Ichirou snarled at his twin, his mirror image, face twisted and distorted with fury. His hands shook at his side as he struggled to stand in the thick fog that surrounded the two brothers.

"I HATE YOU! I've NEVER cared about you. You're weak – you've taken everything from me! This was YOUR fault! You should have been born the weaker one. You were supposed to protect me! You stole my strength, my parents – EVERYTHING! They only wanted you because you were strong. You took everything from me! You're just a monster – a pathetic mutt hiding under my brother's skin!" Ichirou paused for breath, lowering his head. "You don't deserve to live."

He raised his hand, a sword coalescing into it from the mist that surrounded them. He rushed towards Zero, before raising the sword to swing at his neck, only for it to vanish and Ichirou to stagger back a step as invisible claws ripped through his chest. He looked at Zero for a moment, while teeth tore open his shoulder. He reached up towards the wound with a stunned look on his face.

"Brother… How could you?"

The dream shifted then. Zero towered over Ichirou, who stood in the door to the room where their parent's bodies lay. Tears ran down Ichirou's face as he looked up at Zero before he asked "Brother… why?"

Zero gasped for breath, sitting up on his bed as he fought off the effects of the vivid nightmare. The sun was still below the horizon, but the LED lights on the alarm clock told him it was only a few minutes past five AM. Three months (He could almost taste the blood) had passed since the Rido Incident, and each night had been a bombardment of nightmares featuring Ichirou as the main character. The new nightmare had blended into his old ones from after his parents deaths, although in truth Ichirou's death had been more upsetting then theirs. Despite his brother having enjoyed the screams of their parents and leaving with the woman who had killed them, (leaving him alone, so cold, hurts-) if Zero tried to say that he didn't miss his brother it would be a lie. He had felt more grief and pain at the death of his counterpart (his broken mirror, jagged and shattered and bleeding nonono-) than his parents – perhaps because Ichirou had been the last living member of his family and he'd (Don't leave me!) killed him.

By now, he'd forgiven Ichirou (just a monster, but aren't we all?) for his parents deaths (can't hate him, he's my-) even understood why he'd done it, that feeling of worthlessness and envy and hatehatehatehate-

(…why, you ask?)

(…you're weak ….)

(…nii-chan…)

(…Idon'twanttodie…)

Pain flared from the binding that was etched into his neck, causing him to roll form his bed to the floor as he curled into a ball. He fumbled at the bedside table, feeling for the small tin box of pills that would cause this pain to subside, if only for a little while. He felt his leg slam against the wall, as he managed to grab the box and shake two pills in to his hand. He brought his trembling hand to his mouth, barely avoiding biting down on it when he forced himself to dry swallow the pills. He clamped one hand to glowing runes on his neck and snarled in pain as he continued to convulse on the floor. This was one of the worst attacks he'd had since Rido.

After 20 or so minutes of spasms and snarling, the pills took effect and he hauled himself to his knees. He was sweating heavily, and felt more than a little nauseous. Zero pulled himself upright, swaying unsteadily as he made his way into the bathroom to take a shower. He paused to turn on the stereo, hopefully reassuring the elderly lady that lived next door that he hadn't died. She was aware of his seizures, but he'd convinced her it was just epilepsy and she had no reason to worry. She was often over with tea and biscuits, along with tales of her grandchildren, her cats and Mrs. Cynthia-across-the-road's affair. She meant well, and the biscuits were nice.

Hell would freeze over before he touched that tea. What was so wrong with coffee, anyway?

Zero stumbled when his cell phone rung shrilly as he returned to the room after finishing his shower, erasing the traces of his recent episode of bloodlust. He cursed as he banged his shin against the table in his rush to pick up before he missed the caller – Kaito, by the sound of the ringtone.

"Zero."
"Sure. N-Yeah. I'll meet you at the association."
He hung up on Kaito and sighed. This was just what he needed. His morning had started off with a nightmare about his little brother, been followed by an attack of blood lust and would now continue with a meeting with The Idiot, also known as Cross. Brilliant – no really, this was the best day he could have imagined.

If you believed that, he just happened to have a bridge in Brooklyn that was up for sale.

He idly wondered if he could 'forget' the meeting and just go back to sleep. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.

The association headquarters, Zero thought, were an architectural abomination.

It was a large, Gothic cathedral which dominated the skyline and towered over the homes and businesses around it. Hunters moved about their daily lives with little fear of discovery in this town – it wasn't uncommon to see people armed to the teeth headed into the cathedral while people walked past in casual clothes carrying nothing but their shopping. Children played tag and Hunt the Vampire in the streets while the few elderly hunters kept an eye on the children and gossiped with one another. Cross Academy was less than half an hour's drive away, while the rest of the world believed it to be a small religious commune. A few outlying farms and the docks stood outside the walls, but there was only two roads leading to the commune – one to the academy and one to the nearby city where Zero was currently renting his apartment.

He walked slowly down the street, peering into the window displays and loitering on corners as he tried to stall his meeting for as long as possible. Honestly, he hadn't really had any good luck for quite some time (unless you counted that as not dying.) Maybe he should consider the possible truth behind those quiet mentions of his curse among the Vampire Hunter's Association rookies. He certainly tended to be unlucky – Ichirou, Rido, this morning's debacle… the list went on. He walked across the last intersection between him and the cathedral before slowly walking up the stairs.

Kaito sauntered out from the shadows behind the churches façade, looking somewhat irked. This suited Zero perfectly – he was in a bad mood, so he'd go out of his way to ensure that he spread the misery around as much as possible.

"Took your time, didn't you? I was beginning to wonder if you'd even show up. C'mon, our so-called president is inside waiting on you." Kaito smirked at Zero, ignoring his glare with the ease of long practice. "So…. Why were you late? Ran into a pretty lady?"

Zero scowled at him. "Let's get this over with. The sooner we're done with this, the sooner I can go back to sleep. Just give me my target so I can go."

"Not in the mood to see old friends, are you Zero? So impatient… I came all this way to see you and you won't even talk to me. Master Yagari has your mission, but seeing as I'm bored and you've been so cruel to me… why, I think I'll walk you up there, Zero. Come along now, we mustn't keep Master Yagari waiting… Cross is up there with him, and I don't want to be the one to clean up that mess."

Neither I nor my Beta, Higitsune own Vampire Knight or Hellsing. Higitsune does, however regularly loan me the anime.

Please read and review.

please review if you review I will up date even faster and my Beta will edit faster meaning faster story for you.

Alucard should turn up in Chapie 3-4 oh and any suggestions on pairings are welcome I haven't decided

:)

Catriona-Yagri