Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Visions of Darkness, Dreams of Light ❯ Haven ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 24

About ten minutes later, he came back with two blood bag kits from the hospital. He handed one to Lara-le, keeping the other for himself. Julie-su and the chaotix looked surprised.

"Wait. This was my idea. Why not us?"

"He can't need that much, and if mother doesn't donate, she's likely to hunt him down to give him blood. As for me, I want to see if my blood does anything." After both had blood taken, they handed him the bags. Drake looked at the bags, shrugged, and took Lara-le's bag. After he drank, he smiled slightly, nodding.

"Tangy. Nice. Thank you." He lifted the guardian's blood. "Let's try something new." He bit, and drank quickly. "Not bad. I think I prefer feeding off women." He fell to his hands and knees and shrieked. He clenched his jaw to prevent another scream, watching as his fingers seemed to stretch. Very slowly they grew, turning into sharp talons, each finger becoming a claw. He only stared for a moment before the pain began again, this time even more fiercely. His back stretched, and suddenly a pair of dragon-like wings burst from his spine. They quickly folded, and hung from his back. Drake stood.

"Woah." He flexed the claws. He swung at the wall, each talon sinking completely into it. He frowned as he pulled his fingers from the wall, and concentrated. They slowly returned to normal form. He turned his head to look at his wings. "Wow." They flew open, nearly lifting him off of his feet. Mina ran a hand gently across them. Drake gasped. "Don't do that!"

"Did it hurt?" She asked, frightened.

"Not exactly. They're…sensitive." He blushed at her giggle.

"Uh…well. That was unexpected." Knuckles admitted. He snapped his fingers. "The Chaos Emerald! It must have enhanced the effect of my blood!"

Drake looked towards the window hopefully. "Can I…?"

"No way! Man, can you imagine trying to hide an Overlander with a set of wings?"

Drake frowned in concentration a second time. The wings pulled back into his body. He grimaced. "That hurt." He closed his eyes, and his fingers changed back. "Groovy." He changed them back and forth. "We may need to append that list of abilities."

"Did he just say 'groovy'?" Lara-le asked Vector softly.

"I think he did, yeah."

"I think the wings suit you." Mina stated.

"Huh?"

"Yeah! They're very handsome on you." She stated. Drake blushed and grimaced. He turned to Lara-le.

"I'm sorry I called you odd. Women, on a whole, are just strange."

"We…definitely need to take you to Locke, at Haven."

Drake winced, the bars of the cot bending in his grip. "You do that again, and I'm gonna rip your tonsils out."

"Sorry." Locke stated. "I needed a flesh sample. Next time I'll ask. I was in the belief it wouldn't hurt. Besides, I don't have tonsils anymore." Drake was getting annoyed. The echidnas had taken more samples than he liked. Blood samples, urine samples, saliva, and now flesh. What next?

Locke handed him a cup. "I need a small sample."

"I already went in the cup. You don't need another urine sample."

"No, we don't. We need something else." Drake looked at him, confused. Understanding set in.

"No way. No. You know, I think this is a case of 'oh, hell no'."

"Ok. Here's what we found. He converts blood into some sort of magic. It's not a type of magic we have much experience with. As you've seen, the magic for it is carried in his blood, and can be stored in moderate amounts, so he can't gorge himself to keep from feeding regularly. Also, healing with his blood is somewhat safe. It takes a proportionately large amount at one time to change someone. To change an Overlander would be almost fatal for him, but a Mobian is a lot more likely. A Mobian would need to donate more than enough to kill them to transform an Overlander, so that's not a problem. For the most part, his powers are simple. He is strong and fast, yes. And the claws appear to be permanent, and the wings can be brought about only when he has almost a full stomach, and apparently are withdrawn after a very short time. Other abilities appear to be temporary enhanced by different types of blood. We believe that the reason for the permanent abilities is that he fed on a guardian. The chaos emeralds seem to enhance his abilities in a similar way to what they do to everyone else. If he uses it, it may increase his abilities, or allow him to take abilities from others, but stopping will either remove them, or possibly allow him to keep them at increased blood use. The claws take very little to upkeep, but the wings take more to have them in existence. We believe these abilities to be related to Knuckles' knuckles and ability to glide. However, with Knuckles blood, run through a chaos siphon, it doesn't burn any faster than normal while using wings or claws. It appears that the chaos energy in Knuckles' blood is what gave him these permanent abilities. As such, we can assume two things. One; any abilities being used, permanent or otherwise, do not increase blood usage during their enhanced use so long as the current blood being used is of a type to increase those particular abilities. Two; the vampirism is definitely caused by magic, and can be affected." The bearded guardian stopped, and took a drink of water.

"Running him through the chaos siphon was discussed, but we decided it would be dangerous to the extreme. The siphon would release his energies into something, and his own body produces the magic. In other words, we could end with two vampires, or even some sort of…Chaos Ruby, I think was the term used. Dead blood, that meaning the blood which is too old to be useful for medical reasons, is useless, as is artificially created blood. It appears that the magic requires healthy blood, and can't do anything with blood that won't work. Also, we have been unable to find a way to produce the same energy that he uses, and therefore cannot find a way to feed him short of fresh blood."

"So I'm screwed."

"Until we have better data. We'll research it. Don't worry."

"Can I ask something? What if the blood he drinks is…I don't know, poisoned or diseased?" Mina questioned.

"We've tested the poison. We have a fresh supply of blood on hand, and the toxins we used were neither fatal nor extremely painful. We only put a small amount in the blood, just to be safe. The result was that his body weakened for a short period, and the effects of the poison were apparent during the time it took to fight it off. No lasting effects. However, poisons may be tasteless."

Mina swallowed. "I guess he better be careful, huh?"

Locke nodded. "However, the effects would likely be visible on the intended meal. Anyhow, for the time being, all we can do is research with our current data. As you appear to be ok, short of being a vampire, I release you. We will contact you in the event that we find a way to get you home, or that we learn any more, but I must ask that you keep us updated on the status of your abilities." The others agreed.

As everyone was leaving Haven, Drake shook his head to clear his thoughts. He looked around. "Hey, where's Mina?"

"Mr. Locke! I have another question!"

The echidna frowned, turning towards the nervous mongoose. "What is it? Something you forgot?"

"No. I was just…uncomfortable asking this around everyone. Is Drake…uh…could he…you know…um…reproduce with a Mobian."

Locke frowned again, but now looked more worried than annoyed. "Why? Are you…?"

"No! I'm not…" She managed, flustered. "I just wanted to know if we could…have a future. Understand?"

He sighed in relief. "Good. I was worried. It might be possible. There isn't a precedent, as far as I know. I have heard of only one impregnation of Mobian by an Overlander, and that was during the war, but the child was… lost." He cleared his throat. "In addition, Drake's DNA is different from an Overlander's, and the magic makes it even iffier. Therefore, the only answer I can give you is maybe. I wouldn't give a good chance though."

Mina sighed sadly. "I understand. Thanks for your time." She began to leave, but the older echidna grabbed her arm.

"I'll look into it, and we'll let you know if we find anything." To his surprise, the teenager gave him a quick hug before racing off. He turned to see Spectre standing there, a look of disapproval on his face.

"She's not even half your age."

"Oh shut up. She was worried about something, and I agreed to help." The masked echidna grinned at him.

"I know. I heard the whole thing. You're lucky she didn't slap you for thinking something was wrong."

Chapter 25

"Well, we have one more day. I suppose we can do some sightseeing." Drake stated, pulling Mina close. Mina nodded happily.

"There is a lot to see. Let's have a blast." Sally agreed. "We'll split up, and meet here later. Around nine-ish, everyone?"

"Sounds good. Shall'nt we, Sal?" He offered an elbow. She took it, giggling. "Knux, you guys coming?"

"Sure."

"Ya'll want a triple-date?"

Sally giggled again. "Good idea, Bunnie."

Knuckles grinned to Sonic. "I bet I can surprise you."

"Bet you can't."

"Twenty says I can."

"Deal." Sally gave him a dark look.

"Hey Vec, you want to come?"

Vector grinned. "Treat my girl to a night on the town? Sure, I dig."

Sonic's jaw dropped. He gave the guardian a shocked look. "Vector has a girlfriend? How?"

"You'd be surprised. She's actually pretty." Julie-su smirked. Vector performed an elaborate bow, and gave the female echidna a pleased look.

Mina smiled. "Looks like it's just us, big boy." Drake blushed.

As everyone separated, Drake went with Vector to get drinks, asking Mina to wait a moment.

"I thought you were going to get your girlfriend? What's up?"

The crocodile grinned. "She gets off work in about five, man, and she works here. Don't be worrying about this croc. I got the schedule memorized." He laughed. "But here, man." He handed the human a few bills. Drake stared.

"That's ok, man. I don't want to take your money."

"Hey, don't worry. Consider it advance payment for some good tunes. After all, my blood didn't cut it. Messed you good. Just bring some good stuff when you get back, and I'll be chillin. Hey, you can always pay me back. Besides, you're on the Island Floating, mon." The croc stated in a Jamaican accent, causing Drake to chuckle. "You need to romance your girl, you know? Treat her right. You only get lucky once. I mean, I did." He said gesturing to the swan waitress.

"Looks like it." Drake admitted.

"By the way," The croc began, draping an arm across the human's shoulders "there's this nice little spot…"

"So Vector, where'd those two go?"

"I spotted him some dough, gave'em somewhere to go."

"Vector, parting with cash?" Julie-su gasped, looking around. "There has to be some sort of catastrophe coming."

"Ha, ha, hee-hee, ho friggin ho. I messed him up, and I paid him back. Besides, a bargains a bargain. I ain't gonna cheat him for it. C'mon, there's a nice place for some grub down the street here."

The others looked at each other, then at Vector's date, who had a knowing smile.

"Well, that was wonderful. I didn't know you could dance like that." Mina smiled.

"Well, hey. I just watched everyone else, and I'm light on my feet." Drake whispered. Mina gave him a startled look.

"You mean you just watched for a few minutes and you figured out how to waltz? Impressive."

"I have to pay attention to my surroundings. How else would I be a good…" Mina put a finger to his lips.

"No talking about that. Tonight, it's just us." <I really need to thank Julie-su for telling me about this place.> She smiled dazzlingly.

Drake felt dizzy. <I love that red dress.>

"Man, Vector. You been holding out on us!"

The crocodile laughed. "Hey, man. You can't really just like one kind of chow. You gotta try 'em all! Besides, you never know when you need a black tie place to eat."

The group was walking through the restaurant, all of them finely dressed. Sonic kept fidgeting with the midnight blue tie Sally had picked, and Knuckles was in similar shape. The girls glanced at each other and fixed their dates' prospective suits. The only ones who appeared to be completely comfortable were Vector and Antoine.

"How many times have you come here?"

"A few." He stated, embarrassed. The swan smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. He brightened. "They got killer crab legs. And clam strips."

"I like the onion blossoms."

"Those are good too." Vector stated in a thick British accent. "I must say they are some of the best."

Sally leaned towards {the swan} "He won't talk like that all night, will he?"

"I'm not sure. I don't mind, and if you let him go with one, he'll slip with a few others. Soon he'll forget which one he was trying for. He has about eight good ones." She snickered. Sally gave her a look.

"Eight? We can barely understand Antoine!" Sally grimaced.

Bunnie rolled her eyes. "Sugah-twan ain't that bad. He's gotten better, after all. Anyway, ol' Vectah has a couple of accents, huh?"

"He's good at it." She smiled at Vector as he pulled her chair out from the table. Sonic and Knuckles followed suit.

A waiter walked out, quickly handing menus. Vector opened his and closed it after only a few moments looking. Sonic gave him a curious look. "You always get the same thing?"

"Nope. I'm working my way down the menu. I'll have the lobster salad."

"Lobster salad?"

"Yeah. They take some salad, some fries, and some lobster meat. Sounds good."

"If you say so. Do they serve chili-dogs?"

Antoine sighed in exasperation. "Edgehog, try zis." He pointed to something on the menu.

Bunnie pulled her date close. "What was that, sugah?"

"Eet ees French for chili-dog." He whispered with a smirk.

"So where are we now?"

"Vector told me about this little place. I figured it was worth a shot." He shrugged, looking into the clouds. "He seemed pretty positive about it."

"It seems…nice."

"It's boring. There's nothing here, and it's dark, and…" The moon came out from behind the clouds, reflecting across the water like diamonds. He stared in shock before turning towards Mina and feeling his jaw really drop. She looked like an angel, illuminated by the moonlight, once from the moon itself, and again from the light off of the water. "Dear lord…"

"What?" She looked around frantically.

"You…you are a goddess." He whispered reverently, cupping her chin. Mina blushed.

"My fallen angel." She whispered back. Very slowly, their lips met, their bodies silhouetted in the moonlight.