War

Secret

Elliot sighed in exasperation as he fixed his tie. He looked at himself in the mirror and searched for even a slight imperfection in his suit, but when he found none, he nodded in satisfaction.

He let his eyes wander to the other side of the room, spotting Jared struggling with his tie. Chuckling quietly, he made his way to him and helped. Jared gave him a grateful look.

"Thanks." He muttered.

Before Elliot could say anything, there was a knock on the door. They turned their heads to see their mother, who was wearing a white dress with diamonds scattered across her chest. Lillian gave them a smile once she saw them together.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked.

"Yeah." Jared answered.

And then there was thunder. Lillian frowned as she looked out the window.

"I was hoping it wouldn't rain." She muttered.

It was a weird thing going on their birthday. There was always a storm going on. Most just suspect that it was just coincidence. But Elliot wasn't so sure, his gut was telling him a different thing.

"Well, let's go to the ballroom. The guests have started arriving five minutes ago."

The youngest in the room inwardly grimaced. He isn't exactly a social butterfly, he doesn't do well in interacting with other people that wasn't his family or Shiki. He also hated crowds in particular. But the problem was, the nobles of each clan wanted to show off their heir, so extravagant birthday parties such as this isn't new. Especially this time, where 18 is the age that they reach maturity.

As usual, the servants bowed when they passed. They kept silent as they walked in the hallways until they reached the entrance that led to the ballroom.

Lillian opened the doors and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, my sons, the Fantom twins!"

There was applause as they walked down the stairs to the crowd, Elliot impassively while Jared grinned as he waved.

After the reached the bottom of the stairs, Elliot was immediately surrounded by girls around his age asking for a dance. He got overwhelmed especially when the music started, signalling the couples to the dance floor.

He was saved when Shiki wrapped an arm around his shoulder and apologized to the girls when he whisked Elliot away.

"So how does it feel to be considered as an official adult now, Birthday Boy?" Shiki grinned when he punched his arm.

"I just wanted a nice, simple birthday with only friends and family as guests. But nooo, they had to throw this one." He gestured to the crowd as a whole.

"You know the 'nobles'. They want to show off their heirs." His best friend said, giving a sarcastic tone to the word nobles. He looked pointedly at one direction, and he followed his gaze. They could see the nobles of the Fantom Clan, Elliot's grandparents, talking to the other important figures. If they strain their hearing enough, they could hear them bragging about 'Elliot did this-' and 'Elliot did that-'.

The aforementioned grandson facepalmed.

He suddenly felt a slight thrist in his throat. He picked up champagne from a passing waiter and took a sip. He frowned when his thirst didn't subside. In fact, it got worse that it was a slight burn in his throat after he took a sip of the champagne.

"What's wrong?" Shiki asked when he noticed his friend's discomfort. Ha always drank champagne ever since he was 15. So it doesn't explain why Elliot seems to be glaring at the drink as if it did something to offend him.

"Nothing." He replied.

"Glaring at an innocent drink is not nothing."

Elliot kept silent. Shiki raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He stared at him when he noticed him shuffling his feet, and the way Elliot's eyes seem to be darting from side to side.

"Hey Elliot, let's go to the balcony. I'm going to tell you something important." He said, plucking the now empty glass for Elliot's hand and placing it to the table beside him.

"Okay." Again, he raised an eyebrow on how raspy Elliot's voice came out, but did not comment.

'This is more important.' He reasoned to himself.

"Where are you two going?" They both turned around and saw Jared and their parents.

"Just out in the balcony. We need to talk about something important." Shiki said.

"Just don't take too long. People will start wondering where the heir and the right hand man is." Lexus teased.

"Okay."

The two of them continued on their walk to the only unoccupied balcony in the ballroom.

Elliot gave him a questioning glance when they reached the balcony, not bothering to talk anymore as he was sure his voice will come out as raspy.

The curiousity turned to suspiscion immediately when Shiki closed the door to the balcony and locked it. His thirst was now long forgotten.

Shiki wasn't surprised when he felt the barrel of Elliot's gun pointed at his neck. He doesn't lock the doors, even when they were having an impotant conversation that contained classified information. They trusted their instincts enough to know that a person was approaching.

"Who are you?" Elliot whispered. "What did you do to my best friend?"

"I'm still me." He answered, not turning around.

He was thankful that everybody inside are preoccupied with other things.

"Liar." His best friend hissed. "Say something only Shiki and I would know."

"We always escaped when the moon is in its highest peak. We walked through the woods hunting vicious beasts." He recited, it was the only thing none of the others know. If they knew they left the safety of the establishment at night where the moon is at its highest and the creatures at its strongest, their punishment would be severe. Heirs or not.

He released the breath he didin't realize he was holding when the gun left his neck.

"Man, you're so paranoid that it almost killed me. Literally!" He exclaimed.

Elliot glared and returned his gun back to its holster hidden under his blazer.

"This is the first time you locked the door, even when you had something important to tell me." Elliot accused.

"I just want to have an advantage when I have to escape. You can never be too sure that there wouldn't be any eavesdroppers. But when we leave the ballroom it would be too suspiscious, especially if you're the birthday boy." Shiki explained.

"Shiki... what are you trying to say?" Elliot asked warily.

"Elliot." He looked at him seriously. "I'm a vampire."

-------------------------------

A/N: So I was suffering with writer's block. But I'm back on track. I have the outline for the next chapter.

Bye!