Eren

The brief for our mission starts, but I don't listen to a thing Erwin's saying. I'm far too distracted by Levi sitting next to me, calmly breathing in and out as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Meanwhile my mind keeps running around in jittery, anxious circles. Ohmygod I kissed Levi. Again. Ohmygod he kissed me back. Ohmygod he actually kissed me back. And it was amazing. And then he what, changed his mind?

He doesn't… There's no way he has feelings for me, right? No. That's impossible. This is Levi we're talking about. He's way out of my league. And probably a lot older. Why would he ever be interested in someone like me? He calls me a brat on a daily basis. But most importantly, I'm a vampire. I slouch down in my chair and grit my teeth. I hate my dad so much.

I have to know what's going on with Levi. He kissed me back; that has to mean something. But he said he didn't want to talk about it, so what can I do? I blush as an idea occurs to me. I can try kissing again. Preferably when I'm not half out of my mind in a blood induced haze this time.

Levi stands up and I realize the brief is over. We climb into the van and pull up at an abandoned boat house around half an hour later. The wood on the front side is weathered and cracking, and a light breeze sends trash skittering across the parking lot out front. The gutters are rusted and nearly falling off. As we climb out, I hear the gentle rush of the ocean from behind the building.

We all follow Levi to the front door, drawing our guns as we approach. He picks the lock and slowly eases the door open. The room inside is empty. Several large pieces of furniture are covered in grimy sheets and the front desk has a thick layer of dust over it. The evening sunlight slants through the windows, casting long shadows. Cobwebs cling to the corners and ceiling. Whoever's using this place clearly doesn't care about cleanliness. I wonder how much it's bothering Levi.

I glance over at him. He's creeping forward with his gun drawn, moving with a confidence and grace that I can't help but find breathtaking. His stares at the dusty desk for a moment and I see his eye twitch, but he quickly goes back to scanning the room. He's perfectly in his element.

I try really hard to focus on the mission. I do. But with the taste of Levi's blood still fresh on my tongue, it's nearly impossible. My nose is filled with the scent of his not quite closed wound, and the faint pounding of his heart fills my ears.

"Dammit Eren, stop focusing on Levi and pay attention!" hisses Annie, jerking me back into the moment.

"What?" And then I smell it. A group of humans behind a closed door on the other side of the room. I hear the click of guns being cocked. My eyes go wide. "Everyone get down!" I yell.

Most of them listen, but Jean just gives me dirty look. I pull him behind me, swearing, and the shots start. Pain shoots through my arm, then my leg and my stomach. The team struggles to find cover and then the door bursts open. A group of men come in, guns firing.

"They're human!" I shout to the others.

Levi swears and holsters his weapon. "Put away your guns, the shots will go right through them."

The men split up and come towards us, and Jean dives behind the desk. More bullets pierce my skin as I move forward, but I ignore the pain. At least I'm drawing their fire away from the others. I don't smell any blood, so far everyone's safe. And I'm going to keep it that way.

I grab the gun from the first and hit him over the head. He crumples to the floor. I move on to the next, and the next. How many of them are there?

Then I see a man across the room with a gun aimed at Mikasa. I start forward and suddenly stumble as another wave of dizziness washes over me. My eyes widen. I'm too far away, I won't make it in time. I desperately try to move forward, but my limbs aren't working right.

Then Annie speeds across the room, fast. Too fast. She breaks the man's neck with her hands. The dizziness passes and Mikasa and I stare at her in shock. Another bullet pierces my skin and I grit my teeth. I'll worry about Annie later. Right now, she looks like she's on our side.

Annie gives up on any pretense of being human and helps me knock out the rest of the men. Luckily she doesn't kill anyone else. With the two of us together, the whole thing is over in under a minute.

I hit the last one over the head and stare at the bodies lying prone on the wooden floorboards, breathing slightly fast. There are at least a dozen of them. What are they doing here? And what the hell was that with Annie? I look around. The room is silent and everyone's eyes are on her.

She stuffs her hands into the pocket of her sweatshirt. "What are you guys, a bunch of fish? I'm a vampire, get over it."

"How is that even possible?" I ask.

She gives me a bored look. "Don't you have more important things to be worrying about? Like the people trapped here?"

I blink at her. "What do you mean?"

She sighs. "What kind of vampire are you? Are you really telling me you don't smell that?"

I take a deep breath, trying to ignore Levi's scent. I catch just a whiff of some other humans, along with the distinct smell of fear. My eyes widen.

"What's she talking about?" asks Levi.

"There are more people here. They smell scared."

"Where?"

I lead the way through the building, following the scent. We walk down a flight of stairs to the basement, and up to a heavy metal door secured with a padlock.

"They're in here."

Levi nods picks the lock. He pushes the door open. A group of people sit huddled on a concrete floor. Their eyes are wide and fearful and several cringe back when they see us. Most of them are about my age. A couple of them are sobbing quietly while some just sit still with stony faces. The room around them is dusty and dirty and the only light comes from a thin window along the ceiling. The air is stuffy and damp.

"Are you guys alright?" I ask. A few of them give hesitant nods.

"Who are you?" asks one man, eyes narrowed in suspicion. I look at Levi.

"No one important," he says. "I'm calling the police, they should be here shortly." He pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and starts to walk back down the hallway.

I turn back to the room and see a flicker of movement in the corner of my eye as Annie tries to dart past Levi. He catches her and takes her down easily. "You're not going anywhere. After this is over, you're going to tell us what the hell is going on."

She sulks. "At least one of you would be dead if it wasn't for me." Levi jerks her to her feet and hands her over to me, then goes back to his phone.

I turns back to the people with a warm smile. "Everything's going to be fine now. You're safe."

Mikasa, Connie and I bring the people out into another of the rooms, pulling the sheets off the furniture to give them somewhere to sit. They all seem hesitant and a little nervous.

The police arrive within ten minutes. Levi flashes what looks like an FBI badge, and launches into a story about how we stumbled upon them while following a lead to a different case. We leave the rest to them and climb into the van.

The atmosphere is heavy and tense. Levi has his lips pressed together in silent fury and Connie fidgets awkwardly. Mikasa alternates between staring at Annie with a contemplative expression, and looking out the window. Annie sits still with her hands stuffed in her pockets. Jean focuses most of his negative energy on her, so at least I'm spared his usual hostility.

"What were all those people doing there?" I ask Levi, breaking the silence.

It's Annie who answers. "You saw all the people on that boat, right? Where do you think they come from? Grisha needs people for his experiments as well."

"So you're a spy," says Levi.

"That was the plan anyway."

The van pulls up back at the base and we climb into the elevator. Annie's hand scans and verifies as human.

Levi presses his lips together. "How are you doing that?"

She leans against the side of the elevator. "I take periodic injections. It's something Grisha cooked up."

We take her to an interrogation room and Levi chains her to the chair. All of the members of the team crowd into the room and stand along the walls. Everyone stays tense.

Levi sits at the table across from her. "Now, why don't you tell us what's going on?"

She leans back in the chair. "Yeah whatever. I'm screwed either way."

"Why are you here?"

"I was supposed to keep an eye on Eren and report anything noteworthy, but I haven't contacted anyone since I first got here."

"Why not?"

She shrugs. "I didn't feel like it."

"Why did you expose yourself to help us?"

She looks conflicted for a moment, and then her expression turns bitter. She sighs. "That shot fucked me up. I've started thinking and feeling like a normal human too. It's a real pain in the ass."

"What do you mean, like a normal human?"

"Becoming a vampire fucks with your head. Conscience, empathy, remorse- everything goes down the drain."

I shudder. "What about me?"

"You got a syringe too, remember?

"Yes, but that was… You're saying I'm not a normal vampire?"

She nods. "Grisha was trying to make you the best- and I'd say he succeeded. Just think about how many vampires you can rip apart when you're jacked up on Levi's blood.

"What about the conscience and empathy?"

"He called it an unfortunate side effect. All I know is he thinks he can fix you."

"So I haven't changed at all?"

"How should I know? I'm not a fucking psychologist. Although you do go around killing vampires like you were born to. That's not exactly normal."

"All of us do that," says Mikasa.

"Yeah, and how many times have you fired at a realistic target to get you that way? Eren was an just your average student before all of this started." There's silence for a moment as everyone lets that sink in. I shift uncomfortably.

"So he really is fucked up," says Jean. I shoot him a glare.

Annie snorts. "He's a saint compared to what he should be. But not for much longer if Grisha gets his way."

Levi grits his teeth, emitting a murderous aura. "What's he planning?"

She shifts. "No idea. He's always careful, doesn't tell us any more than he needs to."

Levi's silent for a moment, and then he sighs. "There will likely be more questions from Erwin later, but for now there's just one more thing. What do you think we should do with you?"

Her expression turns grim. "Ask your questions and then kill me, or let me starve to death."

Levi raises an eyebrow. "Why?"

She presses her lips together into a thin line. "The injection only lasts two weeks. I've got one more in my room, but after that I go back to being a normal vampire." Her voice gets quieter. "I don't want that."

Mikasa takes a cautious step forward. "What if we have Hange try to replicate it?"

Annie blinks at her, confused. "Why would you do that?"

"So that we could make use of you."

She snorts. "Yeah, and what exactly would I eat?"

Mikasa's expression sours. "Animal blood. The way Eren's supposed to."

Annie scoffs. "I wouldn't last more than two weeks on the stuff. The only reason Eren could stomach it for so long is thanks to all the messing around Grisha did."

Mikasa looks confused. "What do you mean for so long?"

Levi's expression hardens. "Eren was drinking animal blood only for months, but his body couldn't handle it anymore. He was dying, so we started forcing human blood into him."

She looks aghast. "You forced him?"

"Again, he was well on his way to being dead for real."

She looks at me. "Why didn't you say something if it was to keep you alive?"

I turn my head away. "It doesn't make me any less of a monster."

Levi's scowls. "Alright, let's get back to what we're going to do with Annie," he snaps.

"Can't we feed her off of those blood bags?" I ask.

"Our supplies have been restricted. Apparently Hange was not supposed to be using that blood to feed vampire research subjects," he says.

Mikasa speaks up in a quiet voice. "I'll feed her." I stare at her in shock and Jean makes a strangled sound. Mikasa presses her lips together. "I'll give her just enough blood to keep her from dropping dead as long as she helps us- helps Eren."

Annie lets out a low whistle. "You are crazy."

Mikasa shoots her a look. "You saved my life. And you know much more about Grisha and how he operates than any of us. It's the logical choice."

Levi draws his eyebrows together. "We can't just welcome her onto the team the way we did Eren. We don't know whether she's trustworthy." He pauses. "But there's no reason to kill her either. She really might come in handy. Are you sure Mikasa?"

She sets her jaw. "I'm sure."

He nods and stands up, looking back at Annie. "For now we'll put you in a cell. We'll need to verify the information you've given us, and then we'll see how things go before we can determine how we're going to put you to use."

"There's one other thing you should probably know. I'm not the only one in here working for Grisha."

"We're already aware there's someone else. I don't suppose you know who it is?"

She shakes her head. "Sorry, can't help you there." Levi pulls her to her feet and starts walking her towards the door. "Oh and Eren," She calls over her shoulder as they leave. "Work out your personal shit before you get everyone killed." I pale, and Levi gives me a weird look and ushers her out the door. Jean shoots me a slightly conflicted glance and leaves as well.

Connie comes up to me with a sheepish expression. "Look… You really helped us out back there. So thanks. I guess I overreacted a bit to the whole blood drinking thing."

For a moment I stare at him, then I pull myself together. "Of course, I'll always have the team's back. It's my job."

He nods and walks out of the room, leaving me alone with Mikasa.

She gives me an exasperated look. "If you'd just told me it was necessary to keep you alive…" She breathes out a sigh and closes the distance between us, pulling me into a hug.

"Mikasa-"

"If you can drink Levi's blood without killing him, you can let me hug you," she says with a cross expression. I laugh and hug her back. And it's true. Her blood is barely tempting me. All I want is Levi.