"L-Lord Collin, please try to stay calm and not shout out." The receptionist at the desk said with fear at the enraged vampire Overlord then shakily began to page for the doctor in charge of Shadows care.
"It's good to see that you are alive Sonic, I heard the news and how sorry they are for getting it wrong. I imagine Shadow was very upset over hearing of your supposed death." Collin frowned a little as he looked at his son-in-law.
"He was extremely upset, my Lord." Michael sadly said with a small bow to his head.
"Yeah I called him not long after they told the world of my supposed passing and yeah he wasn't in a good state." Sonic said with a slightly guilty look in his eyes, feeling somewhat responsible for what happened to Shadow.
"Hello, I'm Dr Jax, if you all could please follow me I will take you to Master Shadow." A tanned human Dr announced with a concerted, and very nervous, look then led the way.
They reached a privet room and entered. Shadow was laying on the bed asleep with a swollen muzzle and a blood drip attached to his wrist vein. Sonic rushed over and laid a hand on Shadows cheek with watery eyes, while the others walked over with equally sad expressions.
"My Lord, your son is stable but lost a fair amount of blood, more than other victims have. He is still under sedation but should be awake in another hour or two. There are no signs of infections but the wounds are badly sealed, the gums are completely cooked through. The police are working hard to catch these people as you may know but they fear a wide panic will erupt now Master Shadow has become a victim himself." Dr Jax said with a sincere tone.
"Thank you for treating my son, maybe he saw who did this before the sedation took effect." Collin calmly said.
"The chances are slim but Detective Jones is waiting to interview Master Shadow when he wakes up. I will leave you all now and any problems just call the button on the wall above the bed and someone will come straight away." Dr Jax said, bowed then left the room and closed the door up.
After waiting for over an hour Shadow groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He looked around with confusion then smiled when he saw Sonic. Shadow sat himself up with help from his father and all eyes laid on him.
"Why…ouch." Shadow whispered then moved a hand to his muzzle from the shooting pain he suddenly felt from talking.
"Shadow my son, just take it easy alright." Collin softly said with a sad smile, watching his son slowly nod.
"Why didn't you stay home babe?" Sonic sadly asked as tears filled his eyes.
"I panicked and needed to find you. I'm sorry, I didn't know this was going to happen." Shadow softly whispered with a sad expression as he locked eyes with his husband, ignoring the pain coming from his mouth.
"I wasn't thinking straight." Shadow added in a depressive tone, looking down at his lap.
"Did you see who did this Shadow?" Chase asked as he looked at his cousin from the end of the bed.
"My vision was too blurry but I made out there were five guys and all had their faces covered." Shadow said as he carried on looking down with drooped ears.
"Right, I'll get Detective Jones in here, maybe this will help narrow down the search somehow." Collin said then left the room.
Shadow sighed sadly as he waited and it wasn't long until his father returned with Detective Jones behind him. Jones stopped and stood beside Shadow holding a notepad and pen.
"Master Shadow, I need to know every detail you can recall before you fell unconscious to the sedation they used." Jones seriously said as he readied his pen to write.
"There was five guys all had their faces covered with masks. They dragged me into an alleyway between the bank and a shoe shop on Castle street. I was on my way to my friend Amy's apartment to look for Sonic. Anyway, I couldn't see much for the sedation was working fast but I do recall seeing one of the men had a strange tattoo on his neck. It was black in colour and it was glowing a little." Shadow said as he thought hard on what he could remember, never looking up from his lap.
"A strange tattoo on the neck that glows…interesting. That will help a lot in finding who is responsible. Anything else?" Jones mused as he wrote everything down.
"No…wait before I fell unconscious I heard one of them say 'we now only need fifty-one more'." Shadow said as he looked up at the detective with a concerned look.
"Right fifty-one more, more what though…fifty-one more fangs or fifty-one more victims needed?" Jones said as he closed his notepad.
"Well I'm going back to the station and relating this information. I'll organise for you to have a talk with a sketch artist so we can have a picture of that tattoo you saw." Jones said with a soft smile.
"Don't need to I can draw it now. Anyone have a piece of paper and a pencil?" Shadow lightly smiled with a slightly playful look.
Jones passed his notepad and pen to Shadow and Shadow began to draw what he saw on the mans neck. When he was done Shadow softly smiled and passed the pad and pen back, confident he got the details right. The tattoo was a thick spiral snake curled around with two vampire fangs crossed over each other in the middle, having the snakes head directly underneath the sharp points.
"Thank you for this…please take care of yourself and do not go out alone. We will call you when we have an update." Jones said as he bowed then left the room.
"Now lets see if we can find a nurse to sort out your almost empty blood bag." Collin pointed out the almost drained bag with a smile.
"And maybe some pain relief wouldn't go a miss either." Shadow muttered as he frowned at his throbbing mouth.
"Huh, what was that Shads? You finally admitting when something his hurting you?" Sonic teased as he had clearly heard that mumbled request and spoke a little loudly just so everyone else knew that his husband admits to feeling pain.
"And it took a de-fanging for you to finally admit this too." Chase teased along with a grin.
"Yeah whatever, it hurts ok." Shadow groaned as he rolled his eyes but knew they were only just teasing to help lighten up his mood a little.
Another hour later and Shadow was being discharged from the hospital and sitting in the front waiting room near the entrance of the hospital with Michael and Chase. Sonic and Collin were sorting out the paperwork with the receptionist and taking their time in doing so.
"How are you doing cuz?" Chase asked with a sad smile.
"Can't complain now my mouth doesn't hurt although it feels so damn weird without my fangs. I'm going to sure miss poking them with my tongue when bored." Shadow said with a slightly dazed grin as he was feeling so relieved that the pain was gone but also a little upset that his fangs were no more.
"You know your mums going to flip when she finds out. Uncle Collin is keeping his cool but with auntie Emily's hormones all raging, I wont be surprised if she drags you back home personally and puts you under palace arrest with a round the clock escort." Chase chuckled in a teasing manner.
"I never thought about that…what if she does? I don't want that to happen." Shadow said with a fearful tone of that happening.
"Relax, I'm sure your dad wont allow that to happen." Michael assured with a smile.
"Right just in case, I need some fake fangs, glue and everyone saying the de-fanging was a harmless prank. I'm kidding ok so quit looking at me like I have gone insane from this." Shadow said with some amusement.
"Yeah sure you are kidding. I'm so telling Sonic to keep the glue out of reach." Chase smirked deviously with a playful wink back at Shadow.
Another painfully slow five minutes went by before both Sonic and Collin were finally done with the paperwork and were all now walking out of the hospital. As soon as they exited the building news reporters and cameras bombarded the five with questions and photos being taken.
"Master Shadow how are you feeling?" One reporter called with her mic close to Shadow for an answer.
"Master Shadow did you see your attackers?" Another called out doing the same with his mic.
"Lord Collin, what are your words to this attack on your son?" The last reporter asked with her mic by Collin.
"Please as you are all aware my son has just been attacked so can you give him a little space, thank you. He is fine just a little shaken up. There is no further news on the people who did this but mark my words they will pay dearly for attacking my son as well as for all the victims that met the same fate." Collin seriously said with anger in his eyes.
"Master Shadow will you be returning to the Underworld now?" The only male reporter asked with seriousness in his voice and standing at a respectable space away from Shadow.
"No, I wont give them the satisfaction in scaring me back home." Shadow said with crossed arms and smirked as the camera that was on him, showing off his missing fangs.
"If you will excuse us we are going to return home, it has been a very emotional night." Collin smiled then led his family through the small crowd that gathered.
Once they were clear and alone, Collin made a portal that would lead them back to Sonic and Shadows home. They entered when it was done and it snapped shut when everyone walked through. They were now out of the portal and in the living room. Shadow grabbed his phone and noticed the seventeen miss calls from his mother, the last one being ten minutes ago.
"Mum's been trying to call me, I better call her back." Shadow announced as they all took a seat on the sofas.
"Hello mum, you called like seventeen times, is everything alright?" Shadow smiled down the phone with a soft tone.
"Is Sonic alright? I heard the news." Emily asked with a calm tone.
"Yes Sonics fine and not dead…nope definitely not dead." Shadow chuckled as he poked Sonic in the arm with a smirk.
"Hey." Sonic half-heartedly complained with a grin.
"Oh good…Right young man you are coming home this instant, I will not have you living there any longer!" Emily started of calmly then went into a fit of seriousness and rage as she shouted down the phone.
Shadow had to remove the phone from his ear at his mothers panicked shout and cringed at what she had said. Collin stood up and smiled at Shadow as he heard his wife's outburst then gently took the phone and walked into the kitchen.
"Man, can your mum shout, even I heard what she said and I don't have sensitive vampire hearing. I hope you're not deaf babe." Sonic grinned as he teased a little.
"What? I can't here a word you're saying." Shadow joked with a light laugh while slightly shouting his words, putting a hand behind his head and lent towards Sonic a little.
"It's good to see you still have your humour cuz and this attack hasn't knocked you down too much." Chase smiles as he looks at Shadow.
"Why give them the satisfaction? Besides my fangs will eventually grow back, no big deal." Shadow smirked as he looked back at Chase.
"Exactly love positive thinking will help." Sonic agreed with a cheery tone.
Five minutes later Collin returned to the living room with a triumphant grin as he passed the phone back to his son then took a seat. Shadow put the phone to his ear and listened to his mother.
"Hi mum." Shadow softly said to let his mother know he was back on the phone to her.
"Alright Shadow, you can stay there but I want you to phone me every night and I want you to come and visit tomorrow ok." Emily sighed in defeat down the phone.
"Thank you mum and of course I will. I will see you tomorrow, take care of yourself. Bye." Shadow smiled as he softly replied then hung up after his mum wished him a good night.
Soon everyone left to return home as it was getting on for one o'clock in the morning and Shadow really wanted to just go to bed. After locking up the two slowly made their way to bed. Sonic climbed in first, as Shadow went to use the toilet in their personal bathroom, and drew the covers up. Shadow finally exited the bathroom then lazily wondered to the bed and climbed in. Shadow snuggled up to Sonic and was embraced by peach arms. They shared a kiss then both closed their eyes to sleep.