Author's note: I'm supposed to be working on my on-going projects but naturally I choose to focus on one-shot ideas that come to me at random. Have another story about a middle-aged half-vampire Alan Frog because I can't get enough of him.

There was a light knock on the door followed by a voice Alan hadn't heard in years.

"Ironic, isn't it?"

Part of him was surprised it wasn't more of a mocking tone, considering who was speaking to him. They were never the closest of friends, but he knew she wouldn't normally talk like that. No, the question was one out of curiosity and possible reflection.

Wearily, he reached up and scratched at his temple tucked underneath his beanie. The desk lamp he was using for his work was suddenly too distracting, so he used his free hand to switch it off, leaving his office in relative darkness.

"How did you find me?" he asked as his exceptional eye-sight could still see the gutted rabbit he was cleaning out despite the heavy gloom that cloaked his quarters. One of the few, oh so very few, advantages to being a half-vampire was the sharp vision. It allowed him to work at night and undetected.

He sat at his desk and listened as fingertips on the other side of the door gently grazed the surface until ever so slightly brushing upon the door knob. The knob was turned, but he always made sure to lock it so that nobody could come in unless he allowed it.

"I'm not asking again," he stated as he was prepared to go right back to work.

"… Isn't it difficult?"

The scissors in his possession paused from their duties. Difficult couldn't even begin to describe the hell he went through, the misery, the torture, the agony of not wanting to kill someone for their blood.

"A little," he replied after a few moments once he set his tools down. "You probably thought I would've killed myself at the first chance, or maybe even have Edgar do me in."

There was no response. Meanwhile, Alan stared ahead at the old photo that he pinned to the bulletin board. Among the assignments and projects lined up for him, a picture was hung of himself, Edgar, and Sam from back when they were teenagers. The three of them were the Awesome Monster Bashers. They were the elite fighting forces against evil, the saviors of humanity. Nobody could stop them.

That was, until Sam went down a path that nobody would have suspected until it was too late. It was the beginning of the end for their team and ultimately, their friendship.

"A few weeks had been torment for me, Alan. I... can't believe you've been doing this for years, now."

He grimaced. There had been a handful of times where he thought about giving up all together. Not bending to the will of the vampire, of course, but committing suicide to ensure that he would never slip up, even on accident. Instead, his stubborn nature, his sheer tenacity of never giving up would kick him in the ass and remind him why he was a survivor, a fighter all the way. He wasn't sure how many other half-vampires were out there who sustained themselves for as long as he had, but with his job as a taxidermist, a trade taught by old man Emerson himself, he made sure he was able to squash the hunger temporarily. It wasn't human blood, but animal blood proved to help in the long run, and it was all about accepting his fate and dealing with it.

"You must understand how hard it was for me and Laddie, how confusing and frightening the situation was."

Alan sighed inward. Yeah, he got it. Looking back, he and Edgar were just all too willing to destroy any vampires, even the halves, with no real consideration that some of them didn't exactly ask to become that way. He sure as hell didn't.

After his forced change, Alan ran away before Edgar could do anything. To this day, Edgar insisted he wouldn't have destroyed him, that he would have hunted down the bloodsucker responsible for what happened. They were brothers, and they were both iron-willed warriors who didn't know the meaning of the word "quit." But Alan kept his distance, kept away from everyone, including his own parents, for everyone's safety. It was Edgar who reached out to him first, who insisted on keeping a relationship between them going, even at a distance, and even if it was only the once-in-a-blue-moon visit. It proved that even a half-vampire brother who consistently fought the urge to feed on human blood, was better than no brother at all.

"Hard to know what it's like until we go through it ourselves," Alan admitted at long last. After swallowing, he glanced at the closed door and could easily smell the presence of fresh water, cleanliness. Had she always had that scent about her, even when she was with the Lost Boys?

"Sorry for what I did to you," he apologized, even though it was twenty-odd years overdue. "Karma got me good for that, didn't it?"

He didn't have x-ray vision, but he could easily imagine her smiling sadly at him just now.

"It did," was the simple, somber reply.