Addicted to the Hunt: A Vampire Knight Fanfiction

(A/N Yay for the second chapter ^_^ Even though this has had hardly anyone read it so far, I will continue it! Also, unlike the way I would usually write a story, this one will get right into it – I could use a bit of action ;)

I was listening to Faster by Within Temptation when I wrote the fight scene. It got me going ^_^ Check them out, bloody amazing.

Thanks to XxXShikiAndRimaXxX for reviewing – glad you liked your story)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight or Within Temptation. But damn, I'd love Sharon den Adel's voice xD

Chapter 2: Close Quarters

Rima watched the shadows below her intently, her sapphire eyes scanning the gloom for the slightest sign of another presence.

She strained her ears to pick up all the sounds of the forest at midnight, and secretly delighted in the small scurrying of furry creatures and the gentle wind as it blew through the trees.

She turned her eyes to where Shiki should have been, and sure enough, there he was. She could see him quite clearly as he crouched behind a large rock, ready and waiting for any danger. She took in the tight coil of his legs as they anticipated his next move, and couldn't help but appreciate his lithe power.

At that moment, the object of her attention turned to look at her, and she gave the slightest of nods.

She dropped soundlessly from her perch, the air whistling in her ears, and landed on the ground before whipping around to press her back to the gnarled tree trunk.

Rima turned her head to find Shiki already standing next to her, and she was impressed by his speed and silence.

He touched her arm gently and turned to nod at the dark clearing in front of them.

Rima ever so slightly inclined her head, and then flitted to the entrance to the darkness, before dropping to the ground. She wriggled around a little, only to find Shiki was lying right next to her, practically flush against her body. Rima gave absolutely no sign of recognition, but inside she lost concentration for the briefest of seconds.

She could not truthfully deny she that didn't like their proximity.

Shiki put his finger to his lips and made several complicated hand gestures.

Rima rolled her eyes. They were both acting extremely over exaggerated – but after all, they were here to have fun.

She allowed herself a small grin, and completely disregarding Shiki's suggestion of heading around the back of the clearing, she somersaulted over and ran into the dark space.

She crouched down again, and could have laughed at the sight of surprise and annoyance on Shiki's face. His expression softened however when he saw the mischief in her eyes. He gave a coy grin, before he was suddenly on top of her, pinning her down and clamping his hand over her mouth.

"The fair lady will have to wait here so I can save her from the nasty vampire" He said in a hushed tone, amusement uncharacteristically spread over his pale face.

Rima squirmed a little, undeniably comfortable, before biting Shiki's palm with her pearly white fang.

She lifted his hand, and without his consent, pressed his palm to her small mouth.

She slowly licked her pink tongue along the small wound, before gently sucking on it, allowing his blood to overwhelm her taste buds. She licked her lips – he tasted absolutely delicious. Rima licked the last of the blood trickling from the wound, before dropping his hand, which landed in her lap.

Rima looked up at Shiki in mock surprise, and found his eyes ablaze with a crimson fire that would not be easily suppressed. She was attracted to the look in those eyes.

Rima thanked Kaname internally for mentioning the rogue vampire they hunted off-handly this morning. Without that she wouldn't be here in this moment.

Shiki bent over Rima, this time going for her neck. All thoughts of the level E in the clearing with them were chased from his head by the sound of Rima's pulse, steadily beating under his red gaze.

He didn't get that far.

Out of the darkness, a nearly mechanical voice growled at them, filled with hate, sorrow, lust and craving all at the same time.

"You smell… delicious"

It came out in a rasp, and suddenly the rogue was standing over them, gazing at Shiki with desperation in his eyes.

"Shiki, get of me" Rima's voice left room for neither thought nor argument.

He rolled of her, and the two sprinted to meet each other at the other end of the clearing.

They could just make out the figure of the level E who was still standing where they had been lying not two seconds earlier. He didn't appear to be very intelligent – it also didn't seem that he had been a level E for very long.

Shiki sighed: perhaps this wouldn't be as much fun as he had thought.

He recalled lying on top of Rima and realised that this would always be fun.

"What are you?" the former human rasped.

"How can you move so fast? Are you like me? Were you bitten by a – a… what was I bitten by?"

He dropped to the ground and put his head in his hands. "I didn't want to hurt them! I didn't mean to!" He gasped and retched, a silent tear rolling down his face.

Rima looked at Shiki in shock. It seemed that this 'man' has suffered memory loss, probably from the shock of being bitten. It appeared that they would in fact be putting him out of his misery.

"We can help you" Rima said softly, not allowing her pity and disgust to register in her voice.

"We're vampires too." Shiki attempted to console the man before they killed him – he hadn't asked for this fate.

"V-vampires…" The man trailed off, as horror filled his features. He let out a strangled yell as his memories flooded back to him, and he relieved the pain of his transformation.

"Blood, there was so much blood. Why was there so much? There was too much…" He trailed off again, and by this time, Shiki and Rima were both beginning to feel quite disturbed. There was something about this level E that went further than a typical case.

Despite the situation, Shiki felt intense curiosity about this vampire.

"How long ago was it that you were bitten?" He spoke in a flat way, nearly mechanical. He refused to allow his revulsion to betray him.

"Why should I tell… I don't know, weeks, days, not long. What did I do, I'll do anything, just turn me back!"

For the first time, both Shiki and Rima felt the smallest flicker of fear – it would have to have been an extremely powerful pureblood to transform the former human that quickly. Especially if this man was of weaker resolve. The Kiryuu boy had lasted four torturous years, but then, he had previous knowledge of vampires. And he had much stronger willpower than most people…

"Don't worry, you won't feel pain any longer." Rima tensed her muscles, preparing to dart forward and electrify him. She would make it quick and nearly painless, she wished to end his suffering.

"NO!"

Both Rima and Shiki's eyes widened imperceptibly at the sudden outburst.

The level E stood up shakily, and turned his bloody eyes towards them.

"I don't want to die, but you want to kill me. He sent you, didn't he? The pureblood prince!" He spat out the last word, and it was imbued with startling hatred and malcontent.

The two noble vampires exchanged shocked glances. Surely he didn't mean…

"You want to protect him, don't you? In that case, I have to kill you. It's his fault that I'm like this, I have to kill him! I will kill him!"

The crazed man lunged at the pair, both of whom were slow to react.

The man lunged at Shiki first, deeming him to be the largest threat. "You're blood really does smell delicious!" He screamed as he extended his arms to club Shiki around the head.

Shiki dropped to the ground just as Rima sprung into the air, and swept his legs around to knock the vampire of his feet. He crashed to the ground as Shiki leapt out of the way, landing in a crouch a few meters away.

Seeing as the cut on his palm had already healed, he went to bite the tip of his finger again.

He stopped abruptly as Rima landed in front of him, facing the vampire that was now staring at the two with blood lust in his eyes. As he ran towards them, she extended her hands in front of her.

The vampire was unimpressed by this, and foolishly continued to charge at the small red-head.

Lighting the same colour as her eyes darted from her fingertips, striking the level E with devastating force. He was sent flying, howling as he landed in a crumpled heap at the base of some brown leaved trees. Unexpectedly, he immediately jumped up into the air.

Rima stood still, listening to his movement as her travelled through the air.

Abruptly, she span around and bit Shiki on the finger, drawing blood. She flitted away as the rogue landed where she had just been standing.

Shiki gave a small grin, took a step back and began mercilessly attacking the level E with his bloody weapon. He hit him on more than one occasion, but always on the arm or the leg. The vampire was weakening rapidly, and he could predict what he would try to do next.

In desperation, the crazed vampire would begin to slow and circle him, before attempting to overwhelm him by charging at him with near incomprehensible speed.

As the dust from their clash hung in the air, his prey completely stopped his fleeting movement, and cocked his head to one side. He started circling Shiki, who was standing in the middle of the clearing. He made not so much as a sound, and slowly, slowly moved backward.

Comprehension dawned as Shiki lost sight of him completely. Oh shi-

He couldn't sense him. The dust was clogging both his vision and sense of smell. He had no idea where he was.

Out of the murk, he heard an ominous swishing noise, circling the clearing. Shiki realised he had been wrong, this vampire was smart indeed.

By running so quickly around him, his noise was blending, disenabling Shiki to hear his movement.

Shiki was not frightened yet, but he had been presented with a troublesome problem: How did he kill the vampire and avoid injury himself?

Rima still sat atop her perch in the tree, observing Shiki's annoying situation. She smirked to herself – she would just have to save him.

She moved her body, one leg drawn against her chest, the other stretched out along the branch she rested on. Lazily, she allowed one arm to hang past the branch, fingers carelessly dangling down. She smirked again – it was kind of fun to leave Shiki waiting like this.

A sapphire spark popped into existence on her left pointer finger, before it grew into a deadly bolt of lightning. Rima flung curtains of lighting into the clearing, illuminating the area till it was reminiscent of the sun. Blue light shot up into the sky, and the forest was suddenly ablaze with the light of her raw power.

The level E was amazed by such a sight, and Shiki used the opportunity to fatally pierce his chest with his crimson whip. The vampire exploded, and all that was left of him was a pathetically small pile of dust.

Rima landed next to Shiki, and the maroon haired boy looked at her with slight annoyance in his eyes.

"I could have handled that you know."

"Hey, you can't have all the fun yourself"

Without a backwards glance, Rima turned and left the clearing, heading back to the school under the light of the waning moon. She didn't allow herself to think of what the level E had said – that she would save for class tomorrow.

Rima grinned to herself.

She had decided this was fun.

(A/N Well, I like it. What do you think?

Now I'm aware that display of emotion for these two is almost OOC, but it's necessary for their relationship to develop. And yes, I'm also aware that they got pretty damn close this chapter, but I'm too impatient to draw it out xD

What's up with the level E, hmmmmm? Ideas anyone?

Reviews are loved and well cared for. Thanks for reading!

xoxo

nazo no mekiyuu)