Disclaimer; Death Note is not mine, I merely borrow the characters and the initial plot for a time.

A/N; Beta'd by the wonderful VirtualDraconium. I hope she is not to annoyed at me for starting another story; though she only has herself to blame... She enticed me to begin writing fanfiction...

I hope you enjoy the beginning to my supernatural story, I hope it is sufficiently different from others to be counted as original.

Please read and review! Reviews make me happy, and really do make me write faster.

A Setting Sun and a Rising Star

L sat staring out at the ocean, his knees pressed against his chest. The glow of sunset was still visible on the horizon; he barely noticed it as he lost himself in his thoughts. His thumb rubbed along his lower lip as his toes curled to press against the rough wood of the bench; he forced himself to ignore the encroaching cold, the white jumper he was wearing would surely be enough. The beach around him was deserted; no-one else dared to brave the sharp cold of the autumn evening.

'Higuchi is dead, Light has been released, and theoretically I am yet again back at square one,' L thought. It was confusing; he had never been this confused before… He knew Light was Kira; it made complete sense, particularly with his well honed detective skills; but at every turn the lack of evidence defied him.

This, ultimately, was why L was sitting on a bench at the beach in autumn. He'd gone against everything telling him to stay away from people, keep his identity secret and stay close to where the new evidence would arrive first, because he needed to think. Being in a place that contained all those police officers and, more particularly, Light Yagami had driven him insane. Hopefully Watari wouldn't notice the loss of the car for a while, L needed to be truly alone. He doubted that the peace would continue for much longer, Watari was quite the observant man.

He rolled his eyes as the phone he'd placed on the bench beside him buzzed into life. By habit he had brought it with him and left it on. He had no desire to talk to anyone quite at the moment; he had always liked being alone, and now he needed the silence more than ever. He had to clear his thoughts and think afresh, if he allowed himself to go down just the one track of investigation he would lose any advantage he had over Kira. He could NOT allow that to happen, this was a competition without any second chances.

Silently he rose from the bench, moving towards the shifting waves, pausing momentarily at the edge before raising one foot to dip a toe in. The water was frighteningly cold, the chill entering his flesh almost instantly. He sighed and backed off, he'd been hoping that the southerly latitude would mean the water would have stayed warmer towards the end of the year; it had not. He stood there digging his toes into the sand, staring down at the slight waves that lapped the beach, his thoughts beginning to speed up to the level he was comfortable with.

He smiled as new possible leads came forward, new lines of investigation opening up before him. New evidence against Light also surfaced, perhaps he'd not been as wrong as the others had emphasised he was. He had considered it unlikely that he was wrong from the start, he had never been wrong about a suspect before.

Unknown to L, his silent vigil was presently being observed, a motionless figure watching him contemplatively from some distance. The figure vanished, reappearing as a shadowy form not two metres from the hunched detective. Not a sound was made, the figure's black cloak weaving noiselessly in the air around him.

L tensed as he felt his personal space being invaded, he knew that someone was behind him, though he had heard nothing; a lifetime of paranoia had honed his senses. He turned slightly, peering back over his shoulder. He blinked as he took in the cloaked and hooded form standing so close behind him. Then the figure slumped slightly, almost in consternation, and shimmered towards the left as it disappeared.

It took barely a fraction of a second for L to process this information, accept the impossible and swing his foot round to where whoever, whatever, it was would likely reappear. He was correct, his foot connecting with the form as appeared behind him. With a grunt the form tensed slightly, then grabbed the quickly retreating foot with one hand, overbalancing L and causing him to fall to the ground. His face hit the sand, and he coughed, attempting to remove the sand he'd inhaled inadvertently from his throat; one foot already rising to meet the figure once more. In his head he silently thanked Naomi Misora for showing him the usefulness in learning a Martial Art such as Capioera.

He missed, he had not expected to hit, but it gave him time to get to his feet as the interloper dodged and begin to run to the car, one hand already reaching for his mobile to send an SOS to Watari. He did not get far; in truth he'd known it was useless.

A hand came round and grabbed him by the throat, the other rising to easily crush the mobile phone into powder. The show of strength was all the convincing L needed to know that putting up any more of a fight now would be futile. He stared at the car, wishing that he had not picked today to give in to his emotions. He decided he did not want to die without answers.

"What do you want with me?" He asked quietly, forcing his voice out through his tightly constricted throat.

The hand twitched slightly as he spoke, but the figure said nothing. His hands were suddenly pulled into an iron grip, his body pulled back towards the other until he was flush against them. Then the hand around his throat vanished, moving to encircle his waist.

Then the figure spoke, revealing, at least, that they were male.

"Forgive me," the man whispered into L's ear.

L gasped in shock as the mouth moved to his neck, the touch of lips on his skin feeling too personal, too alien. He cried out as needle like teeth pierced his skin. The impossible had become the possible once again; he was being attacked by a vampire. Then for the first time since the attack began, L felt a shiver of ice cold fear pass through him, but it quickly passed. Of all the ways to go this was pretty painless.

So this is how I am going to die, L thought, strangely comforted by the knowledge that it was not at the hands of Kira, that it was separate from the long fight he had been waging; it wouldn't be a loss. He closed his eyes, calmly accepting his fate, he could already feel his limbs becoming heavy, his mind fogging. He gasped for each breath, his mouth open as he sucked in air; his body still clinging to life as his mind gave in. His body shuddered in retaliation to the severe danger it was in.

The mouth removed itself from his neck, his slowing thoughts realising that this was far from what could be considered 'normal' in this situation; he was still clinging to life, he could still feel his heart fighting for survival. His fading mind suddenly perceived a metallic taste filling his mouth; sharp, acrid and appallingly bitter to the cake-lover. In distaste he hurriedly swallowed, and instantly wanted more. He leant forward towards the source of the flavour; his unspoken request quickly granted, mouth latching on to what was undoubtedly a wrist, his own hands, he realised, were free and he brought them up to keep the arm in place as the man supported him.

He could hear a faint voice screaming in the dark recesses of his mind telling him what would happen if he continued this course of action, just what he was likely to become. The craving overcame it, it overcame everything. He drank deeply, each mouthful seeming to sweep through his body, forcing its way into every cell, making it tingle with renewed energy. Then it reached his brain; it burned its way along every neuron, his thoughts exploding back into life, but even as he fully comprehended his situation he kept on drinking, his whole being cried out not to stop.

He gave a small noise of disappointment as the wrist was tugged away from him, a hand rising to pull it back; but he didn't try to keep hold of the arm. Then the true pain hit and he screamed; the sound quickly muffled by the hand that rose to cover his mouth. He writhed in the man's, no the vampire's, grip, his feet lifting off the floor as he reacted to the pain. It was excruciating, he could feel it as every cell shifted and died. His body changing to the form it would now be for eternity.

Then, for one perfect moment, there was no pain and his brain stopped, his legs collapsing back to the sand. All that he had was the feeling of absolute happiness, and in one blinding moment his brain reformed, new neurons arcing through his brain. New sensory information assaulted his consciousness, the world shone through his eyelids and every noise crashed against his ears.

He took in a shuddering breath before realising that it would never be necessary to breathe again. As he stilled in the man's arms, the man nodded slightly and tentatively released him. He staggered forward, his eyes blinking to take in the world. He forced his mind to limit the influx of information and the glare of the sand diminished, his sight resembling how he'd seen as a human, but still the sand sparkled. He turned to look at his creator.

"Why?" L said, his gaze boring into the hooded face.

"Because you are L," the man replied, his tone was one of defeat.

"That is not an explanation," L growled, the sound deep and threatening, resonating through more than the human sound range.

"You are too unique, too special, to be lost to an enemy such as Kira. There is too much at stake, the world is far more complex than even you know."

"Why is it assumed that I would have lost to Kira?" L asked, simple curiosity taking over.

"Because no-one else would believe the thoughts of the greatest detective the world has known."

L thought this through carefully, weighing each word.

"So Light Yagami truly is Kira," L mused.

"Yes."

"So who are you?" L asked.

"You know you are not acting like anyone else I have turned before," the man commented wryly, before hastily adding as he saw the look on L's face, "My name is Lucan Fairfax." He then lowered the hood of his cloak revealing the long golden hair underneath.

L groaned and sank to the sand, burying his head in his hands. Lucan sighed, what on Earth was wrong now?

"Your name means Light," L said despairingly, "I have been 'saved' from one Light by another!"

Much to L's surprise Lucan doubled over in laughter.

Then L felt his stomach tighten in hunger and he moaned slightly. It hurt; it reminded him terribly of what had just happened to him. A blood pack suddenly landed in the sand in front of him. Instinctively he dived for it, the blood that coursed through him telling him all he needed to neatly drain the bag of its contents. Each drop tasted heavenly, easing the hunger.

L thought about why he was taking this so well, he wondered if it was a side-effect of the blood; or if he'd just always been this coolly logical? He felt Lucan's hand on his back as he fed, that small touch unknowingly keeping L sat on the beach and not racing through the nearby streets for more blood.

"Please explain everything, before I decide to panic," L said looking at Lucan.

"Despite what the world has been led to believe, there have been two other 'Kira's' who were created through use of the Death Note. The first was stopped over two thousand years ago, there were considerably more of us back then, we easily stopped his ascent. The second… she evaded us for many centuries managing to kill just enough to stay alive and ahead of our scouts. The last I heard though she had been stopped. This new Kira is the most dangerous of all, he has gained so much he may be potentially unstoppable. We had to make sure he could be dealt with, we needed you."

"What do you mean 'gained too much'? L queried.

"Whenever a shinigami uses the Death Note they gain life," Lucan clarified, "the problem occurs when it falls into human hands. Humans gain life when they use the Death Note too. Light Yagami has made himself practically immortal to human death through his desire to 'cleanse' the world. Though I doubt the shinigami he was with would have told him the truth, they rarely do."

"I assume 'human death' does not include vampires," L sighed, "you need me because I am the only one who can get close enough to kill him."

"That's not the only reason," Lucan said hurriedly.

"Not the only reason?"

"No," Lucan replied, "if it were I would have approached you earlier in order to gain access to Light Yagami, and even that may have been unnecessary; vampires can easily overcome human security systems. Reaching him so early in his 'career' would have been simple."

"You are evading the question."

"I know," Lucan replied smiling, "but now is not the time for explanations. I need to show you as much as I can in the next couple of hours so you are not defenceless when you return to your headquarters."

"Defenceless?"

"The world is far more diverse than you could ever know; shinigami and vampires are just the start of it. Just because something is a myth doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Lucan said sighing, "Now you can see them and they will know it, not everyone was against the rise of Kira; and this time there are far more supporters of Kira's ideals."

"I see," L commented, even his mind was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the situation he was in.

"Now come with me." Lucan commanded, the order making L rise to his feet automatically, "it is more than time for me to show you how to feed and to use some of your gifts."