Darklord X:

Darklord X is in the house! Returning after a long time, I've decided to stop doing whatever it is I've been doing all this time and focus on finishing my fanfics. Decided to post this short story in celebration of New Years for 2007! This GX fic will come in three, bite-sized parts (four including the prologue). Fans of vampire lady Camula should enjoy!

To everyone on have a happy New Year from Darklord X!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! (GX or otherwise). Vincent, however, is my OC. Any one looking to use him in a fic must ask permission.

Of Vampires, Love and Revenge

PROLOGUE

The young man sat alone in the darkness, an opened parcel near his feet, the letter he had received minutes ago held tightly in his shaking hands, so tightly that the paper was on the verge of tearing. The words he had read were ominous, unforgettable and worse, imprinted into his brain, as though they had been burned there.

It could not be true. It simply could not be true.

Tentatively, almost fearfully, he raised the letter up and read it again. And again. And again.

V,

If you are reading this then it means that I am no more. Know that I have no regrets and would change nothing that has happened within the course of my long, long existence. I only repent in knowing that you are the last of us all, the last to carry on the legacy of our people. I know that it is a heavy responsibility, but I am confident that you are able to shoulder this burden with a sense of duty and honour.

Enclosed you shall find a copy of my own deck which I was planning on making a gift to you for your seven-hundredth birthday. No doubt you shall add your own cards to it and in this I do not disagree. I can only hope you'll use your cards better than I did mine.

I go to my grave happy in knowing that, if there is truly only one of us left, I'm glad it was you, nephew. You are a tribute to our kind, one of most promising young fledglings of all. If your parents were here, then I'm sure they would be as proud of you as I am.

C.

She's gone. She's really, really gone. It was fortunate that he was sitting down, otherwise his legs would have unhinged and spilled him to the floor.

Okay, the rational side of his brain was saying, taking over while the rest of his mind was still trying to cope with the shock. She's gone. So what do we do now, class?

Flee this city and never look back? No, he had grown far too accustomed to this place, even though he knew it was within his kinds bests interests to never linger in one place too long.

Pick up where his aunt had left off? No, the Shadow Riders would never take him on, not even as an apprentice, even though he was an accomplished duelist. They would refuse him on the grounds that, because he was family, he would become a loose cannon and let revenge cloud his judgement.

Wait a minute. That was it.

Revenge.

But revenge on who? If he were a mere mortal, this question would have quickly become a major setback. Under ordinary circumstances, this mission would have been a doomed cause. But he was no mere mortal and these circumstances were far from ordinary.

His aunt would have been astounded to know that he did not just receive the letters she sent him, describing the current events transpiring for her and the rest of the Shadow Riders. He received invaluable knowledge from his informants; small bats influenced by the power of his species, bats who had tracked his aunt all the way to Duel Academy and had blended in with her own spies, bats who had watched all three of her duels and reported back to their master to relay the information telepathically.

He spoke aloud to the unhearing darkness before him, his eyes glowing crimson.

"You're a dead man, Jaden Yuki."