"Here's the photo of that intern that I was telling you about, Beryl," Jiji said, handing her the photo. "He works with that coroner who survived being kidnapped by Diamond's men."

Beryl took the photo, and her whole world narrowed down to the employee picture staring back at her —it was him. "Endymion," she muttered. Then, looking up at Jiji, she said, "This is Mamoru. You found him!"

Eyes wide and pleased to discover he was the one that succeeded in locating Mamoru, he pulled an address out of his pocket. "Here's his address. He's been there since he was emancipated at fifteen."

Stoking the photo lovingly, Beryl said, "I'm coming for you, my prince. Soon you'll be mine."

Yamato gave Mamoru an amused smile as he walked into the morgue. "She's rather persuasive."

"Does Saeko agree?" Mamoru asked in response. He was worried about how Yamato's girlfriend would take the facts that were laid out to her the day before. He knew even if it would upset Yamato that, he would compel her to forget the conversation if he perceived her to be a threat to Usagi.

"Saeko doesn't even know that answer herself right now. It was a lot to take in. Usagi didn't hold back on the details," Yamato replied. "She is a doctor. It goes against her training. I do know that she's thinking about it all, and that means she's working to accept everything."

Mamoru sighed and leaned against the wall. "I need to know if she decides against her."

"And I don't know if I would be able to tell you. I won't want to betray Saeko."

"I know, and I get what you're saying." Mamoru pushed away from the wall and walked over, locking eyes with Yamato. "You will remember everything I say and obey me," he said, compelling the man. "You will tell me what Saeko thinks of Usagi. The whole truth and nothing but the truth."

Mamoru then walked away and grabbed the handle on the door to exit the morgue. "I'll go get Itsuki. It's time to find out what he's up to." His stomach felt full of rocks.

Before he left, Yamato said, "You took my choice away. That's not okay."

Mamoru looked over his shoulder at him and said, "I know, but I will protect Usagi even over my own interest. I didn't hesitate to compel you against your will; it was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I will hate myself for that for the rest of my existence for doing that. Don't mistake me, though —I don't regret it." He then walked out the door.

Grandpa Hino went about his duties at the shrine that morning. Around eleven, he was surprised to see Saeko approaching him, looking upset. He smiled at her kindly, "Are you alright?"

She shook her head. "I'm really not. It's the first day I've called various colleagues to cover my consultations in over twelve years. I can't seem to concentrate right now."

"I'm assuming you came to talk."

"I did. Can we talk somewhere private?"

He brought her to his living room and then, after making tea, sat in a chair near where she was sitting on the couch. Making the tea, for him, had been buying time to think about how to handle what was coming. Still, figuring out what exactly was bothering her wasn't hard. His difficulty was that he was going to hurt his friend further.

"I figured out what's bothering you. I feel the need to tell you that I'm so very sorry," he said after first taking a sip of his tea.

"It's not your fault it turns out that she's a killer!" Saeko said in frustration.

Grandpa Hino shook his head. "That's not why I'm apologizing. I'm sorry that I'm going to make this worse. I know what she's done, and I've accepted it. Even more, the same goes for your daughter and your lover." He cocked his head at her, "What did you think vampires did? It's in their nature."

"Ami… she hasn't killed anyone...?!" Saeko had wanted that to be a statement but blushed over it, ending up being a question. Suddenly, she wasn't sure.

"No. She hasn't killed anyone, but she wanted to. She was stubborn enough to stop herself, or at least she stayed strong long enough to invent the blood tablets. She was driven to make them because she wanted to kill every time she drank."

Saeko looked at her friend. As she did, it dawned on her that Suki and Hino were her only friends. "Does Suki know?"

"She knew a lot of it before I did, but then she's known about the existence of Usagi since she was a child." It saddened him to watch Saeko's distress.

"I'm a doctor," she said brokenly. "I heal people. That has been my whole life! Why am I supposed to be okay with the killing?"

"I'm not saying you are. It's part of why I'm so sorry." Hino leaned forward a bit and said, "Why do you heal people?"

"Life is important! I save lives and families. Countless people have a mother, son —their loved one because I saved them!"

"I assume Yamato told you about his sister and niece," Hino said, she felt, changing the subject.

"Yes, he did. I'm going to meet them in a few weeks."

He nodded sagely, "You know she was groomed and raped at the age of twelve? And that the father of the child, her attacker, went to jail?"

"Yes."

"Would you be okay with him being murdered?"

Saeko looked at him in shock. "What does that have to do with Usagi?"

He had decided to take a bit of a different path with his friend. He felt she would understand and be more sympathetic to Yamato's family's hurts. "Humor me and answer the question."

"I couldn't justify killing him, but his death wouldn't upset me. Does that disappoint you?" she asked sassily.

"No. No matter what you decide, it won't disappoint me, Saeko. You're not acting without thought, and that's what matters." Hino leaned back in his chair. "Makoto killed his sister's rapist. The blood lust had control of her then, and she directed it at people who had committed horrible crimes."

"More of them have killed people?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes. They have."

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "What am I supposed to do?"

"That's your decision and one I can't make for you, my friend."

Itsuki walked into the morgue with Mamoru and looked expectantly at Yamato, "You had a question for me?"

Yamato had decided to put aside what happened with Mamoru earlier and focus on what his task was at the moment. "You lied about signing in your grandmother's blood because you wanted to see if we would call you on it."

The detective looked over at Mamoru wearily. "Yes, but I didn't expect you to bring that up in front of him."

Raising one eyebrow, Yamato replied, "You brought it up earlier."

The detective was frustrated. He had been operating on a hunch that Yamato knew more than he was letting on and had figured that level-headed Mamoru would just write his words off as stupidity. "Not explicitly!"

"Witches exist, and your grandmother was one," Mamoru stated matter-of-factly from across the room. She wasn't powerful but had enough to feel generally uneasy. It's why a lot of the weaker witches are alcoholics. It dulls the uncontrolled magic around them."

Itsuki turned and looked at Mamoru in surprise. "That's why she drank so much?"

"Yes. It doesn't offend you for me to call her weak?"

"No, she admitted as much to me. Not that I believed her at the time." Detective Itsuki fidgeted. "I didn't expect this."

"For us to know more about witches than you?" Yamato asked. "It was the risk you took."

"I spent a lot of time researching, and I had to sort through a ton of crap. How would I expect someone else to know more when this was my obsession?!"

Mamoru ignored his outburst and said, "The Order of Van Helsing was founded by said man, originally to hunt down two vampires. One was Dracula, as most would expect, and the other was older, but not having a smear piece written about her is not known to humans. Her name was Astrid." Trying to pretend that it wasn't a big deal, he added, "Astrid has since changed her name, of course, to-"

"Usagi," Itsuki interjected, wanting to prove how smart he was.

"She wants to meet you," Mamoru said in a flat tone.

Itsuki, confused, asked, "Who wants to meet me?" He truly had no clue what the guy was talking about. He couldn't fathom the possibility of meeting her in real life.

"Usagi, the vampire. She wants to meet you."

"You're shitting me!" The detective exclaimed.

Yamato said, "You seem to have a common enemy. Why wouldn't she want to meet you?"

"She's a legend. I'm not even sure that I believe she exists. From the things I hear about her, she sounds more like a ghost than a vampire," Itsuki said.

"I would show up to the meeting anyway. It's at noon at the Crown Arcade tomorrow."

"An arcade?!"

After Itsuki left, Yamato stood firmly in front of Mamoru. "Take away the compulsion —now."

Mamoru shifted nervously and then looked at Yamato seriously. His mentor and father figure was resolute, and it hadn't been a request. He looked into his eyes, "You no longer have to tell me what Saeko thinks of Usagi. You are released from my command." Mamoru didn't know if he had made the right decision or how he would live with it. He just knew he didn't feel right about what he had done. He would come up with another way to protect her. Compelling Saeko was always a possibility.

"Thank you," Yamato said, not dropping his rigid stance. "And thank you for not hiding your original compulsion from me. I will tell you what she decided and thinks, all on my own."

While he had been angry over what Mamoru had done, he was a fair man. He had thought about what would drive Mamoru to such an extreme and figured it out. Everything had to change if Saeko couldn't accept what Usagi did. He realized it was also why Usagi had been so thorough when she told Saeko about her past. She had deserved the unvarnished truth before she became a vampire and tied her life and her ingrained loyalty to Usagi and Mamoru. They would become her King and Queen, and she wouldn't be able to change that after the fact.

Yamato said, "Don't unilaterally make my decisions for me in the future. Take this opportunity to learn to trust me from now on. I understand why it is important for both you and Usagi to know the truth of how she feels."

Mamoru reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I keep myself from killing someone nearly every day. Usagi compelled that woman to become a nun, and it made me jealous that she could come up with a way to act on her anger without killing. I feel a blinding rage when I hear a man whisper to his friend about how hot she is. I'm not able to be clever like her yet. I'm only able to hold myself back from ripping their throats open." He then leaned back against the desk behind him and added, "Please understand I am working on fighting my impulses when it comes to her. I will talk to you next time first."

"Remember that I'm on your side," Yamato pressed.

"Don't you get it? I don't have a side in all of this. It's all about Usagi for me."

"She wouldn't agree."

Mamoru smiled, "Which is part of why I can be so selfless. No one could take care of me better than her."