Hey everyone, thank you for your constant support on this book, it means a lot to me.

"So, when were you going to tell me that you were planning on using my body to escape the curse?" Ed asked, clenching his hands into a fist and the feeling of rage burned inside.

"I was going to say something close to the time that I was going to lose control so that there wouldn't be time to try to find a way to stop this from happening. As the book had stated a vampire that has only one red eye is getting closer to the curse."

"With every day that passes the eye turns a darker shade of red, then ten days before the other eye will turn the same shade of dark red. As you can already tell the curse is closing in on me." Michael said, putting his hand over the eye that was red."

"When a vampire reaches a thousand years old the monster inside takes over. It's a lot like losing control after not feeding for a while, but this time, there's no coming back to reality or "waking up" as I like to call it. The vampire will go on a rampage, killing everyone and everything in sight, trying to quench the undying thirst within them. That is what is going to happen to me"-

"-But that wasn't something that you wanted to happen, that's why you asked Lilith to find and turn me," Ed said, cutting Michael off. "Was everything that was mentioned earlier a lie?"

"No. Everything that was said was the truth. You were turned because you are one of the few that had opened the gate. I mean anyone's body could do, but I want to make sure that by doing this, I was going to be stronger than before. That's why you were chosen."

"In order for someone to escape the curse they must inhabit another person's body, but it can only be a vampire. Inhabiting a human's body will kill both the human and the vampire in a matter of seconds of completing the transmutation circle."

"However, the whole thing about being a secret weapon was not a lie either. A lot of people know that I will lose control. As soon as the monster inside takes over; everyone that wants to get revenge will band together and will charge into this castle. However, no one except me knows that there is a way to escape and that a plan had been set into motion." Michael said.

"I will find a way to stop this; you won't take control of my body," Ed growled.

"You think that there is a way to stop this from happening. I have been planning this for a while now and there is no getting out of it. This will happen in a month's time and no one will be able to stop it." Michael said, through his laughter.

"Why is there a curse placed on vampires in the first place?" Ed asked, hoping to get as much information as possible before things took a turn for the worst.

"I'm truly shocked that you haven't figured that one out yet, especially with being an alchemist. Well, that's because vampires go again the flow of nature. We don't die naturally; we take human lives for food or for fun, but let's be honest it's mostly for fun. The curse was placed on us to make sure that there is a balance between the humans and vampires.

"If the vampire population outnumbers the human population, then nothing would be balanced. We don't want that to happen, plus we don't want the humans to find out that we are more the just a fairy tale."

"That will most likely happen if a vampire goes on a killing spree. That's why if a vampire shows any signs of having the curse, then someone has to make sure that they are dead before things get out of hand. Now, this conversation is over and I would like you to take this back to the library." Michael ordered while pushing the book towards the edge of the desk.

Ed walked to the desk and picked it up. There had to be something that could be used to stop this from happening, but where, was the question. Ed thought about it while walking out of the room, trying to come up with a plan.

"Sir was that such a wise decision." The male guard said.

Michael chuckled a little. "There's no need for concerned. Everything is still going according to plan. Though it will be fun to see what is going to happen next.

Edward walked down the many hallways and while doing so opened the book to the first page. With everything that had happened, there wasn't time to thoroughly read through it. Ed had to know more about what was going to happen.

While reading the text new and interesting things seem to pop out of the paper pages, but the information did little to help the situation. It had stated that the vampire would have control over the body that was chosen and the owner of the body would be trapped watching everything play out in front of their eyes. A shiver ran up Ed's spine at the thought of that happening.

Once reaching the library, a very frantic and scared Penelope took the book. Ed apologized for running off with it and said that it would never happen again. After that Ed walked toward his room, knowing that the answers to this problem wouldn't be in the library.

Michael wanted to make sure that everything goes according to plan. It wouldn't be a smart idea to leave any information that could ruin that plan. If there was only one place to keep the information where would it be?

That's when it all became clear; the one place that the information would be kept was with Lilith, which meant that it would be in the cave. However, there was one small problem, Edward was here and the cave was located in Central. Contacting Roy and Al were out of the question as the phone room would most likely be heavily guarded, knowing Michael.

While opening the door to the room everything became clear on what to do. Vampires could use telepathy. That's how a message would get out, by contacting Hawkeye and explaining everything that had happened. Then, the message would be replayed for Roy and Al. Ed walked into the room and sat down on the bed. Taking a deep breath and concentrated. Ed closed his eyes, hoping that this will work.

"Lieutenant, can you hear me?" Ed said, waited for a couple of minutes before trying again.

"Is that you, Edward?" Hawkeye asked, coming through after the third time.

"Yes, it is," Ed said.

Hawkeye sounded far away and her voice was coming in and out, like when using a phone that had a weak signal. However, it was getting better over time.

"How?" Hawkeye asked.

"The colonel will explain, but there something important that you need to know," Ed said, urgently.

The next morning everyone was up-to-date on everything that had just happened.

"This isn't good," Roy said.

Roy was sitting at the desk; arms were folded over his chest while deep in thought. Al was sitting on the couch looking at the floor, slowly taking everything in and Hawkeye was standing in the middle of the room.

"How can any of this be possible? In a month's time brother might not be-" Al couldn't finish the sentence, it was already too hard to think about what was going to happen, let alone say it out loud.

"I know and we're going to stop it from happening. The information is in the cave that is the first place to go and look." Roy said.

Everyone was hoping that there was something in the cave that could help and give hope that everything would be alright.

"Lieutenant, you stay here, Alphonse and I are going to the cave. No one can know where we are; if someone asks, then make up something believable. " Roy ordered while getting up from the desk. "Let's get going."

All three walked out of the office together. Hawkeye went back to work while Roy and Al drove to the cave. Both were ready to find any information. They will do anything to stop this from happening because the thought of failing meant that Michael would be able to use Ed's body.

That was something that they couldn't let happen no matter what. Finally, reaching the cave that was in the middle of the forest, flashes of memories of that day came rushing back. All the emotions, the anger, the sadness, and the little bit of hope were all present.

"Never thought that I would be seeing this place ever again, especially under the circumstances," Al said.

"Me neither, it feels as if we're asking Lilith to save Fullmetal, it feels wrong, especially with everything that had happened," Roy said, lighting the lantern.

Al nodded in agreement and both took a step forward into the cave, hoping that there was something hidden within the piles of rocks and the twists and turns of the enormous cave. The familiarize of the cave took them down memory lane.

No one talked while walking through the cave because they were trapped replaying that day over and over again. Stumbling into the room that was Lilith's bedroom it was amazing what the flickering flames from the lantern revealed.

Everything was untouched and was how it was on that day. Books were scattered all over the place, some were opened on random pages, while some were lying on the floor, unopened and collecting dust. Roy walked into the room and placed the lantern on the desk being careful not to step on any of the books in the process.

"I'll start over here, while you start over there." Roy said, pointing to the pile of clutter books that were in one of the corners of the room and then to the pile on the other side of the room.

Nodding Al walked over there and sat down hoping that there was something within the room that could save his brother.

Roy left the lantern on the desk and walked over to the corner. He started to pick out books that looked promising that looked like it held some sort of secret within the bounded pages that could magically turn all of this around in a blink of an eye.

The sound of paper being turned and books slamming closed were the only things that could be heard for the past couple of hours. They haven't found anything, not one single book had mentioned anything about body switching or the vampire curse.

If there was something in here, Lilith was very good at hiding it, but to be far they were looking for something that could stop or could possibly kill Michael. Lilith wouldn't want anyone finding that or else she would most likely be killed for letting the information slip.

Roy slammed what felt like the hundredth book closed. Another one was read from front to back and there was still nothing. He looked over to see that Al was deep within a thick book. Ever since learning about Michael's plans, there were lingering thoughts that didn't want to go away.

"Hey, Alphonse," Roy said, turning around.

Looking up from the book, Al asked, "Did you find anything?"

"No, but there's something that we need to discuss," Roy said. "If there isn't a way to stop or reverse the transmutation, then there is no choice, but to"-

-"No," Al cut in, knowing exactly what, was going to say because the thought had come to mind once or twice. "It will not come down to that; there is something here and I won't stop until it's found."

"This is vampire alchemy, what if it is completely different from the alchemy that we know. Maybe there is no way to reverse it. If that is true, and everything works in Michael's favor, then Edward will most likely have to be killed, either by one of us or someone else.

"No," Al said, refusing to even think that killing Edward was the only option.

"Listen, this isn't something that is easy to talk about, but we both know that Edward wouldn't want his body to be used to hurt or even kill anyone. What if Michael goes after us, what if he kills some innocent person that was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Roy said.

"Let's just get back to trying to find a way to stop Michael, so that that will never become an option," Al said.

Al turned back to the pile of books and continued to read the book that was in his hands. Roy didn't like the idea either, but what other option was present at the moment. Just the idea that they might lose Edward to Michael was tormenting.

What would happen if Roy was the one to pull the trigger, how would everyone react? If it was too late to save Edward, then it must be done, but would Roy really be able to do it. Turning back to the pile and picked up a book. There had to be something in here or else how would Michael know that any of this was possible.

A couple of hours had past and a quarter of the books weren't even finished when Al jumped with a book in hand in excitement.

"This is it; this book has a section on what we are looking for," Al said urgently.

Closing the book that Roy was reading and quickly turning around while asking, "What does it say?"

"In order to escape the curse, the vampire must find a worthy candidate to merge with, which can only be another vampire. After merging, the candidate can only watch, they have no control over their body."

"The only way to undo this is for the person that first cast the array to cast it again. After that, the souls will separate from each other. If anyone else tries to undo the array, then there is a possibility that it would fail or neither would come out alive. The reason being is because both have to be willing to separate or else it will not work."

"If one of the vampire bodies dies and the merging was completed, then they will stay in that person's body, but if it was decided on to undo the array, then that person's soul will disappear because there's no body to go back to," Al said, reading what was on the page.

The feeling of doubt threaded to consume when reading over the words, again and again, trying to see if it was possible that something was missing or it wasn't the truth, just a trick set up by Lilith.

"This is just one book out of the hundreds that are here, there has to be something else within the pile of books that we haven't even touched yet," Roy said, trying to comfort Al. "At less, we know some things. We have a month, that's more than enough time to find more information and if it comes down to it, find where Michael is." Roy said.

The pain that comes with the thought of possibly losing the only family member that Al had left must have been hard. There was only a month that was it, a month to read all these books trying to find more about body switching and the curse, but also to find out where Michael was hiding. Hopefully, that would be enough time.

A week had passed by and the only other book that was found held the transmutation circle that was going to be used. The book went over what the circle did and summarized everything that was already known.

There weren't a lot more books left in the room that haven't been read and everyone was starting to lose a little bit of hope that there was another way to reverse the transmutation circle. Roy searched the room for any other books that were hiding or have been missed. Upon looking under the bed there was an old, dusted, folded piece of paper.

"What's that?" Al said, getting off the floor and walking over to where Roy was.

"I don't know," Roy said.

Opening the paper to reveal that it was a very old detailed map of the area around Central, on the map, there was a town circled in red ink. It was puzzling as to why Lilith would have a map that seems to lead to a small town in the middle of nowhere.

"Do you think that that is where Michael and brother are?" Al asked.

"Maybe," Roy said, studying the paper a little bit more.

"Where else would it lead to decide them?" Al asked.

"What if it turns out that it leads somewhere else. There's no time to make any mistakes. If we do follow the map, then it will take approximately two weeks to get to the town and that is all the time that is left." Roy said.

"What if we don't follow it and it turns out that the map leads to Michael. Then it will be too late to do anything. We have been trying to find Michael for the past two weeks and have gotten nowhere. Trusting this piece of paper is the only thing we got right now." Al said.

Roy thought about it for a while and decided that Al was right; "Fine, let's follow the map."

Both ran out of the cave, hoping that this was the right decision in trusting the map that Lilith had. Both quickly got ready, grabbing anything that would be needed for a two-week road trip. Al had taken the first book that was found maybe it was just in case it was needed or maybe to give some hope that everything was going to be fine.

Roy told the team that a clue to the whereabouts of Edward had been found and that they were going to look into it. Then, they were off, hoping that the town was the right place to go.

The ride there wasn't anything special, nothing over exciting happened, but over the trip, there was some time to bring some things up that have been nagging at Roy for some time. Though the words were either left unanswered or unheard as Al was looking out the window lost in thought, wondering how all of this would go down. Would Edward be saved on time or would it be too late, was this the right place and was this the right diction? Hugging the book tighter, the thoughts and questions kept coming and coming.

Please be safe. Al thought, hoping that the thought would somehow magically find its way to Edward.

Two weeks had past and they were finally getting close to the town. The town was cut off of any major roads. Tall trees and overgrown bushes covered the long dirt, bumpy road that leads to the town. The tension was running high; all the questions that were there were soon going to be answered. Just before entering the town there was a man standing in the middle of the road, not scared that a car was coming. Roy slowed down not wanting to hit the person.

"Why do you think he's standing in the middle of the road?" Al whispered.

"I don't know," Roy whispered back, keeping an eye on the young man that was walking to the window on Roy's side.

Roy rolled down the window, just enough to talk to the mystery man.

"Can I help you?" Roy asked.

"Normal, I don't help humans, but this time is an exception. Turn around and leave this place before you accidentally get caught up in something." The man said coldly.

"Then that means that we're in the right place," Roy said.

"What are you talking about?" The man said.

"Michael is going to use a friend of ours to escape death and we're here to stop that from happening," Roy said.

The man wounded if what, was being said was a lie. Everyone that hated Michael had teamed together to kill him when the time was right. They would have known that Michael had a plan. However, if he does trust them, and then it turns out they were working for Michael all long, then it would be all over. On the flip side of everything, ignoring what was being said wasn't smart either.

"Fine, follow me. You will explain everything to everyone and then we will devise a plan that will let us kill Michael and save your friend." The man said

Roy parked the car off to the side so that it was shrouded in trees and bushes so that no one could see it. They walked deeper into the forest no doubt ability being led to their base.

Meanwhile, Ed decided that instead of sitting around and doing nothing for a month, he would work hard on trying to find a way to undo the mind control and on the vampire curse, also anything on the transmutation circle that was going to be used. However, there was nothing, just as he had originally thought. There were no books on anything and the curse was going to take over Michael tomorrow. Time had run out and everything was going accordingly to Michael's plans. Everything will go down tomorrow whether or not everyone was ready.