"Clear!" Kitty and the others watched as Hank pressed the shock paddles of the defibrillator down onto James chest. The flat lined sound of the heart monitor still echoed through the room. Everyone in the room was silent, hoping that the beeping on the monitor would change and James would take a breath. "Clear!" Hank shouted again. He pressed down harder this time hoping that a deeper current would possibly bring him back to life. Despite Hank's efforts, the monitor continued to hum the same tune. Hank sighed as he slowly placed the paddles back onto the defibrillator before tuning to the other mutants in the room. He quickly glanced at the clock behind them. "Time of death. 5:23am" He walked over the cabinets on the wall and pulled out a white sheet which he used to cover James' dead body.

Kitty walked along the corridor holding a tray in both hands. Her tired eyes were hiding from the bright light that was beaming through the many windows she passed. Less than 2hours ago, everyone had left the infirmary quite quickly but Kitty stayed to just look at the man who had been her hero just a few hours ago. She had whispered a thank you to him although she knew he couldn't hear her. After stripping out of her uniform and grabbing a shower, she had changed into her normal lounging round the mansion clothing. An old Offspring T-shirt and her black faded jeans. She had then decided to go and check on their other visitors who were still down in the infirmary, unconscious. On her way, she had picked up some water and a couple of cloths in case they needed them. She remembered both Laura and the other girl being covered in dust after the explosion so they might need a little cleaning up. In some strange way, now that James was gone, she felt responsible for the two other people that James had saved. She stepped into the infirmary and saw Hank checking on certain things with the two girls. The usual doctor stuff. Hank saw her and threw her a quick smile through his thick blue fur.

"How are they Hank?" Kitty asked as she placed the tray onto a nearby worktop.

"Well, Laura seems ok. She just starting to come round I think," Kitty took a quick glance at Laura on the medi-bed to her left. She could see Laura's eyes moving underneath her eyelids looking like she was just gaining consciousness. "But the other girl isn't displaying any major brain activity. Therefore I believe she might not wake up for some time," Kitty walked up and placed a yet cloth across Laura's forehead.

"You mean she's brain dead?" Kitty instantly regretted asking the question thinking it made her sound very dumb.

"No, there is some activity there but it's weak. I'm hoping it improves over the next couple of days," Kitty stole a quick glance at the white sheet that covered James' Body just a few feet away. She had been trying to avoid looking at it but she couldn't. The feeling of grief was too strong for her to resist.

"I would have liked to of gotten to know him," Kitty sighed as she wiped a few spots of muck and dust from Laura's cheek. Hank was inputting something into a nearby computer but had frozen listening to Kitty's last sentence.

"It's always a shame to lose such a young life," He continued entering details into the machine. "Especially someone who valiantly risked his to protect others," There was a moan from the centre of the room and Hank quickly swivelled round in his chair to see Laura waking up. Hank stood up and walked up to her while Kitty went straight for the intercom on the other side of the room. She pushed in the button and spoke in to it.

"Logan, the girl in the infirmary is waking up. Get down here," She released the button and walked back to Laura's side just in time to help her sit up. Laura's eyes were barely open before she clutched her forehead and let out a little yelp obviously because of the pain.

"What a headache," She fully opened her eyes and quickly adjusted to the lights in the room. That was when she caught a glimpse of Hank and she jumped from the shock. She had an instant look of apology on her face.

"That's ok dear," He handed her a couple of aspirin for the headache and pointed towards a glass of water he had left on a nearby silver tray. "I get that quite a lot,"

"I'm sorry," Laura said softly. She swung her legs over the end of the table and she perched on the side of the table facing Hank. She opened her mouth and threw the aspirin to the back of her mouth before taking a quick drink from the glass.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions young lady?" Hank asked as he reached over and began checking her over reactions. Laura nodded before she looked down at the clothes she was wearing. The lab coat was gone and she was now just wearing her red blouse and the bottoms of her cream pant suit. "What is your full name?"

"Laura Elizabeth Dilks," She answered quickly still holding her head waiting for the aspirin to take affect.

"What is your date of birth?" He asked. He began jotting down her answers on a notepad he had picked up off a nearby tray and the pen he pulled form behind his ear.

"The 14th of November 1978,"

"That would make you 28?" She quickly nodded.

"What do you do Laura?"

"I'm a Biological Scientist and an expert of human genetics," She sighed and looked down at her hands.

"Do you have any family?" As Hank said the word family, Laura immediately closed her eyes.

"No," She hadn't opened her eyes but Kitty could see she was fighting back tears at the mere mention of family. Laura nervously shifted on the bed obviously rattled by the question. "My entire family was killed about 12 years ago,"

"What happened?" Kitty asked. She had subconsciously asked the question and grimaced at the idea of upsetting the young women even more. Kitty received a quick glare from Hank before Laura began speaking again.

"They wanted me, but the research they were doing had to remain secret," She moved off the bed and took a few ginger steps towards the next bed on which laid the still unconscious girl. Laura began checking over the girls vitals. "They couldn't have my family looking for me, so they crept into the house at night while I was home from university for Thanksgiving. They killed my dad, my mom, my aunt and uncle, my two younger brothers and my three cousin's right in front of me," Laura lifted the unconscious girls arm and brushed her finger down the skin of her forearm. Her finger created a red mark on the skin before Laura lent down and sniffed at the skin. "Won't be long now,"

"Do you know what is wrong with this girl?" Hank asked her. Laura moved to the girls head and slowly tilted her head towards Hank and Kitty. Laura made sure that they were both watching before squeezing the girl's cheeks. A black liquid began to trickle from her the girl's mouth. A foul smell instantly filled the room causing Hank and Kitty to flinch and cover their noses. The black liquid ran down the girl's cheek and dripped from her face onto her wings that lay motionless underneath her.

"What the hell is that smell," Logan asked as he entered the room. Laura didn't lookup but continued checking the girl's mouth. She pressed against the girls top teeth before stopping on two at the front.

"The virus is spreading fast, much more quickly than normal," She said as more of the black liquid spewed from the girl's mouth. "I'd say she's got about four hours left before those teeth cut through and about two hours after that before it kills off the brain," Everyone's eyes shot open.

"What?" Hank said as he quickly stepped up besides Laura. "What Virus does she have?"

"Dracius Nocturna," Laura said as she tipped the girl onto her side helping more of the black liquid begin to fall from her mouth.

"I've never heard of it," Hank said from his spot next to her.

"In humans, over the space of 72 hours, the virus will completely kill off all living tissue and replace it with a brand new DNA strand and its own parasitic organs. They become Vampires," There was a brief silence before Hank broke it.

"I think that hit to the head might have done more damage than we thought my dear,"

"Now when it comes to Mutants, the virus has some competition," Laura continued talking as she checked the bite mark on the side of the girl's neck. "The Vampire virus is designed to attack human genes. Kill off the parts of the DNA it needs to and combines with the human genes as a host. However in mutants there are no human genes, only mutant genes which resemble human genes. The two sets of genes begin fighting against each other and slowly and painfully kill off their host. Every single mutant who has been introduced to the Vampire virus has died within eight hours," She gently rolled the young girl onto her back and cleaned up the marks the black liquid had left of the girls face with a damp cloth. "There has only been one who has survived," Laura turned and looked back at the others in the room. Hank and Logan looked sceptical while Kitty was looking a little upset.

"Ok, so if what you say is true, how did this one survive?" Logan asked with his arms crossed over his chest obviously not buying this story.

"He was born a Chimera," Laura said as she walked up to them. "Quite a medical marvel in everyway," She sat back on the edge of the table she had laid on before. "He was born a twin but his twin died when he was still an embryo. The DNA of the dead twin was combined with the living twin in the egg, meaning he was born with two different sets of DNA. One set of those DNA was mutant while the other was human. Two completely separate sets of DNA in one body. His mutant powers manifested when he was 17 but they were very weak, however still noticeable and he was soon rejected by his parents and his friends. Two months later he was picked up by the vampires from a nearby hospital after a bar fight. He was brought to us at the facility where after two years of research, we introduce the vampire virus into his system," Laura reached over and picked up the small glass of water off the tray. "The virus immediately destroyed the Human genes leaving the Mutant Genes unaffected. It took just 42 hours for the virus to create the first Hybrid," She took a quick drink before putting the glass back down on the table.

"Hybrid?" Kitty asked.

"Half Mutant, Half Vampire. We had created something like nothing else. A completely new species with unlimited power. Of course the Vampires thought they'd found some answer to an ancient prophecy but the prophecy said they'd be two. That was ten years ago and we've been trying to recreate the experiment ever since,"

"Who is this Hybrid?" Hank asked.

"He's right behind you," The voice came from behind them. It was deep and it surprised all of them for a minute. They all slowly turned around to face the owner of the voice. He was stood before them as if nothing had happened.

"You enjoy your little sleep?" Laura asked from over their shoulders.

"I never get a good opportunity to sleep anymore and silver just knocks me out," James stretched his arms out and a few of the bones cracked as the joints were slipped back into place. His chest was exposed as most of his clothes had been torn while they had been trying to resuscitate him. He was just wearing his trousers now and those toe capped boots of his. Both Logan and Hank noticed that James had a few tribal tattoos on his chest and another on his left upper arm. They were both just in black with no other colour. He suddenly got a questioning look on his face when he realised he was being stared at. "Are you guy's ok?" Kitty looked over at the bed where his supposedly dead body was supposed to be lying to see it empty and the white sheet thrown on the floor.

"You're not dead?" Kitty asked in a complete moment of stupidity. James grinned before he answered.

"Technically…I am dead,"

"How can this be happening?" Hank asked. None of them could believe it. They had seen this man die not more than 2 hours ago and now here he is, up and walking about as if nothing had happened.

"We saw you die, you stopped breathing?" Logan said rather quickly.

"Vampires don't need oxygen so I don't breathe," He answered back. James was about to say something else when Rouge came and took two steps into the room.

"Storm's back and she has an urgent surprise for us all apparently, she said to meet her in the professor's old office," She said as she pointed over her shoulder towards the door. Logan and Kitty quickly left with Rouge while Hank stayed for a few moments longer.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, you two make yourself comfortable," He said as he began walking out of the infirmary and towards the elevator to the ground floors.

The office was old and quite as they waited for Storm. Logan was lent against the desk with his arm crossed over his chest while Rouge, Bobby and Kitty were sat on the black leather couch across from him. Piotr was sat in the high back chair in the corner of the room fiddling with his fingers. The door creaked open as Hank entered the room causing everyone to look up. A few moments later Storm entered the room with another man wearing a navy suit. He was balding on the sides of his head but the hair in the centre was silvery grey. It was cut short but it still stood out. He smiled as soon as he saw them and Storm walked with him to the desk near the window.

"How was Alaska?" Storm asked as she rounded the desk. Logan looked at Storm and then a questioning look to the man stood next to her.

"It's ok Logan, you can speak in front of me," He said. They all found some familiarity from his voice but none of them had seen him before. Logan gave him another quick glance before he spoke.

"Very interesting," Logan answered still with his arms across his chest. "The facility seemed to be some kind of research lab. We picked up three kid's from there kid's from there. One's been unconscious since she was found, one was knocked out in the jet and the other is a little weird,"

"What do you mean weird?" Ororo asked.

"He was shot in the back," Hank answered from the bookcase. "Apparently there was silver in the bullet which he reacted to and then went unconscious. When we got him back here he had no pulse and he wasn't breathing so we rushed him into the infirmary but it was too late. Or so we thought," Storm and most of the group gave him a confusing look. "He's now walking round the infirmary as if nothing happened, claiming to be some kind of Vampire hybrid," The man next to Storm suddenly got a confused look on his face which everyone noticed. It was a few moments before he said anything.

"Wait a minute," He said. "A hybrid? That wouldn't be James is it?" The question was directed at Hank but Kitty was the one to answer.

"Yes it is," She jumped up from her seat on the couch, startling both Bobby and Rouge "How do you know him?" She asked. The man suddenly walked out of the room and headed towards the infirmary. Everyone gave Storm a glance before they all stood up and began following him.

As they all entered the infirmary, James was laid on Laura's bed with his hands on the back of his head, looking very relaxed. He was now wearing his black shirt again to cover his torso and the same black dress trousers. Laura on the other hand was still wearing her clothes from the night before while checking out the still unconscious girl. James gave them a quick glance before looking back up at the ceiling. Laura looked up from her patient and once realised she had already met some of them, she gave a brief smile.

"So it is you," Said the man as he approached the foot of James's bed. "I thought you were dead?" James shot up into a seating position and stared at the man for a minute. A slow smile spread across James face before he answered.

"Now, there's a voice I recognise," He said as he stood up from the bed.

"How long as it been?" The man said as he took a step closer to James before they gave each other a brief hug.

"I'd reckon about eight years since I last saw you," James answered before pulling out of the hug. "But you've completely changed. Look at you, a new body?" The man nodded before his smile got bigger. "At least you got yourself out of that wheelchair Professor," The room went silent. Everyone was staring at the man before them. The voice was definitely familiar. A few looked at Storm who was grinning madly. She answered their looks with a quick nod.

"Professor Xavier?" Bobby said from the middle of crowd. "Is that really you?" The man just smiled.

"Yes it is Robert," The man's mouth never moved but everyone heard it. For a few moments nothing happened until Kitty and Rouge ran up and hugged him. "I've missed you guys so much,"

"Where have you been Professor?" Piotr asked.

"I'll explain all that later, but I believe you kids all have classes to be getting to," His voice had a small amount of laughter behind it as the kids all moaned but the Professor and Storm ushered them from the room. Eventually it was just the adults left in the room.

"This place is just full of miracles today," Hank said as he shook Charles' hand. "Two people back from the dead in one day,"

"It's good to have you back Chuck," Logan said. At one point Charles had hated it when Logan called him Chuck especially when some of the younger children started using it but now he really didn't mind. Charles turned to James who was stood just behind him.

"From what I've seen, you've made quite an impact in this place over the last 12 hours," Charles said as he slowly walked over to where the unconscious girl was be tended to by Laura. "But what I don't know is why you were at that facility?"

"Doing what I always do Professor," James said as he put hands on his hips. "Protecting humans and mutants,"

"How do you two know each other exactly?" Hank asked. The Professor turned towards him before answering.

"Over the past ten years, James has brought hundreds of mutants here either for refuge or medical attention," Charles answered. "But we've only really spoke three or four times,"

"I laid out my rules when I first brought a mutant here," James said. "I was not to be confronted about anything and my identity kept hidden from everyone apart from the Professor. I've never even been in this house before now. The professor would occasionally come and meet me at the gate and kinda keep me up to date with what's going on but the last time I spoke to him was eight years ago,"

"I sensed James was unique the minute I saw him, but I didn't trust him at first. Mainly due to that fact that I couldn't see any of his thoughts," Charles moved across the room as he spoke. "But when he started bringing mutants here who had been kidnapped or abandoned then that all changed and I left him alone,"

"Did you know he was a vampire?" Laura asked from behind them. Charles smiled at her from across the room.

"He mentioned being a Hybrid but I didn't believe him until just now,"

"Why Now?" Hank asked.

"Because of Laura here," Charles said as he pointed towards her. "Her memories tell me what James' cannot," Storm quickly looked towards James.

"Why can't he read your mind?" Storm asked him. James pointed to his head.

"Short answer…" James paused for a second. "He can't read it because it's dead,"

"I just don't sense him. To my powers, he does not exist," Charles sensed that Storm was about to ask another question but quickly interrupted her before she spoke. "All questions will be answered later when, if it's alright with them of course, we will introduce James and Laura to everyone. I have a feeling they may be here for a while,"

Authors Note: Please R & R