AN: Thank you, AliciatheWolf45, Nebula the Hedgehog, Captain, MysterySecret, Guest, MissMJS, Sunny, and Janttun3n for your reviews. It is much appreciated. As some of you may have noticed, I have some new artwork for this story! Yes, I commissioned the lovely Myly14 on deviantART for it and she came through amazingly as always! So, if you want to see it up close, check her on DeviantART. Anyway, enough of my chat. Enjoy the chapter.

•~•

Shadow slowly crept into the nursery and smiled when he heard Faith cooing from within the crib. Curiously, he walked over and looked down into the crib. Lying inside, was his child; she looked as beautiful as ever as she laid there smiling up at him. "Hello there, little one," he said softly. Shadow had never felt prouder looking down at his daughter and the only thing that was missing was Amy.

Feeling the need to call for her, he went to turn, but before he could fully turn around, a sharp pain struck his chest. Hearing a loud bone-shattering crack, blood oozed from his open mouth. Terrified and stunned, he looked down seeing the sharp end of the legendary white oak stake poking out from his chest. He looked back only to come face to face with his father.

Coal showed no sign of happiness as he stared at his bastard son. "Hello, boy," he spoke in repulsion. "It's a wonderful day to watch you die," he said with a sadistic smile. Shadow felt the rigamortis set in and his skin and fur began to go gray as his life slipped away.

Just then, the dream ended and Shadow woke up from his night terror. He jolted upright in bed, panting and frantically looking around the room. The dream was so vivid and realistic that he could have sworn he felt the magical stake plunged through his chest in reality. Amy woke up from his sudden movement in bed and turned over to face him. "Mm, Shadow?" she called still half asleep. She rubbed her tired eyes before opening them half way. "Are you okay?" she asked, still a bit groggy.

He looked at her trying to calm his rapid breathing. "I'm-I'm fine," he lied. "Go back to sleep," he softly commanded, while settling back down. Amy was too tired to argue and did as he ordered. She turned over, lying on her side and went back to sleep. Shadow placed his head back down on his pillow, staring up at the ceiling. Perhaps this nightmare was foreshadowing? Shadow had sworn he would find his father and put an end to it, but things had gotten in the way, preventing him from taking action. Maybe today was the day he could end this nightmare.

•~•

That morning, Amy woke up only to find the other side of the bed empty. Sighing, she got out of bed and wandered into the nursery, and found Shadow sitting in the rocking chair bottle-feeding Faith. "Good morning," he spoke softly, catching her attention as she entered the room.

Slowly, and still a little bit bitter from their disagreement last night, Amy approached him. "Morning," she replied quietly.

Shadow cradled the infant in his one arm while he held the bottle in his other. "I hope you're still not upset with me from last night. If so, I would like to explain myself further, if that's alright?"

"No, it's okay Shadow, you don't have to explain," she dismissed waving a hand. "You know your mother better than anyone. So if your gut is telling you not to trust her, you're probably right. It's just—when someone tells me they can grant me something that I want more than anything, it's hard to want to pass up such an offer."

His expression turned dejected by her words. "You really want to be mortal again that badly?"

She nodded solemnly. "Yes, but that doesn't mean I love you any less."

Shadow sighed and put the baby bottle to the side once Faith had finished. He stood up and proceeded to burp her as he walked

. "I've embraced the monster I've become and I guess I shouldn't expect you to do the same…"

Amy watched Shadow place Faith back in her crib once she had burped. "Shadow, I know you had a nightmare last night. Want to talk about it?"

He kept his back to her. "Not particularly."

She fiddled with her hands nervously. "It's just…last night, you seemed really scared, and as long as I've known you, I've never seen you terrified. So it must've been something pretty bad to get that kind of reaction out of you," she postulated as she took a seat on the sofa.

In defeat, he walked over and joined her on the couch. "If you must know, the nightmare was about…my father."

"I've heard only a few things about him—none of which were good. If it's alright with you, I'd like to learn more about him."

Shadow stared at her long and hard, shocked that she'd be invested in learning more about the monster that tormented his past. "I-I could show you," he considered. "But are you absolutely certain you want to see these memories?" he asked in a shaky whisper.

Even if they were as bad as he made them out to be, she still wanted to find out for herself. After all, these events molded Shadow into the person he came to be. "Yes," she replied softly.

"Very well." Shadow turned in his seat, so they were face to face. Amy watched as his hands reached out and cupped the sides of her face. She smiled weakly as she stared into his red eyes, and saw him move in closer, leaning his forehead up against hers. Shadow swallowed the lump in his throat, hoping she realized what she was getting herself into. He tapped into his memories taking her back to when he had first become a vampire nearly a thousand years ago. In an instant, she was whisked away into his memory vault. Everything she saw was as if she was right there in the very moment.

~Flashback~

A now twenty-something Shadow ripped into his very first victim after being turned into a vampire. Once he finished devouring the blood of a helpless male rabbit, he tossed him to the side with blood smeared down his chin. Nearby, Silver, Mephiles, and his father Coal stood and watched as Shadow became satisfied with feeding his hunger.

"I did it," Shadow spoke proudly, turning to look at them. Shadow looked down at his bloody hands. "I can feel the power running through my veins." Shadow started to approach the three. "Now we can all be-" He stopped mid-sentence as his right leg made a horrific crack, causing him to fall to his knees. "Augh!" His right leg had broken before their eyes. "Shadow!" Silver exclaimed seeing his pain-ridden expression. The white hedgehog tried to rush forward to help his brother, but Coal and Mephiles grabbed him and held him back as they too watched in horror.

"Don't! He's dangerous," Mephiles bellowed.

For the first time, Amy watched Shadow look absolutely terrified with his first transformation. She realized then, this must have been when Shadow's father had discovered that he wasn't his real son.

Shadow continued to cry out in pain as the bones in his legs broke one by one, slowly and excruciatingly. This moment of deja vu reminded Amy when she had first watched Sonic's transformation take place.

"It hurts," Shadow cried. Another sharp crack rang out. "Aaah, it hurts," he whimpered again. Shadow's bones in his arms cracked and crunched as they took their new form. Shadow kept his head lowered towards the ground as each break began to get worse and worse.

Silver, Mephiles, and Coal stood off to the side, unsure what they could do to help their fallen family member. "What is happening to him, father?" Silver asked.

The sound was sickening and Shadow ripped his head back, revealing his bloody mouth and pair of new canine fangs. His eyes glowed a bright yellow, an indication of the werewolf gene activated. "AUGH!"

Coal narrowed his eyes angrily towards Shadow in realization. "He's a beast—a werewolf."

The flashback fast-forwarded to another event in Shadow's life. Amy watched as she was whisked away to another point in time. Coal was chaining up Shadow to a wooden post that formed like a cross. His arms were held out to his sides as Coal worked on keeping him restrained. Shadow appeared to have been beaten severely as his father chained his right wrist to the wooden posts. Shadow opened his eyes weakly and tried to escape by moving forward, with one wrist restrained, but Coal prevented him from moving anymore. "Silver," he yelled, keeping Shadow held by the shoulders. "Help me hold him down!"

"Please, I have not transformed on a full moon since I was turned," Shadow pleaded. "I can control it, I promise!"

Silver stood off to the side debating on what to do. Shadow's eyes told it all. He was terrified. "Brother, please don't let them do this to me," Shadow cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. Once again, Amy had never seen this side to Shadow before. He had always been fearless around her, and to see him in such a vulnerable state was shocking. It was like she was meeting a completely different hedgehog.

Coal continued his best to keep Shadow restrained but was losing his strength with him. He looked over his shoulder towards his other son. "Do it now, boy. NOW!" he snapped venomously. "He's a monster, he cannot be trusted to be free on a full moon! His kind killed your sister after all."

Deflated with his words, Silver gave in and walked over and helped his father restrain Shadow to the post. As Silver restrained Shadow's left wrist, Shadow looked into his eyes, pleadingly. "Silver, help me…"

"I'm sorry, brother. I'm afraid I cannot," he replied sadly back.

Another flash-forward occurred, flashing to another point in Shadow's life. This time, Shadow looked happy as he and Silver held a mock battle with swords in a simple duel. Their swords clashed together and both had determination in their eyes, eager to win the fight. Silver swiped left trying to catch Shadow off guard, but Shadow blocked his swing with his own sword. "Hah!"

Shadow managed to push his sword away and swing towards Silver's stomach, catching his leather belt and severing it. The belt dropped around his ankles with a thud. "Looks like I win, again."

"You are so cocky, Shadow," Silver laughed.

"Boys!" Another voice shouted. The two brothers turned and looked as Coal and Mephiles approached them. "We use these in battle," Coal said pointing towards their weapons. His head turned to his left where Mephiles stood smugly. "Thank you, Mephiles for giving me the notice," he said patting him on the head. It appeared Mephiles had snitched on the two fooling around.

Shadow lowered his weapon by his side and looked towards the ground in despair. Silver could already see his brother cowering in fear with their father's disappointment. "We were just playing around, father," Silver defended, trying to protect his brother. "It was nothing but simple fun."

"Don't bother, Silver. He needs to learn his lesson," Coal shouted, pushing Silver back. His father reached out and grabbed Shadow by the collar yanking him off the ground. "You need to stop playing your foolish games, boy," he leered. He took his free hand and punched Shadow hard in the face allowing him to go flying back into the dirt.

"Father, stop!" Silver shouted. He tried to move forward to intervene but felt a strange pull on his body. He looked back and watched as Mephiles cast his right hand out towards him. Mephiles had put a freeze spell on him to keep him from intervening. "Why are you stopping me? Shadow needs our help!"

Mephiles chuckled darkly. "He is not like us, he's a disgrace to our family," he replied.

"He's getting a rightful lesson," Coal added maliciously. "Your wretched mother may have begged me not to kill him, but she can't prevent me from torturing you…" Coal glared as Shadow scooted backward away from him. "Don't you dare crawl away from me, boy!" He grabbed his left ankle and dragged him back towards him. Shadow rolled onto his stomach and tried to claw at the dirt to stop his pull, but it was no use.

"No, please don't," Shadow begged. Coal ripped Shadow's shirt open from the behind, revealing his bare back. He took his whip hoisted by his side and began to violently whip Shadow over and over again. Shadow screamed out in agony as the whip inflicted large red, bloody gashes in several places.

"Aaah!" he cried as the whip cracked down again.

Silver watched helplessly as Shadow got the abuse by his vicious father. "Please, stop it!" Coal ignored Silver's pleading and kept on with the lashes.

~End Flashback~

Shadow took his hands away from Amy's head, allowing her to come back to reality. He was sure that was enough she'd want to see for today. When Amy opened her eyes, she hadn't realized that she had been crying the whole time. She touched her right cheek feeling the wetness from her tears. "Shadow," she gasped staring back at his weary eyes. She embraced him, resting her chin on his right shoulder. "No one should ever have to experience what you did."

Shadow felt numb, reliving the events. At first, he did not embrace back and chose to remain stiff instead. He loathed the idea of pity even if it was from someone he truly loved. "It made me strong," he mumbled.

"What he did to you," she began. "It wasn't right," she said breaking away from his embrace. "He hurt you…"

"Now you know why I must put a stop to him."

•~•

Meanwhile, in the witches' Cemetery, Andrew, now a double agent met Mighty and the other rogue werewolves to continue their next stage of the plan. Standing before his flock of loyal followers, Mighty stood tall and proud next to the Mandarin colored pooch. "Today we will start the next stage of our development." Mighty turned and looked to a brown hedgehog in the crowd. "Would you bring me the recruits, please?"

"Yes, sir," the dog bowed. After departing from the crowd, a few minutes later, he returned with some new arrivals.

Andrew grew confused when suddenly; a large batch of children of all ages ranging from ten to sixteen suddenly came out from around the corner. The group of children looked shy and timid as they stood nearby, also uncertain by why they were brought forward. Andrew looked over to Mighty for answers. "What's going on here?"

"Tonight is a blood moon," he began. "One thousand years ago, your people marked this celestial event with a rite of passage—electing not to shrink from their nature, but to embrace it with pride, by slaying a mortal being and activating their curse." Andrew felt his stomach drop at the thought. What he was planning to have these children go through was a frightening thought.

One of the young werewolves raised their hand. Spotting their hand, Mighty pointed towards them. "Yes, little one?"

"What is going to happen to us, mister?"

Mighty smiled and bent down to his level as he patted him on the head softly. "Tonight, as unturned wolves, you will kill with the singular purpose of unleashing that warrior that lives within you," he answered.

"—They're just a bunch of kids," Andrew interjected. "You expect them to kill someone at such a young age?"

"Andrew," Mighty spoke calmly. "We can no longer afford to hide our children from the horrors of war. From now on, you're either with us or against us," he made explicit. Oh, and you might want to spread the word along to your old leader. If he and the others don't join us then it'll be a grave mistake on their part," he warned. Mighty patted the young werewolf on the back, guiding him to follow along with the others. "Now, come along children," he beckoned as he led them off.

Andrew's eyes grew anxious as he watched Mighty herd the children off like a flock of sheep. He needed to warn Caleb and get help to stop this act from happening. He turned on his heel and quickly departed.

•~•

Later that morning, Shadow and Amy stood in the middle of the forest for the next training exercise. Amy did some simple stretching in her gym clothing as she waited for Shadow's instructions. "So, what are we doing today?" Amy asked curiously.

"Today we are going to focus on hand to hand combat," he answered as he slipped on his fingerless gloves.

Amy placed a hand on her hip and grinned slyly. "No more playing keep away, then?"

"As much as I've enjoyed chasing you through the woods, I think we've worked on that enough. It's time to work on defending yourself."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay, what's the first step?"

Shadow stood a few feet away from her and put his hands up towards his face while getting into a fighting stance. "Put up your fists," he instructed. Amy mimicked his actions and waited for further instructions. "Now, I want you to try to hit me."

She looked hesitant on his command, faltering slightly in her stance. "But what if I hurt you?"

He kept his eyes locked on her while he held his position. "You're just going to have to try," he smirked. "Now go."

"Try?" she repeated with a hint of insult. Did he think she couldn't? Looking determined, Amy threw a hard punch straight at Shadow's chest, but he swiftly caught her fist in the palm of his hand without even blinking, stopping any attack from continuing.

His face turned deadpan by her first lackluster attempt. "As someone who considers themselves a feminist, I refuse to say you hit like a girl."

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he released her hand for another go. She tried for a sucker punch, but Shadow dodged her swing with ease. Amy huffed in frustration and placed her hands on her hips. "What am I doing wrong then?"

"Fighting is like having rhythm—there is a music, there is a meter, there is a pattern," he elaborated. "You need to let that rhythm beat within you." He got back into his fighting stance. "Try again."

With his instructions and advice, Amy upped her agility to hit even faster. She swung towards his face with her fists, but Shadow shielded and blocked her hits with the side of his arm. She did a round of kicks towards his side that he also managed to block, but saw she was starting to grasp the concept. "Good, keep going," he praised, seeing she was starting to get it.

He backed up and she threw another punch that he managed to catch once again. With speed, he pulled her in close so their faces were inches away. He smirked down at her causing her to blush. "Once you've established your cadence, you should have the method down."

"You're right, I think I finally understand." Seeing him off guard, Amy took the opportunity and kneed him in the gut, making Shadow grunt in response. It all happened so fast that Shadow hadn't realized that she had him pinned to a tree. When he opened his eyes, she held him in place with her left arm braced horizontally over his chest, while her right hand pressed firmly against where his heart beat.

He observed her position for correction. "Very good," he praised. "For the next step, determine how you will take out your attacker—the head or the heart?"

Amy's expression softened into concern then anxiety. "Wait, what?"

"You must choose how you will take out your enemy once you have them in this vulnerable position. Do you rip out their heart or decapitate them? You need to understand that none of this means anything if you cannot make the kill."

She removed her hand from his chest and let it drop to her side at the thought. Could she really go through with taking a life if she were in such a position? "What if I can't do it?"

"You've shot me in the past with a crossbow and had no issue, what's stopping you now?" he questioned.

"That was different," she grumbled. "That was a long range attack not up and personal like this!"

"You may not enjoy this close contact kill, but I believe in you."

She sagged, feeling unsure of herself, but Shadow was quick to notice her doubt and reached out for her hand and replaced it over his heart. "You will do it to survive," he spoke confidently with assurance. "Now, which is it?"

She sighed in defeat. "The heart I-I guess…"

"Then I want you to pull your right arm back and use all your exertion to drive your hand into my chest and rip out my heart."

"Rip out your heart?" she repeated with uncertainty. "But won't you-"

"—Don't worry about me," he reassured with a chuckle. "Remember, only the white oak stake can end my life. If you rip out my heart, I'll resurrect in time. Trust me, plenty of people have ripped out my heart in the past thinking they finished me, but I always came back," he smirked as he reminisced. "I just need you to practice on me for real life situations."

"O-okay." Amy swallowed the lump in her throat. Having to ram her hand into his chest cavity to rip his heart out was a gruesome thought. She had seen both Silver and Shadow do it plenty of times, and it was gross enough then, but thinking about having to do it herself made her shudder. Amy bit her lower lip and closed her eyes tight as she brought her hand back before rapidly smashing it inside his chest making a loud CRUNCH.

"Augh!" Shadow grunted but held back a stifled cry as her hand rummaged around inside of him. Amy was already starting to feel squeamish as she felt around, past the lungs before reaching his heart. Eventually, she found it and felt his heart beat within her hand as she clutched it. All the while, Shadow's eyes never left her face as he watched her expression twitch and contort into utter disgust. "Come on, Rose," he gasped, feeling himself wince. "You can do it."

She felt her own heart race before realizing she was having an anxiety attack. Amy released her hold of his heart and quickly ripped her hand out of his chest and stepped away. The hole in his chest instantly healed and she backed away before falling to her knees and shaking. "I-I can't do this, Shadow."

He walked towards her, looking crestfallen by her fear to kill. "Deep breaths love," he commanded seeing her erratic breathing. She followed his directive as her breathing ease. Shadow knelt down in front of her looking at her in pity. "Amy, you must learn how to defend yourself. I don't want anything to happen to you when I'm not around."

She stared down at her bloody arm that had once been inside him. "Look, it's like I said, I'm just not cut out to be a vampire."

Shadow brought her into his arms, embracing her softly. "My pure rose," he whispered. "You'll become strong one day, I promise."

She closed her eyes as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I know I disappointed you today...I'm sorry."

He rubbed her back. "Don't be too hard on yourself, we'll try again in a few days."

"—Ahem?" Shadow and Amy looked to their right where Caleb and Andrew stood patiently off to the side. Caleb crossed his arms over his chest, looking slightly uncomfortable with interrupting their moment. "Sorry to interrupt, but we need to talk."

The four grouped up and began to walk away together, but unbeknownst to them, a figure lowered his binoculars after finally setting sight on his target. Coal smiled a wicked grin. It would only be a matter of time before he could strike.

•~•

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