Nick and Judy were out one night, on duty. "So... remind me how we got saddled with this again?" Nick said as he and Judy looked over a bar.
"Because, among other things. We're one of the only on-duty officers that know that Vampires exist. That Anna trusts without any serious caveats. AND, apparently she and the rest of Cabal of the Unseen Eye do this every month... and... I don't actually know WHY we're doing this." Judy said in bewilderment. "I just know that Anna requested for us by name."
Then the doors to the bar violently flung open, as Anna, along with the entire leadership of the Cabal of the Unseen Eye. Ran down the sidewalk wearing what was effectively imitation Count Dracula clothes, all the while shouting. "WE'RE VAMPIRES!" They collectively yelled over and over as they flailed their arms and ran down the sidewalks like raving madmammals.
"Man, who'd have thought that Vampires knew how to live... and the living looks like a pub crawl but with blood and obnoxious yelling." Nick said sardonically.
"And with any luck we'll keep pace with them this time." Judy said as she revved up the cruiser and followed after the Vampires. The drive was chaotic, thanks in no smart part to the disturbance the Cabal of the Unseen Eye was making in the streets. Eventually, the two officers did catch up... though not without accidentally up ending a truck.
"Carrots! I thought we agreed that I'd keep an eye on them!" Nick said.
"Well I'm sorry! I panicked, and I didn't notice the truck!" Judy said.
"Ah... marital bliss." Anna Blackpaw said sardonically at the arguing couple. "Wish I could get married... have kittens." She said, sounding tipsy.
"Why are you even doing this? Pub crawling for blood like this?" Judy said in disgust, not noticing that something was sticking out of the back of the truck. "It's stupid, and nobody can just ignore the dozen or more mammals screaming 'we are Vampire's', and leaving a trail of bar patrons with suspicious blood loss!"
"Well we can't get spirits the normal way... wait." Anna said as she noticed that the object sticking out of the truck was coffin. "That coffin." She said as she went up to it. It was about the size necessary to fit in a fox at most, or other similar sized mammals.
"Think Bogo'll yell at us for this?" Nick asked.
"I think the fact that he's back with the ZPD, he's got to have missed mess ups like THIS." Judy said. Not noticing that Anna was behaving oddly with the coffin. Specifically she sniffed it over.
"It's faint... but that's his scent... no doubt about it." Anna said with amazement. "Officers, I know you were enjoying chaperoning our blood crawl. But I need to get this coffin back to Blackpaw Manor, immediately!"
"But that coffin doesn't belong to you!" Judy said.
"It's not the coffin that concerns me... it's whose inside it that truly matters." Anna said sternly.
Judy and Nick looked at each other. "We're not driving you home." Nick said.
XXXX
Eventually, Anna returned to Blackpaw Manor with the coffin. "Why did you drag us back here?..." Judy said in exhaustion. "It's bad enough that we got talked into spending a Saturday night as babysitters for you and your friend's but-"
"Because I want you to see this." Anna said sternly.
"She must be serious. Doe hasn't cracked a smile since she found it." Nick said as Anna attempted to pry open the lid.
"Blast!" Anna said in frustration. "This thing has to be sealed with silver nails." She said as the crowbar broke.
"Wait... you're only NOW telling us that there's a Vampire in there?" Judy asked.
"Just trust me, and help me!" Anna said in frustration. "I'll give you five-hundred dollars to the both of you to get this open!"
"What?" Judy said, taken aback. "All we know is that there's a Vampire in-"
"Make it fifty-thousand altogether and you have a deal." Nick said as he grabbed an intact crow bar.
"SERIOUSLY?" Judy said in disbelief.
"Carrots... its easy money... the perfect crime." Nick said, offering his wife another crow bar. Reluctantly, Judy went to help her husband with the coffin. Eventually they managed to pop the lid off. Inside, was a fox wearing green cloths that looked to be about one-hundred years out of date, and a sword at his side.
Anna took the sword. "It's him..."
"Would you mind providing context? Because I only see a Vampire fox in an old tacky looking spring suit." Judy said, then without further explaining, Anna cut her wrist, and poured the blood into the foxes open mouth. "And of course you ignore a question that can provide better context."
The Vampire fox woke up, and sat up. "Well finally!" The Vampire fox said with an Irish accent as he got out of the coffin. "I don't know how long I've been in there. But-"
Anna cut him off with an unexpected hug. "It's good to have you back, Sir Scath." Anna said, greeting her long missing mentor and father figure.
"So about the money?" Nick asked.
"You'll both get the one-hundred thousand dollars when I allow it." Anna said. "As for you... we need to get you up to speed." She said to Scath.
"Do we finally have flying cars?" Scath asked.
Anna nervously answered. "No... I'm sorry."
"Curses... also, who are the weirdoes in the funny clothes?" Scath asked, referring to Nick and Judy. Judy face palmed, while Nick suppressed a giggle.
XXXX
Several days later, Anna and Sir Scath were sitting in her living room. "So to recap... I've been gone for a little over a century. And in that time, a SECOND Great War has come and gone, and those benighted Bullsheviks actually became more than just disgruntled peasants. AND held the world in a grip of terror with everyone else unable to do anything without causing... 'nuclear Armageddon' did you call it?" Sir Scath said.
"Yes, the USSR eventually did fall... but things have not calmed down as was hopped." Anna said. "In fact, in the last half decade alone, things have only gotten more chaotic. A sheep manufactured a crisis with Night Howlers to make Prey mistrust Predator here in Zootopia. A mule came within a hair's breadth of starting a robot apocalypse. And... and we only recently learned that Draco Long-Fang survived."
"And that despicable monster nearly leveled this city to get to you... I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you." Sir Scath said.
"Well we survived... but that isn't even the worst of it." Anna said. "Apparently, Long-Fang has entrenched himself and his Night Dragons Cabal into the Tribunal of Night's favor."
"How so?" Sir Scath said as he took a glass of wine.
"The Night Dragons effectively control the Tribunal as a whole through there underhanded and dishonorable gains." Anna explained, followed by Sir Scath doing a spit take.
"WHAT?!... And he's allowed to still live to a degree, DESPITE trashing a major city, and all but revealing the existence of Vampires?!" Sir Scath said in disgust. "How... how could they, allow someone that monstrous to escape justice?"
"We have been working on uncovering where exactly the Night Dragons are. AND rallying support from the other Cabals. But it's been slow goings across the boards... the Night Dragons have covered their tracks thoroughly, and with the Tribunal in their pocket we don't have the resources to reliably pursue any leads. Even with my family's collective wealth, the Unseen Eye has only found relative crumbs." Anna explained.
"Have... have you been overworking yourself on this lass?" Sir Scath asked of his surrogate daughter.
"I'm... afraid to say that yes, up until fairly recently I had been putting far too much of myself into this affair. But I have stopped... and have set up matters so that someone else can handle the grunt work.." Anna said. "But enough about me, what happened to you?" She asked. "Last we ever heard from you, you went on a mission to Belgium after the war, and you never returned... we all assumed that you were dead."
"Aye, I might as well have been." Sir Scath said wistfully. "I met this... strange looking mammal. I think she was some kind of bunny rabbit. But I tell ya... I ain't ever saw a bunny that shone like polished metal. Pretty sure that ain't natural no matter what you are."
"And they put you in that coffin?" Anna asked.
"Aye... least I think so. I've only gotten new blood recently; a full century has come and gone. So the details are fuzzy to me. All I really recall was following this strange rabbit girl down into a hole... and wipe that smirk off your face girl!" Sir Scath said.
"Was her name Alice?" Anna said snarkily. "And was she rambling about being late for something? Was she looking frantically at a pocket watch?"
"Oh ha-ha!" Sir Scath said indignantly. "I'm gone for a century, and you crack jokes at my expense! I've fought my way up and down the world against some of the dangerous beings-"
"And mortals, including Genghis Khan, and traumatized the Mongol's so thoroughly that they downplayed what actually happened, just to avoid the risk of calling down your wrath on the heads upon future generations." Anna said blithely. "Yes, I know your past glories oh mighty Knight of Eire. You needn't remind me."
"Still... it seems like I've got to acclimatize to this new era." Sir Scath said. He then noticed the look on Anna's face going from calm, to discomfort. "Lass... how bad is it?"
"Let's just say that... most modern sensibilities is... more than likely to be in direct contrast with your," Anna said awkwardly.
"If you're trying to say that the modern world regards my chivalrous ways as outdated. I already got an inkling of that when the war ended... so many boys scarred by that accursed mess." Sir Scath said.
"Uh... actually, I just remember I need to make some important phone calls." Anna said, trying to avoid the conversation topic altogether.
"No you don't." Josephus said abruptly barging into the room. "You just don't want to bring up how almost every mammal is a self-absorbed-"
"YES. JOSEPHUS." Anna said through gritted teeth. "In the meantime, I need to make... travel arrangements."
"Oh... I suppose that you've kept up keeping that specific demon under wraps." Sir Scath said.
"Her death was my responsibility, and even after a thousand years. I will not allow her to kill innocents in her blind anger." Anna said. "Besides... this time, it'll be different. Because it's going to be the last time I have to do this." She said ominously as she left the room.
"So... has science advanced to a point where she can permanently seal away spirits?" Sir Scath asked of Josehpus.
"Maybe... some ex-university goofballs figured out how to capture ghosts during the eighties... somehow built a media empire off of that." Josephus said. "And before you ask, that's the 1980's, and no. I don't know if that can contain Ice Revenants."
"Lad, I wasn't gone for that long. I'd probably remember if folks could capture ghosts before 1919." Sir Scath said. "I'm still surprised by the fact that there's now a rabbit and a fox in law enforcement... and there married! AND apparently have a kit of their flesh and blood."
"Oh well in that case..." Josephus said as he pulled Sir Scath into an uncomfortable hug. "Let me blow your mind with a little thing mortals called... Social Media." He said as he pulled out a smartphone. "Trust me old timer... it'll rock your world." Josephus added as his eyes twitched, while showing off the wonders... and horrors of the internet.