March 26, 2020 Update: Hi everyone! Although this story is several years old, please know that I still sincerely appreciate you for reading it. I would love to reply to every reviewer; however, many are done as guests so I'm unable to. Sad panda! I want you to know I take everything you say into consideration and thank you for not only reading but giving me your opinion on the chapter/story as well! Also, please hang in there when it comes to Zero, especially at the beginning of the story. I promise I don't hate him! And he definitely gets better throughout the story and throughout The Vampire Queen. Thank you so very much! Love - Kezzi.

A/N: This story is loosely based off of the manga. You will notice trace elements/scenes of the manga as well as original content. You will also notice the characters having similar personality traits from the manga as well as out-of-character traits.

I am rating this M/MA for violence, language and sexual themes.

Disclaimer: Vampire Knight is owned by Matsuri Hino.

A scream shattered the still night. His head snapped up, looking at the direction the shrill sound escaped from. Heart hammering away against his chest in fear of what could have happened, he threw the half dead man to the ground and started to run. Run as fast as his legs would allow him. Blood, tainted blood, dripped from his fingers and into the crisp snow as he rushed onward.

"Protect her."

He had been so preoccupied with destroying everything in his view that his one and only goal in life had unknowingly escaped his awareness. It wasn't unexpected, the attack. That sorry excuse of a man, with his dozens of followers, had littered their home's courtyard with their malignant presence. That man's intentions were clear. He had come to take what wasn't his.

What was he to do? Let that wretch take what rightfully belonged to him? Not if his life depended on it. He did what had to be done, which was to hold his ground and attack back with the intent to destroy. And destroy he did. The men that had followed that idiot still littered the courtyard; however, they were no longer whole. The earth was bathed in their poisoned life source. Limbs were scattered about, flesh torn, heads separated.

He would do anything to protect what was his. He would damn himself a million times over; darken and consume any and all, regardless if they were pure and innocent or darkened and evil. But what good did that do him now, if the fear that had suddenly clenched his heart said anything of the situation? What if he was too consumed with the desire to destroy the threat that he ended up being the cause of his own loss? A scream. She would not scream unless there was a reason to. And what if he made it to her, but made it too late? What good would his intentions be then?

So he pushed himself further, faster, noticing two pairs of tracks in the snow already. The small, frantic steps that were placed in fear by his one and only; the large, hungry steps of the tainted monster. No, he couldn't be too late. He wouldn't allow that. He would make it on time and when he did, whoever it was would regret even thinking of being in the same presence as his beloved.

He ran from the mansion, through a small trail leading through a wooded area until he broke into a clearing. The world around him was coated in the cleanest and purest of whites. Snow topped the trees, swallowing and coating any darkness that attempted to show itself. Hilled trees cocooned the opening, closing it off from the outside world. With the exception of the footprints, the ground was unmarred and whole. And in the center of the defoliated area was the reason for his existence. His one and only, wide-eyed with panic sprawled across her angelic face, tears streaming down her soft cheeks.

And the cause of her panic and fear? The reason she trembled and struggled? A lowly creature. A contemptuous monster who emitted a sickening scent of desire. His hands restraining his prey, mouth snarling and spittle flying from his mouth into her hair and coat. Head lowering slowly as he licked lips and opened his mouth to show his yellowed fangs. He pushed her down into the snow and held her hands above her head with one hand as the other pulled her head sharply to the side by her hair.

It seemed like he watched for hours, rooted to his spot as he stared at the delusional man threatening to devour his love. The fear that had pushed him to reach this point had frozen him solid with shock at the sight of her in this position. In reality, it was but a fraction of a second. A moment that would be forever embedded into his soul.

He snapped out of his stupor quickly as renewed rage billowed throughout his body, needing a release. He growled loudly, his lips curling to reveal his own set of white and pristine fangs. The man, at hearing the growl several yards behind him, stopped in his descent to his meal to look over his shoulder. He let his prize go and crouched quickly with his arms bent and ready to tackle the intrusion.

The girl whimpered in fear and scooted back when her attacker's attention was no longer on her. She looked around frantically for somewhere to hide, but being in the middle of an open sea of snow held no cover. Her eyes darted quickly back to the creature who was intent on stealing her life from her, and then quickly at the man that interrupted her sure death.

From his peripheral view, he saw her looking around for a way to escape, but he kept his gaze on the animal in front of her. He thought it unnecessary for her to try and hide at this point, for he was going to destroy the thing that threatened her. Truth be told, though, he did not want her to see him this way. He was losing control over his emotions.

First, that idiot showed up to their home and threatened her life in front of him, Haruka and Juri. Then this low life dared to lay a hand on her. So close. So close to losing her forever if he hadn't heard her scream. If he hadn't run to her as fast as he could, if he was but a minute late, it would have been too late.

Red flashed over his vision. He would not lose her, especially not like this. He snarled again and sprinted forward to kill the creature in between him and what was his. The man rushed him in response, not knowing that he would already have been dead if he wasn't feeling the need to inflict pain upon him first.

With a scream of rage, he slashed out at the scum across his throat. The parasite stumbled and lost his footing, falling to his knees and grabbing at his open wound as blood trickled through his fingers, shock evident on his face. It was inevitable that he would die soon, but it wasn't enough. He had to suffer more. He raised his arm up again, ready to strike at the bleeding man once again. He heard a soft gasp ahead of him and he looked up to see his lovely girl staring at him with wide eyes. New tears glistened on her cheeks and rolled off her jaw to meet the hardened snow.

"Protect her."

Yes, she was the only thing for him on this earth. Even if he had to turn into a monster, a bigger monster than he already was, even if she ended up hating him as a result of it, as long as she was safe, he would do whatever was needed.

He lashed out again at the man kneeling in front of him who was coughing and sputtering on his own blood. His hardened and elongated nails scored the man across his face, creating deep gashes along his eye, across his nose and trailing off on his opposite cheek. New blood spurted from the wounds and the man tried to screech in pain, grabbing at his face with one hand as the other held on to his throat. He knelt further, losing his balance and landing face first into the compacted snow.

He wanted to hurt this creature more. He wanted to lash out repeatedly and tear him apart, separate his limbs and throw them across the field. He wanted to keep him close to death to prolong his pain and burn him from the inside out. Yet hearing the soft panting of the girl in front of him, smelling her fear leak through her pores, brought him back to his senses and allowed him to control and reign in his anger.

Instead, it was replaced with love and concern. The need to take her away from the sights her eyes refused her to rest from. To shower her with tender kisses to make her forget everything that happened that evening. To replace the fear and sorrow she felt with happiness and joy.

He raised his hand to his mouth slowly and let his tongue dart out to dab at the blood staining his skin. The taste of it sickened him. Not because it was blood, but because it was infected and polluted. He quickly flicked his hand down and away, spattering the blood and tinging the snow a hue of pink.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he walked to his love and offered her his other hand. Though it too was covered in blood, it wasn't as bad as his other. He watched her look up at him and stare into his eyes with confusion and wonder, tears brimming along her bottom lashes. He knelt down on one knee in front of her, his hand still outstretched, and gave her a gentle and reassuring smile.

"Protect her." The words resonated through his body and entwined itself with his soul. Yes, he would indeed stop at nothing to ensure she was safe and happy.

She gently raised a small, mitten covered hand and rested it on his bare, larger one. He watched as she looked down at their hands together and then raised her eyes back to his face. His smile became bigger as he nodded an unspoken reassurance to her. He saw her eyes lower to his mouth, transfixed on his smile, when he realized he inadvertently allowed the tip of his fangs to peak through. Her brows knitted in worry and his heart tightened at the sight.

Kaname awoke from his nightmare, bolting upright and clenching his shirt in his fist over his heart. The light sheet that covered him fell forward and pooled across his lap. His heart hammered frantically as he relived that night again. The emotions he felt that day coursing through his body once again all at once. The anger, the fear, the worry; all of it swirled around him and he found it hard to breathe for a few moments.

His left hand came up and covered his face as he lowered his head, causing his long hair to fall over his fingers and cover his eyes. Inhaling and exhaling slowly and deeply, he fought for control over his emotions. He was a Kuran, after all. Kaname Kuran, a pureblood that was always stoic and in control over his emotions and thoughts. Or at least that's how he appeared on the outside.

No one really knew how he was inside his own mind. And though he really was calm and collected most of the time, he had his moments of complete mental chaos that threatened to annihilate his sanity. The one thread that kept it all together was his one and only love: Yuuki. His pure and innocent, lovely Yuuki.

Thoughts of her swirled throughout his mind and replaced the remnants of his nightmare, the same nightmare he had for the past ten years. He wondered what she was doing at that moment, where she was and who she was with, what she was feeling. Was she thinking of him? Did she ever?

Lowering his arms to rest in his lap, he turned and looked at the clock on the bedside table. The arms of the clock were raised and to the side, like a Geisha in a dance suspended in time, portraying it to be a quarter to nine... in the morning. He groaned and covered his face again as he noticed a slice of light shine through the heavy curtains into the darkness of his room, specks of dust dancing lazily through it. A ray of light in the darkness, just like his Yuuki was to him. She was the blazing sun in the ever shadowed world of his.

He threw the sheets to the side and forced himself to stand and enter the attached bathroom to take a shower. He doubted he'd fall back asleep and since he was awake he figured he may as well get some work done. Being a pureblood, regardless of his lack of interest in the political world of vampires, forced him to still do work to obtain a certain level of peace that only someone in his position could do. A council of noblemen, even with their collective power, was still no match to him.

As the water washed over him, his thoughts went back to Yuuki. After that fateful incident ten years ago, with the loss of her parents and everything else in her life because of that stupid man, he had brought her to an old family friend who could raise a human girl properly. It broke his heart to be parted from her, but sacrifices were made for her to live safely and he had to honor that, even if it brought him immense pain to be separated from her.

The man that raised her was a retired vampire hunter, Kaien Cross. Who better to protect his lovely, human Yuuki from vampires than a fellow human vampire hunter? If he were honest with himself, he would have much preferred to keep her locked away and hidden from the world. To only have him as her world, but he couldn't do that to her.

She was a light-hearted free spirit that needed the sun and the compassion of her friends around her. How he loved to see her wings spread and be carefree, yet at the same time how he wished to crush those wings to keep her to himself.

Yuuki was currently in her last year of school at the Cross Academy, as was he. Cross Academy had a Day and Night class, Day being for the humans and Night being for the vampires. None of the humans, with the exception of a few, knew the Night Class members were vampires. They simply thought they were children of wealthy nobles with extenuating circumstances, though that wasn't entirely false.

None of the vampires attending Cross Academy were allowed to drink blood directly from a human. They all respected and followed that rule, though the temptations and desires were certainly there. It was hard to deny the natural instinct of their nature. Like denying a dehydrated man water from a river since it wasn't bottled yet. But they followed the rules, nonetheless, as his word was final and the law. Each of the members, whether having sworn it or not, had complete loyalty and trust in him. He was their King.

He was a king. The king of all vampires on Earth.

Steam from the shower had fogged the bathroom and mirror. He stepped out and wiped at his body carelessly with a towel before wrapping it around his waist. Brushing his hand across the mirror, he tried to clear enough of it to inspect himself.

He never really looked at himself in a mirror before. He wasn't entirely vain, after all, and such things were trivial. This time, he wanted to look at himself from a disconnected point of view. Over the past ten years, after Yuuki was given to Kaien, he had always been there for her, watching her mostly from a distance. He would often visit their household for meetings with Kaien to settle on finalities on the introduction of the Night Class into Kaien's academy. Secretly, he wanted to see Yuuki up close and be able to interact with her in any way possible, but he could never come up with a reason to do so outside of his meetings with Kaien. Once the school preparations were made and settled, he would be able to see her on a daily basis with the pretense of it being because of school.

So there he was, the extremely old soul of a pureblood in a young man's body, staring at himself in a fogged bathroom mirror to see if he was, what people often referred to, as attractive. Why he was trying to do this himself, he wasn't sure. He had no inkling what made a male physically attractive to the opposite sex. Appeal came in various forms, did it not? He stared at his face, with his reddish-brown eyes; his straight and narrow nose; how his top lip was narrower than his fuller bottom lip; the way his long, straight, deep brown hair covered his eyes and lightly brushed his shoulders. Was he attractive? Who knew? Certainly not him. He shrugged and lowered his head in thought.

He hoped that Yuuki found him attractive. He had done his best to protect her and make her happy but what if that wasn't enough for her? Did she notice him as a man? Did she have thoughts of him, pure or impure? He wondered what it would be like to kiss her lips, to feel her soft touch and hear her heart pounding against his chest. What it would be like to feel her warm breath against his neck and the moans of pleasure to escape her lips.

The towel around his waist loosened and fell as the intrusion of his suddenly hardened member disturbed the harmony of the towel's original placement. He groaned in frustration as he turned back to the shower and put the water on cold, letting it spray over his heated flesh.

Lately, his thoughts kept going around in circles with these unanswered questions. As a man who had always been confident in his abilities and secure with his esteem in his powers and capabilities to plan and manipulate things, to be suddenly unsure and self-conscious when it came to Yuuki's feeling for him as a man made him feel uneasy and angry.

More importantly, what if she didn't view him as a potential mate but instead just as an older brother figure, a savior from her attack ten years ago? Even worse, what if she fancied someone else instead? The thought of her with another man made the control over his emotions and powers crack slightly.

Suddenly, he heard a whining snap as tiles from the shower wall splintered and cracked to create room for the pipe behind it to breakthrough. The spray from the showerhead halted as the water erupted from the broken pipe instead, the pressure making the water smack him in the face, causing him to accidentally swallow and choke on a large portion of water.

He coughed harshly and lowered his head down and away as his hands flew up in front of him to block the spray of water. His throat tightened and his eyes watered, his nose burning from inhaling some of the water. As he reigned in his coughing, he turned his body so his side and back were sprayed instead as he reached to open the shower door to step out.

As he lifted one leg to step over the boundary, another coughing fit hit him. He doubled over, which caused him to lose his balance temporarily and slip against the overabundance of water. Ungracefully, he fell forward and smacked his face against the floor, his arms sprawled out to the sides and his legs up in the air. He laid there a moment, contemplating what he was sure was a ridiculous position to be in and how he got there. After a minute, he let his legs down from their suspended position and moved his head to the side to allow him to breathe easier.

He felt small fibers from the floor mat on his tongue. His right eye and brow hurt fiercely and he knew he had a small cut at his temple, but goodness if he couldn't make himself care at that moment. The cut would heal quickly, the bruising would follow shortly afterward. The one thing that wouldn't mend itself right away was his wandering thoughts of Yuuki with another man and the pain it caused his heart as it constricted in protest.

But if that's what made her happy, he would have to deal with his pain and suffering alone. He would, instead, have to continue to smile at her and support her—protect her. After all, her happiness was all that mattered. He couldn't think of being selfish... right?

He'd have to put these thoughts aside for the moment. Now, he needed to get up and get dressed. Concentrate and do the work he had originally set out to do before the sun set over the horizon and the Night Class attended their shift at the academy.

As he exited his bathroom, still nude and dripping with water, he heard pounding footsteps in the hallway as the door to his bedroom burst open, freezing him in place in the center of his room.

"Lord Ka-na-meeeeee! Are you okaaaay?!" Hanabusa singsonged fervently as he entered the room unannounced. "I smelled your blo—" Upon seeing Kaname standing in the middle of the room, naked and wet, he froze in his place; one hand still on the door handle and a leg still bent in the process of taking the next step. He quickly turned his head aside and averted his eyes as his neck and face flushed a scarlet red. He exited the room just as quickly as he entered, slamming the door behind him.

This is going to be a long day, Kaname thought to himself as he shook his head and walked into his closet to get dressed.

A/N: Any criticism, positive or negative, is welcome.

Thank you for reading.