Archive of Our Own

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Prologue

It started in an abandoned warehouse district at night, as things seem to do.

Barry was dealing with a Metahuman of the Week. As he zipped around to capture the Meta, Barry’s arm grazed an errant bit of metal frame. The metal snagged and tore; an ounce of Barry’s blood escaped the cut from his arm and splashed to the ground. Barry hardly noticed it.

What Barry did notice, however, was a distinct sensation of being watched.

As Barry wrapped things up at the warehouse, an uneasy feeling crossed his nerves. Still holding a cuffed and grumbling Meta, Barry frowned as he peered at the indistinct shadows and jagged shapes of the dark warehouse.

His breath hitched - in the far shadows, a pair of eyes were watching him.

They were not human eyes, or even the flicker-green eyeshine of a cat. No, these were eerie white-blue irises, set against the dark. They brought to Barry’s mind the the stark eyes of grackles he had seen at the park. Although these eyes looked like they belonged to something much larger than a corvid bird.

The eyes blinked, then flickered and disappeared. Moonlight poured out from behind clouds and filled the warehouse, showing no one at the far end.

Barry frowned. After a few moments of hesitation, Barry flashed away from the warehouse to deliver the trouble-causing Meta to the Central City Police Department.

Back at STAR Labs, Barry de-suited and the STAR Labs team traded banter about the evening’s mission.

Barry started to note how he had felt watched and possibly seen eyes.

Unfortunately, the moment was overshadowed by Cisco, who had been checking Barry’s suit. Cisco pointed to the incriminating tear on the sleeve and irately demanded to know what Barry had done to the suit. Caitlin switched into medical mode and immediately started examining Barry’s arm. Said owner of the arm protested that the cut was nothing and had already healed. Iris peered with brief concern at Barry’s arm, Harry went back to typing on his laptop, and the evening wrapped up at STAR Labs.

No one connected the drops of blood that Barry shed and the appearance of white-blue eyes in the shadows.

***

A few weeks later.
 
Iris and Barry had talked about having some relatively normal, quality time together. Things were quiet at STAR Labs and CCPD, and Iris and Barry finally took a half-day off. Their impromptu afternoon plan was an outing to a nearby nature preserve -- low-key and just the two of them.

Barry flashed back to their shared apartment to pack water and a few things. Iris was stopping by Central City Picture News to briefly talk to a former colleague; she would be arriving at the apartment a little later.

The doorknob rattled faintly. Iris was surprisingly quick, it seemed, with getting back. “Iris?” called Barry, as he went over to unlock the door.

There was a pause, and then Iris’s voice called back, “Um. Yeah, it’s… me. Iris.”

Barry opened the door. “Hey, how was -- ” He paused, taking in Iris’s clothes. He finally settled on, “...Did you pick that outfit up at the Picture News office?”

Following Barry’s glance, Iris looked down at her clothes. Iris was wearing a zippery, dark-leather, punk-rock sort of ensemble. For some reason, an expression of panic flitted across Iris’s face as she looked back up at Barry.

“Uh,” tried Barry, “It’s got style. Very punk. You’ve definitely hit a punk aesthetic. But, um, we should probably change before we hit the North Woods trails.” He held up the hiking pack in his hand, cheerfully.

“Yeah! Right, yeah, ‘course,” said Iris quickly. “Sorry, can I come in?”

“What?” Barry looked at her in confusion. “Of course! What-” Iris walked in, boots trodding on the floor. “Iris… is everything all right?” asked a concerned Barry. “Did something happen with your friend at CCPN?”

“Oh. Gosh. Erm. Yeah, it was… so much. Actually, a cuppa -- I could really use a cup of tea.” Iris put her bag down on a table. Iris seemed like she was babbling a little, which worried Barry.
 
“We don’t have any tea -” Iris was a dark-roast coffee drinker “-- but stay there, I’ll get some for you.” Iris started to protest, but Barry zipped off, trailing lightning. He reappeared with the usual rush of wind, knocking off a stack of bills and ads from the countertop. Barry started digging out boxes of tea from the grocery bag slung on his arm. “Okay, this one is called ‘High-Octane Black Tea’. Uh. Wait, this other tea is ‘Soothing Chamomile’.”

Juggling a variety of teas, Barry looked up at Iris.

Iris was staring at him, apparently in astonishment. “My god, Zeekey was right about you,” she breathed, to herself.

Barry wasn’t sure who Zeekey was or what this meant. He put the collection of teas the counter. After a moment, he carefully picked out the Soothing Camomile tea. Barry clattered around the kitchen, grabbing two mugs, filling them with water, putting them into the microwave and punching in some heating time.

“Wait, you’re making tea in the

microwave?

” said Iris, sounding oddly aghast.

Barry looked at her, his lips slightly parted with an unasked question. By now, he was out of the kitchen, still holding the box of Soothing Chamomile. Finally, Barry said, “Well… I don’t think we have a tea-kettle. Do we?” His gaze lingered on Iris reluctantly, as if he was asking a different question entirely. But he finally glanced around the apartment, as if there really was an unboxed kettle on a shelf somewhere.

Something did catch Barry’s eye, but it wasn’t a tea-kettle. He found himself staring at the large dressing mirror in their apartment. Because it reflected back two people. One was Barry, of course. Next to him, in the mirror, was a woman donned in punk-rock gear. But she had disheveled black curly hair, brown skin and a face nothing like Iris’s.

The strange woman was now staring at the mirror too. In the reflection, Barry could see the woman’s eyes widen while she mouthed,

“Oh, shi-”.

Barry forced himself to turn back to… to what was probably not Iris. For a moment, the two people stared at each other, Barry’s mind just starting to race through permutations of possibilities as to what was happening.
 
Just then, the microwave beeped loudly, jolting Barry and making the woman half-jump. Her Iris-face shifted like a mask and then abruptly turned into the real face of the woman in the mirror. Barry stepped back involuntary at this, the box of tea tumbling out of his hand and spilling on to the floor.

The woman seemed to realize her disguise had completely unraveled. She cursed out loud, then muttered what sounded like

“Oh hell oh hell I’m so bloody BAD at Glamour”

. Barry registered, in passing, that she had some kind of British accent. The woman was crouching slightly, looking jittery, her eyes darting quickly around the apartment and at Barry.

And then the woman grabbed Barry’s hand and bit him.

Barry yelped in surprise, twisting his hand away from the woman. He stared at the bite mark on the back of his right hand, then looked at the woman. She seemed shaken -- which was ridiculous to Barry, as she was the one who’d attacked

him.

The woman had screwed her eyes shut and was rubbing at her mouth with her hand and sleeve, trying to rid her mouth of blood. His blood.

Then the stranger opened her eyes -- and her eyes...

flickered.

The woman’s brown irises flashed to sharp-white irises, so stark that they stood out against the pale sclera of her eyes.

Grackle-eyes.

Her irises flickered back to brown, then white again. And her teeth, as she tried to wipe at them -- her eyeteeth were not quite right.

The woman shut her eyes again.

This time, when she opened her eyes, her irises stayed brown.

Barry started to flash away, to grab something to immobilize the woman. But to his surprise, he

juddered,

stumbling awkwardly back into real time. The woman stopped trying to wipe her mouth and instead stared at Barry in surprise. And then looked at him with cautious curiosity.

Barry turned towards her, his movements oddly sluggish, his lanky limbs not cooperating fully. He glanced at his bitten hand again. Looked back at the woman. “What did you -- ?”

“...I thought it took longer for people to be affected like this,” said the woman, studying Barry with open curiosity now. The woman stepped toward him.

Barry stumbled backwards. His body felt like it was suddenly cocooned in lead, not listening to him. He bumped into his couch and fell on it, sprawling awkwardly, unable to properly move.

The woman watched Barry. She absently wiped at her teeth, one last time. Her eyes flashed those sharp-white grackle-irises again, the white color settling longer in her eyes this time. She shook her head distractedly, as if to clear out thoughts from her head.

Barry felt an uneasy, rising feeling that was quickly turning to panic. He realized his breaths were becoming unsteady, and he forced himself to breath normal, deep breaths. Barry followed the woman with his eyes, as she retrieved her bag. That bag wasn’t Iris’s usual bag either. Why had Barry thought she was Iris at all -- ?
 
From her satchel, the woman removed a kit with small bags, envelopes and paper - similar to the kits Barry used in his CSI work. As an afterthought, she also donned gloves.

Was there-- CSI stuff happening…?

Barry thought in bewilderment.

The woman looked around, as if trying to decide something. Her eyes settled on Barry finally. She hesitated, then gave a small shrug and walked back to him.

As he tried to push himself away from the woman, Barry discovered his muscles were now completely paralyzed, except his involuntary systems. And his eyes, which he could still move.

Barry watched as the woman reached over... and plucked a few hairs from his head.

The woman folded a piece of paper around the hairs. She brought out a large paper evidence bag, a small plastic ziplock-like bag and a glassine envelope. She looked between the three items several times, like she wasn’t sure which one to use. Finally she chose the plastic bag and stuffed the paper and hairs into it.
 
Barry felt a stab of annoyance cut through his panic. Being paralyzed on his own couch was bad enough. And now, he was being forced to watch a live-action version of

CSI: Amateur Hour,

starring the sketchiest person ever. Who didn’t know how to correctly package samples.
 
The sketchy person spoke again. “I honestly was just going to, er, sort of collect some hairs from your hairbrush,” she said, as she packed away the hair sample and kit into her bag. Barry wasn’t sure, but he thought he caught sight of a set of lock-picking tools tumbling around in the bag as well. “But, well. Since you’re right in front of me. Better sample and all,” continued the woman. She added, “And that bite was supposed to just muddle your memory. Erm.”

For all her awkward over-explaining, Barry thought irritably, this person didn’t make much sense. Also, she was leaving out all the important information, including who she was and why she was collecting hair samples from him.

Meanwhile, the woman peered at Barry. Her brows furrowed. “Also, why aren’t you at work? I thought you spent all your time at work.” She looked like she wanted to hoist off a few more complaints on to Barry about how inconvenient he was.

But instead, the woman shouldered her bag and stood up as if to leave.

Some panicked emotion must have filtered though Barry’s hazel eyes, because the woman’s own brown eyes paused at his face. Barry could swear there was a guilty tone in her voice as she muttered, her eyes not quite meeting his, “Erm, listen, you’ll be…. Eventually that’ll wear off….”

Her gaze landed on the bite wound on his right hand, which (oddly, for him) had not started to heal over. “...I should leave something for that, though,” she said, studying it. “That wound won’t easily…. Em...”

Some blood had escaped the gash. A droplet traveled down his skin with a faint tickling sensation, leaving a thin red trail. The woman stared at the droplet of blood, openly enthralled.

Sharp, bright white flecks appeared in her irises, glittering.

This time, the woman shook her head violently, squeezing her eyes shut and scrubbing her face using her arm. But when she opened her eyes, her eyes still flickered with white shards.

The woman studied Barry. She absently bit at her lip. Her eyeteeth were definitely noticeable, now. She looked at her satchel again, as if trying to decide something.

Finally, with an abrupt movement, she dug into her bag and drew out another kit. This one had vials and needles. The women’s brown eyes, as she glanced at Barry again, kept flickering into solid white irises.

Barry had a bad feeling about this.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Honestly, up until now, Barry had… low-key panic.It started with general confusion. (Iris showing up in punk rock clothing and asking for tea.) This morphed into panicked confusion. (“Iris” turning into a strange woman who bit him and somehow paralyzed him.) Which kind of slid into exasperation. (Where did this sketchy person even get that CSI kit? It looked official.) But now, Barry was getting a bad feeling again, as he watched the woman unpack what looked like a blood-collecting kit. To try and make himself feel like he had some control of the situation, Barry decided to give the woman a nickname. Um. “The Sketchy Punk-Rock Brit”. Cisco could probably do better, but he wasn’t here.Barry wondered if his feeling of alarm was because he was afraid Sketchy Punk-Rock’s attempts to get a blood sample would be about as graceful as, say, her attempts to pick his apartment lock and collect a hair sample.Which is to say, with little grace and much wincing.Or maybe his dread was -- well, although Punk-Rock was kind of inept about tricking Barry into thinking she was Iris, those inept powers were still powers. More importantly, Punk-Rock had paralyzed Barry. And when she looked at Barry’s blood trickling out, her eyes flickered with that strange sharp-white color. She wasn’t shaking it off as well as before. And her eyeteeth were slowly, visibly lengthening.Barry kind of wished he hadn’t analyzed his dread so much. But, much to his surprise, Sketchy Punk-Rock seemed to have experience using needles to draw blood from people. (Barry’s mind immediately veered off as to why. Some of the reasons were not good to think about. Again, just this once, Barry didn’t appreciate his powers of analysis.)Punk-Rock donned fresh latex gloves. She took Barry’s uninjured left arm, tied a tourniquet, found a vein. The woman even disinfected the spot on his arm with an alcohol pad, the sharp smell hitting Barry’s nose. She put her hands on his left arm and neatly inserted a catheter. Attached a vial to the catheter to collect blood. Barry’s blood streamed into the container, the hot red liquid fogging the inside of the vial.Barry really didn’t like how Punk-Rock’s eyes glittered with sharp-white flakes as she watched his blood transfer into the vial.But the woman finished up efficiently, pressing gauze onto the site as she removed the catheter and tourniquet. She even wrapped things up by securing the gauze in place with surgical tape, creating a neat bandage. Considering the circumstance, it was kind of ridiculous.As if mirroring Barry’s thoughts, Punk-Rock’s eyes fell on Barry’s messily-wounded right hand again. A juxtaposition to the tidy work she’d just done. The woman looked deflated. She sighed, put away the vial of Barry’s blood, and started fishing out gauze and ointments. She appeared to be staring with resentment at the bite mark she’d created earlier.Barry kind of wanted to tell her, “Please, Sketchy Punk-Rock, just leave already -- whatever you’re trying to do, I’ll just fix it myself.” He also, of course, wanted to snatch his hand away from the woman, jump up, apprehend her, take back all the super-sketchy biological samples from him she was collecting, bring her to STAR Labs or CCPD and ask her was was going on.To Barry's surprise, he did manage to twitch his injured hand during this barrage of thoughts.“Oh!” exclaimed Punk-Rock, spotting the movement in his hand. “You’re, ah, you’re recovering faster from paralysis, too. Compared to other people.” Punk-Rock’s voice sounded a little high-pitched and wild. Barry wasn’t sure what to make of the off-sounding tone of voice. He frowned, in his mind.“But the wound -- I mean the bite mark, that I gave -- I bit you --” The woman shut her eyes tightly, muttering something, rubbing her face. She opened her eyes again. Her breath was getting ragged, and she seemed to be trying to tamp it down by sheer force. “That site keeps bleeding, because of… um… the saliva mixed in, and...” Her words lost focus and trailed off. The woman reached out towards the blood on Barry’s hand. Jerked her hand back.Barry felt increasingly concerned.The person sat back, moving away, eyes still locked on to the blood. Her eyes flickered rapidly, the white iris fragmenting and reappearing against her dark brown iris.Barry willed the woman to keep fighting whatever she was fighting.And Barry willed his muscles to move. He willed his body to finish burning through the toxin that shackled his voluntary muscle. He willed the foreign chemicals to go away -- to give back his body to his own control, before the woman’s eyes were lost to the sharp-white irises. He knew those white eyes meant something terrible was going to happen.Barry’s right hand twitched abruptly, as if sympathetic to these thoughts. Another drop of blood oozed and started to trail down his skin.The woman stared at the red droplet. Her irises were a mosaic of mostly white now. A thin string of drool dripped from the woman’s mouth, and there may have been an accompanying growl of hunger from her stomach. The woman wiped her saliva, as if some memory had prompted a faint feeling of embarrassment. She didn’t take her eyes away from Barry’s blood. She gulped, swallowing noisily. Her lips were parted slightly, and her lengthened eyeteeth -- perhaps more accurately called fangs, now -- caught the light and glimmered wetly.The woman’s head suddenly fell forward, as if she’d lost consciousness.Barry watched her. Unable to do anything else. After a moment, still looking down, the figure rose to her feet. A smooth, alien motion replaced the nervous, fumbling energy of the woman earlier. She brought her head up, slowly. And then she looked directly at Barry.Barry could see her eyes had settled into blank-white orbs with black pupils, no trace of her human brown eye color left. Nothing of the previous person seemed left in the figure -- who now wore an oddly focused, hungry expression, not quite human. In those sharp-white eyes, Barry suddenly felt that his body no longer equated a person - but instead, mere food for a wild beast, a thing to be devoured.Barry’s breath hitched as the woman (or whatever she was now) moved closer. He tried to move, to do anything, but his useless body did nothing.Barry’s wide eyes tracked the creature as she reached forward, grasping his jaw and pushing his head back to expose the right side of his neck. Her fingers were on the soft skin of his neck and finding -- what he suspected -- was his carotid artery. His breath quickened in fear, his chest rising and falling rapidly.The creature drew closer to Barry’s exposed neck. Her jaws opened to reveal a now very functional set of fangs. Barry made a small grunting sound somewhere in his chest, the only physical manifestation of the screaming terror he felt.And then she sank her sharp teeth into his neck. Barry shuddered, as if trying to thrash away. The creature grabbed him and held him closer, jaws still at his neck, like a jaguar trying to maneuver its thrashing prey closer. Barry could feel his own pounding heart. And as she drank from his neck, he could feel her throat move. Feel his own blood being swallowed, taken.Barry couldn’t see what was happening, but he felt the woman push her hand against his jaw again. She shoved his head back further -- his hair rustled against the fabric of the couch -- so she could gain better access to his throat. Her palms were smearing and wet with his warm blood. The thick metallic smell of his own blood was overwhelming Barry’s senses.His body twitched weakly, once, twice.Barry realized, dimly, that actual control of his muscles were finally returning. Too little, too late. As he felt his blood drain away from the wound on his neck, Barry felt his body grow colder and colder, his heart beating erratically in his chest.His world grew narrow. Black nothingness began to creep on the sides. Barry’s thoughts turned to to his family, to the team he worked with at STAR Labs, to --To Iris.
Iris.
And as if to respond to Barry’s silent plea, he heard the doorknob to the apartment rattle again, this time in a familiar way.He thought he felt the creature feeding on his blood give pause at this sound, too.Too little, too late.His consciousness slipping away, he thought he heard Iris call his name. Or maybe the sound was a hallucination. If it was, it was a nice one. Even in the encroaching darkness, Barry felt a brief flare of happiness to hear Iris’s voice again.Then everything went black.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Iris paused.The locks on the door were open.Iris frowned, an uneasy feeling stirring in her. After some unpleasant incidents, Barry and Iris had taken up automatically locking the door no matter what, even if they were shortly expecting the other’s arrival at the door.“Barry…?” Iris called, and started to push open the door. She heard a crashing sound.Iris quickly shoved open the door.“Barry? Honey?”She glanced around. Saw no one. The pile of new boxes of tea on the counter caught her eye briefly. But her attention was taken more by a window near the couch. The window was shoved open, the wind from outside flapping open a magazine nearby.Bright red smears on the window frame and glass.Iris dropped her purse without noticing. She went to the window.  It was blood on the window glass. Reflex made Iris draw back, momentarily.Suddenly gripped with fear, Iris whirled around and looked frantically around the apartment.The couch. Blood on the top part. Something - someone was there on the couch --A scream tore from Iris’s throat. Barry was slumped over, eyes closed, his neck and throat a mess of red. Blood dribbled sluggishly and puddled under his head, the scarlet color in terrible contrast to his too-pale face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Chaos.

Equipment falling and hitting the floor, gurney wheels clattering. Harsh, flaring operating lights. Lifting an inert Barry onto the operating table. Iris and Cisco had carried him to STAR Labs, through Cisco’s breach.

Barry’s lips and fingernails are blue. Heart rate-- his heartbeat is still there -- not normal, much too high, even for Barry. Pressure is applied under the neck wound to stop bleeding. Blood drips, drips onto the floor, a dark red puddle in the shadows.
An oxygen mask on Barry’s face. More monitors and instruments hooked up to his body.  
Caitlin, outfitted with mask, gloves and gown. A rock, her medical assuredness cutting through the chaos and grounding everyone.

Caitlin directs Iris, also wearing medical garb. -Keep pressure on Barry’s neck below the wound, stop his blood from leaving his body. Caitlin’s succinct orders send Cisco and Harry rushing for supplies and equipment. Cisco and Harry are also outfitted to help as assistants.

Caitlin works with intense focus on Barry’s bloody neck. Cisco calls out information about Barry’s vitals from equipment monitors, a disturbingly familiar ritual.

Caitlin cuts open the neck - an incision anterior to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. She isolates the damaged carotid artery, puts clamps on each side of the damaged area. Repairs the artery. Removes the clamps, closes and sutures the incision.

With the main damage fixed, they hook fluids up to Barry’s body.
 **** Caitlin was leaning against the wall, in a chilled, shadowy section of the concrete hallway outside of the cortex. Barry was stabilized. For now. And Caitlin was keeping the bargain she always kept with herself, in these emergency situations. Do the work well, finish it. And then, when there was a moment, let yourself feel what you needed to feel.Caitlin crossed her arms, shifting against the wall. The cool slab of concrete gently drew away her body heat, perhaps also drawing away some of the wild frayed edges of her emotions. Enough so that Caitlin could hold and see the feelings she felt, and then put them down.Hearing careful footsteps, Caitlin looked up. Harry was there, holding a fresh coffee. He offered it to Caitlin, wordlessly. Caitlin took the beverage gratefully, feeling its warmth spreading in her hands. Harry leaned on the wall nearby, not saying anything, just being present.It was something the two of them sometimes did, after emergency surgeries and treatments. Another familiar ritual.After a moment, Caitlin left to check on Barry. Harry stayed a moment longer, then walked away from the wall as well.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sometime later.
 
Barry’s body was safely stabilized; his unconscious form lay in the med bay bed. He had been cleaned up and looked more like a medical patient now. It helped bring sense of normalcy in a situation muddled with questions.

Joe sat next to the bed, an expression of worry as he watched Barry, who was unmoving except for the slow rise and fall of his chest. Joe’s glance fell on the swaths of bandages on Barry’s neck. Iris was nearby, as was Cisco and Harry.

Caitlin was examining Barry’s right hand. She frowned.

“We should see more healing on this wound. For Barry, small scrapes like this usually heal the quickest.” Caitlin looked closer. “The wound doesn’t look like it’s clotting very well.” They had tried to replace Barry’s lost platelets and other components of his blood that help with clotting. Still, Caitlin wasn’t sure what was going on with this hand wound. For now, she affixed a new bandage on Barry’s hand and placed his hand back on the bed.

Caitlin crossed her arms in thought. Then she glanced at Barry’s other arm. She hadn’t given it much attention until now, but --

“What’s this?” asked Caitlin. Uncrossing her arms, she hovered her hand over the tape and gauze on Barry’s arm.

Iris peered at it. “I thought that was something from here at STAR Labs.”

“We haven’t done any blood tests on Barry recently.” Caitlin looked more closely at the tape. It wasn’t the standard tape stocked at STAR labs. Caitlin frowned again.

Joe motioned at Barry’s bandaged hand. “Do we know what happened to Barry’s hand?”

“It looks like something bit him,” said Caitlin.

“Like what. A dog?”

“Wrong teeth shape. Honestly…” Caitlin hesitated, then continued. “It looks human. The bite mark.”

Everyone looked at each other.

Cisco slowly pointed at Barry’s neck and shoulder, covered in medical dressings. “So... what did

this

.”
 
A display screen was brought out for everyone to see. Caitlin pulled up a photograph that Cisco had taken during surgery prep, when they had cleaned the blood to try and assess the wound on Barry’s neck. Caitlin pointed at the photo, to the marks on Barry’s neck. “This part - the two main punctures - looks like damage from the canines of a large animal.” She moved on, her hand drawing a circle around the other tooth marks. “But this part -- These marks don’t match the bite pattern of a dog or a large cat, or bear... or…” Caitlin’s hand fell away, and she shook her head in frustration.

“The only bite marks they

might

start to match are primates,” continued Caitlin. “But not bonobo, chimpanzee, or any of the great apes. The marks are closer to -- to human.”

Iris was silent, watching this. But now, she spoke quietly. “There’s something I want to show you.”
 
Iris wore a grim expression as she tapped on her phone to share photos to the screen. But before opening them, she looked at everyone. “These are photos of... of Barry. As I found him, before we moved him. And the apartment and couch. Later, I went back to our apartment and took more photos again.”

Cisco was not the only one to look at Iris with astonishment. The former investigative journalist continued. “I wish we could send a full CSI team to our apartment. I guess. But also - I just -- I --”

Joe moved to one side of Iris, softly drawing her against him. Caitlin put an arm around Iris, and everyone gathered together around Iris. Iris leaned into them for a moment, collected herself, then showed the photos.
 
Cisco had seen the scene himself, when he helped rescue Barry from the apartment. But he still flinched. Everyone else reacted with various versions of shock. They had watched Barry get into scrapes as the Flash -- there were other incidents that had been even more life threatening, to be honest. But there was something about someone going after Barry in his own home that seemed terribly wrong. The photos showed Barry, in regular clothes, sprawled on his couch with his eyes closed. In other situations, perhaps a candid snapshot of someone napping -- except for the awkward angle of his neck, and the swaths of blood on his face and his neck and on the couch.

Iris swiped through a few more photos of this scene from different angles. Some were blurry, as if the person taking the photo had hands which were shaking too much.

Then Iris got to what she wanted - photos of the scene afterwards. Especially of the couch.

They stared at it. Yes, there was a gruesome puddle of blood… but…

Harry cleared his throat. “Dr. Snow. How much blood did Allen lose?”

“It’s hard to tell, because of his regenerative powers-” Caitlin glanced at Barry’s form, once more. As if questioning, again, what was going on with his wounds that weren’t healing properly. “Based on his symptoms, he was in severe hypovolemic shock. He lost at least a few liters of blood. Probably more.”

They studied the photo again. As much blood splatter as there was, it was obvious -- it still wasn’t

liters

of blood.

Cisco dragged a hand down his tired face and softly swore. He also thought,

God, to be Iris right now.

She went through too much.
 
They looked at photos of the smears of blood on the windows. There was a definite partial palm print on on a window panel. Iris spoke again. “Like I mentioned, there was a crashing sound when I entered the apartment,” she said. “At least one…. Human… left there in a hurry.”

“Left through the window,” said Joe flatly.

Iris shrugged half-heartedly. “The back door was still locked, so.”

“What did they do after they got out the window?” muttered Cisco, studying the photos that showed the drop from the windows to the street. He looked like he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

“Did they take Barry’s blood, then?” asked Joe.

Caitlin looked disturbed. “If they did, they must have known Barry’s the Flash. Or at least a metahuman. There’s potentially a black market for that kind of blood.” She seemed oddly sad about this.

Then Caitlin paused, turned and studied at Barry again. Specifically, his left arm. “Is this related? This possible blood sampling, which we can’t figure out?”
 
“All this blood stuff… Humans possibly biting humans…” muttered Cisco. He tapped absently at a table surface, then continued. “...Maybe we ARE dealing with vampires.”

Harry shot him a look. In fact, everyone gave Cisco a look. Cisco held up his hands, shoulders scrunching up, protesting the collective admonishment. “Alright alright, sorry! I take it back?” Cisco still added, “But seriously, we have dealt with some really strange people before. Just saying.”

There was a heavy silence.

Caitlin checked Barry’s right hand wound, once again, and made a frustrated face. “Why are Barry’s wounds healing so

slowly

?”

From behind them, a voice suddenly spoke.

“‘S because certain proteins and enzymes are stopping the blood from clotting at the wounds.”
 
As one, everyone turned towards the British-sounding voice. At the entranceway of the med bay, there appeared to be a… punk-rocker. Maybe.

The punk-dressed person was slumping against the door frame. She was carrying a satchel and her disheveled, dark curly hair fell over her face. Her skin was probably some shade of brown, usually -- but her current complexion was more gray than brown. She looked like she was about to be sick.

Joe had started to reach for his gun. But he stopped, eyeing the ill-looking woman. She didn’t look like she’d make five steps without falling over. He thought she might be Iris’s age…. Maybe younger. Hard to tell, as she looked so sick.

So instead, Joe asked in a flat voice, “Who the hell are you.”

The person blinked at Joe.

“Kiran,” she replied.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Kiran.” Joe studied her for a moment. “Are you connected with this man.” Joe gestured to Barry’s inert form.“Um. Medicine to counteract the proteins and enzymes, so the blood will clot normally. That’s what you need,” said Kiran, instead. “It’ll heal a lot faster. You can clean the wound in a normal way, but it’s not enough --” She suddenly put her a fist to her mouth, looking particularly ill, and stopped talking. After a moment, she recovered and continued her disjointed message. “I have some of that medicine. To give to you.”“Are you connected with what happened to this man,” continued Joe, as if Kiran has said nothing.Kiran looked even more unhappy. Then she stumbled, slapping the door with her arm and awkwardly sliding halfway down.Iris moved forward to help her. Then stared at the red-and-brown smear that Kiran left on the door.Kiran looked at the mark on the door, looked at her sleeve, then cursed and scrubbed at her clothes. Now that Iris looked more carefully at Kiran, she could see signs of a hasty wash-up. The pale edges on Kiran’s jacket and clothes had brown stains. The satchel had a smattering of dark blots on it, and some of Kiran’s curls looked oddly dark and stiff. Iris wondered how soon they could get a lift of the handprints at the apartment window and get a set of prints from Kiran. “Kiran, can I see your bag?” asked Iris.Kiran’s face turned even more gray-brown. “Er, here, I’ll just get the medicine out myself -- two shakes of a lamb’s tail --” She fumbled with the satchel. “Erm, I think I left it in here -- ?”Iris snatched up the satchel, heedless of contaminating evidence. Ignoring Kiran’s protests, Iris shook the bag out on an empty table. Vials, surgical tape, some lockpicking tools, a silvery foil packet, and other things tumbled out -- as well as one unmarked, blood-filled vial, which lazily rolled across the table.Caitlin stopped the vial from rolling off the table. She picked up the vial with some large forceps, studied it for a moment. She carefully placed the vial in a nearby tray for safekeeping. Caitlin then picked up the surgical tape from the table. “This tape looks like a match with the tape on Barry’s right arm. But we could test it - along with that blood sample.”Iris quietly studied the bag’s contents.Without warning, she grabbed Kiran by the front of her coat. Kiran’s eyes widened with fear.“Kiran, did you hurt Barry. The man over there,” asked Iris. Flatly. Like her father.But Iris must have asked the right questions. It seemed that Kiran had to answer direct questions -- she gulped, then finally said, “Yes,” avoiding meeting Iris’s eyes.Iris trembled. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and then continued. She stared at Kiran directly, until Kiran had to make eye contact. Kiran looked terrified.“Kiran,” asked Iris, “did you take Barry’s blood. More than that amount, I mean,” she said, gesturing at the vial of blood. “Liters and liters of blood.”Again, Kiran suddenly looked like she might throw up. “Yes,” she answered again, unhappily keeping eye contact with Iris.“Where is the blood. Right now. All the blood. That you didn’t wash off.”“....With me.”Caitlin looked relieved, but still unsure.Joe, Iris and everyone else simply looked puzzled.“Should I pat her down?” offered Joe, doubtfully.“No, I know how to do that, you showed me ages ago,” muttered Iris. She was pursing her lips as she studied Kiran.Iris shook her head slightly, frowning. She looked as if she was writing (in her head) at least three news articles explaining Kiran... and none of them were making sense. For a few moments, Iris’s grip on Kiran’s jacket slackened.Taking advantage of Iris’s lapse in attention, Kiran quickly bit the corner of her own lips. A small bead of red blood appeared on her lip, which she sucked into her mouth.Kiran’s brown eyes suddenly flashed to sharp-white eyes with black dots for pupils. The effect lasted only once and only for a second -- but it startled Iris, enough that Kiran twisted out and scrambled away.Or tried to. Mostly, Kiran just stumbled sideways. She looked drunk, although Iris hadn't smelled alcohol on Kiran’s breath.Cisco, Iris and and Caitlin immediately tried to wrangle Kiran. Cisco protested, “Hey, chillax, Sketchy McPunk-Rock--” And then Kiran finally did what her expression had been threatening to do, since she arrived. Kiran clapped her hands over her mouth, distinctly looking three shades of ill. She made a weird noise. Even Caitlin, the medical practitioner, quickly backed off.Iris, Caitlin and Cisco moved towards the wall of the med bay, trying to get out of Kiran’s path of… of whatever she was going to be sick with. Joe simply looked away, his forlorn eyebrows and slump of his shoulder suggesting this he didn’t sign up for this bit and he wished he were somewhere else. Cisco looked doubtful about everything, like this couldn’t actually be happening, right now. Iris had a strange expression. As if she was really, really hoping that a particular Kiran article she had created in her head was really, really wrong.It turned out to be so much worse. Kiran dropped on her knees and then on all fours, her palms hitting the floor with a slap. Her hair flopped over, obscuring her face, which was aimed at the floor. Caitlin made hesitant reaching motions towards Kiran -- as if Caitlin felt she should maybe hold back Kiran’s hair for her, out of instinct and pity.And then Caitlin and Cisco hastily scrambled back, flattening against the farthest-away parts of the med bay wall. Iris was already there, looking unhappy that her mentally-drafted Kiran article was correct after all.Because Kiran retched, and she retched blood.And more blood.Great crimson quantities of the stuff sploshed to the floor as she vomited. Kiran’s gut was rejecting the liquid, pumping it out of her now. Unstoppably. Kiran coughed and tried to breathe, then threw up even more blood. It spread like a horrible red tide across the floor.A tide of about four liters of blood.Finally, Kiran sat back on her haunches, panting. Her eyes, slitted, showed sharp-white irises with black pupils. Her mouth sported a set of fangs, stained red with blood. Kiran glared at everyone through her narrowed eyes, not even trying to hide her fangs. Right now, she didn’t care about them or anything else.Then Kiran shuddered and dropped her face towards the ground one more time. She coughed a small amount of clear bile. Kiran slumped back, shoulders sagging, falling completely against the wall. Her struggling breath gradually evened out. Despite everything, she was starting to look better, her face a healthier color already.Everyone stared at the four liters of Barry’s blood. Spreading on the floor of the med bay.Joe took a trashcan and quietly threw up into it. Harry just flopped into a chair, expression unreadable. Kiran blinked. Her eyes still flickered with white shards, but her fangs were smaller than before. Kiran looked at the sea of blood on the floor which she’d just vomited up. She rubbed at her face, and then softly swore something that sounded very British.Kiran looked up at everyone again. Her eyes were almost completely brown now.“I’ll -- I’ll clean that up,” Kiran said, a little shakily. And added, “....Sorry”.Caitlin looked at her.“No really, I will clean up the blood,” said Kiran, sounding oddly indignant, her nearly-normal eyeteeth barely catching the light as she voiced her protest. “Just show me your Sanitaire powder and paper towels, or whatever you’ve got. And bleach, water, soap, biohazard bags, bin bags, gloves. Or….” Here, Kiran paused, looking uncertain. “Or maybe you’ve got a specialized spill kit? Because your friend’s not a regular human, right?”Kiran realized all the people in the room were watching her. Color rose to her brown cheeks. “Look, just -- just give me some supplies, I know how to clean up blood spills, alright? I mean, I’m a bloody vampire!”Everyone stared at her. Kiran decided to deal with this by staring at the floor and avoiding looking at people. She dug around in her jacket pockets and brought out a tube of ointment. Then she looked at her hands, realized they were mucky with blood, and tried to clean off her hands. And realized her face must have smears as well. And then realized that the tube of ointment in her hand definitely had blood smears, and hastily attempted to clean off the tube of ointment. None of this was very successful.Finally she just handed the tube to Caitlin.Caitlin hesitated, then gingerly took the ointment.“‘S for treating your mate Barry there,” explained Kiran. “Instructions are on the back. The stuff’s still within the expiration date. It should help cancel out the anticoagulants in my saliva. Which I got on Barry. When I bit him. Erm.” Kiran pondered this, seem to decide that she’d said everything worth saying, and quickly stood up. “Well... cheers everyone, nice to meet you and all that, be seeing you around. Erm, I mean --- I’ll clean that blood puddle, of course. And then I’ll head out. If it’s all the same.”This time, Caitlin and Iris were ready and quickly caught Kiran before she could get anywhere. Meanwhile, the entire room erupted in protests, mostly about how Kiran was not leaving while Barry recovered. Kiran looked unhappy but also not surprised that her suggestion didn’t fly.In the background, Cisco said weakly, “I totally called it on the vampires, everyone. FYI.” During this time, Barry lay quietly on his bed, machines wrring and gently beeping next to him as he slept and healed himself.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Barry could feel himself slowly drifting up to the conscious world.Which was odd, because his last distinct memory was getting the door for Iris, before they headed out to the park. Did they ever get to the park? Did something happen there?As Barry lay and tried to piece his world together, familiar elements from his surroundings started to trickle past his senses. Voices, a certain smell, beeps and machine murmuring, the feel of the bed and the texture of the bedsheets…. Barry realized he was in the med bay at STAR Labs.That was usually never a good sign.Although he seemed to be alive, which was nice.But... why did he go from answering his apartment door to being in the STAR Labs med bay? “Oh - hey, Barry’s coming around.”“I’ll go see him.”“Wait -- what if he associates you with… with what happened in the apartment.”A pause. “We’ll deal with things as they come.”Barry opened his eyes. Iris’s lovely face peered at him, worried but starting to smile. Barry felt that things were already much nicer, with Iris here.For some reason, Iris looked incredibly relieved at Barry smiling back at her. It was a little worrying.Joe and Caitlin warmly greeted Barry from the other side of the bed.And then, there was a sudden clamour from the entrance to the med bay. Cisco was blocking someone from entering. “Dude!” Cisco said, sharply. A British-sounding voice protested. Cisco replied, “No, I’m not letting Barry see you first thing!”“I’m with Ramon on this one -” Even Harry seemed to be involved in whatever was happening.“Who is that?” asked Barry, frowning and craning his neck.“Uh….” No one seemed to want to give an answer. Although Barry could tell they had one.Harry walked into the med bay, greeting Barry. Cisco was closing the door and still arguing with whoever it was. “OK, just -- stay outside. Until we tell you to come in. IF we tell you.” Cisco shut the door and walked over as well, looking a little flustered.Regardless, Cisco greeted Barry warmly as well. “God, Barry, I’m so sorry this happened to you,” Cisco added, quietly.Barry tried to figure out what expression he was supposed to make, regarding this news.Meanwhile, Cisco looked at Iris. “You too, Iris. It’s just…. It’s a lot for you, too.” Iris smiled, a little sadly, in thanks.Barry’s initial happiness of being alive (after whatever happened) and seeing people was starting to fade. Much faster than would have liked.“Uh… yeah, about that…” began Barry, unsure how to break the news that he had no idea what people were talking about. But Barry was distracted by the door to the med bay, specifically by the small window on the door. A face with curly tangles of black hair peered back at him.By now, other people were turning to follow Barry’s gaze. Cisco made an incredibly annoyed noise, and started to go for the door.“Wait!” said Barry. “Seriously, who is that?”Cisco reluctantly turned to Barry. “...Kiran.”Barry gave Cisco a blank look.“He doesn’t know my name!” yelled the person through the door. Cisco scowled at the person.Iris gently put her hand on Barry’s shoulder.“It’s the vampire, Barry,” she softly told him.Barry looked up at Iris. “What?” he said.Iris looked back at Barry. She blinked. Iris looked distinctly thrown off, as if this was not the reaction she’d been expecting.Joe took over. “The vampire that almost killed you,” he rumbled in a low voice.Barry looked at Joe with alarm. “Wait, what? ” Barry stirred in his bed, causing Caitlin to try and get him to settle down again. “Vampires? Are you serious? ”Now everyone was staring at Barry, in a manner that Barry wasn’t sure he found comfortable. Finally, Cisco cautiously asked, “...You don’t remember anything?”“I told you he probably wouldn’t remember me!” said the voice from the door. She actually sounded a little annoyed, now. “Between Glamour and the stuff in my spit, I did say it was pretty unlikely!”“Spit…” repeated Barry. He looked at Iris. “What happened? Wait, do I want to know what happened?”Iris didn’t immediately respond. She just squeezed Barry’s hand, studying him. “What’s the last thing you remember, Barry?” she asked, softly.“I was about to get the door for you, at our apartment.” Barry squeezed Iris’s hand back. “We were going to the North Woods.”Iris’s eyes widened, and her free hand crept to her mouth. “You… really don’t remember.” Barry could sense various reactions from people around him - an intake of air from Joe, Caitlin shifting in place, Harry studying him even more, Cisco looking around in an unsure manner.Iris seemed to have several conflicting emotions whirling in her features, but finally settled on what seemed like relief.  I guess we never went to the North Woods then, Barry thought to himself. He felt a little sad, that they couldn’t even do this simple, normal thing -- a walk in the woods. Meanwhile, Barry brought up his free hand, his right hand, to his neck. He paused, seeing that this hand had a bandage as well. Then, under Caitlin’s watchful eye, Barry felt at whatever was going on with his neck. He could sense that things were sore and healing and hurting -- but superficially, all that greeted him were more bandages.Barry looked at everyone, his hand still on his neck. “Did I really get bit by a vampire?”“....Yeah,” Cisco said.Barry held up his bandaged hand. “What happened here?”“Another vampire bite,” answered Harry. He added, “Same vampire.”Barry wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. “Do I have any more bites I should be… aware of…?”Before anyone could answer, Barry suddenly shot up in alarm, his already light-skinned face turning paler. Caitlin, Joe and Iris immediately protested and tried to get him to lay down again. Barry looked at them wildly. “Am I going to turn into a vampire!?”The rest of the people in STAR Labs looked at each other. For some reason, no one had bothered to ask this question, and no one knew the answer.Barry wasn’t sure how to read this reaction. Immediately, another thought came him. He knew that what what he would say would come off as really terrible, but... “Um, did I really-- You’re not pranking me, are you? About the vampires?”Iris gave him such a look that he immediately regretted his words. Even if he wasn’t clear on what happened, her reaction earlier had been too real. The voice behind the door spoke up again. “Vampires are real -- well, the vampires we’re talking about are real.” She continued to shout, so that her voice would carry through the door. “Also, you’re not going to turn into a vampire. You need live-blood-mixing stuff for that.”Barry took this in uneasily. The bodily fluids thing reminded him, though -- “Hey, so, was there… a… Like, a drag show involved in all this?” asked Barry.Everyone looked at Barry in bafflement. Even the person behind the door looked at Barry, through the little window.“Uh, I guess not,” replied Barry.The rest of the STAR Labs members, however, were not letting this pass by. Harry raised an eyebrow. Cisco directed a confused look and a “Tell me where this came from?” winding gesture with his hands at Barry. Even Iris was watching Barry with an interesting expression.Barry sighed. Not having memories was getting annoying. “I heard something about glamor and spit, and… a drag show was the first thing I could think of.” After a moment, Barry added, “Okay, moving on,” because he could see Joe was about to ask Caitlin if drag shows involved spit, or some question like that.“Wait, if people like drag shows, I know some good ones,” offered Cisco. Iris and Caitlin looked interested. Barry looked at Iris, taking in her reaction. Oh. Interesting…. We should talk about this, he thought mildly.“Ok, people, drag show meeting will happen today at 5pm. Next!” said Harry dryly, clapping his hands once to settle it.“Wait, is this meeting really gonna happen, tho?” asked Cisco.“Yes,” said Harry.“Hey, so, can I come in?” asked the person from behind the door, waving her hand.At this point, people were starting to break off into their own conversations. Caitlin and Iris were making plans about a theater show. With the tension broken and Barry’s relatively healthy state established, domesticity had settled in weirdly quickly. Amid this, Barry pointed to the door, and asked no one in particular, “So... that’s really the vampire that tried to kill me?”Clearly, there was a lot of information he was still missing.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Caitlin gently took Barry’s right hand, inspecting the former wound site. It had healed cleanly. The skin seemed oddly fresh around the area, but even that would fade in time. “You’re still healing a little slowly, but it’s a much better rate than before.” Satisfied, she gave Barry back his hand.The two were standing in the med bay. Barry was wearing regular clothes, his neck partly swathed with light bandages.Kiran was nearby. She was perched in a chair, holding a steaming mug, studying Barry with wide brown eyes and rapt fascination.Barry frowned, unable to pinpoint why Kiran staring at him -- especially at his hand -- made him uneasy. Barry had heard a general version of what had happened between opening his apartment door and waking up in STAR Labs. He hadn’t looked at photos yet; no one was pushing him to do so.“Have you always been able to do that? Your speedy thing and your… fast-healing thing?” asked Kiran, sipping her tea. The foil packet in her satchel had turned out to be a parcel of kangra tea leaves.Barry looked at Kiran. As usual, Kiran slid her eyes elsewhere. She hadn’t been able to meet his eyes yet. Barry sighed. He grabbed a chair, turned it backwards. He sat in it and faced Kiran, his arms crossing on the top of the chair. Barry studied Kiran. Kiran’s shoulders began to creep up with nervous tension. She looked like she wanted to bolt.It still didn’t quite make sense in his head, that this person had overpowered him and drained his blood.“Did you really attack me?” asked Barry, finally.“Yes,” said Kiran, her eyes on Barry’s neck bandages, still not meeting his eyes.Barry rubbed his face. “Okay, why were you in our apartment. --No, wait, ‘samples’. You said that already,” he added, halting Kiran’s reply. “Okay, what were you going to do with samples from me.”“Study them,” replied Kiran, sounding a little surprised that anyone would bother asking this. “Your blood is unusual. I have interest in unusual blood, especially in a NVH.”Barry decided he’d come back to whatever NVH meant. “You found out about me through -- ?”“Zeekey reported that there was strange blood found at an old scraps warehouse, where a speedy person and another strange person were having a scuffle. I did some research, you seem linked.”The memory of white-blue grackle-eyes in shadows appeared in Barry’s mind. Except now, he noticed, the mental image felt linked to more emotions, though he couldn’t identify what they were. Odd. “Crap, is Barry’s secret identity found that easily?” asked Cisco, holding a cup of coffee. He, Iris and Harry had come into the med bay.Kiran looked up at Cisco. “Oh, no no -- see, sussing out stuff, that sort of thing’s my specialty. I’m very good at it.”“You sounded like you were a terrible burglar, from what you were telling us earlier,” said Cisco, doubtfully.“I didn’t say I was good at field work,” said Kiran, a hint of irritability creeping into her voice.“Field work,” repeated Barry.“Everyone else was against following up on you, but I thought it could be an important lead,” said Kiran. “So I went to collect samples myself. But it’s not really what I’m good at, sneaking into places and -- and dealing with, you know, people. In general.”Iris was quiet for a moment. The she asked, “So, Kiran, how long have you been in the U.S. and who are your friends?”“Er….” faltered Kiran, trailing off.“You know, the friends who don’t know that you’ve done all this stuff,” added Iris, mildly. This wasn’t really the best way to draw out information from someone, the reporter side of her noted. But, oh well.Cisco stared at Kiran. “Oh my god, Iris, you’re right, she’s totally a rogue agent, isn’t she.” Cisco considered his statement, then amended it to, “Maybe like a rogue… resident chemist? Rogue intern? I don’t know, what are you.” He waved broadly at Kiran. Barry put his head in his hands for a moment. He felt like he wasn’t any clearer on what was going on. Finally, he looked up and spoke. “Right, how do we contact them. Your people.”Kiran look at Barry in dismay.“I wanna know what’s going on,” said Barry, looking at Kiran again.Kiran’s eyes dropped away. But after a moment, she slowly put down her mug on a table. She dug out her phone, unhappiness oozing from her. She turned the phone on -- it started to buzz and ping with missed messages, which Kiran grimaced at and tried to ignore. She scrolled through her contacts. Kiran sighed quietly, tapped at her phone one last time, then put it to her ear.“-Yah hiya, it’s me…”A beat, then an explosion of voices buzzed from the phone. Kiran winced, holding the phone away from her ear a little.“No, it really is me, Kiran,” she said into the phone. A pause. “Ah. Long story…?” More voices buzzed through, sounding worried. “No, I’m fine. I’m not hurt. Yeah…. Em, a place called… hang on.” She covered the phone. “Do you want me to tell them where I am, or do you want to keep this place not known?” she asked Barry. “Kiran, are there other people there? What is this situation you are in?” came a voice distinctly through the phone.“Look, I’ll just talk to them,” said Barry, impatiently. Iris looked at him, as did Cisco, Caitlin and Harry. Barry shrugged at them. The other four exchanged glances, then Iris gestured at Barry as if to say, “Well, if you’re sure…”. Kiran put the phone back to her ear, for a moment. “Listen, Lujain, someone’s going to talk to you. Wait... wait, you’re handing the phone off to Tora? Aw, no…” “Hi,” said Barry, taking the phone. “Listen, I’m really tired of not knowing what’s going on. Can someone just tell me who you are? Vampires? And do I have to worry about you? Like, are you gonna attack me again, or attack anyone else? Because it’s kind of my job to help people and stop you or anyone else who does stuff like that. So I just wanna know.” Barry slouched into the phone. He looked as if he was dealing with car insurance agents, not vampires.There was a long pause on the other end. Finally, an older woman’s voice said, “Good Lord, you’re that chap with the strange blood who runs around quickly, aren’t you?” This was not the go-to description that Barry would use for himself, but he let it pass. He talked for a minute more with the woman, then lowered the phone. “Tora would like to meet us at the North Woods Conference Center tomorrow evening. She apologizes for not being able to get to Central City sooner.” He handed the phone back to Kiran. “Oh, and she wants to ask you some questions.”Kiran took the phone with reluctance. “I hate being a vampire,” she muttered to herself, then put the phone up to her ear. She started talking quietly, absently getting out of the chair and wandering around. She distractedly picked at stuff on the nearby table. The she wandered out of the lab for a more secluded spot.“Should we….?” asked Harry, gesturing to the vampire that was meandering away and down the hall, still talking on her phone.“I don’t think she’s going anywhere,” said Cisco. Barry turned his chair back around and slumped into it. He looked up at Iris, who had walked over to him.“Hey, sorry for doing that without asking anyone else first,” said Barry.Iris put her hand on his shoulder. “I was a little surprised. But you’re the one most affected by all this, so I figured it was your call. Literally, I guess.” She paused. “You seem tired.” She gently brushed the edge of the bandage on his neck, asking a question with her fingers.Barry took her hand and held it. “It might be that. Or maybe it’s because nearly dying -- but not having memories of it -- is more exhausting than I thought.”“I’m glad you don’t have those memories, though,” murmured Iris.Barry looked at Iris with worry. “Are you okay?”Iris squeezed his hand, saying nothing.Barry studied her. “Iris… Can I look at the pictures you took? I mean, can I see them, with you?”Iris looked at Barry.“I want to know what we’re dealing with, before the meeting tomorrow. Also...” Barry gently touched Iris’s cheek. “You’re alone with your memories, Iris, and I don’t want you to be.”Iris slipped her arms around Barry, careful of his bandages. They shared a quiet moment in the lab.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The STAR Labs team was on a mini-roadtrip, taking a large van to the North Woods Conference Center.

Kiran, despite getting wrung out over the phone -- and the almost-certain possibility of more wringing out in the future -- seemed cheerful about meeting her people again. Her mood change may have also been because -- later, once she was deposited into the spare room at Star Labs -- Kiran washed up, flopped onto a couch and completely crashed. She slept through the night and a good part of the next day. The STAR Labs team had their own work and minor metahuman tangles to clear up. So, besides getting Kiran some food, they didn’t bother dealing with her for most of the day.

At any rate, as the van left the city and drove past trees and wilderness, Kiran was chatting animatedly in the back seat section of the van.

“So ‘NVH’ is short for Non-Vampire-Humans. ‘S officially what the NHS uses, too, in paperwork,” Kiran said. “Some of us toss around ‘Non-Vamp-Humans’, ‘Notavamp’.... Sometimes ‘Enveech’ or ‘Envee’, but that sounds similar to ‘Enby’ or ‘Enbie’ for non-binary, so I think it’s confusing.” Having settled on the topic, Kiran seemed happy to explore it to its depths. “Also, apparently there’s also a Pokemon with that name, ‘Envy’ or something…? I don’t think that’s the reason why ‘Envee’ is used less, but--”

Cisco looked twitchy. Finally he cut in. “‘Evee’.”

“Eh?” said Kiran.

“Evee. The Pokemon name. Not ‘Envy’.”

“Oh. I see, thank you,” said Kiran. She seemed serious about it.
 
Barry had elected to travel in the van as well. He was dressed in civvy clothes, some band-aids slapped on his neck. He was sitting in the shotgun seat of the van.

“Are you concerned about meeting these vampires like this? In a big caravan?” asked Harry, who was driving. Joe had urgent CCPD work and had not joined them.

“I looked at the photos with Iris. They were… bad.” Barry paused. “But these people sounded kind of normal over the phone. Worried about Kiran and apologetic to me. And Kiran seems happy to reunite with them. They just don’t sound like a sketchy, shadowy vampire occult group out to ambush us. They sounded like a… an academic group or a business group abroad. Who’ve been together for a while.”

Harry nodded.

Barry gestured towards Kiran. “Did Kiran really attack me and drink my blood? I know I’ve asked people this, and Kiran herself told me so, something about going ‘white-eye’ and biting my neck. I guess ‘white-eye’ is vampire-mode? I don’t know. It’s just, that…” Barry glanced towards the back of the van. At that moment, Cisco was explaining game play and lore analysis of

Pokemon Go

to Kiran, who appeared to be seriously listening to him.

“There’s tons of evidence linking Kiran to your apartment,” said Harry. “And... She got sick and threw up a gallon of your blood on the med lab floor.”

Barry grimaced.

“Yeah, it was horrible. Kiran did clean it up, though, like she said she would.”

Barry considered this.

From what Barry had heard, when Kiran had first shown up at STAR Labs and been deemed a person of suspicion connected to Barry, Team STAR Labs had reacted by trying to throttle her. By the time Barry had woken up, his team mates were kicking Kiran out of the med bay and treating her like a problematic tourist. Somewhere, between those two events, Kiran’s status as a threat had been… Well, no, it was still there, most definitely. Barry was sure his team mates wouldn’t hesitate to argue that Kiran was a threat. But here they all were, riding in a van together anyway.

Barry wondered if this said more about Team STAR Labs than anything.

Harry checked the GPS. The he said, “It might be a different question, which you’re asking.”

Barry looked at Harry, as if expecting Harry to go with his thought.

Harry glanced back at Barry. “I don’t know what that question is. I’m just pointing this out.”

Barry sat back and didn’t respond immediately to this. He watched the grey-asphalt road snaking ahead, tall evergreens rushing up and zipping by on each side of the van. Overhead, the sky was turning sherbert orange and pink from the sunset.
 
Meanwhile, Caitlin finally cut into Cisco’s discussion of

Pokemon Go

. “Wait, Kiran, when you said the NHS, you mean

the

NHS, in the UK…?”

“Is the ‘NHS’...?” started Iris.

“National Health Service,” explained Kiran.

“Your

government’s

involved in this?” asked Cisco in astonishment.

“That’s where funding and co-development of that ointment came from,” said Kiran. “And funding for research on dietary suggestions for Vampire-Humans, support networks, counselling… Working on inhibitor patches, right now, too.”

Cisco wasn’t the only one to stare at Kiran. Caitlin, Iris and even Barry had twisted around to look at Kiran. Harry glanced but continued to drive.

Kiran sighed with annoyance. “Okay, just because

your

country has really lousy healthcare, that doesn’t mean the

rest

of the developed world is like that,” she groused. “The NHS isn’t all roses, but honestly -- I was shocked when I got to the States! Why is your healthcare so bad? Why do people have to pay so much for it?”

Caitlin simply nodded at this, looking weary. She seemed like she’d had similar conversations before, with other people.

Kiran continued. “Anyway, the rest of us at least

try

and take care of our citizens who are sick or disabled. Oh, that description includes us Vampire-Humans, by the way.” Kiran considered this. “Actually, besides being sick/disabled, we’re also under the category of potential health risk for other people. Two categories at once. We’re like Schrödinger's cat.”

Iris looked disturbed.

Kiran frowned. “But… Brexit’s making a right mess of things right now, and we’re not certain how much support we’ll have in the future. I mean you’d

think

funding for vampires would be a priority, a real win-win -- make sure the vampires have a decent quality of life, also stop us from attacking people -- but apparently not.” Kiran continued. “I know I just took a swipe at the U.S., but we’re actually looking at possible support from organizations here. Because all that stuff I said earlier, it needs money behind it. But I don’t like how we’re considering working with companies and corporations.”

“Out of curiosity, what did you do before the NHS?” asked Caitlin. “What kind of funding or healthcare--?”

“Oh, I mean, most of the vampires have only been vampires for about… four, five years now. Including me. So it’s a fairly recent issue,” replied Kiran.

“Wait, what,” said Cisco.

“Talk about having to update your NHS paperwork, though.” Kiran shook her head at the memory.

Caitlin, hand half-raised, looked like she had a multitude of questions posed on her lips.

Just then, the van started to slow down. “People, we’re at the conference center,” announced Harry.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The van pulled into a parking lot. A sign proclaimed the site to be the North Woods Conference Center, est. 2005 by the North Woods Land Trust.The team clambered out of the van. The sky was shifting to indigo, still mixed with afterglows from the sun that had set. A chilly breeze brought the smell of damp earth and pine sap from the forest. The moon was a low-hanging, bright white orb that flickered behind shifting pine branches. Criss-crossing shadows from tree branches decorated a dim path that, presumably, lead to the Conference Center.Holding her satchel, Kiran started walking up the low-lit path, the rest of the group behind her. Kiran paused -- she snapped her fingers in remembrance of something. She turned back to face the group, saying, “Oh, Tora mentioned-”Barry backed away involuntarily, crashing into the group. His eyes were wide.“Barry, what… Aw, cripes!” yelped Cisco, catching sight of Kiran.Kiran’s irises glowed a dim phosphorus blue. Everyone only caught a moment’s glimpse of this, however. Startled by people’s reactions, Kiran herself jumped and looked around wildly at her surroundings. “What? What is it? Is it a bear? Wait, do you have those here? -- Oh, no, is it one of those Grizzly Bear things?” Kiran asked fearfully.“No, you twit, it’s you!” yelled Cisco. “You got freaky eyes!”Kiran halted, looking uncertain. She glanced up and saw the moon, and her shoulders dropped in an abrupt release of tension. Still with pale-blue glowing eyes, Kiran dug out her cell phone from her jacket. She turned on the flashlight function and pointed it at her face.Her eyes, amber-brown in the the artificial light, peered back at everyone. She gave a quick tight smile. Normal human teeth with normal cuspids.Barry stared.Kiran slowly lowered the light from her face. In the shadow, her irises flickered back to pale phosphorus blue, as if their glow had been drowned out in the artificial light.“Sorry. I forget that happens sometime, if I’m outside and the moon is around.” Kiran started to turn off and put away her cellphone. She hesitated, catching sight of Barry. Barry was standing warily, watching her.This was the first time Barry had actually seen something supernatural about Kiran. Up until now, he admitted to himself, he had still faintly felt like everyone had been acting out an elaborate play around him, which he had to stumble along with. Maybe it was a coping mechanism for the grisly photos. Or for the raw emotions around him, when he woke up in the med bay.As Barry watched, Kiran’s eyes flared sharp white-blue in the shadows for a moment, bringing the memory of white-blue grackle-eyes in the abandoned warehouse to his mind again. But this time, the memory pushed strongly and insistently, as if it was the sole representative for a slew of other images and emotions that were pushing and failing to reach his conscious mind.Barry shivered, and shook his head to try and clear it. Iris looked at Barry with worry.“Do you want me to keep the light on my face?” offered Kiran. She started to turn on her phone again.“No, it’s fine. I mean it’s not. But. Just give me a minute.” Barry closed his eyes. He breathed deeply, smelling the forest again and deliberately noting a few other tactical sensations to help ground himself. Letting him feel the paradigm shift settle into his body.It kind of wasn’t fair, that everyone else in the STAR Labs team had already processed this and he had to catch up right here and now, some small voice grumbled. Barry acknowledged the voice and moved on.Barry opened his eyes. People were watching him, some team members with outright worry, some people trying to give him space and pretending like the woods were fascinating to study. Kiran had her cellphone half-raised to her face, one eye amber in the light and the other eye blue in the shadow. Iris gently touched Barry’s arm, and Barry took her hand. He felt something pass between them and a feeling of peace begin to settle again -- a quiet grounding finished. Barry shook himself out and set his shoulders. “Ok, let’s go.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The North Woods Conference Center was made of swooping white architecture, with glossy wood and stacked stones. A hallway extended from the building and connected to a smaller wing. The Center stood between the edge of dark woods and a meadow that spread black into the distance, under an expanse of dark-blue sky. Far away, the last faint glows from the sun still held on to the horizon.The interior of the Center was lit, the windows throwing rectangles of yellow light onto the gravel and lawn in front of the building. Barry, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin and Harry walked up the crunching gravel, Kiran leading them. Silhouettes flickered in front of the windows. Then the main doors opened -- an older woman stepped out, peering around.The woman’s dark-colored ringlets were arranged in a large, stylish Afro. She was outfitted in a fashionable tailored suit and wore sensible but chic flats. She was in complete contrast to Kiran, who looked even scrappier than usual, her hair in tangles and mud on her jacket from when she’d tripped on the 50 meter walk to the Conference Center.The woman exclaimed when she spotted Kiran. She rushed out to envelop Kiran in a massive hug, mud and all. Kiran embraced her as well. Then the women pulled back, still holding Kiran, and looked Kiran up and down. She gently picked a leaf out of Kiran’s hair.Then, finally, the woman looked over at the STAR Labs team. Her dark-brown eyes widened a little.By now, two other people had spilled out of the Center -- a woman wearing a flowery hijab and a light-haired Caucasian man. They also cried out Kiran’s name and ran over, hugging Kiran. The suit-wearing woman, now off to the side, turned towards the STAR Labs team to address them. But the light-haired man started waving at the woman, gesturing for her over to join Kiran’s group hug. The woman looked a little impatient but hugged Kiran again, who was laughing.It might have been the first time Barry saw Kiran like that.Barry also noticed that these new people’s eyes flickered phosphorus blue, in certain angles of shadow. Except, curiously, the suit-wearing woman, whose eyes stayed dark.Finally, the group broke apart and turned to formally meet the STAR Lab people. Kiran gestured to the suit-wearing woman. “This is--”“Toshiko Ramirez. Please, call me Tora,” said the woman, stepping forward and extending her hand.Barry stepped forward. “Barry Allen.” He took her hand.“Oh, of course. We spoke on the the phone.” Tora shook Barry’s hand firmly and looked Barry in the eyes. Then her gaze fell on Barry’s neck. Which had two-bandaids. Tora frowned slightly, her grip on Barry’s hand faltering. Barry looked more like he was recovering from an infected mosquito bite, not from an exsanguination attempt by a vampire. Tora looked back at Barry's face, her expression unsure.“Uh, I heal really fast,” offered Barry.Tora studied Barry’s pale-skinned face, her own brown features still radiating uncertainty. But she finished her handshake firmly, then released his hand.Quick introductions were made for Iris, Caitlin, Cisco and Harry. In the other group, the woman wearing a flower-patterned hijab, sky-blue dress-top and long black skirt was introduced as Lujain. Lujain had black eyebrows and a somber expression, and she peered at the STAR Labs team solemnly. The Caucasian man, who had an amiable expression framed by slightly longish hair and a short, cropped beard, was named Ezekiel. Something about Ezekiel seemed American. It might have been his outfit of T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. After the introductions, a clumsy silence hung between the groups. It felt more like an awkward evening block party than a formal gathering between a superhero team and a group of Vampire-Humans. Finally Ezekiel broke the silence by nodding deeply at Barry and commenting, “That’s, ah…. That’s a mighty fast turnaround there, Mister Allen.” Ezekiel’s words rolled out with a thick, heavy Southern U.S. accent, cementing his identity as an American.“Um, ‘Barry’ is fine,” said Barry, awkwardly.“Mister Barry,” amended Ezekiel. He added, “Naw, I’m just messing with you.” Then Ezekiel turned to Kiran and asked her, in a quieter voice, “You nearly killed this person...? Tora said...”“I really did bite his neck and drink like four liters of his blood, he was in serious trouble,” whispered back Kiran, quite earnestly. She seemed compelled to indict herself to the fullest.Hearing Kiran, Lujain’s dark eyebrows inched up, her eyes growing wide. She gave Barry a very concerned look. Barry wondered if he should try and look more convalescent.“Kiran...” started Lujain, turning towards Kiran.“I threw all the blood up later,” said Kiran hastily.“It was pretty gross,” backed up Cisco. He added, “Not gonna lie.”“ Al’ama! What! Wait, Kiran, did you clean it up?” asked Lujain, in a hurried whisper. She seemed more shocked by the implications of this rather than by Kiran’s admission to near-homicide.“Yes! Of course!” hissed back Kiran.“I had to do surgery on Barry’s carotid artery,” verified Caitlin, pointing to Barry’s neck. Her statement didn’t really match with the two lone band-aids currently decorating his neck. Caitlin looked at the band-aids, and made an emphatic pointing gesture at them, as if to make up for Barry not being on death’s bed (or whatever the vampires seemed to expect of him).Barry tried to nod along. “I mean I don’t remember the surgery -- or, actually, I don’t really remember anything that happened -- but, yeah.” At this point, Barry wasn’t sure where they were going with this discussion or what they were arguing for, exactly.In the background, Harry crossed his arms, and then put a hand to his forehead as if the conversation was giving him a headache. Cisco prodded him with an elbow. “Dude, back us up.”Iris just looked at everyone, as if she was expecting this meeting to have a logical flow with minutes and discussion points. She seemed like she wanted to put the meeting back on track, but there wasn’t even a track to begin with. Finally Tora waved her arm at everyone and people’s voices died down. She put a hand on Kiran’s shoulder. “Kiran, you mentioned photos--?”“Yes--” Kiran looked at Barry. “Erm, I didn’t know if you wanted to show them to--”Barry waved an affirmative.Tora studied the photos on Iris’s cellphone. “Jesus,” she finally said, after a long while.Tora looked at Barry. Her color seemed drained. “I am… extraordinarily, beyond measure -- I offer my apologies, if you would take them. On behalf of myself, of Kiran and Vampire-Humans. And my apology extends to your team.” She added, soberly, “And my sincere appreciation for how you handled the situation.”Barry knew he was going to break the moment. But he felt like had to interject.“Um, actually, I’ve been horrifically injured and almost died a couple of times before so, so we’re… uh…” Barry faltered. “I mean not that this wasn’t horrible, but--”“It kind of happens a lot,” added Caitlin, as if trying to clarify things.Now Tora stared with great alarm at Barry, instead.“Not that often,” amend Barry.In the background, Harry did a “eh, kind of, tho” wave with his hand.At this point, Iris was the one holding her forehead.Lujain gave Kiran a wide-eyed look, as if asking, “Kiran, who are these people you have brought to us?”  Tora put her hands together, breathed in, then exhaled.“May I…?” Tora gestured if she could take Barry’s hand. Barry held his hand out and Tora took it with both of her hands. Her palms were warm and dry and didn’t feel like the hands of the cursed undead. Tora looked at Barry directly in the eyes again, and simply said, “I still extend my apologies, though I’m very grateful of how things seem to have turned out.” Then she let go of his hand.Tora looked at the STAR Labs team and Barry. “I have some things I’d like to discuss with you. I can communicate by phone or videocall later, if you prefer. But I would like to invite you to join us for tea. I mean ‘dinner’, this evening. It’s nothing formal -- we ordered various takeaways.”“Most of the food is vegetarian,” added Lujain.“Oh, what did you get?” asked Kiran. Barry glanced at everyone. Team STAR Labs exchanged looks.“I want to get more answers,” said Barry, quietly.Before arriving, the STAR Labs team had the impression that Kiran’s boss (or whoever she was) was going to offer dinner. But everyone had questions about accepting this. Would there be a risk? A trap? Compromised food? Were the vampires planning to have the STAR Labs members for dinner, literally?Currently, it was hard to imagine any of that. Still…“Maybe you can do a perimeter check?” suggested Iris.Barry nodded.“Whatever you would feel comfortable with,” said Tora. “Please, take as much time as you--”Barry disappeared in a streak of yellow-orange lighting, wind gusting and gravel and dead leaves scattering. He reappeared with another puff of leaves.“-Would… like?” finished Tora, a stray ringlet of her hair drifting back down. She looked startled.“What just happened?” whispered Lujain with great concern to Kiran.Barry rejoined his team. “Everything’s fine,” he confirmed, as they loosely huddled together. While no one had strong objections, Barry was still the one most interested in accepting the dinner invitation.“You’re sure about them?” murmured Iris.“I want to hear what they have to say.” Barry paused. “Also, it looks like they were watching The Great British Bake-Off on someone’s laptop in the conference room. Before we arrived, I mean.”“They can appreciate pastries and still be sketchy,” muttered Cisco. “But I kind of see your point.” Nearby, the Vampire-Humans were doing a quick huddle as well, although trying not to show it.“So I think that was the same speedy trick I saw at the warehouse,” commented Ezekiel.“‘ There are more things in heaven and earth ’, I suppose,” quoted Tora, shrugging.“I knew you had to see that with your own eyes, Tora, before you believed it,” said Kiran.Lujain shook her head. “These people are unusual,” she said, still watching the Non-Vampire-Humans with concern. She didn’t seem bothered that her irises were glowing phosphorus blue when she said this. Their exchange finished, Team STAR Labs turned around. “We’d like to accept your invitation,” said Barry.“Oh, very good,” said Lujain. She seemed a bit surprised that they would actually say yes.Tora smiled. “We’re most honored.” As they milled around, Barry saw Kiran turn and ask Tora, “By the way, is this everyone who came here?”“Yes, we’re meeting Liz and the rest at D.C. again,” replied Tora. Then she lowered her voice. “Jack’s here too.” Kiran visibly tensed and looked around. Tora quickly added, “Not right now, I mean. I think he’s meeting up with us again tomorrow morning.” Some tension left Kiran, but she still looked uneasy.Before Barry could ask about this, Tora moved to open the doors to the building. Ezekiel waved her off and held the door open instead. People crunched across the gravel and went into the brightly lit interior of the conference center.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So, we’re not actually vampires,” said Tora, taking a bite of sauce-covered chicken mole.“Oh? You’re not?” responded Cisco, eyebrows hitching upward in mild sarcasm, as he continued chewing some lentils he’d scooped with injera.The large atrium, shaped in a semi-circle, had pale, gently curving walls. On one side were doors and hallways which lead to other sections of the conference center. There was a smattering of suitcases in a corner of the atrium. The ceiling had skylights which were glossy black with the night.People were sprawled about, eating various take-out dishes. Tora had brought out a few tables, but people had ended up sitting on sofas and chairs and cushions on the floor. The Vampire-Humans, it seemed, had gone all-out in ordering the finest takeout food that Central City had to offer. The assortment included Thai, Mexican, Ethiopian food as well as chicken and waffles. There was even a container from Panda Express.The Panda Express container was taken up by Lujain. She sampled a strand of noodle and closed her eyes as she carefully considered the taste and texture of the chain restaurant’s dish. She gently pushed the container away. Tora continued. “Or, I should say, our condition doesn’t really match traditional or pop culture notions of vampires. We aren’t hindered by silver or garlic.” Tora paused and added, “Which is good, because I do like my garlic. Crosses and religious things aren’t much of a bother. Unless they were already a bother for you. We don’t turn into bats.”At this remark, Kiran turned towards Lujain (who was now eating a Chinese vegetable dish from a small local restaurant). “It’s a shame, though,” said Kiran to Lujain. “All the stuff we put up with, we could at least turn into bats.”Lujain contemplated this, then frowned a little.“Oh, come one, it’d be brilliant,” argued Kiran. “You’d never have to worry about what to get for tea. You’d just fly out and eat a lot of mosquitoes.”Lujain pondered this and nodded thoughtfully. Then an expression of concern crossed her face. “Is that halal, though?”Kiran looked unsure and apologized to Lujain for not considering this. “And sunlight doesn't bother us,” continued Tora.“Speak for yourself,” grumbled Ezekiel. “I burn like a lobster if I’m not careful, in the summer.” He considered this, the clapped his hands to side of his face and stated, rather dramatically, “Oh nooooo... maybe I was always a vampire and didn’t realize it.”“Aww, babe, maybe you’re a vampire too,” said Iris, playfully poking Barry’s pale arm. Barry looked at her in horror. Iris dropped her smile hastily. “I’m just kidding, Barry.” She added, “But you do get really bad sunburns.”“You heard it here: pasty white dudes now suspected of being vampires,” announced Cisco, looking meaningfully at Harry. Harry stared back, completely unimpressed. Caitlin brough up her own light-skinned arm and studied it with concern.“Okay real talk, none of y’all are vampires, it’s fine,” quickly assured Ezekiel.Harry looked at Ezekiel with annoyance, apparently irritated that Ezekiel had even thought Harry needed to be told this. Caitlin and Barry looked relieved, as if they were secretly grateful for Ezekiel’s reassurance. Barry still looked uneasy. Tora continued. “But, our symptoms - strange eyes, apparent abilities of persuasion, elongated cuspids, marked obsession with imbibing human blood -- they still overlap with common ideas about vampires. Enough that, five years ago when the first cases began appearing, the cases were quickly and universally called ‘vampires’.”Kiran shrugged. “Something like a vampire. Not quite, but close enough.” She forked her chickpea salad and ate a mouthful.“‘Vampire’ gets the idea across quickly, but officially we use the terms ‘Vampire-Human’ and ‘Non-Vampire-Human’,” said Ezekiel.“What caused people to become Vampire-Humans?” asked Caitlin.“Oh, the million dollar question,” sighed Ezekiel. He added, “No, really, there’s been a lot of funding to figure that out.”“And unfortunately, we still aren’t sure,” said Tora, frowning as she scooped her rice. “It’s because the condition took so long to appear, among other things. It’s not as clear as, say, cholera and the Broad Street pump handle in 1854. We’ve figured out some common factors that unite the original generation of Vampire-Humans. This include being physically present in the British Isles during a certain three to four month period. With the first symptoms appearing about 6 months later or longer.”“You said ‘original generation’…?” asked Caitlin.“We later learned that a certain amount of live-blood-mixing can transmit the condition to Non-Vampire-Humans.” Tora then said quickly, “--Don’t worry, mosquitoes aren’t a vector.”“Wait, what about leeches?” asked Cisco. Then added, “Wait, are there leeches in England? How does this work?”“Yes, England, Wales and other countries have leeches.”“Oh. Ew.” Cisco seemed let down by the entire British Isles.“There is a big wetland in Kent with blood-sucking leeches,” began Kiran, “which is the one possible worry. Though I don’t think that leeches are enough to turn people into vampires.” Kiran looked a little uncertain. “Since we don’t want to turn any more Non-Vampire-Humans into Vampire-Humans, it’s tricky to verify.” She paused, then added, “Also, it turns out, most people don’t want to attach leeches to themselves. So it’s difficult to even set up a study.” Cisco spoke again. “So, uh, just to make sure I have this right…. there’s a bunch of people in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland who are running around as vampires?” asked Cisco.“And a white boy from the South,” said Ezekiel in a drawl, pointing to himself. He added, “Most unexpected result I’ve had from a trip abroad.”Cisco stared at him.Ezekiel continued. “I still like the British Isles, though. Also, I spend more time there now than I thought I would, since I’m involved in vampire stuff.”“Well, I’m glad being turned into a vampire hasn’t been a complete deterrent regarding the British Isles,” said Tora, mildly.“I like your phone boxes and also I like that you don’t have so many guns everywhere,” said Ezekiel.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Most people had finished eating, and were sitting around with tea, sodas or water.

Barry watched as Tora turned to Kiran, a serious look on her face. Kiran put down her mug of tea and looked nervous. Tora’s face softened and she seemed a little exasperated. But she continued anyway.

“Kiran. So we’ve already talked about this, but the entire business of -- of trying to break in, biting Barry’s hand -- was, well, a bad idea, among other things. We’ll have to spent time on the reports and accountability plans we submit to the Vampire-Human community. Mel and others will want to talk with us.”

Kiran didn’t look at Tora’s face, but she didn’t dispute the older woman either.

Tora went on. “But, mostly -- you were very, very lucky, that you you went full White-eye with the one group of Non-Vampire-Humans who could handle you and who seem remotely okay with you afterwards.” Tora added, “Actually, we’re all very lucky. This could have become an international incident, lead to suspension of civil liberties for Vampire-Humans, or many more things.”

Kiran turned pale. She nodded, then said, “I didn’t know it would be so hard to deal with. I thought I could skim the surface and leave. Instead, I was getting pulled under without realizing, until I drowned completely.”

Barry realized that Kiran must be talking about what happened in the apartment, after she initially bit his hand and then became white-eyed or whatever it was called. Barry found himself wondering how he had acted, during these events he had no recollection of.

Kiran also looked distant for a moment, like she was checking something in her mind. She turned to Tora. “I can remember, but I also can’t remember, what happened when I was full White-eye. What…”

Tora nodded. “A lot of people report fractured or dissociated memories from white-eyed states. They know the facts of what happened, but it doesn’t feel like it’s their memory.”

Kiran processed this, then asked, “I’ve worked with blood samples in the lab and been fine. And I’ve seen you drink a few tablespoons of volunteer blood, before you were affected…?”

“I’m low-symptom and low-reactive,” replied Tora, shaking her head. “And you know that our surroundings and stress levels can affect our reactions to blood.” Tora studied Kiran, then sadly added, “Well, I suppose you know now.”
 
At this point, Tora turned to Barry. She didn’t look especially happy. “And here is the other point which we need to discuss with you, Barry Allen. And with your team, as it affected them as well. So: Vampire-Humans don’t have control when we go White-eye, but we still have to own it. Especially in this case, as Kiran’s ill judgement lead to her going White-eye. This is something that needs compensation or reparations from we Vampire-Humans, as a group.”

“Reparations?” said Barry, in an unsure tone. Nothing about this sounded good to him.

“Existing legal systems haven’t caught up with vampires. But we do what we can, in an official manner as possible. We caused harm to you and expenses in resources. We can offer monetary compensation... or unpaid expertise work, as is sometimes preferred. Most of us had -- and still have -- careers and expertise, even after becoming Vampire-Humans. So people have done pro bono work, so to speak. Legal work, IT…. even catering, at least one time, so I heard.” Tora must have noticed Barry’s unease, as she said, “Whatever it is would have to be approved by both our group members and yours. It doesn’t have to be settled right now.” Tora added, “You’re welcome to discuss it, of course, and ask more questions.”
 
Barry exchanged glances with the STAR Labs team members. This wasn’t really what they were expecting.

“What is this…?” said Barry quietly, as a general statement to Iris and everyone else.

“I mean, I think they are the first people who have attacked you and tried to actually make up for it,” pointed out Iris. “And you’ve had a

lot

of people go after you, Barry.”

“Why are they doing everything so much as a group. It’s kind of weirding me out,” muttered Cisco.

“What am I doing on a parallel earth, eating chicken and waffles with vampires,” said Harry, taking a bite of a waffle he still had. Cisco, Caitlin, Iris and Barry looked at him. “I thought we needed some perspective on the situation,” said Harry. He added, “Specifically, my perspective.”
 
Meanwhile, the Vampire-Humans continued talking among themselves. “Speaking of White-eye, I’m not eager to suggest it,” said Lujain, “but maybe we should bring back controlled blood-imbibing tests. We can’t form a plan and make decisions without data.” After a moment, Lujain said, “And... the tests could be very important for those who have less experience with being white-eyed, or who spend more time around blood and are at a higher risk. We might need to design and practice more scenarios, too. Routine training could help Vampire-Humans if they should get blood-addled -- before they hit being white-eyed.”

Kiran fidgeted.

Lujain turned and faced Kiran. “Kir, I’m assuming you were panicking, or being stupid or something, in all this.” Lujain moved on. “But we need to make sure you won’t do it again. Among other things, some practical training may help.”

Kiran nodded. She didn’t look especially happy. “I don’t really want to, but I also think that’s how I feel right now. I think I can deal with it, later.”

Lujain nodded at this.

Kiran looked pensive. Then made a face, as if an unpleasant thought had bubbled up and she’d been hit by its noxious fumes. “Ugh…” groaned Kiran. “If Jack gets wind about all this, I’m never going to hear the end of it from him.”

Ezekiel scooted over. “Kiran, I could handle Jack for you.”

“You’re about the only one who can,” muttered Kiran.

Ezekiel shrugged. “It’s a lot less taxing for me. I’m happy to take on Jack and his nonsense, so you can spend your energy on something else.”

“Speaking of collecting data, Gabe says they, Thato and Sasha are starting to analyze effects of constant blood exposure,” noted Tora.

“Well, that’s exciting,” said Lujain, “Although… We all lived through the first year. I think we have an idea of what Gabe and company might find.”
 
At this point, Lujain noticed Barry listening in again. Lujain said to him, as way of explanation, “We’re the survivors -- the Vampire-Humans who banded together, finagled solutions, put on business attire, submitted formal proposals for assistance and research support, and have had to watch each step we make since then.” (Barry briefly wondered if the reparations that Tora and the others seem to expect was something that grew out of the earlier, scrappy history of the Vampires.)

Lujain continued, shaking her head. “And we know of Vampire-Humans who didn’t make it past the first year, poor souls.”
 
There was a crunch of gravel and a snort of derision, in response to Lujain.
 
Everyone looked up. A Caucasian man stood at the entrance door to the Center, having apparently just arrived.

He wore a jacket and looked a little like Ezekiel; light-eyed, light-haired, pale skinned. But the eyes on this man were mocking, and he twisted his lips briefly into a sneer. “Those ‘poor souls’ are idiots who are dead. And better for it,” the man said. “They thought they could get away with attacking and making a mess of humans in broad daylight. The first year weeded out the most stupid and weak of us, if you ask me.”

Barry watched this new person with rising alarm. There was a

lot

that could be read between the lines of what the man had just said. Barry sensed Iris sitting up more stiffly, her reporter instincts going on high alert as well.

“Well. No one asked you...

Jack

.” Kiran said in a flat voice.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As Barry warily studied the man at the door, he could hear Tora gathering her breath. She held it a moment, then said calmly, “We’re dealing with a disease, Jack.” It sounded like she’d spoken this many, many times.Jack waved his hand, dismissive of this. He stepped into the room, the door clunking shut behind him. “Honestly, Tora, you can’t keep calling yourself a disease. Very negative.” Jack spoke with some kind of British accent as well. Barry didn’t know UK accents enough to recognize which accent was from where.“I didn’t say--” started Tora.Jack continued. “Me, I wake up, and I say, I am who I am. I like who I am.”“Yes, actually, I do like who I am. I don’t attack people and drink their blood; very happy I don’t do that,” said Tora, smoothly.Jack looked at her with a smirk. “You can’t just deny and suppress your nature, you know that’s never healthy.”Lujain raised her hand, looking worried. “Actually, Jack, it will be very detrimental to my health if a mob of citizens decides to chase me with fire-torches and hay forks, calling for my demise. I wouldn’t like that.” She nodded.“Also, if my true nature is to bite people on the neck and exsanguinate them, then I don’t like my true nature,” pointed out Kiran. “I think I have other true natures I can promote, instead. That one doesn’t need attention.”Jack rolled his eyes. “Look, Kiran, we’re not killing people. Now. Although honestly if anyone needs blood-dabbling, it’s….” Jack paused. “Ohhh, you know I actually did hear about something. That you almost did do someone in.” Jack grinned, like it was the funniest thing he’d come across. “I didn’t think you were actually a vampire -- but, well, here you are, Kiran! Overpowering humans and nearly draining them of their life blood. Hmm!”Kiran sputtered. She also looked like was going to cry, possibly. Lujain quickly took her hand and held it. A dark expression crossed Ezekiel’s face, and he started to get up. Jack ignored all of them, instead turning his attention to Barry, Iris, Caitlin, Cisco and Harry. Who were, to be honest, kind of in shock. It was like an oozing venomous creature had just barged in and started spitting acid everywhere. But the STAR Labs team quickly got to their feet. Barry watched Jack tensely.Jack peered at all of them. “So which one of you got attacked, again?” Jack squinted. “Or -- No, I supposed they’re still in a hospital, then.”Barry hesitated, then reluctantly half-raised his hand.Jack glanced at Barry and did a double take. He stared at Barry’s two band-aids on his neck.“I heal fast,” said Barry, wondering how much explaining he would have to do.But Jack only gave Barry a long look. “Indeed you do, sir,” he finally said.Something pinged in Barry’s mind, some CSI sense. But before he could figure out what it was, Jack turned back to the other vampires. He seemed to have lost interest in the STAR Labs team. Although he glanced at Barry, just once more.“So! Jack, nice to see you, how about we go catch up in the other room,” said Ezekiel brightly, striding over and taking Jack’s arm.

To everyone’s surprise, Jack started protesting. “Oh, come on -- you know that everything I just said, I was just… it was a joke, mate, a farce,” said Jack. “Just blowing off steam. I want to hear, y’know, how other people are doing. Really.”Ezekiel looked at Jack with surprise.“Come on, being a vampire’s a lonely business. I’m just looking for-- you know, erm, community and… group... ness. What you lot talk about.”Ezekiel seemed very doubtful that Jack was looking for those things from them. But Ezekiel still glanced back at Kiran and everyone else, as if checking in with their opinion.Taking advance of Ezekiel’s distraction, Jack strode on with his words. He gestured at the other Vampire-Humans. “Anyway, you lot work too hard, seriously. Look, even though there’s not much to do in this city--”At this, the Entire STAR Labs team exchanged looks. Even Harry, who wasn’t even from this Earth, seemed defensive of Central City. Ezekiel let go of Jack’s arm and stood between him and the STAR Labs team, still skeptically studying Jack.“-- But we should let loose a little, live a little, have a nice time, yeah?” continued Jack. “Listen, I found a nice bar called Saints and Sinners.”“That’s not a nice bar,” muttered Cisco.“What d’you say to some drinks, there? Eh?”“Oh, I don’t drink, but thank you,” said Lujain politely.Jack looked at her. “What, since when?” He squinted at her hijab. “Wait -- is it this headcloth thing? Does that mean you people don’t drink?” Jack moved his arm as if to tug or prod at Lujain’s hijab. Lujain ducked sideway. Kiran swatted Jack’s arm away, glaring at him. Jack looked at Kiran and opened his mouth to say more.Tora stepped in. “Actually, Jack, we’ve been having a fairly nice time,” she said.“With… what?” Jack glanced at the neat pile of takeout containers in the corner. “With a takeaway food party?” He seemed genuinely puzzled.“Well, touring around America has been rather fun,” said Lujain.“I think she’s serious,” whispered Cisco.
“Oh, I’m actually really glad she likes the U.S.,” whispered Caitlin.Cisco considered this, and added, “Same.”Meanwhile, Jack looked doubtfully at Lujain again.“We went to the CDC in Atlanta ,” emphasized Kiran. She said this in the same way other people might say, “We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cincinnati .”“Fascinating,” said Jack. “And Jack, what have you been doing?” asked Tora. She smiled at him.“Nothing, Headmistress, I swear,” said Jack. Tora’s smile twitched. Jack continued, “I’m just…. Living it up, you know.” He smirked. Tora stared at him, her smile gone.Jack sighed. He put his hands on his hips, like he was a life coach giving a sermon. “Look, people -- and I say this from a place of good intention. You can’t pretend like you’re not vampires. You’ve got to work with it.”“Jack, have you been imbibing people’s blood?” asked Ezekiel, abruptly.Jack ignored him. “Anything you do, you think it can really compete with blood-hunger?”“Wow, Jack, there are literally a million other regular human activities we can do besides drink blood. So,” said Kiran.“You could get a tattoo, if you like,” suggested Lujain. “That seems very rebellious, to me.”“I knew someone who quit their job and hiked the Appalachian Trail for 6 months,” chipped in Cisco. Jack glanced at him oddly, as if Cisco had suddenly reappeared after Jack had relegated him to the backstage.“After which, you could start a one-person Klezmer band,” added Lujain, nodding seriously.Jack folded his arms, impatiently tapping the floor with the tip of his black-leather shoe. “Listen, you lot-” he began.“And after that, you could visit the Jimmy Carter Smiling Peanut in Plains, Georgia,” said Ezekiel, in the most southern drawls of southern drawls.This time, Jack was thrown off enough to stop tapping. He gave Ezekiel an irritated look.Harry turned to Barry. “What’s the Jimmy Carter… What is that,” muttered Harry. “Is that an Earth-1 thing?”Barry shrugged helplessly with his hands, mouthing, “I have no idea what that is”. Ezekiel continued. “The Jimmy Carter Smiling Peanut is the second largest peanut in the world, at 13 feet tall. The statue helped President Carter win the 1976 presidential election.” He smiled a broad, honey-laden smile at Jack. “It’s a cultural monument.”(Barry briefly wondered what the first largest peanut in the world was.) Jack snorted. He re-crossed his arms, looked at the Vampire-Humans. Ignored Cisco. “Take your laughs,” he said. Then, in a louder voice, “But is there anything you can say, anything you can really suggest, that’s as filling as a blood-meal or a ecstatic as blood-high.”A silence, thick and heavy, descended upon the room.It was abruptly broken by Cisco, who cross his own arms and said, “Well, Jack, you’ve obviously never been to the Jimmy Carter Smiling Peanut.”Jack stared at Cisco.Ezekiel put out a high-five to Cisco. Cisco gave him one.“You know about the Jimmy Carter Smiling Peanut, friend?” asked Ezekiel to Cisco.“I was today years old when I learned about the Jimmy Carter Smiling Peanut,” said Cisco. Jack looked like he’d lost patience. “You lot can sing ‘Kumbaya’ if you want, but --”“You know, I have never actually sung ‘Kumbaya’,” drawled Ezekiel, interrupting Jack again.“Oh, dude! Let’s do it, bro,” said Cisco. Ezekiel look at him and nodded deeply. They slapped hands in a bro-shake.Cisco took a deep breath and raised a hand like he was conducting an orchestra. The two people looked like they were, in fact, about to start belting the song right there. Tora waved a hand for them to stop. Cisco looked very disappointed.“Rain check, my friend,” murmured Ezekiel.“You know it,” agreed Cisco.Ezekiel held out a pinky in a pinky-promise, which Cisco delightely took. They shook on it. Iris lightly prodded Barry with her elbow. Barry looked at her. Iris threw a pointed look at Cisco and Ezekiel, then looked at Barry. She gave a cheeky grin.“Bromance or romance?” whispered Caitlin, sidling up.“Does’t have to have strict boundaries,” whispered back Iris, directly to Caitlin now. Caitlin nodded along.Barry listened in with mild interest, trying to hide his smile regarding Iris. Harry glanced over a few times. Jack looked over the Vampire-Humans and Non-Vampire-Humans. A scowl crossed Jack’s face, then he cleared his expression. Abruptly turning to Tora, Jack said in a much-too-casual tone, “How jolly. By the way, have you asked your new human friend Barry about getting a sample of his blood, yet. I heard you talking with Kiran about it on your mobile, earlier.”Barry stared at Tora. The other members of STAR Labs also stopped what they were doing, as did the Vampire-Humans. Color flooded Kiran’s face.“Yes, that’s right --” Jack continued, having turned towards Barry and the others. “--Your new takeaway-party pals are actually dodgy vampires who are still after your blood. Oh, what a shocker! Well, not really, because this is who we are. Not that different from yer pal Jack here, after all,” Jack said, gesturing to himself. Then he took a moment to deliberately look at Kiran, who was still flustered, and he smirked. Finally, Ezekiel swooped in. “Alright Jack-o, let’s go catch up,” drawled Ezekiel, pointedly grabbing Jack’s arm and swiftly stepping towards a door.“About what? Going to regale me with stories of your redneck life in the States?” asked Jack, as he was pulled towards the exit.“Funny you mention that...” said Ezekiel, continuing to cheerfully guide Jack away. “I did learn recently that one use of ‘Redneck’ dates to the 1920’s, when West Virginia coal miners organized against coal companies and their inhumane conditions. The mineworkers wore red bandanas and called themselves the ‘Redneck Army’. They were a multiracial coalition who fought against troops and airplane bombs, sent by corrupt sheriffs and President Harding. Eventually, the miners won rights for themselves.” Ezekiel, still hauling Jack, exited the Atrium and disappeared around a corner. “Of course, that’s not how you were using the term ‘redneck’, and we can talk about that too, friend…” Ezekiel’s drawling voice faded as they went to one of the other area of the conference center. Tora watched them depart, but she didn’t seem happier. Tora looked at Barry, hesitated, then turned to Lujain and Kiran instead. She began quietly discussing something about Jack and any evidence of amnesia trails. Lujain was nodding and adding her opinion. But Kiran was distracted, glancing at Barry and the STAR Labs team instead. Barry finally asked Kiran, quietly, “You still wanted a sample of my blood?”Iris glanced at Barry.Kiran stared at Barry, lips pursed, her brown eyes large and her hands opening and shutting like she was trying to grab words and put them into physical existence. Finally, Kiran said, “-No.”Barry looked surprised.Kiran raised her hands awkwardly again, as if trying to gesture her way to an explanation. Finally she made a “one second, wait here” motion. Kiran got Tora’s attention and waved her over. Tora looked a little inconvenienced, but she turned towards Barry, Kiran and the others.“Tora, I need your fancy words. I’m not taking a blood sample from Barry,” said Kiran.“Em…. well…” Tora glanced with hesitation at Kiran, then continued. “Well, we’d like to avoid a situation like Henrietta Lack’s case or John Moore’s case. So, full transparency and accountability, clear definitions about your rights, regular reporting from our end, everything official as much as vampire business can be, so on. We can’t arrange that immediately, and I’m sure your team would want to verify everything, so we can’t take any blood right now--”Kiran finally waved her arms in a cutting gesture. “No, no, that’s not, I…. no, it’s off completely. The blood sample is off the table. Null.” Everyone looked at Kiran. Color rose to Kiran’s cheeks again. Kiran drew herself up with what seemed to be indignation, and finally said, “--I’m brilliant. I can find other leads. I don’t need or want your stupid blood sample, Barry.”Tora threw up her hands in exasperation, exclaiming, “OH! Now she listens to me! Kiran, love, I’ve been telling you that from the start.”“And also,” said Kiran to Barry, “I still owe you. So. No blood samples. Null.” She ended her statement with another decisive slashing gesture.Barry opened his mouth to respond. But Kiran had turned and was already marching away towards the kitchen, which was connected to the far end of the room.Barry closed his mouth and looked at Tora. Tora glanced at Kiran, then back at Barry, and finally said, “Well, thus spake the person who was most interested in studying your blood. Please consider the matter null and off the table, Barry. We apologize for any misgivings.” Tora herself looked more than a little relieved that she did not have to pursue the matter.The rest of the STAR Labs team exchanged looks, a mixture of confused relief and disturbed expressions on their faces. Barry crossed his arms, wearing an odd expression as if unsure about something. He watched people and said nothing.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Tora, apparently having cleared up one headache, turned back to Lujain. “Lu, we need to figure out what to do about Jack.”Lujain closed her eyes, sighing quietly.Hearing Jack’s name, Iris crossed and then re-crossed her arms. Finally, she stepped forward and asked Tora, “I’m sorry, but why do you associate with Jack at all?”Tora looked at her, and rather wearily replied, “If Jack’s not with us, then he’s somewhere else. And that’s even more concerning.”Iris had an “Mmm” sort of expression, in response to this.Tora faced Lujain again. “Speaking of which, as satisfying as it was to needle Jack, we completely failed as a support group. It’s going to be even more difficult to keep Jack around.”“He really doesn’t make it easy, though,” muttered Kiran, walking towards them. She had a fresh mug of tea and seemed calmer. She blew at the steam on her tea, then made an annoyed sound. “Aaaaarrgh…. Fine, let’s sit down, make a plan. I like those. Let’s go get advice from people who are good at handling people and running groups and stuff. And figure out how we can, at least functionally, check in on Jack.” Kiran added, after a moment, “But also, can we get other people to take over this, sooner than later? Why do a bunch of women and femme people of color have to drain our energy on this obnoxious white man?”Tora nodded. “I think it’s fair to ask other groups to take over. We still need to keep Jack around for now, though, since we’re the only other Vampire-Humans in the area.” Tora paused, then delicately added, “And we can acknowledge that Jack is, ah... hard to deal with.”“‘Hard to deal with’!” Kiran’s eyes widened with disbelief as she repeated this. “Can you believe when Jack said -- all that rot about ‘living it up’ and how we’re denying our true nature --” sputtered Kiran. Barry had the impression Tora was letting the younger person blow off steam. “What does Jack think we’re doing? Our work with pharmaceutical research and nutrition and NVH outreach? Making sure we have official representation in the government, so people don’t write laws to legally stake us on sight?” continued Kiran. “Helps himself to the cream of our work, Jack does, and laughs at us!”“In a classic white-person move,” added Ezekiel. He was back in the atrium and leaning against the wall, near the entrance where he’d previously dragged Jack out. “Jack said something about getting food,” said Ezekiel, as way of explanation. There was a distant sound of a motorbike outside, which Ezekiel gestured with his thumb at.Tora glanced at the pile of takeout containers, which still had an unopened dish or two set side. (Barry had downed a couple of power bars before the evening meeting, so he wouldn’t eat all the food.)“Oh, Jack could have eaten the Panda Express noodles,” said Lujain, nodding at the takeout pile. “So that’s a suspicious guy. Is someone going to follow Jack?” asked Cisco.“Um…” said Ezekiel. He looked like he wasn’t eager to spend more quality time with Jack. Ezekiel scrubbed his face with his hand, and tried again. “So this isn’t the first time Jack’s made a fuss, and…. I mean, we will get him. Whatever he’s doing.”“He’s very careful after he draws attention to himself like that,” grumbled Kiran, “but he gets lazy later. Or so Mel says.”Tora frowned and said, “Even if Jack is better known for his bark than his bite -- are Non-Vamp-Humans involved in anything Jack is doing? Is what I’m concerned about.”“Well, Jack’s managed to be around this long, because the VH community or the law hasn’t nabbed him for anything serious…” Ezekiel didn’t sound completely sure about his own statement. Lujain murmured something about unproven ties to blood bank theft. Kiran muttered something about support groups and useless fatigue.Ezekiel looked up at this, and added, “That reminds me -- Tora, once we do get Jack back, could we possibly tag-team another group to look after Jack? Maybe once everyone gets to D.C.?”“Wait, Zeeks, if you’re reaching your limit, what are we supposed to do?” said Kiran, gesturing to herself, Lujain and Tora. The four Vampire-Humans looked frustrated. “I was not expecting to run into a tea-spilling session among vampires, this week,” commented Cisco to Caitlin.“I wasn’t expecting to learn that vampires exist,” replied Caitlin.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Lujain, looking a bit tired, sat into a squashy armchchair and gently sank down. Shaking her head, Lujain said, “Truly, though, regarding earlier... It is only a privileged white man who could be a vampire and say things like, ‘Live a little’.”Hearing this, Kiran put out a hand to Lujain. Lujain lightly slapped it in reciprocation. Ezekiel raised his eyebrows, not appearing to disagree. Even Tora huffed.Iris and Cisco looked at each other.Tora found a sofa and sank into it, herself. She glanced over at Iris and Cisco. They looked back, as did Kiran and Lujain.Barry suddenly felt that something unspoken had just passed between all the people of color in the room.Ezekiel was off to the side, quietly watching. Kiran grumbled. “Even though Jack is a vampire and probably doing something stupid, ‘course the laws haven’t nabbed him yet.”Tora stretched her shoulders and arms, as if shedding off something invisible. She seemed to finally let down her guard a little. Tora began to speak in an apparently idle tone. “Say if… if Jack was publicly caught for something actually horrible,” theorized Tora. She picked up a sofa cushion and absently spun it. “Say that... Jack bit someone’s neck in broad daylight, I don’t know. The headlines are still going to read, ‘Man valiantly fights against dark passions’. Or something.” Tora paused. “The article will have a photo of Jack in a business suit. There will be good lighting and composition in the photo, too.” She put down the cushion. Then added, casually, “But even if there wasn’t a photo, you’d still know he’s a white man, because his race won’t be mentioned at all.” Barry felt a squirming uneasiness.But he looked at other people - at Iris, who seemed completely unsurprised at Tora’s assertions. Cisco himself was leaning forward and looking like he’d just stumbled on to a live panel discussion that he didn’t even have to pre-register or pay a convention fee for. Even Caitlin showed a mix of white-people awkward-sympathy and also mutual shared frustration.This wasn’t about him, Barry told himself. Well, no, of course it was about him, but it wasn’t about him. This was for Iris, Cisco and other people. Tora continued. She sounded like she’d gotten to a cup of water, after being parched all day. “Meanwhile, take Jack’s scenario, but with me instead. No, wait - I don’t even have to attack someone. Say I slip up and the public sees me full white-eyed and pointy-teethed. The news article will feature a photo of me from that one time I got publicly drunk at a party, ten years ago. Headlines will read: ‘Black woman is vampire, menace to society. All black women suspect now.’” Tora considered this. “Or maybe it’s ‘Asian woman’, or ‘Latina woman’, or just ‘mixed-race woman’. Or maybe I’ve got an ethnicity or identity that other people decide to put me into, that day.” Now, Lujain spoke again. “You know, I already had quite a lot to deal with. Even without being a vampire. Will people force me off an airplane if I am talking on a mobile while on the runway, and I say goodbye in Arabic to a friend? Will a man literally set fire to my clothes while I am looking at a window display? Will people scold me for being a Muslim woman, saying I am a Muslim villain and also a victim of male dominance somehow at the same time? Will I be fired for wearing a hijab?”Lujain opened her hands and shook her head. “And now, on top of all that, I must live with being a vampire, as well.” She sighed. “I would almost say, oh well, add it to the list of things I must deal with. What is one more thing, or a dozen more things.” Lujain paused, then added, “Actually, I would rather not have to deal with more things. In fact, I would like to deal with less things. That would be much better.”“Oh, I like those aspirations. I might borrow them,” noted Tora.“Why thank you, Tora,” said Lujain. “And you are more than welcome to borrow my aspirations.” Kiran, sitting on a chair nearby, chimed in. “I do kind of feel that, even before being vampires, we already had practice trying to convince people with more power that we should have human rights. And that we already had experience trying to navigate a world not built for us.”Iris was nodding along. Cisco had settled down on a chair to listen.Kiran continued. “I mean, the British Empire colonized my ancestors for 200 years. Taking resources, leaving India poor. Creating policies that caused famines and killed 35 million Indians for British profit. Churchill saying we’ll breed like rabbits. And all this still shaping and affecting India and Pakistan and Britain and people like me today, and I have to navigate it.”Iris, Cisco and Caitlin seemed shocked. Americans have varying degrees of world history knowledge, so they might have been familiar with British colonization and famines. Still, it was a lot to take in.Ezekiel looked at Kiran. “Speaking of reparations…?”“I’m not sure how many of my fellow British citizen even know about the famines or what was taken. I mean, really know about them. We don’t even have a museum about British colonization of India, so that says something.”“Oh, hey, the U.S. has a museum of African-American history in our capital, finally,” noted Cisco.“I’d like to visit that when we get to D.C,” commented Tora. “I heard it’s very popular, I hope we can get in.”“Building the museum is good. We could do more,” said Iris.Tora turned to Iris. “By the way, Iris, did I mention how Lujain and I already knew each other through a women of color organization? Before being vampires, I mean. It’s why we were able to pull things together as quickly as we did.”Iris and Tora continued to talk, and the main conversations broke into smaller groups.Cisco was conversing with Lujain and Kiran about Latinxs in STEM fields and border wall issues. Cisco also started telling a story about how he was recently stuck in an stand-still traffic jam, behind a car with a license plate that read “TRUMP 4”. Cisco was really tempted to hop out of his own car and tape a post-it note reading “IMPEACHMENT” to the end of license plate. But the car driver looked like a white man, and there were some questionable bumper stickers on the car, and Cisco didn’t want to get shot at or whatever, so. At this point, Ezekiel sauntered over to Harry and Barry. He cheerfully said, “Hey, fellow white dudes! How’re y’all doing?” The other two looked at him.Ezekiel continued, “I noticed y’all were listening in on our friends chatting. So, I’m just letting you know that if you want to feel some feelings and talk about them, I’m here for you. Also here for any and all discussion on white male privilege and fragility.” After a brief pause, Ezekiel added, “A gentle reminder that marginalized folks don’t need your guilt -- they need your active allyship to change systems. Also, please be mindful about unburdening your feelings to women and marginalized people... But! That’s what I’m here for, friends.”Caitlin, who was listening in, looked up at this and seemed relieved. It was as if -- as much as she adored her STAR lab teammates -- Caitlin really didn’t want to be the soundboard for male colleagues discussing male feelings when the patriarchy was pointed out to them.Harry studied Ezekiel with some skepticism. “You’re a vampire. That’s pretty marginal.”“I sure am! Nice point on intersectionality,” said Ezekiel sunnily. “In this case, though, it’s fine. Also, I have experience with outreach and having a… variety of interactions with people.”Barry seemed like he was listening. Harry was standing slightly away with a more detached stance. Harry looked at Barry, who just looked back at him.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sometime later. Barry leaned against a wall, slightly set apart from people. He was reading something on his phone. His brows furrowed occasionally as he scrolled through it.Barry was so absorbed that it took him a while to notice the shuffling and talking among Caitlin, Cisco and Harry. When he finally looked up, the other three were putting on jackets and gathering up whatever they brought. They were looking at Cisco’s cellphone and discussing something.As Barry approached them, a question on his face, Cisco looked up. “Yo,” said Cisco. “There’s some hack of a villain that’s causing trouble in the downtown area.”“What? Who is it?”“A wannabee of the wannabee Trickster who was a wannabee of the original Trickster.”“We’re going to take care of it,” said Harry. Then added, “Well, Ramon will take care of it, Snow will back him up with tech work and I’ll be dispensing invaluable knowledge.” At this, Cisco looked at Harry for a moment. “What? You know how this works,” said Harry.“Wait, I should go too -” started Barry.“Barry, didn’t you say you had a few more questions for Tora and the others?” said Caitlin, shrugging on her coat.“Well, yeah, but-”“Maybe I should...” Iris started to get up. She was sitting at a table with Tora -- they had been discussing (in no particular order): professional organizations to know; Brexit; the state of the U.S.; the difficulties of finding places that knew how to style black hair; the underrepresentation of black women and women of color in newsrooms; and why Tora didn’t really care for sci-fi shows like Doctor Who (“I’m just not very interested in fantasy or science fiction stories,” she had said, with seemingly zero irony.)Cisco waved both Iris and Barry’s concern aside. “Please. This villain is almost embarrassing, for recycling hashed material like this.”“Oh, there’s an expression in Japanese for that,” commented Tora. “Reusing tea leaves to make tea for a second time.”“Yeah, that,” said Cisco. “Anyway, you all just chillax. We’ll sweep things up and be back in a little while. Now that I’ve physically been here once, I can open a breach to here more easily.”At this point, Lujain and Kiran had gathered nearby, curiously watching. Ezekiel stepped out of the kitchen with a handful of clementines. He craned his neck to see whatever was going on.“Oh hey, everyone,” Cisco said to them. “We’re stepping out, BRB.” He literally said this as “Bee-Are-Bee”, apparently in some throwback to the early 2000’s.Then Cisco aimed his fist at the wall.Lujain watched this with an uncertain expression. She looked at Kiran who was leaning forward and studying these proceedings. Lujain quickly took hold of Kiran and backed away. Kiran glanced up with surprise, but went along and walked backwards anyway.Ripples shot out from Cisco’s fist. A silvery, wubbling liquid whirl appeared in the air with a whushh sound. Tora’s eyes widened. Kiran mouthed “Whaaat!”, her eyes large. Lujain put her arm in front of Kiran, who absently pushed Lujain’s arm down. Ezekiel dropped his clementines in surprise.Caitlin and Harry leapt through the breach, followed by Cisco. The silvery whirl disappeared. Kiran turned to Lujain. She gestured emphatically where the breach was, as if to say, “Did you see that!” Lujain nodded. “I stopped you from going through it,” she said, quite seriously.Kiran looked offended. “Lujain, I wouldn’t.” She glanced back at where people at disappeared, then added, “I’d like to see them come back in once piece, first, before I tried anything.”Lujain opened her hands as if all her questions had been answered.Tora, with a rather critical expression, was studying the wall where Cisco had disappeared. “That young man’s been able to pull something off like that, this entire time?” She shook her head.Ezekiel picked up his clementines. He studied Iris, the other remaining STAR Labs member, for a moment. Then he said, “So, Iris, I’m assuming that you can… uh…” Still holding a citrus, Ezekiel pointed upwards and motioned a circle with his arm. “--You can fly around in the air?”Iris looked at Ezekiel, then shook her head.“Walk through walls?” tried Ezekiel. “Telekinesis? Pyrokinesis?”Lujain peered over at Iris. “Iris, your co-workers did not share any of their powers with you?” Lujain shook her own head in a sorrowful manner, at this. “How very small of them.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sometime later, Lujain entered the atrium, holding her laptop and wrapping up cables. She looked puzzled. “Tora? Didn’t the conference room have a lot of panels on the wall?”

“What, you mean those sound-blocking things?” Tora asked.

“Yes, those,” said Lujain, as she put her laptop on top of her suitcase. “Odd. I feel like there were more of them on the wall, earlier.” Lujain glanced around, noting Iris and Ezekiel. “Also, where did Kiran get to?”
 
Barry was looking for Kiran as well. He wanted to ask her something. He stepped into the dark hallways, the hall lights automatically flickering on with his movement.

Heavy footsteps thumped nearby. Barry glanced in their direction, perhaps expecting Ezekiel. And Barry nearly jolted.

Jack looked back at Barry irritably. Jack carried a black sack, slung over his shoulder. Barry hadn’t heard the sound of a returning motorbike, and he wondered how long Jack had been at the Conference Center. Jack started to pass by Barry, then paused and said, “Oh, Kiran was looking for you.”

“What did she say?” asked Barry.

Jack gave Barry another look of annoyance. “I don’t know. Don’t you people have mobiles? Just bloody text each other.” He jerked his chin in the direction of some double doors -- a hallway that lead to the smaller annex. “I think she went to the other wing.”

Without waiting for Barry’s reply, Jack strode away in the opposite direction, muttering about heading out again.
 
Barry went through the doors and down the long white hallway.

Fluorescent lights harshly lit the corridor. The walls were lined with multiple square windows on both sides, black with the outside darkness. The parallel windows reflected each other as a weak infinity-mirror, reflecting multiple shadowy copies of Barry as he passed through the hallway.

The illusion didn’t sit well with him.
 
The dim, hexagonal room of the annex contained a suitcase and a blocky microscope case. And nothing else.

Barry frowned. “Kiran...?”

One of of the smaller rooms was lit, and the partly-opened door cast a light across the floor. Inside the room, something dark-colored was piled on the floor. Barry thought it was a duffle bag or a pile of jackets, until he saw curly disheveled hair. The image snapped into place as Kiran, crumpled on the floor.

Barry scrambled over, his shoes squeaking against the floor. “Kiran! What-”

There was a rustle behind Barry. A loud

crack

. Bright lights suddenly exploded in Barry’s vision, accompanied by a sharp pain in his head. Barry dimly registered he’d been hit from behind, as he slumped to his knees and collapsed onto the floor.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw black leather shoes approaching him. Then everything went dark.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Wakey, wakey… Speedster .” The world swam, then settled into focus. A small-looking room. Pale eyes on a pale face, watching him.Barry jerked his head up. He was in a chair, his arms tied behind his back. More cords bound his torso and legs to the chair. Barry vibrated to phase through the cords, but hit unexpected resistance. The grey cords, on closer inspection, had an odd sheen and electronic-looking nodes.Barry warily looked up at Jack.Jack sat in a chair in front of him, a small smirk playing on his lips. Jack gestured at Barry’s grey cords and said, “Something interesting I picked up from the metahuman black market. I’ve actually had it around for a while… Just in case. Ever since I nicked Kiran’s research and started reading up on you.” As Jack mentioned Kiran’s name, he turned aside and jerked his chin towards the corner.Kiran was tied to a chair with rope, her head bowed and her hair in front of her face. “Kiran!” cried Barry. He turned to Jack. “Is she-”Jack looked at Barry with irritation again. Jack rolled his eyes, then got up and kicked Kiran’s chair. Kiran jolted awake, an unfocused look in her eyes. Barry breathed in relief.Kiran shook her head. Then stopped, seeing her tied limbs, then seeing the small room with large panels stacked against the walls and door. Her eyes finally fell on Jack and Barry. “What…?” she mouthed, utterly confused. Her features begin to show concern and then horror, as she took in how Barry was tied to his chair with specialized cords. She yanked her own limbs, but the normal ropes held fast. “What the bloody hell?” she finally said to Jack.“Oh, by the way, don’t bother screaming for help,” said Jack, nonchalantly. He dipped his thumb at the panels leaning against the doors. “Borrowed some sound-dampening panels. I gave a few shouts earlier, after setting them up. Between the panels and the distance to the main building, I believe I caught the ears of none.”Barry felt a chill at Jack’s words. “Jack…?” said Kiran, cautiously. “I think you should untie us.”Jack just looked at her with annoyance. And then, abruptly, he turned to Barry.“Jack, what are you doing-” started Barry.Jack grabbed Barry by his hair and shoved his head back. Barry’s head hit the wall; Barry grunted. Jack held Barry’s head there with one hand, twisting Barry’s head to an angle so that Barry’s neck, the left side without bandages, was exposed. Behind Jack, Kiran had started shouting, yelling for help. But it seemed that Jack was telling the truth about the panels trapping the noise within the room.As Jack held Barry’s head at this angle, Barry felt some uneasy memory swirl in his mind, still not reaching any conscious level.From Barry’s view, he could mostly see ceiling and Jack’s jacket sleeve. Barry could hear the shifting sound of cloth, Jack digging into his pocket with his free hand. Then a snick of a pocket knife being opened. Kiran screamed for Jack to stop, her chair clunking in place as she fought against her ropes.Barry tried to jerk away, hoping it would catch Jack by surprise. But Jack held Barry’s head and neck in place, ignoring Barry’s thrashing. He brought up the knife and sliced it, vertically. Barry hissed in pain.A bright, thin red ribbon appeared on Barry’s neck. Jack snapped his knife shut with one hand, dropped it into his pocket, fetched out a small glass bottle. Uncapped it. Barry could feel his blood running down his neck and soaking his collar and shirt with warm wetness. On the outside edges of the soaking blood, the cooling liquid was making his shirt feel clammy and sticky.Jack pressed the mouth of the bottle to the base of Barry’s new wound. Barry winced and glared at Jack, who did not appear to notice. The glass bottle was initially cool against Barry’s neck. The bottle quickly warmed up, heated by Barry’s skin and by Barry’s hot blood that was filling the vessel.After some moments, Jack took away the glass bottle. He swished the container, blood slopping against the sides. Jack reached over to a table and put the bottle aside.One hand still holding Barry’s head, Jack leaned over Barry, studying him. Jack used his free hand to waft at the trickle of blood coming from Barry’s neck. He seemed to be bringing the smell of the blood to his nose, like a sommelier delicately assessing the fragrance of a wine. “Interesting…” Jack murmured, as if he was mulling an exotic vintage. After a moment, Jack straightened up and finally let go of Barry’s head.Barry shook out his head and glared at Jack. Jack raised a sardonic eyebrow at Barry. Then his glance fell on Barry’s neck again. Jack’s brows furrowed together, and he peered closer at the cut on Barry’s neck.“...You’re starting to heal already? You ARE fascinating, mate.” Jack glanced at the bottle of Barry’s blood with even more relish. Then he turned back to Barry. “But, I can’t have that happening,” said Jack, gesturing to Barry’s half-healing neck. “Nuisance to keep cutting it open.”Jack spat wetly on his own palm, then slapped his hand against Barry’s neck and rubbed his palm and saliva into Barry’s wound. Barry grimaced and did not bother hiding his shudder.Jack took his hand away. The wound now ran freely.Jack glanced at his spit-and-blood-smeared palm, and absently wiped this on Barry’s shirt. Jack then turned to Kiran, gesturing to Barry’s red-smeared neck with blood trickling anew. “Isn’t that amazing?” noted Jack. “Our saliva is just… designed so beautifully, the way it interacts with human blood.”Kiran gave Jack a disgusted look. Barry tried to say something in response as well. But his tongue felt thick and sluggish, and his limbs could barely twitch. Hearing Barry’s muffled attempts at speech, Jack turned around. He saw Barry’s eyes opening wide, as Barry’s neck and shoulders and torso started to slump, boneless -- not by Barry’s choice.“Oh, yes, and this side-effect too, of course. Such… efficiency.” Jack tapped his own chin in an absent manner as he contemplated Barry. “Hm,” remarked Jack. “Paralysis is kicking in much faster in this one, compared to usual humans.”Barry’s head lolled to the side, partially facing the floor. Barry still managed to glare up at Jack, his hazel eyes burning.“Ooh, scary,” said Jack dryly. Jack picked up the bottle of Barry’s blood again, brought it up to his own face, smelled it once more. Jack’s lips twitched, and he visibly swallowed. But regretfully, he pulled the bottle away, untouched. “Oh, this blood is so, so very interesting. I can’t wait to imbibe it.” Then Jack sighed. “But I really don’t know what’s in this blood, or how I’ll react, if I drink it.”“That’s right, Barry’s blood has got loads of horrible stuff in it!” shouted Kiran at Jack, desperately. “I vomited for days! ‘S rubbish, ‘s terrible for vampires! God, Jack, just… leave us be!”Jack snorted with derision. “By all accounts, Kiran, you vomited because you’ve been dry of blood for too long and you didn’t have the tolerance for a stomach full of fresh human blood.”Jack looked at the bottle of Barry’s blood. Then he shrugged. “But perhaps you’re right. Maybe this metahuman blood is full of toxins for vampires. Good thing I have a way to test this blood, before I try it myself.” At this, Jack turned towards Kiran, and looked at her. Pointedly.Kiran stared at Jack, confused. Then her face paled. “...No,” she breathed. Jack grinned. “-NO!” cried Kiran. “Jack, that blood’s from-- I just dealt with a lot of blood recently, you can’t put me in contact with blood so soon again, I’ll -”Jack cut off Kiran. “Exactly. Now your tolerance level is closer to normal, like me. You’re a much better stand-in.”“‘Normal’…? Jack, all of us avoid imbibing Non-Vampire-Human blood, we --” Kiran looked at Jack with shock. “Oh my god, you have been regularly drinking people’s blood, haven’t you.”Jack curled his lips in irritation. “Oh, please, stop with that look of horror. I haven’t been killing anyone or any such wretched thing. That’s called stupidity, and that’s how you get caught very fast. And anyway, no one remembers that I take their blood.”Kiran gave a strangled noise of disbelief. “--Then you ARE using Glamour or saliva on people!” Jack looked at Kiran with a certain amount of boredom. Kiran continued, sounding more desperate. “Haven’t you read anything that Lujain-- Either way, there’s no consent, there’s nothing legally or ethically-- Jack! ” Jack was studying his hand, idly wiping at a blood smear. Barry wished his throat and tongue worked, so he could tell Kiran that Jack didn’t really care what Kiran said. That Jack was just baiting her.“Jack!” tried Kiran. She was starting to tangle her words and lose them, again. “We don’t feed on blood, because- because- Because look at you, you think it makes sense to kidnap people, to get blood-”Jack narrowed his eyes. “You know, Kiran, I don’t like your implications,” he said.Jack then turned away. Plucked the bottle of Barry’s blood from the small table. He slowly stepped, stepped towards Kiran.“I also don’t like that rubbish you and Tora and your stupid group shoves on me. Do this do that. You really lost your freedom when you became a vampire, Kiran. And I have to say, you did it to yourself.”“Jack-!”Jack reached her. He raised the bottle of blood.“Live a little, Kiran,” said Jack. Kiran clamped her mouth shut. Jack moved in front of Kiran -- Barry couldn’t completely see what was happening. It seemed that Jack stopped Kiran from breathing through her nose, until she had to gasp for air through her mouth. Jack swiftly upturned the bottle. After a moment, he let the now-empty bottle drop to the side; the bottle hit the floor with a klink. Kiran’s angry noise and fighting suggested that Jack was forcing Kiran to swallow the blood. Possibly holding her nose and mouth shut, until she did.Abruptly, Jack let go of Kiran and stepped back.Kiran gagged, trying to spit -- And then abruptly slumped, head falling forward.From his own uncomfortable slumped position, Barry watched this. The scene seemed to draw another memory, more desperate and stronger than before. It flashed and seared around below his mind but still never connected to a conscious plane. Then Kiran twitched.Her head rose, in a slow, alien manner. When she looked up, her eyes were sharp white rings with black points for pupils. Her lips were slightly parted, and Barry could see the glint of pale fangs.But, as unsettling as the white eyes and sharp teeth were -- what Barry found most horrible was how Kiran was completely wiped from the person… creature? in front of Barry. Bits and pieces, personality he was starting to recognize as Kiran -- Gone. Even the creature’s stance, constrained as it was with ropes, was unfamiliar. Kiran was simply deleted from her own body, leaving something with sharp teeth and inhuman white eyes with black pupils.Barry struggled to watch, his uncooperative muscles slack and keeping his head lolled to the side. Jack studied Kiran. He whistled softly to himself, and finally said, “...That’s quite fast. Even accounting for sensitivity.”He peered at Kiran’s face. The creature stared back, her eyes narrowing a fraction. “Hm,” commented Jack. “Maybe that blood is a bit dodgy. Or very concentrated.”Jack turned away from Kiran. He kicked the used bottle on the floor, clearing it out of his path. The bottle skittered and clattered, a few stray drops of Barry’s blood flying off from it and leaving red dashes on the floor. Jack withdrew another small bottle from his jacket, tapping it contemplatively as he studied Barry.Jack idly glanced at Kiran. His expression suggested that she was half-forgotten already.And suddenly, Kiran erupted. Kiran lunged forward, eyes blazing, ropes snapping and chair cracking apart. Trailing ropes and bits of chair, Kiran leapt at Jack, crashing into him. Jack yelled in surprise and tried to fight her off. There was a struggle of flailing ropes and broken wood and bodies.Then Jack screamed.Kiran’s fanged jaws were planted in his neck, her white eyes burning with fury. An image of a large beast, mauling at another thrashing animal, suddenly came to Barry. A line ran through his mind.
Tiger, tiger, burning bright…
Jack screamed and screamed. But his screams were contained in the room, lassoed from reaching any other ears by the sound-dampening boards that Jack himself had carefully placed. Jack thrashed, unable to escape. Kiran tore and ripped at Jack’s throat with her claws and fangs, heedless of how her face was being awash with Jack’s blood. Her white-iris eyes were wide and terrible. Jack’s screaming turned into garbled, wet-ragged sound.Abruptly, Barry realized that the reason why he could see this awful scene so well was because his head was being supported again, to some degree. Barry’s voluntary muscles were coming back online. Barry tried to speak. It came out as a grunt.He tried again. “--K’ran,” he managed, hoarsely. “Kiran!”No matter what judgement Barry might place on Jack, it wasn’t fair that Kiran should have to live with these memories, when she returned.
“KIRAN!”
The creature stilled, and slowly looked up. Sharp white eyes looked out from a red-washed face, fangs gleaming and dripping blood. A horrible thin noise burbled out from Jack, who otherwise lay unmoving on the floor. Blood was starting to seep around him in puddles. Leaving Jack on the ground, the creature began to rise up with a fluid, alien motion. Her eyes still locked on Barry.Barry realized, with a dismay bordering on hysterical, that he’d just directed the creature’s attention at himself. But abruptly, Kiran turned. She bounded across the room and crashed into the sound-boards and doors. She shoved the barriers aside like rotten logs.Barry could hear her moving down the hallway, though he couldn’t get his body to turn enough to see what has happening. He heard another crashing sound, which he guessed was Kiran reaching the doors to the main atrium.After a moment, a flurry of alarmed voices arose, sounding distant. Then the atrium doors clanked, and there were footsteps and voices from the far end of the hallway.Barry started to shout out, “Jack’s here, he’s hurt-” Barry started coughing before he could finish, his half-awake muscles protesting the effort.Still, his voice was enough to alert people. The footsteps changed into a scrambling run that grew louder. Familiar sounding footsteps lead the charge.Then Iris was in the room, crying out, “Barry!” Iris caught sight of Jack’s body, bloody and unmoving. She froze for a moment. Then managed to step aside, dazed, to allow Lujain and Ezekiel to rush past her. With grim faces, the two knelt next to Jack.“Iris-” started Barry. Iris was looking at him with wide dark brown eyes, and Barry could almost see the double-image in her eyes. His previous sprawled, blood-stained body on their couch, overlapping with his current state, tied in a chair with blood dripping down his neck and blossoming red and brown stains on his shirt. Why did Iris have to see so much awfulness... thought Barry.“Iris, I’m okay, it’s a shallow cut, I’m almost healed already,” said Barry, rushing his words out, as if his words would cocoon and help Iris.Lujain looked at Barry. “Did Jack’s saliva get into your wound?”“Yeah.” Barry realized that Lujain and the others must have pieced together what had happened.“There’s ointment in the main room. Wash the wound and apply it. Tora will help,” said Lujain, her words uncharacteristically clipped. She turned to Jack again. Even Ezekiel’s usual sunny expression were replaced by a serious, focused look. Iris worked at the cords binding Barry. Her hands were shaking. She took a breath, stilled her hands, and finally twisted and pressed something on the nodes. The cords slackened. When Iris freed Barry’s hands, he tried to work on the cords as well, but his hands and arms were still too clumsy. Barry felt a sudden wave of exhaustion roll over him like a clammy fog.Iris gently finished getting the cords off, then put Barry’s arm over her shoulder and heaved him up. They staggered for a moment. Barry apologized for his body not moving well.In the background, Lujain and Ezekiel spoke in low, quick exchanges.“-That might cause a blood-bond,” said Lujain. She shook her head.“I can do it. It won’t matter as much, for me,” replied Ezekiel, quietly.Iris half turned, perhaps to say something to Lujain and Ezekiel. But instead, she found them watching her. Staring at her, with expressions not unfriendly, but not inviting either. As if they didn’t really want Iris and Barry in the room, for whatever they were going to do. It was an eerie moment -- a suggestion that, even after everything, there was still a veil that separated the Vampire-Humans from her.Iris shivered. Then Iris turned back and focused on getting her and Barry out of the room. Out of the annex, out down the long white hallway, to the atrium.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

There was no sign of Tora in the now dimly-lit main room. Or of Kiran. One of the shower-bathroom units nearby did have the sound of running water and a suggestion of occupancy.

Iris and Barry weren’t sure where the ointment was. For now, they went to the adjoining kitchen to wash up as best they could. There, Barry half-fell into a chair, his muscles still not responding well enough for him to stand upright for long. Iris took a wet towel and gently wiped at his neck and shoulders.

The kitchen was sparsely lit from a few overhead lights. The lights threw strong highlights and dark shadows on everything, giving human forms and objects a chiaroscuro feel.

In the middle of their ministrations, Tora appeared. She had some ointment and a clean folded shirt. She gave the shirt to Barry, adding, “From Ezekiel. You can keep it.” Barry gratefully accepted the shirt.

“What happened to Kiran?”

“I helped her wash off and take some medicine to vomit the blood she’d imbibed,” said Tora. “She’s cleaning up and burning off her White-eye state right now.”

“And Jack…?” asked Barry, as he fumbled with the brown-and-red blood-stained shirt he currently wore.

Tora paused. “We think he’ll live.”
 
Iris helped Barry get his gross-looking shirt off. She wiped away as much blood as she could from his upper torso with a towel, and helped him change into the clean shirt. Ezekiel’s shirt looked like a volunteer shirt from a climate change rally.

Iris finished cleaning Barry’s cut. She applied the medicine, with Tora supervising. Barry winced a little, and Iris murmured something soothing. Tora fetched some gauze and tape for a remedial bandage.

Meanwhile, Barry picked at the old band-aids on the right side of his neck. Barry’s original neck wound, from what seemed ages ago, had finally healed -- or at least, to the point of not needing any coverings. It was a small thing, but Barry felt relieved to peel the band-aids off (with Iris’s help). Faint marks of shiny new skin were left. The marks would soon to fade to regular skin, as they always did.

As Iris finished putting new bandages on Barry, Lujain came hurrying into the kitchen. She was wiping her hands with a cloth. Lujain exchanged some quick, low words with Tora, then turned to Barry and Iris. “May I ask for someone’s assistance?” asked Lujain. “We’re trying to stabilize Jack and we need an extra set of hands.” Lujain added, “-Jack’s mostly cleaned up. Anyway, you won’t have to look at him. We just need hands to keep equipment steady.”

Iris hesitated, then stepped forward. Barry started protested, to which Iris turned around and simply said, “Barry, honey, you can’t move very well yet. I’ll do it, it’s fine. Heal yourself.”

Barry watched Iris leave with Lujain and Tora. He sighed quietly.
 
After a moment, Barry got up and half-stumbled across the kitchen. He washed his hands and arms. Then grabbed one of the uneaten takeout meals, which had been moved to the kitchen. Barry fumbled with cutlery, then gave up and just ate the takeout (Thai) as best he could. He finished, washed his hands again, and found a bottle of water among a bag of clementines and groceries in the kitchen.

Holding the water, Barry got himself into the now-dark atrium. Automatic lights partially flickered on, lighting the room with a quiet, cool ambiance. Barry dropped into a soft sofa chair, to ruminate on everything that had happened. Tiredness gently settled on him. After a few minutes, without meaning to, he fell asleep.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The sound of a door gently clicking shut awoke Barry. As he drifted from being half-asleep to joining the conscious world, he realized he was slouching uncomfortably in his sofa chair. Barry shifted his weight to a more pleasant stance. As he did so, he noticed that his paralysis was completely gone, much to his relief. Barry reached back to his memories of what had happened in the annex. They were tinged with a faint blur, but they were still there. Having checked in with body and mind, Barry finally opened his eyes to meet the rest of the world.
 
In the dim room, Kiran was nearby, watching him with brown eyes. She was wearing slacks and a tunic under a zippered grey hoodie. Her curly hair looked damp and somewhat attended to. As Barry registered her, Kiran looked Barry directly in the eyes, for the first time.

And then she burst into tears.
 
Barry scrambled out of the sofa chair. After a moment, he grabbed a stack of paper takeout napkins nearby, and also the bottle of water he had forgotten to drink, and offered both to Kiran. They ended up sitting on the floor next to the couches.

Kiran blew her nose messily into the makeshift tissues. Finally she spoke, still sniffling.

“God, Barry, I’m so sorry I bit you!”

Barry blinked. “Uh...? But you didn’t-”

“No, I mean, back at your apartment!”

“You were white-eyed, weren’t you? You don’t have control then-”

“I bit your hand, Barry Allen, when I was a normal-eyed

human,

” emphasize Kiran. “Lujain can call it stupidity or anxiety or panic or whatever, and she’s probably right, but I still did it.” Kiran looked at Barry in the eyes again, if only for a moment. (Barry suddenly wondered if Kiran found it an effort to look at people’s eyes.) “And then I did bite you and drink your blood, and I didn’t have control over that, but it was still horrible and I’m

so sorry

.”

“But you didn’t attack me, this time,” said Barry. “You went after Jack, and… it sounds like he’ll live, which I’m glad -- and I don’t know everything about Vampire-Humans, but it seems like Jack brought that on himself.”

Kiran didn’t look any happier. “Jack’s dealing with being a Vampire-Human. Maybe not dealing with it very well, but his addiction is still a disease. That’s who I attacked, when I was white-eyed.”

“Will you give any of that compassion to yourself?” asked Barry, softly.
 
Kiran turned to Barry. She wiped her face with a fresh paper towel, and her eyes were now dry. Barry sensed a shift. “Barry -- do you know why I was skulking around your apartment, to try and get your hair samples or whatever?” asked Kiran. “Why I justified using Glamour and biting your hand, at the time?”

She paused. Seemed to organize her words.

“I could say lots of things. That I was desperate to find a lead, anything to make living as a Vampire-Human easier. That I’m not used to skulking and that I didn’t know that NVH blood could affect me so much. That I was stressed about returning to my group empty-handed, after causing what I knew was going to be a cart full of trouble for everyone, and I wanted at least

something

to show. Which, by the way, shows you how wonky I was thinking at the time, because Tora and everyone would have immediately questioned me about the samples. And tracked down what happened,” said Kiran. “Anyway, all of these things, they could be true. But I was still treating you like a means of getting something.”

Kiran shook her head. “How different is that from Jack, who acted like you were the mildly inconvenient vessel for his next blood-high or blood-meal? Or how he treated me? Since forever, I’ve had to fight against people with more power -- and then here, I treated you like a means and I used power against you. I used Glamour and I bit your hand, partly because I could get away with it, because it would mess up your memory.

That

is why I’m feeling horrible.”

Barry took it all in, saying nothing for a moment. Barry wasn’t completely sure about the equivalence. He also felt that the general stress from the recent Annex experience might be pouring into what Kiran was feeling. But he also wasn’t sure if it was his place to guess things like this or say his guesses out loud.
 
Barry rubbed his neck with his thumb, feeling the faint patches of shiny skin that were fading into regular skin. “Well…. I’m alive, I’m recovered, and…”

A disturbing thought ran across Barry’s mind. He turned to Kiran. “Kiran, what would have happened if you hadn’t stopped Jack? When Jack had that second bottle in his hand and he was studying me?”

Kiran looked at Barry rather blankly, for a moment. Then she said “Oh”, her eyes widening a little. Apparently she hadn’t considered it either, until now.

“Because… I think you saved my life,” said Barry. Jack had said this and said that about not killing people…. but talk was cheap. Especially from Jack, he felt. And nothing about Barry’s metahuman blood mixing with vampire white-eye states seemed stable.

Kiran still looked doubtful. “I think-- I think even when I was white-eyed, I just hated Jack too much to bother with you,” she said.

Barry wasn’t sure about that, as he thought of white-eyed Kiran watching him and turning away. “You still saved my life,” he said.
 
Barry sighed, then spoke.

“Kiran, I’m pretty sure you didn’t find out everything about me when you were looking stuff up. Because you would have found out how many times I have really, royally messed up. Very badly. Definitely some moral sketchiness, too, if I’m being honest. I’ve gotten way more grace than I should have. So just….” Barry looked for the words. “Can I give you some of that grace?”

“Because you seem like you’ll make plans so you don’t mess up again,” continued Barry. “Or, that you’ve got people around you, who are committed and armed with to-do lists. Or both. Anyway, it just seems like… like every drop of grace I’d give you would be used. Like it’d grow and flourish, beyond what I could think of.”

Kiran was watching Barry, with an expression he couldn’t quite place.

“Consider this a refusal of your group having to do official reparations. From me, at least. If I have that power,” said Barry.
 
Then Barry paused.

He wasn’t sure if he should add this, but..

Oh well…

“Actually, I mean, most people who try and beat me up don’t even think to offer reparations. So.”

“...Wait, how many people have tried to beat you up?” Kiran looked a little alarmed.

Barry considered this. “I once traveled back in time and punched myself,” he said.

Kiran looked like she wasn’t sure what to do with this information.

“Yeah, my life is kind of a mess,” offered Barry.

Kiran nodded, looking at Barry in a somewhat confused manner.
 
There was a noise from the other side of the atrium.

Near the doors to the annex hallway stood Iris, Tora, Ezekiel and Lujain. It wasn’t clear how long they’d been there, listening.

They came over, Iris settling next to Barry. Tora sat next to Kiran, Lujain and Ezekiel next to Kiran and Tora. Iris put her head on Barry’s shoulder and sighed, sounding tired.

Barry looked at Iris with concern. Iris looked back, but merely seemed weary. Barry drew her in anyway.

After a moment, he looked at the other people. “How is Jack?” Barry asked.

“He’ll... live,” replied Tora.

“...What’s going to happen to him?”

“We will have to discuss it with the Vampire-Human community at large,” said Tora. “We’ll need to keep him away from people for now, whatever that might entail.”

“What Jack did are not small things any more,” said Lujain, quietly. She reached over and took Kiran’s hand. “There will have to be a full investigation on him.”

Ezekiel added, “My guess is that most people in the community won’t be very sympathetic to Jack.”

Tora sighed. She shifted in place, on the floor. “Jack is dealing with being a vampire, as we all are, and it’s hard and we can’t do it alone,” Tora said. “As a community, we can treat his addiction and problems like the diseases and conditions they are, and try and help him manage them…”

Then, Tora firmly added, “And. We can say that Jack has done horrible things and harmed people, and that he needs to atone for what he’s done and be brought to justice. We can say we don’t like him and we don’t want him around us. We can recognize systemic privileges that enable Jack to be so cruel. All of those things can be true, at the same time.”
 
Tora paused. Then said, “But, honestly, I don’t care about Jack, just right now. We’re going to have to deal with the man for days yet. Right now --”

At this, Tora peered at Kiran. She put her arms around Kiran’s shoulders and gently hugged her in. “Kiran, I want to know how you are doing.” Tora said, in a simple and quiet manner, “That was difficult for you, wasn’t it, love.” Kiran started crying again. Lujain and Ezekiel leaned in against Kiran and Tora, warmth against a strange world.
 
Iris sniffled. This time, when Barry checked in on her, she softly said, “I was thinking about my mother.” Iris drew closer to Barry, and Barry held her tightly.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“WHAT? What do you MEAN you got attacked by another vampire?”

Cisco’s alarmed voice emanated from Barry’s cellphone.

“Wait, who bit you?”

asked Caitlin, joining Cisco’s speakerphone conversation. Her voice was agitated with concern.

“No one bit me,” Barry tried to clarify.
 
The Atrium was now fully lit again, bright and cream-walled. Barry was sitting with the last of the takeout meals, attempting to eat and also catch up with the STAR Labs group at the same time. Barry continued. “Jack took my blood, and--”

“Oh my god I knew that guy was bad news!”

came Cisco’s voice.

Caitlin interrupted.

“And then what happened?”

“He, uh… he forced Kiran to drink it, then she attacked him, and then people rescued me.”

There was a silence.

“Okay, we’re going back to the conference center right now,”

announced Cisco.

“Don’t bother!” Barry protested. “Everything’s... settled. I think. You’re still wrapping up the hack Trickster, right?”

“Yes... The hack Trickster is actually pretty good,”

said Caitlin. She sounded miffed.

“I mean, we’re still better. But.”

Cisco added.

“Right. Listen, finish that first, don’t worry about me. I’m here and eating leftover takeout food,” said Barry, lifting a pair of chopsticks.

“Of course you are,”

came Harry’s voice.

At the mention of takeout, Lujain, who was nearby, peered over at Barry. “Barry, don’t eat the Panda Express noodles,” said Lujain with concern. “They’re not very good.”

Barry looked up with surprise from his container of noodles. “I think they taste pretty good?”

“Alright, Barry, we’ll see you in a little bit, then,”

sighed Caitlin.

Barry turned back to his phone. “Hey, I could just run back to the lab-”

Caitlin made an unsure noise.

“Did you get exposed to any more of that creepy vampire saliva? I’m concerned about that interacting with your powers. I’d rather you stay put for now,”

said Caitlin.

Barry sighed, but agreed to do what Caitlin suggested.

In the background, Cisco could be heard muttering,

“Geez, we leave the guy alone for like two minutes - two minutes, I swear! And something else goes after him.”

Then the phone call ended.
 
***
 
The Vampire-Humans were dragging out cots and moving sofas around. Tora confessed that she’d much rather go to a hotel or motel, but she was concerned about being present in case something happened with Jack during the night. Ezekiel tried to convince Tora to go check into a hotel anyway. When that didn’t work, he tried to convince Tora to claim one of the sofas. Tora said she’d see what was more comfortable.
 
Iris was yawning and had curled up in chair, checking her phone. Earlier, Barry had sat with her for a while on a sofa. He suggested driving the van back, but Iris had objected to the dark and the lateness. Finally, they just arranged so that Cisco would breach to the Conference Center later that evening and they’d go back for the night. People would rendezvous the next morning at the Conference Center for the van and anything else that needed wrapping up.
 
Meanwhile, having arrived at some satisfactory set up with cots and sofas, Tora, Lujain and Ezekiel were now clattering around the kitchen.

A pause. “There’s no kettle,” said someone.

“Oh, y’all will probably have to use the microwave to heat water for tea,” drifted out Ezekiel’s southern drawl.

There was a distinct sound of dismay at this.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Kiran was outside the Center, sitting next to the wall on some cheap, weathered plastic chairs. There was a bug light shining nearby, colored yellow to avoid attracting insects. The light threw its color on everything, splashing gold on Kiran’s brown face and skin.Kiran looked up as Barry opened the door and stepped out. The bug light was strong enough that her eyes remained amber-brown without any blue.The night was chilly, but occasional sounds of nocturnal life could be heard in the woods and meadow. Something chittered quietly in the trees. Once, a mournful call sounded in the far distance. “Hey,” said Barry. Kiran nodded a greeting. “How are you doing?” asked Barry.“Resting,” replied Kiran.Barry sat in one of the plastic chairs. “You have a nice group.”“Your team seems very nice too,” replied Kiran. Then added, “How many other strange powers do people have, in your team? Out of curiosity.”“Uh… it comes and goes with Caitlin. Harry’s from another Earth, if that counts.”“My god,” said Kiran, without much heat. “I’m not even sure what that means.” She added, “So Iris doesn’t fly around, or have pyrokinetic powers?”“Not that I know of?”“Oh.” Kiran seemed disappointed. She added absently, “Well, I suppose I’d have heard about Iris by now, if she did had unusual powers. She’d probably be doing something pretty neat with them.”This seemed to be an off-hand compliment regarding Iris. And possibly an unintentional slight towards Barry and everyone else who did have powers and whose news hadn’t reached Kiran. Still, Barry was pleased with this matter-of-fact statement about Iris from a relative outsider. But Barry had sought out Kiran for other reasons, besides chit-chat and agreeing about how great Iris was. Barry shifted in place on his plastic chair. “Hey, um… so I was thinking. The blood sample thing.”Kiran looked up, appearing unsure. She did seem to prefer, as a default, to not quite make eye contact.“Can I… did you still want to study my blood?” asked Barry.Kiran looked a little taken back. Then she made a weird, offended face.“But seriously. Do you think you have a lead or anything useful or interesting, with my metahuman blood.”Kiran didn’t answer immediately. “I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t really tell anything from… what’s happened so far. It might have odd properties.”Barry spread his hands. “So you can’t tell anything yet, because you haven’t studied it.” He added, “Come on, I’m a researcher, too. You don’t know what you don’t know, until you look at it.”Kiran sat up straighter and looked at Barry more seriously. “Are you actually trying to convince me…. Are you trying to peddle off a sample of your blood to me?”“Maybe?”Kiran looked incredulous. She opened her mouth, brought her hands up, and then brought them down again. Finally she said, “Right, you really need to talk to you team about this. Especially Caitlin.”“I know. I’m just… floating the idea by you,” said Barry.“We’re still not going to just take a blood sample-” started Kiran.“No, I want all the formalities -- study proposal, transparency and accountability plans, safety precautions to keep my blood from getting into the wrong hands. And all my rights made clear,” said Barry, quickly. Kiran nodded.Barry paused, then added, “I, uh, read up a little on Henrietta Lacks. And John Moore. Medical samples taken without consent or knowledge, industries made from the samples. And... the Tuskegee experiments, and J. Marion Sims.”Kiran looked at Barry.Barry rubbed the back his neck. “I sort of heard about Henrietta Lacks before. Of course, it only took a woman of color specifically telling me about her -- and me getting in mired in an issue that didn’t affect me until now, and which I never had to worry about -- before I finally looked up more info about the topic.” Barry paused, then added, “In classic privileged-people fashion, of course.”Kiran’s lips twitched in a smile or possibly a smirk. She seemed a little sad, though, at the same time. “Oh -- also, if you don’t want to study my blood, that’s okay too,” said Barry. “If you find a better lead or idea, something more worth your time and energy. Or, for whatever reason.”Kiran nodded.“I won’t be offended. In case that mattered,” added Barry.Kiran paused. “Wait, what?” She looked at Barry and commented, “Well! Someone has a very high opinion of their blood.”Barry spread his hands in a exaggerated shrug. “I mean….”“I don’t know, Barry, I’ve heard your blood is kind of last season,” informed Kiran, shaking her head.“What? When did my blood become uncool? What am I supposed to do about that? ” complained Barry. “Wow, this is worse than when my pants went out of fashion and Iris had to finally corner me about it in highschool.”“Oh, Barry, take your blood and get yourself out of here,” said Kiran, waving her hand in a theatrical manner. “As you said yourself: I’ve got loads of undiscovered leads that require my attention.”Barry looked dramatically offended, putting his hand over his heart like he’d been wounded.Kiran tried to respond to this, but broke character and started laughing instead. Barry gave a grin as well.After a moment, Kiran grew more somber. “I do thank you, Barry, for offering the option. We’ll give it serious thought.” She looked at Barry’s eyes directly as she said this. Then dropped eye contact after a moment, her limits reached.Kiran looked up at the night sky, dark and star-lit. “...Maybe we’ll never get rid of this vampire stuff,” Kiran said, quietly, studying the expanse of blackness and stars above them. “Maybe it’ll just be managed in better and better degrees, until it’s like other chronic conditions that people deal with. And we’ll just… get on living, with it. Like we already do, but easier.”Kiran was silent for a moment. Then spoke again.“I think this vampire thing is something that can be cured, though. An uninvited houseguest which we can show to the door and firmly push out.”Kiran continued. “This condition only showed up a handful of years ago -- it’s finite! It’s not as if it… fits with anything that’s part of the natural ecology. But even if this vampire nonsense is, I don’t know, a plague that’s been with the dawn of humankind, being chums with Homo habilis, some condition carried across eons to the modern day -- I don’t care. I’m still overturning the thing.” Kiran was staring at the night sky now, as if she intended to challenge the heavens themselves. Her eyes were amber and brown, burning.Although Kiran had changed out of it, Barry found himself thinking about her initial Punk outfit. Maybe that outfit made sense, after all.They sat there, watching the sky and the world at night. Some creature called in the distance, again. In the dark sky, a meteor appeared and blazed a white trail. After some time, there was a familiar whushh sound from inside the conference building, followed by Cisco’s voice. Barry and Kiran got up and went inside, leaving the night.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The North Woods Conference Center looked very different in daylight.

Tall, shady evergreens rose on one side. On the other side, a meadow of native grasses and sedges spread out under a bright morning sky; a gentle breeze brought a dewy, grassy smell from the field. A hawk soared in lazy circles on a thermal. Among the grasses, some late-season bees and insects flew to-and-fro. The skylights and windows of the Center glittered in the angled morning light.

This time, Joe joined Iris, Barry, Caitlin, Harry and Cisco as they breached back one more time to the Conference Center. Tora, Kiran, Lujain and Ezekiel were outside of the Center, sitting on logs and benches and soaking in the morning light. Seeing Cisco’s silvery breach and everyone leaping out of it, the Vampire-Humans got up to meet them.
 
Joe took a long, unsmiling look at Kiran. Kiran fidgeted nervously and dropped her eyes. Lujain looked at Kiran, then at Joe. Lujain then raised her arms protectively in front of Kiran while giving Joe a stern look. Kiran, a mildly offended expression on her face, gently pushed Lujain’s arms down.

Joe looked at Barry, who shrugged.

“I don’t know why you’re cool with these folks, Barr…” said Joe, “But if you’ve sorted it out, I’m gonna trust you’ve sorted it out.” Despite these words, Joe still eyed Kiran with distrust, then let it go after a moment.

Although Barry had renounced compensation from the Vampire-Humans, Barry realized (upon returning to Iris’s and his apartment) that their apartment living area definitely still had blood stains everywhere. This morning, however, Tora brought up the topic of cleaning services and possible couch replacement costs herself, before Barry and Iris could mention it. “That matter occurred to us as well, when we were scrubbing at the bloodstains in the Center and trying to mend things,” said Tora. She pulled out copies of her business card, used a pen to write something on the cards, circled some contacts and gave them to Iris and Barry.
 
As it turned out, Tora and the others had to stay at the Conference Center for the rest of that day. Despite their efforts, they hadn’t been able to fix all the sound panels and other dings and dents to the center. So they were meeting with North Woods Land Trust people in the afternoon to settle things.

Tora sighed in a resigned way. She did do a lot of sighing. “I wonder if the vampire community will decide to bill Jack directly instead of using common funds,” she thought aloud, absently. “Well, questions for days ahead, I suppose.”

Then a look crossed Tora’s face. “Oh…

sugar!

” she said, somehow making the euphemism sound stronger than an actual curse. Tora turned towards Kiran, Ezekiel and Lujain. “Speaking of Jack, we should get him to the rental car before the Land Trust representatives show up. Did he look like he could walk yet?”

Lujain and Ezekiel shook their heads.

Tora sighed again and said, “Right, we’ll figure something out later.”
 
Joe was acquiring an increasingly suspicious expression, and he now turned to Barry again. “‘Jack’ -- you mentioned him, he’s…?”

“Someone who did not think the anger of women mattered,” said Lujian. Kiran glanced at her. “And femme people,” amended Lujain.

“That could be a slogan,” commented Caitlin, thoughtfully.

“Jack’s a vampire,” Barry finally explained to Joe.

Joe crossed his arms. “What, him too? How many more vampires are there?”

“Oh, uh,” Barry glanced at Tora, Lujain, Ezekiel and Kiran. “Five here, including Jack, I guess--”

“Wait, they’re ALL vampires?” Joe stared at Tora’s group with alarm. Barry blinked. Apparently no one had completely filled Joe in on the details. Which was confirmed when Joe continued, “I thought they were just shady, sketchy people!”

Team Vampire-Humans looked at each other, hearing this description from Joe. “I mean, he’s not wrong?” said Ezekiel. Kiran made a

“I guess?”

motion with her shoulders.

“We’re not shady people, we are clearly in a patch of sunlight right now,” pointed out Lujain, the morning rays glowing on her shoulders and hijab (which had an stylized ladybird beetle motif today).

“Oh dear, we need to work on PR,” sighed Tora.
 
Joe finally had to see Jack himself. Jack was bandaged but breathing, currently sleeping under a pile of blankets on a cot. Joe emerged with Tora from the Center, still looking suspicious. But he glanced at Barry again and didn’t pursue it.
 
****
 
The group had now moved over to the parking lot, where the van was still parked from yesterday.

“Can we just drive the van through a breach?” pondered Cisco, contemplating the van. Kiran also looked at Cisco and the van, leaning forward with curiosity.

“Maybe, just... save that for another day, Cisco,” said Joe, hand raised cautiously.

Barry studied the van for a moment. Then he turned to Iris and asked her, “Hey, do you mind if the two of us drive the van back?”

Iris looked at Barry and quirked her eyebrow in a question.

“I have an idea,” said Barry.

“All right,” Iris shrugged, then glanced at Cisco and Caitlin.

The latter looked at each other and also lifted their shoulders in a shrug. “Sure. The rest of us can just breach back to the lab,” said Cisco.
 
Everyone began to make their final goodbyes.

Tora told Barry and the STAR Labs team, “Do feel free to call on our team. Or visit us across the pond, if you have reason to be in the area.” Caitlin and Iris looked interested.
 
“Alright then, Cisco. It’s been real,” nodded Ezekiel to Cisco.

Cisco nodded back and said, “Real weird. And kind of macabre.”

Ezekiel considered this. He turned to Tora. “Tora, should that be our new branding?”

“No,” said Tora.
 
Lujain shook Barry’s hand and said goodbye. She gravely added, “I do hope you are in less frequent mortal peril, Barry Allen. It sounds very stressful.”

“Uh, thanks,” replied Barry. He added, politely, “You too, Lujain.” Then Barry paused, going over in his head what he’d just said aloud.

“Oh, why thank you,” said Lujain, sounding pleased, before Barry could analyze if his response had actually made sense.
 
Meanwhile, Cisco and Ezekiel realized they never did sing “Kumbaya”.

“Aw,” said Ezekiel, looking a little sad.

“No, we’re gonna make ‘Kumbaya’ happen, right now,” said Cisco, throwing his arm out in a devil-may-care gesture.

Ezekiel looked up, then nodded deeply. He and Cisco both took deep breaths, Cisco raising his orchestra-conductor hand again. And then they looked over and saw that everyone was staring at them.

“Uhr,” said Ezekiel.

“Okay too much pressure, people. I can’t perform my art under these kinds of conditions,” complained Cisco.

“Rain check again, friend,” said Ezekiel.

“Absolutely,” agreed Cisco.

They sealed it with another bro-shake. Which transitioned to a fist bump, and ended in a pinky swear.
 
Joe turned to the other STAR Labs members. Gesturing to Cisco and Ezekiel, Joe asked with great alarm, “Why is Cisco making a pact with a demon!?”

“Vampire, not demon,” corrected Tora, absently.

“Perhaps we do need that PR,” said Lujain to Kiran.

“Joe, do you want to stop them from singing ‘Kumbaya’?” asked Caitlin.

“I don’t know, is it going to summon anything?” asked Joe, cautiously.

“We really need that PR,” agreed Kiran.

“Well, singing ‘Kumbaya’ might summon the spirit of the folk song from the 1950’s,” cheerfully replied Ezekiel. “Or, the spirit of the more recent backlash against the folk song. Or the spirit of the old, original African-American spiritual song from the American South. Or! The spirit of the Gullah singing groups, where the song was adapted into Gullah Geechee dialect and changed from ‘Come By Here’ to ‘Come By Yah’ and then traveled to the rest of America.”

“Lovely petit-talk there, Liaison of the American South,” said Kiran mildly. “Gotta point out though -- Zeeks, you

are

a white man lecturing an African-American person about African-American history.”

Ezekiel looked a little embarrassed. “Ah… yeah, I did do that. Sorry, sir,” he said to Joe.

Iris glanced over, but said nothing. Joe looked like he was more concerned with trying to decide if these people were sketchy vampires, chatty demons or both.
 
The goodbyes wrapping up, Cisco opened a silvery breach. Caitlin stepped into it. Joe hesitated at the breach, as he traveled less frequently through the things compared to everyone else. Harry ended up taking Joe’s arm and just stepping into to the breach with him. Cisco signed off to everyone and leapt through the glimmering whirl as well. Then it snapped shut.

After a moment, Iris and Barry started to move towards the van.

Barry paused at Kiran. Kiran looked at Barry, then looked at Barry’s eyes directly, for a moment. And simply said, “Well… Be seeing you, then, Barry. Cheers.”

“Say goodbye to your unwanted house guest for me, when you show them to the door,” replied Barry. Kiran smiled at this.

With that, Barry and Iris opened the van doors and climbed in. Barry had offered to drive. As he turned on the ignition and the van rolled away, Barry and Iris could still see the figures of Tora, Kiran, Lujain and Ezekiel, shrinking with distance.

For a while, the figures were watching the van as well. Then they started talking to each other, Kiran picking up a pine cone and Lujain pulling at a tree branch and apparently discussing something.

A bend in the road made them vanish completely.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

In the van, there was a quietness between Iris and Barry. As if they were letting everything that had happened gently wash over them, each person processing things in their own way.

Barry absently touched the left side of his neck. There was a faint, shiny vertical mark there. Remnants of yesterday, not quite merging with his regular skin tone yet.
 
After another moment, Barry turned to Iris. “So, I was thinking -- We can drop the van off and go home, if you’d like. But... since we’re finally at the North Woods, do you want to visit that trail you were talking about?”

Iris looked at Barry and smiled. “Let’s visit the trail.”
 
***
 
The day was still early enough that bright, white morning sunlight spilled through tree branches and dappled the forest floor.

Patches of lush moss grew on the ground, flaring bright-green where sunlight fell on it. In the trees, birds chipped and warbled. A small downy woodpecker hopped her way up a tree trunk.

Barry and Iris finally got their normal, regular outing, as they walked together on a forest trail. The air was filled with an earthy, alive-smell, from the dark biomass under their feet and from the always-growing forest.

Iris took Barry’s hand, smiled at him, and Barry smiled back.
 
The trail lead to another small meadow. The canopy above them opened up -- warm, bright sunlight poured down and met them.

{End}