Vampire Question

*Blade*

I chased that bloodsucker all over the city until midnight, but the bastard managed to escape. Couldn't find his daytime lair anywhere. He vanished into thin air! - the black man spat in frustration and headed back to the temporary base. There, the Old Man was waiting for him - one of the few people the hunter could call his friend and trust with his life. The sturdy man with a mane of gray hair and a face covered in scars and wrinkles was tinkering with another deadly "toy" (after another viewing of Lucas' movies, the old hunter got enthusiastic about the idea of creating a lightsaber, the obsession lasted for a month or so, after which the idea was recognized as crazy and technically unfeasible and was put on the back burner until the next "Star Wars" viewing).

"You're back already? So, how did it go?" the Old Man interrupted his task and looked at his pupil.

"I found our extraordinary bloodsucker..."

"And?"

"And he got away from me, well, he actually flew away," Blade said angrily, "he didn't hover just a miserable five meters above the ground, he swiftly and skillfully soared through the skies, tearing my silver nets like paper! Not to mention that Vanessa's specially developed poison just made him a little sad, and that's after half of the clip!" The young hunter continued to pace nervously around the room.

"Calm down. We knew we were dealing with a powerful creature. You can't take him head-on, so we'll systematically track him down and find his lair. Here, take this serum for now, you don't look so good," the Old Man handed the young hunter an ampule filled with dark red, almost black liquid. While the daytime nightmare of all vampires (well, almost all) took his "medicine," his mentor contemplated the situation.

"Yes, it will be difficult to take down such a one head-on. Any leads?"

Making a face from rather unpleasant sensations, the vampire hunter shared the results of his observations with his mentor.

"I have one idea. My instincts reacted to a certain student, who, by the way, looks quite similar to that bloodsucker, but he seems human, though..."

"Though what?" the Old Man asked with interest.

The hunter shared his suspicions and the incident with the "accidental collision."

"Interesting," the veteran of vampire wars mused, stroking his chin, "let's invite this guy here. I believe we can learn a lot from him, and if not, there's a suspicion that he's of interest to the vampire, which means we'll have bait. Meanwhile, I'll see how we can adjust your arsenal based on the information you've gathered."

The hunter nodded and stepped out onto the street, while the Old Man let out a long yawn and returned to his work, sipping the disgusting brew with the pretentious name "coffee," unlike some vampires - half-bloods, regular humans, like the teacher of the number one enemy of all vampires, needed proper sleep and nourishment.

Though the hunter himself - a veteran, could barely remember the last time he slept properly, so now he had to tinker with his student's guns and prepare for the interrogation of the "guest." They also needed to gather information about this guest, luckily, Blade managed to take a photo of him (although the photo quality could have been better, ah, youngsters). "Well, no matter, I'll rest in the afterlife, fortunately, it won't be long now," the Old Man didn't lose his sense of humor, even though he knew that cancer would soon finish him off and his already not in the best condition body.

*Michael Morbius*

Damn psychopath! Chasing me for hours on end! Me, a superior being! How dare he! But I must admit, he's very well equipped and managed to keep a pace impossible for an ordinary mortal. And his gear... a sword on his back, stakes on his belt, not to mention those bullets filled with some nasty stuff... I don't like him. Perhaps I should create some minions - let them deal with this problem.

However, every attempt to turn someone into my kind ended in failure. What did I not try - multiple bites, injecting my own blood - nothing worked (although at first, I wanted to turn Felicia right away, but... it wouldn't have turned out well). Some of the test subjects remained human (after being bitten), while the others just died (apparently, injecting irradiated blood isn't exactly beneficial, not at all).

Morbius was a rather intelligent man, and even though his sanity had taken a vacation, it didn't affect his ability to think (though sometimes his inflated ego interfered with sound reasoning). The geneticist quickly put two and two together - he didn't transform simply because of irradiated blood, but because of freshly irradiated blood, where the mutational processes hadn't stopped yet - Mayer must have been using a lab emitter that day, judging by the voltage surges.

That woman consumed an enormous amount of energy, but that's beside the point. So, to transform someone into my kind, I'll need not only blood as a DNA sample but also Connors' emitter to change the rest of the body's genome to my image. While he was pondering, a pleasant female voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Good evening, sir. We are pleased to welcome you to our nest," a very attractive mulatto girl, around 20 years old, smiled sweetly at him, revealing white sharp fangs, "we were amazed by your strength and resilience - not many managed to escape from the Hunter alive, but please, come with me - the sunrise is approaching, and your daytime refuge may no longer be safe."

Michael pondered. He never imagined that real vampires existed in the world - being the first of the Children of the Night, the founder of the Clan, oh, that would have been a great boost to his ego. But on the other hand, if there are people who can crawl and shoot webs, run on rooftops with a venomous sting in their butt, or have a couple of "extra" mechanical limbs, then why not vampires too?

But to go with this vampire girl... who knows where... though, what could she do to him? Morbius keenly sensed that he was much stronger than this girl, and he wasn't afraid to be human in a vampire's den either - his human part only woke up when direct sunlight touched his body - all he had to do was enter a dark room - and he would be himself again, not this miserable little human.

The decision was made.

"Alright, let's go. While we're on our way, tell me about this 'Hunter'."

"As you wish. His name is Blade, and he's a half-man - half-vampire, it's strange that you've never heard of him..." his companion was surprised.

"I... slept for a very long time," the student excused himself, but noticed that after this statement, the girl slightly changed her expression and seemed to be more alert.

The vampires disappeared into the dark corner.

*Walter Mayer*

We woke up closer to noon, well, Felicia woke up much earlier, but I still had some aspirin from the pharmacy, so we decided it would be a shame to let it go to waste, and our parting with the bed was delayed for a while. Anyway, while the girl was freshening up in the bathroom (there was a strong desire to join her and rub her back... well, you know), I tried to organize breakfast.

Navigating someone else's kitchen was quite challenging, and if you add my lack of culinary talent (or rather the complete absence of it) to the mix... But I managed to handle cutting some sandwiches and brewing coffee. I wanted to make a classic bachelor's dish - scrambled eggs, but I couldn't find any eggs. When the girl came out of the bathroom (another test of willpower - wet hair and a thin robe on her naked body, she's definitely teasing me...), we quickly had a simple breakfast. We spent the afternoon just enjoying each other's company - watching some movies, discussing the latest news.

I was ecstatic about the fact that this girl was in my life. However, a couple of interesting topics came up during our conversation - Felicia made several attempts to casually inquire about my family, and I skillfully avoided her questions while casually asking about her memories of her father. Judging by her indirect reactions, she doesn't know exactly who he was and what happened to him. But she is convinced that her dad is alive and hiding for some reason.

As for what Felicia has managed to find out about me - I'm not sure, but I suspect that the first round ended in a draw. It seems we have a new thrilling game called "reveal his/her secrets while keeping yours hidden," and we both enjoy it. At least, there were sparks in Felicia's eyes, and something was flickering in my mind (yeah, fireworks of cockroaches).

But the day was drawing to a close, and I had to leave Miss Hardy. After all, I had to go back to the institute tomorrow, and the girl could use some rest - she's already starting to yawn, and I have to help Connors torture the students tomorrow (I'm starting to understand Doc's sadistic inclinations, he's our man, definitely). After saying goodbye to my beloved, I went outside.

Oh, who's that irritated guy lurking nearby? Oh, it's our vampire hunter! Is he still here since last night? Oh well, I should have checked, but at that moment, I was busy with much more enjoyable things than being aware of my surroundings (paranoia disapproves). And what does he want here? Should I approach him and ask? Nah, let's not play heroes here - I'm not myself, and he's not a horse... uh-oh, I'm drunk! But how? And then the realization reached my slightly tipsy brain - the hormonal surge that ran through my body during... um, intimate moments with Felicia (yeah, very intimate) caused intoxication in me - the symbiote.

What an interesting side effect. Meanwhile, my internal radar informed me that Blade was quietly following me. I decided to go home through the park, suspecting our vampire hunter of some unpleasant intentions, like attempted kidnapping. On a Sunday evening, there weren't many people in the park, and there were plenty of empty alleys. But while crossing one of those alleys, our valiant defender of humanity suddenly closed the distance with me and delivered a precisely calculated blow to the back of my head (hey, he almost knocked my brains out!).

Ouch, that hurts! Vowing to get back at him (mentally), I pretended to lose consciousness. And now it looks like I've been kidnapped in the most audacious way possible! Cunningly disabling my levitation, I watched as the hunter, swearing under his breath, dragged my slightly heavier "unconscious" body on his back. About forty minutes later, they finally got it, and I was unceremoniously (but with great relief) dumped on the floor.

"Did you bring him?" Oh, there's the old man, hm, he does look quite similar to his movie character, or is it the other way around? Well, whatever.

"As you can see," I replied tiredly and grumpily, "damn, this guy weighs as much as two big guys!" (He's lying, the scoundrel, it's only like one and a half, and not even that healthy, and if you compare him with Kingpin, I'm just a feather!)

"Yeah? Well, never mind. Check his pockets, although he does look like the guy in the photo in his personal file." (I wonder where they got my personal file, bought it on the corner?) They rudely searched me and took my wallet with documents and mobile phone with music... well, that's better for them, if I don't find a scratch on it later; otherwise, they won't get away so easily.

A few minutes later.

"Yes, it's him - Walter Mayer. If the information is correct, he's 23 years old. His mother died during childbirth, and his father is unknown, or rather, there's no information about him... does it ring a bell?" the annoyed hunter spoke.

"You know as well as I do that a vampire's offspring can only be another vampire or through turning," replied the seasoned hunter. "And by the way, we used to know that vampires can't stand silver, Vanessa's venom, and definitely can't fly," he teased.

"Do you think so?" asked the younger hunter.

"You got any other theories? Nothing is known about his father, but you can sense some vampire blood in him, even though it's faint. And besides, the wurdalak is interested in him, and there was that encounter... Well, let's not dwell on it; it's not that important. Let's wake up our sleeping beauty," the old man said.

Wait, do they actually think I'm Michael's son? Oh, that's just crazy, as a certain literary character used to say. But it's all coming together so neatly. But I'll find the guy who so easily leaked information about me to them... and have a heart-to-heart talk.

It's time for another performance. I open my eyes, smile wide, and stand up. The scene is reminiscent of Repin's painting "They Did Not Expect It" - Blade frozen in place, holding a bucket of not-so-clean water. Quite an amusing sight. But to the hunter's credit, he quickly recovered from the shock and reached for his katana.

"You know, gentlemen, knocking out innocent passersby and dragging them to a scary basement is not the best way to start a constructive conversation. Although, your little scuffle was quite interesting," I say playfully, and the two hunters exchange glances.

Blade is about to draw his weapon from its sheath, but the old man stops the hot-headed Hunter. "Quick on your feet, not afraid of the light, heavy, and you feel like a vampire, albeit faintly. So who are you?" the old man inquires.

"I'm Walter Mayer, at your service. I'm a mutant... ever heard of those?" I reply.

"Yes, but mutants come in all shapes and sizes. However, the fact that you're not wearing tight spandex already speaks in your favor," the old man quips with a good sense of humor.

"Thank you very much for the flattering assessment. Now, if you wouldn't mind returning my belongings and explaining why you needed me and used such rough methods?" I ask, still suspicious of their intentions.

I got my things back, at least something. They discuss recent attacks on humans. "You heard about the recent attacks on people?" the main vampire hunter joins the conversation.

"Um... yes, I heard about it. But what does that have to do with me?" I cautiously inquire.

"Don't you know?" Blade's voice rumbles. "You bear a striking resemblance to that creature. He's clearly interested in you. Can you tell us why?"

"Blade!" Oh, that's quite a bark, as my friend used to say - I believe it! But what the symbiote will note - you can bark all you want until you turn green, your emotions are still quite different...

Alright, let's pretend that I'm burning with desire to help them. Let's pretend to contemplate for a moment. "So, you're saying that because of my experiments, a vampire candidate or an ordinary vampire turned into THAT?" I ask, trying to sound annoyed.

"Michael? Interesting..." I mutter, remembering the case with "glitter" (sorry, Morbius, but you'll become my scapegoat)... then I continue to recall Michael's peculiarities and rumors about missing people. "After I took some blood samples for research, someone broke into the lab and stole the samples. A few days later, Michael disappeared from the institute entirely... although he was already behaving strangely before that," I recall, alluding to the incident with the "glitter."

The vampire hunters listened to me carefully, occasionally exchanging hushed words or nodding to themselves. And then they summed it up. Almost right.

"So, you're saying that because of your experiments, Michael, a potential vampire, or a regular vampire, turned into that thing?" the Blade-like imitator asked.

"No, my research was aimed at reversing evolution. I was trying to turn a vampire into a regular human, but I have no idea what happened with Michael and the samples after that," I replied.

Whew, it seems they believed me. People continued to question me about the whole situation, but the main thing was achieved - they started thinking in the right direction. I can help them with the Serum, and they can save the city from this horrible monster. And I'll have a masterclass from Blade in handling weapons, as a personal bonus.

Now, they told me they'd contact me later, and then they let me go. Well, the plan is more or less starting to work; now, I just need to wait for Blade to do all the dirty work. But something felt off; I felt a sense of unease. What? Damn it, greetings from the freaking Canon again! My gut feeling was telling me that Michael's and Felicia's tags were nearby and moving rapidly towards the outskirts of the city...

"Well, damn it! I'll have to hurry Blade... and back up Felicia."