This story will spoil Mass Effect 2. Some events will be different and quotes aren't identical. This story is not told from Commander Shepard's perspective.

Freedom's Progress – an unremarkable human colony in the Terminus Systems. Small, portable buildings situated on blocky mountains served as homes, schools, stores, cafes, businesses and government facilities. It had everything to serve its roughly one million inhabitants but its complete lack of casinos and high-end nightlife absolutely did not appeal to Mathias von Delacroix, a halfbreed vampire who began to regret his decision to follow his friend Dan here. Why Dan wanted to come to this plain, uninteresting rock was beyond Mathias. Why Dan wanted Mathias to come was even more mystifying. They had arrived a mere two hours ago from Earth, and Dan had essentially disappeared into the colony right after their passenger shuttle landed, leaving Mathias to his own devices.

Mathias felt his stomach complain. A cafe – First Cup – was in plain sight. He started towards the cafe, eyeing the few surrounding colonists with his glowing red eyes as they stared him down. While all the humans of Freedom's Progress were plainly dressed and unexciting, Mathias' appearance differed vastly. The way he dressed in dark black clothing with an illuminated red trim; no sleeves revealing his highly toned biceps, his skull-tattooed face, his black, white-tipped hair with a dramatic swoop over his right eye, his snow-white skin. While mostly human, he was completely alien to these humans. Mathias laughed at the thought of the colonists running in fear if they had gotten the chance to meet his father. He'd have paid money to see that, but that wouldn't be possible. His father had been dead for twenty-three years.

He entered the cafe, and the human cashier appeared to have almost soiled her pants. Indeed, Mathias' presence was rather unnerving due to his appearance and menacing smirk. He loved to intimidate everyone around him, let his strength be known. He even took pleasure in knowing that despite his sinister appearance and aggressive attitude, he had women begging to sleep with him, even some men. "C-can I help you?" The cashier stuttered, keeping her gaze trained on Mathias' luminous red eyes. She thought Mathias was trying to look into her soul; his gaunt facial features sent a chill down her spine. He leaned in, his already great height becoming more striking. The cashier could feel and hear Mathias' breath.

In a menacing fashion, he began to speak: "I will have your daily special." The cashier began pressing into the holographic point of sale system. Mathias could easily tell her body temperature had risen. Her discomfort was amusing to him. "Th-th-that will be..." Mathias moved in closer as the cashier began to speak again. "It's fifteen credits." She backed off. Using his omni-tool, Mathias completed the transaction and in a few minutes the cashier was back with his order: a sandwich with turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes and honey mustard sauce on ciabatta bread, a cream of potato soup and a blueberry danish.

Mathias took the tray, and as he turned around, the two humans sitting at a window-side table quickly cleared it. He took the spot, looking out on the red sunset. He started with the soup. It was hot and went down smooth. The flavour was satisfying. He thought for a moment – were the ingredients purchased from Earth, or were they grown here, or somewhere else? Regardless, it was better than most.

As he finished his meal, Mathias noticed a distinct rumbling noise coming from outside. The cafe's startled patrons got up and went outside. Mathias did as well, pushing past the colonists. He went into the plaza and looked up. The sunset cast an ominous light on the clouds, as a massive starship appeared in the clearing. Swarming clouds soon followed, as did panicked shrieks from the colony's residents. Perplexed, Mathias examined the ship. It was like nothing he had ever seen; cylindrical in shape with an exterior that appeared to be rocky in nature. Just as the colony's defences began to start up, they suddenly shut down again; the security mechs dropped back to the ground. Mathias looked around as the colonists began trying to hide in the portable buildings. As they did, the swarming clouds descended close enough to the ground to be revealed as little insects. They stung the colonists, and when they did, they froze in their places. Mathias was startled when he saw this, and began using his powerful biotics to repel them. He suddenly felt a sharp pain on his right shoulder.

He quickly created a biotic shield large enough to encompass himself. His muscles began to tense up, but unlike the other colonists he did not freeze. He could move freely, albeit a little sorely. The massive ship began to park itself vertically on the ground not far from Mathias' location. He removed his shield and pretended to be frozen like the other colonists when strange, armed insectoid creatures began storming the area, being followed by odd coffins. These creatures began taking the frozen colonists, putting them in the coffins and taking them away.

It is when the creatures attempted to take Mathias that he revealed to them that they did not have him. Using his powerful biotics, he sent several of them flying very far. The creatures began to fire at him, and he immediately put up a strong shield around himself, simultaneously sending powerful bolts of energy that ripped through the bodies of the creatures. In response, they sent more strike teams towards him and he decided it would be best to flee.

Mathias ran past the portable buildings and blocky rock formations, almost tripping over several frozen colonists and entered a large clearing, having left the main colony. The creatures continued to pursue him; likewise, Mathias continued to kill them. More and more of the creatures came after him and they soon started firing more powerful weapons at him. If Mathias hadn't been who he was, he would have easily died but every shot they sent at him, he deflected towards them.

After several minutes of being attacked, and numerous dead creatures, they finally gave up and left him alone. Mathias kept his defences up, just in case they came back. He found a spot to hide under a rock formation and stayed there for a couple hours. He soon heard a quiet rumble, and then besides the wind, silence. Leaving his hiding place, Mathias went to explore the now abandoned colony. Everywhere he looked, there was no one. He ran into the First Cup cafe. The cashier he intimidated, the other patrons, were all gone. No blood, no signs of struggle. He left the cafe and explored deeper into the colony, noticing that the bodies of the creatures he killed were all gone. There was nothing but silence, and no signs of life besides himself. That meant Dan must be gone too. Mathias was a little more than intrigued. The now-moonlit night made the colony much more ominous.

He heard a noise and saw the source; a shuttle, not those creatures again. He also saw another person scurry into a small warehouse. Minutes later, the colony's security systems reactivated themselves. Security mechs suddenly got up and strangely began attacking Mathias. They should have detected him as being mostly human, based on his human appearance. Like the earlier creatures, the mechs were no problem for him to disable. Mathias ran to the warehouse the person ran into.

Entering, he saw a quarian sitting in front of an array of monitors. Mathias could hear the quarian babbling in a state of paranoia as he monitored the colony's defense systems. He approached the terrified quarian. "Hey!"

No response. The quarian simply kept his focus trained on the monitors, switching the security camera views, and seemingly collecting the footage. Mathias saw a recording of the creatures abducting the humans. He positioned himself against the desk so the quarian could see him, but he paid Mathias no mind.

Mathias grabbed the quarian's arm. He jumped and looked at Mathias, who could see beyond the quarian's mask that he was quite alarmed. "You...You-you're human! Where did you hide? Why didn't the monsters take you?" The startled quarian asked. He was quite visibly vibrating.

"They're too weak to have taken me." Mathias gloated. He could see the security footage on the screens, as the creatures took the frozen humans and put them into the unusual coffins. The humans looked helpless as they were taken. Why, he wondered. The creatures took the humans like one would do when harvesting fruit from a tree.

The uptight quarian continued. "Seeker swarms, machines like little insects. They sting you, freeze you, then they take you. Why are you still here?"

"I wasn't frozen. They didn't freeze me, and I fought them off. What are these creatures, do you know what they are?" Querying, Mathias examined the images on the screen. The creatures, insectoid in appearance, looked nothing like the other aliens. Their heads, when viewed straight on, were like upside down pyramids, but they extended backwards a considerable amount. They had four eyes glowing orange and no mouth.

"They...They didn't freeze you? Why?" The timid quarian asked, looking Mathias up and down. "How did you stop them?"

"I don't know. My biotics are unmatched. They couldn't stop me." Mathias examined the quarian some more. "What is your name?"

"I am...My name is Veetor."

The door to the building Mathias and the quarian named Veetor were in suddenly opened, Mathias' biotics flaring up in response. He readied himself to attack the intruders, only to see three well-equipped humans; two men and one woman. The flaring stopped, and the humans approached. Veetor got up from his chair.

"Veetor?" The man, who Mathias assumed to be the leader, asked. He was quite handsome; black hair, black stubble, scarred eyebrow, gaunt facial features and piercing blue eyes. His graphite armour must have weighed a ton, but the man could clearly handle it. He had very noticeable facial scars, with a strange red glow beneath them, perturbing Mathias.

"You...You're not one of them! You're human too...Where did you hide, why didn't they find you?" Veetor sounded even more surprised now that there were more humans. All others were frozen and abducted. They must have been the ones from the shuttle that Mathias saw land.

"Who didn't find us?" The woman, with black hair and wearing a white and black skin-tight suit spoke up. She didn't sound like she cared much for Veetor's situation more than the bottom line – information. The way she asked it was some what monotonous. The woman was very beautiful; curvaceous form, plump posterior and firm breasts. Her makeup was minimal as she had a natural beauty that makeup would simply obstruct. Her hair was black and unkempt, her eyes a piercing blue and her face full. The way she dressed indicated she liked to serve as a distraction to enemies, and Mathias thought she probably had no real value in a fight. The pistol she carried was probably less than what she might need.

"The...The monsters. The swarms. They took everyone. They're all gone, but they'll be back for me. No one escapes!" Veetor was quite visibly shaken and sounded as if he were on the verge of tears. Mathias found the incident disconcerting but he was not scared. Mathias couldn't remember a time he was truly afraid, after his father's death. Mathias cringed at himself before his loss; he was so weak back then, nothing like the powerful, perceptive and strangely attractive man he is now.

The other man, of African descent stepped forward slightly. He appeared to be in peak physical condition; slim and strong. His head was shaven but had light stubble on his face. Like the other two, he was rather alluring. "We aren't survivors. We just got here to investigate what happened."

Before Veetor could speak again, Mathias put a hand out in front of him to stop him. He stepped forward. "Before we continue, I would like to know who you are." He said, trying to remain diplomatic yet unfazed. He noticed the symbol on the outfits of the three investigators. It rung bells, but Mathias couldn't quite place his finger on where it was from.

The man in the middle looked at Mathias in a quizzical manner. "I'm Commander Shepard of the Normandy." He motioned to the woman first, and then the other man. "This is Miranda Lawson, and this is Jacob Taylor. We were sent by Cerberus to investigate the disappearance of the colony. Who are you, and what do you know about what happened here?"

Mathias sneered at the Commander. Terrorists, investigating an attack on a human colony? He turned back to Veetor, and motioned for him to turn on the screens to show the Cerberus operatives the surveillance footage. He turned back to face the operatives. "My name is Mathias von Delacroix. This might be self-explanitory."

"You don't know. You didn't see, but I see everything." Veetor turned around and replayed the footage, showing the creatures taking the incapacitated humans and putting them into the floating coffins.

Miranda approached the screens. "Looks like security footage he pieced together manually." The camera in the security footage panned across the building, providing a clear view of one of the weird insect-like creatures.

Startled, Jacob reacted to the footage. "What the hell is that?" Veetor paused the footage in clear view of the creatures.

"I don't know. There were lots of them here – creatures like humanoid bugs. They arrived in a massive ship, much larger than any I had ever seen." Mathias replayed the fight he had with the creatures in his mind. He didn't know how many of them he killed, but he found it somewhat strange that none of the bodies were left over, maybe to avoid leaving evidence. He remembered hearing the news about other human colonies completely disappearing with not a single shred of evidence. The disappearances were often blamed on slavers or terrorists. Some even theorized that it was Cerberus' doing, but Mathias now thought that it had something to do with the creatures that he encountered.

"My God. I think that's a Collector." Miranda grimaced her face, as did Commander Shepard and Jacob. Mathias could sense Veetor's heart rate rising, one of the skills he possessed due to his vampirism.

"A Collector? That's what those creatures were? I thought it was some bullshit invented to scare people or keep them in line." Mathias searched the security footage to see if he could see himself fighting off the Collectors, but that bit had not been recorded. Veetor looked away from the screens in an attempt to curb his panic.

Commander Shepard shook his head. "They're an advanced species that live somewhere beyond the Omega 4 relay. They don't normally show themselves in the Terminus Systems, and are even rarer in Citadel space. Only a few people have seen one in person."

Miranda continued for Shepard. "They usually work through intermediaries. They pay slavers and mercenaries outrageously for strange organic specimens, then leave. No one knows what happens to their specimens because they're never heard from again." She turned to face Shepard. "If they're working for the Reapers, it might explain what happened to the other colonies."

"The Collectors have very advanced technology. They might be able to disable an entire colony all at once. To add to what you said, Miranda, they often pay these slavers and mercenaries with their technology. Anyone with Collector technology will have an automatic edge over enemies in battle." Mathias perked up in response to Jacob's input. He remembered seeing the colony's mechs drop to the ground when the Collectors' vessel was preparing to land.

Mathias held up a hand to grab everyone's attention. "Wait! I think you might be right, Jacob. I distinctly remember all of the mechs suddenly disabling themselves. Then clouds of tiny bugs started swarming the colony and freezing everyone." He massaged his right shoulder where one of the bugs stung him and felt it was still a little tender, but tolerable.

Veetor nodded. "The seeker swarms. No one can hide. They sting you and freeze you. Then, the monsters take you away." His voice was shaky. "You are lucky. No one is left behind, they'll be back for me!"

"The seekers must use a nerve toxin or a stasis field to immobilize their victims, but keep them alive. This footage clearly shows the immobilized humans, completely at the mercy of the Collectors. Why didn't they take you, Mathias?" Examining Mathias, she became fixated on his eyes due to their seemingly unnatural glow.

Mathias shrugged. "I don't know. I was stung, but all I felt was a slight heat in my muscles. I wasn't frozen, and I fought them off with my biotics." He noticed the Cerberus operatives all staring at him, thoroughly scrutinizing him.

"What are you? You look human, but you're abnormally white. And your eyes..." Jacob asked. "Have you been genetically modified?"

Mathias glowered. As he began to speak, he intentionally bared his razor-sharp fangs. "Guess." He taunted.

Commander Shepard, asserting his dominance, stepped forward to Mathias, who did not flinch. "I don't appreciate threats. I'm doing an investigation and I expect cooperation. There are no humans left in this bloody colony except you. I would like you to be straight up with me."

Unfazed, Mathias breathed deeply, looking the Commander in the eye, letting him know that his intimidation was ineffective. "Do you know what a vampire is? That's what I am. Didn't ask to be, but it's how I was born."

"That might explain why the Collectors didn't take him. Vampires are similar to Vorcha in that they have advanced cellular regeneration and a vastly evolved immune system. They're immune to all disease, and that might have prevented the nerve toxin from disabling him." Miranda explained as she viewed DNA profiles on her omni-tool.

"I heard of Vampires. I studied them on my pilgrimage. But I don't know much. Most humans believe them to be a myth." Veetor said, still visibly shaken. Mathias suspected the quarian of being neurotic, and having some form of an anxiety disorder.

Jacob activated his omni-tool and brought up information for reference. "There are two forms of vampires. One is vampirism, a condition in humans spread by vampires, and the other is its own species. Miranda's right – they are immune to disease, but they're also known to be completely immortal. Mathias could literally be hundreds of years old." Mathias looked at Jacob bewildered, but Jacob shook it off. "If we had a seasoned scientist, Mathias' genetic material could provide a countermeasure against the seeker swarms."

Before anyone else could speak, Mathias jumped in. "I'm not going to be your test subject."

"We'll only need a small DNA sample. Vampires are so rare we don't have much in the way of biological data. Without your help, we would be helpless if we ever ran into the Collectors." Miranda began preparing her omni-tool to run an analysis. Begrudgingly, Mathias held out his right arm, stretching his large, firm and toned bicep. With his left hand, he drew blood from his wrist and allowed it to drip onto Miranda's omni-tool. Mathias covered the wound with his left hand and using his biotic powers he accelerated the healing process to close it. The small sore spot on his right shoulder disappeared shortly after. "Thank you. Cerberus will study your DNA. The fact that the seeker swarms were unable to disable you will assist us greatly in our mission."

"What about you, Veetor? Why didn't the Collectors take you?" The Commander changed his tone quite significantly in comparison to how he spoke to Mathias earlier. This time he was a lot softer.

"Seekers didn't find me. Monsters didn't know I was here."

"His environmental suit might have kept him from showing up on their scanners. Either that or they're using technology to detect specifically humans." Jacob suggested, looking at Veetor. "The Collectors aren't known for being careless."

"Only human colonies have been attacked." Miranda added.

"I killed many of the Collectors. They kept attacking me, and I kept killing them. Eventually, they just left me, and I was able to get away. I noticed their bodies were gone when they left. The Collectors must have taken them with them." Mathias explained. The Commander, with his hand on his chin, nodded.

"Shame. We've never had the opportunity to study the Collectors." Commander Shepard turned back to Veetor. "What happened after the Collectors took the humans?"

Mathias could hear Veetor's breath. He couldn't understand how he was so badly traumatized. Mathias felt that what happened was wrong but he hardly felt terror. "The monsters took the people onto the ship, then it flew away. But they'll be back. No one gets away!"

"We appreciate what you both told us." The Commander nodded.

Veetor's mood began to improve, as Mathias noticed his heart rate dropping and the speed at which he was breathing. "I studied the monsters. The swarms. On my omni-tool – lots of readings. Electro-magnetic, dark energy. No matching profiles." Veetor reviewed his findings on his omni-tool.

"Cerberus will need to study the data." Miranda eyed Mathias suspiciously. "Grab the quarian and the vampire, then call the shuttle to pick us up." As she instructed, another quarian – this time a purple-suited female – entered the warehouse.

She interrupted, sounding quite upset in protest of Miranda's suggestion. "What? Veetor is injured and needs treatment, not an interrogation!" She approached the group.

"She's right. I don't trust Cerberus' racist agenda. It's already too much that I had to speak face to face with you." Mathias' snide response drew a glare from Miranda.

"We won't hurt him, we just need to see what else he knows, then we'll return him to the flotilla-" Commander Shepard held up his hand to cut off Jacob.

"Veetor's traumatized and needs medical attention. Tali will give us the data from his omni-tool and take him to the flotilla." The Commander nodded towards the female quarian, apparently named Tali. Mathias exchanged looks with Miranda.

Miranda, a little surprised, accepted Shepard's command and dropped the matter. Tali thanked Shepard, and expressed her desire to join his team but her loyalty to her own mission prevented her from doing so.

Mathias frowned. "I'm not staying here. Someone's taking me off this bloody rock."

The Commander turned to Mathias and examined him: Mathias was clearly in peak physical condition, was fearless (if not a bit aggressive) and would likely be a valuable asset to his team. "Mathias. You should join our team. You have the most experience with the Collectors than any of us here."

Miranda used her omni-tool to collect information on Mathias, who had to restrain himself from angrily cussing her out. He liked his privacy and Miranda had no qualms about invading it. He felt she was learning everything about him, from his complete history right down to the thoughts in his mind. "Shepard, he is not among the dossiers given to you by the Illusive Man. We don't know much about him, and he can't come with us right now. The Illusive Man will have to look over his dossier. I'm already collecting physical information. Mathias, if you want to join our team, you'll need to provide us with your personal information."

Mathias rolled his eyes, then thought for a minute: this could turn out to be a fruitful endeavour. Commander Shepard was clearly going to go after the Collectors, and it would give Mathias an opportunity to prove himself to someone whose reputation was actually valued. Using his own omni-tool, Mathias forwarded his personal details to Miranda; date of birth, academics, history, abilities. "I'll take you up on that offer, but you will have to make it worth my time." He replied to the Commander, who nodded in affirmation.

"You can't come with us right now. The Illusive Man will need to look over your dossier before you can be approved to serve aboard the Normandy SR-2 for the duration of this mission. Tali will take Veetor back to the flotilla, and she can have you sent back to the Citadel or another location." Miranda explained as she saved his data.

Tali nodded towards Mathias, and he followed her and Veetor back out to their own shuttle. In the shuttle were two other injured quarians. The unknown pilot directed the shuttle off the planet and into the vast expanse of space. Sitting on one of the shuttle's benches,- Mathias supported his upper body with his arms on his legs. He was lost in thought, starting to regret his decision to join the Commander's team. He had no doubt in his mind that they were going to go after the Collectors and while he didn't have much of a problem with it, the idea of being evaluated and having other lives depending on him didn't appeal to him. As a lone dog, Mathias also didn't care for the idea of fighting with others rather than against. He hoped his past run-ins with the law wouldn't cast a bad light on him as this "Illusive Man" he heard mentioned earlier probably wouldn't approve, but then again Cerberus had a shady reputation and was human-centrist so perhaps it wouldn't matter. He was aggressive enough to draw the attention of Commander Shepard, whom he knew to be well-respected, as the one who defeated the Reaper Sovereign.

"Tell me about yourself." Tali asked Mathias as Veetor remained attached to her arm to comfort himself.

Mathias propped up his head and shrugged. "What do you want me to tell you?" He felt that aggressiveness would not be appropriate and he acted accordingly. His attitude towards Tali was rather neutral; neither friendly nor unfriendly.

"You seem to have drawn the Commander's attention, and I'm curious to understand. What's your name? Your background, what do you do, et cetera? You look different from other humans."

Mathias rolled his eyes. "The main reason I minimize sentient interaction is because everyone is quick to point out my differences. You really want to know? I'm something that most humans think is a lie. Most don't even believe me when I tell them I'm a vampire." He paused to look down. In truth, he longed for a close relationship with other people but they always shunned him because of who he was and especially what he was.

"A vampire?" Tali repeated.

"Yes, a vampire."

"Tell me about them."

He paused. Tali sounded genuinely curious, where others simply asked just to maintain conversation. He curled his mouth. "Well, most humans think that we're just a myth, ancient folklore. Other species never heard of us. You want to know what I am? I am a halfbreed vampire, meaning I have the properties of a pureblood vampire but in a human form. In other words, I'm much stronger than other humans, I can't get sick, and if everything goes well, I'll live forever. This condition also makes me incredibly pale and it also makes my eyes glow. My biotics are also unmatched."

"Does being a vampire enhance your biotic abilities?" Tali appeared quite intrigued, as she had leaned in to listen to Mathias more closely.

"In a sense. I don't know how much you know about human history, but the condition, as well as pureblood vampires, have existed alongside humans for thousands of years. We've always been a rare bunch, and many religious groups considered us demons, especially since we've always had well developed biotics even without bio-amp implants because the part of Earth we originate from had a high concentration of Element Zero. We've been regularly hunted for thousands of years. There's a reason the oldest vampires to have ever lived only survived half a millennium. Even in the age where humans are more tolerant than ever, I must be careful because I never know what might happen. If I defend myself, I know I'll be blamed." The memory of his father was too painful. Murder remains the number one cause of death among vampires. Mathias sat up straight and took a deep breath to get his mind off of his painful memories. "My biotics are highly advanced. Like I mentioned, vampires have naturally developed biotics, which can be further enhanced with bio-amp implants like mine. And, considering the fact that I'm a descendant of a powerful bloodline, I am deadly indeed."

Tali noticed Mathias' emotion as he described the vampire slaughter. "It sounds like you're missing someone."

Mathias closed his eyes to keep himself calm. "I'm not going to talk about it." Though his father was killed twenty-three years ago, the vision was still deeply engraved in his mind. Mathias lost him when he was only seventeen, a bad time in his life when he was completely at the mercy of his mind. The only reason he was still alive was because of his father. Thanks to his loss, Mathias became somewhat cold-blooded, and a lot of his aggressiveness and resentment can be traced back to his loss.

Tali decided not to press him further on the matter. "You mentioned pureblood vampires, and that you're only a halfbreed. What's the difference? I've never really expressed this to anyone, but ever since I met Commander Shepard two years back, I've had a bit of a fixation on your kind."

Now preoccupied by thoughts of his past, Mathias struggled to even find the desire to speak anymore. Tali's curiosity in him was bothersome, but deep in his mind he welcomed it as he never got the opportunity to open up to anyone. His closest friend, Dan, was a bit of an oddball. Always coked up on some weird new drug, and usually distant, but almost certainly gone now. "Halfbreed vampires are just glorified humans. Pureblood vampires are much different and amazing. They're massive, winged creatures. They have long muzzles full of razor-sharp teeth, horns on their heads, over-developed muscles and claws on their fingers and toes. But, their best defining features are their red skin and colossal wingspans. The only way they resemble regular humans is their bipedal humanoid form. They're part of the reason religious humans considered them demons, because that's exactly what they look like. You don't fuck with a pureblood because I can guarantee they will rip your head off... Literally. Unfortunately, their enormous strength wasn't enough to protect them against widespread slaughter. I've... Seen their... Heads mounted on the walls in ancient ruins." The idea appalled him.

Taken aback, Tali remained silent. She did studies on human religion, and based on Mathias' description she was able to form an image in her mind of what these creatures looked like. Renaissance and medieval art sometimes depicted such creatures, and she soon began to realize that some of the stories she had read may have been true. Humans were known to be a superstitious bunch and it came as no surprise that these creatures were subject to brutality. Tali kept a small private collection of human mythologies in her private quarters back on the Rayya, a ship in the flotilla.

"How is vampirism spread?" She asked.

Mathias shook his head. He wondered when the questions would stop. "Multiple ways. A human can become a vampire by a bite from another vampire, or you can be born one like I was. If the father was a vampire himself, the offspring will always be vampires themselves. And, before you ask, halfbreed vampires and pureblood vampires are capable of interbreeding, because pureblood vampires and humans are ultimately closely related."

"So at least one of your parents was a vampire."

A sharp pain entered his chest like a stake had been driven into his heart. Mathias couldn't believe she had the audacity to ask such a personal question. She might as well have asked him about how talented he was in bed. He gave her a cold stare and she backed off. "That is none of your bloody business."

Tali threw up her hands in appeasement and remained silent for the next couple of minutes, when Mathias decided he had a few questions himself.

"Were you interrogating me?" He was irritated and wanted to show her. "No one asks that many questions without knowing a person first. What's your ambition?" Veetor became nervous when Mathias mentioned interrogations.

She just stared at him, not sure how to answer his question. She was truly interested in the human-vampire in front of her, and didn't think she would offend him as she hadn't done so before. "I didn't mean to offend you. Like I said, your kind fascinates me, more so than other species in the galaxy. Humans are ambitious, individualistic creatures. You're more varied than the other races, and you specifically are something of an anomaly."

Mathias crossed his arms and looked at Tali with a somewhat mischievous expression. He chuckled under his breath. "I see what's going on here. You have a human fetish and want to get into my pants." He made Tali very uncomfortable, and he knew it. He could see her blushing furiously behind her mask. He laughed at her expense, and it felt good, especially since it took his mind off of his painful memories.

"Wait, what? No, no, no... That's not what I meant." Tali's attraction to Commander Shepard made the situation more awkward than it needed to be. She had developed a crush on him when she worked closely with him two years ago. "Besides... I could die if I slept with you. I could get incredibly sick if I simply took off my suit's mask, even for a second!" Many people disapproved of inter-species relationships, especially when one in the couple was a human.

Mathias shook his head and looked to the ceiling. "Whatever you say." The remainder of the ride to the flotilla was silent.

Looking out the shuttle's window, Mathias could see many of the quarian Migrant Fleet's fifty thousand ships. Tali got up and started a communication link between her and the flotilla. "This is Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya, requesting permission to dock with the Rayya." Mathias pressed the side of his face against the window so he could see forward as much as possible, and he saw the Rayya; a massive ship with a gargantuan rotating orb at the end that likely served to simulate gravity.

"Permission granted, Tali. Dock 37a is open." A male quarian instructed over the shuttle's intercom.

Tali opened the microphone on her end. "This shuttle is not clean and we require decontamination. We also have a human on board who will be departing the flotilla shortly, but needs a clean-suit before boarding. Prepare a medical team, we have a few of our own requiring medical treatment."

"Ignore Dock 37a; move instead to Dock 46b. The human is not authorized to board the Rayya. You must return him to where he came from." Mathias didn't believe the quarians' refusal to let him aboard the Rayya was out of spite or racism. He knew very well that outsiders were rarely given access to any of the ships in the flotilla for a number of reasons, most likely because the quarians liked to keep their ships cleaner than the typical medical operating room.

"This human is a refugee from one of their recently attacked colonies and we cannot return him to the colony. Have this shuttle's pilot return him to the Citadel." A refugee? Really? Tali crossed her arms and stood up as the shuttle docked inside the designated bay in the Rayya. She attended to the other two injured quarians, and got Veetor to stand up. They helped the two injured quarians into the decontamination room, but Tali motioned for Mathias to stay put in the shuttle.

Once Tali, Veetor and the other two quarians were whisked away by ready medical teams, the quarian shuttle backed out of the Rayya and headed towards the nearest Mass Relay, propelling them thousands of light years in a matter of seconds. The shuttle's excellent force equalization prevented Mathias from putting in any effort to keep himself stable. The jump between Mass Relays was very euphoric, providing the shuttle's two occupants with unusual sensations. The shuttle was soon left on its own after a few Mass Relay jumps, and in a few hours the shuttle began preparations to dock on one of the Citadel's five Wards: the Zakera Ward.

The ship was decontaminated, and once Mathias offloaded himself he was decontaminated as well. He stopped in at the Customs desk, gaining access to the ward and finally entered the main plaza. He knew that the Commander would be able to find him if they decided to come looking for him, and even though he wanted to return to his apartment back on Earth he decided not to book passage back to his homeworld just to make things more convenient for the Commander, should he come find him. Instead, Mathias headed to a hotel lobby to book himself a room.

The turian hotel attendant, unlike other humans, did not stare him down due to his differed appearance but he also did not appear intimidated by Mathias. Mathias was tired and annoyed so instead of asserting his dominance the way he normally did when interacting with other people he simply booked a room for a week and upon obtaining his room key and finding his room, he threw himself onto the cheap but comfortable bed.