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She had never seen it coming.

Out of all the skeletons in Hannah's closet, and all the things she had ever been worried about coming back to bite her in the butt, what happened to her on August seventeenth of two thousand and seventeen was nothing short of a freak accident and something that had probably never happened before. The brunette haired woman spent most her time looking over her shoulders for Gino, or maybe even Levi, so when neither of them were in sight, Hannah let her guard down and enjoyed whatever it was she was doing.

Tonight, she went for a jog, since it had rained earlier in the day and Hannah couldn't go climbing. At least not outdoors and while she knew of some indoor places, it just wasn't the same to the blood thief. She had rounded a corner and kept making her way down the block, while Hannah glanced down at her pedometer. The woman had a goal to meet tonight in terms of how many steps reached and she needed a couple hundred more. Hannah was going to make that goal of thirty thousand steps tonight.

The sounds of sirens wailing somewhere in the near distance didn't make Hannah second think a single thing. They were a common past time in Harper Rock and she now only had one hundred and seventy six steps to go to meet her goal. There was a squealing if tyres, which had her looking up from her pedometer to make sure it wasn't Gino or his people coming to pay her a visit, but when Hannah didn't see anyone, she shrugged it off. The sirens grew louder and the sounds of engines being pushed to their full potential erupted down the other side of the block, which had Hannah moving closer inside the sidewalk, but still jogging.

Another corner rounded by Hannah and that was when things went from normal and good, to anything but, and very bad. Shots were fired by two kids jumping out of a dark blue, Honda CR-V. Not in her direction, towards the two cop cars in heavy pursuit of them. One guy, in his early twenties went running one way, while the other ran past Hannah and a couple other people who more or less hugged a building to try and stay out of sight and out of mind of the guy in his mid twenties. Once he was down the block, Hannah decided it was best to move and keep going..home. She could get close to her steps tonight, but it wasn't worth her life.

That was the final thought that went through her mind as Hannah bent down to tie one of her laces that had come undone somewhere between the squealing of tyres and shots being fired. She heard a loud clanging sound, followed by a woman crouched against the building she had been pressed again scream. A kid, maybe about twelve, or thirteen shouted 'look out!' while pointing in Hannah's direction. Just as she turned to see what she should be looking out for, the glint of something metal caught her eye, before it slammed into the right side of her face. There was nothing but sheer and utter darkness and silence from that moment on.

--Two Hours Later--

“This is Clarissa Maier reporting live to you at the corner of twenty-third and twenty-fourth street in the Wickbridge district, where a young woman was killed tonight, by what the police chief is calling a 'bizarre and unfortunate accident.'” The news reporter turns to point at multiple police vehicles and yellow tape blocking off a crime scene area about twenty feet away.

“Witnesses tell me that what started off as what seemed to be a normal nightly jog for the woman, turned fatal after a police chase went wrong.” The reporter stands in silence as she waits for an earlier interview with the woman who had seen Hannah's death start to play. ”There was a lot of shooting. Two guys fled from the car that they were in and went their own way. None of them shot at us, they were just focused on the police. And then,” She took a deep breath in and looked down at the ground. ”It just came from no where. One of the police cars hit the manhole cover and it came flying at her. I, we tried to warn her, but she didn't see it. Not until...It hit her so hard. I...there was nothing left of her face.” The camera zoomed out to show the woman and her teenage child who was standing by, hands deep in his pockets as he stared at the ground, before it went back to the live session.

“We're being told the young woman was a foreigner from Japan, here for work. What that work is, we don't know yet, but she has been identified as twenty nine year old, Hannah Woods. Police are trying to contact her parents, and that is all we know for now. The mayor is expected to give a statement later on this evening. Back to you, Jim.” The scene changes to the home base newsroom where they move to another story.

It was dark. Something was over her face. Her left arm lifted to pull it off her face, with call out to the most familiar person to Hannah. “Freddie?” Her voice echoed in the abnormal silence that surrounded Hannah. Even though her apartment was quiet, there were still familiar sounds. The occasional drip of the faucet in the bathtub. The ticking of the clock in the dining room and other sounds, like the automatic coffee maker that flipped on whenever Hannah had it set. But there were none of these sounds, and none of the smells either. Not any familiar smells. Whatever she did smell was chemical in nature, and while she had smelled it before, Hannah couldn't quite place it.

Hannah moved to sit up, but her attempt was in vain. She only managed to rise a couple inches at best before she hit something above her head and it made a metal vibration around her. “Freddie? Hello?” Hannah had no idea where she was, or how she even got to wherever this was. She coaxed herself silently to think back. To relax. She couldn't panic, that was the worse thing she could do, no matter how bad her predicament might be.

Hannah remembered jogging; something she did a couple times a week while Freddie was sleeping before work, or if she didn't have to work that day or night. Squealing tyres-had Gino finally cashed in on what Hannah had failed to do for all these months? Her eyes disappeared behind her lids as Hannah tried to recall the rest of her most recent and last memory. Gun fire. People screaming, sirens in the near distance...a car chase. Hannah remembered that much of it and she remembered leaving. She was going to head back to the apartment, but then noticed her untied shoe. Hannah bent down to tie it and then...she died. She had to have. There was no way she could have survived a disc of metal that large coming at her. Hannah sucked in a breath of fresh air for the first time since she woke, and then tried to sit up again.

“HELLO?!” Hannah lifted both her arms up and banged on the metal ceiling above her head, then started kicking her ankles. Was this some sort of personal hell, and if it was, how long would she be trapped in it for? She groaned and kept kicking and pounding the metal above and below her, with no particular rhythm. Sometimes it was loud and aggressive, other times a soft rap as Hannah started to think that she was stuck here for, well...ever. And just as she was about to stop pounding, there was a sound of something unlatching from behind her. Right behind her.

A small bead of light crept inside, before it basked upon her completely and Hannah shut her eyes as the brightness from behind and above her seemed to blind her. Both her arms went to shield her face, before she felt herself sliding out towards the sound of a male voice that was behind her. “Uh, hi.” He said, no tone of surprise in his voice as he continued to pull what would eventually be identified as a metal tray. Slowly, one arm dropped to her side, before the other followed and she opened her eyes. He was standing to the right of the tray Hannah had been put on, and as she tried to focus, but found it difficult to actually see him. Her head tipped to the right and his appearance came in more clearly, her left eye finding it easier than her right to assess him. He was a doctor of some description given the white coat he was wearing. His badge had his name and then...his job title. She swallowed loudly and then croaked out a “Hi,” in return.

“My name is Seth Collet. Do you know where you are?” He asked, moving away from the metal tray and moving towards Hannah's collection of possessions. Her clothing, the thin wallet she carried on her for identification purposes, her Ipod, and finally her cellphone. “I have a pretty good idea.” Hannah admitted, given she had seen his name tag and where it said he worked. “Why aren't you...surprised?” Hannah asked as she slowly sat up, the light green sheet that had been over her body and face falling from her frame. She gathered it almost as soon as it dropped, regardless if the guy was a doctor or not. “I've worked here three years. Nothing surprises me in this place.” He said with a low chuckle, as Hannah swung her body around to look at 'Seth' as he grabbed her clothing and offered it to her. “I've seen this at least a dozen times, and...” He opened his mouth to show off two upper fangs that came with a grin. “I usually keep people's things around for twenty-four hours just to be on the safe side of things.” He informed her, as Hannah reached out a free hand for her clothing, still holding the sheet near the base of her throat.

“Tha-” Hannah started before she went to a new train of thought. A couple actually, but the first one was about Freddie. “Freddie.” Hannah whispered before she hopped down off the tray. “Mind?” Sure, he had seen it while she was apparently dead, but he didn't need to see it again. “Do you know where my phone is?” She asked as he turned so she could start putting on her clothing. When she got to her underarmour, pink tank top, she groaned when she saw how much blood there was on it. “On the counter with your also, very dead Ipod.” He told her as Hannah put on everything but the top, then reclaimed the sheet and wrapped it around her. She moved around and offered it to him. “Do you maybe have a different top?”

He nodded his head, then moved to a small cardboard lost and found box. “Maybe. It's not glamorous though...” He confessed as he pulled out a gray t-shirt that had some band name on it with their logo, and then a sweatshirt from the city's university. She grabbed the band t-shirt and then slipped it over her head. “Thanks.” She moved to the trash she spotted off to the left of her near a column and tossed it. “No problem...but, you can't leave yet.” Hannah stopped and turned to look at him. “Why?” She asked, while taking a step back. Usually, in her life, the exception being Freddie-if something seemed too good to be true, then it usually was. And this guy had been an absolute life saver so far.

“You haven't been identified yet. Your dad is coming. He's not due in until tomorrow sometime. That's what he told us.” Seth moved to grab a chart to confirm what he said and flipped through a few pages. “Yup. He won't be in until around noon. Maybe a little before. He said his flight comes in a little before eleven A.M.” He put the chart down and gave Hannah a rather pointed look. She crossed her arms and then shook her head. “I don't care. I'm not staying here.” She moved to where he set the chart at, near her phone and other belongings and grabbed all of them. “Figure it out.” Hannah said as she tried her phone, even though Seth had told her it was dead.

“Look, I don't think your family can handle two surprises in one night. The surprise that you died, but now you're a vampire. Which, I'm sort of curious about. I didn't see any sort of puncture wounds on your body...” He trailed off, watching Hannah tuck her phone into the side of her jogging pants, followed with her small identification wallet. “Look, I don't know what happened, but I know I have to go home.” She looked up and over at Seth who was still by the counter with the chart, but again, when she focused on him, things seemed a little hazy on her right eye. Hannah rubbed at it, then rolled her eyes. She would figure it out later, but first thing first. Freddie. “I have someone waiting for me. Someone who thinks I'm just as dead as my dad.” Hannah grabbed her shoes and put them on one by one. She found her knees on the tiled floor and tied each one quickly. “I'll try and be back before my dad comes into town...okay?” Hannah half-promised Seth before she was out the door of the Morgue and all but sprinting down the street to her apartment complex.

How long had she been running? It seemed as if she were running and Hannah was getting absolutely no where. Which was the furthest thing from the truth, because the longer she ran, the more familiar some buildings seemed to be getting as Hannah encroached upon the city blocks she lived around. Still, every minute that passed by, Hannah wondered what Freddie was doing. What he was thinking and more specifically, how he was feeling. How long had she been dead? The guy at the morgue said he kept things for about twenty-four hours. That meant it could have been the same day she died, or the next day. She didn't know.

Hannah thought about how she should have called Freddie's cellphone back at the morgue. She knew the number and could have dialed it from any of the phones in there. Why hadn't she? Stupid. But then a different thought had hit her, making Hannah slow down for a second. What if Freddie didn't know? What if she had only been dead a couple of hours and he just assumed she was at work? Hannah took a deep breath in and hoped that was all that had passed; a handful of hours. And things would be okay. Normal. Sort of. He would still know she died, but it wouldn't be that big of a deal, right?

When Hannah saw the familiar stone bricks of her apartment complex, her eyes moved up to the floor she lived on and felt...relief. It was going to be okay. She couldn't have been dead that long. Freddie would be fine. They would both be fine. Great. Better than great. Just as she pulled the door open to the complex, Hannah stilled. They would be fine, she was sure of it, but what about her job at the hospital? She hadn't even thought about that. What about Gino? Things she would figure out later, hopefully with Freddie's help.

Hannah finished pulling the door open and moved inside the main area of the complex. She hadn't noticed it as well in the dark, but Hannah definitely noticed it now. Something was wrong. Usually two sides of mailboxes greeted her, but she could only see one row. The left row. In-fact, she couldn't see the plant that sat in the right corner either, or the emergency stairs. It was as if her vision stopped dead ahead of her, just like at the morgue. Hannah turned her head to the right to see if the mailboxes were there still. Check. And the plant. Another check. She rubbed at her right eye, then stared straight ahead of her. Still nothing outside of the hallway to the elevator and the mailboxes to the left. Had to be some sort of vampire thing. Hannah would ask Freddie just as soon...as soon as she was upstairs!

Hannah rushed to the elevator and jabbed the button at least three times, but probably more like six or seven. She knew that pushing it wouldn't make it come any faster, but it oddly enough gave Hannah a piece of mind. When it opened, she all but jumped in and pressed the button to the ninth floor. Again, more times than she probably needed to. On the way up, Hannah opened her wallet and went through what was in there. Everything. Seth was trustworthy it seemed. She pulled out her key, then pushed the button for nine again, before the door opened. She didn't waste any time moving to her apartment door, but when Hannah got to it, she stopped and...listened. What if Freddie did know? What if he didn't know, but wasn't home? What if, what if, what if? So many what ifs? There was only one way to find out.

Hannah took a deep breath in, put the key in the deadbolt and gave it a turn to unlock it. Very slowly, Hannah opened the door and was greeted by Amarillo, who glanced at her and then instantly bee-lined towards the living room. She could hear the sound of static, or something similar to it. The television? Did that mean that Freddie was here? Hope replaced doubts and worries that had plagued Hannah seconds ago, as she gently closed the door. If he was home, then he had to have known something wasn't right. That she hadn't come home. Hannah may work long hours, but she had never worked an entire double, or had to do split shifts where she had to power nap between shifts. Not like half the doctors and nurses did. “Freddie?” Hannah called out as she entered into the apartment more, still only hearing the television. She went to the living room to turn it off, but stopped when Hannah saw a lump on the floor near her bed. A very human looking lump. “Freddie!” Forgetting the static on the television, or the cat that dashed away from its all too familiar owner, Hannah moved into the bedroom and knelt down in front of Freddie. “I-” She didn't know what to say. What was there to say? Nothing. All Hannah wanted to do was put her arms around Freddie and that was exactly what she did.

She knew where Freddie's train of thought was going without him having the need to finish it. He knew what had happened, or that she had died to some degree. Hannah buried herself within his hold, and relished the feel of Freddie's body against hers. Her arms wrapped around his neck as Hannah's face found a place in the crook of Freddie's neck. “No.” She said quietly, before sighing. “I mean, I was. I did.” Hannah admitted, taking in a deep breath and inhaling his familiar scent.

Until tonight, Hannah had never imagined a point where Freddie might not be in her life; or she in his. At least, not until decades from now. Their time and relationship together had only grown, and if he wasn't about to hit the road over her complicated past, then Hannah believed it was unlikely anything else would make him pack up and leave one night. When faced with the possibility that he might not be there when she returned to the apartment, Hannah was scared. Petrified, even. Freddie had been the best thing that had entered her life in a long time and the thought of losing that-of losing him was all that Hannah had thought about. Forget her dad, forget that she was supposed to be dead; all Hannah wanted to do was make sure Freddie was still here and part of her life.

“Don't let go.” Hannah pleaded as she remained in his arms, her lips melding against Freddie's neck as she placed a firm kiss there. “I thought...maybe...you're still here.” Relief lined Hannah's words as she leaned back to look Freddie in the face. “I was dead. I don't know-what day is it?” Hannah asked, before she shook her head. Did it matter? “The man at the morgue, Seth.” Hannah took a deep breath in and then held it for what seemed like ever. He had to have known by now, right? “Freddie, I'm a vampire now.” Hannah said, confusion riddled in those five words. Seth wasn't the only one that was confused about how she was this way, but it didn't matter to her in the end either. What mattered was right here in this apartment with her right now. What mattered to Hannah was Freddie. Anything else they could get through. If they could get through her mess of a life and get through his memory issues, this was nothing. Right?

Two nights?! That meant everyone knew. Everyone believed she was dead. Not just her family, and not just Freddie at one point. But everyone at work. Maybe even some of her friends. Did Judah know? She should call him. Not now, but the thought crossed her mind.

Freddie started to ask a question and Hannah's eyes doubled in size. Did Seth? No, he seemed as confused as to how she was 'alive' as Hannah had been. Her head shook a little against the crook of Freddie's neck, still desperately content with remaining in his arms. How close had she been to never having this again? Too close for her comfort.

“Freddie?” Hannah asked, confused as to why he was suddenly laughing. Was it relief that she was here? If so, Hannah smiled, feeling relieved. Then he said something that she didn't understand completely. She was his. Did he think differently? Hannah had been his since their first date, in her mind. “I'm yours.” She confirmed agreeing between his lips against her. Then he said she was his again, and a different train of thought sunk in. 'His,' as in not Seth, but as in he had made her a vampire. “I don't know...how? How this works? How it happened.” She leaned back to look at him, still seeing a 'shadow' to the right side of her vision. “Freddie, something is wrong with me. I can't...” Hannah sighed then shook her head. “I can't...everything is different.” Hannah closed her eyes and leaned into him more, deciding to not broach the darkness she was seeing for now.

“I wasn't ready to die.” She confessed quietly, before laughing. “Which sounds stupid, right? A blood thief that dates and lives with a vampire, who works for--” She paused and then opened her eyes. If her family thought she was dead, and her friends and the world...that meant Gino and probably Levi thought she was dead too. “Worked for...” Hannah trailed off, slowly coming to terms with her new found freedom; even at its hefty price.