Chapter 13

"Hey, Cane, it's me."

Cane had just sat at his desk when he answered his phone, "Lily! Where are ya at?"

"I'm at Clayton Lake in Maine. I found the missing team members.", Lily sounded somber and Cane knew where this conversation was going.

"Let me guess, dead."

"Yeah. I found their bodies stuffed in a van near the lake. All members died by exsanguination. I've already notified the local authorities and they've sent out alerts to state officials about the rogue vampire gang on the loose." Lily had been driving around the outskirts looking for any hints as to where the gang had gone to. She was using her Bluetooth in the car to speak with Cane.

"You sound like you're in the car. Leaving so soon?"

"I left quite awhile ago. There's absolutely nothing out here so it would be easy for a gang to hide."

"I'm looking at a map of Maine right now as we speak. You're out in the sticks."

"Yeah, I just drove around a bunch of dirt roads and found nothing so I found a paved highway that I'm now driving on. Something told me to head northeast so that's where I'm going. So far, it's just trees and….what the hell?"

Cane sat up in his chair, "What is it, Lil?"

Lily stared at the large sign ahead and read it out loud, "Welcome to Storybrooke".

Cane typed on his computer and clicked search with no results, "Storybrooke?"

Lily stopped her car and looked at her map confused, "Yeah. That's what the sign says, but I'm looking at my map and don't see it on here."

"I'm searching on the computer here and there's no such thing as Storybrooke, Maine.", Cane kept looking and using different spelling variations and search keys.

"Cane, I swear that's what the sign says."

"Spell it for me, Lil."

Lily kept looking at her map and then up to the sign in front of her car, "S-t-o-r-y-b-r-o-o-k-e."

"What the hell is going on? How can a town just show up out of nowhere?"

Lily folded her map and made up her mind, "Cane, this has to be where they're hiding. What better place? I'm gonna go check it out."

"Be careful, Lil. Send me your coordinates before you leave so I know your last known check point."

"Will do. Wish me luck, Boss!" Lily hung up and sent him a text. After putting her phone back on the dash, she lit up a cigarette and rolled down her window. She knew it was a bad habit and kept trying to quit, but constant stress of the job kept dragging her back into it. Being in Maine wasn't helping matters. She was near where she was found as a newborn. "Well, here goes." Lily put the car in drive and proceeded to cross the town line and into the unknown.

Emma was just about finished preparing her taco bar when Mal came into the kitchen, "Any news from Regina?"

Emma shook her head, "Last I heard, she was being questioned by my dad."

Just then, a cloud of purple smoke filled the center of the kitchen and revealed Regina standing there.

"Emma! Your father is on his way here to question you about Robin's attack."

Emma paled and looked at Mal, "What do I do?"

Regina interjected, "I told him that you were passing by and heard the commotion in the house and used your magic to break in and defend me."

Emma nodded and took a deep breath, but before she could say something, Regina continued, "There's something else that you need to know. While I was with David, Robin's phone received a text message. Since I had his phone, I checked it and found this", she showed Emma the name of the sender; Killian Jones.

Emma's hands began to shake and the lights in the house began to flicker. Regina looked around in awe as Mal rushed over to Emma and grabbed her face with both her hands, forcing her to look into her eyes, "Hey, look at me! Look at me! It's okay, Sweetie. We can deal with him together. It'll be alright." The light above the table shattered, but Mal didn't jump. She just continued to look at Emma, "We knew this was coming after we got Rumple's letter. We'll deal with Killian and the rest of the gang. I'm with you and Audrey is with you. We can take them. Do you hear me?" Mal continued to gently stroke Emma's cheek and leaned over the kiss her forehead. Emma closed her eyes and swallowed deep trying to calm her nerves.

As Regina watched, her anger grew while watching Mal comfort and calm Emma.

"Em, take some slow deep breaths. We have the advantage here. He doesn't know that we have the same abilities."

Emma's voice cracked and her eyes watered, "But he still thinks Tristan is his. He'll come for her." Another light shattered and Regina tried to duck and avoid flying glass.

"There are three badass vamps in this house. No one is getting to Tris. We can put a protection spell on the house and we'll be safe during the day of course."

Emma nodded and the lights began to slow in their frequency of flickering. The soft rumble in the background stopped and soon the room was calm. Maleficent waved her arm and fixed the shattered lights. Then she turned back to Emma who was looking down at their feet so she held out her arms for Emma to fall into. Emma nuzzled her face into Mal's neck as the former dragon held her tight. Meanwhile, Regina's jealousy flared, but she continued to remain silent standing in place with her arms crossed and lips pursed.

"Gina!" Tristan had initially come downstairs with Audrey to see why the lights were flickering, but saw Regina through the doorway and bolted into the kitchen, slamming into Regina's legs and wrapping her arms around her. "You came!"

Regina's jealousy was forgotten when she looked down and saw her daughter hugging her. Smiling warmly, Regina sat the gift she was carrying onto the table so that she could pick up Tristan. Heaving her up, she gathered the little girl and hugged her tight, taking in her smell and warmth.

"Hello, Sweetheart. I've missed you so much."

Tristan giggled and smiled before leaning back to look at her new mother. "Is that present for me?", she pointed to the wrapped gift on the kitchen table.

Regina pretended not to see it, "What present? I don't see a present." She turned Tristan in the opposite direction, "Is it over here?", she leaned down to look into the sink. "Hmmmm. Not here. How about over here?" She skipped to the pantry and looked inside, "Nope. I don't see it. Where is it?", she held up one arm in puzzlement.

Tristan let out a belly laugh and shook her head, "No, Silly! It's over there! On the table."

Regina turned around with Tristan in her arms and look at the present, "Ohhhhhh! There it is." She walked over to the gift and whispered in Tristan's ear, "I think it might be a princess dress and maybe something else."

Tristan wrestled out of her arms so Regina sat her down. Tristan grabbed the gift, but then went still and just stared at the gift expressionless. Her eyes began to glow bright red.

Audrey saw this and immediately acted, "Em!"

Emma turned and saw what was happening so she ran to her daughter and looked at Mal, "Mal!"

"On it." Maleficent ran to the fridge and grabbed Tristan's juice cup and rushed over handing it to Emma.

Emma pulled the gift out of Tristan's hands and handed it to Audrey who quickly took it to the sink and wiped it with bleach wipes. Emma then looked at her daughter, trying to snap her out of her trance, "Honey, I need you to drink your juice for me." When she got no response, she tipped the cup to Tristan's bottom lip, hoping the liquid would promote her to open her mouth. "Please drink it, Sweetie." Her voice tried to remain calm, but the adults could hear the worry.

Tristan finally opened her mouth when she felt the blood touch her lips and she quickly downed the entire cup. Her eyes then went back to their beautiful emerald hue and she snapped out of her trance. "Ew, yuck! What's that smell?"

The three vampires breathed out a sigh of relief while Regina stood back stunned, "What just happened?"

Audrey handed her the gift, "Apparently there was blood on the wrapping paper and Tristan smelled it. Bleach makes the smell repulsive, but we also had to quench her triggered thirst."

"Oh, God. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize my blood got on there from earlier."

Emma could see Regina beating herself up, "Hey, it's fine. We've dealt with this before. You didn't know." The two ladies continued to stare at each other until their daughter broke the silence.

"Can I open my present now?"

They both laughed and Emma kissed Tristan's head, "Go for it, Tris."

The young vampire tore through the wrapping paper, but was careful to preserve the pretty blue bow in the middle. When she finally opened the box, she gasped and pulled out the shiny, satin and silk green and black dress. It had flowers embroidered along the front and a long train that tapered from the shoulders down the back.

"It's like Elsa's! I'm a princess!" She then noticed a hand held mirror in the box and pulled it out, "What's this?"

Emma knew how Regina utilized mirrors so she had an idea of what Regina was thinking, but she was about to be surprised by a little something extra.

Smiling, Regina answered, "That's a mirror and we can use it to talk to each other."

Tristan's eyes scrunched together in thought, "You mean like Mommy's phone?"

"Yes! This is even better though because we can see each other while we talk!"

Tristan's eyes grew wide as she stared at the mirror in amazement.

Regina then added, "There's one more thing that we're going to use the mirror for though."

Emma looked up surprised and curious about what Regina had in mind. Regina just waved her off like her idea would be no big deal.

"We're going to use it to call Elsa!"

The little girl screamed in excitement while Emma grew white as a sheet. Mal looked at Emma knowing the issue, but kept silent.

"Mommy! Mommy! Did you hear that? I can talk to Elsa!" Tristan was jumping in place up and down, unable to keep still.

Emma put on her best fake smile, "Yeah, Honey, I heard. Wow!"

Regina caught on to the forced smile and wasn't sure what she had done wrong.

Tristan looked at Regina, "Can we call her now, Gina?"

DING DONG

The doorbell sounded and Emma and Maleficent tensed and looked at each other. Emma then turned to Audrey, "Why don't you take Regina and Tristan upstairs to call Elsa?"

Maleficent grabbed Emma's arm, "Is that such a good idea?"

Regina watched the interaction confused and turned to Audrey who just shrugged.

"It'll be fine. We can talk to David while they're upstairs.", Emma confirmed.

Audrey nodded and motioned for Regina to follow her and then grabbed Tristan's box and torn wrapping paper, "Let's go upstairs, Tris, so we can meet Elsa!"

The little girl didn't have to be told twice. She barreled out of the kitchen and up the stairs with Regina and Audrey close behind.

Emma and Mal walked over the front door and taking one more calming breath, Emma opened it.

David smiled at his daughter, but then saw who was standing next to her and grew serious, "You."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Don't start."

David cleared his throat, "Sorry. I'm here to ask you a few questions about what happened earlier with Robin. May I come in?"

Emma stepped aside and allowed David to enter. He stood in the entry way looking uncomfortable, but tried to lighten the mood, "Something smells good. I hope I didn't catch you while you were eating."

"We haven't eaten yet so it's fine." Emma shrugged. "Come on in. We can speak in the kitchen." She walked towards the kitchen assuming David would follow. Then Mal trailed behind grinning at David's discomfort.

The three finally sat down at the table and David opened his pad of paper and clicked his pen, "Um, Emma, what is Mal doing here? I just need to speak with you."

"She stays.", was the only response Emma gave.

Nodding, David continued, "Alright." Looking up to Emma, "Can you tell me what happened today?"

Emma remained stoic, "I believe Regina already told you what happened."

"Well, yes. She told me her point of view, but I'd like to hear your side of things."

Emma nodded, "Well, I was passing by her house earlier and heard screams so I went in and found Robin assaulting her."

"And how did you enter the house? It was locked."

"I used my magic."

David sighed, "Em, come on. The door was ripped off of its hinges. It looked like a bomb went off. Magic usually just unlocks a door."

"I was in a hurry.", Emma answered defensively.

"The injuries Robin sustained were those of brute force. You don't have the strength to cause that kind of harm, Em." David glared at Maleficent.

Mal just grinned, "You think I did it?"

"Wouldn't surprise me. Regina would protect you, I'm sure."

Emma slammed her hand down onto the table and looked at Mal who nodded in response to her silent question. Emma knew the people needed to know about the danger in their town. She was just hoping she could put it off.

"Fine. I didn't use magic. I used my speed and strength to get into the house. I knew Regina was injured when I felt dizzy and nauseous so I ran to her house from here and busted the door down after smelling her blood while running to her house.", Emma rattled off quickly.

David just stared in shock at his daughter. He didn't know where to begin. "I….how…"

Emma sighed, "I'm a vampire." She looked at David and her eyes grew bright red as her teeth slowly grew longer and sharp.

David backed away and stood from the table as he directed his rage at Maleficent, "You did this! What did you do to her?!" He began to advance towards Mal, but Emma used her speed to put herself between the two and placed her hand on his chest.

"This is not Mal's fault. I was attacked four years ago while I was pregnant. She saved me. Had she not turned me, I would've died and Tristan would not exist."

David was still breathing fast and heavy as he continued to glare Maleficent, but he nodded and slowly retreated to sit back down at the table. He waited for both ladies to be seated and watched as Emma's eyes and teeth returned to their normal state. "Tell me everything."

Emma explained how she was attacked, how Mal saved her and then how Tristan had been turned. She then told him how she turned Audrey when she was on her death bed and how her abilities differ from other vampires.

David patiently listened and took it all in, not writing any of it down. When Emma was finished, he sat in silence while he thought about everything. Then he finally spoke up, "I received a fax from the PD in Clayton Lake about a rogue vampire gang. I didn't believe it when I read it. I thought it was a prank." He then looked at Emma, "And the other night I found blood all over a smashed car a block from Regina's house." Emma looked at Mal and then back at her father, "Was that your doing?"

Emma nodded and explained the attack over the next few minutes. "And that's what happened. Somehow, they've found out about my loved ones. They're all in danger and I don't know what to do. I've wanted to warn everyone, but am worried what they'll say about us once they find out what we are." Maleficent put her hand on Emma's shoulder and rubbed comforting circles as David watched.

"I'm sorry, Emma, but we really do need to warn the town. Everyone needs to stay indoors at night until this gets resolved."

Maleficent spoke up, "We need to deal with Killian. He's the one who told Russell about you. I'm sure of it. Rumple was right in his investigation. Then there's that text on Robin's phone."

"You know about that?", David asked surprised.

"Regina told us. Killian still thinks Tristan is his so she's sure to be his main target."

"Yeah, about that, Em. Regina told me about being Tristan's other parent." David studied his daughter who turned away and blushed.

"Yeah, it was definitely a surprise. I'm glad it's her and not Killian though."

They continued their discussion and plan for warning the town until David realized he'd made them wait for dinner too long. "I guess I should be going. I'll send out an announcement for an emergency town hall meeting tomorrow at 3pm. If you don't want to come then I'll understand."

"We'll be there. It'll be bad, but I'm sure the people will have questions. Hopefully we can ease their concerns." Emma walked with him to the door.

David turned around before opening the door, "I know this is asking a lot, but is there a chance I can see Tristan?"

"How about I bring her to the diner tomorrow to see you for breakfast? Regina promised her a mirror call with her idol, Elsa, so I don't want to pull her away from that."

David's eyes grew, "Elsa? Is that wise?"

Maleficent chucked, "Exactly what I said, Charming."

Emma just huffed, "It's fine." She then opened the door, "I'll see you tomorrow, Dad."

After David left and Emma closed the door, she looked at Mal, "Well, let's go get them for dinner."

As they made their way upstairs and approached Tristan's room, they could hear the squeals of excitement and giddy chatting with Elsa and Regina. When Emma opened the bedroom door, she had a direct line of sight to the hand held mirror where Elsa's image resided. Elsa saw the door opening behind Tristan and gasped when she saw Emma walk through.

"Em!" She stared at Emma entranced.

Emma stood uncomfortably, "Uh, hey, Els."

Elsa nodded and swallowed hard, "I was just meeting your…daughter. She's lovely."

Regina watched the back and forth wondering why both women sounded robotic as a sinking feeling took her over. 'Oh God no.'

"How have you been, Em?", Elsa looked at her longingly.

"I'm good. Good. You?"

"Good. Good. I'm getting married in three days." Elsa held up her hand with the ring on it.

Emma's eyes widened, "That's wonderful! I'm so happy for you. You deserve your happy ending, Els."

Elsa nodded in agreement, "So do you, Em. Are you seeing anyone?"

Emma chuckled, "No. I'm finished dating. No desire to have my heart broken again. I've accepted that I'll be single for the rest of my life."

Regina's heart clinched at that. Her heart rate increased and a sickening feeling overtook her stomach.

"You don't have to be single, Em. I mean…I can easily…cancel the wedding." Elsa fiddled her fingers and looked down afraid of Emma's response.

Emma looked at Elsa apologetically. She knew this would happen when they spoke again, "I'm so sorry, Elsa. I can't ask you to do that. I've hardened my heart and that won't change. You know I love you so much, but I'm not in love with you. It wouldn't be fair to you, Els."

"That's okay! We would be great together! Tristan would love Arendelle. You're royalty so the marriage would be recognized and….."

Emma was growing more and more uncomfortable and had to stop Elsa's rambling, "Elsa, please stop.", Emma's voice cracked, "Don't make this harder than it already is." She walked over and ran her fingers through Tristan's hair, "I appreciate you speaking with my daughter. You're all she talks about." She smiled down at Tristan and then looked up at Elsa, "Perhaps Tristan and I can visit you and your husband in the future." Emma's eyes were growing wet. She truly did love Elsa. They had a wonderful relationship back in the day, but Emma knew her heart belonged to Regina and didn't want to hurt Elsa or waste her time. It was the hardest breakup she ever had. She could see a future with the ice queen, but she would always feel incomplete and didn't want to settle.

"That would be lovely, Emma." Elsa knew the conversation was over. "Please give your parents my love." She then turned back to Tristan, "It was so wonderful to meet you Tristan. You're a beautiful little princess."

Tristan just giggled and smiled proudly.

"What do you say, Tris?", Emma reminded her daughter.

"Thank you, Miss Elsa. Can we talk again?"

Elsa laughed through her tears, "Of course, Sweetheart. I would really like that." She then looked at Regina, "Take care, Regina. It was nice seeing you again." Regina smiled through her hurt and nodded back, "It was nice seeing you as well, Dear. Take care.", and then the mirror image was gone and Tristan just saw her reflection.

Regina stood up and brushed out the wrinkles from her pants, "Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.", and then she bolted from the room, bumping Emma's shoulder on her way out.

Emma watched her leave and then turned back to look down at the floor and pressed her eyes closed, "Dammit."