"I hate the summer," Roy Mustang said peevishly, pulling on the brim of the ratty old baseball cap that he had been provided. The hat, combined with a pair of dark sunglasses provided some respite from the sunlight, even if that sunlight was dim and fading quickly into a warm summer night. "I hate the sun."

Edward Elric stood beside him, watching the people milling about on the sidewalks attentively. Sunlight did not bother him, clearly - tanned and blond and looking every inch the surfer, his hair tied back into a ratty tail at the base of his neck with long strands escaping the old hair tie to frame his face in bangs. Edward was wearing cargo shorts and a tee shirt Roy had never seen before, complimenting the surfer boy look that Edward seemed to be cultivating. It was a smart look - every third guy seemed to be dressed similarly to Edward, and he faded naturally into the crowd.

The werewolf tilted his head, acknowledging Roy's complaint without looking over at him. Edward was concentrating, trying to pick voices out of the mess of people - something Roy should be doing as well, but he was currently distracted by the low-grade headache that built behind his light-sensitive eyes. He was a nocturnal predator - the sunlight simply made things more difficult for him.

Direct exposure to sunlight was not lethal to a vampire, fortunately - because Roy likely would have been toast long before he stumbled into Edward's good graces. It was just intensely uncomfortable. Rian likened it to stumbling into daylight after a long movie in a dark theater, except the feeling never really went away. It was a good comparison - if Roy could remember what any of that was like.

Truth be told, shortened nights aside Roy did enjoy the summer. There were more people out and about at all hours, making hunting quite a bit easier on both him and Rian. Rian looked to Roy for guidance in this new life Roy had cursed him with, and Roy still was not entirely sure what he was doing. He had to hunt - he had spent a year and a half drinking from blood bags alone and while that nourished him, it left him feeling fatigued and out of sorts. Edward could not sustain them both single-handed, although he had certainly offered - but werewolf blood, hell, all night breed blood had a special quality to it that was entirely too addictive.

It opened his senses further, gave him an additional burst of speed and strength and at times it seemed like it even gave him an added layer of connection to Edward that he did not quite understand. It was seductive and troublesome to him, he could not rely on Edward being his only provider of fresh blood. So he had, on his own, started to hunt.

It was harder than he thought, to prey on humans and not kill them. It was easy to suck someone dry, to have them crumble, lifeless, from his hands. He had killed accidentally far too many times, he was trying his best to be good and to be careful. Roy may be a predator now, but he did not actively wish anyone harm. He just needed sustenance.

What worried him, though, was Rian.

Rian prowled without thought. He hunted. For the most part, those that he struck down were the underbelly of society, drug dealers and petty criminals - but he killed. He did not second guess his actions. It was not that he was without conscience, but he still frightened Roy. He had not told Edward yet. He did not know if he could.

The sire/kin bond was strong. Sires could kill their kin, but a kin could not usually attack their sire. Rian was very strong. He did not see what was wrong with his actions, and if Roy did not correct it soon ... he did not know what would happen.

He remembered the witch's ominious words when he had turned Rian, when Rian still lay gray-skinned and unconscious in the bed Roy and Edward shared, his throat torn open and the bloody fangs still on display. "No good will come of this," Winry Rockbell had said severely, tending to the newly-turned vampire. Edward had dismissed her words. Winry did not like vampires, after all - present company excepted, of course, she would tack on to any of her derogatory comments - and Roy did not blame her her dislike.

Rian was an apex predator.

Roy ... was not.

It was a worry for another time. Tonight they had a job to do. Rian was at home, sulking, because Edward did not take him on jobs yet. When they went hunting tonight - and they would, to feed - Roy would talk to him. Try to get through to him. It was a hard process on all of them, and Roy had just gotten used to the bond he had with Rian. He could not bear to think about ending it - but he knew that if he had to, he would.

Roy blinked behind his sunglasses as Edward snapped his fingers in front of Roy's face. "Earth to Spaceman Spiff, do you copy?"

He batted away Edward's hand in annoyance. "What is it?"

Edward nodded toward the dark blue sky. The sun was sinking fast, already the heaviness behind Roy's eyes was lessening. "No luck finding Thing 1 and Thing 2, so I got us some beer."

Vampires could eat and drink just like normal people. Some did, some did not - the only thing about it was that if you did not partake regularly, there was certainly some time spent in the bathroom working it all out. Fortunately, Edward seemed determined to make him eat frequently, all manner of things, so it had never been a problem for him OR Rian.

Roy accepted the clear plastic cup full of cheap beer, and looked up and down the fairway.

The traveling carnival had parked itself near the waterfront, and as night claimed the city it had lit up in neon. They were tracking a serial killer; a half-breed, some mutt who had the barest of the night breed characteristics but was enough trouble that they had flagged on the good old reliable Rockbell radar. However, Edward had not yet sniffed him out at any haunt where his target victims hung out. Maybe their prey had slunk back into whatever slimy hole it had climbed out of in the first place.

Edward watched the Ferris wheel turn while drinking his beer thoughtfully. Roy took off his sunglasses and tucked them in his back pocket. "What are you going to do about Rian?" Edward asked, and Roy spluttered into his beer.

"What do you mean?" Roy said.

Edward glanced over at Roy, and Roy was reminded silently of the bond that they shared. Edward knew him better than anyone else alive currently - and that included Rian. He sighed and looked up at the Ferris wheel as well. "I don't know."

"Is he gonna go off the reservation?"

"It's too soon to tell," Roy murmured. "I'm trying Ed, I really am."

"I know." Edward's hand on Roy's shoulder should not have surprised him, but it did. Edward was a physical creature, after all. "I'm just worried."

"That's an understatement," Roy said softly. Edward quirked a smile, and after a moment Roy returned the sentiment. Regardless of what happened - THEY would be okay.

And then, Roy's nose twitched.

Edward had the better nose of the two of them - it came from being a wolf, the canine attributes leaking into his natural human form. However, while Edward had a good nose it was also just a nose. He could smell everything - Roy's, on the other hand, had been adapted for just one purpose. He took in a deep breath, his brow creasing, and Edward dropped his hand to his beer cup. "Roy?"

There was no mistaking the potency of it. "I smell blood."

Instantly Edward's own brow furrowed, and he turned his head, inhaling deeply as well, trying to isolate the scent from the millions that floated through the air. Roy turned his head, and then his body, scanning up and down the fairway, trying to locate the source. There.

He threw his half-finished beer into a trash can, and Edward whimpered at the wasted alcohol, but then followed suit, both of the nightbreed hurrying up the fairway at a good, but not obvious, clip.

"What do you think?" Edward asked, and Roy inhaled again.

"A lot of blood. Ghoul, maybe vampire." It was hard to tell at a distance. Then they turned a corner, into a dark alley between two buildings that overshadowed the fairway, and saw movement behind the dumpster.

From a distance, it would look like two lovers taking advantage of a dark corner. The woman's legs were locked tight around the man, and shadows obscurred the rest. However, the stench of blood and death was overwhelming and betrayed the true nature of the act.

"Hey!" Edward shouted, feet slipping from the flip-flops. If he had to change suddenly it would shred his clothes, but that was why Roy had a backpack slung over his shoulder with a change of outfit. They had this down to an art form.

Roy felt strange, a twisting in his gut. There was too much blood. It was not a vampire, a vampire would not waste someone's precious life's blood - but whatever it was it was getting a reaction down his spine like little had before it.

The man fell backwards, hitting the ground hard, his head twisted at a strange angle. The woman slid down the wall, her feet touching the ground slowly. She might have been beautiful once, but her face was twisted into a grotesque mask, blood staining her chin and throat.

"Roy," Edward said calmly. "Is that a vampire?"

Roy shook his head slowly. It seemed to have the attributes of a vampire but it was wasting blood - and something seemed OFF about its movement.

The female voice was soft in the back of his mind, a caress, the memory of full red lips whispering into his ear the vagaries and off-shoots of a long and storied lineage. "Estries," he said.

The creature hissed, pulling its long hair free from a clip. Roy started to shout, to warn Edward but she was already airborne, gliding on invisible wings, her hair flying out behind her. She bypassed Roy completely, the speed of her passage slamming him into the rough brick and she was on Edward in an instant.

Edward hit the ground hard, his forearm up to protect his throat. The estries sank her teeth into his arm and Edward snarled, his own teeth already looking far sharper than any human teeth. "SONUFABITCH!" Edward shouted as she tore a chunk of his forearm and slashed at his face with her claws.

Roy grabbed her, locking his arm around her throat and yanking her off of Edward. It tried to slip his grip immediately but Roy had her so tight, he could feel the vertebrae in her neck cracking.

An estries. He did not know how he knew what she was, but he knew. "What the fuck IS that?" Edward said, cradling his arm as he got to his feet. Blood had soaked down his shirt, she had torn down to the bone. Edward did not seem put out by the wound, and Roy knew it would be fully healed in a day or so.

"Estries," Roy said. "It's kind of an off-shoot vampire breed ... I think."

"Wonderful." Edward said. "What do we do with her?"

"I don't know," Roy said dryly, somehow managing to keep hold of the estries despite it trying to break its own neck in his arms. "I thought we could put it on a leash, give it to Rian as a pet. I think he's ready for the responsibility."

"Oh, ha ha," Edward said, still cradling his arm. "This bitch took a chunk out of me, I'm a little more inclined to stake her out in the sun and see if she fries like the vampires of myth."

Roy winced at the thought. Most of the vampires that they had run across were feral, gone mad with bloodlust and abandonment, killing indiscriminately. It was a mercy kill more than anything, there was so little left of them. Roy himself had been headed sharply in that direction once. But still, the knowledge spilled through his mind like it was again whispered in his ear. "The only thing that can kill an estries is fire, or decapitation."

"Aw," Edward said. "Not even stakes?"

It came quickly, a rush of cold air, even colder than the breeze that drifted in from off the water. It passed just as fast, but even as it did a dark shadow passed over the alley, and Edward's head went up. Even in human form, Roy could imagine the ears laying back, flattening against his skull.

The chill sank into Roy's very bones. He shuddered, and the estries used his moment of distraction to nearly break his arm. Roy yelped as she spun out of his grasp, and then was airborn, a dark stain in the night sky.

"What the hell was that?" Roy said, rubbing his own abused arm as they both stared into the dark, after the vanished estries.

"Moros," Edward said, the word oddly accented.

"And that means?" Roy said, not in the mood for games.

"Death."

The shrill whistle and pop of the fireworks lit over the water. Edward sat beside Roy on the roof's ledge, his tee shirt now wrapped tightly around his arm to disguise the severity of the wound. Roy watched Edward, not the fireworks, his bronzed face washed in pale greens and reds as the colors lit the evening sky.

The chill had not left his bones, it had settled in as if it was going to be a permanant addition. Roy sighed, the music and laughter carrying faintly up toward them. It seemed to highlight the malaise that Roy felt. They had lost their prey for the evening - Edward was badly hurt (although it would heal quickly, thankfully), and this whole uncertainty with his kin. It seemed like bad things were brewing, and Roy was not sure how to take it.

And then he looked over at Edward again, and saw that the werewolf was watching him just as closely. Roy could not help but smile, and Edward returned the smile slowly, before he covered Roy's hand with his own on the concrete.

Despite everything, they were a team. Roy interlinked their fingers and looked back out over the water as the fireworks show came to a crescendo.

Whatever happened they would face it together.