Ok, let's try THIS story break. This one looks like a bunch of squiggles, so if it comes up that's excellent.
Also from now on I will be responding to questions and theories made in the review section, via my author notes and possibly PM.
QUESTION ANSWER: To 'kick oneself inwardly' means that you go "Why did I do that, I'm an idiot" or something like that. Basically you're saying you made a mistake.
Hope you guys enjoy this latest chapter of For Eternity!
On with the story~

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CHAPTER FOUR

Roy sat at his desk, mulling over the confession the young boy had just made to him. He had to admit, even though this was Ed, he really hadn't been expecting the words "I'm a vampire" to come from the teenager's mouth. Actually, scratch that…. Especially because this was Ed.
Ed stood, glaring at him. "You don't believe me, do you?"
-"I never said I didn't believe you, Edward. But think about what you just said for a moment. Can you imagine how it might be difficult?"
-"Well yeah, but come on. This is me you're talking to! Since when would I make something like this up?"
-"You have a point," the 31 year old sighed. "Who else have you told?"
Ed shook his head. "Only Al. And that was a given; I can't hide things like that from him."
Silence reigned for a few minutes, before a thought crossed Roy's mind.

"What about… Ahem… food?"
Ed's eyebrow rose. "Food?"
-"Well, if you really are a vampire, you do know what your main source of food needs to be, right?"
Looking down at the floor, Ed shook his head angrily. "No. I can't do that."
Roy fixed a glare upon the younger boy.
"Fullmetal, don't be ridiculous. How's Alphonse going to feel if you starve to death because you're refusing to eat?"
-"I might not die, you don't know I will! Besides, I'd rather starve than hurt another person like that."
Glaring in exasperation at Ed, Roy shook his head. He was never going to convince him. Once Edward became stubborn, there was no changing his mind. Roy could only hope that maybe Alphonse would be able to convince his brother to eat. Or drink. Or whatever.

He turned back to the alchemist, only to find him staring at the floor in a thoughtful daze.
"Are you alright, Fullmetal? Busy contemplating just how close your head is to the carpet?"
Ed's face darkened.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MIDGET WHO CAN'T EVEN SEE OVER THE TOP OF YOUR DESK?!"
-"Good, I got your attention."
Ed scowled. "Well you didn't have to hit below the belt. What do you want, Bastard?"
-"I was just wondering if you were feeling well. You seemed a bit… worried."
Ed's brow creased. "I was just thinking…"
-"About?"
-"I should go find Al. Make sure he's ok. If anything happened to him…"
As Ed stood, Roy spoke gently from behind him.
"Be careful, Edward. Remember; right now, you could be more dangerous to him than anything else."
-"I'll keep that in mind."

After carefully considering where his brother might have gone, Ed came to the conclusion that he was most likely to be at home. After all, where else in Central would he go? The city had no river, which was where the younger teenager normally went when he was upset. It was worth a shot.
Arriving at the house, Ed paused for a moment. This could get ugly. If Al had told Winry they had fought, she would be mad. Mad at Ed for fighting with Al, and mad at both of them for not telling her anything. Which, knowing her, would probably mean a wrench to the head.
Well, here goes nothing.
Opening the door and slowly entering, at every moment wary of the whistling sound of a wrench flying through the air, he made his way into the living room. Ed froze when he saw Winry, but all she did was glare at him coldly and say pointedly, "He's in the kitchen. He has a friend in there with him."

Thank god. At least that meant she wasn't mad enough to beat him to a pulp. Yet. Gulping, Ed headed for the kitchen. He was slightly more hesitant, now that Winry had mentioned a 'friend', but he needed to talk to Al. he needed to apologise.
And then it hit him. A scent, deep and piercing, like what the venom of a poisonous snake would smell like.
There was a vampire in there.
Advancing slowly, Ed kept inhaling deeply as he moved. This wasn't Cato; indeed, it wasn't a scent he recognised at all. Any vampires Ed had met before had smelled like a particular kind of snake; and he assumed this was the case for all of their kind. This one reminded Ed of a King Cobra, a scent that was unfamiliar to him.

As Ed entered the kitchen, his eyes immediately, instinctively, found his brother. Al was fine, sitting and talking with the other person in the room. The person who Ed quickly identified as being the vampire.
He was handsome, no doubt about that. But there was something about him… Something that to Ed was obvious, but to any ordinary human would simply make him seem off kilter. He was young, and yet very old. He only looked about Al's age – fourteen – and yet Ed knew he must be much, much older than that.
"Edward, How to nice to finally meet you," the boy said, not bothering to try and hide the fact that he was a vampire. As such, the sound of it rang out through his otherwise young sounding voice; making him appear much more ancient than he seemed. "I have heard much about you."
-"From my little brother, I assume," Ed replied, glancing at Al uneasily. Al seemed a little surprised to see his brother, but not entirely unhappy. The boy nodded, watching Ed mildly with crystal blue eyes.
"I feel like I'm at a disadvantage here," Ed grinned, "You know my name but I don't know yours."
The boy offered a hand to Ed. "Lusheeta. Charmed."
He had a bizarre accent; Ed couldn't quite place it. It was as if he wasn't pronouncing the letters A, O or R the same way Amestrians did. But even that strange accent appeared to be a cover-up for something else; underneath the weird pronunciations was a hint of something exotic, rich, untouchable.

Al sighed in relief. At least Ed hadn't tried to kill Lusheeta yet, even if he didn't exactly look happy. He gulped slightly, looking down as his eyes met the gold of his older brother's.
Ed's face twisted into a pale imitation of a smile. "Hey Al. I'm sorry about before."
Shaking his head, Al threw Ed a grin in return. "Don't worry about it. That's not important right now."
-"What is important is what has happened to you, Edward." It was Lusheeta, speaking for the first time in a short while.
Ed grimaced, turning back to the strange boy.
"And just who the hell are you, anyway? I can tell you're a vampire, but that's nothing compared to what you seem to already know about me."
Al interjected again. "I'm sorry Brother, he's just a friend of mine. I told him everything he knows." Lusheeta nodded, blinking at Ed's accusations. A wry smile crossed his face. "I had heard about your legendary temper, but I admit I didn't expect it to be true."

Ed sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Alright. I'm calm. What do you mean when you say that my becoming a vampire is important? What relevance does it have for you?"
-"It has relevance because if you mess up, it reflects badly on all of us," Lusheeta replied in a slightly grumpy way. "Plus, I don't wish to see human beings die for no reason."
He fixed his sapphire eyes on Ed's gold.
"You have not been feeding, have you?"
Thrown by Lusheeta's guess, Ed threw another glare at the boy.
"What business is it of yours? No, I haven't been. And I don't plan to."
Al rolled his eyes, sighing. "You see what I have to deal with?"

"Ed, Al! Can I get some help in here?"
Winry. Ed flinched, and glanced pleadingly at his brother. Al stood.
"I'll take care of it. You guys keep discussing this." Getting up, he half walked, half stomped out of the room.
After worriedly watching Al for a moment, Lusheeta turned back to Ed.
"Edward. Are you even listening to yourself? You are aware of the fact that vampires-"
-"Need blood to survive? Yeah, I know. I don't care. And I really don't get why some stranger does. It doesn't affect you."
-"Actually, it does. It affects everyone around you, Edward. I should know; I've tried this before. Would you like to know what happens?"
Conflicted by the new information that this bizarre boy actually had some sort of experience, Ed nodded hesitantly. Lusheeta fixed him with a stare much older than his few years would allow for.
"Well let me advise you; you do not die. No, well before you get to that point, your body goes into survival mode. Your mind shuts down, you lose control. And you kill every single human being you can get your hands on."

Pretending to work, Winry surreptitiously watched Al from under her hair. The teenager was holding something in place for her; an easy enough job for a kid who had just gotten his human body back not long ago. Yet, somehow Al made it seem more difficult than it was. He was messing up; dropping the metal plate, accidentally wobbling it. He just wasn't paying enough attention, instead choosing to stare blankly into space.
"Hey, Al…. Are you ok?"
Blinking, Al came back to reality. "What do you mean?"
Winry bit her lip. "You seem… distracted. Are you and Ed still fighting?"
Al shook his head hurriedly. "No, of course not! We made up. We've just been…. Dealing with a lot recently."
-"Ok." Winry stopped what she was doing, stood up straight and swung her wrench menacingly.
"You two are both acting like freaks. What the hell is going on?"
Al flinched, considering the possibility of her accidentally killing him with the wrench. He had told Ed they needed to tell her the truth, but now that he was face to face with the full extent of her anger he wasn't as sure.
Looking down at the floor, he murmured "I'm not sure it's a good idea to tell you."
-"Not you too!" Winry cried out in frustration.
"I'm sorry, Winry! But this isn't my secret to tell."

Glaring heatedly at Al, Winry met him with silence for a moment before sighing.
"I'll find out eventually, you know."
Al nodded pacifyingly.
"I'm sure you will. But I'd rather it be through Ed than me. He should be the one to tell you."
-"Why? How bad is it this time?"
-"It's not…. Bad, per say. It's just not the kind of thing I can tell you."
A tense moment passed before Winry surrendered.
"Fine… But someone better tell me soon, or there'll be hell to pay."
-"I'm sure Brother will tell you eventually Winry. It's just something better left to him."
Finally welding the large metal disc into place, Winry waved the boy off. "That's all I needed you for, Al. Go on, get out of here."

As Al returned to the room that Ed and that boy – what was his name? Lusheeta? – were in, Winry threw the door a suspicious look. Those boys never told her anything! She had been their best friend for years; was now more than that with Ed, and they had spent their entire lives pushing her away as if she couldn't handle the reality that they lived each and every day. Well, not this time.
Putting her tools down, Winry crept to the open door and pressed herself against the wall, watching the conversation in the next room. Faintly, she could hear Ed cursing as he paced with stress.
"Great. So I have to drink blood, or I'll end up killing even more people? That's what you're saying?"
Lusheeta nodded, Al fixing his brother with an I-told-you-so look. "Brother, your resolve doesn't mean shit anymore. It's not just about you; a lot of people could die."
Ed turned back to face Lusheeta, raising his arms in mock defeat. "So what do I do, then? I just have to pick someone and kill them, right? Or do I need more blood than that? How often do I do this?"
Resting his chin in the palm of his hand, Lusheeta paused.
"Well, you do not necessarily have to kill, Edward. Vampires, as far as I am aware, do not need a large amount of blood to survive. You've already made it how long without drinking?"
-"Weeks," Al helpfully replied.
Winry pulled back from the door, covering her mouth. Wait, Ed was a… vampire? But that was impossible, wasn't it? Weren't vampires just myth? But then, the way Ed had been pulling away from her recently… He had seemed regretful, as if he was only doing it for her own good.
Stomping off, Winry decided she would have to confront Ed about this later.

"So what's your point, Lusheeta?" Ed asked wearily. Lusheeta answered slowly.
"You could choose someone as a feeder… That is, someone who willingly gives you blood. You probably would not need enough blood to put that person in any real danger, and if it's willing you need have no concerns of hurting that person."
Ed scratched his head, closing his eyes.
"I dunno. I don't want to…."
Al's eyes filled with concern, as he approached his elder gently.
"Ed, we know. But you have to think about this. Carefully. Using a feeder might be the best option."
Al's eyes widened as Ed slumped to the ground. "Brother! Sheetz, I need you."
Jumping to his feet, Lusheeta slid to Al's side at a speed faster than any normal human could manage.
"Lack of blood. We need to get him upstairs. Now."
-"And then?" Al asked nervously.
Lusheeta fixed him with a serious glance.
"Then, we need to worry about whether he'll be the Edward Elric you know and love when he wakes up."

So after the incredibly long wait, this is all I have to offer. Sorry it's not the best, but I've had writer's block and that stuff KILLS.
By the way, yes the accent Lusheeta speaks with is British. Not sure anyone in Amestris would have heard one before, so I had to find a way to describe it without actually saying 'British'.

What's going on with Ed? Is he ok, or is he about to go on a murderous rampage? And what about Winry? Will she still love him knowing he's a bloodthirsty monster? Place your bets now guys, and hopefully I get the next chapter out faster! Xx