Though Shadow's vampire body wanted to sleep during the day, the exhaustion caused him to rest for nearly two hours that night. During this time, Tails explained to Sonic what happened while he was missing.
"... And then you came in and attacked him, Sonic, if you had plunged the dagger through his heart, he would have been killed instantly!! Please, be more careful!" the fox whined, shaking his head. His blue friend glanced at Shadow, who was beginning to stir on the couch.
"Well, I had thought that he was in connection with that other one, and they had some sort of plan going on. I figured that even if you were a vampire, the first place you would come is here, but when I saw him in here, I thought they might be holding you captive or something!" the blue hedgehog said, jerking his thumb at Shadow, who was now fully awake. The dark vampire glared at him, thoroughly annoyed.
"It'sssss not like I assssked to be this way!!" he said with a hiss. The pair stared at him for a moment, suprised.
"You're picking up the vampire accent, Shadow! We got to find you a cure fast!" Tails said, starting to stand. The dark hedgehog rose before he could however, and pushed him back down, bringing a finger to his lips.
"Shhhhhh..." he said, turning to one of the windows. Leaping onto the top of the couch, Shadow perched on it like a beast, eyes closed and ears twitching.
After a couple moments what seemed like silence, his eyes shot open, and he lunged at the window. He was met in mid-air by Tegetro, who screeched violently. Sonic and Tails watched in horror and kept moving to get out of the way as the pair fought viciously, knocking aside furniture and breaking glass without even realizing it. Within a couple minutes, the fight seemed over, Tegetro standing over Shadow with his claws tight around the hedgehog's throat.
The wolf bared his fangs and hissed, his rage out of control. "I teach you our waysssssss, and you betray ussssssss?! Now, I will take you back to our cave, ssssssssaving you alive! Their judgement will be assssss oursssssssss, you will be bitten until you have become a werewolf, those creaturesssssss an even lower disssssgracccccce then usssssss!! Your inexperianccccce to fight assssssss a vampire and your weaknessssssssss for the ssssssmall have cossssst you your life, no one will be able to help you onccccccce you become...!"
Tegetro was interrupted by Sonic, who had sneaked away and recovered the silver dagger. He threw it at the vampire wolf, hoping that it would stab him, but his aim in the dark was poor. It sliced off half of Tegetro's left ear, fixing itself into the wall. The wolf hissed in pain, leaping off Shadow and onto Sonic.
"A mortal injure me?! You sssssssshall pay!" the vampire screeched, his teeth nearly touching the terrified hedgehog's throat.
"SONIC!!" screamed Tails, jumping onto Tegetro's back. Taking no notice of the fox, the crazed wolf sunk his fangs into the blue hedgehog's throat, forgetting that Shadow was still in the room.
The black hedgehog stood quickly, then pulled the dagger out of the wall by it's handle. The copper metal covering protected him from direct contact with the blade. He pulled the wailing Tails off of the wolf's back, and while the creature was obsessed with feeding off Sonic, the dark hedgehog drove the silver point straight through Tegetro's unprotected back. The wolf released his victim and stood, gasping for a moment, blood dripping from his lips. Then, he fell, sprawling on the floor, his eyes glazing over in death, the dagger still protruding out of his back.
Tails watched Shadow for a moment, frightened. The vampire hedgehog was staring at Sonic, licking his lips hungrily. Tears came to the fox's eyes, his friend had won the fight, but was losing control over his mind. The blue hedgehog was out cold, lying on the floor breathing steadily, unable to defend himself.
Shadow's eyes glowed in the darkness as he ran his tongue over his fangs, his mouth salivating at the sight of the hedgehog's unprotected neck. Tails got up and hugged Shadow, trembling and crying.
"Please Shadow, don't do it!! If you're even listening, please, don't do it!!!" the orange fox sobbed, holding onto him tightly. The vampire looked down at the little fox, whose tears were soaking into his jet-black fur. His mind seemed to snap back into place, and he shook his head, trying to clear it.
"What, jussssst happened?" he asked, blinking.
Later that same night, Knuckles came to the apartment. It was nearly midnight by now, and upon entering he took a wooden stake and charged at Shadow. Tails stood up in front of the dark hedgehog, protecting him.
"Knuckles, stop! I'll explain later, but stop it right now!!" the fox said. Shadow didn't pay much attention to either of them as they talked, content on watching TV. He stared at it, watching the news with slight boredom, until a special bulletin popped up. Tails and Knuckles came running over, staring at it in shock. There were people missing, many people, all at once. A few of the people had been found in an alleyway, uncurious with signs of a struggle. What puzzled doctors was that the victims seemed to have lost large amounts of blood, but they could find no wounds accept for a pair of bite marks on the persons neck. Shadow shook his head, unbelieving.
"They're bolder, they're attacking people within the cccccity now!" he said, remembering his own hunger.
"What are we going to do, Shadow? Sonic's still sleeping, but we have to stop them now!" Tails whimpered.
"Tails, you researched vampires, you know how to beat them!! The only thing I know is throw 'em in the sun, or stake 'em! I say we go take them out!!" said the red echidna, flexing his muscles. The dark hedgehog shot him a contemptuous look of anger, baring his teeth and hissing.
"Ssssssssome of ussssssss don't want to be vampiressssss, idiot! You want to murder usssssss becausssssssse of what we have become, ssssssomething we have no control over?!" he said, leaping to his feet, preparing to fight. The normally brave echidna cowered under his powerful gaze, not knowing about the hypnotic power a vampires eyes possessed. Tails stood up between them, breaking Shadow's gaze.
"Shadow, cut that out! You can hypnotize people with your eyes, stop it!" the fox said, sighing as Shadow turned back to the TV.
Shadow went to sleep early that morning, lying uncomfortably on the couch. His vampire body longed for the closeness of the earth, but his mind sought the comfort of a blanket. Sonic awoke not long after the black hedgehog began to rest, and as he stepped weakly out of the room, Tails ran up to him.
"Sonic! You're lucky, if that Tegetro had fed on you the way he had intended to, you wouldn't be able to get up!" he said, swishing his tails.
"What... happened?" Sonic asked, glancing at Shadow tossing and turning on his couch.
"That vampire Shadow was fighting with bit you, but Shadow got up and killed him with your silver knife. But..." the fox left off, not sure whether he should tell his friend of the way the dark vampire had looked at him.
"But what?!" asked Sonic, trying to stand up straighter. "Shadow scared me, he was looking at you and licking his lips like... like..." the fox stammered. "Like a vampire." The blue hedgehog finished, shaking his head.
"Tails, I think Knuckles is right. Even if there is a cure, it could take months to find, and by then, who knows what he will have done? I'm afraid we just might have to..."
"NO, Sonic! There is a cure, and it's not right! He didn't want to be this way, he..." Tails started yelling, angry that Sonic of all people wouldn't understand. The fox's cries didn't wake the vampire, as the daylight hours had begun and he couldn't be wakened easily until nightfall. The blue hedgehog grabbed his friend and shoved him in an empty room, locking it.
"I'm sorry, Tails. We just can't take the risk!" Sonic said as he walked into the small kitchen. He rummaged in the cabinets for a moment then pulled out some garlic flowers that were used for seasoning salads.
Cream walked into the apartment cautiously. Tails had called her earlier that morning and apologized for Shadow, and asked her to come over so that he could explain to the rabbit what was wrong with him. She saw Shadow in his deep sleep on the couch, and then saw Sonic coming out of the kitchen with his bunch of white flowers.
"Hello, Mr. Sonic. Um... Is Tails okay?" she asked, hearing the fox screaming and pounding on the door. "Don't do it Sonic!! Please don't!! It's not his fault, I'll find a cure, I swear I will!!!" she heard him yelling, over and over again.
"Cream, I think you'd better go." The blue hedgehog said, standing by Shadow.
"But... But I wanted to see why Mr. Shadow was sick. He'll get better, won't he?" she asked innocently. "Trust me, you don't want to see this." He said.
"What are you going to do? I know Mr. Shadow didn't mean to hurt me, don't punish him, please!" the brown rabbit said, her eyes filling with tears. Even though her words were not loud, they seemed to reach the black hedgehog's mind, and he opened his eyes upon hearing them. He looked up to see the garlic flowers just inches from his face and he screeched fearfully. Sonic stopped him before he could attempt to get away, throwing himself on the vampire and forcing the flowers into Shadow's face, trying to get them in his mouth.
Shadow hissed and bucked, rolling onto the floor and struggling to get away. He scrambled up the wall and clung to the ceiling, eyes wide with fear. "What the heck are you trying to kill me for?! What are you doing?!" he shouted as Sonic ran over to the window.
"It's too dangerous to let you live. First you're the ultimate lifeform, then you become a vampire. If you aren't stopped now, you'll hurt thousands of people!" the blue hedgehog said as he pulled down the curtains to let the sunlight in. The vampire shot for a door, opening it then closing it behind him as he entered. Strangely, it was the same room that Sonic had locked Tails in, and the fox was sitting on the floor crying.
"Why Sonic, why? I could have found a cure, I know it!" he was whimpering.
"Yeah, and I hope you find one fassssssst before he murderssssssssss me!" the dark hedgehog said, holding the door shut so Sonic couldn't enter. The fox looked up in suprise at him.
"Shadow! When I heard him grabbing the curtains I thought you were a goner!" Tails said. Shadow gave him an annoyed look, then quivered as heard Sonic talking on the phone.
"Yep... Uh-hunh... That's right... Good." He heard the blue hedgehog saying from the other side of the door.
"Oh, great. He'sssssss getting help in trying to kill me. That'ssssss jusssssssssst great!"
Tails led Shadow through a trap door in the ceiling that he had built in just days after he and Sonic had moved in. "The apartment lady would kill me if she knew I made this!" he said, leading Shadow out of the tunnel and onto the roof of the four story apartment building, the vampire once again covered in a blanket.
They took an elevator down to the lobby and the black hedgehog stumbled as Tails pulled him into a run. "We have to hurry, who knows who Sonic was calling! I can't believe he's doing this!" the fox sighed as he hailed a taxi. "To the airport please." Tails told the driver, who looked at the blanketed hedgehog in suspicion. They flew off in the Tornado 4, the fox's new model plane that looked similar to a F-16.