Hey, sorry for not updating for awhile, things have been busy, with the end of the school year and a lot of other things. I am hoping that I will be able to update Nightmare a lot sooner, now that summer is almost here. Anyway, I hope that you like this chapter.

Edward was standing in the middle of a different room; it was a lot smaller than Michael's office, but still it had the same feeling, cold, lifeless and eerie. A thin layer of dust was gathering on the phones, switchboards and other equipment that was scattered all over the place. The guards said that this room was used for communication between humans and vampires, but judging from the state of the room, it hadn't been used in a while. Michael's piercing words were still ringing in Ed's ears.

"I will give you one phone call, to either tell them that you're coming home or to say your last goodbyes."

Edward walked to the nearest phone. The black dusty old phone sat almond many other things giving the impression that all of this stuff was just useless junk. Before picking up the phone, he glanced back at the door. Waiting just outside the door were two guards, the same two guards that killed Shane and William. Michael had ordered them to escort Edward to the phone room. He was glad that they were waiting outside. Everything was already hard; adding two people that were always looking over your shoulder would be uncomfortable.

Gripping his limp sleeve, Michael had destroyed so many live by killing or controlling them. Ed wouldn't let himself become one of those people. Seeing the pain and misery that Michael had created, seeing the puppets that hung from strings while dancing in the palm of Michael's hands was sickening. He will never stop fighting, no matter what, even if he only had one arm or if the future looked bleak, he will find a way to stop all of this and get back everything that everyone had lost.

Turning back to the phone he picked it up and dialed a phone number. The ringing of the phone was like a deadly ticking bomb, one that could go off at any moment. How was everyone going too reacted to the decision that Ed had made, not only that, how would they react when they found out everything that had happened. He'd promised to Al that he wouldn't get caught and that was exactly what happened. A click of the phone brought Ed back to reality.

"How may I help you?" A woman kindly said.

"Hello, I like to speak to Colonel Roy Mustang," Ed said.

"What's your code?" The woman asked.

Giving the woman the code he waited patiently for her to patch the call through.

A sharp, loud noise rang throughout the quiet room. Dark, piercing Eyes looked up from the pile of paperwork and over to the source of the sound. The sharp ringing of the phone stopped the moment Roy picked it up, hoping that it was one of the search teams. Roy knew that it was a long shot; it's been two weeks since Edward went missing and there weren't any clues as to who had taken him or where.

"Major Edward Elric is on an outside line, would you like me to patch it through." The woman said.

Time seemed to slow down. Roy's mind tried to process what had just happened, but it was having a hard time doing so, as it didn't believe, what was happening. Could it really be true could Edward really be on the other line? It was hard to say, but quickly getting over the shock, he answered the women, while trying to hide the urgency in his voice.

"Yes, patch the call through."

Hoping that it was really Edward on the other line and not the kidnappers or even Michael demanded something in return. If it was them, then what did they want and why would they be calling Roy, but on the flip side of things what if it was Edward. Did that mean that he had escaped and was now hiding somewhere safe? So many things were running through Roy's mind at the moment. Waiting for the call to be patched through felt like hours, it was agonizing waiting to find out who was on the other end. A small click from the phone could be heard signaling the call had gone through, now the waiting was over.

"Hello," Edward said.

A big, bright smile appeared hearing that word and voice. It instantly brought relief. Once the internal happiness died down Roy got serious now all their questions could be answered and they will finally be able to find out what had happened.

"Fullmetal, what happened, where are you, are you okay"-

-"One question at a time, but before answering the questions, you need to get Al on the phone," Ed said, somewhat urgent and serious.

"Okay," holding the phone away from his ear, he yelled. "Lieutenant"

Within seconds, the door to the office flew open. Standing in the door frame was Hawkeye.

"Yes sir, what do you need?" Hawkeye asked.

"Fullmetal is on the phone and is asking for Alphonse, can you find him," Roy asked.

Hawkeye nodded and turned around. The shock had consumed her mind. Questions and scenarios were running ramped, but she walked out of the room and went to find Alphonse without saying another word. She knew that in due time everything will make sense.

"Care to explain what happened," Roy asked once putting the phone back to his ear.

"Al had explained to you that someone named Michael was after me," Ed asked.

"Yes, Al did explain that to us and that you were going to look for him on your own, did you"-

-"Yes, I'd found him, but not in the way that I had hoped," Ed said

Ed explained everything to Roy, from walking into a trap, to being held in a wagon for almost two weeks without a way to escape, to meeting Michael and Michael killing the three vampires that captured Edward. As Roy listened to the story anger started to blossom within him. If only Roy wasn't so careless he should have known that things weren't going to go back to the way that they used to be. Roy should have checked up on them. If he did, then maybe he could have protected them somehow. The door to the office burst opened and Al came rushing in, making Ed stop mid sentence.

Hawkeye walked into the room right behind Al and closed the door; she was still concerned with everything that was happening. Something wasn't right with all of this. She was just thankful that the team wasn't here to witness everything; if they were, then they would be asking a lot of questions that neither Hawkeye nor Roy would be able to answer.

"Fullmetal, here's Al," Roy said, handing Al the phone.

"Brother," Al said.

"Hey," Ed said, smiling, after everything that had happened, it was nice to hear his little brother's voice again. It was something that he had missed the most.

"Brother, where are you, are you okay, what happened, did you meet Michael?" Al said

"One question at a time," Ed said, laughing a little.

Ed knew that he had messed up and hearing the anger that should be hidden within everyone's voices would have been a lot easier than hearing the worry that was leased within them. Ed was the cause of all their suffering from the past couple of weeks. It was amazing that they wouldn't be yelling at him for getting caught or leaving without saying anything.

"I don't know where I am, to be honest, but I have met Michael and find out he wanted me because I've opened the gate, but that's not all. He offered me a deal; either go home and work for him, which means that I will most likely have to kill people or stay here and never go home that means that I won't have to kill not even for blood." Ed said while tightening the grip on the phone.

Al didn't know how any of this was possible; everything that Ed was saying was so hard to comprehend. Al thought that maybe the past could be behind them and that they could start to move forward, start to fix the mistakes that they had made, but how when their past kept on hunting them from behind. Michael must have been truly despicable if he was making Ed chose between the two. He must have known how much family means and how far Ed would go to protect it, but also how much killing people tormented him.

"What did you pick?" Al asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Ed was hesitant to answer the question as he knew what was going to happen once Al had found out the decision that he had made, but no matter what Ed had to tell Al what he had chosen, what fate he had picked.

"I chose to go home and work for Michael," Ed said.

"Brother you can't." Al pleaded, slamming his hands on the desk, scaring both Roy and Hawkeye as they didn't see it coming.

Ed smiled sadly, he knew that those words were going to come the moment that he had made up his mind, but those words weren't going to stop him from coming home. He had the promise to keep, he had mistakes to fix and he had people he had to see. Killing a couple of people was the price that he had to pay then so be it.

Disbelief consumed Al's mind, the thought that Ed would be killing people in order to come home was something that Al couldn't believe, and it was something that Al couldn't accept. It wasn't like Ed to throw away human life. Al knew that he had to stop Ed because if not, then his life would start falling apart piece by piece and as Ed's brother; Al had to look out for him no matter what.

"No brother. You can't do that, I won't sit back and watch you suffer, nor watch as innocence lives get destroyed," Al said, the words were riddled with determination. "Also, you know how much killing people will destroy you."

"I know that, but what choice do I have. We have to fix our mistakes and I have to keep my promise, I will not let someone like Michael keeps me from doing that."Ed said.

"Brother, I already told you, if people are going to get hurt or even killed, then I don't want my body back," Al said.

"But"-

-"no buts, stay there, find a way to escape," Al said.

"I don't know if I can, Michael can control other vampires, just like how vampires can control humans. If he orders me to stay here, then I will be trapped in this place." Ed said.

"Then we will find you, in the meantime, try to find a way to undo whatever Michael has done," Al said.

Silently, both Roy and Hawkeye listened to the conversation, picking up pieces here or there. Both silently tried to put the pieces together, trying to make sense of what was happening, but as soon as the pieces started to make a picture a wave of emergency come over them.

"It's too dangerous to come looking for me," Ed said.

"But brother, I have to do something no matter how dangerous it may be," Al said.

"If I come home, then neither you nor anyone would be put in danger. Al, Michael is ruthless he will kill anyone if he wants to. If you come here or if he finds out about any of this, then there could be a possibility that you and everyone else could die." Ed said

"I don't care, brother, coming home isn't an option," Al said.

Ed paused for a moment, knowing that there was no getting through to Al. Al would try to do anything or say anything to make sure that Ed wasn't coming home; he was just trying to look out for him, trying to protect him. If the roles were reverse, then Ed would be saying the same thing. He would do anything to try to protect Al from doing something that he knew would crush him.

"Fine, I'll stay here," Ed said, giving in to Al's wishes.

"Thank you brother," Al said relieved.

"Al, I have to get going. Sadly, this will be the last time that we can talk to each other, so for right now goodbye." Ed said.

"Okay, bye brother," Al said and after that hung up the phone.

"What's going on?" Roy asked.

Al retold everything that Ed said. Both Roy and Hawkeye hung onto every word that Al was saying, nodded at the new information that was being told, though worried expressions grew on both of their faces as both knew that there wasn't a lot of time before everything could go downhill. After that, Roy had explained everything that he had learned while Roy was waiting for Al and Hawkeye to get here.

"From the information that was gathered, Michael isn't someone that should be underestimated. Before trying to find Edward, we have to be fully aware of what is at stake." Hawkeye said.

"What do you mean?" Al asked.

"Michael could easily use Edward or one of us against everyone. He knows that we will never hurt one another. Right now that is one of the large advantages he has over us." Hawkeye said.

"I understand, but we have to find brother," Al said.

"I know, but charging into this head first isn't a smart idea, coming up with a plan is top priority. Once that is figured out, then we'll put all of our time into finding them." Roy said.

Everyone nodded; agreeing that it would be the best course of action, all of them gathered around the desk to discuss, what was the best way to get Edward out of there without anyone getting hurt or even killed?

Edward hung up the phone, not knowing if there would be anything on how to reverse the mind control, but even so that wasn't going to stop him. There had to be something here, even if it was small. At this point, anything was better than nothing. Michael wasn't the type to throw away anything important on vampire alchemy especially on something like this.

Walking to the door, Ed's thoughts jumped to, what was waiting beyond it. The fact that he had to be escorted everywhere wasn't sitting right, but on the flip side without them he would have never made it here, but instead wandering through the hallways lost as every hallway looked the same. Opening the door, he was instantly greeted by the two guards, which began to walk away.

Ed silently followed behind them; everything was quiet and peaceful except for their loud footsteps that bounced off the stone walls. It was eerie as the sound seemed to echo down the hallways, making it feel as if there was no end to them. Ed wondered if the two guards were under Michael's control when they killed Shane and William or was it on their own free will.

All three of them stopped in front of the big wooden door that led to Michael's office. They were here again because Michael wanted to know which choice Ed had made before either Ed leaves or he gets to see the room that he will be staying in. One of the guards, which was the women knocked on the door and waited patiently. Hearing a muffled come in she opened the door. Michael was sitting at the desk as usual, but his face was buried deep in a thick, busty, old, green book. His eyes flicker off the pages and over to the door, once seeing who it was he closed the book and placed it down onto the desk. All three of them walked into the room and the other guard, who was male, closed the door.

"So, which one did you decide upon?" Michael said excited, getting restless to hear the answer almost as if this was one big guessing game.

"I chose to stay here," Ed said much to dismay.

Ed didn't like how Al had been able to change his mind about going home that staying here was the best desiccation, but Al was just looking out and trying to keep him safe. The feeling that all of this was a game was insane, a game to see how long Ed could hold out until he broke.

"Well, that's too bad, now isn't it; working for me would have been a lot of fun," Michael said, sounding disappointed, but wasn't, not when all of this was a game and Michael had come out victorious.

"I would like to have my automail back, now that a decision had been made," Ed said, cold and hard.

"That's fine, but there's one request, well, it's not really a request more like an order. You can't use regular alchemy until I say so." Michael paused for a moment and then smirked. "Though, there's nothing that I have to worry about you using vampire Alchemy because it will take years to learn. The transmutation circles are very complicated and to use it properly is very tricky, even the best alchemist has trouble doing them." Michael said in a taunting manner. Then, the smirk fell and he looked dead serious. "Do I make myself clear about the rules?"

Ed nodded; thankfully using regular alchemy wasn't part of the plan, though something didn't sit right. Was what Michael saying true or did he really underestimate Ed's alchemy ability or was he just trying to get under Ed's skin.

"What about my ring, you must have it around here somewhere," Ed said.

"Oh that little thing, it's somewhere safe. You won't need it anytime soon, so I'll be holding onto it for a little while if that is all than the guards can show you to your room." Michael said.

The guards open the door, showing that it was time to go. Standing there for a couple of seconds Ed stared at Michael. Breaking the hold that Michael had on him was top priority and then fixing everything that was destroyed by him. Turning around, he followed the guards out of the room.

A thick silence overcame them while walking to Ed's new room. The walk was long and boring. Ed decided to take this time to look around the place, but upon doing so Ed found out that there wasn't a lot to look at as there were no windows that could be an insight to where this place was located. All the hallways were the same bare, stonewalls. Ed wondered if anyone ever got lost wandering through these hallways. All of a sudden the two guards stopped in front of a door knocking Ed out of thought.

"This will be your room for now on; there are blood bags in the refrigerator if you need them. If that is all, then we will be leaving." The male guard said. Both of them turned around and walked away from the room.

"Wait," Ed said.

Both stopped, but only the women turned around. "Yes", she said.

"Is there a place around here that has books, I like to take this time to read things about vampires," Ed said.

"Yes, there is a place around here. Follow the hallway until you can only turn left or right, turn left, then it is the first door on the right." She said.

Ed nodded, hating the fact that he had just asked for directions. Ed watched them walk down the hallway until they despaired around the corner. It was eerie that those two guards were the only two vampires beside Michael that was around this place. Leaving the thought to drift to the back of his mind, Ed opened the door. It was strange going from a cold, distant hallway to a somewhat cozy and normal looking room. The room was like something that would be in, the hotels in Central. It was unsettling, to say the least as this was one of the last places that would be considered being normal.

A single bed was in the far left corner. Neatly placed on the bed was Ed's automail. It was in perfect condition, it would even polish until it sparkled, and reminding himself to make sure to take good care of it as seeing Winry wouldn't before awhile. A small kitchen was on the right beside the door, complete with a wooden table and two matching chairs. On the opposite side of the kitchen, there was another door that led to the bathroom. How could they have prepared everything so soon Ed thought while closing the door? Maybe Michael knew all along that Ed was never going to go home that he was going to stay here or maybe there was just an empty room and all they had to do were get the blood bags.

A powerful feeling of homesickness washed over him. He missed seeing everyone smiling and laughing missed having the conversation with family and friends. Being here was a constant reminder that he was no longer human; just someone trying to pretend to be one. Walking to the bed, he picked up the automail. This was the only thing that reminded him of all of the mistakes, all the times that made him smile, and it reminded him of home.

Connecting the automail to his shoulder, a surge of pain went up and down his body; it's been awhile since the pain of connecting the automail was felt. Making the way to the door Ed stopped halfway and turned in the direction of the refrigerator, not knowing when the last time that he had fed, Ed made the way over to the refrigerator. As much as going to the library and trying to find a way to undo the hold Michael had on him was a strong desire, there was no way of getting out of this.

Slowly opened the door, the smell of blood hit him full force. The refrigerator was full of random blood bags. Shakily reaching into the fridge and pulled out a blood bag, the feeling of the hunger awaken within him. What was the blood from the bag taste like, was it going to taste like stale blood or was it going to taste like fresh blood or was it going to taste like something different? One of the major differences was the blood was cold instead of it being hot.

Shakily put the blood bag to his mouth and started to drink it. It was puzzling after taking the first sip. It wasn't really different from the blood that was fresh from humans. Ed was glad that it tasted the same as now feeding on people weren't an option anymore. Ed was glad that he wasn't going to be hunted from seeing the fear in their eyes. Finishing the packed of blood quickly and closed the refrigerator, wiping the blood from his mouth onto the sleeve. Now that he had fed all forces could now shift to trying to find the library, walking out of the room, hoping that the library wouldn't be too hard to find or that he wouldn't get lost. Followed the directions that the guard had given, much to his surprise the library was a lot easier to find than thought or did it take a long time to find.

Opening the door to the library Ed was instantly greeted by large bookshelves that were filled to the brim with books. Ed didn't think that there would have been rows and rows with hundreds of books, but then again, there aren't just books on vampire alchemy, there were books on vampire history and other things that would never end up in a normal library.

Walking into the large room and closing the door, though at the sometimes an eerie feeling came over and something strikes him as odd.

"Why isn't this place under lock and key?" Ed asked out loud thinking that no one was in the room, but the bookshelves.

"That is a good question young man." Someone said behind him.

Startled by the voice, Ed jumped and turned around quickly. Standing in front of him was a young woman, maybe early 20s. Her dark brown wavy hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that hung just below the shoulder blades. Bright red square glasses sat on the bridge of her nose while wearing a white summer dress that went to the knees.

"Sorry about that, didn't mean to scare you. I thought that you would have been able to sense me, but anyway to answer the question as to why you are able to stroll in here as if it was like any other room is because everyone knows that take what's Michael's is a death wish. Even though some of these books hold pretty sensitive information, thinking that using the information on Michael makes you a fool, but it also helps that the vampires that are here are either under Michael's control or a loyal follower.

Though, to be extra careful, he had hired me to keep an eye on all of these books. It's my duty to make sure that the books are cared for and to make sure they're safe from outside forces." The girl said.

"Outside forces," Ed asked.

She nodded, "there are sometimes those foolish vampires that decide that they are going to take what is Michael's. Deciding to take the books that are in this library because they know these books could hold some information that could get rid of Michael once and for all." Her eyes lit up as if realizing something. "Hey, you're new here," pointing her finger towards Edward.

Ed was taken aback by surprise, was it that obvious that he was new, but to be far there were only four vampires that Ed had seen wandering around the place. It wouldn't be that hard to spot someone new in a place where there weren't a lot of people.

"Of course, I haven't seen you around; my name's Penelope, what's yours." Penelope asked.

"Edward."

"Anyway, if any, questions pop up just ask me." Penelope said.

"Actually, I do have some questions." Ed said.

Thinking that this could be the best time to get some answers as to where the place was and why there weren't a lot of vampires wandering around the building. After asking that Penelope's eyes lit up like twinkling bright stars on a cold darken night.

"Really, what are the questions?" Penelope asked, sounding excited.

"Where is here and how come there aren't a lot of vampires walking around this building?" Ed asked.

"Well, this building only houses, vampires that are either newly turned, new recruits or that Michael deems special, which is me, some loyal and trusted guards and very few friends, in all, there are about twelve vampires in this building which doesn't include you. This is a very old and large building that is placed in the middle of a town, which is a town full of vampires that are either under control, who come out during the day or loyal followers who come out during the night, in order to fool a couple of humans that stray into this town from time to time." Penelope said.

"Thanks, for answers the questions." Ed said.

"Anytime, but I must get back to my work." Penelope said, turning around and walked away.

Nodding, Ed watched as she despaired behind the bookshelves. Everything that she had said made sense. Fooling stray humans that stumbled upon the town, how there were only a few vampires that wandered around the building, how the library was opened to anyone but was also heavily guarded. Everything made sense, this was all a stage to make sure that no one found out that vampires exist, they were hiding in plain sight and no one knew it. Ed wondered if there were a lot of towns like this and if so, then how many were there.

Walking through the maze of the bookshelves, Ed ran his hand along the spines of the old, dusty books picking books that looked useful in any way. Soon there was a big stack of books forming in the corner of the library; finally thinking that there were enough books to last awhile, Ed sat down beside the pile lying neatly on the floor was a pen and paper. Picking up a random book Ed started to read it, hoping that there was something that was barred within the book.

Hours passed by and almost a quarter of the books were read through and lying scattered opened on important pages on the floor, crumpled pieces of paper that had scribbles all over it littered the floor. Information poured out of the books that could be used to break the mind control, but none of it was helping. There wasn't one straight answer as to how to break it. Some of them said that the vampire that put the mind control on the person was the only person that could break it, which would be Michael and Ed knew that, that would never happen.

Some books said that Michael wasn't needed that there was another way, but they never went into a lot of detail on how to achieve that, even so there were hundreds of books, there had to be something here on how to break it. Ed couldn't imagine what Michael would do with Roy and Al once they got here. Michael would probably have Ed kill them both if Ed couldn't break the mind control and that couldn't happen.

Picking up another book Ed opened it to the first page. Big bold letters covered the top with paragraphs of smaller words; it reads "Vampire Curse". Puzzled by the chapter title; this had been the first time ever running into this information. Eyes widened in surprise while reading the words, the information that is in the book changed everything. It had changed everything that was happening, it changed the reason that Ed was here and it changed what was going to happen next?

Michael didn't explain the whole story as to why everything happened, what Ed had learned was just a twisted version of the truth so that a message wouldn't get out that was why Ed could call Al. He didn't know what was truly happening; Ed didn't have the whole truth. Closing the book in a fit of rage, Ed got up from the floor, paper falling onto the floor. Michael had to explain everything that was happening. Running to the door with the book in hand, Ed wasn't going to settle for fragments of the truth anymore. Penelope saw, what was happening and tried to stop it.

"Hey, you can't take that"- before Penelope finished the sentence Ed was already out the door and down the hallway. "Wow, that kid can run." Penelope said, with amazement.

If it was anyone else Penelope would have run after them or at least stop them before reaching the door, but she knew that Ed was under Michael's control, it was that far away, hollow look, she could never mistake that look for anything else. The book was in safe hands, it was going to come back here eventually.

Ed ran down the hallways, trying to find the way back to Michael's office, through the twists and turns of the confessing hallway. Ed had no idea where the room was as every hallway looked the same, but for now running around in circles was the only way to find the room. Upon finding it Ed realized that the room was the only room that had two large wooden doors. Swinging open the door in a fit of rage and taking a step into the room, soon swords were replaced at Ed's neck.

Glancing up from the desk wondering what all the commotion was about, seeing since it was Edward that was making all the noise Michael lifted his hand in stop position and the guard lower their swords. Ed marched right up to the desk and slammed the book that was taken from the library onto it.

"What the hell is this?" Ed demanded, pointing at the book.

Michael raised an eyebrow and opened to the first page, seeing the chapter title made everything make a little more sense as to what had pissed Edward off so much.

"So, you know." Michael said, with a sigh.

Michael was hoping that Edward wouldn't find out not until later, but now seeing the book that was forcibly slammed on the desk, Michael knew that that wish would never happen. Michael should have known that this would happen. Ed was too smart for his own good; it was a matter of time before he found out.

"Like hell I do." Ed said, through clenched teeth, anger was burning through his veins. "So, when were you going to tell me that you were planning on using my body to escape the curse?"

Oh, things are starting to get good. I know that it might not make a lot of sense but it will make sense in the next chapter.  So what do you think is going to happen and what is this vampire curse that Ed had found out, I'll give you one hint, it's the reason why Michael has one red eye. Anyway, hopefully I will be able to update sooner than I have been for the last couple of update, don't forget to vote and comment and I will see you next time.