Edward, Alphonse and Mei entered the abandon empire of Xerxes after a 5 day long trek through the desert. While Alphonse and Mei leaned on the remains of a building to catch their breath, Ed didn't stop. He continued into the broken buildings and rubble, towards a single, tall building in the center of the metropolis that wasn't in ruins, and Alphonse and Mei struggled to keep up with him. As they walked, they discussed battle strategies, since it was evening, and the sun was going down, Ed wanted to hurry, and waste no time. They rushed to the building without speaking, but Al and Mei exchanged looks of worry.

"Wow, this place is totally deserted." Mei commented as they walked through a crumbling town square. In the very center was a large stone, that appeared to be a grave, but Edward completely ignored her and continued on his path.

Within minutes, the group was outside of the building, slowly sneaking inside. They didn't know, if any, how many people or guards were in there. They entered through an unlocked window into a room filled with stained glass, the moonlight flooding in as the full moon rose. In the middle of the room stood a figure in a pure white dress. Ed, Al and Mei were careful not to make any sounds as they entered until Ed (with his special vampire night-vision) spotted 2 sets of silver earrings in the females ears, and his eyes widened,

"Winry?" The female turned around, her face verifying her identity as Winry. She was crying, smearing what seemed to be carefully applied mascara, and she was wearing a pure white beaded wedding dress. When she saw Ed, she ran to him, attacking him with a hug,

"Edward!" She exclaimed, "Is it really you?"

Ed smiled, nodding, "Yeah, it is." He hugged her back, "I'm so glad you aren't hurt, but why are you crying?"

"H-he's forcing me to marry him at midnight, and he's threatened to kill me if I don't do as he says." She continued, "I-I also overheard two of the maids talking, discussing his wife before me. She was also forced into marriage, but she was witch, and the king loved her red hair, which was what made him want to marry her anyway, he offered to turn her into the vampire, but since his wife didn't even like him, she refused, and eventually escaped, but was tracked up to that town, Rukta, but then the vampire solders sent to retrieve her vanished, and no-one else went looking for her after that." She swallowed, "And the story of his first wife, who disobeyed him and pushed him out into the sun, unfortunately, the king survived, and ended up killing her. It seems he's the type of guy who always forces love and gets whatever he wants."

A clock on the wall read 11:58, and heavy footsteps were heard down the hall, after a few moments the door opened, revealing the vampire king in his usual attire. His hands were behind his back, but he wasn't holding anything, and his face was blank, but that turned to anger as he the newcomers. He growled,

"Tch, I should've known you'd come eventually."

Ed hugged Winry possessively, the king continued,

"I'll just have to do it the hard way." The older vampire took out a dagger and ran at the group, heading for Al. Edward quickly jumped in front of him, getting stabbed instead, and he fell to the ground. Winry called out to him, but he didn't respond.

The king smirked, "One down, 2 to go." He went to attack Al and Mei when he was suddenly stabbed by a dagger made of ice. All eyes turned to the source—Edward, who was hunched over, facing the ground. Slowly he stood up, but it wasn't Ed, not anymore.

His eyes weren't gold, instead they were blood red, and his hair was a shade darker. Winry remembered what Abri said about blood-mode.

Ed lifted his hand, another sharp icicle materializing and attacking the king. Now that was one thing that Abri didn't mention. It wasn't long until the fighting got more brutal. By now, Winry, Alphonse and Mei were hiding behind some furniture, trying not to get hit. Suddenly, a voice was heard through the combat,

"Winry, Al, Mei! Are you all alright?" They peeked out to see Ed, still going on with his little ice thing, but pausing for a moment. One eye was red, the other was gold. A thorn skimmed his face, surprising him. Standing at the door was a girl with pin-strait, long black hair, her skin was white and her eyes were blood red,

"Ah, my dear Calera, thank goodness I had time to call you in." Said the king, stumbling away, covered in blood. Calera bowed,

"Anything for you master."

She pointed her index finger at Ed, thorns emerging from her flesh and shooting at him. Calera was slowly forcing him out the window. Soon enough, the window broke. Edward was forced off the edge, onto the ground where the king was waiting. Winry jumped after him, escaping her little hiding spot. When Al tried to stop her, she told him that she needed to help Edward.

Edward and the king were already beating each-other up before she even got to the ground. Although Ed yelled at her to get back inside, she refused to. The something came to her. The king only made her change into the dress (which was now ripped to knee-length) her shoes were still the same. She reached into her boot, pulling out the familiar wrench. She whacked the king once, it did some damage, but not much.

"Master! The sun is rising!" Calera cried from inside. The king laughed,

"Well then, might as well let you die here!" He looked at Calera, who formed a cage around Edward and Winry with her thorns. She stayed in her shadowed spot, regenerating the forms every time they were damaged. The king began to escape. That was it. They were going to die. The sun's rays began to cast a screen of light, just was the king entered the building, when a large explosion came from inside, including the scream of the vampire king, and a drop of the pure black liquid fell from the wall, as well as some shattered glass. That one drop came trickling down to them.

Edward realized what it was, and remembered Abri's words, just as it touched Winry's knee, as she was kneeling on the ground.

"A single drop will instantly kill a vampire."

Winry fell to the ground, and the cage of thorns shattered and the sun had lit up the entire city, although Ed didn't notice. A tear ran down his cheek. Man, he'd been crying an awful lot ever since this whole mess started. He lay his head on her, an the black drop had absorbed into her skin. She was dead. The side of his head was lying on her chest, and Ed was hugging her lifeless body, when he heard something he hadn't heard in a long time,

Her heartbeat.

Edward opened his eyes, looking up at Winry's face. The blonde's eyes fluttered open, and she looked down at him,

"Ed?" She asked quietly.

Edward didn't say anything, just hugged her tighter,

"Y-you're not dead!" He finally said. Winry didn't smile, "Is something wrong?"

"Ed….." Winry trailed off,

"What is it?"

"You're pulling my hair."

Ed looked at his hand to see that, he was, indeed, pulling her hair. He loosened his grip and Winry smiled,

"Now I can watch the snow sparkle if I want."

Edward Blinked, confused, when he noticed that they were both sitting In the sunlight, not burning up.

"Edward! Winry!" Called a new voice as Alphonse and Mei hopped out a window and ran over to them. She gave a big smile,

"We finished him off for ya."