder at him, his all too calm eyes boring into Grimmjow's blood thirsty ones.

With a snort, Ulquiorra shoves his hands into his pockets, starting to leave the room.

"No, I will leave that to Lord Aizen. I am sure once he finds out about this he will want to handle such disobedience to our cause with his own bare hands."

Grimmjow narrow's his eyes as he watches Ulquiorra leave, giving his back the middle finger.

I actually wrote this a while ago now, and I waited to upload it because I wasn't sure I would want to continue it, so I left it on my computer. But I recently read it again and decided yep, this is definitely a good old blood thirsty story I can sink my teeth into and continue with, so here you guys go, the first chapter of it done and dusted!

Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!