'Give her back,' Jay growled furiously.

The blonde vampire threw back his head and laughed. 'Fine with me.' He held out Holly. 'Take her.'

Jay narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The vampire was definitely up to something. 'What are you waiting for?' He shook Holly slightly, as though she was a rag doll.

Jay ran forward, snarling.

'S-stop!'

Jay stopped and turned. It was Erys, sans the great confidence she had always carried around her.

'I'll take her,' the blue-haired girl continued.

'But-'

'I'll take her,' Erys repeated.

The blonde vampire shrugged. 'Take her, then.'

As the girl walked pass Jay, he could sense her fear. 'It might be a trap, be careful,' Jay whispered to her. Erys nodded, her hand tightening around her bloody dagger.

The vampire sneered slightly as he placed Holly in Erys' arms -

Jay felt it before it happened.

As he had done many thousands a time before, Jay side-stepped, so that the only proof of attack was the sound of the vampire's claws cutting through the air, and the drifting of Jay's clipped hair caused by the attack. Somewhere, Erys gasped.

Still, the vampire's attack left Jay no time to think. Instinctively, Jay held up his sword to block the next attack before he managed to riposte.

'I'm surprised you can still move, youngling,' the vampire commented as he dodged the attack.

Jay said nothing, but slashed at the blonde vampire again, his eyes determined to seek out any openings the vampire had, before his body gave way. The vampire dodged his attack again, and countered.

Jay blocked.

This - hefting a sword in hand - was Jay's instinct. Even if he was weary and injured. Yet, they could not touch each other. It was like being stuck in a rut. Pitting their skills against each other fruitlessly - The vampire must have been injured the last time too. Jay smiled to himself, inwardly.

If only he could outlast the vampire...

Jay plunged his sword into soft flesh.

There was a cry of surprise, from whom - whether himself, or the vampire, or any of the girls - Jay could not determine. All he could see was the injured pride on his foe's face.

The vampire's claws cut his shoulder even before Jay realised it. The pain from the wound dulled against the fire that throbbed throughout his body.

Jay screamed as he wrenched his sword out and thrust it into the vampire's heart. And then both of them fell onto the ground.

The vampire spat out dark blood onto the ground, smiling widely. 'Well, not bad at all, youngling. You'll still die, though,' he said, and then he burst into ash. A small bottle rolled out of one of the pockets of the vampire's clothes.

Even without looking at it closely, Jay knew it was poison.

He coughed, and drew himself up, using his sword to support him.

'Jay!' Holly suddenly embraced him.

'You're awake. Are you alright?'

'Yes, but you're bleeding!' His sister exclaimed in horror.

Jay turned to his sister. She seemed dazed, but she seemed to be alright. He smiled weakly at her. 'It's just poison, Deirdre can just -' He gritted his teeth as the pain shot throughout his body again. '- she can just heal...'

He turned to Deirdre who was staring down at Rihanna in her arms. He felt something ominous. Holly clutched at his clothes, frightened. 'What's wrong?' Jay asked.

Deirdre did not answer him, however, but walked until the hard road ceded to soil. The woman placed the limp fox-girl gently on the earth.

Quietly, the other three followed and stood behind Deirdre as she knelt before the fox-girl, hands on her forehead. In the silence, Jay was acutely aware of Holly sobbing into his coat.

Deirdre stood up, and plunge her sword in the soil, and she knelt again, clasping her hands together this time.

'No!' Erys gave a strangled cry. She ran forward and grabbed Deirdre. 'She can't be!'

They had not known each other long, and it had been troubling when she had approached him, but still, Jay felt a tiny pinch in his chest.

Suddenly, Rihanna's body started to glow and then burst into sparks. Jay fell back, shutting his eyes, holding Holly in a protective shield as the light blinded him.

'It's too late, I guess,' Jay heard Rihanna's voice. 'I hope you can find her.'

Jay opened his eyes slowly, and found himself staring into Rihanna's face. She had a mischievous grin on her almost ethereal face.

'I've lived too long anyway,' she continued, then leaned forward to lightly peck his lips.

'Rihanna!' Erys cried out.

The fox-girl turned. 'Don't blame yourself, I was being foolish. Should have listened to you,' Rihanna glanced at Deirdre. 'Well, time to go.'

She faded away, and in the place of her body was a sapling that rapidly aged into a full-grown tree. The companions staggered as the earth trembled from the roots that spread out and broke through the surface of the road. When the trembling stopped, a gargantuan majestic tree stood in front of him, the leaves swaying gently.

Erys had fallen onto her knees, staring at the tree in silence, and Holly ran to her, to comfort her.

Jay turned to Deirdre, she was staring upwards - specifically, as Jay followed her line of sight - at the two figures on a squat building nearby.

It was "Rebecca", and a dark man was grasping her arm. 'We should go,' the man was saying to her.

The pale-faced "Rebecca" nodded, and turned away, suddenly disappearing, leaving the dark man to turn and look at Deirdre. A quzzical look crossed his face.

'Deirdre...' he asked, before, he too, vanished.

'Vyr,' Deirdre breathed out. 'Vyr. Vyr!'

Seeing so many emotions showing up on Deirdre's face was strange. Shock, happiness, sadness, anger - he had never saw that side of her. She had sealed it off so perfectly that she had appeared to be deprived of any humanity.

Jay walked to her, and grasped her shoulder. 'We'll find them,' he assured her.

Deirdre turned to him, with a sad smile on her face, 'Yes, yes, we will.'

A/N: End of 1st arc. Phew. Although the story is FAR from over. In the original story, Rihanna did not die, but suddenly disappeared, because the creator of the character lost interest. The way Jay was poisoned is different here too. In the original, he was stabbed with a poisoned knife and then he broke the other vampire's neck.

The 2nd arc will introduce more characters. I'll focus more on Vyr-Deirdre history, as well as Erys. Something new will come up for Jay too.