AN: Sorry this has taken so long guys. Unfortunately season 3 and the series finale zapped a lot of my inspiration for the story. This is actually been sitting in my computer for the last few weeks but with school and work I didn't really get the chance to upload it until now. I'm a little nervous about this chapter since it sets up a lot of the plot for the rest of the story so let me know what you think

Chapter 4

Mike had curled himself into a fetal position on the bed breathing deeply through his nose as Ryan had instructed. It didn't do much. Ryan could still see a slight tremor in Mike's hands as he gripped the bed sheets. He knew all too well the mindless feeling of hunger driving out any thought except your own pain and how to alleviate it. He remembered snapping under that feeling more than he would ever admit.

Come on Deb where are you? It couldn't have been a little more than five minutes but still, she was a vampire. It shouldn't take more than two to go downstairs and back. Ryan prayed to god that she hadn't accidentally spill the blood.

Mike let out a low groan and tensed even more until Ryan could clearly see the tendons standing out on his hand and forearm. Ryan reached out to rub his should but stopped himself before making contact. There was no telling if Mike would completely snap. Besides, he was the reason Mike was in pain it would be an insult to try awkwardly comforting him.

Thankfully Debra came back into the room not a moment later holding a black waterbottle in her hand. She locked eyes with Ryan and took in a breath as if to say something but then looked over to Mike. Ryan tensed as she began taking slow, measured steps towards the bed.

She knelt down beside the bed and held the waterbottle out. "Mike," she said quietly in a voice that reminded Ryan of the one his mother would use whenever he was sick. "Do you think you can drink this? It's going to taste weird but it's the only thing that's going to make you feel better."

Mike opened his eyes and lifted his head up, sniffing at the air. "It smells strange," he breathed.

"I know, I know but you need to drink it." She held the waterbottle out just a little bit more. "Can you hold it yourself or do you need me to hold it for you?"

Mike licked his cracked lips and swallowed loudly. "I can hold it." He said it so quietly that Ryan wouldn't have been able to understand him without his sharpened hearing.

Mike took a deep breath and held it as he carefully propped himself up on one elbow. With a shaking hand he slowly reached out and took the bottle from Debra although her hands still hovered near just in case he dropped it. He sniffed the top, made a face, then began to lift it painfully slow to his mouth. Ryan was tempted to just go over there and start pouring it into his mouth himself but luckily Mike began to drink before he could give the idea any serious thought.

Within the first mouthful Mike's face scrunched up in disgust and there was the unmistakable sound of him spitting some of it back into the bottle.

"You have to drink it," Ryan commanded. "What you're feeling right now is only going to get ten times worse if you try to drag it out."

Mike's eyes darted over to Ryan and then back to the bottle. He shifted in the bed but after a moment brought it back to his lips. Tilting his head back Mike drank as quickly as possible. His brow furrowed as he steadily drained the cup. Ryan couldn't blame him for having difficulty choking it down.

There was something that just tasted off about stored blood that even someone as new as Mike could pick up on. More than likely it had something to do with the chemicals used to preserve it. Even animal blood tasted better to Ryan but the stored blood was more practical for emergencies.

The tension in Mike's body eased as he finished off the last bit of blood while a little bit of color returned to his cheeks. Mike set the thermos down on the night stand and fell back onto the pillow sighing. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at the smear of blood on it.

"So, that's what blood tastes like, huh?" He stared up at the ceiling as he said it, making it seem like he was talking to himself more than anything else.

"That's what chemically preserved blood tastes like. Animal blood doesn't taste nearly as bad." Ryan barely spoke above a whisper. They were past the denial stage now. The panic was gone and would be replaced by despair as he processed everything that he could no longer have.

Debra rose from her kneeling position, the corners of her mouth pulled downward. She'd realized what was going on the moment Ryan had. "You should rest some more. Ryan and I are going downstairs to talk about something, just call us if you need anything."

"Okay," he answered absent mindedly, still staring up at the ceiling.

Debra brushed past him and headed out the door without another word. Ryan stared at Mike's empty eyes a moment longer before heading out, the weight in his chest increasing with every step.

"Well, that was fun," he remarked to Debra once they had closed the door and were heading down the stairs. "I always did enjoy crushing the hopes and dreams of children."

"It's just going to take some time," Debra insisted, never the one to indulge in pity parties. "Mike is going mourn his old life same as he would a loved one."

"It's not the same though. He's losing everything."

Debra stopped at the foot of the stairs and rounded on him. "He has us. It'll be hard but I'm sure he'll find some purpose in his new life. We did, which is something I actually need to talk to you about."

Ryan crinkled his brow. "What is it?"

"Diedre was going through the profiles of that girl's friends and found a photo of Emma on one of them."

Just like that Ryan could feel his guilt evaporate and his heart rate pick up as everything in him came alive just like it always did whenever a lead presented itself.

He immediately began heading towards the kitchen. "Does she have an account of her own?"

"I don't know." There was a note of exasperation in Debra's voice as she followed behind him. "She was in someone else's picture on their profile."

Ryan flung open the kitchen door and headed straight for the table. "What did you find?"

Diedre looked up from the computer screen completely unperturbed by Ryan suddenly bursting in demanding answers. She turned the laptop towards him where it still had the picture of the boy and Emma up.

"His name is Jacob Wells, he's a graduate student at Winslow. The picture is his but I don't see any name for her on it and as far as I can tell she doesn't have a profile."

Ryan looked down at the face of the girl he hadn't seen in years. Her hair was a mousey brown and her face was completely devoid of any makeup. It was a stark change to the pink hair and heavy eyeliner she wore last time he had seen her, but there was no mistaking it was Emma Hill.

"How did you find this kid?" Ryan stared down at the young man's smiling face and racked his brain for any flutter of recognition but failed to find any.

"He was listed as one of her friends that went to Winslow. Also, one of the last pictures she took before disappearing was of him." She reached over and hit the backspace button. The screen went back to Kristie Anthony's photo page. In the top left corner there was the picture of Jacob. He was grinning and giving a thumbs up with a Math textbook laid out on the table.

The caption read, 'best tutor ever. Gonna nail this final.'

It was dated about a week before she went missing.

"How much have you found out about him so far?"

"Only the basics," Diedre replied. "His father is a prominent Virginia surgeon. He's a graduate at Winslow and from the looks of it is in med school." She leaned over and switched the screen back over to Jacob's profile. "He seems pretty involved with school activities too."

"So smart, popular, rich and not bad looking either." Ryan rattled off the list of attributes as he stared at Jacob smiling from his profile picture. In his mind's eye he pictured him smiling at the girl as he led her away to the outskirts of campus with a stream of reassurances and promises spilling out of his mouth. No doubt most of it would have been Joe's own words that promised her a better life.

"You think that's who Joe is using to turn the students?" Ryan blinked and looked over next to him at Debra who stared at him expectantly.

"More than likely, yea. With all the stuff he apparently does around school Jacob would have all kinds of interactions with different students. It'd be less suspicious not to have all the students coming from Joe's classes or anything he's involved in."

"Not to mention he would know that when we came around we'd immediately zero in on him." Debra looked him straight in the eye as she said it.

"Yes, he would have," Ryan agreed, keeping his face straight and his tone neutral.

"Go ahead and see if you can find any properties in the area that would be secluded but big enough to hold a large group of people," Debra told Diedre. "They have to be keeping the coven and new recruits somewhere."

"They wouldn't be keeping the new ones with the rest of the coven." Both Diedre and Debra turned their attention to Ryan. "Usually they're kept separate from everyone else at first. It keeps them from getting overwhelmed. Look up everything you can find about Jacob and his family. Maybe that'll give us some idea of where he takes them to be changed."

"Jacob?" Ryan and Debra spun around to see Mike standing in the doorway with the empty waterbottle in his hand. He was staring at the computer screen wrinkling his brow in confusion. "Jacob Wells? What's he got to do with any of this?"

"Wait, you know him," Ryan demanded.

"Yea," Mike answered, sounding taken aback. "He tutored me when I was taking Biology. Why are you looking into him?"

Ryan opened his mouth to shoot back another question of his own but Debra held up her hand, cutting him off prematurely.

"We think Jacob may have something to do with the other students that have been disappearing. Do you remember your classmate Kristie?"

Mike's shoulders tensed. "Yes. She went missing at the end of last semester. She was the one that referred me to Jacob, he was tutoring her in math."

Ryan took a step forward, his eyes boring into Mike's. "Mike, this is important. Do you remember her mentioning anything at all about Jacob? Did she make plans with him outside of tutoring?"

Mike shook his head. "No." He was beginning to sound irritated now. "If she had talked about going off with Jacob before disappearing or anything else strange I would have gone to the police. I don't get it though, what does Jacob have to do with it? He seemed perfectly human not like a-" Mike faltered as though the word had gotten caught in his throat. "-a you know. Not like what you guys are."

"He doesn't necessarily have to be," Debra explained. "Vampires have been known to use humans to do their bidding in the past."

" He's luring in students for vampires to kill, "Mike asked, his eyes drifting to the photo of Jacob on the computer. He knitted his eyebrows together and his mouth fell open as if he felt like he was going to be sick. "I don't get it, why?"

"They're not for food," Ryan said. "At least not most of them anyway. There's a vampire named Joe that needs more recruits for his coven. We think that he's been using Jacob to help bring them in initially."

"So it's like a 'Lost Boys' sort of thing?"

Debra tilted her head to the side in confusion at the reference while Ryan fixed him with a stony expression. "No, it's-"

"Well, actually it kind of is," Diedre interjected. "If you take away the bikes and the leather."

Ryan threw her a look over his shoulder that clearly said, 'not helping', then turned his attention back to Mike. "Joe enjoys recruiting from Universities where he poses as a professor. He starts by becoming a confidant to different students he targets as potentials and then slowly reels them in."

Mike furrowed his brow even more. "But why do you think he has Jacob doing it for him? Kristie probably saw a lot people before disappearing."

"There's a picture Jacob has on his Facebook page of him and one of Joe's coven members," Ryan told him. "That's one hell of a coincidence."

Mike was silent a moment before asking the question that none of them had thought of yet. "So what are you going to do to him?"

Ryan opened his mouth but quickly shut it again. That was a damned good question. They were looking through property records but what beyond that?

"Right now we're not doing anything to him," Debra answered. " We're just trying to see where he's taking these kids to be turned. "

"You don't need to worry about any of that though," Ryan said. "Right now you just need to rest."

"I just found out on top of being a vampire that there's some evil plot at my school to turn my classmates into vampires," Mike pointed out. "How am I supposed to just relax?"

"We'll take care of it," Ryan reassured him, using the calm authoritative voice that officers often used when speaking to civilians. "Besides there's nothing you can do about it so you may as well rest while you readjust to everything."

"I could help though!" There was no mistaking the eagerness in his voice or the way his previously bewildered eyes lit up. "What if I followed Jacob or got him to see me as possible recruit."

It was enough to almost make him shake his head. After everything he had just been through the kid was trying to jump into something else dangerous.

"There's no way we could let you do that," Debra said automatically. "It's too dangerous."

"You've already almost died once already Mike. If Joe or anyone under him gets a hold of you the second time won't turn out as well." Ryan continued to stare him down but Mike didn't look away.

He tilted his chin up and squared his shoulders. " All I'd have to do is get Jacob to take me to the others and you guys could take care of the rest from there."

"It's not a bad idea," Diedre chimed in. Debra and Ryan both turned to give her looks of outrage however she ignored them and continued on. "Except for the fact that you're only a day old and have no control over your hunger or abilities."

"So just give me a few days to get the hang of things then I can go."

"Right, because learning how to be a vampire is exactly like riding a bike," Ryan replied sarcastically. "A couple of practice sessions and you're good to go."

"Two weeks," Mike pleaded. "Just give me two weeks and then I'll come back here to lay low."

Two weeks? Two minutes on that campus was more than enough time for things to go terribly wrong. Still, it was a better plan than anything else they had at their disposal at the moment, short of kidnapping Jacob and torturing him. If it was someone more experienced that he didn't feel responsible for Ryan would have been immediately on board, but Mike was just a kid.

They're all just kids, Ryan thought to himself grimly, the faces of all the students that had disappeared passing before his eyes.

"Okay," Ryan relented, drawing the word out slowly. "We'll give you two weeks."

"Ryan!" Debra rounded on him, eyes flashing.

He held up a hand and continued. "But, there are going to be some stipulations and rules. You step outside any of them or even think you're about to and you come right back here. Understood?"

Mike bobbed his head up and down eagerly. "Yea, of course."

"Ryan can I talk to you in private for a moment?" Debra's voice was even but she still said it quickly enough for Ryan to know that she was barely holding back from going off on him right then and there.

"Sure I need to let Tyson know what's going on anyway. Mike, stay here with Diedre. When we come back we'll go over everything in detail."

"Okay."

Debra didn't even deign to look at Ryan as she turned on her heel and marched out of the kitchen. Ryan followed her already mentally preparing himself for the lecture he was about to receive

"Are you insane," she demanded once they were upstairs. " Mike just found out he was a vampire not even an hour ago and you're sending him on some scouting mission?"

"I know," Ryan conceded tiredly. "Other people are going to keep dying if we aren't quick to follow up on the one lead we do have. I don't plan on sending him there by himself."

"You're going to go there with him? Don't you think that might tip Joe off?"

"It's not like I'm going to be following him everywhere. I'm going to confront Joe and make some vague threats towards him about turning the students so he doesn't suspect we found anything out about Jacob's part in anything." He gave her a small bitter smile, the edges of his mouth just barely turning up. "Like you said, he expects me to zero right in on him so that's what I'm going to do."

"What about Mike, though," she asked, lowering her voice. " You can't be blamed for what happened to him but from this point on if Mike gets hurt or killed that's on us."

"I'm not going to let anything happen to him. All eyes are going to be on me. They're not going to suspect Mike, especially not since Jacob already knows him."

Debra folded her arms. "And what about the threat Mike poses to others? He doesn't even have an idea of what his new impulses are going to be like or how to control them."

Ryan faltered at that. Out of everything that would be the biggest gamble. " We can teach him, there are a few tricks that will help him learn fast. Most of us had to learn without any help at all and refrained from killing."

"Everyone's different though," she replied, looking him directly in the eyes.

Ryan ignored the weight that settled on his chest. "I'll be in constant contact with him. If he even starts to feel a little bit off I'll pull him out of there."

Debra looked away and after a moment Ryan saw her shoulders sag in defeat. "Fine," she said, not even looking at him. "We'll let Mike go to Jacob, but don't you dare take any stupid risks with Joe." She pointed a finger at him threateningly. "You can't be there for Mike if you take things too far with Joe. Engage him but don't let him get to you and do something reckless."

"I'm not going to let Joe distract me from helping Mike. I've already let too many people die because of him."

"Which is exactly what Joe will use to push you over the edge."

"I have a plan. I'll go over eveything with downstairs with Mike."

"Alright," she brushed past him and head towards the stairs. "If this backfires though it's going to be worse than anything we could have imagined."

"I know." In his mind's eye Ryan could see Mike sitting on the ground with a lifeless body next to him and blood covering his mouth. He could clearly picture the smile on Joe's face as he led Mike away.

Mike stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen unsure of what to do. He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet while tapping his finger against his legs and glancing around the room. The woman at the table didn't seem to notice. She was too busy staring at her computer screen and occasionally typing something in. Or so Mike thought.

"Would you sit down," she snapped, causing Mike to jump. She looked up at him from her computer. "You're making me nervous just standing there twitching."

"S-sorry," he stuttered feeling his face heat up.

He went over to the table and took a seat right across from her. Still feeling out of place inside the house he began drumming his fingers against the table. "You looking up things about Jacob?"

"Yep." She went back to whatever it was that she had been reading.

"Anything yet?"

"Not really, other than some articles mentioning his father at the hospital where he works."

"Oh." There was another moment of awkward silence, or at least for Mike there was. "So, are you like the hacker of the group or something?"

She let a huff of laughter and looked back up at him with a smile playing around her lips. "I wouldn't exactly describe it as that, but I am very good at finding things out quickly using a computer. I was in MIS and IT before all this."

"How were you turned?" As soon as he said it Mike quickly hoped that it wasn't some strange vampire etiquette not to ask someone how they were turned.

Apparently not though. "Wrong place, wrong time. Luckily Debra came along and helped me," she answered simply and without emotion.

"Did you struggle with, you know...not killing," he asked in a small voice.

"Yes," she admitted hesitantly. "Everyone does. It's not like when you're human and your stomach just hurts when you're hungry. It's a lot more animalistic. You can start going after someone before you even realize what you're doing."

"How do you control it?"

She shrugged. "It just takes time. You have to learn to be more self aware and keep yourself well fed. Which is why you need to really think about whether or not you'll be able to handle this."

Mike flinched. "You don't think it's a good idea?"

"Oh, the idea itself is good. It's the risk you pose to everyone else that's the problem."

Mike could feel his chest tightening at the thought. "I-I don't think-"

"Look I don't mean to freak you out," she said, cutting him off. " Everyone adjusts differently. I just want you to know that you can't let your guard down."

Mike thought back to just a half hour ago when he had been writhing on the bed in pain. He hadn't noticed it creeping up on him at all. If there'd been a human in the room would he have even been able to control himself at all?

He was shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of approaching footsteps. Ryan, Debra, and a large man with short dark hair and a full beard entered the kitchen.

"Mike this is Tyson," Ryan introduced. "Tyson this Mike."

Tyson smiled broadly at him. "Nice to meet you Mike."

"We already told him about your idea but now we're gonna go over some ground rules," Ryan explained. "First off, you're going to need to drink blood every other day. Do you share a fridge with you roommate?"

"...no"

"Good, because we're gonna give you some blood to store and I don't think your roommate needs to see that. Only go to class once a week to somewhat keep up appearances. You don't need to be spending more time in enclosed spaces with people than you need to."

Mike inwardly cringed at the thought of missing class. He'd hadn't missed a single class since starting school and it was just another reminder that his normal life was over. The last bit only increased his fear that he was now a senseless killing machine.

Ryan continued on oblivious to his inner turmoil. "I'll be near campus the entire time so I want you to check in with me at least twice a day. You start to feel anything like you did earlier and you call me so I can get you off campus."

"So you'll just grab me and run? Won't that look suspicious?"

"I'll be a little more subtle than that."

Debra let a snort of laughter at that which she unsuccessfully tried to cover with her hand. Ryan glanced over at her and rolled his eyes but continued on.

"You feel even close to getting hungry when you're near other people I want you to hold your breath and get to a secluded place then call me. Also, rub some Vick's under your nose if you start noticing other people's scents too much."

Mike furrowed his brow. "Vick's?"

"Burns your damned nostrils so bad you can't smell a thing," Tyson explained with a grin. "Even decomposing bodies that have been inside a hot house for a week."

"Uhhhh..." Mike wasn't sure he wanted him to elaborate on how he knew that.

"We're gonna give you a few days to get used to your new body and senses before you go back. Tyson will help train you."

"...okay," Mike said slowly, surprised that Ryan wasn't going to be the one that did. It's not like he wasn't going to be watching him for the next two weeks anyway. "When do we start?"

"Right now," Tyson answered. He grabbed Mike by the sleeve and yanked him up causing him to yelp in surprise and stumble. "I'll show you all the cool tricks. You're as fast and strong as Superman now so I'll have to teach you how to get a handle on things."

"Are we gonna do that in the house," Mike asked. His stomach was already tying itself in knots as he tried to imagine whatever type of 'training' he had in mind.

"Definitely not," Debra answered for him.

"We like to keep what little we have nice," Diedre added on.

Tyson slung an arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry I have the perfect place in mind," he told him with a wave of his hand as he began leading him out of the kitchen. "A nice secluded place where no one can see or notice the damage."

"Try not to have too much fun," Ryan called after them.

Mike thought he detected a note of sarcasm. "Thanks," he muttered, positive Ryan would still be able to hear him

AN: Originally Tyson helping Mike learn and get used to his new abilities was supposed to be part of this chapter but it got so long that I decided to split it up. Next chapter is probably going to be short as a result. Chapter 6 is when you'll get to see how Mike manages going back to school now that he's a vampire, Troy wondering where the hell he's been, and maybe an appearance from Joe :)