Ken: DigimonDragonLady does not own Digimon.

Dragon Lady: He's right unfortunately. Listen to the muse.

Ken: So this is a continuation of your vampire fic?

Dragon Lady: That's right. ^_^

Ken: Cool. I'm still in this right?

Dragon Lady: Um…amazingly this story doesn't have much to do with you…

Ken: !!!!

Dragon Lady: Sorry, but Daisuke was a vampire for a century before you came, so you couldn't really have anything to do with his past now could you?

Ken: …I guess not.

Dragon Lady: I'm sorry Ken-chan. *pats muse on the shoulder* I'll make it up to you in my next fic, I promise.

Ken: *narrows eyes suspiciously* Why? What else have you done to this story?

Dragon Lady: *tugs nervously at collar* ^^;

Ken: *glares* What did you do?!

Dragon Lady: Um…I guess you'll just have to read and find out…

Ken: I don't like the sound of that…

Dragon Lady: Oh yeah, and I want to send out a special thanks to Dragonflie and all my other loyal reviewers! Thank you so much!! For everyone reading, this story is a sequel to my first vampire Kensuke "Eternal Damnation", so you're welcome to read this even if you haven't read the first, but it might not make a whole lot of since in the very beginning if you do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So It Begins…

By: DigimonDragonLady

How to start this complex tale? Where to begin? I suppose I should start out by saying that it's been a year since Ken and I have been together now. Ken is murmuring that it hasn't been long enough for him. He's here with me now, reading over my shoulder and absorbing every word that I type. Ken is always close to me, not that I really mind, but sometimes I joke about it and tell him that if I had wanted an inseparable, black shadow I would have just gotten myself a dog.

Ken is my pride and my shame. I love him more than anything in the world, but I hate knowing that it shouldn't have been this way, that things should have been different…for both of us. And not for the first time I curse the evil that caused this. But I do have to give Ken some credit, he's adjusted to his change very well, it took me a long time to get over mine, and even then there are still days when I am continuously brooding over it.

Ken's always telling me that he isn't sorry for his new life, he hates that there is always something infinitely sad in my eyes every time that I look at him, but he knows that I don't believe him. Its been a living hell for me. Or maybe I should say an unloving hell…

Ken hates it when I talk this way and fall into one of my "states of total depression" as he puts it, but I can't help it when I know what I'm about to write. I can feel his strong hands reassuringly rub my stiff shoulders and tease them into relaxation, with that accomplished he runs his finger tips lightly down my arms. He briefly caresses my chest before draping the upper half of his body over the back of the office chair and myself. His shoulder length, raven black hair sweeps forward over his face, gently teasing my skin as he trails soft, seductive kisses down my neck and works his skilled hands lower down my body…

Okay…okay, that's enough now. I rebuff Ken's advances and he pouts in that childishly cute way of his. As much as I love being with him…Tonight there will be no distractions. I am bound and determined to finish this tale before the dawn comes.

It was Ken who first brought it to my attention the previous night that I had never explained to him the events that brought about my own change and my transformation into one of the undead. It hurts to think about it, but its unavoidable, this is something that must be known. I make it a priority to write and record a story record of all my vampire cases, so I suppose its only fair that I disclose my own. Maybe after hearing my story you will understand why I so mourn Ken's change. So it begins…

* * *

I was taking a basic law course at the University of Manhattan while at the same time studying as an assistant under an investigator on the Manhattan police force. It wasn't easy keeping up with my job and my studies, but somehow I always managed to cope. The job didn't pay much because I was only in training and not much use to the department of yet, but what little money I did get out of it went towards my classes and to paying for my small, closet-sized apartment. I didn't have cash for many extra luxuries, I ate when I could afford to, my "bed" wasn't more than a mattress on the hardwood floor; shabby was my life.

It was early evening, but the sun had already shed the last of its golden rays before sinking down into the horizon and surrendering itself to the coming night. There was a cool breeze that swept along the street, blowing the days discarded newspapers across the dingy, gray sidewalks. I was on my way home to my apartment from the University, wondering how I could dodge the eviction I was sure was coming as I hadn't paid the rent for several months, when I heard a voice shouting my name.

My heart leapt up into my throat as I spun around to see Takeru Takaishi speeding towards me. "Hey Daisuke," he panted when he reached me.

"Hello Takeru," I responded, friendly enough, but my voice came out sounding gruff and harsh; it must be the job that makes me like that. It didn't seem to bother Takeru though, maybe he realized that it was just in my nature.

"I was on my way to visit Taichi and Hikari and then I saw you walking along. I thought maybe I should invite you to come with me, we haven't seen a lot of you lately…"

That was true, I hadn't had a lot of time for my friends for the last few weeks. Regretfully it was still true now. I sighed. "I'm really sorry Takeru, as much as I'd love to go with you I have to hit the books tonight."

"Oh…well that's okay…" he didn't seem to be able to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "What are you doing on this side of town anyway?" he asked taking a look around us at the crumbling buildings with their paint peeling and the windows all filmed over with dust and grime. Welcome to my life Takeru I thought bitterly. "Are you on an errand for work or something? No offense but this place scares me…"

"Yeah, it scares me too, and I'm the one that lives here. You get used to it though. I did."

He blinked and took another look at the surrounding area. "You live here? Oh, I didn't know…but these apartments aren't much bigger than matchboxes…I mean…sorry."

"That's all right," I shrugged casually. I had never told my friends where I lived or explained about my living conditions. They were better off than me, having come from more money, but I didn't have any family left to turn to. "I just can't afford any more than this on the salary I make now." I can imagine the far away look my eyes must have gotten just then. "Someday though, I'll be a real private investigator. Someday…"

"Of course you will Daisuke, you'll be the greatest." Takeru smiled that heart warming smile of his and I could almost feel myself melt into a puddle of slush on the street. I was certainly glad of my dark, tanned skin at that moment as it concealed my blush nicely. Takeru had real faith in me; and it wasn't just Takeru that did, all my friends were very supportive, but Takeru's faith really meant a great deal to me.

I think that's what I loved best about Takeru, his innocent, child-like faith and hope for the best. I don't think there has ever been a single moment in his life that Takeru has ever lost his hope.

I have a really good group of friends. I hung out with Taichi, Takeru, Yamato, who was Takeru's brother, and Hikari, sister of Taichi. But it was mainly Takeru and Hikari with whom I was always with. Everyone, including Hikari herself, thought I was head over heels in love with her. But I wasn't.

Don't get me wrong, you couldn't ask for a sweeter girl or a better friend, but I just didn't think about her in that way. My heart belonged to another. One Takeru Takaishi as you might have guessed. I figured that he had to at least be bi, there was no way the guy could have been straight, but he never seemed to be interested in me. Maybe he just didn't know that I thought about him that way, I don't know. Anyway, he didn't appear to be interested in me. But hey, a guy can still dream can't he?

All those times people thought that I was dreaming mindlessly over Hikari and being such a show off so that she would pay attention to me, in reality it was Takeru who I fantasized over and Takeru whom I wanted to notice me. I admit though to using Hikari several times, flirting with her to make Takeru jealous. But it never seemed to work…

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" he asked.

That snapped me out of my reverie. "Yeah…I can't, I have a big exam coming up and I need to be prepared for it."

"Well, all right…But I think you work too hard Daisuke."

"I have to Takeru. I want to get further than this in my life," I gestured at our present surroundings. "All I need is one case. Just one really big case and I can finally get my name out there."

"I hope it comes for you soon Daisuke," Takeru smiled again. "Well, I guess I should get going now…"

"Yeah…" I agreed. Was it my imagination or did it always come down to this kind of awkward parting when Takeru and I were together? With both of us being reluctant to leave the company of the other.

"Yeah…" Takeru was nodding, but neither one of us had done anymore, or said anymore than that. He didn't take any step in the opposite direction and I remained glued to my spot.

Maybe I had to make the first move to have any sort of relationship with him? Normally I would have already done so by now, but I was so scared of loosing his friendship, which was just about all that I had that was good in life. What if he didn't feel the same way about me? I really was such a coward…

So I gathered up my courage. "Hey Takeru…" He looked up at me with those big, blue eyes of his, so deep that you could almost drown in them and never want to surface. And there my courage failed me. Deflated like balloon. "I've really got to go now…I'll see you around I guess…"

"Oh sure," he sounded surprised, as if he had been expecting something else. Well, I had been expecting to tell him something else. "…Bye Daisuke."

I turned around and began walking quickly away from him. Yeah, I really was a huge coward…

* * *

When I stumbled into the police station Monday morning to begin my shift I was surprised to find the place hoping with unusual activity. I blearily rubbed my eyes and attempted to bring it all into focus, I just wasn't awake in the morning until I had that first strong cup of coffee.

People were running around in every direction, there were several men with note pads who appeared to be news paper reporters. Now that was curious. Something big must be going down, I thought. I made my way through all the mess and confusion to the private office of Koushiro Izzumi.

Koushiro was a great man, really smart, a top detective, he could have made much more money from specialized clients if he branched out on his own, not that he didn't make a good amount already, but he chose to remain with the police force, for which they were grateful because I doubt they could have ever found somebody else as good as Koushiro. He was one of the best there was and I was privileged to be learning from him.

Koushiro looked up as I entered the office, nodded his "good morning" greeting and then returned to pouring over the contents of a yellow police envelope and I knew then that whatever it was he had just gotten this new case. That excited me. When he finally looked up he seemed very disturbed.

"Something bad?"

"Whatever it is it's not good," he replied thoughtfully.

"What's going down?"

"You see these?" he spread out about five or six manila folders in front of me and I nodded. "Six people, six different reports. Five missing persons and one found dead after having been reported missing."

I blinked. All that in one night? "And even though I'm sure that it's there I haven't found anything at all that could connect any of them. One University girl, two men from a local bar, an office worker from the bank and an old, retired man."

"So…which one is dead?"

"The eighty year old man who has been identified as one Joseph Barlow from the downtown district." He leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I just don't understand it."

"Kidnappings right?"

"But for what purpose Daisuke is what I haven't been able to find." He threw up his hands in exasperation. "There's been no ransom…and I can't find a single connection! There's nothing to tie these people!" I remained silent. "All of them were reported missing between the hours of seven p.m. and four a.m. That's all there is to it!"

I'm sure you'll find it." I had complete faith that if these sudden "disappearances" were indeed connected that Koushiro would be the one to figure out the missing link. He only made a "hmph" noise. "So then what are we going to do about it?"

"Right now…we're going to take a ride and go get the coroner's report on the results of the autopsy they preformed on our friend old man Barlow."

I groaned and Koushiro chuckled. Dead people…and people who worked with dead people…creeped me out. But I nodded my understanding as Koushiro grabbed his coat and hat off the rack and then proceeded to follow him out the door.

"What do you think Motomiya, are we all going to be doing a lot of over time soon?" he joked as we walked out into the madness that was the front office and were immediately assailed by the newspaper reporters and press figures.

* * *

I shifted uneasily as the police coroner Jaxom Benson gave Koushiro the autopsy report. I starred at the metal gurney which held the body of one Joseph Barlow, he was partially covered by a white sheet. Just looking at his cold, pale face made me shiver. Dead people really creeped me out. So did Jaxom Benson for that matter, it was hard to tell the difference between him and the stiffs that he worked with. I tried to take my mind off the body and turned my full attention back to Benson, boring as that was.

Oh great, now he was going to show the body to Koushiro and I was forced to watch and suffer. "You see here there are strangulation marks around his neck and the neck itself has been snapped and broken. There are several skull fractures and a few cracked ribs. But the most bizarre thing of all is…there's barely a drop of blood left in his body…"

"What?!" I looked up at him. "How can that be?"

"I'm not sure, its quite the mystery. There are no open wounds on him, only a small circular rash on his neck," Benson replied to my shock as if he were bored of the whole interview and found the fact that his patient stiff was blood drained before he even got near him no more interesting than a story on the evening news.

"Thanks for your help Jaxom," Koushiro shut the file folder containing the official autopsy report. "I don't know if this will give me any new lead but I'll certainly look into it."

Benson merely nodded in response.

As Koushiro got back in the car I asked him what he thought our next move should be.

"I'm not entirely sure," he replied carefully, but I could tell that an idea was formulating in his clever mind. "But I know that right now I'm bored out of my mind because of old Benson back there, and if you're not bored already, which would seem impossible after all of that, you soon will be."

"Oh?" I raised a curious eyebrow…it was a habit I had gotten myself into. "Why's that?"

He grinned devilishly at me. "Your University class starts in half an hour." I groaned and put my head in my hands and he merely laughed as he started up the car and proceeded to give me a lift to the school.

* * *

That night I had dinner with Taichi, Hikari, Takeru and Yamato. It was a nice pleasant evening at the Yagami house. After a good dinner when we all retired to the sitting room I told them about the new case over a bottle of wine. They were all very interested in it.

"I knew the girl who went to the University. She was really popular around there. Her name was Mimi Tachikawa. She was a good student, and a very intelligent person, but you wouldn't guess that by looking at her," Hikari told me. "She was male crazy and a real wild party type person."

"See now, a girl like that could be anywhere…ditching classes with some new boy toy, or at some new club…" I sighed in exasperation. "This really is hopeless."

"…How involved are you in all this Daisuke?" Takeru asked quietly.

"Not very…" I admitted.

"That's good." He looked down and I couldn't for the life of me tell what he was thinking. "I worry about you every time you're out there on some case with Koushiro, Dai. Its not safe."

"It's never been safe," I smiled. It was nice to know that he cared about what happened to me. "That's what I like about the job, the danger…the suspense…The thrill." Takeru looked up at me sharply.

"This isn't some game Daisuke! You could get yourself killed!"

"Relax Takeru, I take my job very seriously. You know me, I'll be careful. I'll be fine. Nobody has yet to get the best of Motomiya Daisuke!"

Everyone exchanged nervous glances and I wondered, not for the first time that evening, whey they were acting so strangely and being so concerned now. Takeru was practically coming unglued. Over some missing persons cases, I'd had a lot more dangerous assignments while working with Koushiro. A couple of times that evening during dinner I'd caught him watching me with something of despair and longing in his eyes. But that was just too strange…it must be my imagination again.

Taichi shot Takeru a look of concern and then looked me straight in the eyes. I'd never seen him more serious in his life. "Just…keep it that way Daisuke."

* * *

When I walked into Koushiro's office early the next day his chair was not turned to the door, but instead was facing towards the window and out on the city view. This was not an unusual behavior of Koushiro's. He often took in the sights of the city streets when trying to solve some problem, so I didn't think anything of it. And I was pretty sure after the way he had acted yesterday at the coroner's that he had found himself a lead.

"So what's on the day's agenda boss?" I queried jokingly. I didn't get any answer. Funny, maybe he was thinking so hard he hadn't heard me. "Koushiro, Earth to Koushiro." Still no response. "Boss, is something wrong?"

I crossed behind the desk to talk to him where I could see him. When I got there and saw him I dropped my coffee cup and it shattered into a million pieces on the wood floor. Sitting in his chair Koushiro had a look of unspeakable horror on his face. Protruding from his chest was a huge shaft of wood. There was a fancy envelope tucked into his hand and when I removed it another loose piece of scrap paper floated down with it.

I read the smaller of the two first. It was written in a scratchy, scarlet ink that I took to be dried blood. It nearly made me sick.