The next morning Cassiel brought the body back to the stone circle and began preparing it for the burial. Mina tried to keep David far away from the body but he kept begging her to let him see him. "Mina, please, you know how much I loved him. I just want to see him one last time." David said trying to hold back the tears that wanted to come again. Mina sighed and finally agreed to take him to the body. When David saw what had happened to Dorian the tears started coming again. He was lying on the stone table, his pile of bloody clothes on the ground nearby, and there was large gash across his chest. The Desu has used garlic spears and it affected Dorian's natural ability to heal the wound quickly. David leaned over the body and studied it, tears dripping onto the stone and onto Dorian as he ran his hand through Dorian's hair. He saw that Dorian still had on the clan's crest. The necklace hung to the side of the body; David reached around the body and unlatched it, he held the pendant tightly, the edges digging into his hand causing cold blood to drip from his palm. He dropped the pendant on the ground and walked away, unable to look at the body anymore, it was too painful for him. Mina just watched him go, knowing he needed some time alone. Cassiel walked over to Mina and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Is he going to be ok?" Cassiel asked.

"I hope so. He's really worrying me, he loved Dorian so much, I don't know what he's going to do." Mina said, wiping tears from her own eyes. It was a hard loss for everyone. Cassiel then saw the now bloody pendant on the ground.

"Why is this here?"

"David took it off of him, and I guess he dropped it before he walked away, I thought he had taken it with him." Cassiel held it up and admired the beautifully molded pendant. It was an ankh with a small cross in the head, the Ketsueki clan symbol, Dorian had never taken it off for the hundreds of years he'd been in power. She started crying and Mina hugged her, "I miss him too, we all do." The two stood there in an embrace, sharing their tears over the loss of their leader.

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The next day Dorian's burial ceremony was held. The 16 Ketsueki circled around the now closed casket that contained the body of Dorian. No words were said as more tears were shed and the casket was lowered into the ground. After a few vampires had buried the casket they had David come and place the stone on top. He crouched by it running his hand over the letters as the others watched.

'Dorian Lupus, 378 years, a great man and a great leader, he will never be forgotten'

The others were beginning to clear out, "Wait! Everyone, don't leave yet." They all stopped and turned to look at Mina who was now holding Dorian's old necklace up for everyone to see, "We are leaderless now. But we live in a harsh place, another war could be upon us at any moment, we have many rival clans. We need a new leader who will be able to govern us and take care of us like," she paused for a moment to wipe a lone tear falling down her face, "like Dorian once did." Sonia, one of the older vampires, stepped forward and asked permission to speak.

"I think David should be our leader." David looked up from his spot by the gravestone.

"Me? I'm not fit to be leader, I'd never be able to take care of…" He was cut off when Lucifer stepped up next to Sonia.

"I think David should lead us as well." Following them Cassiel, Xavier and Kristopher moved forward as well, all proclaiming David as new leader. One by one the remaining 10 vampires stepped forward. David watched in disbelief as they all placed their vote for him. Mina smiled and walked over to David offering her hand so he could stand up.

"Will you take this, David?" Mina held the necklace up for David; he stood for a few minutes as everyone watched silently. He contemplated whether he really wanted this, and then slowly he reached up and took the pendant from Mina. The other clan members dropped to their knees in front of David as he placed the necklace on himself. Mina hugged him tightly, "You know Dorian would have wanted this." She whispered in his ear. David motioned for everyone to stand up and everyone to head off to bed; the sun was going to rise soon. They obeyed and soon the area was clear except for Mina and David, "I'm glad you chose to take it, no one would be able to lead quite like you, you have so much of Dorian in you. You remind me of him when he first bit me, I know you'll make the right decisions in the future." David didn't say a word; he just stood staring at the grave in the dirt. He turned to Mina.

"Thank you. For everything. Without you I wouldn’t be here and I am so grateful you found me." Mina just smiled.

"I'm glad I found you too." And with that the two of them walked off into the woods towards the large tree that the clan had claimed as their sleeping area.

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David woke up and glanced around. He took off from his perch and flew around the tree noticing that everyone else was still sleeping. He had decided during the night that he would call a meeting that night, he just couldn't bring himself to stay in this place; it reminded him too much of Dorian. He flew to the stone circle not to far away and landed in the newly carved chair. Within seconds the human David was sitting in the same place a bat was seconds ago and he called to the others to wake up and come for the meeting. It didn't take long for everyone to find their seats; David smiled as the seats filled up, "I have called you all here this evening to discuss migrating." He glanced around to see once tired faces turn to faces of hope, "I, myself, cannot bear to stay in a land that reminds me of my dear Dorian and I do not want to live with the risks of another war around the corner. I don't want to lose anyone else." The clan exchanged nods on this comment and David continued, "I know many of you have traveled to many places and I would like to hear suggestions of places you all think would be best for us to go." A young, somewhat beat up looking vampire stood up, it was Lycartherus, the first vampire to join the clan before Mina, "Yes, Lyca."

"Might I suggest the coast of Europe?" Mumbles went around the circle and many people shouted disagreements.

"SILENCE! Everyone, no one will speak unless given permission. Thank you, Lyca, it will be considered." David said giving a stern look to everyone in the circle. Lucifer stepped forward, people grumbled but a pissed off "Hush." From David quieted them all down, "Go ahead, Lucifer."

"The Underworld." Everyone began talking at once of the mythical place. No one from Transylvania had ever flown overseas to The Underworld, yet it was known worldwide for it's wide range of supernatural and immortal races that lived there as one clan.

"PLEASE, EVERYONE!" David shouted and the talking ceased immediately, "Lucifer has a good point. America has been said to be quite the place for vampires. No tales of war have come from there and it seems quite welcoming." David smiled at Lucifer who bowed respectively before sitting down, "I say we take the chance and go on the journey." After some weary glances among the clang an uproarious cheer rang throughout the woods.

"We're FINALLY leaving!"

"We should plan on leaving tomorrow night. We have a long way to go and I want to get started as soon as possible. Now, everyone, go get yourself some dinner." Soon the sky was filled with bats flying off in different directions ready to get a good feed and prepare for the many miles they'd be flying the next day.