Saffice's eyes opened to the appearance towards several in white and blue attires. However, something felt heavy within her head and she quickly fell asleep.

The next time she awoke, a familiar voice stood up in her eyes.

"Pane, finally, you're awake!"

She received what had expected to be a strong hug from the illusion that appeared to be Gwain, only to barely feel it

"Did I get...stronger? Gwain, are we in heaven together. My body feels so weird. Guess the big man upstairs threw me a bone for once."

She saw the sun rising up. Saffice watched her best friend remove herself, dashing to the windows to close the blinds, yet she was too late. The sun rose onto Saffice's face, with Gwain only yelling for her to move.

"Gwain, why are you so jumpy? I feel", testing her body out for a second, "fine I guess."

The heaviness she had felt before emerged again, and this time, she pinpointed the source and turned to a nearby mirror. She was taken aback, not by her reflection, but the two bite marks on her neck.

"Ouch."

Gwain closed the blinds, and the pain stopped.

"Wait, open it up again, then close it."

Gwain reluctantly complied. Saffice felt the burning sensation in her neck, only for it to lose tension as Gwain closes the blinds.

"That's annoying." She then looked around, noticing the bandages and various devices attached to her.

"Oh, hospital. Wait." She took a quicker look at Gwain. You're back from the dead?"

She hears her friend's egotistical laugh roar. "Naturally, no one attempts to kill my best friend and gets away with it."

That got her to cheer up.

"Of course not. Told you I could fake my death and you wouldn't even notice it. Besides, you forgot: most cops can always survive a horror movie if they try hard enough. And I will fight death just for you."

"Pretty sure that's the wrong genre. How are you alive, dummy?"

"Funny story. I stole some bullet proof vests, and I cut them up, but the Internet said they aren't effective, so I brought one online, told everyone I had on a sports bra. They can't tell unless they asked to see it."

She laughed, ignoring the mild pain. Then Gwain got in her face.

"Pane, please forgive me."

"You're fin-"

"No I'm not. I came a bit late to my meeting with Rojas and caught him shocking some kid with a stun baton. Then he told me about his sick plan. I wasn't going to go through with it, but then he said he was going to turn my entire family into vampires. I called his bluff, but he had pictures of Harlem, the cops on standby, and worse", balling her fists, "my parent's apartment number."

"He-he did all that. And made you take the pic with him as an alibi."

She nodded. "That monster made me pick between you and my family", starting to sob, and I can't believe I was dumb enough to even think about doing it, but he didn't give me a choice. So before we went out, I told him I was still onboard and snuck on the vest, hid some ketchup packs and fake blood packs underneath. Thank God he didn't aim for the head when Kling dragged me back to his house."

"Gwain, its okay. I get it. I'm not mad at you."

"You should be! He made me choose between fam and you, and", fully letting the tears flow on her bed sheet, "you're my family too! I almost got you killed, and then I almost watched you die. I'd rather die than live a life without you in it!"

She grabbed Gwain and pulled her close, letting her vent out her sorrow. It almost felt like they were back in college when they either had a mental breakdown or had no one to turn to.

"Gwain, you stopped Burn from killing me and took a bullet for me. After everything we've been through, if you think I'm turning my back on you for this, then you might need more confidence than I ever do."

She felt Gwain pull her in her closer, tightening her grip and sobbing on her hospital gown.

"The trunk was cold, I wanted to hug you when you opened it, and his breath smelled like shit when he took that picture! I love you bestie!"

"Love you too."

They stayed like that for a while until Gwain's tears stopped. Now that her body had regained some more strength, Saffice started thinking more clearly.

"So I'm a vampire now. But what happened to Rojas? Edmundo? The other va--Travis?"

Gwain popped up and jumped off the bed. "Oh yeah, Travis. He was supposed to be behind me! Travis, where are you?"

"Here". The two heard footsteps walk into the room. The wind caused the blinds to light up as he entered the room. Saffice noticed the sun didn't harm him as much either.

"What took you so long hubby?"

"I apologize for my delay. The security guards were much more conscious of you than they were of me Gwain."

Hubby? Wait, they know each other?

"Oh yeah. A lot of stuff happened and the two of us talked about some things. Once the hospital healed up my bullet wound, we've been trying to fix this whole mess out. You've been in a coma for about two weeks. Fine, anyways, its kind of a long story sis."

Travis speaks up for her. "Gwain shot Rojas in the back. According to the paramedics, he's crippled from the waist down."

"He promoted me for something like this. That monster won't be able to walk again."

"But before they came, the prince bit you. He regretted it, but he said it was the only way to save your life before it was too late." She touched her head and still remembered the pain. "Then all of sudden, some weird portal opened up, and some older looking guy and some chick blonde hair grabbed him."

"My guess is that they took him back home."

Gwain continued. "We didn't tell anyone about him disappearing. The whole world was focused on Rojas and you, but the three of you are the highest members of the department. Both of you weren't able to talk, and Kaiser was gone. PR's still a disaster. But we couldn't let Rojas get off scott free, so we kinda sorta broke into his office and his computer"

"What did you find?"

"Turns out he has this planned for a while. Force Kling into becoming a vampire, and his computer had the location of the body his used. Then use Kling's animosity towards Edmundo to turn Burn into one, have Burn kill you, and as the only vampire known on the force, he'd take the blame. He also blackmailed Kling's family so he didn't have a choice in the matter."

Saffice gulped. I should've known. The signs were right there in front of me!

"And then he had to change up the plan when you save me. Wait, but if he's in prison, what about the cops on his payroll?"

Gwain clinged onto Travis' arm and pulled him closer, much to his embarrassment. "Thankfully, hubby here was sweet enough to go after them and force them to confess."

"It-it was nothing. I'm used to hunting terrible people anyways."

"That clears things up. But Kaiser...Ed. You guys think he's going to be okay? And Travis, shouldn't our bodies be burning up right now?"

He thought it over. "From those that came from the world, they said those of the royal blood have a higher resistance than most regular vampires, and if they're awakened, both them and their host gain near immunity. I'd assumed he slaughtered my family and turned me into one. So if he was still green, that would mean he wasn't the one who killed my family but someone else in his family."

"Someone else then....he told me his father didn't pass through the portal. When was the night your family was murdered?"

"May 2nd, 2020."

"That...was when the whole peace treaty took place. I saw him on tv that night. He couldn't have been in two places at once. Then...the night we encountered Rojas..he said something about his sister treating some pet. It could be a hunch, but", resting her fingers on her head, "what if his pet was your sister?

"She could be still alive? No, I don't believe it!"

"Travis, what did you see that night?"

"I-I saw rubble come down. They grabbed Teline, and I saw her slice her neck. The house came down on me. When I pushed the rubble, they were gone. I was just left there with my parent's bodies, and the pain on my neck from one of them."

Gwain interjected. "Then those two who grabbed him must've been her and their dad? I thought the portal was really hard to open."

"I." Saffice was about to continue when the bite marks on her neck started paining her. When she placed her hand on it, she heard a voice in her head. It was painful, but familiar.

"Edumondo? Is that you?"

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