HOME | DD

Description
Short Story
Blood

(Sonic's POV)

Only the faintest rays of the sun's final light entered through the miniscule cracks between the thickly threaded shades that were drawn over the windows in Sonic the Hedgehog's home. Wanting to at least catch a glimpse of the dying sun, Sonic dared to part one of the shades slightly risking the harm it could cause. A faint glow of happiness shimmered inside his lifeless chest as he watched the fading orange top of the sun dip below the black horizon. He was forced to look away though as his eyes began to burn. Tiny wisps of smoke drifted away from his face as the hedgehog pulled the shades close tightly then fell to his knees as the hopelessness that had become his companion over the last week clutched his silent heart. A single tear fell from his eye. I miss the sun. Sonic could still remember how it felt to have it's warmth beating down on him as ran across the green hills of Mobius enjoying the light and life around him. Now though, the hedgehog was as icy and dead as the floor of his home made from the timber of the surrounding forest. These planks had once been alive as well, but no longer.

Shaking himself out of his depression, Sonic stood and grabbed his red shoes from the doormat slipping them on and allowing a brief smile to touch his grey lips. Well….might as well enjoy the night. It doesn't do me any good to sit here moping. Before walking out the door though, the hedgehog peered quickly over at the mirror on the wall in the entry way, then mentally berated himself for being stupid. He hadn't seen anything in that mirror since before the attack….and there was nothing to see this time.

Sonic slipped out the door then took a deep breath inhaling the cool, moist night air. The sky over the horizon was still slightly red around the place where the sun had vanished; even these indirect and weak rays were still enough to cause the hedgehog some mild discomfort but he didn't mind. He'd found that this nagging itch of pain actually helped keep his mind off of the hunger that so far he'd left unfed. It had been getting steadily worse. Tails had warned him about the nourishments his new body would demand and the fox had even offered packets of his own blood to sate the hedgehog's cravings; but the hero's conscious went against his hunting instincts. Sonic would not hurt innocents just to ease the urge. The thought of drinking blood packets wasn't to appealing to him either, the thought of slurping down ANY blood whether it was still in the person or not didn't sound good, although his body disagreed with that moral.

Over the past few days, Sonic's body had begun to rebel against him. He felt both weaker and also less and less like himself. The hedgehog was in a constant state of irritability, making him behave differently towards everyone he met including his own friends. Tails had been working day in and out to try and cure him yet just the other night Sonic had exploded in anger at his friend for taking so long. It is partially his fault I'm like this now…..no….that's not fair to him. I was trying to save him.

"Oh forget it, it doesn't matter what happened. I'm wasting my time just standing here thinking, now my head hurts," Sonic mumbled to himself as he did a few quick stretches then sprinted off through the winding path of the Great Forest bound for the city of Station Square. Maybe a good brawl or two with some of Eggie's bots will take my mind off of this…..and my stomach. However even as he relaxed and let his feet carry him along the well-trodden path, his brain was lulled off in the rhythm of his shoes pounding the soil. He began to think back to the night that his new life had begun.

(One week ago)

Sonic sighed as he sat on a rooftop with his feet dangling limply over the ledge. Boredom was not something the hedgehog was accustomed to since he spent the majority of his day trying to avoid that feeling; so when he found himself being "painfully" forced to sit patiently still, the hero had no clue how to entertain himself. Again, the hedgehog puffed out an exaggerated breath.

"It isn't that bad," Tails said from across the roof as he swept the streets below with his binoculars. "You really do need to work on your patience. We're doing a stake-out here."

"Are you kidding me? This is horrible!" groaned the hero as he rested his chin in his hands. "Why can't I just chase after this guy, I'd catch him easy! Right now he could be running around anywhere in the city and we're just sitting here waiting for him to by some chance stroll right on by beneath us."

The fox chuckled. "I explained all of this to you Sonic and…"

"Yeah yeah this thing is some kind of….vampire," the hedgehog frowned as he mouthed the word again, " a vampire….really? Aren't those kind of…not real?"

"I thought so too, but a scientist should never leave out a possibility. Since the attacks began, I've tried finding every other explanation for them but the more and more I studied what was happening and what got left behind…." Sonic saw his friend shudder as he brought up the condition of the victims left behind.

For the last week or so, Mobians were being assaulted in the dark of the night. No one ever survived. Sonic recalled how every victim's corpse had looked grayish and also, now here was the scary part that had confounded Sonic and Tails the most, all of the dead were left completely drained of all their blood. Not a drop left.

"We're dealing with a vampire, Sonic, this isn't like anything you've ever fought before. They're fast, intelligent, exceedingly strong, aggressive, and just plain mean."

"I'm the fastest thing alive…."

"Vampires aren't living."

Silence pervaded for the next half hour. At several points in their stake-out, Sonic knew he'd dozed off because that time seemed to fly by. At last, his friend hissed catching the hedgehog's attention. Immediately snapping into action mode, Sonic slid across the rooftop stopping right next to his friend; Sonic's eyes were already scanning the empty streets below for any sign of trouble or the supposed vampire.

"There!" whispered the fox loudly as he pointed to a back alleyway. Two figures were quietly making their way along the street just outside the alley; one was male and the other female. The female was garbed in a simple pair of jeans with only an orange tank top covering her torso, yet Sonic noticed it showed off her natural curves to full advantage. From this distance the hedgehog could tell she was an anthro fox much like Tails except she bore a lush red pelt with white streaks going down her arms and a single one running along her spine to the tip of her tail.

A devilish grin split Sonic's mouth and he nudged Tails playfully with his elbow. "Hey hey, she's pretty cute isn't she."

Immediately dark patches of scarlet appeared on Tails' white cheeks even through the fur; the fox shifted his position a little as if uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed. "Yeah….I suppose she is," he muttered dismissively. This only made Sonic smile broader.

"It's not every day you run into a pretty little gal like that, Tails…."

"Look can we just focus here, please?" asked Tails, seeming eager to change the subject.

Sonic chuckled but didn't push it further. Instead he studied the anthro hedgehog next to her, eyeing his near gothic look with deathly white skin, fur as black as the long coat he was wearing and enough silver jewelry dangling from his ears and neck to make Rouge the Bat look twice. He was a good head taller in stature than his companion. Each stride was long and the way he held himself cast off an aura of confidence that made the blue blur bristle; his ego wouldn't let that kind of arrogance stand even if he'd never seen this hedgehog before in his life.

Sonic pointed. "Now that's a vampire if I ever see one," he said with finality.

"You've never seen a vampire, Sonic." Before the hedgehog could argue back the fox continued on, "But don't jump to conclusions yet, they may just be a couple out on a midnight stroll."

"Uh-huh….that's sounds very charming….wandering down a dimly lit street, in a deserted part of town, with a creepy looking dude," Sonic watched as the female hugged up closer against the hedgehog, resting her head gently on his chest as he lazily looped his arm over her shoulder, "…who's obviously got her completely brain-washed…..geez what a ham….and now he's leading her into a dark gloomy alley."

Sure enough, the gothic hedgehog walked her right on into the middle of the unlit back street and had her pinned up against a wall; gently, he stroked a hand on the side of her neck then kissed her several times.

"I think I'm gonna be sick….that's the cheesiest thing I've ever seen. That's gotta be our vamp," stated Sonic. The black hedgehog leaned in close to the girl pressing his black lips against her neck.

Tails sprang into action. "Sonic, he's going to kill her! We have to get down there right now before it's too late!" He tossed his binoculars to the side, letting them clatter against the rooftop. Standing on the very edge of their perch, the fox's twin tails began rotating rapidly until they'd produced enough lift to send Tails airborne. Without even waiting for Sonic, he flew off the roof and towards the alleyway where their target was busily attending to the red fox.

"Hey Tails, wait up!" Sonic jumped to the street below, curling into ball for the landing to absorb the impact with the pavement. Hardly pausing, he kicked into overdrive speeding along the narrow sidewalk; he passed the fox and reached the end of the dark alley in milliseconds. There, Sonic hid behind a dumpster as he wait for his friend.

Landing silently next to him, Tails scrunched up against the wall behind Sonic peering over the hedgehog's shoulder as they spied on the hedgehog that hadn't seen their arrival since he was more concerned apparently with seducing the girl. Just as he pressed his mouth closer to her open throat with teeth showing, Sonic leapt from cover.

"Gotcha ya blood sucking goon!" shouted the hedgehog triumphantly.

The black hedgehog's eyes widened in surprise; he released the female and stumbled backwards where he tripped over a trashcan. Screaming, the red fox dashed away deeper into the alley.

Whoops, wasn't trying to scare her. Oh well…this is the guy we want. Sonic refocused his attention on the black hedgehog only to find empty space where he'd been laying. Retreating footsteps could be heard coming from another narrow street that broke off from the alley they were in; the hedgehog sighed and clicked his tongue a few times.

"They always run. Hey, more fun for me!"

"Sonic, you go after the vampire and I'll try to find the girl and make sure she's okay," said Tails as he ran off in chase.

Sonic grinned as he imagined the fox trying to talk with the female…alone; Tails had a bad habit of stuttering or otherwise looking like a complete moron in front of a pretty gal. He always ended up tongue-tied in front of Cosmo. After brief exaggerated show of stretching, the hedgehog raced off in pursuit of the fleeing suspect. Looks like he's not as fast as Tails thought. In seconds, the hero could already see the dark silhouette of the black hedgehog fleeing along an open street. I've got you now!

"SONIC!!! HELP!"

Halting completely, Sonic twisted round and glanced back in the direction that Tails had been headed to help the female fox. For a miniscule second, the hedgehog was torn between catching the bad guy or helping his friend; but it lasted only a moment as he sped off back towards the alley.

Reaching that dark backstreet, Sonic angled off and dashed along the trail that Tails had followed hoping that he wouldn't have to go far. As he'd run, Sonic's sharp hearing had picked up another cry from his friend although more muffled as if someone was trying to keep him from yelling for help. He our of the alley and ended up in the courtyard area of some fancy outdoor restaurant; Tails was pinned against a the brick wall of the diner. Holding him up with one slim arm was the red female fox. Her eyes seemed to glow a subtle shade of red sending an involuntary shiver down Sonic's spine. Even from where he stood at least twenty yards away, the blue hero could see distinct curved fangs as she opened her mouth into a demented smile. Tails' legs kicked the air beneath him as he tried to score a hit on the girl while his arms pried at her hand. Quickly, Sonic hid himself in a shrubbery patch in the corner of the courtyard within leaping distance of the vampire using a scraggly evergreen bush as cover.

"You and your friend cost me a meal. I'd worked so hard to earn his trust and I had him exactly where I wanted, and then you two show up and he runs off….I had to make a quick change of plans," she hissed to the fox. Her voice was powerfully seductive yet at the same time dripping with an icy malevolence. "So…you will be his replacement." Then her expression grew thoughtful as she ran the fingers of her free left hand through the white tuft of fur on his chest. "It's a shame really, you are a rather handsome fox if a little young."

Sonic figured she was just toying with his friend before draining him dry, but then he saw that the vamperess truly seemed sad about what she was about to do. Then he made the mistake of shuffling his feet. SNAP! Oh…crap… A stick broke as his foot landed on it. This had distracted the hedgehog for second, causing him to make the second mistake that would cost him dearly. He looked away from the vampire. By the time he'd glanced back up, Tails was slumped against the base of the brick wall and the girl was nowhere to be seen.

"What the….where'd she go?" mumbled Sonic to himself as he swept his eyes over the courtyard searching for her.

Cold fingers wrapped around the back of his neck.

"Ah…I'd wondered if you'd turn back up, hero," the vampire whispered in his ear causing his hair to prick up.

Before the hedgehog could make an attempt at escaping, her iron grip twisted his head around and forcing him to stare directly into her haunting gaze. Sonic was paralyzed on the spot.

"I did not want to harm your little friend, in fact I think when I'm done with you….I may just turn him," she said with a warm smile that sharply contrasted her wicked eyes and fangs. "It's difficult to find a good mate these days for a vampire. But first thing comes first…I must feed. Goodbye, Sonic the Hedgehog." Her mouth opened wide as she leaned her head towards the flesh at the base of the right side of his neck.

…No…it can't end like this! Gotta fight back! C'mon Sonic!, he screamed at his body mentally trying to spur it into action.

The cobalt furred hedgehog yelped in pain as two small daggers punctured his neck. Almost instantly Sonic felt something pulling at the spot, drawing his lifeblood to the surface and into the vampire's fangs. Warm red fluid ran down his chest soaking his pelt. Black edges appeared in his vision and closed in tighter as he weakened from blood loss.

As Sonic weakened, the female's body began to shake with a barely restrained excitement; she started draining him faster.

Just when the hedgehog started to slip away into the sleepy folds of death's cloak, the vamperess shrieked in agony and her fangs withdrew from his neck. With nothing supporting his weigh, Sonic slumped over and crumpled up into the grass. Everything went into slow motion. The red fox staggered back from Sonic's body as her eyes drifted down, staring at her chest in disbelief. A bloodied spike had punched through the front of her orange tank top right at the top of her breastbone. Directly aimed into the heart. More dark blood oozed from the wound staining the shirt a discolored sort of red and brown. Tails stepped out from behind her with red smeared on his gloves and a combination of shock at what he'd done and anger for what the vampire had done to Sonic was etched into his features. Turning around slowly, the red fox faced Tails just as her fur faded to an ash grey. Cracks appeared across her skin webbing across every part of her flesh; gradually tiny flakes broke off. Suddenly, with a final cry of sorrow, the girl crumbled away into a shapeless pile of dust leaving only her clothes and a gory chunk of wood. Sonic passed out.

(Present time)

Tails had tried to ward off Sonic's fears of what he might become. He might not have read a lot of vampire stories but he did know that supposedly being bitten by a vampire and surviving it meant you'd end up as a night stalking, pasty-faced, neck biter as well. Sure enough, within a few days of the bite, Sonic began showing signs of infection. Sunlight would burn his skin ridiculously fast and then became so bright to his eyes that he could no longer wander outside of a building during the day. The hedgehog cobalt pelt gradually faded away to a dull ugly blue color while his peach flesh turned a deathly pallor of grey; not long after that…Sonic's heart ceased to beat. His blood dried up in his veins. With nothing sustaining his body, the cravings began only slightly at first but by now had built to a constant annoyance always nagging at the back of his mind clamoring for him to feed.

The fox pronounced him technically dead one week ago. Sonic could still hear those dooming words roll from his best friend's tongue and the tears returned; but, the hero of Mobius was not about to let himself fall back into that routine depression. Tonight, the hedgehog felt more alive than ever as he continued his run towards the city and he wasn't going to waste the night.

Sonic skidded to a stop on the inner suburbs of Station Square. At this early hour of the evening, Mobians still roamed the streets in number going about their nightly business or bound for one of the numerous clubs along the main highway.  A wide grin spread across his pale face as he greeted the numerous passerbies' on the street. Even though his appearance had changed, for the worse, people still recognized and revered their hero that had saved them so many times.

"Hey Sonic!"

"Hello Sonic!"

"Out for an evening stroll? Or looking for some of that Egg goon's bots?"

"Sonic! Good to see you!"

"I love you Sonic, will you marry me!"

The hedgehog did a quick double take on that last comment, making sure it hadn't been Amy Rose; to his relief he found it was just some purple female hedgehog…another one of his "adoring" fans. Sonic laughed to himself. Amy would be really jealous if she knew how many girls have asked me to go out with me or in the case of the more fanatic fans…marry me. Sonic always returned their greetings with extra enthusiasm as he needed the pep up right now. But he couldn't help but notice something else in their faces. A tiny hesitation before they smiled, the quick glances they'd give him as he walked away….They're afraid of me. Can't blame them though, I look like a walking corpse.

A young anthro badger, wearing a sports cap and toting a small backpack ran up to Sonic.

"H-hi…mister Sonic!" the youth greeted him excitedly.

"Hey there buddy," the hedgehog replied with a smile. He realized his mistake the second it was made as the badger's childish grin faded and was replaced by wide-eyed fear. By opening his mouth this close to another person, he'd put his new fangs on full display. Snapping his jaw shut, the hedgehog took a few fleeting steps back and put on an apologetic smile being sure this time to not let his lips part.

"Mommy!" the small badger ran away.

Sonic's shoulders slumped and his ears fell. Sighing the hedgehog decided it would be best to get away from this spot before the kid brought a whole crowd of curious onlookers came to see the pointy toothed hero. He dashed off up Main Street and headed for the center of Station Square where the hotel and train station were located.

Arriving outside the station, Sonic finally go this wish for a little action. As he came to a stop, the hedgehog heard screams coming from the wharf that ran out into the bay of the Emerald Coast; straining his eyes, he spied several metallic figures surfacing from the seawater. A red logo was emblazoned upon each of their right shoulders. These mechs were amphibious in design with a slim body and limbs to allow smooth and quick motion through the water; there were no rough edges on its skin to cause any hitches in its swimming ability. Small water jets were attached to each leg, which were what probably propelled it along. A small chuckled escaped Sonic as he noted their cone-like heads with a wide base planted squarely on the narrow shoulders that then tapered to sharp point at the top.

He studied the machines for a moment as they marched their way in single file up the wooden dock headed right for a group of trembling anthros. Hm…no weapons? Eggman's getting cocky. The leading mech raised its arms up to its steel chest then threw them out so its sides as long blades slid out with a sharp scrape of steel rubbing against steel; each blade was roughly four three in length from what Sonic could approximate. Nevermind.

Sonic rushed towards the attackers, leaping over the crowd of pedestrians.
"Hey get out of here!" he ordered them. The sudden shout spurred them out of their frozen stupor and as one they ran off towards the hotel for safety.

Landing just a few feet shy of the advancing aqua-bots, the hedgehog hopped up on top of a red and white striped umbrella that sheltered a hot-dog vendor cart.  There, he laid over with his head resting on one arm and his legs sticking off the other end of the umbrella. Sonic yawned as the robots halted beneath him.

"Hey there guys, aren't you all a little to young to be playing with swords? And what's with swords by the way? They're kinda out-dated if ya ask me," said the hedgehog indifferently as he eyed the tips of his right glove.

As was typical of Eggman's machines, they deigned to respond and instead fell onto their programming.

"Sonic the Hedgehog sighted….ter…"

The hero interrupted with a groan. "Sonic the Hedgehog sighted, terminate with extreme prejudice….yeah yeah yeah we've been through this before now just get on with the hacking and slashing so I can beat the tar out of you and have myself a chili dog."

The robot at the front raised it's sword and slashed through the umbrella's fragile wooden pole; Sonic momentarily lost his balance as the top fell out from under him and he landed hard on the pavement. Another blade whizzed down and stuck the pavement beside his head.

"Whoa! Too close!" he yelped springing back to his feet and ducking to avoid the follow-up swipe from the mech's other sword. Sonic curled up into a spinning blur of red and blue as he bounced around the pavement just toying with the machines that were busy slicing away. All their attacks were far too slow to catch him. Figuring he'd had enough fun watching them lumber around after him, Sonic rolled under one of the robots launching himself up between it's legs. His whirling spines ripped a hole clean into the metal and Sonic passed easily through its torso where he then burst out of its neck sending its head sailing sky-high. The hedgehog uncurled himself mid air and landed on top of a nearby bot.

"Hmm….this looks fairly important!" stated Sonic as he wedged his hand into the joint that connected the triangular head to the machine's  body. Fishing for a moment, his hand closed on a bundle of wires; a quick yank tore them out. Immediately the machine went haywire as sparks poured from its head and neck. Sonic barely got off in time as it raised it's twins swords; the robot's body began rotating rapidly turning it into a whirling tornado of slashing blades that made short work of two unfortunate robots that hadn't registered what had happened.
Laughing, Sonic stood back and simply let the whirling bot stagger about drunkenly. A single machine made the horrible decision to resume the attack on the hedgehog rather than worry about its out of control mechanical comrade. It didn't make it far. The wildly spinning blades battered the mech; the steel held only for a few of those blows. As it gave way, the aqua bot was turned into neatly sliced proportioned chunks, which then collapsed into a heap.

"Sushi anyone?" asked Sonic.

Finally, with three of the machines cut down by one of their own, the last five mechs switched targets seeming to pick up on the fact they wouldn't be getting near Sonic until this other threat was dealt with. A robot raised its arm, pointing at the out of control tornado. The blade shot away from its wrist like a harpoon then speared the machine in mid-spin; motor oil spewed from the gash and was slung all over by the spinning motion. Sonic ended up with several large drops landing across his face and some managing to sneak into his mouth. He gagged a few times, spitting up the foul liquid. With a few sputters and a ear-splitting sound of grinding gears, the rogue bot tilted face forwards then landed on the pavement, cracking it under the impact. With nothing else impeding their original assault , the five remaining machines proceeded to surround Sonic in a full circle. The hedgehog let them.

"Alrighty cone-heads let's get this over with…of course you could just give up now," he suggested helpfully.

A machine behind him lifted its arm.

Recognizing the oncoming attack, Sonic held his position letting the bot get a fix on him. Sonic heard the hiss of pneumatics as an air piston shot the sword right at him.  In a smoothness that seemed rehearsed, Sonic ducked, dropping onto all fours as the razor-edged projectile pierced the air above him; it continued its forward motion right into the head of a mech that had been standing just behind the hero. Not waiting for the critically damaged machine to fall, Sonic threw himself forwards as the one that had shot at him. He kicked out at it's left shin. The strength of his legs coupled with the speed of the kick bent the thin steel appendage crippling the machine and taking it off balance. Unable to support weight anymore, the damaged leg continued bending under the pressure. It gave way. The machine tumbled forwards and Sonic quickly finished it off with a furious combo of punches delivered to its exposed back denting the metal inwards until it scrunched against the inner workings. Gears stuck against one another with no room to move. The small motors that drove the machine's internal mechanics soon burnt up from too much stress.

Dodging a flurry of swings from two of the robots, Sonic then went into super-speed mode as he dashed around the hapless machines in a circle stirring up a cloud of dust from the pavement. It wasn't particularly blinding by any means but it served the purpose of scrambling their sensors. Without any means to effectively track the hedgehog, the aqua-bots were rendered completely harmless. Sonic sped around between the final four robots as he bashed each one with a flurry of kicks and punches that soon covered their originally smooth bodies in a pattern of divots and holes.

Sonic dashed out of the wavering cloud of white dust. He ran over to a nearby flag pole and after saluting the flying colors of Mobius, tore the double-thick rope off of it. Returning back into the fray of staggering machines, Sonic quickly looped the rope around one of the mech's legs tying it off with a triple knot just to make sure it stayed in place. From there, he sprinted to each robot and repeated the process until all of them were bound together at the leg. Giving a sharp yank on the remaining slack in the rope, Sonic tripped all of them. Now that they were on the ground the hedgehog dashed in a circle leaving the rope to trail behind him and wind a big oval around them; once he had run out Sonic pulled it tight drawing all four bots together in a tight bunch. The dust cloud settled away just as he finished making the last over-sized knot. All four machines had been securely bound and pulled into a knot of struggling metal limbs sitting in the middle of Station Square's roadway. From off in the distance on the opposite sidewalk and even from inside the buildings, Sonic could hear the cheers of the Mobians.

"Way to go Sonic!"

"That was way past cool!"

"Epic!"

"Sonic will you marry me?!"

"No problem folks, just doing what needed to be done," stated Sonic humbly basking in the admiration as their cheers went straight to his ego. And heck…who am I kidding….I do it for fun too! I hope Eggman gets this on camera!

Wanting to put on a bit of a show for the Mobians who were now coming out to clap and cheer, the blue hero casually strolled over to the bundle of bots and made a show of intently studying them as if trying to solve a puzzle.

"Aha! Now I know what you remind me of!" he told the robots as he wrapped his gloved fingertips beneath two machines' heads. A sharp tug pulled them both off. Glancing around, Sonic spied several cans of paint beside a partially drawn mural on the side of a restaurant building. Digging around he found a single can of fluorescent orange. Sonic dipped both cone-like heads into the paint and blew to dry them. He walked out into the middle of the street and set them down. "Traffic cones!"

Even Sonic had to admit it was kind of a lame joke but it did draw some laughter from the crowd particularly the youngsters. Any amount of amusement from these people brought Sonic some happiness. He wanted to forget his own problems and just have fun before having to again put himself in voluntary isolation for the daylight hours.

BEEP!

Sonic paused, turning from his fans to the bound robots. What the….

BEEP!

BEEP!

A single red eye centered on the drones' upper torso winked on and off at an increasing rate. The beeps also grew faster.

"Uh-oh….I've seen this enough times to know when to scram!" Sonic took a few steps away with his hands outstretched in front of him as if warding off an incoming blow. "They're gonna blow! Ya guys might want to start running now," he told the crowd. Knowing Eggman, he packed these guys with a big enough boom to make a real mess. By now the beeps were a constant whine that dug into Sonic's ears. He pivoted on his left foot, spinning himself around putting his back to the machines; the hedgehog managed one rapid foot step when the timer hit zero.

KABOOOOOM!!!!

The concussion from the explosion lifted Sonic off his feet and slammed him against the wall of the hotel. Once his ears had ceased ringing and he didn't see gold rings flickering around in front of his vision the hedgehog got himself back up on his tottering feet. He'd been thrown easily over fifty yards.

"Ugh….who switched on the spin cycle?" groaned the hero as he tried to steady his vision.; right now all the building and his surroundings seemed to be swirling around. Screams straightened his senses out. "Oh no…."

Many of the onlookers that had gathered earlier to watch his fight had managed to escape the worst of the blast and were now coming out from behind whatever random obstacles they'd used as cover. But, Sonic saw several others sprawled out much like he'd been; unfortunately for those victims though, they weren't super powered hedgehogs. The wailing cries of those that had been caught in the explosion echoed inside Sonic's head. He could see several anthros break from the stunned crowd as they ran to the sides of the wounded either trying to help or balling over there injured friends or loved ones.

Sonic took a shuddery step forwards surveying the chaos when he felt a sharp twinge in his chest; as he breathed, the pain returned in timing with each lung full of air he pulled in. The hedgehog found the source of irritation. A jagged, shard of steel shrapnel jutted out of his soft belly. Yet, there was no blood coming out of the wound and what should have been a mortal injury amounted to little more than a splinter in a finger. I really am dead aren't I. Sonic felt nothing as he grabbed the piece and gradually pulled it out.; it was far longer than he'd expected an apparently it had gone all the way through him. The hedgehog's typical grin had been wiped from his face as he released the steel chunk that had impaled him letting it rattle on the pavement. Instead the smile had been replaced by a sullen acceptance of his condition. Sonic knew what he was but this had been a sort of wake-up call. It's official…I'm a vampire.

Rousing himself from his depressing self-reflection, Sonic knew there was more important things to worry about right now than his own problems. He felt that it was his fault that these people were hurt. If I hadn't been showing off, I might have noticed that those drones were booby-trapped. He ran to the nearest victim, a female anthro crow, who was bleeding badly from her left wing. A blackbird was crouched over top of her, cradling her wounded wing in his hand; Sonic figured this was probably her boyfriend. He knew he wasn't a medical expert and knew very little about how to patch somebody up after an injury, that was Tails' specialty, but Sonic figured he could at least fetch any medical supplies or first-aid equipment quickly.

"Are you okay?" he asked the girl. With a few tears hanging in the corner of her yellow eyes, she steeled her face and nodded sharply.

"It…i-it's my wing, it got cut during the explosion…I think the piece is still stuck in there," she hissed through her gritted beak as the boyfriend wiped at the blood.

Sonic nodded. "Alright, let me see if I can find you a doctor round here….s-some….somewhere…." the hedgehog trailed off as if daydreaming suddenly. All around him his sharpened sense of smell detected the remaining traces of smoke and chemicals from the blast as well as more pungent aromas like sweat and the fear of all those around him. But, something else clawed for his attention. It was a pungent aroma that stirred the more beastial side of his brain nagging at him. Blood. His cravings hit full force. This was stupid of me! I shouldn't be anywhere near anybody when they're bleeding like this! The intoxicating scent flowed into his nose, Sonic wildly glanced around as the odor was coming from all around him; nearly all of the injured were bleeding to either a greater or lesser degree. It didn't matter though. He was overwhelmed.

The undead hedgehog's breathing steadied as he closed his eyes inhaling a lungful of the glorious smell. When his eyes opened, they had become a solid shade of black; even the white of his eyes had turned black as the night sky stretching above him. A calm smile worked across his face as he kneeled beside the helpless anthro. She seemed to have noticed the sudden change in the hero's demeanor as the crow was now shifting uneasily on the asphalt; Sonic's smile parted further revealing his fangs but only to her. The boyfriend also grew uneasy as he saw how afraid his companion had become.

"Mary, are you alright? What's wrong?" he asked her with concern.

She turned her head to speak to him but Sonic slipped a hand over her mouth, stifling any chance for Mary to warn the male blackbird.

"She is losing a lot of blood," he said smoothly, "if we do not bandage the wound soon she may bleed out." The girl's eyes widened further, she struggled to free herself but Sonic's grip on her face and mouth was like iron. "You need to hold still, Mary, conserve your strength."

The boyfriend was clearly panicking now and wasn't paying attention to the girl's struggle now that the hero he trusted had just told him that his love may not live.  This is what Sonic had intended.

"W-what can we do then? Where's a doctor?"

"Just relax. Go and find bandages, I am sure there are first-aid kits either out here right now or in some of these buildings," instructed Sonic.

"Yeah…yeah I'll be right back!" He ran off towards the hotel leaving his wounded girlfriend with the hungry Sonic.

"Now that we are alone…." Sonic stared seductively into her eyes. She fought to look away. "I mean you no harm. Relax. Look at me….that's right…everything will be alright." Mary's uninjured wing, which had been frantically slapping at him, drooped to her side and all the tension left her small frame. The vampire Sonic had her mesmerized. Certain she would put up no more resistance, Sonic parted his jaw allowing his fangs to hang out in full view. He shuffled to the other side of her so that anyone looking over wouldn't see exactly what he was doing. A quiet hiss came from him as his pointy teeth neared her soft, exposed throat.

"Hey Sonic! What happened here? It looks like….." yelled a gruff voice. The unexpected noise interrupted the vampire's focus and he quickly looked up from his paralyzed victim to see Knuckles the Echidna studying him intently with arms crossed. "Um….what are you….doing to her?"

Irritated at the intrusion on his feeding, Sonic hissed like a cat warning off the guardian.

"Whoa what's wrong with you?" questioned Knuckles as he leapt back with spiked fists raised in preparation for an attack.

Sonic shook his head violently and pressed a gloved hand against his temple. "Ug….what was that…where…I……oh," muttered the vampire as he spotted the echidna. His black eyes regained their former emerald coloring. Then the hedgehog peered down at the still dazed and bleeding anthro he'd been seconds from turning into a raisin. "I-I didn't mean to!"

"What didn't you mean to do?"

Wide-eyed with horror, Sonic stood quickly and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He zoomed passed the ambulances on their way to the scene of the explosion; the frightened vampire did not stop even once he'd reached the outside of the city. I need to get to Tails! But what if I try to hurt him too? For a moment Sonic slowed as he battled with his thoughts trying to figure out what to do. He's the only one that knows what I am now and he'll know how to help…I don't have a choice.  Something else was straining in his mind now, ravaging through it like chained beast waiting to be let loose. And the chains were breaking. He'd denied his body its nourishment for the last time and now it was desperate for blood. The vampire's body seized up on him tripping Sonic mid-stride and sending him face first into the dirt where he skidded several yards to a dead halt.

"Ouch….that hurt…."Violent tremors racked the hedgehog's weak form preventing him from getting up. His fingers on both hand started flexing involuntarily. "Now what?"

CRACK! CRACK!

The pinky finger on both of the hedgehog's hands slid sideways on his hand tearing out the sides of his gloves. Before he could register what was going on, the other fingers also morphed as they shifted position on his hand and began to stretch to a ridiculously long length; at the same time though, they remained very bony and thin. His fingertips tore out through the tips of his gloves and as they continued to mutate; the white material couldn't stretch with the unusual changes so they stretched to their absolute limit and finally peeled off his hands. With a strange rubbery sound, a membrane of skin grew in between his elongated fingers starting from his hand and spreading outwards to the very tips. However, his thumbs fattened as a thick claw burst out ripping his flesh in the process. Again though, there was no blood. He staggered to his feet and held his morphing limbs straight out, away from his body.

"What are those? Are those…..wings? I'm growing wings!?" It wasn't particularly painful, just mildly uncomfortable. A flap of the flight membrane was now dangling from beneath both arms and continued to fill in as it attached itself to the skin of his back and all the way to his still growing fingers that now nearly touched the ground. A light grayish layer of skin had grown in between his fingers and body; he now had a perfectly formed set of wings that clearly resembled the bony flight limbs of a bat. "I have to get to Tails!"
Sonic took off again as fast as his legs would carry him, but he quickly discovered that his wings were acting like a big sail catching the rushing air and making it that much harder for him to run. Giving up on the attempt to run, Sonic eyed his wings.

"Well I might as well make use of these while I have them," he muttered to himself. At first he wasn't sure if he could fly. But as he flapped his new appendages for the first time, instincts natural to a vampire kicked in and the hedgehog quickly found himself soaring over the landscape of Mobius headed for the Mystic Ruins where Tails' lab was located.

Flight proved to be a far slower means of travel when compared to the time it would have taken him to run the distance, but there was something soothing, almost peaceful about the feeling of the night air rushing beneath his wing membrane and the taste of the cool air on his tongue. The whole way though, Sonic could feel his body tensing itself as if preparing for something; this severely scared the hedgehog as he now knew that the hunger he felt was the cause of these changes.

Landing outside the lab door, Sonic collapsed as his leg muscles cinched up; Sonic felt his socks rip inside his shoes as something began to happen to his feet. Falling onto his backside, the vampire reached with his wings for the tightening shoes but found that with no true fingers, there was no way for him to get them off. So he drug the heels of his red runners against the grass using the friction to work them off. Finally they both slipped off and Sonic gasped as his feet bulged inside the well-worn threads of his socks making disturbing crackling noises. Long talons ripped out the end of his socks.

"Tails! ARGH!! HELP MEEEE!!!" his voice turned to a screech at the end and he quickly clamped his mouth shut.

The lab door slammed open as the yellow fox dashed out to see what was causing the ruckus. His eyes fell on the mutating hedgehog as he writed on the ground.

"Please….ack….help me!" RIP SHRED! Sonic's feet exploded from within the socks finishing those off and reducing them to ragged fibers.

"Sonic? What happened to you! I heard on the police scanners that there was some kind of attack and you were involved then you ran off or something," said the fox as he helped pick his friend up. Sonic wondered if Tails could feel the transformations taking place inside of his body; the fox jerked a little in surprise and Sonic knew he'd just felt the same massive tremor that had just ripped through his body.

"Yeah…some of Eggman's bots….I stopped 'em."

"So what happened after that?"

The hedgehog was silent not sure how to explain. "I-I tried to help some girl that had been hurt….but….there was so much blood….I couldn't control it!"

Tails helped drag the vampire through the door and set him down on a lab bench. As the fox had carried him, Sonic had felt a near irrepressible urge to clamp his fangs into the fox but held it off. Tails disappeared into another room.

For a moment Sonic believed that the changes were over. The hedgehog's body shape had remained the same except now his arms had transformed into a large pair of wings and his feet resembled a bat's; each toe was tipped with a length curved talon made for grasping and tearing. A spasm shook Sonic right off the bench where he then sprawled out on the floor. He crawled towards the doorway where Tails had gone into; he could hear the fox rummaging around looking for who knows what. The noises quit. Tails ran out of the storage room pushing a metal wheelie cart in front of him, the top of it was packed with all sorts of lab equipment including several buzzing machines that Sonic could only guess the purpose of. Vials filled with varying colors of sloshing liquids and chemicals bounced inside the racks that held them.

"Gaahhh!!!" CRACKLE! POP! POP! Sonic's jaw was forced open as rows of razor sharp teeth filled in. His fangs though grew to an enormous size keeping him from being able to close his mouth at all.

"Are you okay?" asked the fox as he hunched over Sonic, he rested a gentle hand on the hedgehog's trembling back.

Lifting his head, Sonic eyed him critically. "Yeah….I'm great….just…turning into a mutant bat monster here….it's all good," growled the vampire sarcastically. "Why's this happening….I mean why now?"

Tails was next to the car now as he mixed chemicals carefully but as quickly as he could. Some of the fluids spilled onto the floor.

"I figured this could happen eventually. You're body needs blood to sustain itself just like a normal person needs food to survive."

Sonic interrupted. "I used to get the munchies all the time before I ended up like this…that didn't turn me into a freak!"

"Your body WANTS and NEEDS to feed now. Its instincts drive it to do whatever it can to survive and right now that means changing itself into something more than capable and very willing to sate those needs."

Sonic cringed as his ears started to transform. They broadened and expanded increasing his ability to hear greatly to the point that he could detect the rapid pulse Tails' anxious heart. Feed. Blood. The hedgehog fought to shove those thoughts away before he did anything to hurt his friend.

"Is there something….urg…you can do?"

"I'm always prepared, Sonic. I've been studying the blood samples I took from you and three days ago I started to work on something that could serve as a viable replacement for real blood since you wont' feed on that," Tails replied as he continued mixing and measuring chemicals.

"Will it cure me?" asked Sonic desperately.

Sadly the fox shook his head. "It'll just take the edge off your hunger and should keep you from mutating anymore. I just hope it's not too late."

"How much more will I change?" The hedgehog folded himself up into a tight ball and covered himself with his huge wings as if to protect his body from further pain.

Tails hesitated as if choosing how best to respond. "Well….I'm not entirely certain Sonic. I knew your body may have a reaction of some sort but I didn't know it would be this…physical. Perhaps it is only…."

The fox's explanations fell on deaf ears. Sonic was no longer capable of listening as the full swing of the mutation set itself into high gear. Screeching in agony, the hedgehog's body went into a seizure. He could feel something pouring into his tortured frame causing the mutation to spread deep into his bones and muscles.

It started slowly. Sonic's slim torso bubbled as pec muscles began to develop giving his torso the shape of an upside down triangle that became more pronounced as he grew.

He attempted one last plee for help. "Tails…..graagghh….do something! I can't….control it!" Each word became deeper until the final words came out as more of a rumbling scream augmented by a high-pitched wail. Sonic got to his feet. His arms shot out from his sides as growth surged in; heavy knots of muscles bulged rapidly within his them. The vampire's upper arms ballooned. This swelling spread into his forearms causing them to expand at an intense rate so they could catch up with his biceps.

Sonic hunched over as his back widened, his collarbones popped forcing his right shoulder to widen followed shortly by his left. The growth settled into other bones as well causing several sudden spurts of stretching out that came in intervals. Passing four foot, the vampire continued getting taller until he'd hit a solid seven-foot; now he towered over the fox.

Startled by his friend's horrendous mutation, Tails twisted round and looked up into Sonic's cringing face. A single tear fell from the hedgehog's eye.

"Just hold it off Sonic! Give me a little more time…I-I've almost got it finished!" He shoved the cart farther away putting distance between him and the growing monster.

Thick rolls of muscle bubbled across Sonic's widening back filling out his once slim body. His ribcage crackled and swelled outwards creating an unnatural lump in his upper chest and making his already large pec muscles stand out further.

Sonic could only roar in response to the fox but he lacked any control over what his body was going through right now; it took all of his remaining willpower to keep from draining his friend dry. If I kill him….I'll be stuck like this forever! Ab muscles appeared, gradually transforming his slightly round belly into a toned six pack that continued swelling.

The vampire's skull wasn't going to be left alone either. Sonic's jaw twitched uncontrollably as his cheekbones widened changing his entire facial profile; his mouth than began stretching somewhat to make room for his new set of teeth. An itch began inside Sonic's nose. He crossed his eyes and looked at the small black sensory organ to see what was happening to it and watched, it widened out then broadened into something that perfectly resembled a bat's nasal. This increased his sense of smell tenfold. A stench pervaded the room, which was a combination of his own fear and that of the fox still busily creating a formula that Sonic hoped would end the transformation.

Throughout these other changes, Sonic's leg muscles had grown as well and now they were expanding faster than anything else since these would be the most important tools for the morphing predator. His flight muscles would need to be strong and already they were well muscled, but his legs would be what helped him grasp his prey as he swooped from the sky. The hedgehog's calf muscle now resembled an oddly shaped upside down tear drop that swelled more and more until it was a well formed ball of meat. Sonic's thighs bulged one by one with his right growing faster than his left; not going to be left behind, the left thigh bulked up quickly playing catch up. This caused Sonic's shaking torso to tilt left and right in intervals as he topped off at eight feet tall. To relieve the tension he felt in his legs, Sonic roared and stomped down hard on tile floor; his talons shattering the thin stone plates and even busting the concrete beneath. This concluded the changes in his lower body.

Tendons stood out on his neck as the vampire strained against the transformation in vain. Pound after pound built on his arm muscles. His biceps inflated to the size of bowling balls; smaller bubbles appeared on his forearms causing those t grow more. These muscle would help the vampire to fly long distance and need to have the strength to lift his hefty, bulked up form.

Sonic's chest was thust outwards as the final stages of his growth came to a close and his chest thickened making popping noises for every burst of expansion that hit him.

Tufts of dead blue fur grew in on his elbows and knees. Sonic's quills sagged down his back like a mane of grey hair, growing longer until they reached mid-way on his broad and powerfully muscled back. Then, with a final few disgusting cracks that came from his body, the transformation was over.

Where Sonic the hedgehog had once stood, now a new beast was left in his place. The vampire's body boasted thick muscles that bulged across his entire frame; he stood just a foot shy of the nine-foot ceiling. He clicked his talons against the floor a few times as if testing their sharpness and working out a few leftover kinks from the mutation. Spreading his arms, Sonic's wingspan took up a large portion of the room. Rearing back his head, the vampire beast cut loose with an ear-splitting screech that was made even worse by the metal plated walls of Tails' laboratory. But the scream served another purpose as well. As it echoed around the room, it fed Sonic's primal driven brain information about his surroundings. His eyes worked well enough but now in this monstrous bat-form, the vampire would rely much more on what he could hear by using his screech as a slightly altered form of echolocation mapping the lab like an internal GPS.

From behind a steel table where he'd been hiding, Tails' yellow and white head peeked out. Sonic locked onto the fox but remained still.

"S-sonic? Are you still there?"

The vampire flashed a wicked grin in response showing off his fangs; his eyes were black as pitch.

Tails must have realized that he was in danger because he sprinted from cover aiming for a heavy door in the back of the lab. Not wanting to lose his dinner, Sonic screeched and in one bound, caught up with his friend. He swiped his wing at the fox who managed to slip under the attack; but it cost him by taking him off his stride and putting the fox off balance. The vampire followed up by throwing his muscular body in front of Tails blocking his escape. Luckly for him, the fox dug his shoes into the tile and stopped his momentum before it carried him right into Sonic's welcoming embrace. Sweating visibly now from excitement and fear, the fox's fingers slipped as he tried to pull a desk over in front of him.

"Please Sonic listen to me!"

"RAAWWRRRR!!!!"

Sonic advanced on Tails knowing that he'd basically run out of places to run; the vampire stood between the fox and his safe room as well as the rest of the lab leaving only the storage closet behind him to take shelter in. That door was made of flimsy aluminum and would not hold up against his claws. Judging by the concerned expression on Tails fearful face, the fox knew he was trapped as well.

(Tails POV)

The monster blocking his way was not Sonic. This creature had one thought only and that was to feed it's starving body no matter who was harmed. He was stuck now with no effective way to get to safety. Backing up slowly, Tails made his way towards the storage room door. I need to distract him before I make a run for it otherwise he'll tear me apart. Spying a container that held black phosphorus powder, the fox now had his distraction.

"Sorry about this Sonic," he apologized. Tails jerked to life, reaching into the container and pulling out a fist full of phosphorus powder then threw it at Sonic who was now just feet away. The black dust exploded in Sonic's eyes. He screeched and covered his stinging face with both wings; this interrupted his charge and sent him reeling off course where he then slammed against the wall knocking off the numerous blue prints sticky tacked to it.

Tails made a mad dash for the storage room but not before grabbing the syringe of his experimental fluid off the cart. The beast recovered a lot faster than Tails would have expected and barely managed to get inside the storage room when Sonic's weight slammed up against it; the hinges opened outwards on this door so it actually succeeded in shutting the door tight behind the fox. But Sonic wasn't so far gone that he didn't remember how to open a door. The knob turned sharply. Gradually the door started to swing open until the fox sprang from the floor where he'd fallen and grasped the door handle with both hands trying to pull it shut. Momentarily, he closed it a little. This was only because the resistance had apparently surprised the vampire but only briefly. Unavoidably, the door started opening again. A strong muscled arm reach in then wrapped around the inside of the door. Tails knew he had mere seconds to react otherwise the vampire Sonic would by gnawing on his bloody corpse.

Pulling the syringe out of his lab coat, Tails studied the orange fluid that filled the clear container portion of the needle. He'd whipped this concoction up during the time it had take for Sonic to transform but he'd rush it so much that the fox has severe doubts whether jabbing in the needle would cure Sonic or just make him that much madder. The beast gave another sharp tug on the door nearly tearing it from the hinges and pulling Tails with it. This made his decision. Tails stabbed the syringe into the muscled flesh of his forearm that was on the inside of the door trying to pull it open; he prayed he'd hit an important vein or something that would help spread the fluid faster.

Sonic let out a blood-curdling yelp of pain as his arm was withdrawn from the door and out of sight. With nothing trying to pull the door open, the sudden lack of opposing force caught Tails off guard and he fell backwards slamming the aluminum lab door tightly shut with a resounding thud. Even inside the closed room, the fox had to cover his ears as the vampire outside screamed in rage. Tails could hear things breaking and being thrown about as the beast went into a berserker rampage. Then, he heard another sound. He could hear similar sounds that Sonic's body had been making during his transformation; a cold touch wrapped around the fox's heart as the screams intensified along with the disturbing sound of bones being broken. What did I do to him? Did I just make it worse? Not wanting to think the worse, he silently told himself over and over that it would work.

As soon as the roars of agony had begun, they ceased entirely. The sudden silence sharply contrasted the earlier racket that the vampire had been making. Tails was content to stay inside the storage room for now fearing that maybe just outside the door an even further mutated vampire beast might be waiting silently for him to come out.

KNOCK. BANG.

Tails jerked at the sound of the two gentle wraps at the base of the aluminum door. Sonic? It could be a trick. His survival instincts wanted him to stay in this room indefinitely but the bond that he'd formed with his adopted brother wanted to know if he'd saved Sonic.

"Only one way to find out," he muttered to himself in the darkness. Standing up, Tails tiptoed to the door and pressed his ear against it listening for any signs of trouble. Hearing none, the fox grabbed the door handle gingerly as if it were a bomb ready to blow. He steeled his resolve and in one swift motion, twisted the handle and threw the door open.

He was blinded by the sudden in flow of light from the lab, but as his eyes adjusted Tails felt his heart leap skywards as he saw a single blue furred hedgehog huddled on the floor just a little ways away. Tails flew to his friend's side and wrapped Sonic in a tight hug. Weakly, the hedgehog returned the embrace. Then, the fox felt something he hadn't expected from the hedgehog; his serum had done more than turn Sonic back to normal and feed his appetite. Through the fur on his chest, Tails could feel the steady rhythmic beating of Sonic the Hedgehog's heart.

Description
Short Story
Blood

(Sonic's POV)

Only the faintest rays of the sun's final light entered through the miniscule cracks between the thickly threaded shades that were drawn over the windows in Sonic the Hedgehog's home. Wanting to at least catch a glimpse of the dying sun, Sonic dared to part one of the shades slightly risking the harm it could cause. A faint glow of happiness shimmered inside his lifeless chest as he watched the fading orange top of the sun dip below the black horizon. He was forced to look away though as his eyes began to burn. Tiny wisps of smoke drifted away from his face as the hedgehog pulled the shades close tightly then fell to his knees as the hopelessness that had become his companion over the last week clutched his silent heart. A single tear fell from his eye. I miss the sun. Sonic could still remember how it felt to have it's warmth beating down on him as ran across the green hills of Mobius enjoying the light and life around him. Now though, the hedgehog was as icy and dead as the floor of his home made from the timber of the surrounding forest. These planks had once been alive as well, but no longer.

Shaking himself out of his depression, Sonic stood and grabbed his red shoes from the doormat slipping them on and allowing a brief smile to touch his grey lips. Well….might as well enjoy the night. It doesn't do me any good to sit here moping. Before walking out the door though, the hedgehog peered quickly over at the mirror on the wall in the entry way, then mentally berated himself for being stupid. He hadn't seen anything in that mirror since before the attack….and there was nothing to see this time.

Sonic slipped out the door then took a deep breath inhaling the cool, moist night air. The sky over the horizon was still slightly red around the place where the sun had vanished; even these indirect and weak rays were still enough to cause the hedgehog some mild discomfort but he didn't mind. He'd found that this nagging itch of pain actually helped keep his mind off of the hunger that so far he'd left unfed. It had been getting steadily worse. Tails had warned him about the nourishments his new body would demand and the fox had even offered packets of his own blood to sate the hedgehog's cravings; but the hero's conscious went against his hunting instincts. Sonic would not hurt innocents just to ease the urge. The thought of drinking blood packets wasn't to appealing to him either, the thought of slurping down ANY blood whether it was still in the person or not didn't sound good, although his body disagreed with that moral.

Over the past few days, Sonic's body had begun to rebel against him. He felt both weaker and also less and less like himself. The hedgehog was in a constant state of irritability, making him behave differently towards everyone he met including his own friends. Tails had been working day in and out to try and cure him yet just the other night Sonic had exploded in anger at his friend for taking so long. It is partially his fault I'm like this now…..no….that's not fair to him. I was trying to save him.

"Oh forget it, it doesn't matter what happened. I'm wasting my time just standing here thinking, now my head hurts," Sonic mumbled to himself as he did a few quick stretches then sprinted off through the winding path of the Great Forest bound for the city of Station Square. Maybe a good brawl or two with some of Eggie's bots will take my mind off of this…..and my stomach. However even as he relaxed and let his feet carry him along the well-trodden path, his brain was lulled off in the rhythm of his shoes pounding the soil. He began to think back to the night that his new life had begun.

(One week ago)

Sonic sighed as he sat on a rooftop with his feet dangling limply over the ledge. Boredom was not something the hedgehog was accustomed to since he spent the majority of his day trying to avoid that feeling; so when he found himself being "painfully" forced to sit patiently still, the hero had no clue how to entertain himself. Again, the hedgehog puffed out an exaggerated breath.

"It isn't that bad," Tails said from across the roof as he swept the streets below with his binoculars. "You really do need to work on your patience. We're doing a stake-out here."

"Are you kidding me? This is horrible!" groaned the hero as he rested his chin in his hands. "Why can't I just chase after this guy, I'd catch him easy! Right now he could be running around anywhere in the city and we're just sitting here waiting for him to by some chance stroll right on by beneath us."

The fox chuckled. "I explained all of this to you Sonic and…"

"Yeah yeah this thing is some kind of….vampire," the hedgehog frowned as he mouthed the word again, " a vampire….really? Aren't those kind of…not real?"

"I thought so too, but a scientist should never leave out a possibility. Since the attacks began, I've tried finding every other explanation for them but the more and more I studied what was happening and what got left behind…." Sonic saw his friend shudder as he brought up the condition of the victims left behind.

For the last week or so, Mobians were being assaulted in the dark of the night. No one ever survived. Sonic recalled how every victim's corpse had looked grayish and also, now here was the scary part that had confounded Sonic and Tails the most, all of the dead were left completely drained of all their blood. Not a drop left.

"We're dealing with a vampire, Sonic, this isn't like anything you've ever fought before. They're fast, intelligent, exceedingly strong, aggressive, and just plain mean."

"I'm the fastest thing alive…."

"Vampires aren't living."

Silence pervaded for the next half hour. At several points in their stake-out, Sonic knew he'd dozed off because that time seemed to fly by. At last, his friend hissed catching the hedgehog's attention. Immediately snapping into action mode, Sonic slid across the rooftop stopping right next to his friend; Sonic's eyes were already scanning the empty streets below for any sign of trouble or the supposed vampire.

"There!" whispered the fox loudly as he pointed to a back alleyway. Two figures were quietly making their way along the street just outside the alley; one was male and the other female. The female was garbed in a simple pair of jeans with only an orange tank top covering her torso, yet Sonic noticed it showed off her natural curves to full advantage. From this distance the hedgehog could tell she was an anthro fox much like Tails except she bore a lush red pelt with white streaks going down her arms and a single one running along her spine to the tip of her tail.

A devilish grin split Sonic's mouth and he nudged Tails playfully with his elbow. "Hey hey, she's pretty cute isn't she."

Immediately dark patches of scarlet appeared on Tails' white cheeks even through the fur; the fox shifted his position a little as if uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed. "Yeah….I suppose she is," he muttered dismissively. This only made Sonic smile broader.

"It's not every day you run into a pretty little gal like that, Tails…."

"Look can we just focus here, please?" asked Tails, seeming eager to change the subject.

Sonic chuckled but didn't push it further. Instead he studied the anthro hedgehog next to her, eyeing his near gothic look with deathly white skin, fur as black as the long coat he was wearing and enough silver jewelry dangling from his ears and neck to make Rouge the Bat look twice. He was a good head taller in stature than his companion. Each stride was long and the way he held himself cast off an aura of confidence that made the blue blur bristle; his ego wouldn't let that kind of arrogance stand even if he'd never seen this hedgehog before in his life.

Sonic pointed. "Now that's a vampire if I ever see one," he said with finality.

"You've never seen a vampire, Sonic." Before the hedgehog could argue back the fox continued on, "But don't jump to conclusions yet, they may just be a couple out on a midnight stroll."

"Uh-huh….that's sounds very charming….wandering down a dimly lit street, in a deserted part of town, with a creepy looking dude," Sonic watched as the female hugged up closer against the hedgehog, resting her head gently on his chest as he lazily looped his arm over her shoulder, "…who's obviously got her completely brain-washed…..geez what a ham….and now he's leading her into a dark gloomy alley."

Sure enough, the gothic hedgehog walked her right on into the middle of the unlit back street and had her pinned up against a wall; gently, he stroked a hand on the side of her neck then kissed her several times.

"I think I'm gonna be sick….that's the cheesiest thing I've ever seen. That's gotta be our vamp," stated Sonic. The black hedgehog leaned in close to the girl pressing his black lips against her neck.

Tails sprang into action. "Sonic, he's going to kill her! We have to get down there right now before it's too late!" He tossed his binoculars to the side, letting them clatter against the rooftop. Standing on the very edge of their perch, the fox's twin tails began rotating rapidly until they'd produced enough lift to send Tails airborne. Without even waiting for Sonic, he flew off the roof and towards the alleyway where their target was busily attending to the red fox.

"Hey Tails, wait up!" Sonic jumped to the street below, curling into ball for the landing to absorb the impact with the pavement. Hardly pausing, he kicked into overdrive speeding along the narrow sidewalk; he passed the fox and reached the end of the dark alley in milliseconds. There, Sonic hid behind a dumpster as he wait for his friend.

Landing silently next to him, Tails scrunched up against the wall behind Sonic peering over the hedgehog's shoulder as they spied on the hedgehog that hadn't seen their arrival since he was more concerned apparently with seducing the girl. Just as he pressed his mouth closer to her open throat with teeth showing, Sonic leapt from cover.

"Gotcha ya blood sucking goon!" shouted the hedgehog triumphantly.

The black hedgehog's eyes widened in surprise; he released the female and stumbled backwards where he tripped over a trashcan. Screaming, the red fox dashed away deeper into the alley.

Whoops, wasn't trying to scare her. Oh well…this is the guy we want. Sonic refocused his attention on the black hedgehog only to find empty space where he'd been laying. Retreating footsteps could be heard coming from another narrow street that broke off from the alley they were in; the hedgehog sighed and clicked his tongue a few times.

"They always run. Hey, more fun for me!"

"Sonic, you go after the vampire and I'll try to find the girl and make sure she's okay," said Tails as he ran off in chase.

Sonic grinned as he imagined the fox trying to talk with the female…alone; Tails had a bad habit of stuttering or otherwise looking like a complete moron in front of a pretty gal. He always ended up tongue-tied in front of Cosmo. After brief exaggerated show of stretching, the hedgehog raced off in pursuit of the fleeing suspect. Looks like he's not as fast as Tails thought. In seconds, the hero could already see the dark silhouette of the black hedgehog fleeing along an open street. I've got you now!

"SONIC!!! HELP!"

Halting completely, Sonic twisted round and glanced back in the direction that Tails had been headed to help the female fox. For a miniscule second, the hedgehog was torn between catching the bad guy or helping his friend; but it lasted only a moment as he sped off back towards the alley.

Reaching that dark backstreet, Sonic angled off and dashed along the trail that Tails had followed hoping that he wouldn't have to go far. As he'd run, Sonic's sharp hearing had picked up another cry from his friend although more muffled as if someone was trying to keep him from yelling for help. He our of the alley and ended up in the courtyard area of some fancy outdoor restaurant; Tails was pinned against a the brick wall of the diner. Holding him up with one slim arm was the red female fox. Her eyes seemed to glow a subtle shade of red sending an involuntary shiver down Sonic's spine. Even from where he stood at least twenty yards away, the blue hero could see distinct curved fangs as she opened her mouth into a demented smile. Tails' legs kicked the air beneath him as he tried to score a hit on the girl while his arms pried at her hand. Quickly, Sonic hid himself in a shrubbery patch in the corner of the courtyard within leaping distance of the vampire using a scraggly evergreen bush as cover.

"You and your friend cost me a meal. I'd worked so hard to earn his trust and I had him exactly where I wanted, and then you two show up and he runs off….I had to make a quick change of plans," she hissed to the fox. Her voice was powerfully seductive yet at the same time dripping with an icy malevolence. "So…you will be his replacement." Then her expression grew thoughtful as she ran the fingers of her free left hand through the white tuft of fur on his chest. "It's a shame really, you are a rather handsome fox if a little young."

Sonic figured she was just toying with his friend before draining him dry, but then he saw that the vamperess truly seemed sad about what she was about to do. Then he made the mistake of shuffling his feet. SNAP! Oh…crap… A stick broke as his foot landed on it. This had distracted the hedgehog for second, causing him to make the second mistake that would cost him dearly. He looked away from the vampire. By the time he'd glanced back up, Tails was slumped against the base of the brick wall and the girl was nowhere to be seen.

"What the….where'd she go?" mumbled Sonic to himself as he swept his eyes over the courtyard searching for her.

Cold fingers wrapped around the back of his neck.

"Ah…I'd wondered if you'd turn back up, hero," the vampire whispered in his ear causing his hair to prick up.

Before the hedgehog could make an attempt at escaping, her iron grip twisted his head around and forcing him to stare directly into her haunting gaze. Sonic was paralyzed on the spot.

"I did not want to harm your little friend, in fact I think when I'm done with you….I may just turn him," she said with a warm smile that sharply contrasted her wicked eyes and fangs. "It's difficult to find a good mate these days for a vampire. But first thing comes first…I must feed. Goodbye, Sonic the Hedgehog." Her mouth opened wide as she leaned her head towards the flesh at the base of the right side of his neck.

…No…it can't end like this! Gotta fight back! C'mon Sonic!, he screamed at his body mentally trying to spur it into action.

The cobalt furred hedgehog yelped in pain as two small daggers punctured his neck. Almost instantly Sonic felt something pulling at the spot, drawing his lifeblood to the surface and into the vampire's fangs. Warm red fluid ran down his chest soaking his pelt. Black edges appeared in his vision and closed in tighter as he weakened from blood loss.

As Sonic weakened, the female's body began to shake with a barely restrained excitement; she started draining him faster.

Just when the hedgehog started to slip away into the sleepy folds of death's cloak, the vamperess shrieked in agony and her fangs withdrew from his neck. With nothing supporting his weigh, Sonic slumped over and crumpled up into the grass. Everything went into slow motion. The red fox staggered back from Sonic's body as her eyes drifted down, staring at her chest in disbelief. A bloodied spike had punched through the front of her orange tank top right at the top of her breastbone. Directly aimed into the heart. More dark blood oozed from the wound staining the shirt a discolored sort of red and brown. Tails stepped out from behind her with red smeared on his gloves and a combination of shock at what he'd done and anger for what the vampire had done to Sonic was etched into his features. Turning around slowly, the red fox faced Tails just as her fur faded to an ash grey. Cracks appeared across her skin webbing across every part of her flesh; gradually tiny flakes broke off. Suddenly, with a final cry of sorrow, the girl crumbled away into a shapeless pile of dust leaving only her clothes and a gory chunk of wood. Sonic passed out.

(Present time)

Tails had tried to ward off Sonic's fears of what he might become. He might not have read a lot of vampire stories but he did know that supposedly being bitten by a vampire and surviving it meant you'd end up as a night stalking, pasty-faced, neck biter as well. Sure enough, within a few days of the bite, Sonic began showing signs of infection. Sunlight would burn his skin ridiculously fast and then became so bright to his eyes that he could no longer wander outside of a building during the day. The hedgehog cobalt pelt gradually faded away to a dull ugly blue color while his peach flesh turned a deathly pallor of grey; not long after that…Sonic's heart ceased to beat. His blood dried up in his veins. With nothing sustaining his body, the cravings began only slightly at first but by now had built to a constant annoyance always nagging at the back of his mind clamoring for him to feed.

The fox pronounced him technically dead one week ago. Sonic could still hear those dooming words roll from his best friend's tongue and the tears returned; but, the hero of Mobius was not about to let himself fall back into that routine depression. Tonight, the hedgehog felt more alive than ever as he continued his run towards the city and he wasn't going to waste the night.

Sonic skidded to a stop on the inner suburbs of Station Square. At this early hour of the evening, Mobians still roamed the streets in number going about their nightly business or bound for one of the numerous clubs along the main highway.  A wide grin spread across his pale face as he greeted the numerous passerbies' on the street. Even though his appearance had changed, for the worse, people still recognized and revered their hero that had saved them so many times.

"Hey Sonic!"

"Hello Sonic!"

"Out for an evening stroll? Or looking for some of that Egg goon's bots?"

"Sonic! Good to see you!"

"I love you Sonic, will you marry me!"

The hedgehog did a quick double take on that last comment, making sure it hadn't been Amy Rose; to his relief he found it was just some purple female hedgehog…another one of his "adoring" fans. Sonic laughed to himself. Amy would be really jealous if she knew how many girls have asked me to go out with me or in the case of the more fanatic fans…marry me. Sonic always returned their greetings with extra enthusiasm as he needed the pep up right now. But he couldn't help but notice something else in their faces. A tiny hesitation before they smiled, the quick glances they'd give him as he walked away….They're afraid of me. Can't blame them though, I look like a walking corpse.

A young anthro badger, wearing a sports cap and toting a small backpack ran up to Sonic.

"H-hi…mister Sonic!" the youth greeted him excitedly.

"Hey there buddy," the hedgehog replied with a smile. He realized his mistake the second it was made as the badger's childish grin faded and was replaced by wide-eyed fear. By opening his mouth this close to another person, he'd put his new fangs on full display. Snapping his jaw shut, the hedgehog took a few fleeting steps back and put on an apologetic smile being sure this time to not let his lips part.

"Mommy!" the small badger ran away.

Sonic's shoulders slumped and his ears fell. Sighing the hedgehog decided it would be best to get away from this spot before the kid brought a whole crowd of curious onlookers came to see the pointy toothed hero. He dashed off up Main Street and headed for the center of Station Square where the hotel and train station were located.

Arriving outside the station, Sonic finally go this wish for a little action. As he came to a stop, the hedgehog heard screams coming from the wharf that ran out into the bay of the Emerald Coast; straining his eyes, he spied several metallic figures surfacing from the seawater. A red logo was emblazoned upon each of their right shoulders. These mechs were amphibious in design with a slim body and limbs to allow smooth and quick motion through the water; there were no rough edges on its skin to cause any hitches in its swimming ability. Small water jets were attached to each leg, which were what probably propelled it along. A small chuckled escaped Sonic as he noted their cone-like heads with a wide base planted squarely on the narrow shoulders that then tapered to sharp point at the top.

He studied the machines for a moment as they marched their way in single file up the wooden dock headed right for a group of trembling anthros. Hm…no weapons? Eggman's getting cocky. The leading mech raised its arms up to its steel chest then threw them out so its sides as long blades slid out with a sharp scrape of steel rubbing against steel; each blade was roughly four three in length from what Sonic could approximate. Nevermind.

Sonic rushed towards the attackers, leaping over the crowd of pedestrians.
"Hey get out of here!" he ordered them. The sudden shout spurred them out of their frozen stupor and as one they ran off towards the hotel for safety.

Landing just a few feet shy of the advancing aqua-bots, the hedgehog hopped up on top of a red and white striped umbrella that sheltered a hot-dog vendor cart.  There, he laid over with his head resting on one arm and his legs sticking off the other end of the umbrella. Sonic yawned as the robots halted beneath him.

"Hey there guys, aren't you all a little to young to be playing with swords? And what's with swords by the way? They're kinda out-dated if ya ask me," said the hedgehog indifferently as he eyed the tips of his right glove.

As was typical of Eggman's machines, they deigned to respond and instead fell onto their programming.

"Sonic the Hedgehog sighted….ter…"

The hero interrupted with a groan. "Sonic the Hedgehog sighted, terminate with extreme prejudice….yeah yeah yeah we've been through this before now just get on with the hacking and slashing so I can beat the tar out of you and have myself a chili dog."

The robot at the front raised it's sword and slashed through the umbrella's fragile wooden pole; Sonic momentarily lost his balance as the top fell out from under him and he landed hard on the pavement. Another blade whizzed down and stuck the pavement beside his head.

"Whoa! Too close!" he yelped springing back to his feet and ducking to avoid the follow-up swipe from the mech's other sword. Sonic curled up into a spinning blur of red and blue as he bounced around the pavement just toying with the machines that were busy slicing away. All their attacks were far too slow to catch him. Figuring he'd had enough fun watching them lumber around after him, Sonic rolled under one of the robots launching himself up between it's legs. His whirling spines ripped a hole clean into the metal and Sonic passed easily through its torso where he then burst out of its neck sending its head sailing sky-high. The hedgehog uncurled himself mid air and landed on top of a nearby bot.

"Hmm….this looks fairly important!" stated Sonic as he wedged his hand into the joint that connected the triangular head to the machine's  body. Fishing for a moment, his hand closed on a bundle of wires; a quick yank tore them out. Immediately the machine went haywire as sparks poured from its head and neck. Sonic barely got off in time as it raised it's twins swords; the robot's body began rotating rapidly turning it into a whirling tornado of slashing blades that made short work of two unfortunate robots that hadn't registered what had happened.
Laughing, Sonic stood back and simply let the whirling bot stagger about drunkenly. A single machine made the horrible decision to resume the attack on the hedgehog rather than worry about its out of control mechanical comrade. It didn't make it far. The wildly spinning blades battered the mech; the steel held only for a few of those blows. As it gave way, the aqua bot was turned into neatly sliced proportioned chunks, which then collapsed into a heap.

"Sushi anyone?" asked Sonic.

Finally, with three of the machines cut down by one of their own, the last five mechs switched targets seeming to pick up on the fact they wouldn't be getting near Sonic until this other threat was dealt with. A robot raised its arm, pointing at the out of control tornado. The blade shot away from its wrist like a harpoon then speared the machine in mid-spin; motor oil spewed from the gash and was slung all over by the spinning motion. Sonic ended up with several large drops landing across his face and some managing to sneak into his mouth. He gagged a few times, spitting up the foul liquid. With a few sputters and a ear-splitting sound of grinding gears, the rogue bot tilted face forwards then landed on the pavement, cracking it under the impact. With nothing else impeding their original assault , the five remaining machines proceeded to surround Sonic in a full circle. The hedgehog let them.

"Alrighty cone-heads let's get this over with…of course you could just give up now," he suggested helpfully.

A machine behind him lifted its arm.

Recognizing the oncoming attack, Sonic held his position letting the bot get a fix on him. Sonic heard the hiss of pneumatics as an air piston shot the sword right at him.  In a smoothness that seemed rehearsed, Sonic ducked, dropping onto all fours as the razor-edged projectile pierced the air above him; it continued its forward motion right into the head of a mech that had been standing just behind the hero. Not waiting for the critically damaged machine to fall, Sonic threw himself forwards as the one that had shot at him. He kicked out at it's left shin. The strength of his legs coupled with the speed of the kick bent the thin steel appendage crippling the machine and taking it off balance. Unable to support weight anymore, the damaged leg continued bending under the pressure. It gave way. The machine tumbled forwards and Sonic quickly finished it off with a furious combo of punches delivered to its exposed back denting the metal inwards until it scrunched against the inner workings. Gears stuck against one another with no room to move. The small motors that drove the machine's internal mechanics soon burnt up from too much stress.

Dodging a flurry of swings from two of the robots, Sonic then went into super-speed mode as he dashed around the hapless machines in a circle stirring up a cloud of dust from the pavement. It wasn't particularly blinding by any means but it served the purpose of scrambling their sensors. Without any means to effectively track the hedgehog, the aqua-bots were rendered completely harmless. Sonic sped around between the final four robots as he bashed each one with a flurry of kicks and punches that soon covered their originally smooth bodies in a pattern of divots and holes.

Sonic dashed out of the wavering cloud of white dust. He ran over to a nearby flag pole and after saluting the flying colors of Mobius, tore the double-thick rope off of it. Returning back into the fray of staggering machines, Sonic quickly looped the rope around one of the mech's legs tying it off with a triple knot just to make sure it stayed in place. From there, he sprinted to each robot and repeated the process until all of them were bound together at the leg. Giving a sharp yank on the remaining slack in the rope, Sonic tripped all of them. Now that they were on the ground the hedgehog dashed in a circle leaving the rope to trail behind him and wind a big oval around them; once he had run out Sonic pulled it tight drawing all four bots together in a tight bunch. The dust cloud settled away just as he finished making the last over-sized knot. All four machines had been securely bound and pulled into a knot of struggling metal limbs sitting in the middle of Station Square's roadway. From off in the distance on the opposite sidewalk and even from inside the buildings, Sonic could hear the cheers of the Mobians.

"Way to go Sonic!"

"That was way past cool!"

"Epic!"

"Sonic will you marry me?!"

"No problem folks, just doing what needed to be done," stated Sonic humbly basking in the admiration as their cheers went straight to his ego. And heck…who am I kidding….I do it for fun too! I hope Eggman gets this on camera!

Wanting to put on a bit of a show for the Mobians who were now coming out to clap and cheer, the blue hero casually strolled over to the bundle of bots and made a show of intently studying them as if trying to solve a puzzle.

"Aha! Now I know what you remind me of!" he told the robots as he wrapped his gloved fingertips beneath two machines' heads. A sharp tug pulled them both off. Glancing around, Sonic spied several cans of paint beside a partially drawn mural on the side of a restaurant building. Digging around he found a single can of fluorescent orange. Sonic dipped both cone-like heads into the paint and blew to dry them. He walked out into the middle of the street and set them down. "Traffic cones!"

Even Sonic had to admit it was kind of a lame joke but it did draw some laughter from the crowd particularly the youngsters. Any amount of amusement from these people brought Sonic some happiness. He wanted to forget his own problems and just have fun before having to again put himself in voluntary isolation for the daylight hours.

BEEP!

Sonic paused, turning from his fans to the bound robots. What the….

BEEP!

BEEP!

A single red eye centered on the drones' upper torso winked on and off at an increasing rate. The beeps also grew faster.

"Uh-oh….I've seen this enough times to know when to scram!" Sonic took a few steps away with his hands outstretched in front of him as if warding off an incoming blow. "They're gonna blow! Ya guys might want to start running now," he told the crowd. Knowing Eggman, he packed these guys with a big enough boom to make a real mess. By now the beeps were a constant whine that dug into Sonic's ears. He pivoted on his left foot, spinning himself around putting his back to the machines; the hedgehog managed one rapid foot step when the timer hit zero.

KABOOOOOM!!!!

The concussion from the explosion lifted Sonic off his feet and slammed him against the wall of the hotel. Once his ears had ceased ringing and he didn't see gold rings flickering around in front of his vision the hedgehog got himself back up on his tottering feet. He'd been thrown easily over fifty yards.

"Ugh….who switched on the spin cycle?" groaned the hero as he tried to steady his vision.; right now all the building and his surroundings seemed to be swirling around. Screams straightened his senses out. "Oh no…."

Many of the onlookers that had gathered earlier to watch his fight had managed to escape the worst of the blast and were now coming out from behind whatever random obstacles they'd used as cover. But, Sonic saw several others sprawled out much like he'd been; unfortunately for those victims though, they weren't super powered hedgehogs. The wailing cries of those that had been caught in the explosion echoed inside Sonic's head. He could see several anthros break from the stunned crowd as they ran to the sides of the wounded either trying to help or balling over there injured friends or loved ones.

Sonic took a shuddery step forwards surveying the chaos when he felt a sharp twinge in his chest; as he breathed, the pain returned in timing with each lung full of air he pulled in. The hedgehog found the source of irritation. A jagged, shard of steel shrapnel jutted out of his soft belly. Yet, there was no blood coming out of the wound and what should have been a mortal injury amounted to little more than a splinter in a finger. I really am dead aren't I. Sonic felt nothing as he grabbed the piece and gradually pulled it out.; it was far longer than he'd expected an apparently it had gone all the way through him. The hedgehog's typical grin had been wiped from his face as he released the steel chunk that had impaled him letting it rattle on the pavement. Instead the smile had been replaced by a sullen acceptance of his condition. Sonic knew what he was but this had been a sort of wake-up call. It's official…I'm a vampire.

Rousing himself from his depressing self-reflection, Sonic knew there was more important things to worry about right now than his own problems. He felt that it was his fault that these people were hurt. If I hadn't been showing off, I might have noticed that those drones were booby-trapped. He ran to the nearest victim, a female anthro crow, who was bleeding badly from her left wing. A blackbird was crouched over top of her, cradling her wounded wing in his hand; Sonic figured this was probably her boyfriend. He knew he wasn't a medical expert and knew very little about how to patch somebody up after an injury, that was Tails' specialty, but Sonic figured he could at least fetch any medical supplies or first-aid equipment quickly.

"Are you okay?" he asked the girl. With a few tears hanging in the corner of her yellow eyes, she steeled her face and nodded sharply.

"It…i-it's my wing, it got cut during the explosion…I think the piece is still stuck in there," she hissed through her gritted beak as the boyfriend wiped at the blood.

Sonic nodded. "Alright, let me see if I can find you a doctor round here….s-some….somewhere…." the hedgehog trailed off as if daydreaming suddenly. All around him his sharpened sense of smell detected the remaining traces of smoke and chemicals from the blast as well as more pungent aromas like sweat and the fear of all those around him. But, something else clawed for his attention. It was a pungent aroma that stirred the more beastial side of his brain nagging at him. Blood. His cravings hit full force. This was stupid of me! I shouldn't be anywhere near anybody when they're bleeding like this! The intoxicating scent flowed into his nose, Sonic wildly glanced around as the odor was coming from all around him; nearly all of the injured were bleeding to either a greater or lesser degree. It didn't matter though. He was overwhelmed.

The undead hedgehog's breathing steadied as he closed his eyes inhaling a lungful of the glorious smell. When his eyes opened, they had become a solid shade of black; even the white of his eyes had turned black as the night sky stretching above him. A calm smile worked across his face as he kneeled beside the helpless anthro. She seemed to have noticed the sudden change in the hero's demeanor as the crow was now shifting uneasily on the asphalt; Sonic's smile parted further revealing his fangs but only to her. The boyfriend also grew uneasy as he saw how afraid his companion had become.

"Mary, are you alright? What's wrong?" he asked her with concern.

She turned her head to speak to him but Sonic slipped a hand over her mouth, stifling any chance for Mary to warn the male blackbird.

"She is losing a lot of blood," he said smoothly, "if we do not bandage the wound soon she may bleed out." The girl's eyes widened further, she struggled to free herself but Sonic's grip on her face and mouth was like iron. "You need to hold still, Mary, conserve your strength."

The boyfriend was clearly panicking now and wasn't paying attention to the girl's struggle now that the hero he trusted had just told him that his love may not live.  This is what Sonic had intended.

"W-what can we do then? Where's a doctor?"

"Just relax. Go and find bandages, I am sure there are first-aid kits either out here right now or in some of these buildings," instructed Sonic.

"Yeah…yeah I'll be right back!" He ran off towards the hotel leaving his wounded girlfriend with the hungry Sonic.

"Now that we are alone…." Sonic stared seductively into her eyes. She fought to look away. "I mean you no harm. Relax. Look at me….that's right…everything will be alright." Mary's uninjured wing, which had been frantically slapping at him, drooped to her side and all the tension left her small frame. The vampire Sonic had her mesmerized. Certain she would put up no more resistance, Sonic parted his jaw allowing his fangs to hang out in full view. He shuffled to the other side of her so that anyone looking over wouldn't see exactly what he was doing. A quiet hiss came from him as his pointy teeth neared her soft, exposed throat.

"Hey Sonic! What happened here? It looks like….." yelled a gruff voice. The unexpected noise interrupted the vampire's focus and he quickly looked up from his paralyzed victim to see Knuckles the Echidna studying him intently with arms crossed. "Um….what are you….doing to her?"

Irritated at the intrusion on his feeding, Sonic hissed like a cat warning off the guardian.

"Whoa what's wrong with you?" questioned Knuckles as he leapt back with spiked fists raised in preparation for an attack.

Sonic shook his head violently and pressed a gloved hand against his temple. "Ug….what was that…where…I……oh," muttered the vampire as he spotted the echidna. His black eyes regained their former emerald coloring. Then the hedgehog peered down at the still dazed and bleeding anthro he'd been seconds from turning into a raisin. "I-I didn't mean to!"

"What didn't you mean to do?"

Wide-eyed with horror, Sonic stood quickly and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He zoomed passed the ambulances on their way to the scene of the explosion; the frightened vampire did not stop even once he'd reached the outside of the city. I need to get to Tails! But what if I try to hurt him too? For a moment Sonic slowed as he battled with his thoughts trying to figure out what to do. He's the only one that knows what I am now and he'll know how to help…I don't have a choice.  Something else was straining in his mind now, ravaging through it like chained beast waiting to be let loose. And the chains were breaking. He'd denied his body its nourishment for the last time and now it was desperate for blood. The vampire's body seized up on him tripping Sonic mid-stride and sending him face first into the dirt where he skidded several yards to a dead halt.

"Ouch….that hurt…."Violent tremors racked the hedgehog's weak form preventing him from getting up. His fingers on both hand started flexing involuntarily. "Now what?"

CRACK! CRACK!

The pinky finger on both of the hedgehog's hands slid sideways on his hand tearing out the sides of his gloves. Before he could register what was going on, the other fingers also morphed as they shifted position on his hand and began to stretch to a ridiculously long length; at the same time though, they remained very bony and thin. His fingertips tore out through the tips of his gloves and as they continued to mutate; the white material couldn't stretch with the unusual changes so they stretched to their absolute limit and finally peeled off his hands. With a strange rubbery sound, a membrane of skin grew in between his elongated fingers starting from his hand and spreading outwards to the very tips. However, his thumbs fattened as a thick claw burst out ripping his flesh in the process. Again though, there was no blood. He staggered to his feet and held his morphing limbs straight out, away from his body.

"What are those? Are those…..wings? I'm growing wings!?" It wasn't particularly painful, just mildly uncomfortable. A flap of the flight membrane was now dangling from beneath both arms and continued to fill in as it attached itself to the skin of his back and all the way to his still growing fingers that now nearly touched the ground. A light grayish layer of skin had grown in between his fingers and body; he now had a perfectly formed set of wings that clearly resembled the bony flight limbs of a bat. "I have to get to Tails!"
Sonic took off again as fast as his legs would carry him, but he quickly discovered that his wings were acting like a big sail catching the rushing air and making it that much harder for him to run. Giving up on the attempt to run, Sonic eyed his wings.

"Well I might as well make use of these while I have them," he muttered to himself. At first he wasn't sure if he could fly. But as he flapped his new appendages for the first time, instincts natural to a vampire kicked in and the hedgehog quickly found himself soaring over the landscape of Mobius headed for the Mystic Ruins where Tails' lab was located.

Flight proved to be a far slower means of travel when compared to the time it would have taken him to run the distance, but there was something soothing, almost peaceful about the feeling of the night air rushing beneath his wing membrane and the taste of the cool air on his tongue. The whole way though, Sonic could feel his body tensing itself as if preparing for something; this severely scared the hedgehog as he now knew that the hunger he felt was the cause of these changes.

Landing outside the lab door, Sonic collapsed as his leg muscles cinched up; Sonic felt his socks rip inside his shoes as something began to happen to his feet. Falling onto his backside, the vampire reached with his wings for the tightening shoes but found that with no true fingers, there was no way for him to get them off. So he drug the heels of his red runners against the grass using the friction to work them off. Finally they both slipped off and Sonic gasped as his feet bulged inside the well-worn threads of his socks making disturbing crackling noises. Long talons ripped out the end of his socks.

"Tails! ARGH!! HELP MEEEE!!!" his voice turned to a screech at the end and he quickly clamped his mouth shut.

The lab door slammed open as the yellow fox dashed out to see what was causing the ruckus. His eyes fell on the mutating hedgehog as he writed on the ground.

"Please….ack….help me!" RIP SHRED! Sonic's feet exploded from within the socks finishing those off and reducing them to ragged fibers.

"Sonic? What happened to you! I heard on the police scanners that there was some kind of attack and you were involved then you ran off or something," said the fox as he helped pick his friend up. Sonic wondered if Tails could feel the transformations taking place inside of his body; the fox jerked a little in surprise and Sonic knew he'd just felt the same massive tremor that had just ripped through his body.

"Yeah…some of Eggman's bots….I stopped 'em."

"So what happened after that?"

The hedgehog was silent not sure how to explain. "I-I tried to help some girl that had been hurt….but….there was so much blood….I couldn't control it!"

Tails helped drag the vampire through the door and set him down on a lab bench. As the fox had carried him, Sonic had felt a near irrepressible urge to clamp his fangs into the fox but held it off. Tails disappeared into another room.

For a moment Sonic believed that the changes were over. The hedgehog's body shape had remained the same except now his arms had transformed into a large pair of wings and his feet resembled a bat's; each toe was tipped with a length curved talon made for grasping and tearing. A spasm shook Sonic right off the bench where he then sprawled out on the floor. He crawled towards the doorway where Tails had gone into; he could hear the fox rummaging around looking for who knows what. The noises quit. Tails ran out of the storage room pushing a metal wheelie cart in front of him, the top of it was packed with all sorts of lab equipment including several buzzing machines that Sonic could only guess the purpose of. Vials filled with varying colors of sloshing liquids and chemicals bounced inside the racks that held them.

"Gaahhh!!!" CRACKLE! POP! POP! Sonic's jaw was forced open as rows of razor sharp teeth filled in. His fangs though grew to an enormous size keeping him from being able to close his mouth at all.

"Are you okay?" asked the fox as he hunched over Sonic, he rested a gentle hand on the hedgehog's trembling back.

Lifting his head, Sonic eyed him critically. "Yeah….I'm great….just…turning into a mutant bat monster here….it's all good," growled the vampire sarcastically. "Why's this happening….I mean why now?"

Tails was next to the car now as he mixed chemicals carefully but as quickly as he could. Some of the fluids spilled onto the floor.

"I figured this could happen eventually. You're body needs blood to sustain itself just like a normal person needs food to survive."

Sonic interrupted. "I used to get the munchies all the time before I ended up like this…that didn't turn me into a freak!"

"Your body WANTS and NEEDS to feed now. Its instincts drive it to do whatever it can to survive and right now that means changing itself into something more than capable and very willing to sate those needs."

Sonic cringed as his ears started to transform. They broadened and expanded increasing his ability to hear greatly to the point that he could detect the rapid pulse Tails' anxious heart. Feed. Blood. The hedgehog fought to shove those thoughts away before he did anything to hurt his friend.

"Is there something….urg…you can do?"

"I'm always prepared, Sonic. I've been studying the blood samples I took from you and three days ago I started to work on something that could serve as a viable replacement for real blood since you wont' feed on that," Tails replied as he continued mixing and measuring chemicals.

"Will it cure me?" asked Sonic desperately.

Sadly the fox shook his head. "It'll just take the edge off your hunger and should keep you from mutating anymore. I just hope it's not too late."

"How much more will I change?" The hedgehog folded himself up into a tight ball and covered himself with his huge wings as if to protect his body from further pain.

Tails hesitated as if choosing how best to respond. "Well….I'm not entirely certain Sonic. I knew your body may have a reaction of some sort but I didn't know it would be this…physical. Perhaps it is only…."

The fox's explanations fell on deaf ears. Sonic was no longer capable of listening as the full swing of the mutation set itself into high gear. Screeching in agony, the hedgehog's body went into a seizure. He could feel something pouring into his tortured frame causing the mutation to spread deep into his bones and muscles.

It started slowly. Sonic's slim torso bubbled as pec muscles began to develop giving his torso the shape of an upside down triangle that became more pronounced as he grew.

He attempted one last plee for help. "Tails…..graagghh….do something! I can't….control it!" Each word became deeper until the final words came out as more of a rumbling scream augmented by a high-pitched wail. Sonic got to his feet. His arms shot out from his sides as growth surged in; heavy knots of muscles bulged rapidly within his them. The vampire's upper arms ballooned. This swelling spread into his forearms causing them to expand at an intense rate so they could catch up with his biceps.

Sonic hunched over as his back widened, his collarbones popped forcing his right shoulder to widen followed shortly by his left. The growth settled into other bones as well causing several sudden spurts of stretching out that came in intervals. Passing four foot, the vampire continued getting taller until he'd hit a solid seven-foot; now he towered over the fox.

Startled by his friend's horrendous mutation, Tails twisted round and looked up into Sonic's cringing face. A single tear fell from the hedgehog's eye.

"Just hold it off Sonic! Give me a little more time…I-I've almost got it finished!" He shoved the cart farther away putting distance between him and the growing monster.

Thick rolls of muscle bubbled across Sonic's widening back filling out his once slim body. His ribcage crackled and swelled outwards creating an unnatural lump in his upper chest and making his already large pec muscles stand out further.

Sonic could only roar in response to the fox but he lacked any control over what his body was going through right now; it took all of his remaining willpower to keep from draining his friend dry. If I kill him….I'll be stuck like this forever! Ab muscles appeared, gradually transforming his slightly round belly into a toned six pack that continued swelling.

The vampire's skull wasn't going to be left alone either. Sonic's jaw twitched uncontrollably as his cheekbones widened changing his entire facial profile; his mouth than began stretching somewhat to make room for his new set of teeth. An itch began inside Sonic's nose. He crossed his eyes and looked at the small black sensory organ to see what was happening to it and watched, it widened out then broadened into something that perfectly resembled a bat's nasal. This increased his sense of smell tenfold. A stench pervaded the room, which was a combination of his own fear and that of the fox still busily creating a formula that Sonic hoped would end the transformation.

Throughout these other changes, Sonic's leg muscles had grown as well and now they were expanding faster than anything else since these would be the most important tools for the morphing predator. His flight muscles would need to be strong and already they were well muscled, but his legs would be what helped him grasp his prey as he swooped from the sky. The hedgehog's calf muscle now resembled an oddly shaped upside down tear drop that swelled more and more until it was a well formed ball of meat. Sonic's thighs bulged one by one with his right growing faster than his left; not going to be left behind, the left thigh bulked up quickly playing catch up. This caused Sonic's shaking torso to tilt left and right in intervals as he topped off at eight feet tall. To relieve the tension he felt in his legs, Sonic roared and stomped down hard on tile floor; his talons shattering the thin stone plates and even busting the concrete beneath. This concluded the changes in his lower body.

Tendons stood out on his neck as the vampire strained against the transformation in vain. Pound after pound built on his arm muscles. His biceps inflated to the size of bowling balls; smaller bubbles appeared on his forearms causing those t grow more. These muscle would help the vampire to fly long distance and need to have the strength to lift his hefty, bulked up form.

Sonic's chest was thust outwards as the final stages of his growth came to a close and his chest thickened making popping noises for every burst of expansion that hit him.

Tufts of dead blue fur grew in on his elbows and knees. Sonic's quills sagged down his back like a mane of grey hair, growing longer until they reached mid-way on his broad and powerfully muscled back. Then, with a final few disgusting cracks that came from his body, the transformation was over.

Where Sonic the hedgehog had once stood, now a new beast was left in his place. The vampire's body boasted thick muscles that bulged across his entire frame; he stood just a foot shy of the nine-foot ceiling. He clicked his talons against the floor a few times as if testing their sharpness and working out a few leftover kinks from the mutation. Spreading his arms, Sonic's wingspan took up a large portion of the room. Rearing back his head, the vampire beast cut loose with an ear-splitting screech that was made even worse by the metal plated walls of Tails' laboratory. But the scream served another purpose as well. As it echoed around the room, it fed Sonic's primal driven brain information about his surroundings. His eyes worked well enough but now in this monstrous bat-form, the vampire would rely much more on what he could hear by using his screech as a slightly altered form of echolocation mapping the lab like an internal GPS.

From behind a steel table where he'd been hiding, Tails' yellow and white head peeked out. Sonic locked onto the fox but remained still.

"S-sonic? Are you still there?"

The vampire flashed a wicked grin in response showing off his fangs; his eyes were black as pitch.

Tails must have realized that he was in danger because he sprinted from cover aiming for a heavy door in the back of the lab. Not wanting to lose his dinner, Sonic screeched and in one bound, caught up with his friend. He swiped his wing at the fox who managed to slip under the attack; but it cost him by taking him off his stride and putting the fox off balance. The vampire followed up by throwing his muscular body in front of Tails blocking his escape. Luckly for him, the fox dug his shoes into the tile and stopped his momentum before it carried him right into Sonic's welcoming embrace. Sweating visibly now from excitement and fear, the fox's fingers slipped as he tried to pull a desk over in front of him.

"Please Sonic listen to me!"

"RAAWWRRRR!!!!"

Sonic advanced on Tails knowing that he'd basically run out of places to run; the vampire stood between the fox and his safe room as well as the rest of the lab leaving only the storage closet behind him to take shelter in. That door was made of flimsy aluminum and would not hold up against his claws. Judging by the concerned expression on Tails fearful face, the fox knew he was trapped as well.

(Tails POV)

The monster blocking his way was not Sonic. This creature had one thought only and that was to feed it's starving body no matter who was harmed. He was stuck now with no effective way to get to safety. Backing up slowly, Tails made his way towards the storage room door. I need to distract him before I make a run for it otherwise he'll tear me apart. Spying a container that held black phosphorus powder, the fox now had his distraction.

"Sorry about this Sonic," he apologized. Tails jerked to life, reaching into the container and pulling out a fist full of phosphorus powder then threw it at Sonic who was now just feet away. The black dust exploded in Sonic's eyes. He screeched and covered his stinging face with both wings; this interrupted his charge and sent him reeling off course where he then slammed against the wall knocking off the numerous blue prints sticky tacked to it.

Tails made a mad dash for the storage room but not before grabbing the syringe of his experimental fluid off the cart. The beast recovered a lot faster than Tails would have expected and barely managed to get inside the storage room when Sonic's weight slammed up against it; the hinges opened outwards on this door so it actually succeeded in shutting the door tight behind the fox. But Sonic wasn't so far gone that he didn't remember how to open a door. The knob turned sharply. Gradually the door started to swing open until the fox sprang from the floor where he'd fallen and grasped the door handle with both hands trying to pull it shut. Momentarily, he closed it a little. This was only because the resistance had apparently surprised the vampire but only briefly. Unavoidably, the door started opening again. A strong muscled arm reach in then wrapped around the inside of the door. Tails knew he had mere seconds to react otherwise the vampire Sonic would by gnawing on his bloody corpse.

Pulling the syringe out of his lab coat, Tails studied the orange fluid that filled the clear container portion of the needle. He'd whipped this concoction up during the time it had take for Sonic to transform but he'd rush it so much that the fox has severe doubts whether jabbing in the needle would cure Sonic or just make him that much madder. The beast gave another sharp tug on the door nearly tearing it from the hinges and pulling Tails with it. This made his decision. Tails stabbed the syringe into the muscled flesh of his forearm that was on the inside of the door trying to pull it open; he prayed he'd hit an important vein or something that would help spread the fluid faster.

Sonic let out a blood-curdling yelp of pain as his arm was withdrawn from the door and out of sight. With nothing trying to pull the door open, the sudden lack of opposing force caught Tails off guard and he fell backwards slamming the aluminum lab door tightly shut with a resounding thud. Even inside the closed room, the fox had to cover his ears as the vampire outside screamed in rage. Tails could hear things breaking and being thrown about as the beast went into a berserker rampage. Then, he heard another sound. He could hear similar sounds that Sonic's body had been making during his transformation; a cold touch wrapped around the fox's heart as the screams intensified along with the disturbing sound of bones being broken. What did I do to him? Did I just make it worse? Not wanting to think the worse, he silently told himself over and over that it would work.

As soon as the roars of agony had begun, they ceased entirely. The sudden silence sharply contrasted the earlier racket that the vampire had been making. Tails was content to stay inside the storage room for now fearing that maybe just outside the door an even further mutated vampire beast might be waiting silently for him to come out.

KNOCK. BANG.

Tails jerked at the sound of the two gentle wraps at the base of the aluminum door. Sonic? It could be a trick. His survival instincts wanted him to stay in this room indefinitely but the bond that he'd formed with his adopted brother wanted to know if he'd saved Sonic.

"Only one way to find out," he muttered to himself in the darkness. Standing up, Tails tiptoed to the door and pressed his ear against it listening for any signs of trouble. Hearing none, the fox grabbed the door handle gingerly as if it were a bomb ready to blow. He steeled his resolve and in one swift motion, twisted the handle and threw the door open.

He was blinded by the sudden in flow of light from the lab, but as his eyes adjusted Tails felt his heart leap skywards as he saw a single blue furred hedgehog huddled on the floor just a little ways away. Tails flew to his friend's side and wrapped Sonic in a tight hug. Weakly, the hedgehog returned the embrace. Then, the fox felt something he hadn't expected from the hedgehog; his serum had done more than turn Sonic back to normal and feed his appetite. Through the fur on his chest, Tails could feel the steady rhythmic beating of Sonic the Hedgehog's heart.