Chapter 1: Bad Blood

Lucy Sang couldn't help but feel that her ancient ancestors had it right with the whole "hiding in a dark cave" lifestyle. Her hiding spot was nice and dark, enough that she could practically hear the entire house through the vents, it was stocked with plenty of food, and, most importantly, she was safe from-

The attic door crashed open, flooding the attic with light from below. "Lucy! I know you're in here somewhere. You may as well come out."

…Damn. "I don't want to come out. I have Bug Burgas back here."

Lucy could hear her older sister gritting her teeth as she moved the large painting she was hiding behind. "Come on, you know Father will be furious if we don't get you ready before your exhibit tonight."

"But if I look like a starving artist, they might give me more money!"

The scowl on Lana's perfectly made-up face told Lucy she wouldn't be getting away with that excuse. Lana's own midnight-blue suit jacket and skirt were immaculate, despite the fact she'd been wearing it since morning. With a roll of her eyes, she allowed herself to be practically dragged back down the attic ladder.

"Father will be coming to the gallery later tonight to inspect your turnout and help with networking. I will not have him seeing you in that slovenly outfit." She wrinkled her nose at Lucy's messy gray fur, ratty jeans, and old blue T shirt.

"Hey! My Bat Penetar shirt is awesome!"

Lana ignored Lucy's protests as she pulled her down the hall to the dressing room and plopped her onto a stool in front of the mirror. Lucy made sure to fidget and struggle as much as she could while Lana tried in vain to wrestle a brush through her dyed-black hair. "Hold still, or I'll shave your head!"

"I will not be threatened!"

"If you hold still, and let me do your hair and makeup, I'll let you wear that black vinyl catsuit you like so much."

"...But I will be bribed. Carry on."

After about twenty more minutes, Lana finally managed to get Lucy's hair brushed flat and pinned flat down the back of her neck with hairspray. She'd thankfully opted for subtlety with the makeup, using only a coat of black eyeshadow above Lucy's forest green eyes. The black "catsuit" was actually Lucy's favorite suit to wear while painting. The smooth, black material was easy to scrub paint off of, hard to stain, and comfortable.

Lucy was going to mumble under her breath that people should be looking at the paintings, not her, but was cut off by the ringing of a phone.

Lana's cell phone.

Her blood ran cold.

Lana picked up the phone. "Hello, Father." Lucy tried to gesture frantically for her to tell their father she'd already left. "Yes, she's right here." Lucy's entire body sagged in disappointment.

She accepted the cell phone from her sister, putting it on speakerphone. "Hi, Daddy."

"Hello, Lucy," greeted the gravelly, cold tone of Lucien Sang. "I trust you're following my instructions and not giving Lana a hard time."

"O-of course! Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm watching my security feed of the hallway, and I saw her dragging you down from the attic again."

Lucy turned away from the hall security camera, trying to hide her wince. "Yes, Daddy. I was uh… preparing myself mentally for the exhibit."

"Really?" Her father hummed in a tone that suggested he did not believe her in the slightest. "Well that's good. I hope I don't need to remind you what happens if this little lark of yours doesn't go well."

She bit her lower lip. "Yes, Daddy."

"I won't lie to you, Lucy. I have extreme doubts about letting you do this. If necessary, I will put you on the right track by force, like Lana. But you seem to have a following, which might make this career choice quite lucrative for you, so I am willing to allow you to see where it goes." He paused for a moment, audibly sighing through his nose. "Which brings me to an unfortunate piece of news."

"Uh… okay. What is it?"

There was another moment of hesitation from him. "I am afraid that there has been an emergency meeting called by the board of directors. I am unable to oversee the event tonight, as I said I would. Lana and Leo will be going along instead."

Knowing she'd get in trouble if she cheered out loud, Lucy kept it internal.

"Remember, Lana is still in charge. I won't have you and your brother making fools of yourselves in public. If I hear from Lana that anything happened…"

Lucy shuddered. "Yeah. I'll make sure to, uh… be on my best behavior."

"Excellent. Just remember that there is always a position open at St. Justine's. You might even look good in a military school uniform."

With that, he hung up abruptly, leaving Lucy standing dumbly while Lana pried the phone from her claws. "That sounded like it went well. No time to dwell on it. Let's get you out of those ratty clothes and into something more fitting."

Lana carefully extracted Lucy from her t shirt without messing up her hair and makeup. After that, it was fairly easy to get into her outfit for the gallery: a shiny black jumpsuit that was technically made to keep paint out of Lucy's fur, but had been modified by Lana to be more "fashionable" by cutting a diamond-shaped hole just below her collarbone, cutting off the back, and adding a brass clasp collar. Lucy actually liked the slightly racy changes to it. It was less functional, but made for a great alternative to the other weird, alien outfits Lana tried to get her to wear.

Finally, she was piled into the back of the family limo. Lana got into the driver's seat, leaving her alone. "Yet another sign that she's a tool…" Lucy muttered under her breath.

Her phone buzzed. She picked it up to see a new text. Good luck at the exhibit tonight, Lucy! It's gonna go great! I just know it! -M

Lucy smiled. Leave it to Martina to try and cheer her up at the very last possible second. On the way there now. Scared to death. R u gonna be there? -L

Of course, dear! I wouldn't dream of missing your grandest moment! -M

U know u can drop the theatrics in text, rite? -L

I know nothing of the sort. ;) -M

Lucy chuckled, putting her phone away just in time to see that they had pulled over on the side of the road. "Uh, Lana, why are we stopping?"

The partition between the two of them slowly rolled down. Lana did not look at her when she spoke. "Before we arrive, I wanted to impress the importance of this event on you."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah, I know, if anything goes wrong, I'm off to St. Justine's." Though the thought may have been terrifying, it had started to become annoying when she was threatened with it every day for a month.

"That isn't what I mean." Lana, for the first time, turned to look at her. "I know about the underage drinking, the shoplifting, and the fighting."

The younger bat averted her gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Listen to me, you little brat!" Lana snapped. "I'm not trying to threaten you with that ridiculous school. There are going to be important people at this exhibit. Father has put the word out to a few of his high class contacts about this exhibit for you. So if anything goes wrong, it will reflect badly on our family as a whole. And, since I'm in charge of you, it reflects especially badly on me. I need you to be on your best behavior. Promise me."

Lucy was shocked to say the least. Lana had never talked to her that frankly and seriously. "I guess… I promise."

Lana's eyes searched her face. Lucy did her best to look like the pinnacle of innocence. Finally, she nodded and turned back without another word, putting the divide back up.

The rest of the drive was uncomfortably uneventful. Martina didn't message again, so Lucy found herself idly twiddling her thumb claws, letting the nervous knots in her gut fester. She pulled her lucky pocket knife out. She'd sewn a little slot for it into the inside of the right leg of her favorite painting jumpsuit, where Lana wouldn't look for it. The name Lionel was carved into the wooden handle. Lionel had been her grandfather. The knife was all she had left of him.

At last, they pulled up in front of the gallery.

Nutti Gallery was the biggest contributor to up-and-coming artists in Zootopia. It was in the understory of the Rainforest District, clear across town from where the Sang family lived in the Meadowlands.

The street outside the tall, marble-and-glass building was packed. Her father really had gone all-out with marketing the exhibit. Since the high class visitors were likely inside, the street was filled with hipsters, in hipster clothes, doing… hipster things. Lucy hated hipsters.

Lana opened the passenger door. "Come on. Out with you."

Lucy gulped as she stepped out onto the red carpet leading into the gallery. The flash of the cameras and the noise of the crowd forced her to choose between shielding her eyes or her ears.

The inside was still crowded, but it at least wasn't as noisy. The rodents filling the gallery were mostly chatting quietly among themselves, or looking at some of the other exhibits on display.

That quiet noise level was quickly rectified by someone loudly yelling, "Darling!"

Lucy quickly found herself being tackle-hugged by a missile made of light brown fur.

Martina was a mouse around Lucy's age and around half her height. She wore a black denim vest over a white shirt and a pink skirt. Her short brown hair was dyed almost completely pink as well. She pecked Lucy on each cheek. "I'm so happy to finally see you on your big night!" she gushed. "It's so exciting!"

Behind her, another bat slowly strolled up. Leo Sang was pretty much the picture in the dictionary next to the word "nerd." He was a little overweight, wearing thick glasses, tan slacks, and a white shirt with suspenders. He even wore shoes, brown loafers that were out of fashion even to Lucy. He greeted her with a smile and a hug. "Great to see you again, Luce."

She squeezed him tight, actually lifting him off his feet a little and grinning at his surprised squeak. He indignantly brushed off the wrinkles on his shirt once she set him down. "Hey! I took all day ironing this…"

Lucy and Martina shared a laugh. "I haven't seen you in months. Can you blame me? How's your project going, anyway?"

He perked up immediately. "The solar array? It's going really well. Almost ready for the scholarship showing."

While Leo was Lucy's brother, and Martina had been her friend since childhood, they were also competitors. The Stagford University Scholarship was Lucy's backup plan in case her art career didn't take off right away. Leo wanted access to the university's labs to help further his research. Martina, who'd always had a flair for acting, hoped that the prestigious university's drama program would be her gate to bigger and better things. But only one of them could have it.

A light bulb went off in Lucy's head. "Speaking of which, want to see my exhibit?"

They both nodded eagerly. Lucy lead them back through the rows of walls holding various paintings, towards the front of the exhibit. "These are mine!" she proclaimed proudly.

There were three paintings, all in a row. On the far left was an image of Tundratown at night, with various shadowy figures standing around in the snowy streets. In the middle was Savannah Central, with all the buildings on fire for some reason or another. Lucy honestly wasn't sure why she'd painted it that way, but it looked cool.

The third one was… special. At least, it was special to Lucy.

It depicted Lucy's small attic hideout, lit only by the light of a full moon through the skylight. The third picture, even more than either of the others, was painted with loving detail. Everything, from the moonlight crossing individual bits of dust in the air, to the grain of the wooden floorboards, to the subtle shine of the glass skylight was shown with crystal clarity.

"Tres magnifique darling!" Martina gushed. "You have outdone yourself!"

"Yeah, really pretty," Leo agreed, clearly having no actual idea. He looked fidgety and nervous. Lucy gave him a worried frown.

She tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to jump. "Hey, are you ok?"

He looked back and forth, as if worried he was going to be ambushed. "I'm fine," he tried to assure, in an unusually high-pitched voice.

Lucy wrapped a wing around him. "Getting freaked out by the crowd?"

He hesitated, but nodded.

She patted his back comfortingly. "No worries. Maybe we can talk Lana into letting you leave early."

"As anyone with any sense would wish to do, I'm sure."

Lucy closed her eyes, sighing through her nose at the voice from behind her. "Hello, Spaz."

The chipmunk scowled at her purposeful mispronunciation. "It's pronounced "Spots."

"It's like, foreign, or something," said his flunky, a burly female gopher in a T Shirt that legitimately said 'I heart Spaz,' not with a heart symbol, but with the actual word heart.

Spaz was somewhere between being a hipster and just being a lazy bum. His outfit being completely made of tattered denim made him look homeless, even if he did make a tidy profit off his work. He smelled homeless too. But none of the other patrons around him had the guts to say anything. He had a reputation for getting into fights in the rare event that someone even slightly insulted him.

A nasty little idea reared its head in Lucy's mind. It was one that made her grin.

Lucy tilted her head to one side. "Oh? I always thought you named yourself after how spastic those paintings of soda cans made you look."

Spaz favored her with a cold glare. "They were soup cans," he growled through grinding teeth.

"Really? Wow. Andy Narwhal really is a better painter then you. At least his cans don't look like they're already recycled."

Spaz did exactly what Lucy hoped he would do; tackled her to the ground and started punching her.

Lucy kicked him off. As she stood, she stealthily pulled the pocket knife from its hiding place. She was absolutely not afraid to cut this jackass, especially since he'd given her the excuse of self defense.

Before they could pounce on each other again, Martina stepped between them. "Now now, darlings! No need to fight. We're in public. Surely we can all be civil?"

Spaz tossed his head, sticking his nose in the air. "Fine. I don't want to be in this trash heap anyways. Come on, Courtney."

As the two rodents left the gallery, Martina gave Lucy a very very stern look. "What were you thinking!? You could've destroyed your career!"

Lucy folded her wings and gave a guilty pout. "Sorry… The Spaz gets on my nerves…"

Martina snatched the knife from her. "I'll take that. If Lana catches you with your hair in a mess like that, a knife won't protect you. Come on! Into the bathroom. I have a brush in my purse."

Though it pained her, Lucy spent the rest of the event parked next to her paintings with Martina and Leo.

It was mostly quiet for a couple of hours, until they were approached by a twitchy kangaroo rat in a navy blue sweater and black jeans. "Excuse ME!" His entire face twitched as he shouted the last word. "Would you be the ARTIST of these pieces?"

"Yup. These are mine," Lucy replied, not particularly phased. He certainly wasn't the worst weirdo she'd seen in town.

He looked at the price tags below each painting. "Only a hundred BUCKS each!?" He turned back to look at her. "I'll give you a THOUSAND each!"

Lucy blinked. "Uhhhh… you do realize I'm a relative unknown with absolutely zero prestige, righ-" Martina violently pinched Lucy to shut her up.

"I'm AWARE!" The kangaroo rat replied. "I just like their LOOKS and have MONEY to swing around. My name's RATTOIS! I'm a COLLECTOR!"

Lucy tried to do the math of how much that would make her in her head. Leo, obviously seeing this, beat her to it. "With the 20% gallery fee, that'd make you twenty-four hundred dollars. That's a pretty good haul for a starting artist."

Rattois pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills and waggled them enticingly.

Lucy took the money from him and counted it. Three grand. Not just three grand, but three grand she'd earned herself. "Sir, you have a deal."

"GREAT! I'll have my ASSISTANTS come in to pick them up NOW!"

Lucy felt a pang of emotion she couldn't identify as a pair of burly moles carted her paintings off to parts unknown. But they went away as a big grin crossed her face, and she held the money up triumphantly. "Looks like dinner's on me tonight!"

The look on Lana's face when Lucy walked up with several thousand dollars, saying she was ready to leave, was absolutely priceless. Sadly, she recovered quickly. "Alright. I suppose you've done… well. Where would you like to go?"

"Oooh!" Martina exclaimed. "I know the owner of a great restaurant that's not too far from here. He owes me a favor. I can get us seats!"

Indeed she had. The restaurant was clearly upscale, with red velvet curtains and tablecloths, a full classical string band, and waiters that weren't penguins, but looked like them. Lana politely declined to go, muttering under her breath about how a full meal with Lucy was a far worse torture than she ever deserved.

Once they got seated, Martina cleared her throat. "Now that I've got you both here, there's something I've been meaning to discuss with you."

Leo looked at her with concern. "What's wrong, Marty?"

Martina laced her fingers under her chin, as if she was trying hard to word her next statement right. "Well… now that Lucy has been at least recognized by the art world, and your research has begun to gain traction, Leo, I was hoping to ask if you two might be willing to… drop out of the race for the scholarship."

Lucy was taken aback. Leo stammered for a few minutes before Lucy cut him off. "Are you crazy? We've been working for this thing forever."

"Now just hear me out!" Martina begged. "You two are already starting to take off. I'm still stuck on the ground! I don't have the resources to fall back on that you two do."

That was true. Martina was rather poor compared to either of them. All of her connections, all of her accomplishments, she'd earned them one by one.

"I guess I don't really NEED to use the university labs…" Leo said doubtfully.

Lucy shook her head. "That may be true for Leo, but Dad'll make me head to college no matter what I do. If I don't get this, he'll pay for it himself. Then I'll be in debt to him. I refuse to let that happen without a fight."

Martina opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, and then finally closed it with a scowl. There really wasn't much to be said.

The trio ate in silence for the next few minutes, no words spoken between them in all that time. Lucy was glad to be able to enjoy her meal in peace, but a part of her couldn't help thinking back over Martina's insistence about dropping that scholarship - It seemed unlike her. Usually, Martina was all for standing behind whatever decisions Lucy made. Something about this one seemed different, though. Almost disconcerting.

Whatever the case, Lucy was more than happy to drown her thoughts with flavor, forking down her meal one bite at a time. Ignorance was bliss.

Eventually, a newcomer to the restaurant caught Lucy's attention. Her eyes settled on a portly star-nosed mole in a gray three-piece suit as he entered the lobby and paced right past the receptionist desk. He appeared to be rather old, hobbling along on a small cane clutched within his thick paws. Overall, he looked a cross between an aristocrat and a funeral director, and soon enough, he was positioned right beside their table.

"Oh, Mr. Graves." Martina greeted. "It's nice to see you. We appreciate the hospitality!"

The mole nodded his head politely. "It's my pleasure. Just stopping by to see how things are running." He said with a sigh, scanning over the room. "The restaurant business can be a very time consuming one. Ah, but don't mind me. How's your aunt holding up?"

"She's just invested in usual business. Whatever you can think of."

Mr. Graves nodded again, the tendrils ringed around his nostrils quivering with irritation. "I see, I see… Good. Well, I suppose I'll be off. Keep an eye on her for me, will you? She's a wily one."

At that, the star-nosed mole excused himself, leaving behind the table and approaching the bar. Lucy was tempted to ask Martina more about that peculiar old mammal, but Leo beat her to it with a question of his own about some technical mumbo jumbo relating to his solar array that she couldn't have bothered listening to even if she understood half of what he was saying. She zoned out, picking at her food and pondering more over that scholarship that Martina had mentioned.

As the night dragged on, poor Leo got continually more inebriated with each passing minute, thanks to his consistent drinking, and eventually, Martina offered to take him home. She helped guide him back outside after the check was paid, mumbling about photovoltaics all the while, thus leaving Lucy to herself.

The young bat sighed, wishing that she had someone to talk to. She sat by herself for a few minutes, but quickly noticed that old mole, Mr. Graves, looking at her. He didn't seem to be staring. Just looking at her with polite interest. Still feeling unnerved, Lucy quickly vacated the restaurant, so eager to leave that she forgot all about the tip.

Stepping outside into the chilly night winds, the bat felt a shiver settle down her spine. It was almost soothing. It was moments like these where she could truly relax. Despite longing for someone to talk to earlier, Lucy figured that now was the time to be alone with her thoughts, for she had much to think about.

Flapping up and taking to the air, Lucy ascended to the roof of the restaurant, touching down and staring out over the nighttime skyline of Savanna Central. The bright city lights beamed high into the sky, and even at this hour, mammals of all shapes and sizes meandered throughout the surrounding streets. It made her think of the mysterious Nocturnal District, with its underground neighborhoods. She wondered what it would be like to live in a world of perpetual darkness. A slight laugh reached her lips. If I really want to know, all I need to do is ask my family.

Exhaling softly, Lucy slumped against the rim of the roof and tilted her head back, staring up at the sky above. The moon beamed bright across the darkness, and even farther away, stars glittered like diamonds sprinkled throughout the cosmos. She reached out to them with one wing, as though trying to grab a handful of dust. Lucy had always liked staring up at the stars. Most of her vampire bat kin lived down in the Nocturnal District, where the sun never shined, so being one of the few families living on the surface, she was always grateful to be able to appreciate such natural beauty. Not only that, but there was just something so inexplicably inspiring about the night sky, with all its heavenly bodies. Maybe it just reminded Lucy that there was a universe out there so much bigger than whatever petty squabbling her family dragged her into. Or maybe it was just pretty to look at. Whatever the case, it was a sight that never failed to calm her down.

Lucy dropped her wing back down to her side, where her claws tapped slowly against the stone roof of the building below her. Perhaps life could have been better, but it definitely could have been worse. She'd heard rumors that most of the vampire bats below the surface lived in not-so great conditions, and weren't very well liked by other mammals due to their unique predatory needs that no fish or bug could satisfy. Then again, it wasn't like those few families on the surface were much better off - Always getting threats and being discriminated against. For as overbearing as her father was, Lucy couldn't deny that he did a good job of protecting his family, even if he cared for some of them more than others.

As the thought of her father passed through her mind once more, Lucy's peaceful mood was left soured. She figured that trying to pick out the constellations would only result in her connecting the dots to an image of her father's glaring face, so instead, she refocused her attention to another thing that never failed to make her feel better: Drawing. She reached into her purse and pulled out a raggedy old sketchbook. It wasn't much, but it was one of her most prized possessions, always on her for whenever inspiration struck.

She set the cardboard backpiece down on her lap, and began to reconstruct the faces of Leo and Martina, sitting across from her during their time in the restaurant. She sketched out the details of their fur, the emotion behind their smiles, and all the little things scattered throughout the foreground and background. When she was finished, she smiled down at it, grateful to be able to have friends such as these.

Lucy spent the next ten minutes to herself on that roof, adding details to her drawing, and pondering over all the things she was thankful for in life, before an electronic buzz pierced the silence, effectively derailing her train of thought. She glanced over to her purse, which was trembling from within every few seconds as the buzzing noise rang out. Reaching inside, the bat retracted her mobile device before holding it up. Martina. That was odd. Why was she calling so soon after she'd left?

"Hello?" She started softly.

"Lucy! Oh, Lucy, thank goodness you picked up!" Martina's voice cried out, fear lacing her words.

"What is it?" The bat asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes! It's horrible! Leo's place - You need to get here right now! I-It's Leo!"

Lucy perked up, gasping slightly. She felt her heart tremble with apprehension, yet her fear was quickly overshadowed by her worry. Something was wrong with Leo, and Martina needed her help.

"I'm on my way."

Lucy noticed something strange about the apartment building on Fleet Street almost as soon as it came into view. It took her a moment to figure out what bugged her about it; It was early evening, when nocturnal mammals would be waking up, and diurnal mammals would still be eating dinner. No one should be asleep.

But there were no lights on in the building.

Lucy approached slowly. She pushed a button on the box outside the front door, hoping to be buzzed in. There was no sound. Is the power out? What the heck is going on…?

Flying up, she found Leo's window to be shut and locked, the window shuddered so that she couldn't see in. She tried to bang on the door to get Martina's attention, but no one answered. Fortunately, the front door was unlocked.

Lucy took the stairs up to the third floor, where Leo's apartment was. She didn't see anyone on her way up, but she did hear several other mammals muttering angrily about the power outage.

She reached Leo's door, and found it broken nearly off of its hinges. She immediately reached for her knife, cursing herself when she realized that Martina still had it.

Lucy barged inside, and immediately stopped, her breath hitching in her throat.

Lying on the beige, blood-stained carpet, was Leo.

He looked much smaller than Lucy remembered him. Lucy didn't even think to call for Martina. She just collapsed to her knees, trying to shake him awake. She barely heard her own voice as she yelled for him to stay awake, if he could hear her. That's when she saw what was sticking out of his chest.

Lucy's lucky knife.

"Yes! She's still here! I can hear her outside! Please, hurry!"

Lucy didn't have time to register Martina's voice. The police must have arrived just after she walked into the building. She hadn't even noticed them until a burly rat tackled her from behind.

Lucy struggled on the ground, unsure what was going on. Her attempts at asking were muffled by the carpet. She felt a sharp prick in her side as the officer holding her down fired his tranq pistol into her. The last thing Lucy saw before everything went black was her sketchbook falling out of her purse. The sketch she'd made of herself and her small group of friends being slowly soaked through with Leo's blood.

Thank you to my co-authors, Upplet and Berserker88. A long time ago, I intended to write an origin story for Lucy, one of the villains from my other story with Berserker88, Born to Be Wilde. That project fell by the wayside for a long time, until Upplet urged us to pick it back up again. He was so eager that we decided to bring him on as a co-author. In fact, he wrote much of the roof scene.