Chapter 4: Revelations The next night, Shalita and Shadow were working in the lab. Shalita picked up some slides and was gazing at Shadow longingly. "I'll be testing the fox's blood. who are you taking?" she asked. Shadow glanced at the slides of blood samples. "I want to take a look at Sonic's. I have a good feeling about him, but that's probably because I know him the best." He reached into the box at the same time as Shalita did, accidently knocking it over, slides spilling onto the floor. "Ooops, my fault. I'll get those," Shadow said and started to pick them up. "Here, I'll help," Shalita said, kneeling next to him to help. "Thanks Shal," he said as he picked up a slide. She picked up her slide. "No...no problem," she said. Kalita showed Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream & Cheese around her apartment. It was small, yet comfortable, and had a pleasing tropical theme to it. "Y'all can settle in. Say Amy? Cream? You wanna help me cook?" "Cool!" Amy exclaimed while Cream smiled politely. "I would be delighted, Miss Kalita!" So while the ladies and Cheese went into the kitchen to cook, Sonic and Tails settled into the living room. They found a checkers game and started playing a few rounds. Shalita looked into the microscope at Tails's blood sample. "Okay, fixing to apply Drone poison to the blood sample." "Same here for Sonic's blood sample," Shadow said, having had as much training for this as Shalita does. Shalita very carefully placed a needle near the sample and applied a drop of a clear liquid to the sample. Nothing happened. "Shadow, I do believe this blood has a Hunter gene," Shalita informed him. Shadow sighed in frustration. "Not here. Vulnerable to Drone bite. I was SURE Sonic would have a Hunter gene." "Let's prepare the next slides for Queen bite fluid." Shadow nodded but sighed. Something seemed to be missing. "TA-DA!" Kalita, Amy, and Cream presented the boys with a tray full of rice, steamed vegitables, and an assortment of fruit. Cheese was fluttering out of the kitchen with a Maru fruit he was chomping on. "Mm, looks good!" Sonic said as they walked to a table to eat. They all began to chow down on the girls' cooking. Sonic was staring intensly at Kalita and despretely wanted to make conversation with her. "So, uh, Kal...you seem to know a lot about vampires. Maybe you can answer a question for me," he said. "Sure, Sonic, what is it?" Kalita asked. "How EXACTLY do you turn into a vampire? Is it like the myths, or is it not what it seems?" Kalita sighed. "Well, it's a lot like a werewolf bite really. One bite from a vampire can turn you into one. Its something in the saliva that attacks the dna in the blood and changes it. Most vampires have yellow eyes with red slitted pupils, long fangs, and nearly black blood." "What about the stories I heard about people who are born as vampire hunters? Any of that true, or is that another myth?" Amy asked. "Actually, yes, there ARE people who are born to hunt. It's rare, but whoever is born with the Hunter gene is immune to a Drone's bite." "Cool! That's for me!" Sonic grinned. "Yea, but is anyone immune to the Queen's bite?" Tails asked. "No, unfortunitely, we haven't haven't found anyone yet. We hope to someday so we can produce an immunity shot we can supply to the general public," Kalita said. "Applying Queen poison," Shalita said. "Same here," Shadow said, applying the Queen's poison to the blood sample. Shalita's blood sample started turning a darker shade of red. "Negitive results. The fox is a Hunter though." "Yea, same results. Sonic's vulnerable to vampires," Shadow sighed. "Okay, let's get ready to call it a night," Shalita said. "No way, you're a mechanic?!" Kalita asked. "Yep!" Tails said proudly. "Built my own plane and everything!" "Wow! I'll have to introduce you to Sopia later. She's a real mechanic whiz!" Kalita smiled. "Why don't we all meet her? Maybe we can meet some of your other friends too. I want to talk to Shadow too," Sonic said. "Alright, let's go!" Kalita smiled. Shaetore sighed as she rubbed at her temples, the crystal ball blinking continuously. "Shut up, your master cannot hear you from this far," she groaned. She paused and looked out the window, towards the city below. "Wait.... that's it...!" She grabbed the crystal ball. "You are going to call your master to me." Shalita sighed as she started putting equipment away for the night. She paused as she wanted to take a closer look at Tails's blood sample, so she sat down to take a second look. She looked at the sample and realized she still had the Queen-infected sample out, where she wanted the drone-infected sample. 'Oops, wrong slide,' she thought and started to remove it, when something in the sample caught her eye. "Hey Shadow? Can you come here for a moment? I need a second opinion on this," she called. Shadow came over to her workstation. "Sure, Shal, what's up?" "Does this look like Drone blood to you?" she asked, offering him the microscope. He looked in it. "No....no, the pattern is too unususal. Looks more like a Queen pattern." "That's what I thought. This is Tails's blood sample affected by Queen poison," she said. "I don't like the way this is looking. Does Hunter blood produce these patterns?" "No." An eerie silents fell between them. "Then...?" Shadow started. "Yes...what we have here...is Alpha blood."