Chapter Two – Origins
Sonic The Hedgehog was the Hero of Mobius. Everyone knew everything about him, except one thing. He was a foundling and knew nothing more. There no records of anything. No parents, or kin of any kind. He'd been found as a newborn, wrapped in a beautiful white blanket, which he still had, the umbilical cord still attached, no note. Nothing. It was a complete mystery. But to find no family was really strange. Everyone had family, even the hero. But no. So when he was old enough to take care of himself, he left his home and when travelling.
But it was just after he'd met Tails and Knuckles for the first time, that he realise something was different. He was much faster then the average person with Super-Speed. Most people born with the Chaos Power of Super-Speed, could only run at about two hundred miles per hour at most. Sonic could hit mach one, even mach two when pushed. How? Knuckles incredible strength came from the fact that the Echidnas spent generations enhancing their strength with every child born. But Sonic, who could match him on his strength, with his speed, had nothing. They had to be a supernatural element.
But what?
He was determined to find out, especially when his fangs started to grow. They felt weird and strange, and yet extremely comforting at the same time, as he regularly absent-mindedly kept licking them. As he researched, he finally found out the truth. He was a Vampire and it horrified him. Vampires were the speedsters of the supernatural world but they also were killers. The blood drinkers and Sonic was desperate to be anything but. However, for now, he didn't need blood, he could eat normal food, so decided to not say a word until he had to.
But he was terrified, especially the more he read about his kind. They were bloodthirsty predators who were all hunted to extinction by the Echidnas. Sonic, now really frightened of Knuckles, frowned. If they were extinct, where did he come from? The more he explored, the more he realised he was actually a Vampire and the more he searched, the more he realised that he was the very last of his kind. But Vampires were known for their longevity, not immortality, but when Sonic woke up after a fight against Eggman, which he specifically remembered dying in, he now suspected the latter. As the last of his kind, he now had an entire species worth of power inside of him. His longevity had indeed turned into immortality. He smirked. Being a Vampire had it's uses but he was still scared, and while he still didn't need to drink blood, he kept it to himself. Though it confused Sonic, with his fame, if someone simply researched it, they would easily find out. But no one ever did.
But that didn't last long. He was a Pureblood, born a Vampire and growing. At around fourteen years, he hit the Vampiric equivalent of puberty, and quickly found himself being unable to digest normal food, especially vegetables. He'd just throw them up. But he could eat meat and keep it down so, for now, he could hide it. But a year later, cooked meat became a problem, as Sonic was forced to raw, just to get the calories. He hated it but didn't have a choice, but thankfully he still could eat chilli-dogs, just, so no one noticed. Also his Vampire instincts were beginning to surface, turning his eyes occasionally blood red, and catching him off his guard. He fled, not wanting to hurt anyone. But he couldn't stay away, Eggman was still a threat. But he was also getting easier to defeat. Really easy. Not because Eggman was getting weaker, Sonic was getting stronger. Vampires had Super-Strength as well as the incredible Super-Speed and Sonic's was only just kicking in. When he overpowered both Eggman and Knuckles, and that was when people finally begin to notice. But by this point, Sonic was desperate. He could no longer, at all, stomach any solid food, not even raw meat and with his new Vampire instincts raging out control because of hunger, at seventeen, he was now entirely dependant on blood.
Somehow, despite everything, he still kept it under wraps, explaining the suddenly explosions in strength as just adrenaline. He'd kept it a secret for years, fearing abandonment if the others knew. Now a fully grown Vampire, the light of the sun had no effect on him, he had a reflection in the mirror, and his vampire instincts was relatively tame, when they weren't hungry. But he was famous for not killing anyone, to never leave anyone behind. But that was everyday situations and battles, food was a completely different matter. Sonic now had to drink blood. As he saw it, he was a carnivore. He needed to kill to eat. He didn't have a choice.
He preyed on the local wildlife, rather then on Mobians, normally at the dead of night. But he had recently developed a taste for Mobian blood. He was incredible streetwise, across all cities, and was visiting the dump of the planet, Capital City, where he stumbled upon the aftermath of a gun battle. This didn't fear Sonic, he was immortal, as the last of his kind. There were dead and dying Mobians on the ground, and Sonic, very hungry, decided to end their misery, as there were no chance of survival, even at a hospital. He loved it. The blood was incredible, and from then on, he would wait in the sidelines for a collision, and pick off the dying. This regularly happened in Capital City. Sonic was just about alright with this, as they would have died anyway, and he needed to eat.
Finally, after much waiting, Sonic himself finally walked into Tails' House. He yawned hard, his long fangs beautifully hidden away, his teeth pearly white and glistening. He been up all night feeding, and now, after cleaning himself up, he'd returned home. Tails' House was a large house with two large bedrooms. One each for Sonic and Tails, and a bathroom upstairs, and a large open-plan lounge-kitchen-diner downstairs which was in a large L shape, the small kitchen was set towards the back of the house and the lounge towards the front. There wasn't exactly a dining room there, but a large breakfast bar which was doubled as kitchen work surface. The lounge took up all of the front of the house, along the longest edge of the L shaped room and there were sofas everywhere. All misshaped, all different sizes and colours. There was enough space to sit ten to twenty people. To the side of the kitchen was the staircase, which run up through the centre of the house and the other side of that was another large room. It was separate from the open-plan living space and could only be entered and exited by a single door. It was Tails' Workshop. Sonic had not idea, what when on inside that room most of the time, but it was very grateful of it, the inventions that came out of there had saved his life on more then one occasion.
Even though this was technically Tail's house and Sonic was a permanent guest in his 'guest' room, Knuckles was another semi-permanent guest who could often be found lounging on one of Tails' sofas. But the kid Fox did get a 'hell of lot of visitors' in Sonic's opinion, as almost all of their counter attack plans against Eggman were always derived at Tails' House.
Sonic heaved, looking around, the place teaming with people, as usual. No one, at all, questioned his disappearance. He smirked. The Blue Blur knew that all his friends believed that he'd just come back from a morning run, not out all night drinking blood. He grinned. Suited him, they less they knew the better. He stretched. There was absolutely nothing untoward to suggest anything supernatural about Sonic The Hedgehog. His long, royal blue quills flowing down his back, shimmering in the sunlight through the window, his long legs, swaying too and fro slightly as he was unable to stand still, his white socks and cherry red shoes with the famous red stripe shining in the morning light. His white gloved hands, flexing hard as he stretched, his bright emerald-green eyes shining.
He shook himself all over, giving a somewhat rustic look, as Tails giggled at him.
"Morning Sonic. Have a good run?" He asked. The Blue Blur nodded.
"Yeah, decent. Just tired, Tails. Didn't get much sleep last night." He grinned, explaining away the drowsiness. Truthfully, he didn't get any, to busy feeding. Tails nodded and rolled his eyes.
"Oh, Ok. Are you sure? This has been happening a lot lately. You, not sleeping well. Do you need to see a Doctor?" He asked. Suddenly Sonic's gulped hard, going rather white. He would immediately find his supernatural origins. He stammered, shaking slightly.
"A Doctor?" He stuttered, then he smiled. "That's not necessary, Tails. I think it's just a phase. I'll be fine, I promise." He added, nodding, the Fox running in and hugging him. The Blue Blur warm and soothing to the touch, the pureblood born Vampire, giving no indications whatsoever that there was anything wrong. Truthfully, there wasn't. As a Vampire, he'd researched, he was perfectly healthy, getting just about enough blood on an evening to last him until the following night. But Knuckles wasn't convinced. Storming right up to Sonic. He growled.
"Well, I saw him sneaking out last night. Tails. That's why he's not sleeping." He spat. Tails stared but Sonic growled in response. He had to think of something to shut this down and fast. The truth? Well, partially. He smirked.
"I was hungry." He hissed. "The house is pretty full as the moment, so I went out to find food, rather then cook something here and wake everyone up." He spat. Knuckles heaved, somewhat convinced but Tails frowned.
"You've been hungry a lot lately as well." He added, of which Sonic heaved, rubbing his face.
"I know." He agreed. His vampiric thirst for blood was getting significantly larger as he'd grown, and spending time in this house was getting much more difficult, especially full of people. The intense smell of the sugar from the blood in the veins of everyone there, was becoming increasing more difficult to ignore, and it just ground down on his hunger as well as his temper, like now. Knuckles, still feeling something was amiss, just growled at him.
"Then, you'll be wanting breakfast." He spat. Sonic gritted his teeth. The very thought of solid food physically made want to throw up. He gulped hard, just about keeping his stomach full of blood down.
"No, thank you." He stammered, quietly, going slightly pale. Everyone stared. What?Sonic turning down breakfast? His absolutely most favourite meal of the day. Tails frowned, now looking extremely worried. He gulped.
"Sonic, please. I made your favourite. Chilli-dogs." He whimpered. The Blue Blur looked over to them. He could smell the intense heat and spices from them, slicing through the engorging aroma of sugar in the room. They did smell so good, but he couldn't, not anymore. Finally, his temper snapped, unable to take anymore. He roared in pure anger.
"Tails, I said no." He shouted and with that, he turned tail, and walked right out of the door, and was gone, a Sonic Boom sounding in the distance. He left complete silence behind him, and an Echidna staring at the door, blinking. He heaved.
"What was that all about?" He asked. Tails rounded on him. He frowned.
"I have no idea, but he's been acting like that, really weirdly, for months. His been loosing his temper a lot, and not touching at all, any food I make for him. No matter what it is." He sighed, indicating the chilli-dogs. "He used to wolf them down. I don't understand. Your not the only one whose seen him sneak out at night either. I've seen him do it, but I don't know where he goes. I'm really worried." He shrugged. But Knuckles clenched his fists, gritting his teeth.
"Then someone needs to follow him, and there only one person I know who can keep up with the King of Speed." He smirked, turning to the shadowy corner, favoured by a certain person. "Shadow?"
Oh, the irony.
The Ultimate Lifeform had been watching events unfold quietly from his corner the whole time, and immediately knew Sonic was his quarry, as soon as the Blue Blur walked in the door. His scent. It matched with the venom perfectly. It was his. Shadow was gobsmacked but then deeply frowned. He was a Vampire, and must have known how extremely dangerous his venom was. So why sell it? Unless he didn't know. Regardless, he now desperately needed to talk to him. Finding out that Sonic was the Vampire didn't surprise Shadow that much. He knew the traits and they all screamed on the Blue Blur. Having thought about it, he had been for years, especially the display he'd just seen, though Shadow now suspected he was now a full-blown blood drinker, a recent development, hence the sneaking out at night.
But where was he finding his food? Sonic wasn't a killer, at least, not by choice, and there were no rumours of Vampiric bite marks everywhere. So when the Echidna asked him to follow the Blur Blur, he was more then happy to agree. Unfortunately, Sonic didn't return to the house for the rest of the day, and it was long after nightfall, before Shadow finally picked up his scent trail. He'd been running all over Mobius all day, looking for it. It was faint but distinctive, and soon Shadow was being lead towards an almighty city, several thousands miles away. He smirked, knowing it's halo in the distance, extremely well, but frowned.
Capital City? It was a favourite haunt of his, but the Blue Blur was right out of place here. But Shadow then sniggered. As a Hedgehog, yes, the Hero of Mobius, but as a Vampire, definitely not, as now Shadow suspected he knew what Sonic was here for, and knew exactly where to find him.
Suddenly, he stopped, gulping. He was going to now face off with a real Vampire, who venom was the most potent on Mobius. One singular bite would kill anyone within minutes, potentially including himself. He suspected that Sonic would never actually bite anyone unless seriously pushed, but regardless, Shadow decided to take things slow and give the Vampire the respect he deserved. He ran though the darkened backstreets of the city, keeping his ears pricked up for the slightest sound. Finally, he heard it. Gunfire, and immediately ran to the crime scene. Two rival gangs had had a shoot out and now they were all dead and dying on the ground. Sticking heavily to the shadows, in the darkness, Shadow wasn't looking out for them. He was looking for someone else, who came relatively quickly. He hunkered down, skulking between the fallen, and began drinking them dry.
Shadow blinked, deeply fascinated. He could barely see Sonic in the deep darkness, and the Vampire moved absolutely silently. He watched as the he moved from one victim to the next, draining them, until within less then fifteen minutes, all the gunshot victims were all dead. He'd never seen a Vampire feed before and he found it incredibly thrilling, desperately keen to see more. But suddenly, Sonic had vanished, silently into the night, at Shadow's lapse of concentration. He swore looking around, only to suddenly be grabbed from behind. Long curved grey claws, on the end of gloved fingers, painfully dug into his side. He was powerfully held around the shoulders from behind. Shadow could have instinctively thrown them off, when suddenly, he felt them.
He gulped, hard. Right in the side of his neck, again from behind, the stunning but deadly Vampire fangs were pressing against the skin. They hadn't punctured through, but as Shadow knew only to well, one wrong move and he was dead. He looked back and saw them in a moonlight. Sonic's fangs were pristine, along side a full set of canine teeth, including two smaller lower fangs. They were all stained pink from the blood feasting. His top fangs were translucent, hollow, over an inch long fangs, had a thin line of deep yellow running through them as Shadow noticed, a droplet of venom appearing on the very end of one of them. He immediately stopped fighting, he heaved, desperate not to show his fear.
"I mean you no harm." He stammered, but then to his complete surprise, he got intense giggling in response. Sonic immediately removed himself from his neck, closed his mouth and rested his head on Shadow's shoulder. He grinned.
"I know. Shads. I'm only messing with you. I won't hurt you either. I was wondering when you were going to turn up. I take it you got my package." He smiled. Shadow frowned, and turned his head to face, and see, to his surprise, big ruby red eyes in response. But weirdly, they weren't evil or sinister in any way. The sparkles and white light that made Sonic who he was, was still there, only the eye colour had changed. Shadow smirked, immediately relaxing, believing the Vampire, but frowned.
"The vile?" He asked, looking somewhat worried. But Sonic giggled again, letting go of Shadow and walking around to the front of him. The Ultimate Lifeform watched him intently. It was bizarre seeing the Blue Blur in full Vampire mode. The claws on his hands, the fangs slicking out of his mouth, over his bottom lip, and the red eyes, kind and gentle. Not what you'd expect from an bloodthirsty Vampire. But Sonic just flapped at him. He smiled.
"Oh, don't panic, Shads. There was only that one. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to milk oneself of venom. It's not pleasant and you were dam lucky just to get that. I very near didn't do it." He heaved, to serious smirking from Shadow. It was rather funny. Sonic sighed. "Look, I made sure it went to G.U.N. and nowhere else." He shrugged. "Well, my little plan worked. I got a hundred thousand dollars out of them and your attention." He sniggered, but Shadow then frowned.
"Why me?" He asked. "And why get G.U.N. involved?" He demanded. But then smirked. He was all for getting money out of that dammed organisation, but it still didn't make any sense. Sonic heaved.
"Because I wanted to get your attention only and no one else's, and maybe drag G.U.N. along for the ride. They are manipulating you, aren't they?" He sighed. Shadow nodded, but frowned.
"How did you know?" He asked, but Sonic just giggled.
"Oh, please. I first saw it on the Ark years ago back when we first met. That mind-control manipulation was all over your face. Then when you got your memories back, I thought it was gone for good, but then you were on a G.U.N. mission several months ago, I ran into you, and you didn't even recognise me, because the mind-control was back. Am I suspecting it never left?" He wondered. Shadow heaved, and again, he nodded.
"I was blinded by it. Naive to it. I was told I had freedoms but in reality, I had none." He spat. "I have no choice, but to follow it. It can't be broken." He heaved, but Sonic grinned inanely.
"Actually, it can." He smiled, but Shadow immediately rounded on him. He growled.
"What? How?" He spat. But Sonic frowned, heaving slightly.
"Well, I think it can." He admitted, not entirely sure. "I want to help, that's why I sent for you. I know it's not fair." He sighed. "But I need to test a theory and I also need you to trust me." He added. Shadow stared at the Vampire. He was incredibly dangerous, but he did genuinely believe he wouldn't be harmed. He nodded, somewhat nervous, having no idea what the Blue Blur was going to do. Suddenly, Sonic put his hands either side of his head and closed his eyes. Shadow frowned, but held himself still, deeply curious as to what was happening.
Then he felt it, a deep blood churning feeling in the pit of his stomach, that sent his instincts crazy and caused Shadow to gasp and his eyes to glow. He felt very sick. He heaved.
"What was that?" He spat. But Sonic giggled, moving away, his face beaming.
"I knew it. Ever since the day I met you, Shads, I knew. Your scent. I can smell it on you, just like you can definitely smell on me. You have Vampire D.N.A. inside of you. That's why you weren't surprised when you found out I was a Vampire, you instinctively already knew. I have just proved that by activating your Vampiric instincts inside of you." He grinned. Shadow stared, heaving. There was no mention in the documentation of his creation of Vampires, but as he though about it, there was traits. small hints here and there, leading to suspicions of that being the case. He doubted Gerald would ever mentioned illegal use of supernatural D.N.A. in a diary which he knew would be publicly analysed and read. Then on Sonic himself, the scent of his venom, only he could smell it, the Super-Speed they almost matched, it was all Vampiric in origin.
Shadow smirked, the Blue Blur was right. He nodded, but frowned.
"What about it?" He asked, but Sonic heaved.
"I realised that the only way to completely remove the mind-control from you is to completely rewrite your D.N.A. The Vampire D.N.A. inside of you is only partial, and Vampire venom is really weird. It does indeed have the power to change people. It can't turn ordinary people into Vampires, Half-bloods, the venom just kills far to quickly. We need it to, it's a self-defence mechanism, as well as being an effective paralleliser while feeding. But in rare occasions, it can change. If you are willing, it will find your Vampire D.N.A. and expand it, and with the regeneration skills, rewrite it. If I bite you, my venom could possibly change you from a partial to a full Vampire. Thus..." He explained but immediately got cut across by Shadow, growling.
"Writing the mind-control out of me." He hissed. Sonic nodded. But the Ultimate Lifeform needed absolutely no persuasion. The mere thought of being a full Vampire thrilled him beyond anything he could have imagined, and with Sonic as a companion, for the rest of eternity, he immediately decided he wanted it, his own Vampiric D.N.A. fuelling the thought. The idea of being both alone and a prisoner for the rest of time, seriously didn't appeal. Not anymore. Sonic, right here, right now, was offering him true freedom. It would require a huge leap of faith, but he knew the Blue Blur, Vampire or not, the Hero of Mobius had always proved himself trustworthy to everyone, even including his number one rival. Shadow was honoured, and now he'd be a fool to turn it down. He nodded, intensely. "Do it." He spat, panting hard.
Sonic blinked, stunned out of his head, at Shadow quick decision, but nodded. But then heaved looking around, as the sirens of the police cars were heading their way. He gulped.
"Ok, but not here. We have to move on. I suspect that me biting you will trigger a full regeneration inside of you, so we'll need to go somewhere where we won't be disturbed for, at least what, the next two days." He asked, shrugging. Shadow growled, he hated regenerating. It was excruciatingly painful. The regeneration migraines!
No injury he had ever received from anyone had ever given him worser pain then those. They were caused by the fact that the regeneration process completely renews every cell in his body, a process that should be extremely painful. But because he's unconscious and needs to be, for it to work, the combination of which results in regeneration migraines at the end. He normally had the world strongest pain-killers (not legal) on hand, on the Ark for this. But what Sonic was offering was going to potentially worth the pain, he was willing to endure it. But then he smirked. Yes, he knew of a place where they could go. Not the Ark, but somewhere much closer to home. He grabbed the Blue Blur with one hand, and dived into his quills for a Chaos Emerald for the other. Time to leave.
Chaos Control.