The man who stood at the doorway was incredibly pale, his eyes were a burning red, and his hair was the color of moonlight. In his hand was a sword. It's blade was long, thin, and dark. All was still for a moment, then Rina spoke up. "Did you do this?", she screamed.

The man looked at her and then back out toward the city. He didn't say anything when he returned his attention to Rina. "How could you?" Rina was still screaming as tears ran down her face. Then she jump forward at him with her sword swung up. The man quickly blocked. Rina attacked again and again and again, swinging from all sides in a desperate attempt to hit the man in front of her. The man blocked all her attacks with no effort. All the while, Rina was screaming at him.

Syriel was frozen in place watching them. He could see that they were no match for the man's swordsmanship. He tried to look around for somewhere to escape too, but his mind was clouded. Something about the man held his attention. He was somewhat familiar to Syriel.

Rina jumped at him again, and again he blocked. However, this time there was more force put into his block and he pushed Rina down to the ground. He took a step closer to her as she scrambled to get up and kicked her weapon out of her hands.

All thoughts left left Syriel as he ran in front of Rina, causing the man to jump back. No matter what, he had to make sure Rina was safe. He promised her father that, and he owed them for taking care of him. Syriel lifted his sword in preparation. Annoyed red eyes stared intensely at Syriel as the man stepped forward with his sword again.

Syriel blocked the attack and quickly swung back catching the man off guard. He jumped back to avoid Syriel's sword, but not fast enough. The tip of the blade cut into his waist. It was not very deep, but through the hole formed in the man's black shirt a line of crimson blood was forming on his pale, white skin.

His annoyed expression became serious. The man ran back into Syriel and his blade followed him. He swung it gracefully at Syriel with such strength that the dark, haired boy was thrown again one of the houses walls. As Syriel's body hit the wall, his head flung backwards into the bricks as well. As his vision faded the last thing he saw was the glowing red eyes.

Ashi and Kai were running. Blood trickled down from Ashi's forehead. The two children were injured as they ran through the ruined city. The stone covered ground cut into their feet as they desperately tried to escape something.

They ran as fast as they could in and out of ruined buildings until there was nowhere to run to. The city was built right next to a river, a raging river. The boys turned back around, but they couldn't go back. A figure stood before them.

She was tall and well built. Her eyes were completely back and her facial features were twisted in an evil pleasure. She twirled a long, thin tail around her finger. Ashi looked around him. There was nowhere to go. He looked at Kai, scared and not knowing what to do.

Kai stood still, staring at the demon in front of him. She licked her lips with a snake-like tongue. Kai glanced at Ashi, his eyes slowly changing from the piercing green he knew to the glowing red he feared. As Ashi was about to speak, he felt Kai push him back.

Suddenly he was falling. Then, there was pain as he struck the water. And everything faded away.

Syriel open his eyes, gasping for air. He sat up, holding his head, and looked for Rina. She was fighting the man still. Her body was positioned in front of Syriel as she tried to defeat the silver-haired man. She has many shallow cuts, but she didn't seem to look too hurt. Syriel sighed with a feeling of relief and looked back at the man. He stood there with only one injury, the cut from Syriel's blade. He didn't seem to be attacking. He just blocked and pushed back at Rina.

Something was familiar about him. His facial features were not new to Syriel, nor were his eyes, his red eyes. Then Syriel heard a whisper. It was a faint sound, hardly loud enough to make out, "Don't hurt him."

Syriel's eyes widened and he felt his mouth open slightly in shock. "Kai?" he asked. The man suddenly froze midway through swinging his sword. Rina took the opportunity to try to jump in for another attack, but Syriel stopped her.

With Rina glaring at him in confusion and anger, Syriel asked again, "Are you Kai?".

The man's eyes softened and he straightened himself. "Who are you?" he asked, speaking for the first time.

"My name is Syriel Rayurol and this is Rina Williams", Syriel said gesturing at the appropriate person. Rina stood there, with her sword still in her hands. She was glaring at both of the boys now. "What's your name?"

"I am Kaileon Nightchild", he said, and then he sheathed his sword. Syriel did the same. "How do you know Kai?" His eyes were narrowed and hard as he stared at Syriel. His whole presence demanded an explanation.

"First, why did you attack this town?", Rina asked. Her voice was filled with hatred. She lifted her sword to point it directly at the man.

"You are mistaken. That wasn't me." Kaileon explained. "I was following a demon around, hoping to end his life. However, a couple of days ago I lost him. I tracked him to here, but it seems that not only did I lose him again, he was able to cause this much death and damage."

"A demon… did this", Rina put her sword down. "But the town said there was a vampire that was killing thousands of people." Syriel looked around. The injuries of those lying around dead did not match Kaileon's blade. His blade was designed for smooth, easy cuts. These bodies were torn apart. And there was no signs of a vampire attack on the victims.

Kaileon shrugged, "Maybe they saw me hanging around." There was a sort of disgust in his voice.

"So you're a vampire!" Rina sounded shocked. Looking at him, he did have the appearance to match. He was very thin and death pale.

Kaileon lowered his head a bit. "Yes, I am a vampire." He lifted his head again and turned to Syriel. "Now that I answered her questions, what do you know about Kai?"

"It's a long story, let's get out of this place first." Syriel looked at the sad fate of what used to be a grand and wonderful city. Then the three of them let the dead city and headed back to where Syriel and Rina set up camp the previous night.

As the sun began to sink into the horizon, Rina and Syriel used the last remaining light to set up camp. Kaileon stood watching them. He didn't carry anything with him except for his blade. After everything was set up and a fire was started, Syriel motioned for Kaileon to take a seat.

Syriel pushed some of his black hair out of his face and looked at the pale vampire before him. "First I would like to know, are you Ashi's Kai?"

He saw a second of surprise in Kaileon's red eyes before Kaileon answered. "I don't know how you know Ashi, but yes. I used to be friends with a person called Ashi. Now are you going to answer my question or not?" He was clearly getting annoyed at this point.

Syriel couldn't help but smile. "I am about to get to that, but first I need to tell you about me." He looked over at Rina. She stared worried back at him with her large brown eyes.

"Are you sure?", she asked. Syriel never told anyone about himself. The only people who knew about his dreams were Rina and her father.

Syriel nodded. He felt like he was suppose to meet Kaileon, like it was fate for this to happen. "Two years ago I woke up in the care of Rina and her father. I was severely hurt," Syriel began. "Since that time, I have had these strange dreams. They are like I am living inside of someone else, like I am seeing through their eyes." Kaileon watched him steadily without any sign of what was going through his mind.

A sadness stung at Syriel's heart as he explained to Kaileon that the person in his dreams that he experienced them through was always someone who was dead. He turned his eyes to the fire, avoiding Kaileon's eyes. The fire flickered brightly as they sat in silence for a while. Then Syriel heard Kaileon's smooth voice.

"So you saw me and Ashi in one of your dreams then." Syriel looked up to see the vampire looking at him with thoughtful eyes.

"Yes. You guys were children. I saw you in a ruined city. I saw Ashi's dead mother and demons. And I saw you with glowing red eyes." Syriel quickly spat out telling Kaileon all that he saw. In a way it felt like he had invaded his privacy. He saw something that was only between Ashi and him.

"Well, I can't say that I am too pleased to hear that you know all of that about me, but thank you for telling me." Kaileon stood up to leave.

"Wait!", Syriel called out to him. "Why don't you stay here with us for the night? It is already pretty dark."

"The dark doesn't bother me." He said, but he sat down anyways. "Do you think you will see more of Ashi?" he asked quietly.

"Can't say. My dreams just happen sometimes. Though, I have seen more of Ashi's life than any other person that I have dreamt of." With that, Rina put out the fire. She and Syriel went into their sleeping rolls while Kaileon promised to stand guard. Before Syriel could fall asleep he heard a quiet voice asking for help, but he fell asleep. It was the first quiet night in a while.