A/N: Ohoho~ Time for some warnings! Warning: Blood, gore, violence, (possible?) character death. Yep! I'm just that evil. XD

-Misty

Song of the day: Sleeping at Last

By: Saturn


Vamp. Modern AU:
Here he was, Eren Jaeger, a nineteen year old college student who worked at a store selling everyday things, had just found a boy who couldn't be any less than fifteen and was a vampire, and by the looks of it, he didn't seem all too happy to be one.


Rated M for sexual content, adult language, violence and gore, mentions of rape
Couple: Eremin (Eren and Armin)
Anime: Shingeki No Kyojin (Attack on Titan)


Dead of Night

Chapter 12: It's Dying that's Painful


"Eren… What is that thing?" Armin asked while backing away as Eren did. Eren kept forcing Armin back further and further away, trying to put distance, but the creature in front of them kept advancing with uneven and staggered steps.

"It's another new blood… But this one has lost its mind." Eren explained wearily.

"Hun...gry…" Its disfigured voice and speech sent shivers down Armin's spine. Even Eren faltered to how sickening it was to hear that voice.

"Armin, you need to find a way out of here." Eren instructed without looking away. He couldn't run the risk of this thing lashing out when his attention was off somewhere else.

"What…? Eren, I'm not leaving you alone with this thing! You don't even have anything to fight it with!"

"It's not after me, Armin. It's after you." The brunette claimed while bending down to grab at a piece of glass.

"Me…? Why is it after me? What did I do to it?"

"You lost a lot of blood earlier. The blood may be gone, but the smell is still there. Not to mention that you still smell human. You're more appetizing to it right now than I am." Eren explain while squeezing around the broken glass. He winced, a hiss escaping his lips as the shard sliced through his skin. The flow of blood was released the moment he dropped the glass, and it slowly seeped down through his shirt and drenched the better part of his forearm.

"Eren-!" Armin began, but he stopped. He was ready to get up and help his friend, but the smell alone was overwhelming. The sight of so much blood dripping down his arm and hitting the ground to make a small puddle had him shivering, his body aching.

Just one taste. That was all he needed, and yet he knew better. However, it was too much. It was like Eren was asking for it.

Then with a sickening realization, he realized that Eren was asking for it.

The brunette was trying to distract the new blood long enough for Armin to run, but he forgot that Armin was still too young to ignore what he desired, what he needed, and after not having enough blood in his system, it left Armin rooted where he was to the ground, trying his hardest not to go after Eren himself.

"Armin, go get Mikasa and Levi. Tell them I need help." Eren said, and soon enough he was wishing that he hadn't let go of that piece of glass.

This much blood was more than enough to get the new blood running after him instead of Armin. Its strength was far greater than his own, and Eren found himself pinned into a wall within seconds. The force and speed knocked the wind out of him, making him gasp and leaving him dizzy. The impact to his head left his vision momentarily blurry, but not so much that he was incapable of processing the situation.

The new blood was snapping at him, trying to bite at anything he could get. His biggest goal was at the open wound on his hand. Eren's hand was pinned against the wall, and the other was holding the new blood's neck, doing his best to keep distance.

"Eren!" Armin cried out in fear. He finally found the willpower to stand, his legs shaking helplessly from under him. He grabbed at the piece of glass Eren had moments before and ran up to the two of them to shove the shard into its back. It let out a shrill cry, momentarily letting go of Eren to turn around and face Armin. It growled in a way that had Armin frozen into place, the eyes it looked at him with murdering him without even trying.

This was all real, wasn't it?

"Go get help!" Eren jumped onto the new blood's back and pulled, yanking it back and getting its focus on him. It was too late when he realized that he had forgotten about the injury on his hand, and with that broken and bleeding appendage mere inches from its face, the monster lashed out at him and bit full force into his forearm.

Eren let out a cry of pain before he was thrown off of its back. He tumbled to the ground, arm pressed into his chest before he tried to get up. He was then pinned to the ground by weight against his back. He only managed to look over his shoulder for a moment before teeth bared into the skin of his shoulder and began tearing an even bigger wound into his body.

"Get off of him!" He heard Armin cry out over the disgusting sounds of sucking beside his ear. The vampire withdrew, but only for a moment to swat Armin away. It was enough time to roll onto his back, ignoring the pain he felt emanating from his shoulder.

It wasn't enough though. Even with Armin trying to pull the new blood off of him, and even with Eren holding up his arms in defense, it wasn't enough.

Teeth sunk back down into his neck and pulled, tearing at his flesh like it was the easiest thing in the world to do. With this much loss of blood, all he could do was groan. He felt the strength leaving his body, the edges of his vision become blurry, and sleep sounding like a really good thing right now. He was tired. So, so tired, and all he wanted to do was to stop struggling and just sleep.

What was he struggling for again? The searing pain in his skin was numbing. It was barely noticeable now. There was a dull weight on his chest, and the sounds around him were foggy. Someone was yelling. Someone was crying.

Why was someone crying?

"Get off of him!" Armin fell against the creature on top of Eren with all of his weight, finally getting its teeth out of his neck. He took the shard of glass he had lost moments before and drove it directly into the nape of his neck, fully immobilizing it. It went limp against his body, but Armin wasn't done yet.

He rolled the limp body off of Eren and forced the shard of glass into its body over and over again. A few times in the chest, once or twice in the head, as many times as it took to make sure it never got up again. He could feel the glass cutting into his skin, ripping at the muscles and tendons of his hands, but he really didn't care.

He just wanted it dead.

Finally, when he felt that it had been enough, he stopped stabbing at the lifeless body under him. He released his tight grip on the glass and stood, the actions he had just performed finally catching up to him. With horror, he looked down at his blood soaked and stained hands.

He killed someone. He took the life of someone innocent. They may not have been innocent anymore, but they were just like Armin. All they wanted to do was live, and Armin killed it. He took its chances away.

"Oh God…" Maybe there was something they could have done to save it. Maybe there was something they could have done to bring its sanity back, and maybe it could have tried living like Armin was. Armin had taken those chances away though. He'd killed it. "I-I'm so sorry, I… Oh m-my God…"

Armin fell to his knees, what little tears he had left spilling from his eyes. He felt sick. He felt like he could vomit, but there was nothing left to vomit up. He was left utterly dizzy and nauseous, but only until he remembered about Eren.

He was so afraid to look his way. He was so afraid to see the real damage that the new blood created, but he didn't have a choice. His vision wavered as he looked Eren's way, and he felt the most painful of screams tear from him at the sight of his friend.

"Eren!" He cried as he crawled over to the teen. He knees met the pool of blood first, then his hands. His clothes soaked up the offending liquid quickly, staining them a permanent and sickening red.

This wasn't any of Armin's concern though. What was his concern was the mess of torn skin and muscle Eren had become. His neck and most of his shoulder had become disfigured, bones showing behind the mess of tattered muscles.

This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Armin had seen Eren's scars, he had seen how bad they were. Eren had survived those attacks before, so why couldn't he survive this one? This one wasn't nearly as bad, was it?

"Eren, Eren! Can you hear me?" Armin began sobbing as he pulled Eren's head into his lap, careful about the injuries he now faced. Still, there was no response, and Armin feared the worst with the amount of blood he had already lost. "Please, Eren, wake up! Don't do this, Eren!"

Eren's body was completely lax in his arms, and Armin knew just by the touch that Eren had never been so cold before.

With urgency, Armin reached for Eren's pants pocket and grabbed for his cell phone. It was damp with blood, and Armin felt bad that his own injuries were ruining the screen, but he couldn't think about that at this point. He quickly went searching through Eren's phone, looking for Mikasa or Levi's number so he could get the help he should have gotten long before this happened. Mikasa's number came first in his list by her last name, and Armin was quick to hit dial and pull the bloody object up to his ear.

One ring, two rings, three, four-

"Hello, Eren…?" Mikasa's voice asked from the other line.

"Mikasa!" Armin cried.

"Armin…? What's wrong? Where's Eren?" Panic was quick to fill her voice, and just barely behind it, Armin could hear the arguments being thrown around in the background.

"I-It's Eren! We were attacked! We ran into an alleyway, and there another new blood! It got him, Mikasa, a-and he's bleeding out!" Armin was frantic, his voice barely stable as he tried to get out his explanation. "I can't stop the bleeding! I-I don't know what to do at this point!"

Armin couldn't do anything. He couldn't create a tourniquet, not with where the wound was. The wound was too large for Armin to try and stop it with just his hands, and even if he took off his shirt and tried to cover the wound, it'd still bleed through. He had to do something, but what? He couldn't just let Eren bleed to death.

"Mikasa, what do I do?" Armin begged for an answer. The other line was quiet though, all voices in the background gone. "Mikasa…?" Had the line gone dead? Had the battery in her phone died?

"… Armin?" Suddenly, the voices were back, but it wasn't Mikasa who was talking.

"Levi…?"

"Armin, where are you? Mikasa's coming to get you."

"Once you get out of the brush, we're six blocks down in an alleyway. It's a straight shot from the path in the bushes." Armin explained.

"Okay, she's running ahead. Hang up with me and call an ambulance. I'll be there soon." And with that, the line went dead. Levi wasn't going to let there be time between the choices, and Armin was grateful for that.

He went ahead and called for an ambulance, giving them their location and what had happened to Eren. Once he hung up, he was left with the painful silence surrounding him. Like this, with Eren's head elevated in his lap and no one else besides the dead body mere feet from them, Armin felt truly alone.

This couldn't happen. It couldn't happen, not to Eren. Armin didn't understand the whole "mate" thing, but he knew that if something happened to Eren, Armin couldn't handle it. He wouldn't handle it. Eren meant too much to him, so he couldn't die like this. Not like this. Not to this thing.

"Eren…" Armin sobbed as he lowered his head to rest against Eren's chest. His eyes widened to the sound of Eren's heartbeat, so weak and fragile. Eren wasn't fragile, and he couldn't even consider him weak. Why was his heart acting like he was fragile and weak? Why was it so slow?

With one last ditch attempt to at least slow down the bleeding, Armin placed his hands over Eren's shoulder and neck with his shirt bundled under his fingers. The feel of the blood sliding under his fingers was sickening, disgusting even, and Armin felt like he could never have another drop of blood for the rest of his life, which wouldn't be long considering that was what he needed to survive. He felt a small shudder under his hands from Eren, the obvious reason being the pain from the pressure. Armin looked closely at Eren's face, watching the life drain from his skin, but soon enough, Eren's eyes fluttered.

Dull and lifeless green eyes opened, half lidded and unfocused to everything around them. He was looking up at Armin, but Armin knew better. Eren wasn't looking at him, wasn't even trying to. His body was just moving on its own, trying to process the situation, but Eren wasn't really there. It was like he was dead, his body the only thing moving, just like a zombie. Eren's conscious wasn't even there anymore.

"Eren…?" Armin quietly asked. He lifted a hand and brushed his brown bangs from his face, accidentally smearing his own blood along his skin and hair. It wasn't intentional by any means, but he was sure that Eren couldn't care less at this moment. "Eren… Can you hear me…?"

He wouldn't give up, not until Eren breathed his last breath and was ten feet underground. Armin wouldn't give up that easily.

"C-Can you see me…?" He tried again. Eren's eyes closed slowly, but were open again soon enough. His breathing was slow, the sound of congestion filling his lungs giving Armin shivers. "Come on, E-Eren… This can't happen to you… You've survived worse, haven't you?"

Eren's eyes closed again, and this time they didn't open. Whatever consciousness he had was gone, and Armin felt fresh tears spring to his eyes. There was no helping him, was there? Even with the added pressure over his wound, it surely wasn't enough. Eren had already lost enough blood as it was, and even if he stopped the terrible flow of blood, there was no telling how bad it would be. He had lost so much already.

"C-Come on, Eren! You've survived worse, right? You have to answer me!" Armin cried, the pressure over his neck weakening.

Eren wasn't going to survive at this rate.

"Armin…?" Armin heard Mikasa's panic filled voice ring out not too far off. She wasn't at the alleyway, not yet at least anyway, but she was getting closer.

"Mikasa!" Armin cried out, hoping to lead her to their location. It seemed to work, and in no time, Mikasa had appeared at the opening to the alleyway they were hiding out in. "Mikasa hurry! I can't stop the bleeding!" He begged Eren's sister.

Mikasa ignored the body of the new blood Armin had so easily disfigured and dropped to her knees next to Eren's mutilated body, forgetful of the blood staining her jeans. The scream of terror that left her when she actually saw the damage done to her brother was upsetting all on its own, and Armin felt a flood of horror pass over him.

Eren wasn't going to survive, was he?

"Eren! Damn it, open your eyes!" She commanded while pulling Eren's head into her lap. Her voice gave way to her fear, shaking in a way that made the whole apathetic façade she wore before shatter.

She was human, and this just proved it.

"H-He won't wake up…" Armin whimpered and dropped his head.

"Don't say that, Armin!" Mikasa yelled at him, making him drop his head even more. "Eren has survived much worse than this! He'll be fine, he just needs to wake up!" Mikasa pulled Eren close, his head dangling uselessly over her arm while she pressed her head into his chest. She obviously heard what Armin had heard as well, which was the weak heartbeat barely thumping in Eren's chest. Her eyes widened, and Armin looked away.

He couldn't look. He knew what she said was the truth, but at this rate, Eren wasn't going to make it. It was too much blood from a very vital area, and if Mikasa knew it, then Armin knew it to be true.

Eren was going to die.

In the distance, Armin heard the sounds of the ambulance. He heard it long before Mikasa did, and with strength he didn't know he had, he stood up on trembling legs and ran out of the alleyway. He searched quickly, eyes darting around for the sound until the ambulance turned the corner to drive in his direction. Armin waved his arms over his head frantically, just trying to get their attention, or hoping that this would make them hurry if they already saw him. It came to a slow stop beside him, and Armin ran back into the alleyway to get them.

"Mikasa, the ambulance is here!" He told her, but he stopped.

Mikasa had Eren on the ground again, her hands against his chest and pressing down multiple times. She was crying, tears running down her cheeks and dropping onto her blood soaked hands to disappear.

"He's not breathing!" She cried, continuing to push at his chest in hopes of getting him breathing again. Armin felt whatever blood was left in him freeze, his legs locking up in place and keeping him grounded where he now stood.

"What…?" It was barely a whisper on his lips, his body trembling at the thought that Eren was no longer breathing.

"Come on, Eren! You can't do this!" Mikasa bent down and set her lips against Eren's mouth to breath air for him, but it didn't seem to work. She continued pumping his chest, but nothing was working. "Get up!"

"Why… Am I standing here…? Why can't I move?" Armin tried moving, he really did, but his muscles were frozen. "Why am I… Watching my friend die?"

"Look out!" Armin heard the voices and sounds of the paramedics as they lugged around their equipment to Eren, momentarily being pushed out of the way. A paramedic pulled Mikasa away from Eren, receiving the tail end of a kick as Mikasa fought to stay by Eren's side.

"Let me go! No, don't touch him!" She wasn't listening to reason, all rational thought gone in lieu of fighting to stay by Eren's side. It didn't matter if they were there to help him or not; she just wanted to be by her brother's side.

"Stop…" Armin mumbled, but it fell on deaf ears as paramedics pulled Eren up onto a stretcher, multiple men around him to get him breathing again. "No, wait-"

Armin felt arms wrap around his body and pull him against a chest. He looked over his shoulder to find a man holding onto him, an older man with a long, grey beard and pointy eyes. Armin felt the weight of his stare bear down on him like pressure from anxiety, and it didn't help him any that his gaze was so constricting.

"We've got another one!" He announced to a few men who looked like military police. The men had been investigating the mutilated corpse Armin had taken down, and at the words of the man holding onto him, they quickly had their attentions drawn to Armin. He felt their angry eyes boring holes into his head, and Armin quickly fought within the man's grasp for freedom.

"I-It wasn't me! I didn't hurt him! I'd never hurt Eren!" Armin cried, hoping they'd listen, but they weren't. Guns were drawn up as the Military Police moved closer at a hesitant place. Armin struggled to get out of this man's arms, but he wasn't budging, his arms tight around his body.

"Leave him alone!" Mikasa cried, but it was directed at Armin. Armin was able to process so much in such a short amount of time. The paramedics had taken Eren away to the ambulance, and Mikasa was struggling to break free from the remaining paramedics that had been holding her down to begin with. "He didn't do it!"

Why wouldn't they listen? Why wouldn't they take a moment to stop and figure everything out? He never touched Eren if it meant hurting him, he only tried to stop the bleeding and save his life, but they didn't get it. They never got it.

They kept drawing near, guns held up and eyes glaring daggers at him.

It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair.

"Lower your weapons!" A low voice, shaking and tired, sounded out in the alleyway. Guns lowered as eyes followed the sound of the voice to the opening, finding another group of military police, Nile leading their way. Behind them stood Levi, and another man behind him who was tall, with blond hair and blue eyes that were similar to Armin's own.

Armin had seen this man before on TV. If he remembered correctly, and he most likely did, the man's name was Erwin Smith, the commander of the Scouting Legion.

What was he doing here?

"You heard the bastard! Put your guns down!" Levi ordered in a voice that shook the very fabric of these men's pants.

"And release the two teenagers," Erwin followed quickly after Levi.

"But he's a new-"

"I know what he is, now let him go!" Nile boomed, ordering the man holding onto Armin to release his hold. At the order, the man had no choice, releasing Armin of his tight grip. Mikasa was released not a moment after, and she quickly jumped up to grab Armin and tug him away.

"We need to go to the hospital with Eren!"

"You'll get your chance, don't worry." Levi said apathetically as he walked up to the two, but his eyes were trained on the new blood laying in a heap of its blood. His foot nudged at its body before he looked up, eyes on Armin and Armin only.

He knew. He knew that it was Armin that mangled this body, only proving how much he fought for Eren. He couldn't hate the new blood, not now at least.

"Levi, we need to go!" Mikasa cried, tears still dripping from her face.

"We have a car here for you. Go on ahead, and we'll be there soon." Erwin's voice was close, close enough to practically be breathed on someone's neck. Armin looked up at the man with interest, his eyes noticing the calculating gaze he had over the three of them.

"Erwin-" Levi began, but Erwin stopped him.

"They'll be fine, and we'll let officials know ahead of time not to touch the new blood." He said in a voice that deemed him the very essence of authority. His eyes fell to Armin, and Armin felt the need to look away, but he was hypnotized into keeping his eyes on the man. "I mean Armin Arlert. That's your name, correct?" He asked.

All Armin could do was nod his head. He felt like he didn't have much in the ways of talking, not to a person who had so much authority.

"Thank you, Erwin." Mikasa said with a bout of relief before pulling Armin to the car the man had talked about. It wasn't anything fancy, though it was probably an expensive car in Armin's mind, but he could barely care about that.

What he was thinking about was Eren, how he was on his way to a hospital with life threatening wounds willing to kill him at any moment, and that was if he was still alive. The last Armin had seen him, he wasn't breathing, but the paramedics wouldn't hoist his body and take him somewhere when he was in that condition…

Would they?