Sonic stepped out of the courthouse, one arm slung around Amy's shoulders. He was shuddering slightly. It turns out that the accused today was innocent, so there was no one on the death row to help him satisfy his thirst. He could barely keep a tight hold on his self-control.

To make matters worse, Amy was leaning slightly against him and breathing a little heavily, which he dismissed as exhaustion. The restaurant has been really busy lately, and it was a lot to keep up with. This was one of the reasons he had needed blood especially today, so he could help her out more.

However, he was afraid he couldn't make it to next week's trial. The legends had said that vampires had to drink blood at a minimum of once a week while drinking sap every day besides that one day, and now he was testing that limit. He didn't like it.

On one hand, he was a little disappointed that Shadow didn't show up today, as promised. If an execution had to happen, he would prefer his brother by his side, not Amy. He would much prefer to leave her out of it. Maybe Shadow got busy at the last minute? No…that didn't make sense. He would've called and let Sonic know beforehand.

However, on the other hand, he was glad that neither of his brothers had turned up, with how hard it was to keep his self-control from unraveling. Due to unlucky circumstances, the Black Arms blood flowing through both Shadow and Silver's veins was the most tempting blood he had ever come across, and he didn't know how he would react in this hungered state.

He sighed and said, "I'm a bit worried, Ames. Silver's been missing for three days and Shadow didn't show up to the case even though he said he was free. It just has me filled with a sense of dread, you know?"

Amy smiled tiredly at him. "I'm sure they're fine. They can handle themselves."

When her breath bathed Sonic's face, he immediately stopped walking. She stopped as well and stared at him. "What's wrong?"

He was breathing heavily. "Ames…the risk is too great. I'm too thirsty. What if we go home and something happens to you, like a paper cut? I don't know if I can control myself."

Amy placed her hands on top of his shoulders. "I have faith that you can." She stared up at him with utter adoration. After a few seconds of silence, she gently removed them. "If it bothers you that much, I'll walk home before you. You can have some time to…collect yourself and even run your weekly errands. Whatever makes you feel comfortable, okay?"

"Okay," Sonic replied softly, smiling weakly. "Thanks for putting up with me, Ames."

"Anytime, blue," she responded, smiling back. With a small wave, she turned around and started walking in the direction of the restaurant.

Sonic was left standing alone with his own thoughts. He wondered if he should dash home real quick to grab the empty sap containers. Yes, that made the most sense. She couldn't possibly be there yet, and he can keep as much distance as possible.

Just before he could turn and run, a familiar scent caught his nose. Normally, it wouldn't have bothered him at all, but in his current state, an unexpected overflow of venom overtook his mouth. His ears flattened, his fangs slightly grew in size, and it took all of his control not to hiss softly.

Without turning around, he growled, "Shadow, now is not a good time. There was no execution today, and so I'm barely holding on. You know what your blood does to me. Please, get out while you still can."

There was no response. After a couple seconds, another scent touched his nose. Yet again, he had to work hard not to pounce. But, pure happiness flowed through his body.

He whipped around. "Silver! We were so worri–"

He froze.

Shadow and Silver were standing slightly apart, staring at him. Their stances looked like exact replicas of each other. However, Shadow was holding a Chaos Spear while Silver's right hand was filled with psychokinesis. To top it all off, their eyes were a blank red. No emotion whatsoever.

Sonic crouched down slightly, every instinct in his body setting off warning bells. "Guys…what's going on?"

A small chuckle came from above. Sonic craned his neck up to see a black-and-white jackal descend from the sky. The jackal was wearing a gray metallic mask, and a large red-and-black ruby was nestled in his chest fur.

The jackal slowly descended and touched ground in between Shadow and Silver. Sonic stared at him, confused.

The jackal laughed. "So pleased to finally meet you, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Sonic cocked his head to the side. "Uh…who are you?"

"You may call me…Infinite…in the brief moments that remain to you!"

Sonic snickered. "I have never heard a more edgier name."

"Silence!" Infinite snarled. "I lost everything because of you! My creator, my life…everything!"

"I don't even know who you are, dude!" Sonic protested.

Infinite turned away. "It doesn't matter in the end. But I do need to clear up something…"

In a flash of red light, Infinite was floating right in front of Sonic. Sonic flinched back involuntarily, baring his fangs in a snarl. Infinite laughed and drew back.

"So you are a vampire! Dr. Eggman was not wrong in his findings!"

Sonic froze. "Dr…Eggman?!"

Infinite continued as though he hadn't heard the blue hedgehog. "And, if the doctor was even more correct, the black color of your eyes suggests you're thirsty…correct?"

Sonic arched an eyebrow and leaned into a fighting stance. Something definitely wasn't right here. "Why does it matter to you?" He looked past Infinite and tried to catch Shadow's eye. Shadow was staring at him, but there was no flicker of recognition. He turned his attention back to Infinite. "What did you do to my brothers?!"

"And, if what you said to Shadow before I showed up was correct…" Infinite glanced back at Shadow. A mutual understanding passed between them. Shadow smirked and reached into his quills, his hand withdrawing a small knife. He positioned it over his hand and froze, his blank eyes holding Sonic's gaze.

Infinite nodded at Silver, and the white hedgehog withdrew a similar knife, freezing as well after he had positioned it over his opposite hand.

Sonic growled. "You wouldn't."

Infinite grinned. "I indeed would." He turned around to meet Sonic's eyes. "I know how fragile your self-control is right now. I'm sure that only one drop of their blood would be more than enough to make you go feral." He leaned in closer. "So, what's it going to be? Will you surrender or will I have Silver and Shadow meet their own deaths?"

Sonic growled, his eyes flickering from his brothers to Infinite, over and over. After a few seconds of hesitation, he slumped. "I…could never put them in danger."

Infinite clapped. "Excellent! I knew you would be sensible." He turned around, nodding at Silver and Shadow.

Sonic didn't move when the two rushed at him. He didn't fight back when Shadow tackled him to the ground and Silver held him down with his psychokinesis. All he could do was stare into his brothers' dead eyes. Oh Mobius…what happened to you two?

When the red cubes started overtaking his vision, he instinctively thrashed, trying to break free. However, when Infinite held up one of the discarded knives and pointed it to Silver, he stopped fighting back. He laid still as the red cubes completely obscured his vision.

What the jackal didn't see was that his hand was doing something entirely different than holding still. His hands flew at a speed too fast for a mortal to track. He blindly fiddled with his communicator. He found the people he needed to contact and pressed one button.

His arms fell as the world dissolved into red.

To be continued…

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