"So the day has finally arrived, has it?" Adrian stared at Vincent and then looked out at the field filled with soldiers on both sides. Vampires and creatures on one and then humans on the other. It looked like a miserable excuse for a chess match. Was Adrian the King or the Queen? Othello certainly wasn't a Knight.

"Diedrich is going to talk to them and then we shall do what used to be done in the older days," Vincent smiled.

"How old are 'older days' to you?" Adrian chuckled.

"That's a good point," Vincent pondered. "I'm not sure what time period it was when they would choose a champion from either side. I also don't know how long it will take for word to get out that the ruler of the vampires has died."

"I'm not going to die though, that's part of the act," Adrian sighed.

"You're not going to die?" Vincent stared. "I'm not going to die," he corrected and raised a finger.

"I'm Dracula, I'm the one not dying," Adrian crossed his arms.

"I'm the one going to 'die' because if something happens I can back out of it very quickly," Vincent frowned.

"No," Adrian stiffened. "No," he insisted.

"What are you going on about?" Vincent's eyebrows furrowed. "It makes sense for me to-"

"No," Adrian repeated.

"Whyever not?" Vincent huffed.

"I'm not waiting another fifty years, Vincent," Adrian's eyes flared.

"That is no reason for you to die!" Vincent snapped.

"I'm not going to-"

Vincent's eyes flared this time and his eyelid twitched. He grabbed Adrian's ear and pulled his head down. "Have you forgotten about your little friend?" Vincent glanced over to Angel and Grell and they walked over. Vincent pushed Adrian into them after stripping him of his cloak.

"What are you doing?!" Adrian snapped, but Grell and Angel both grabbed an arm. Then other members of the vampire council held Adrian back as well. He could use his authority as Dracula to stop this, but some part of him knew that wouldn't change the result.

"Are you going to calm down?" Grell asked.

"Let go of me," Adrian shook them off. Vincent was already walking towards the center of the space between the armies. What was done was done. Diedrich walked towards him.

"Is there really a reason for you to be the one to die?" Diedrich raised an eyebrow. "You're the one that caused this war, why should you die? Won't that just cause him to continue it?"

"You know nothing of love, my dear," Vincent tapped Diedrich's cheek with his hand. "I'm doing this so he won't die," Vincent lifted the collar of the cloak so that it would act as a hood and cover his hair.

"What does that mean?" Diedrich understood even less what Vincent was trying to do.

"It means this-" Vincent jumped forward and grabbed Diedrich's weapon in his hands. He pulled Diedrich close to him with it and motioned as if he was stabbing his side. The weapon gently grazed him. Vincent pushed Diedrich away with enough force to push him back towards the humans. Vincent grabbed his side. He dug his fingers into his wound to make it bleed more then stared up at the sky. A swarm of crows appeared and flocked around him. The crows were numerous enough to form a wall between Vincent and everything else. They flew in a steady pattern. Vincent stared at them, unable to make an escape, not that he would've wanted to regardless.

A small collection of the crows escaped the wall of them and came together to form Sebastian. He stared at Vincent and although he tried to keep his eyes from darting around, his bloodlust was kicking in.

"Sebastian."

"Vincent."

Vincent held his hand over his side and stared at it. He probably damaged it too much. "What are you doing here?" he smiled.

"Don't act as though you don't already know," Sebastian snapped. "I'm going to kill you," he jumped forward and grabbed Vincent's neck in his hands.

"If you kill me you won't be able to drink my blood," Vincent chuckled.

"Release me," Sebastian's voice escalated in intensity. "Release me!"

"Or what, you'll kill me again?"

"Sebastian," Adrian's voice resounded in Sebastian's ears. He let go of Vincent and held them.

"It's so loud. It's so loud," he repeated over and over. "So very loud," his eyes cried red tears. Adrian walked through the crows and his hair levitated around him along with the edges of his flowy garments. His eyes radiated an energy making them even brighter as that familiar cool mist swarmed. The humans scrambled among themselves to get back further from the vampire overlord.

"I should've killed you and taken your place when I had the chance," Sebastian snapped and then faced Vincent. "Why didn't you stay dead?!"

Adrian grabbed Sebastian's face and threw him into the ground. He hovered over his body as a small crater formed around them with the more pressure he applied.

"Just kill me, coward!" Sebastian wrapped his hands around Adrian's arm and dug his nails in.

"Killing you would be too quick," Adrian seethed.

"Ad...rian..." Vincent began to fall over but Adrian jumped up and grabbed him.

"Vincent?!"

"There was poison...on that sword..." he coughed.

"That shouldn't-"

"He is a vampire killer for a reason..." Vincent smiled.

While Adrian was preoccupied with Vincent, Sebastian grabbed the sword out of Diedrich's hand and stabbed Adrian from behind. The sword went straight through him and stabbed Vincent's chest as well.

"Adrian?" The two fell to the ground, Vincent now holding onto Adrian. "Adrian, stay with me," Vincent lightly slapped Adrian's cheeks. "You're a vampire leader you can't die like this..."

"I'm...a Vlad..." Adrian chuckled but then coughed. "It's kind of my destiny."

"I don't care about your destiny!" Vincent sobbed.

"That wasn't your ordinary sword, Vincent," Adrian stared into Vincent's eyes. "It's a special type of poison...handcrafted for me..."

"Please don't die," Vincent held onto Adrian tighter.

"Vincent, I-" Adrian used the last bit of his strength to push Vincent against the ground and shield him from another one of Sebastian's attacks. He fell on top of him, blood draining into him as Vincent's arms were still clinging to his ever-growing-colder body.

"Adrian?" Vincent's hands shook. "Adrian...please don't..." but there was no sound from him any longer. "Adrian...I love you," he sobbed as he felt his own body disappear.

"No!" he clung to him. "No! At least let me die with him!" he cursed whatever or whomever it was that sent him traveling through time. "Let me die with him!" but his body was already mostly gone, about to be whisked away into another time.