Archive of Our Own

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Chapter 1

A Long Night

Takashi Shirogane started his shift just like any other. At 8:45 he got a call in the middle of dinner. Shoveling the last bit of his microwaved burrito in his face, grabbing his jacket and quickly getting in his car to then head to the address his boss had sent to his pager. It had been an incredibly troubling couple of months. With what seemed to be some sort of strange blood cult or maybe a black market ring having cropped up, Shiros job had become very tiresome. Long nights and an ever increasing list of victims had Shiro's prematurely grey hair accelerating with its natural bleaching. As he pulled into the front of the pawn shop his GPS had led him to he sighed, clutching his steering wheel and pinching the bridge of his nose. He had forgotten his coffee, again. This was going to be a long, long night. As he exited his Hyundai he walked around to the trunk popping it open and pulling his briefcase from its secured position. As he began to turn and glare at the narrow two-story building he was startled by the forces one and only Captain Iverson. “Woah, didn’t mean to startle you there Shirogane.” Iverson said, noticing the way Shiro jumped at his sudden presence. “This ones pretty rough, boys were called in about two hours ago and it took us a while to clear the building.”

Iverson could be a bit much sometimes, but he always looked out for his men. Him taking his time to make sure the building was safe for everyone who would have to enter it was pretty standard, but Shiro still recognized that this was a longer amount of time to clear a building this size than would normally be applicable.

“What held you up?” Shiro asked, reaching back into the car to grab his camera bag.

“The basement was real gruesome and the second floor is built like a damn maze. We had no way to tell if the building was still occupied. It should be empty now, but I am sending in somebody with you. No way to be one hundred percent sure.”

Shiro shouldered his bag, noticing the two coffee cups in Iversons hands. “I think I can handle myself, Iverson. Are both of those accounted for?” Shiro said, pointing at one of the coffees with his free hand.

“I’m sure you can but I would still feel more comfortable if you had someone in there to back you up. Just in case.” Iverson replied, handing Shiro one of the lightly steaming cups.

“Figured you’d say that.” Shiro said

“We can’t afford to lose you right now Shiro” Iverson said, his tone laced with concern. “You’re the best analyst we’ve got and we have got to find these bastards”

Whenever Iverson used Shiros nickname, he was speaking to him directly, not his position. Iverson had always gone to bat for Shiro and it was obvious the man cared quite a bit for Shiro on a level that extended beyond the job. Shiro did appreciate the concern, really he did, but he could handle himself and having some rookie beat cop tail him could disrupt the evidence in the scene. Shiro told him as much as he took a scalding gulp of the coffee in his hand.

“I just have to make sure nothing slips past us” Shiro continued, “We’ve been after this group for how long now? We still don’t have any suspects nailed down, nor do we have any idea why anyone would be harvesting so much blood. We can’t afford to damage any of the potential leads we may find”

Iverson gave a grunt of submission. “Okay” he said, slightly shaking his head “But if you go and get yourself messed up in there…”

“I know captain, don’t worry, I’ll be alright.” Shiro finished off his coffee and put the empty cup into the garbage can he kept in his trunk before shutting it and walking around to the front of his car. He set down his briefcase on the hood, cracking it open and sliding on his gloves. He closed it again and brought it over to the control unit parked near the entrance. Walking into the trailer he set his case down on the table near the door. He wouldn’t need most of the contents of the briefcase until later, for now he was just here to take pictures and make sure everything was well documented for later. He turns and walks into the building, ducking under the tape bordering off the facade of the pawn shop. One of the very, very rare silver linings of this investigation lasting so long is the lack of crowds. When this began the city was typically rather quiet in terms of crime. The occasional murder, the here or there mugging gone wrong, but typically nothing this intense or drawn out. When word got out of people found in the backs of stores and offices, drained of all their blood, well that drew crowds. But eventually the morbid becomes the mundane.
Shiro passed through the entrance of the shop and looked around. It looked like your typical pawn shop, racks of clothing, last decades tvs and gaming consoles on the wall. What was out of the ordinary was the bloody footprints on the floor leading out to the front door. Shiro snapped pictures of the prints and the room as he worked his way towards the back of the shop. As he reached the door leading to the basement he took note of the door. Its handle was blown out by what looked like a shotgun from the outside. Looking down he noticed the shotgun shell on the ground. More pictures and further into the basement he went. As he hit the midstair the copper scent of blood hit his face like a truck. Taking a deep breath- which he quickly regretted- he steeled himself and turned the corner. No matter how many times he dealt with these scenes they always slammed him with a sense of dread and fear. He made quick work, as quick as he could working through the cramped space filled with cots and IV tubing. There was blood coating the ground and walls. It was caked on, dry and flaky in parts and wet and fresh in a couple others. Doing his best to keep his dinner and coffee down he took picture after picture, trying to find what comfort he could in the dissociation his camera screen gave him.  In the back was the worst of it. Two massive industrial tanks filled with blood. Shrio took his pictures and all but ran out of the front of the building.  ·––––––·

Gulping in the fresh air Shiro hunched over himself. He slowed his breathing, counting to five before taking each next phase of his breath. It was later now, around 11:00 and Shiro still had to get to the second floor. He made his way over to the command center to replace his camera's battery and storage card. As he entered he found the crime scene technician for tonight, Matt Holt. Matt was good at his job but too squeamish to actually be able to take a step into the actual scene. So while Shiro took pictures and documented the scene, it was Matt who made sure the data was usable.

“Hey Matt," Shiro sighed as he popped open his camera's battery slot.

“Oh, Shiro hi! How are you?”

Shiro popped out the battery and memory card, handing them both to the bright eyed 20 year old whose energy level made Shiro feel ancient by comparison.
“I’m friggin exhausted, this damn case doesn’t seem to want to let any of us relax for five minutes."

“Yeah, I feel you there.” Matt sighed as he handed Shiro a fresh battery and memory card. “I was supposed to take Pidge to the midnight release of ‘Killbot Phantasm III: Last Bot Out’ tonight but hey, duty calls.”

“Sure does,” Shiro replies, wincing as he stretches his back before it pops loudly.

“You know,” Matt says as Shiro begins replacing his gloves. “There's this great massage place I know of down on Virginia street, I’ve got a coupon and it sounds like you need it."

“Thanks but no thanks,” Shiro says more out of habit than anything else.

“Well, okay but the offer stands. Lemme tell you what they got this knot in my back out that had been there for like, 3 years it was fantastic.”

“It sounds great. I’m gonna go get that second floor finished up now, I wanna go home pretty badly.”

“Oh yeah of course.” Matt followed with, “Sorry for yapping your ear off haha.”

“It’s no problem at all Matt.” With that he exited the trailer and sighed looking up at the building. Taking one last deep breath he straightened his back and shoulders out, wincing at the ever present knots along his spine. Maybe he would schedule an appointment with that massage place Matt had suggested to him. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded to him. He let his mind wander just a little as he made his way back through the first floor and stopped at the base of the stairs leading to the second floor. Taking pictures as he went up, he tried to push his anxiety over the case out of his mind. As he entered the room upstairs the hair on the back of his neck rose and he couldn’t help but suck in a breath, sharp and fast. This room was cluttered to the absolute max, all sorts of stuff in here ranging from furniture to sports equipment to piles upon piles of clothing. He had to shove down the immediate spike of anxiety and borderline panic he felt looking at this room. But that wasn’t the only thing bothering him. There was something in this room, something that was undoubtedly watching him. He didn’t like how it felt but was used to strange feelings in these crime scenes. He brushed it off and walked through the doorway. Under his breath Shiro cursed his large frame, there was no way he was going to be able to move through here without disturbing the piles. He could only do his best to photograph everything before moving forward.As he slowly moved his way further and further through the room he eventually broke through the clutter into an open area. On the floor he found what looked like some kind of ritual circle drawn in blood. It looked standard for the patterns they've found, but this one was different. It looked like it hadn't been finished quite yet, with a puddle leaking from a ceramic bowl over a portion of the circle. It appeared as if whoever was painting it had dropped the bowl. Shiro snapped his pictures of it as the hair on the back of his neck rose again. With no warning at all, a massive explosion erupted on the street. The glass of the windows blew inwards, the pressure wave slamming into Shiro and knocking him backwards into the piles of stuff behind him. His head slammed into a cabinet and his vision blurred and doubled. Distantly he could hear yelling and sirens. As he began to clamber back to his feet he noticed someone standing on his right. Straightening up, his pulse hammering in his ears. He could taste blood in his mouth. "Wh-who the hell are you?" Shiro gasped at the figure, raising his fists. "Hello meat," growled the figure in front of Shiro. It was a tall broad shouldered man, he was holding a large sword in his right hand and his left appeared to be a large metal claw. "I was hoping there would be someone up here, it's been too long since I had a pig to slaughter." With that he raised his sword over his head and swung it down towards Shiro. Shiro couldn't get out of the way, his muscles were like lead as he threw his right hand out to try and block the blade. It wouldn't be enough, this was it. Shiro was about to be cleaved in half and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He clenched his eyes shut, grimacing as the blade bit into his forearm quickly chopping through skin then muscle and bone when suddenly he heard a scream from his left. The blade continued to slice down and through when its trajectory changed, altered by whatever had just slammed into the side of the man in front of him. The sword's arc finished, slicing through Shiros' upper bicep and Shiro cried out in agony. He opened his eyes to see the segments of his arm fall to the ground, blood shooting out of the open arteries. He barely registered the lean form of someone fighting the large man, swords clashing against each other with swift and violent movements. Shiro grasped at the stump where his arm had been just a couple seconds ago. Desperately trying to hold the blood inside he cried out in fear and pain. Falling backwards onto the pile of clothes he had been blasted into just moments ago, his shock overwhelming him. He caught one last glimpse at the two figures as he saw the smaller one slash down across the larger one's face when his consciousness failed him and he passed out.

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Chapter 2

Keep Your Head On Straight, Pretty Boy
 The night had started pretty routinely for Keith. As a daywalker, he had even more responsibility than some of the more senior members of the Fangs of Marmora and had been very busy recently. The Fangs had been amping up the frequency of their attacks on the faction of vampires they had splintered from. The Galra. Keith was a relatively new vampire, but the war between the Galra and the Fangs was anything but. Around the 1920s when the great depression hit the United States, the Galra started kidnapping people from the streets and using them in cruel, uncaring, blood farms. This caused a schism in the society. While they needed to feed on human blood and were technically no longer humans, vampires are not born, they are turned. Within the Galran society lines were drawn as those who believed what the Galra were doing was wrong distanced themselves from the main Galra hierarchy. From there it was a matter of gathering ranks and funds to fight against the Galrans. As the Fangs did their best to retain the humanity they were born with, the Galra had no such compulsion. Their harvesting methods and brutality only became more and more exaggerated and soon the Galra became a exporter of blood for a nearly global market. Keith hadn’t been immediately welcomed into the ranks of the Fangs but after proving himself in the trials and the first couple of missions he went on with one of his pockets captains Thace, he was quickly recognized as a capable and intelligent agent, if a little reckless at times. Now he had been with the Fangs going on 3 years, and as they prepared for what was looking to be all out war with the Galra he couldn’t deny his concern for the situation they were in. All of the Fangs were capable warriors, but as far as they knew they were likely to be outnumbered four to one against fully fed vampires who had access to top of the line gear. This wasn’t even taking into account the human population of the city who would inevitably be caught in the crossfire of the fight between the vampire factions.Keith sat in his apartment browsing through a facebook page. He didn’t usually use the internet for anything other than tactical research but this time was different. Today was three years and six days since he had found his mom and his entire world flipped onto its ass. He was looking at his old friend Shiro’s page. Of all the things he missed most about his old life it was Shiro. Keith's dad had been a firefighter and was friends with Shiro's dad through the fire department. After a fire that had gotten out of control to an insane degree killed both of their dads, Shiros' grandparents had taken Keith into their home. They were always good to him, treating him like their own grandson but it was Shiro who made it feel like a home for Keith. Shiro, who looked out for him at school and made sure he brushed his teeth and wore clean clothes. Shiro, who always was just so sweet and kind. Keith hadn’t ever wanted a brother but couldn’t ask for a better one than the one he found in Shiro. That was why it broke Keith’s heart when he had to stay with Shiro's grandparents when Shiro had gone off to college to get his criminology degree. They had kept in decent contact but the distance was agonizing for Keith. After Shiro's graduation Keith had gotten a strange email from a “distant uncle Ulaz” to go to a city in Nevada to meet his mother. After initially brushing off the first couple emails he eventually responded and got enough info to trust that, yeah this was actually his uncle. So he booked a ticket and said goodbye to Papa and Soba Shirogane before flying out to finally meet his mom for the first time ever.Keith's reminiscing was cut short by a knock on his apartment door. He walked over and cracked it open. The chain stops it from opening completely but he sees his mom, Krolia and Thace standing just outside the door.“Are you ready to go yet?” Krolia asked“Yeah I am, let me grab my jacket.” Keith responded, unlatching the chain which kept the door from opening. As he walked over to grab his uniform top piece, a black and grey lightly armored piece not too dissimilar from a motorcycle jacket. Keith shrugged into it and zipped the front of it up. He was a part of the secondary team going in to cover the cleanup of a Galran harvest building. The first team had gotten the poor people trapped there out and contacted police but now it was the job of Krolias team to make sure that none of the police cleaning up were attacked by the Galrans. They had been successful thus far but it had been difficult to keep them safe over the last few months. This would be the second time Keith had been on one of these missions and he was eager to get going.As they walked out of his apartment Keith turned to lock the door and the trio headed to meet up with the rest of the team. As they rode the elevator to the ground floor Keith looked at his phone and made note of the time. 8:30. It was going to be a long night and Keith had already had a difficult day due to all the different stressors of the recent couple months. As the three continued down the hall towards the parking lot, Keith kept thinking about Shiro. He was in this city, working as a crime scene photographer or something like that, and Keith was worried about him. His mom must've noticed because she bumped his shoulder. "Why the long face kiddo?" "It's nothing. Just stressed y'know." Krolia chuckled, "I do. Mission after mission for us and the counsel keeps asking more of us. Isn't that right Thace?" "You know we appreciate everything you do for the Fangs Krolia." Thace responded seriously. If he got the teasing, he didn't show it."If we keep pushing, eventually the Galra will break. We just need to find a gap in the armor we can slip our blades in and then it'll be over." "You really think we can defeat them?" Keith asked. "I do, I've been around since the start of this war. We're closer to taking them out than we ever have been, they're getting sloppy." Thace seemed so certain. Keith hopes he was right. He never signed up for this war and the sooner he got back to a semi-normal life the better.As they walked out the doors into the evening Thace stayed inside the cover of the apartment complex. "Remember, the safer the police are the safer we are. They have no reason to believe this is anything more than black market dealers and if they can apply pressure on the Galra upon that front it will be smooth sailing picking them off later." "Alright, stay safe Thace." Krolia said. He simply nodded and shut the thick metal doors.Keith loaded into the back of the van with the other four who were back there. His mom climbed into the driver's seat and they pulled off towards the pawn shop this farm was located in. Keith looked at the other four in the van, their faces covered in the Fangs facial masks. His mom and him were the only day walkers on this mission and for good reason. Daywalkers were rare because of the Galras genocide of their kind. You could only become a daywalker if you were turned by one and the Fangs kept most of the daywalkers on grocery duty or other more mundane missions. Krolia was an exception because of her leadership skills and ability to salvage seemingly doomed missions. Keith figured he was allowed to go because his mom vouched for him when he begged her to come along as well. He told her at the time it was because he wanted to learn the ropes 'from the best' but secretly it was because he wanted to spend more time with her. Definitely not because of someone on the force… he thought to himself. When the van got to the designated drop off zone Krolia went over the tactics for the night. "Urax, Chase, Ophelia and Thomas, you four take position on these streets and hold perimeter. Keith, you're going to be on this building right next to the shop. I need your eyes on the cops, make sure no extra heads slip in. I'll be alternating between perimeter sweep and helping Keith keep watch. We cannot let anything get past us tonight. Everyone make sure your safeties are on until you see something. We cannot have a repeat of last month with an accidental discharge." Krolia looked each and every one of them in the eyes, letting hers glow a dull yellow. "I better see all of you back here at the end of the night. Now go, get to your spots. You all know what needs to happen." ·––––––·

As the Fangs got into position Keith noticed something that made his heart leap into his throat. On the street just in front of the shop was the police captain Keith had seen at the other crime scene he’d been to. What shocked him was the man he was talking to. If Keith hadn’t been looking at his facebook page earlier he wouldn’t have immediately recognized the tired looking man standing there. His white shock of hair stood out to Keith. The spread of white was definitely much further progressed than in the most recent picture on Shiro’s timeline. Keith caught himself debating whether to worry, or if he thought it was a good look for Shiro and shook the thought out of his head. He had a job to do here and he couldn’t let anything distract him. Still, Shiro wasn’t supposed to be here according to the shift planner in the police database. He must have been called in for this scene and while he knew his friend was more than capable, Keith couldn’t help the coil of anxiety in his gut. Keith watched as his old friend walked into the building before taking his position on the roof of the neighboring building to the pawn shop and began his duty of watching the comings and goings of the street. He watched as his mom, wearing a police uniform walked along the side of the mobile command centre. She placed a wiretap against the bottom of the trailer and casually made her way to the alley on the far side of Keith's building. When she got to the top of it she made her way over to Keith.“Keep your eyes open Keith, we need you to make sure no one who shouldn’t be down there shows up”“Besides you right?” Keith smirks as he remarks.“You know what I mean kiddo,” Krolia replied, letting the hint of a smile play at the corner of her mouth. Keith adjusted his grip on the rifle in his hands. It was loaded with rubber rounds and Keith didn’t like using it. He was much more comfortable with a blade in his hand, but that wouldn’t be very useful if he found a Galran attempting to enter the store. Most humans can’t tell if there's a vampire in front of them but other  vampires can easily identify eachother by their glowing yellow eyes. In Keiths case, as a daywalker, he was able to choose when the glow of them was visible. As long as there wasn’t a sudden change in daywalker policies within the Galra, they would be able to tell when one showed up. The Galra had begun exterminating daywalkers fairly soon after the first world war, so Keith felt pretty confident this job would pan out perfectly. It was about two hours later when Keith’s attention was piqued. Shiro had just exited the building and he looked pretty rough. Keith knew these sites were always gruesome and it pulled at his heart to know Shiro was being exposed to this stuff. He watched as Shiro walked into the command center and Keith listened to the conversation he had with the analyst. Shiros voice sounded even more tired than he looked. It sent a shiver up his spine and Keith sighed at the sound of his voice. His mom shot a look of concern at him."Keep your mind on the mission Keith" "I am, I am, I just… miss him y'know?" “Well if you ever want to see him again we need to be on top of our game tonight" Keith knew she was right and as Shiro reentered the building he took deep breaths and rechecked his current headcount of who all was on the street below him. Things had been quiet all night and the chatter on the police radio was fairly regular. It was about twenty minutes later when his earpiece chimed with the voice of one of the Fangs. "Uh Krolia, we got a black SUV circling the block over here. I can't get a headcount and the driver is wearing sunglasses." "It can't be a coincidence, keep your eyes on that car, I'm heading to you. Everyone else keep your eyes up and your safeties off. It looks like we're gonna have some action after all."  Keith watched his mom stand up as she was finishing her sentence as she leapt from building to building in the direction of where the SUV should be. Keith envied her agility, he wasn't used to floating and his mom's ability to cross streets through the air made him think about how much he truly had to learn. He focused himself back on the task before him. Switching his safety off he readjusted his grip on the rifle while doing another headcount. Once, twice, three times he came up extra and as he clicked his microphone on to inform the others he noticed the extra head. It was just another cop, probably someone who had been in the car in his blindspot or inside the building. As he relaxed his grip on the gun he watched the man walk away from the cruiser parked just outside the front door. "Hey I think we may have an extra head down there but I'm not sure" Keith said to his other Fangs. "Can I get someone to double check for me?" It was as he said this he noticed two more people he didn't recognize walking away from the cars at either end of the street. "Scratch that," Keith said, finger on the trigger of his gun. "We definitely have extra heads down there I repeat we have-" His sentence was cut short by a scream from his earpiece. He jerked his head up out of instinct, forgetting he couldn't see another Fang from his position. As he looked back down at the street he saw only one of the strangers looking directly at him from the far end of the road.Eyes glowing bright yellow. It was just as soon as he began to swing his rifle up to take aim when the two cruisers at each end of the street exploded along with the one in front of the pawn shop. Keith was knocked on his back by the blast as his rifle was thrown far from him. In his earpiece his mom's voice rang out. "All Fangs report in! Keith what happened?? Fangs, sound off, now!" "I'm okay" he croaked into the mic. "The Galra are here, they've blown up three cruisers" Keith stood up and saw something that made his blood run cold. One of the Galra executioners was here, a particularly brutal and cold blooded vampire by the name of Sendak. He was entering the second floor through its balcony.The second floor, where Shiro was. "Sendak is here! I repeat Sendak is here, he's entering the second floor, I'm moving in to engage him!" Keith shouted into his headset. "No you are not Keith you need to pull back and wait for back-" "Shiro is in there and he's unarmed!" Keith interrupted, leaping across the roofs and swinging down into the room. What he saw made his vision flash red. Sendak's blade was coming down on Shiro, his arm the only thing between his head and the plane of steel and silver. Keith screamed, a primal sound ripped from him as he tackled Sendak. The blade continued through Shiro, the sound of slicing flesh and bone making Keith's rage burn hot enough to ignite stars. Keith drew his blade from his waist and as it expanded into its full form he swung towards the butcher before him. Startled and partially winded, Sendak stumbled backwards and barely managed to deflect the first couple blows from Keith. Keith swung with enough force to chip Sendak's blade, with every swing he dared not let up, not for a second.His mind and body screaming in stress and fear as he pushed and pushed against the larger man. There was one thought on his mind right now, coursing through his veins as silver collided with silver. Protect him. Can't let him die. Can't fail now.  He was an excellent swordsman and as long as he pushed the advantage he may just be able to back the Galran bastard out of the window. Sendak grunted, visibly off put and frustrated with being on the defensive for so long. Then he made a mistake, when Keith faked him out with a swing towards his left shoulder Sendak went too far wide leaving him open for the slash Keith put into his right eye. Hitting him with enough force to audibly crack bone, Sendak half stumbled half flew out the window and onto the street below.With that Keith's blade returned to its normal size and he sheathed it bounding across the room to Shiro. It was bad, there was a puddle of blood underneath his still gushing stump and Keith wracked his brain for a way to stop the bleeding. The Galra coated their blades with an anticoagulant that would make a vampire bleed a fatal amount with a few good deep cuts, but for a human even one nick from a blade would require hospitalization. Shiro had his entire arm lopped off. Keith started to panic, he couldn't lose him, couldn't lose Shiro. He was terrified and on the edge of panic when he was struck with a moment of clarity. Shortly after he was turned by his mother his life had become a living hell. He had been filled with bullets trying to stop a mass shooter when he and his mom had first met. He could remember the feeling of blood pouring out of his body as his mother cried and apologized. Keith made his peace with his death, which is why waking back up had been all the more jarring and traumatic. He resented his mom saving him for a long time, and while he and his mother eventually worked things out Keith had sworn he would never turn someone into a vampire under any condition. But here he was, his best friend, the only person who had always been there lay before him bleeding to death because Keith didn't protect him. So with no other choice, Keith sank his fangs into the skin of Shiros' shoulder. With one simple bite.Keith broke his vow.

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Chapter 3

If Only It Were Just A Dream
 Shiro awoke screaming.He had just had the worst dream about being attacked at a crime scene and-Someone was touching him. Pushing down on his chest and quietly shushing him. "Hey, hey easy Shiro. You're gonna wanna lay down for a while, you lost a lot of blood." Shiros' eyes hurt, even in the dim light of the room he felt nearly blinded and his entire body felt sore and weak. But his right arm, specifically his shoulder screamed in a burning agony. He looked over and reached to grab his shoulder, only to find bandages over a burning wound where the rest of his bicep should have been. "Where, where's my arm, where am I?? What's going on?" Shiro asked, dread and fear setting in. "Shh, just lay down. You're okay now Shiro I've got you, you're safe." Shiro finally recognized the voice. "Keith?" Shiro asked, eyes widening and then cringing in pain as he twisted his head to look at him."Where am I? What's going on??" "I'll explain everything but you need to lay down and let me take care of you for now. This is going to be difficult to explain and hard to understand so you need to rest for now." Keith pushed Shiro back down onto the bed and laid a warm washcloth over his eyes. "Keith my arm…" Shiro all but whimpered as he said it. "I know Shiro, I know." "It wasn't a dream? Who was that? Did you save me?" Shiros' head throbbed with the beat of his increasing heart rate. The washcloth over his eyes helped soothe him and so didKeith's fingers worriedly working the skin of his left forearm. My only forearm . Shiro thought. "No, it wasn't a dream. I'll explain more later when you're feeling better and no Shiro. I think I've done anything but save you." With that Shiro passed out, exhaustion taking him away.

·––––––· It was a good while later when Shiro woke back up. Keith was still at his side and Shiro slowly moved to sit up. "Hey big guy, you feeling better?" Keith asked softly. "Yeah, just a little." He was thirsty, his dry throat crackling around the words. "Water, please" he managed around his sandpaper tongue. Keith slid a glass into his hand and helped him raise it to his lips, wincing as the washcloth over his eyes fell into his lap. Shiro noticed a dull yellow glow playing over the rim of the glass and his fingers. He heard Keith's slight gasp and looked at him. "What is it? Are you okay?" Shiro had a lot of questions. He was confused above all else right now. Confused about what Keith was doing in Reno, confused about what happened last night, confused about his arm and-There was an explosion. Right before he had been attacked there was an explosion in the street. Was Matt okay? Was Iverson? How many of his colleagues, his friends had died??Keith must've noticed the panic playing across his face because he took the glass out of Shiros’ hand and began to speak. "There's a lot to explain to you. What all do you know about this group you've been investigating?" "Keith I can't tell you that I could lose my job" Keith nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Shiro."Okay but let's say you already lost your job and that wasn't a problem anymore." "What??" Shiro burst out wincing at the pain from the loud noise. Keith cringed and corrected himself. "No like, you haven't but- fuck, I'm bad at this uhh… okay just, please just tell me? It's easier to explain to you this way." Shiro shuddered, his skin feeling achy and cold. You've lost a lot of blood . Keith's words echoed in his mind as he scrambled to recall the last few months. "Well it seems like it's some kind of cult or black market ring, we typically find these places after the victims manage to escape. It's been really confusing cause these people can hardly stand by the time we get to them, so there's no way they're escaping on their own you know? I mean, Keith these people are on death's door and somehow able to slice through padlocks and blast open doors? If I didn't know better I'd say there's someone helping them." Keith simply nodded while Shiro spoke. Shiro had a million more questions but had to stop to reach out for the glass of water. "What are you doing here anyways? I thought you were with your mom in California?" He croaked out after he gulped down around a large bubble of water. "I am with my mom here, Shiro. Would you say that it seems like these places are being run by, uh, vampires?" Shiro would have laughed, but the seriousness of Keith's tone and face showed he was doing anything but joking. "I mean, yeah maybe but vampires aren't real." "I wish you were right Shiro." "What are you talking about, that's fairy tales and make believe. You're not seriously saying you believe that there are vampires running around Reno harvesting peoples blood are you?" With that Keith simply opened his mouth and bared his teeth. At first Shiro was confused until he saw Keith's canines, abnormally pointed and sharp, begin to push out of his gum line until he had a perfect little set of fangs. "Wh-what the fuck??" Shiro sputtered. "I'm really sorry Shiro," Keith said as the whites of his eyes began to glow a dim yellow. "Vampires are real. You've been investigating a faction of vampires known as the Galra. I belong to a group too. We call ourselves the Fangs of Marmora." "I'm- you- what? When did- how?? Am I dead?" "My mom turned me down shortly after I met her. We met in a diner and this kid came in with a gun. He started shooting and I tried to take him down but he got me." Keith lifted his shirt and Shiro gasped softly. Under the cloth were three gunshot scars lining from his solar plexus to just under his left nipple. That one would've gone straight through his heart. "Keith I…" "My mom had no choice but to bite me." Keith then dropped his shirt and pulled down his collar. Right above his left collar bone were two scars about an inch apart from one another. Keith let his shirt go and Shiro dragged his eyes away from where a collarbone just was. Keith's eyes were welling with tears. "I didn't want to turn you Shiro, but you were just losing so much blood and you weren't going to make it unless I did something right then, I had no other choice Shiro. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." Keith was essentially crying now and Shiro reached up to his neck dragging around to feel for a bandage. "No it's, it's on your shoulder" Keith choked out. Shiro looked down and pulled back the edge of the shirt he was wearing. It was a white t-shirt, the right shoulder and sleeve ripped off. Sure enough, right on top of his shoulder were two bite holes. Scarred over already but still very pink unlike Keith's which were only small dents in his skin. There was a very very thick bandage that covered what remained of his arm. The whole thing smelled of eucalyptus and mint. The smell that cut straight through it all though was the blood. So strong and coppery Shiro thought he might puke. There were other scents but it all confused Shiro's nose. "How… How long have I been out?" Shiro looked over at Keith as he asked this. Seeing his face contorting into such a tragic shape made Shiro feel one hundred times worse than he already did. ”Almost four days. You're healing slowly because of the Galra weapons. They coat their weapons in silver powder and an anticoagulant that kills vampires quickly. Humans go even faster." "What happened to everyone else at the site? My team, oh god, how many died?" "We're not sure. The Galra took some of them but we're working hard to track them down Shiro. Hopefully we'll find them soon." Shiros' head was reeling. He felt confused and nauseous. He thought it was from the smell but then realized it was actually hunger.  "Keith, you said I was a vampire. That can't be true is it?" Keith reached over to the nightstand next to the bed. He grabbed a small hand mirror and showed it to Shiro.  "The myth about us not being able to see ourselves in mirrors only applies to silver backed ones. If they're backed with plastic or aluminum we can see just fine." Shiro looked in the mirror and he was speechless, mouth agape. His cheeks were slightly sunken, he looked pale and had a bit of scruff coming in but what really caught his attention were his eyes. Sunken and dark, he looked awful. But the whites of his eyes were glowing yellow. He looked back up at Keith and saw the same glow, just a little dimmer. Looking back at the mirror he took a closer look at his mouth. His canines were definitely sharper, but they were nowhere near close to being the fangs Keith had. "My teeth, they aren't…" Shiro trailed off. "Your fangs need time to grow in. It will take about a month for them to grow in and then another after that for you to be able to retract them. Three months from now and you'll be able to turn people." "And when do I get to turn into a bat?" Shiro asked half heartedly, thumbing at his tooth. "That's also a myth, but in about a year you should be able to start learning how to levitate yourself." Shiro turned to look at his face. He was looking at his lap, picking at his cuticles but he was definitely being serious. Shiro could see the way Keith's face pinched with concern through his bangs. His eyebrows reached to each other, the corners of his eyes creased and his mouth a tightly pinched line on his face. Shiro hated to see him like this. He reached his hand out to rest it on Keith’s knee. "Hey, I'm okay. I am okay right? You didn't give me a vampire STD or anything?" A hint of a smile teased Keith's mouth and he stopped picking at his nails. "Aside from the vampirism, no I didn't give you anything." A pause spread between them. Keith handed Shiro the water cup again and he accepted it gratefully. Shiro took a second to look around the sparsely decorated room. On a chair tucked into a desk piled high with notebooks and scrap paper there was Keith's red leather jacket. It had been his mom's apparently, they found it in Keith's dad's closet after he died. On the wall was a digital clock that looked to be turned off. There was also a picture tacked to the wall next to the door of Keith and his dad before he passed. It was half of a photo. Shiro knew because he had the other half which held him and his dad in a frame hung next to his bedroom door. It was at that point Shiro realized he was laying in what was probably Keith's bed. "Keith, is this your room?" "Yeah. Had to take you somewhere and the infirmary is full right now." "Where did you sleep last night? I kicked you out of your bed I shouldn't -" Keith interrupted him, "Shiro it's fine. You're injured and I'm not. I just slept on the floor, It was no big deal." "But I-" "No buts Shiro. Until you're better you're staying in that bed. It's a piece of garbage anyways, I wish we had something better for you." "We?" "Uh yeah, me and my mom." A pause spread between them. "So this is why you stopped texting back." "Yeah, things got a little crazy with the whole 'oh sorry I turned you into a vampire, by the way your old life is dead, sorry' thing that happened." "It's just, I missed you alot..." Shiro had been confused and hurt when Keith's messages had petered out. "I wanted to but I couldn't risk you getting hurt and we have a pretty strict code of secrecy. They told me to slowly cut contact with you so you wouldn’t be suspicious. I'm sorry Shiro." Keith looked at the wall next to Shiro. Shiros stomach growled loudly and Keith looked at him, his face unreadable, then stood and started toward the door. "I'll be right back." He said before walking out the door and closing it behind him. Shiro noticed the soft cast on Keith's left leg and the limp he had. He sighed and stared at the ceiling. Whatever answers he wanted, they weren't waiting for him there unfortunately. He reached over to his shoulder again, pulling back the fabric to look at the bite Keith had put into his shoulder. Shiro didn't know what to think about all of this, and he still had so many questions. All he could do was wait and rest until Keith finally explained it all to him. Keith knocked on the door before he came in causing Shiro to jump and let go of his shirt. "Hey. I need you to drink this." Keith said, handing Shiro a tall plastic cup with a pinkish red liquid in it. It smelled of cherries, pineapple and copper. "What's in this?" "It doesn't matter, you need to drink it." "Keith, what are you making me drink?" "Just drink it, Shiro, please." Keith was clenching his jaw. "Keith I just-" "It's cherries, pineapple, strawberry, pigs blood, kiwi and human blood, just drink it please!" The color drained from Shiros' face.  "Where did you get the human blood from?" "We have members who work for a blood donation company. We take some of the blood when they have good turnouts because if we don't drink any we die." "Keith there are people in hospitals who need that blood." "Like I said, we only take the extra, whatever they won't miss." Shiro felt sick holding this concoction in his hand. His stomach flip flopped and at first he thought it was disgust, before coming to the sickening realization he craved what was in his hand. He eyed the drink and then Keith. "If you don't willingly drink that I'm going to have to get my mom in here to force it down your throat." "Keith, it's human blood. I… I can't" "You can and you have to. Vampires need human blood to live. We can only go about 3 weeks without a proper meal and you are injured to an extreme. Not to mention how fresh you are." Shiros stomach growled loud enough for Keith to hear. He knelt down next to the bed, his indigo gray eyes softening as he looked at Shiro. "Please. I know it's gross, I struggled too at first but I need you to heal. There's a lot we have to explain and prepare before we can let you out of here." "Let me out of here?" Shiro asked, cocking an eyebrow. He watched as Keith cringed and swore under his breath. "Shit, um… we actually can't let you leave now that you've been turned. I’ll explain more later, but it's how we stay alive and, well I wasn't supposed to turn you." "You weren't?" "No, we have this whole process for choosing who gets turned or not. They almost kicked my mom out when she turned me and she was a member for fortyish years by then." "What's going to happen to you?" "I'm not worried about that right now. I just need to get you better and then I'll worry about everything else." There was a knock on the door and Keith's mom walked in. At least, it must have been her, the two of them practically looked like clones. "He still hasn't drunk the smoothie huh." She said to Keith. "No, but he's about to." Keith shot a soft but pointed look at Shiro.  He gulped, raised it to his lips and took a sip of it. Shiro had probably never tasted something this good in his entire life and soon he had drained the entire cup. He was disgusted with himself but was already feeling better. "Thanks for leaving the kiwi skin in there." Shiro said, wiping his lips. "It's your favorite, I kinda had to." Shiro saw Keith's mom roll her eyes before she introduced herself. "My name's Krolia, I'm Keith's mom. He's told me about your grandparents. Thank you for taking him in, he and I both are incredibly grateful to you" "Of course, I'd do anything for Keith." “I’m sure you would.” She said. There was something behind her words, but Shiro couldn't parse what it was as he pushed himself up, dropping his feet over the side of the bed. "Hey hey woah take it slow." Keith moved to catch him. Shiro wobbled. He appreciated the support. Krolia turned to walk out of the room. "Get him dressed. Something sleeveless, I'm going to have Ulaz look him over again. We've got a lot to talk about Shiro." Shiro stood with Keith's help and managed to stay upright. Keith walked over to his closet pulling out an old firefighters vest and a pair of drawstring sweatpants. "Here, it was my dad's but, it's about the only thing that will fit you." "Keith I…" Shiro trailed off looking down at him. His eyes sparkled in the yellow glow that was coming from his own. His hair was covering his face, he'd always seemed to hide behind it even when he was young. Some things never change. He looked back at Shiro expectantly and Shiro felt something he couldn't quite name looking at his friend in the soft lighting. "Thank you." He finally managed, reaching out to take the clothing. "I can uh, help you if you need it?" Shiro felt himself blush and then felt silly for it. Of course he would need help. “Y-yeah i would appreciate it.”   Keith closed the gap between them and grasped the fabric on his right shoulder. Shiro gasped as he gently ripped the fabric up to the neck before grabbing a knife from the back of his belt, cutting the hem. He then pulled it over Shiro's left shoulder and let it fall. "Are you okay to get your shorts by yourself?" Keith asked. He was… Blushing? It confused Shiro but he tried to brush it off. "I uh, I think so yeah." "Will you need help getting the pants on?" "Maybe?" Shiro wasn't sure why he was so embarrassed about this, he had grown up with Keith and the two of them shared a room after their dads had passed. Still he could feel his neck flush at the thought of Keith helping him like this. "Okay, I'll wait outside just holler if you need me."Keith limped across the room and latched the door behind him. Shiro pushed down the black nylon basketball shorts and stepped out of them. He then caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror that was on the wall near the foot of Keith's bed. He had cuts and scratches all over his arms and torso. His face had been spared from the glass and besides the bandage on his left leg he seemed to be in fairly good condition. Well, aside from the obvious of course. He gently fingered the edge of his bandage and then over the bite marks. How much did he risk in order to save me? Shiro thought to himself. He reached over to the bed and slipped his left and then right leg into the sweats before futilely trying to tie a knot in the drawstring. He gave up and shouldered on the vest. It smelled like Keith. Shiro remembered how he used to slip on the vest some nights, back when it was more like a blanket on him.  Shiro slept in his dad's vest too. He missed him and he bet Keith missed his dad just as much if not more. After also failing to zip up the vest Shiro sighed and gave in. "Keith can you- I need help." The door cracked open and Keith's head hung low enough to obscure his eyes. He closed the door behind him and walked closer to Shiro. "It looks good on you." Keith muttered quietly. It must be difficult for him to let Shiro wear his dad's clothes. "I can't get the pants tied." "Oh uh, okay" Keith hesitated before looking down at Shiro's waist. He reached for the fabric coiled in Shiro's hand, stopping just before touching it. "I uh, the cord is tangled around your hand." "Oh yeah, my bad" Shiro let go of the fabric in his hand, his pants slipping slightly as he grabbed the waistband quickly. Both he and Keith were breathing heavier now. Keith sank to his knees and carefully reached forward to grab the cord and tie it around his waist. Shiro let out a slight gasp and was glad Keith's focus was elsewhere as he felt his face burn in embarrassment. As Keith finished tying it he reached to the vest and zipped it up smoothing down the Velcro cover over it at the top. "There you go. Uh here." He reached up to Shiro's collar, popping up the right side which had been flattened. "There you go, handsome as ever." Shiro tried not to stare at Keith's face but couldn't help but be drawn to the orange tinge in his glowing eyes. He'd ask about it later. "Uh, can I use the bathroom please?" He asked as he swallowed dryly. "Oh yeah it's just the door to the right outside of mine." Keith said, clearing his throat and still hiding behind his bangs. Shiro swayed as he began to walk but Keith caught him, his hands landing on his lower right ribs and left shoulder. He was strong . Way stronger than his frame ever would've made Shiro think. "You okay there big guy?" All Shiro could think about was how close Keith was, his jaw hanging slack. "Yeah I'm just, I lost like, twelve pounds on the right side so balance is hard." "Probably closer to twenty pounds, you've been working out since you graduated huh?" His breath caught in his throat as he choked out, "Y-yeah, I wanted to be able to protect myself. Guess I didn't account for 7 foot tall men with massive swords." Something in Keith's indigo-gray eyes hardened. Shiro couldn't place it but he felt bad for upsetting him. "C'mon let's get you out there, mom's starting to get impatient." Keith supported Shiro from under his left arm, effortlessly keeping him upright as they went into the hallway of Keith and Krolias apartment.

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Chapter 4

Welcome Home
  Keith had always loved to run. Whenever he could find a good hill to run down he would spend days running up and down it, doing anything to chase the rush of falling it gave him. When he ran everything else fell away, it was so close to flying he could swear he'd sprout wings if he moved fast enough, could almost feel them pushing out of his back. He had always wanted to fly. The Shiroganes were amazing and he loved them but nothing ever took that pit he tried so hard to ignore from his gut like that falling feeling ever did. Tonight was the complete opposite of freedom. Keith was running fast enough to outpace the cars on the roads below him as he leaped from roof to roof, Shiros lifeless weight on his shoulders as his lungs burned with the dryness of the Arizona desert where he was born. He could see his father's face- no, Shiro's face, in the corners of his eye as his knees begged for mercy and his feet felt like blocks of wood slapping up, down, up, down, as he ran faster and further. Closing in on the apartment block, he leapt from the roof across the street completely clearing one of the wings of the building, falling into the courtyard in the center. He slammed into the opposite wall with his feet and could hear his left shin splinter upon the impact. He had no time to think about that though, Shiro was still bleeding down his back. He half ran, half limped to the exit of the courtyard punching into the door rapidly, his knuckles split with the final impact.The door quickly opened, one of the members who was turned around the same time as him. They were a shorter person with wild brown hair and massive round lenses suspended on her nose. "Keith?? How did you get into the pavilion? Who is that?" They asked quickly. "May I come in." Keith hissed through his raw throat with much more venom than he had intended. "Keith what happened??" "I don't fucking have the time for this Pidge, may I come in." He growled at her. His fangs had pushed their way out and he could see the reflection of his glowing eyes in their glasses. A bright red glare flaring on the lenses, Pidge looked like she was about to piss themself in fear. Good. A dark part of Keith hummed at the thought. "Y-y-yeah K-Keith come in-inside." Keith practically ran over her and bounded through the hallways on his good leg. He turned corners and pushed through onlookers as he sprinted towards Ulaz' medical wing. It took up the entire eastern wing of the conplex on the ground floor. As Keith hit the swinging doors he broke one of the hinges as he burst in. "What the hell!? Keith what are- who is-" "Ulaz please, he's lost a lot of blood, I need you to help him." Keith set Shiro down on a table and started unbuttoning Shiro's shredded dress shirt. "Ulaz please he's going to die, don't let him die." Keith could feel the hot tears forming in his eyes. He hated being vulnerable and scared but he was terrified. He was supposed to protect Shiro, he was supposed to make sure nothing happened and he had failed completely. Now his best freind- his brother was going to die and it was all his fault. "Okay Keith, okay. Get the trauma kit, big red bag over by the door." Ulaz pointed Keith in the right direction as he pulled out a pair of cloth scissors and sheared open the shoulder of the shirt and left sleeve. If the older vampire was shocked he got over it quickly as he pulled the cloth off of Shiro's near lifeless body with ease and grimaced as he assessed the wound. Keith came back and sat the kit on the table next to Ulaz. "Keith, you bit him??" Ulaz asked incredulously. Keith couldn't hold back the tears anymore. " I had to Ulaz, it was Sendak who attacked him. He was bleeding out, I couldn't let him die." "Sendak attacked him??" Ulaz asked, eyes wide as saucers while he grabbing a bottle of iodine from the kit. "How is he alive? How are you alive??"  "I just, attacked him, I didn't think. I'm sorry Ulaz." "You really are your mother's son Keith. Hold him down" Keith held Shiro down as Ulaz poured the iodine on the wound. Shiros' eyes shot open and he all but screamed. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" Keith repeated under his breath. Ulaz then washed the wound with saline and poured a vial of powdered malachite into the bite wounds. Almost instantly they began to close and Ulaz began to dry the amputation on Shiro's arm. He then bandaged it tightly and handed Keith the iodine and a bag of cotton swabs and bandages. "Get the rest of his wounds tended to then go to your room and lock yourself and him inside. Do not open the door until your mother or I return. Do you understand." "I, you, what? Where are you going?" Keith sputtered. "The entire operation has failed hasn't it? They need help. Make haste, do you understand me Keith?" "Y-yeah Ulaz. Thank you." "Keep yourself and him hydrated. You know how to put an IV in, get him some liquids." With that Ulaz grabbed the trauma bag and a second bag by the door and left. Keith cut off Shiro’s undershirt and cleaned and bandaged his wounds. He then gently picked him up and made his way to the elevator, limping heavily as he carried the man. "Well, well look what the stray brought in." An all too familiar voice piped behind Keith. "I'm sure the council will be oh so pleased to hear about this particular fuck up of yours Keith, but I imagine they're used to your uselessness by now. Where's mommy? She run off too?" Keith gently set Shiro down outside the elevator and all but punched the button as his fangs forced their way out of his gums again. His fingernails elongating into claws sharp enough to shear steel. He then turned around to face the owner of the voice.James was born in the 1930s and was constantly bullying Keith since he had arrived in Reno. Keith typically could brush it off but after everything that had happened tonight he was a little short on patience. Seeing red so heavily Keith could practically see the glow in front of him he slowly turned and approached James. "W-woah man I was just joking." He said backing up with his hands raised, his demeanor flipping a 180. "Easy Keith, I was just making a joke." With that he turned to run but Keith lunged at him, grabbing the back of his neck and slamming him into the concrete wall with enough force to crack the concrete. He heard James' face shatter and the groan he let out made Keith hum a sadistic note in his chest. He leaned in close and growled into James' ear. "Say anything about my family ever again and I will make this feel like a fucking full body massage. Do you understand me?" James squeaked out something that sounded like an affirmation, but he may have just been trying to breath through the shattered remnants of his sinuses. Keith pulled him back before slamming him into the wall again and dropping him on the ground. Keith's fingers returned to their regular form but his fangs wouldn't retract and his eyes still burned crimson. Down the hall on both ends were terrified Fangs watching what he had just done. The elevator opened, and Keith went to his apartment. ·––––––· It was about five hours later when Keith heard Shiro screaming in the bed next to him. Shooting up off the floor, he immediately began trying to comfort Shiro. After he had fallen back asleep Keith realized how sore and hungry he was. He stood to walk out of the room and then collapsed on his shattered leg. He didn't realize how much he hurt before but now he was in agony. Crawling to the door he managed to open it and drag his way towards the couch in the living room. Gritting his teeth he pulled himself up and collapsed onto the cushions. It was no sooner than he'd just managed to fall onto the couch when he heard a knock at the door. Keith groaned and balled his fists into his eyes. "Keith, it's Ulaz and Krolia, open up." Ulaz' familiar voice rang from behind the door. "Keith's not home right now, try again later." Keith shouted back. "Keith open the door. We don't have time for this." His mom called out sharply. Keith clenched his jaw and swallowed. Preparing himself he rolled off the couch and dragged his way over to the door. Pulling his right leg under himself he grabbed the door handle and dragged his way up. Unlatching the chain, switching two deadbolts and unlocking the door handle he swung open the door. As he opened it his mom pushed inwards, knocking him over. "Shit shit!" His mom exclaimed as she hastily caught him before he could hit the floor. "Are you okay?" "Yeah my legs hurt pretty bad, I can't walk." "Get him on the couch Krolia." Ulaz walked over to Keith and gently probed his leg. Keith sucked in a breath as he touched his right shin, but cried out when he even began to graze his left shin."His left shin is shattered, I'm going to have to put him in a cast." "I couldn't slow down when I was coming back down." Keith grunted. "You were flying??" Ulaz gasped, eyes wide. "While carrying him?" "I didn't fly just nggh just… leaping…" "Krolia this is huge, he might actually be the-" "It doesn't matter Ulaz, just go get the casting kit." Krolia gave a pointed look at him as he hesitated, eyes wide and mouth agape before he walked out of the apartment, latching the door firmly behind him. Keith closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as Krolia locked it behind him, and then sat on the coffee table. "You left your team behind. You slipped up and alerted the police to our existence, disobeyed direct orders from me several times and nearly killed James when you got back here. What the hell is going on Keith?" "I couldn't let him get hurt mom, he's my best friend." "And that justifies everything? Damnit Keith, do you have any idea how much this screws us? Did you even ask permission before coming back inside?" "Pidge let me in." "Keith you left your family behind to fend for themselves, Ophelia is dead and everyone else is going to be out of commission for weeks." "He's my family too, mom. He was all I had after dad died. I'm sorry for leaving everyone behind I just… I couldn't let him die." Krolia sat back, narrowing her eyes. "You may not have saved him at all, you know how the council is. Jesus, you were so distracted all night, do you love him or something?" "Of course I love him, he was all I had for so long, and when I'm finally able to protect him I fail and end up ruining any chance of him to have a normal life. He doesn't deserve this. I've ruined his entire goddamn life by making him a vampire!" Keith was tearing up and couldn't meet his mom's eyes. After a moment of silence stretched out he finally tore his eyes away from the wall and saw her face. She was tearing up too, her mouth open and slightly quivering.  In a quiet voice she asked, "Did I ruin your life, Keith?" Keith felt his heart drop into his stomach. Krolias eyes dropped to her lap and Keith saw tears hit her pants. He tried to speak but couldn't, moving his jaw uselessly. "I know you didn't ask for this, I know that this isn't your war and you still fight it anyways. I just, I didn't realize how much I hurt you. I… I'm sorry. It's not fair to lecture you on what you did wrong when you did the same damn thing I did to you and I… I'm sorry Keith." Keith had started crying by this point. He reached out for his mom's hand. "Mom, I… I don't blame you. I'm not mad, it's just… Shiro had plans. A life set up. I've taken that from him now. All of the work he did, everything he wanted." "And I didn't do that to you?" "Mom all I had planned for at that point was to find you. I got lucky when Ulaz reached out. I'm happy to be here but Shiro's different. He's going to hate me for this, I'm going to lose him and I just-" Keith choked up. He bit his knuckle and cried into it. Krolia moved from sitting on the table to kneeling next to the couch and cradling Keith into her chest. Keith let out a loud sob and clutched onto his mom as she held him and rocked slowly. "You love him, don't you Keith." It confused him that she was asking this again. Keith had told his mom how much Shiro meant to him long before tonight. After everything he did, how could he not love him? "Of course I love him, he's my best friend. I would do anything for him and I couldn't protect him. I couldn't protect him and he almost died mom."  Keith choked around another sob and buried his face back into his mom's shoulder. Krolia slowly scratched soft circles into his back. Keith's breathing slowed down and he stopped crying quickly. "You know I'll love you no matter what, right Keith?" Krolia pushed back from him, wiping his face with her sleeve. "You'll always be my son, nothing you do can change that. You know that right?" "I know mom, I know."  "You can talk to me about anything, there's nothing you have to hide."  She was looking at him weird, as if she was looking for something in his eyes. Before either of them could say anything else to each other, there was a knock on the door. "Krolia, I'm back, open the door." Ulaz' voice rang from the door. "Just a second!" Krolia stood, wiped her eyes and went to open the door. Ulaz walked over to Keith and kneeled next to the couch, setting the cast kit on the coffee table.  "I'm sorry it took so long. Something came up with Thomas. I need you to sit up and put your leg on the table Keith." Ulaz said to him. Keith adjusted and laid his leg on the table. Ulaz cut open his uniform's leg and Keith winced at the sight of his purple, black leg. He then handed Keith a thick piece of leather. "You're going to want to bite down on that." Ulaz said. When the leather was tightly between Keith's teeth Ulaz started to work on piecing Keith's leg back together.And Keith began to scream.

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Chapter 5

So, You Just Found Out You're A Vampire
 When Shiro was done in the bathroom he and Keith went to sit down at the kitchen table. Krolia also sat at the table and there was more of that smoothie there. Shiro pulled out a chair for Keith to help him sit around his cast. Shiro then sat next to him and couldn't help but eye the blender on the table. Krolia must've noticed this as she poured three cups filling one up slightly higher than the others. She passed the fullest one to Shiro and the next to Keith. Shiro couldn't deny how hungry he was and stared simultaneously longingly and with disgust at the cup full of thick red liquid in front of him. Keith had already polished off his smoothie and Krolia was about halfway through hers when Shiro felt Keith bump his arm. "We don't talk about serious things until we're done eating, need you to drink it Shiro." He glanced at Krolia who only raised her eyebrows in a 'why are you looking at me for help here?' Kind of way. Shiro looked back at the cup before raising it to his lips and taking a long drink. After that he couldn't stop and soon all three had finished their respective smoothies. Krolia then cleared her throat and pushed her cup to the side of the table. "If you want another cup don't hesitate Shiro. I'm sure you have a lot of questions and we should probably start there. Is there anything you may want to know?" Was there anything he wanted to know? There were so many questions he had for her. What was going to happen to him now? What was going to happen to his job? Who attacked him? Was he immortal now? How come his eyes glowed but Keith and Krolias didn't? Instead he asked,  "Is Keith going to be okay since he turned me?" Keith looked at him knitting his eyebrows in confusion and Krolia cocked her left eyebrow at him. "I don't know. It will be up to the council and Keith and you will be put on trial to see if he made the right decision." "What exactly does that entail?" "Well Keith will be put through an intensive interview and you will be put through a rigorous trial by combat." "I- I'm sorry, what??" Trial by combat? What the hell did that mean? "When someone becomes a Fang they must pass a ritual to prove they are worthy to join our ranks. If they can't, they are forced to train until they can." Keith explained. "And if they never can beat the trial?" "Then it means they died trying." Krolia said grimly. Shiro looked at Keith, seeing his clenched fists and jaw. He wouldn't meet Shiros eyes, looking like he was trying to burn holes into the table. Shiro swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. "They're gonna make me do that even without my arm?" "The counsel has granted you usage of a prosthetic but you'll have to prove you're worthy of it." Krolia answered. “They wouldn’t throw you into the trials without your full capabilities.” "In the meantime?" "You both need to heal from your injuries. Keith will resume his duties as a daywalker, if he passes his trial, and we'll be busy educating you on how to be a proper Fang." "What's a daywalker?" "Mom and I are daywalkers." Keith replied, "We don't burn when we go outside and we can choose when our eyes glow. Most of the time." "It's likely that you are a daywalker as well, Shiro." Krolia continued. "Almost every time someone is turned by a daywalker they become one too." "So if I don't become a daywalker I'll probably have to stay here right?" Keith and Krolia both nodded. "And if I am a daywalker, what about my job?" "If you pass the trials we'll likely re-insert you in the police force. We’ll probably call on you to be our link between the police and the Fangs when things swing that direction." Krolia stated. Shiro sat and thought about that for a second. He didn't like the idea at all. His colleagues had already been put in danger because of the Fangs and he couldn't stand the thought of being the reason any more of them get hurt. Then he remembered the prickle at the back of his neck at all of the scenes in the last few months. "How long have you guys been watching these crime scenes?" "Who do you think has been saving those people, Shiro? We've been at all of them because the police wouldn't know about them if not for us." "I had suspected that someone was intervening but a secret society of vampires was nowhere on my list of maybes." Shiro leaned back in his chair, sighing. "So what now?" "Now you two are going to stay in here and out of sight until the counsel figures out what to do with you." Krolia paused, hesitating. "There is also the chance the counsel will elect to execute you." Keith stiffened in his seat, his eyes darkening and going cold. Shiro could see his clenched fist hanging by the side of his chair. Shiro's mouth hung slightly open and he sputtered for a moment. "But I haven't done anything to you all, why would I be killed?" "The counsel are set in the old ways. They don't understand that we need new Fangs in order to win our war. Ulaz and I will do what we can but neither of us are on the counsel." They say in silence for a moment then. Shiro absorbing everything, Keith seething in the seat next to him and Krolia patiently giving them the time to digest everything. Shiro stared at his lap, slowly reaching to softly probe the bandage on his arm. He thought about Keith and the consequences this may hold for him. The Fangs could execute him, but as long as he was still breathing he swore he would never let anyone hurt Keith for this. "Ulaz told us your arm will need to be fitted for a prosthetic before the wound fully closes. It won't be an easy surgery and we cannot use anesthetic for it.” Krolia began “Because of the Anti-coagulant the Galra use it’s taken longer for you to heal but youre going to need the prosthesis attached soon or else it’ll close permanently.” Shiro knitted his eyebrows “How soon?” “Ulaz wants to do the surgery in four hours.” Keith spoke, the steel in his eyes softening as he looked at Shiro. “I’ll be there with you the whole time, don't worry.” Krolia sighed, exasperated. “Keith we’ve talked about this, you can’t leave this room.” Keith glared back at his mom “Mom we don’t know who might try to attack Shiro, I need to be there to help keep him safe.” “Keith Ulaz and I can keep him safe.” Keith bared his fangs slightly “I’m coming with him mom, you can’t stop me.” Krolias nose crinkled and she glanced at Shiro for a moment. “Fine. But you need to leave your blade here.” “What? We aren’t supposed to go anywhere without them!” “After the stunt you pulled when you brought him here everyone here would feel a lot better if you didn’t have it on you.” Keith groaned and then stood up and walked into his room. “What, did Keith do exactly?” Shiro asked hesitantly. Krolia sighed and pinched the brow of her nose. “He hurt another Fang, beat him within an inch of his life.” Shiro was shocked. Keith had always been easy to anger but he’d never hurt anyone too bad in the past. Shiro made a note to ask him about it later. “You two have some time to kill before the surgery. Keith, make sure he finishes this.” Krolia said, pointing toward the blender cup and standing. “I have some things that need to be done. I’ll be back to escort you to the operating room. Do NOT leave this room, do you understand me?” Keith groaned “Yes mom” “Be good you two. I’ll see you later” “Stay safe Miss Kogane.” Shiro said, waving at Krolia as she opened the door. A soft, mournful smile played across her face as she crossed the threshold, and left. Keith huffed out a breath and walked over to flop onto the couch. Shiro grabbed his glass of smoothie and walked over to sit next to him. “They never got married.” Keith said after a moment of silence, slouched into the couch and was picking at his cuticles. “Your mom and dad?” “Yeah. I’m pretty sure my mom wanted to but her duty to the Fangs and a close run in with the Galra convinced her me and dad would be safer with her far away. Thank god I had you to keep me safe after dad...”  Shiro sat with Keith silently then. He wished he had been there for him through all this. He set his cup down on the coffee table in front of them and wrapped his arm around Keith's shoulders pulling him close. “I’m just glad I have you to keep me safe right now. I’d be dead if it weren’t for you, you saved my life Keith.” Keith shuddered and shifted in Shiro's grip. A comfortable silence stretched between them. Shiro softly rubbing his friends shoulder and Keith tapping his fingers together. Shiro relaxed into the couch unconsciously pulling Keith closer and he closed his eyes and let his head hang back. He felt Keith lean forward and then the cold glass being eased into his hand.  “Drink this.” Shiro groaned and took a drink. “It’s funny, if you told me a week ago that I'd be drinking a human blood smoothie with my best friend I hadn’t seen in years, I'd probably have called you crazy.” “Crazy how these things work out huh. When you’re done with that you need to go take a shower.” “Whaaat, you mean after being blown up and laying in a bed for four days I don’t smell like rose petals and cinnamon?” Keith snorted and shoved Shiro's shoulder. “Fucking dork.” He smiled at him for a moment longer before a sadness settled in behind his eyes. “Hey, what's going on?” Shiro said. “I’m sorry I couldn't protect you. I should’ve been faster, should’ve seen it coming.” “Hey, Keith, no it’s not your fault. You did protect me, you saved my life. I would be cut in two pieces if it weren’t for you.” “But your arm…” “Keith, at least I get to live now. I’d rather spend whatever time I have left without my right arm if it means I have time left. And I have you here now. We have each other's backs, I know we're going to be okay."As long as I'm still here for you. Shiro thought to himself. Keith's features relaxed slightly and he fell into Shiro's side. “I don’t know what I'd do without you. Thank you Shiro.” “Of course Keith. Any time.”

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

Chapter 6

Break It In Order To Fix It
 
CAUTION

The beginning of this chapter has graphic descriptions of “surgery”. If this is not up your alley, skip to the next bolded line of text.

“One, Two, THREE” Ulaz counted down as he sliced open the skin of Shiro's half healed stump. The large silver blade cleaved a clean slice of meat off the end of it and Shiro thrashed against the leather restraints and Keith which held him in place. Shiro screamed against the leather bit in his mouth, his face contorted in pain.  “Keep him held down Keith!” Ulaz cleaned the wound with saline and began drilling into the bone of his arm. Shiro's back arched against the leather restraints, his eyes glowing brightly through his eyelids. Keith laid across his chest, holding his right arm down firmly. Ulaz retracted the drill bit before sliding a metal joint into the bone. It was a porous, strange piece of metal that made an awful scraping, squelching sound as it ground into place. Shiros' eyes were whipping around the room and the tortured noises he made broke Keith's heart. "You're okay Shiro, we got you, you're okay." Ulaz then lifted the prosthetic onto the table. At this point it was simply a large, roughly limb shaped, hollow block of metal. Ulaz pulled three main bundles of wire out of the block, weaving one into the metal joint and attaching the other two to the top and bottom of his arms muscles. Shiros' shoulder and pectoral muscles twitched and jerked under Keith's hand. Shiro grunted in confusion and pain as the wires moved their way into his arm. "Yes, yes good. His body is accepting the prosthetic." Ulaz said.  He slotted the end of the jointed metal into the bigger block and slowly slid it onto Shiro's arm. Keith eased off of Shiro's arm to give Ulaz room. As the block slid into place and locked, Shiro spasmed. Shiro jerked on the table, convulsing and foamed at the mouth, his eyes rolling back in his head. "Ulaz! Take it off he's gonna die!" Keith exclaimed, reaching towards the seam of metal and flesh. "Stop you fool!" Ulaz grabbed Keith's wrists and yanked them away from Shiro's arm. "His synapses are adjusting and configuring the prosthetic, this is normal. Please Keith, trust me." Keith backed up and could only watch as the body of his best friend jerked around on the table. He hugged himself tightly, face coiled in concern and fear. 
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Graphic description is over. We now resume your regularly scheduled vampire fanfiction.
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 It wasn't long before Shiro stopped convulsing. After a much needed moment of calm, the metal block began to mold and shape itself. It was taking on a form mirroring his left side, save for being silver colored and smooth over the main portions while appearing almost like carbon fiber around the joints of the elbow, wrist and finger joints. "Woah…" Keith muttered as the transformation completed. "Indeed." Ulaz said, pulling the leather bit out of Shiro's teeth. " He will need to rest for the next few days as he heals around the prosthetic. Make sure he gets lots of nutrition and blood." "Of course, thank you Ulaz." "I have to tend to my other patients. When he wakes up, notify one of my nurses and have them escort you back to your apartment." With that Ulaz walked away leaving Keith with the unconscious Shiro. Keith sat next to his operating table listening to Shiro's ragged breathing. Keith sat there picking at his nails as the clock in the corner of the room ticked. While Keith waited he thought back to when he was still in high school.  He had always been a social outcast since middle school. After everyone got “cool” and “grew-up” they decided they didnt want to hang out with the kid who loved space and obscure history facts with the same energy most other boys were directing towards cars and girls. It was fine by Keith, none of them had ever been particularly close to him. But when the cliques started forming and Keith was the weird kid talking about the mothman sightings before natural disasters, that was when the bullying came hard. He didn’t typically care about any of that but when kids started bringing his and Shiro's dads into the mix, well that was when fists started flying. It didn’t take long for Keith to nearly get expelled and the Shirogane’s were absolute angels for doing their best to help him through it all. Especially Shiro. Everyday he would pick Keith up from school and whenever there was a fresh bruise or a busted lip he would quietly take him to their favorite smoothie shop before going home. Keith would always tease Shiro for asking the poor worker to keep the kiwi skins in the smoothie and Shiro would tease him right back for getting a peanut butter, celery and banana smoothie. They were both weird in their own little ways and it was good. A little slice of peace in an otherwise tumultuous life.And when Keith got to highschool, and the bullying turned into calling him a freak for being so close to his adoptive brother that was when things became really serious for Keith. It was right before Shiro had gone off to college Keith was put on probation for breaking a kid's arm. The school didn't care that said kid had thrown Keith's laptop into the school's trash compactor and called him a no-good-brother-fucker (not that he and Shiro had ever actually done THAT but Keith couldn't let it slide). So Keith was given probation for a year. Shiro took him to every meeting and court hearing. Now, the nice reprieves of the smoothie shop were replaced with Shiro's lectures on how to handle his anger and control himself. Patience yields focus, he always told Keith. It was a silly mantra, but in times when his words failed him completely and his fists became bricks, it brought him back. He learned to walk away.It was Shiro's voice that always brought him back from the edge. It was around forty minutes later, (Forty-three exactly but Keith DEFINITELY wasn’t keeping track) that Shiro began to stir. Keith heard him groan and shot up to his side. Shiro was rubbing his face with his left hand and shielded his eyes from the harsh fluorescent lighting overhead. “Keith? Keith, are you here?” Shiro groaned blearily. “Yeah Shiro I’m right here you’re okay.” “That… Was awful.” “I know. I’m going to go get one of the nurses, stay here?” “I don't think I can exactly move.” Shiro said, pointing at the metal block attached to his arm. “Right, yeah” Keith cringed as he ducked out the door of the room.  He quickly found a nurse, a short lady named Cindy. They walked back into Shiro's room and the nurse went to the cabinet and pulled out several vials of powders and liquids. The nurse detached the main portions of the prosthetic and opened a vial containing powdered malachite. She then began pouring it into the cup of the prosthetic, and rubbing it on the exposed skin of Shiro's arm. “This will help solidify and activate the bond between you and the prosthetic. Can you wiggle your fingers for me?” She asked, reattaching the arm. Shiro furrowed his brow in concentration and then slowly but surely his right hand fingers began to twitch. He closed his fist and then opened them again. The nurse pulled out a metal rod with a pointed end and brought it to his hand then. “I’m going to poke your finger with this and I need you to tell me if you feel it okay?” Shiro nodded and responded with each poke. His arm was fully operational and he sat up and tried to stand off the bed but collapsed.“Woah, take it slow big guy.” Keith said as he caught Shiro. “You feeling alright?” “Yeah im, im fine… just tired is all.” Shiro slurred out. The nurse left to grab the wheelchair as Keith stood and supported him. “Thank you Keith. This has all been so confusing and difficult.” “I know Shiro. Let’s get you back upstairs and in bed okay?”  With that the nurse returned with the wheelchair and Keith eased Shiro into it.  "Within a few days you should gain full function of the arm, good as new. Around then it'll also soften to feel like your skin. At least, the hand will." Said the nurse. They started walking out and Keith caught a glimpse of James in one of the rooms, his facial bandages being removed. The look he gave Keith was one of fear and rage and Keith tried to shove it out of his mind as he and Shiro left the medbay.When they got back into the apartment and the nurse had left with the wheelchair, Shiro was practically asleep and being dragged by the younger man back to his bedroom. Keith eased him into the bed and tucked him under the covers. “Keith…” Shiro muttered, licking his lips. “Thank you for everything. I'm sorry I've caused you so much trouble, I swear I'll make it up to you." Keith smiled and looked back at his sleeping friend. “You don't have to Shiro. I'll do whatever I can for you, anything you need from me you have." With that he left the room, leaving the door cracked as he walked out. Keith went to retrieve his blade from the TV stand and then sat on the couch letting out a sigh. There was so much stress ahead but for now Keith could rest. He must’ve dozed off because when he woke up to the sound of someone moving through the house he opened his eyes, searching for his mom or Ulaz. Until he saw the shapes of two people with swords in hand slinking into his bedroom.