Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.

I'd like to thank Laurell K. Hamilton for writing the Anita Blake books. Without her, I wouldn't have any ideas.

Warning: This is completely AU and, as usual, I completely ignore DBGT. Now if that isn't your cup of tea, don't come complaining to me. I warned you.

This is just a story to take a break from all of the others ones I'm writing.

Ages: Pan is 17 & Bra is 19.

Blood of the Hunted

Chapter 1: Things That Go Bump in the Night

"Bra-chan, you're half saiyan. Stop being so paranoid." - Son Pan

I walked down the semi-deserted street towards the movie theater that I told Bra-chan that I would meet her at. We had made the arrangement a few days earlier because I was extremely busy with school and she was equally entangled in her job. But we were best-friends and would always find time for each other. I hope.

My name is Son Pan. I'm short -- *very* short -- at only four feet, seven inches. My short-cut hair is raven black and so are my eyes. I'm also a bit of a tomboy. One other thing that may be important is that I'm one-quarter saiyan.

That's right. I'm one full quarter power wielding, monkey-tailed, transform at the full moon saiyan.

And boy do I love it.

If I weren't a hybrid then I wouldn't have the power that I possess. I would be as weak as a human. And to me, that would be torture.

I made it to the theater with only a few minutes to spare and instantly located Bra in the lobby. It's not that she's too hard to spot.

Bra Briefs had been my best-friend since we were kids, even though she's two years older than me. She has blue hair and blue eyes that she's inherited from her mother and she's a little tall in height. But everyone looks tall compared to me.

"You made it on time," Bra smiled. "I'm surprised."

I smiled too as I remembered how often I was late for everything. It seemed that time was never on my side.

She raised an eyebrow. "And you also haven't changed your clothes. I know it's your favorite outfit and all but give it a rest!"

"Hey! Everyone can't be Little Ms. Fashion." It was a little joke that we had. She always commented on my jeans, tee-shirt, and orange bandana and I always commented on her extremely expensive clothes. One dress alone would feed me for a week.

She handed me a ticket. "I bought them when I got here. It was just in case you decided to 'accidentally' leave your money at home. It saved me the trouble of pretending that I believed you."

I rolled my eyes. "Ha, ha."

The little conversation done, we made our way to theater number eight.

***

When it ended, it was pretty dark outside. I declined a ride from Bra, saying that I wanted to fly. That much *was* true but I had to leave the heavily populated areas to do so.

The streetlights in this section of town were very dim. I don't know whether they weren't working correctly or the city couldn't pay for electricity but either way it was just inviting criminals to hang out in the shadows. It put me on edge enough that my eyes darted around constantly towards every nook and cranny.

A sound of falling garbage cans made me tense up even more. I placed my back against the rough bricks of a building and slowly looked around the corner. Before I could even blink, something dark flew in my direction.

A startled scream flew out of my mouth before I realized that it was just a cat. A scrawny, under-fed cat. I breathed a sigh of relief right before something much larger hit me from behind.

I fell face first towards the dirty cement with my hands reflexively stretched out to break my fall. I struggled and squirmed trying to break free of whatever it was that had me. After twisting my head to the side, the first thing that hit me what the creature's foul breath. It stank of something that I couldn't recognize for a second but after a moment the metallic undertone grabbed at me.

It was blood. *Fresh* blood.

"What the Hell?!" My eyes opened wide even as I tried to hold my breath. What kind of creature was it? Then fading streetlight glinted on his glistening fangs and displayed his stringy blond hair and pale blue eyes. When he was in control, he probably looked like the perfect boy next door.

"Fangs?!" In a burst of strength I threw it from me. One plus one were beginning to add up to two. "A vampire?"

He hissed at me as if there wasn't a brain in his head. I wondered at that. Weren't vampires supposed to be intelligent beings?

"Joseph!" A voice snapped on my left. I turned quickly so that my back was once again pressed against the wall and stared out into the darkness.

"Who's there?"

Another vampire stepped out into my view. I was beginning to recognize them just by the energy he put out. It wasn't ki exactly, but something far more mystical. He was shorter, thinner, and darker than the one named Joseph but it was obvious that he was in charge.

"Joseph control yourself!" He slapped the other vampire hard across the face. Slowly his expression changed to one of neutrality.

I shut my eyes tightly and willed them to go away. "You don't exist! You *can't* exist!"

The shorter one made a slight movement that made me snap open my eyes. It also made me clench my fists.

"What is your name?" I asked, trying to get some information. "Who are you?"

"I am David," he inclined his head, his dark hair falling forward to partially obscure his brown eyes. "I apologize for his rude behavior but he's newly undead and haven't fed yet tonight."

I blinked in mild astonishment. "I see...."

He started to turn away, dragging the other behind him, when he suddenly froze. "You have an impressive power inside of you."

Now I was just plain confused. "Well arigatou but what does this have to do with anything?"

He smiled. "My mistress has need of someone like you. Since I've saved your life, the least you could do is visit her."

Of all the strange things that could happen to me, this *definitely* takes the cake. "I don't understand. Why would..." I trailed off. I still didn't know who his mistress was.

"Her name is Joanna."

"Joanna then. Why would she need me?"

He shook his head and glanced at Joseph. "He cannot last much longer. Can we continue this later on? Say, around three hours?"

I nodded hesitatingly. "I guess. Where can I contact you?"

He smiled again as he and his friend melted into the shadows. "*I* will find *you*."

***

"I don't know what possessed me to agree to help him Bra-chan." Yes, I ran right home and called her. So sue me.

"Now let me get this straight," she spoke slowly. "You met two vampires near the movie theater tonight."

"Yes."

"And now you're going to see their mistress later on."

"Yes."

"I don't know whether to scold you or laugh at your funny joke."

"I still can't believe it either. Aren't vampires supposed to be mythical beings? That's what I kept asking myself over and over again."

"That's it." She had that tone in her voice. It was the stubborn streak that both her mother and her father had. "I'm coming with you. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

"You are?" My voice swelled with happiness. "That's great!"

"You couldn't change my mind... Huh?"

"I'm glad that I don't have to go alone. It was starting to freak me out."

"I have a question. How in the world are you going to get out of the house?"

Damn. That was something I hadn't thought about. Tousan was incredibly strict about my eleven o'clock curfew. "I can say that I'm going over to your house. That'll work."

I could practically see Bra shaking her head. "Nope. Trunks would rat you out in a second if Gohan-san called our house."

"I'll sneak out through my window then."

"That's even worse but it'll have to do."

***

Two hours later I was dressed in all black and perched on my windowsill. Tousan can sense ki extremely well -- a gift he got from ojiisan -- so I had to make sure that it was as low as I could get it. The problem was, especially with all of these new things out there, was keeping it that way.

When I slowly levitated to the sky above my house, Bra was already waiting for me dressed similarly in black jeans, black sweatshirt, and a black knit hat.

"I've been thinking about this, Pan-chan." She whispered. "You're insane."

I thought this would come up. "Well I going so you can either be insane with me or go home."

She shook her head. "You're not getting into trouble without me."

Hmm. I knew she would see it my way.

As I returned to the same alley where I first saw David, Bra kept looking over her shoulder as if someone was going to say boo.

"Bra-chan, you're half saiyan. Stop being so paranoid."

She moved closer to me and grabbed my arm. "I'm sorry but this is so creepy."

"Son Pan, I found you like I said I would." My head jerked up at his voice.

"How do you know my name?" I asked even as Bra moved another step backward.

"I searched for it. You can help us. Your friend too." He turned and motioned over his shoulder. "Follow me."

"Are you absolutely, positively sure that this is a good thing to do?" Bra was less than enthused.

I nodded. "Tousan always told me to try and help anyone who needs it."

"I'm sure that he didn't mean this."

We followed David deeper into the alley where even the rats didn't go and paused a section of the wall that looked exactly the same as the other walls. But it didn't to him. He pressed a part of the bricks and the whole thing slid away to reveal a steep staircase.

"That's pretty smart," I admitted. "No one would think to look here."

He nodded. "That's pretty much the point." Then he started down the stairs quickly and we had to jog a little to keep up. The wall closed silently behind us.

Everywhere he passed, torches flared up along the wall on both sides illuminating our way. I could study him more with the fairly bright light than I could in the alley earlier.

Every so often he would look over his shoulder as if making sure that we were following. Because he could sense our energy, that couldn't be the case. But it gave me a chance to study his facial features.

He had a small nose that had a scar running across it diagonally as if he was once in a pretty violent knife fight. His face was thin and narrow and looked pretty young. I'm guessing he was around thirty when he died.

Suddenly, he halted so fast that we almost bumped into him. In front of our faces was a huge door made of polished brass. He knocked once, twice, and it opened to admit us.

Now I'm no expert on vampire habitats, but this certainly wasn't what I was expecting. For one it was too normal. It could be the living room of anyone in the world! But yet here it was.

The carpet was a pale peach for starters, with the wallpaper white with a peach and white border around the top. The furniture was a pure, snowy white and the coffee table was polished maple. I guess I thought that a dank dungeon would be better for vampires.

"Please wait here," David said to us. "I will go alert the mistress to your arrival."

I nodded and took a seat on the couch. Bra did as well.

"This is definitely odd," she whispered to me. "And what's with those two men by the door?"

I turned and looked. True to her word, there were two heavily muscled bodyguard types in front of the door. "Maybe now that they have us, they're reluctant to let go."

"Pan-chan, I-" But whatever she was going to say was cut off by the return of David.

"Please follow me," he smiled thinly, "again."

Through the door he led us to was an office. Really. It was decorated in the same peach motif as the living room/lobby and there was another vampire seated behind the desk. A *tiny* vampire.

She was a few inches taller than me but thinner with curly blond hair and bright blue eyes. I guess she had fed tonight because her face and hands, that were folded neatly on the desk's surface, weren't as pale as Joseph's were.

She appeared to only had been ten or eleven when she died but her eyes looked ancient, like she had seen plenty of the world. David bowed to her briefly before he left the office.

"Please take a seat," she said in a quiet voice that commanded without even trying. Bra and I obeyed.

"Can I ask you a question first?" I made myself as comfortable as I could in the straight-backed chair. "Why do you command all of these people? You don't look that..."

"Old? Powerful?" She laughed then and it was like bells. "But I am over nine-hundred years old. I am a Master Vampire and the Master of the City. I'm sure that you can sense how old I am."

"Hmm," I mumbled as I felt her energy. Now that she brought it up, there *was* something there that was like a pressing weight when I directed my sensing towards her. It must be her age. "What about David and Joseph? How old are they?"

"Joseph is only two weeks undead and David is over five-hundred. He is a Master as well."

"But you're more powerful."

"Yes." Then she waved her hand in a dismissive air. "But you aren't here to discuss age. You are here because we need your help. *Both* of you."

I almost sensed Bra's confusion. "Why do you need me?" she asked. "I just came because I didn't think Pan should go alone."

Joanna smiled. "Your loyalty impresses me."

Bra shrugged. "Well, she's been my best-friend my whole life. But you still didn't answer my question."

"Your power is very similar to Pan's. It's more otherworldly than spiritual." She then turned to me. "You can sense my age and my power. So can..." She paused.

"My name is Bra."

"Bra then." She blinked. "I require one more test of you. One to see how powerful you really are." She stared at me. "Look into my eyes."

How corny was that line, 'Look into my eyes'. It's like she's ripping off a B Movie script. But the pull I felt when I did as she requested was anything but.

It felt like I was falling forward, or rather being sucked into her blue gaze even though I *knew* I was still seated. I began trying to block out her power, little-by-little, until I felt that no more was getting through my mental barriers. That was when the sensation of movement ceased.

"What the Hell was that?!" I was panting from the effort it took to keep her out of my mind.

"Are you alright?" Bra asked with a concerned look on her face.

I decided to be honest. Screw pride. "I don't know."

"I tried to roll you with my mind." Joanna said simply. I saw that she was a little winded as well. "You're good at keeping people out."

I shrugged. "It's not something I have to do often, you know."

"I see."

"I still don't understand why you want us. I mean, there are *way* more powerful people than us." Bra nodded in agreement.

"You mean like Son Goku or Vegeta?" I blinked in astonishment. "What you don't understand is that I care only about the otherworldly power. While the two saiyans have plenty of spiritual energy, they have next to no *otherworldly* energy. Do you see what I mean? It's like having some people with psychic abilities and some people without."

I began to nod slowly. "I understand. But why do we have that type of energy and our other family members don't?"

Joanna shook her head. "That I cannot tell you. But I do know this: the ability does not have to run in the family."

After listening to this whole talk of energy, age, and power, I was beginning to think that what I was getting into was too large for me to handle.

Now, if it isn't too much to ask, I would like some reviews. I'll take any one you have. Bad ones, good ones, even flames (they don't bother me)! You have a right to say what you think, no matter how idiotic you sound (just kidding).