Caden jolts upright and gasps. He takes several deep breaths and looks around him. "Hey! Hey! Easy! It's okay, deep breaths."

Caden looks at the man, he's almost as wide eyed as Caden. "Where am I? What happened?!"

"It's okay, my name is Frank. What do you remember?"

"I...uh...um...I...pain? A...A lot of pain. Tons of pain. A freaky night...did that happen?"

He clears his throat. "Yeah. Last night happened."

Caden shakes hard, he looks down at his hands, shaking terribly. He looks up at Frank again. "What happened?"

"What's your name?"

"Um...Caden."

"Caden, last night you saved a girl from being killed, you got hurt, pretty bad, and well."

"How long was I out?"

"Three days." he says,

Frank takes a mirror off of a table next to him and hands it to Caden, oh man his face is probably so scarred!

He grabs the mirror and looks into it, the lens or white of his eyes are black as the night sky, his iris's are as red as blood. Caden sees it and gasps again sharply, the mirror jumps out of his hand flies through the air behind him.

Frank seemingly disappears and reappears with the mirror in his hands, but Caden almost didn't notice it. Caden jumps when he realizes what just happened and stares at him.

"What the heck have you done to me!?"

Frank holds up his hands, "Hold on, hold on! Breathe, the girl you saved last night, she saw you dying so she saved you, she turned you into a demon."

"What?!" Caden asks, he sounds as though he's about to cry.

"Welcome to our world man. I'm...heh, well I'm a vampire. You were gonna die that night if she didn't turn you into a demon."

"What really happened!?"

"Calm down man. Relax. I just proved it. But look."

Frank opens his mouth, holds his hands up, Caden's heart skips a beat as he watches Frank's K9's and nails grow slightly in length.

Caden swallows hard, Frank grabs the mirror and twists it lightly and breaks it in half. Caden jolts and jumps as he stares in horror.

Frank sets the mirror down and scoots shards that clattered to the floor against the wall. "I know, you're freaking out. Keep taking deep, slow breathes, through the nose, out of the mouth. It'll help."

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"It's alright man. You can trust me."

"Why are you here?" Caden asks,

"I was assigned to be here when you woke up. There's a lot to discuss. But I got to make a call okay? Just let higher ups know you're awake."

He turns but Caden calls after him. "Um, I'm not gonna die right? I'm a demon...are people going to hunt me?"

Frank thinks for a moment. "Save those questions okay? I'll answer as many as I can when I come back in okay? And you're not gonna die. I'll be back okay?"

Caden nods, Frank smiles softly and walks out of the room. Caden looks around and finally takes in the room. It's some hospital room, but it looks different from a hospital. He can't tell why. He looks out the window at the parking lot. The room is a dull white color, a little depressing.

It's an empty white room, the bathroom door is in front of him to the right. His mind is racing a thousand miles an hour. Where is he? What even is he now? Is this real? Some awful, twisted nightmare?! This feels like some movie, He wishes it was just a movie, that he could be an actor that could go home! Have a normal life!

After a few minutes, Frank walks back in with a smile. "Alright man, let me start and maybe I can answer some of your questions in the process."

Caden nods. Frank is a small man, maybe 5 foot 5, but he is well built, not over the top muscular, but he definitely looks intimidating. Or, at least he usually would, with how kind he has been, it has made him seem like such a relief and a friend.

He walks over and sits on the side of the bed. "So, you believe me? You know demons and vampires and all that?"

Caden nods, "What else, is there?"

"Many other races. But for now lets just focus on you. You're a demon Caden, I very rare race of demon, now not all demons are bad, no it's not your destiny now. Your life is still yours. But you are part of a race called Blood Demons. The closest species you relate to is us, vampires."

Caden swallows hard, Blood Demon? The name alone makes him sound like some sort of monster.

"How am I like you?"

"Well, unfortunately I don't know much about you're kind. I know you aren't as fast or strong as us, but you are stronger and faster than humans. People are going to be watching you Caden."

His eyebrows raise, "Like, like I got ex con written on my forehead or like they want to help me?"

"Probably both. Blood Demons were once a very dangerous race. I don't know the story but I know it didn't end well for you. Now before you go off, hold on. People might still look at you in good and bad ways, but times are a little different. Everything right now concerning you is...uncertain. Blood Demons aren't supposed to expand their race, it's illegal."

"But here I am, so what happens now?"

"Now, you have, don't be intimidated by this, it's just what we call it. You have a hearing in two days. There's this council, each race has a representative on the council, and they'll just want to know what happened."

"Well if it's illegal, what will happen to me?!"

Frank takes in a breath, "Nothing can be said for certain, but hey! I've talked with the girl that saved you, she'll be there at the hearing too, it's mostly for her, but they need to figure out what to do about you too. If I placed money on it, I'd bet nothing would happen to you, I think they'll be sympathetic, you picked a good time to turn into a Blood Demon, the council members are pretty cool the one you got to worry about is the vampire councilor and I've talked to her, she wants to help."

Caden takes deep slow breathes and shakes a little. "And if they decide something bad?"

"I'm not sure. But I doubt they would. We'll have to play it by ear."

He groans, "Okay. So what, I just stay here or what?"

"For now yeah. But I'm here to protect you and watch over you."

Caden sighs, "Okay."

****

The days pass pretty slowly. But they finally pass. He spent the days watching TV and eating. He wasn't really allowed to leave his room, for whatever reason. He didn't ask, Frank intimidated him too much. But he's finally leaving. His heart pounds like crazy, he gets chills so hard and fast that it make him actually shiver hard.

He is given clothes by Frank. He dresses in the bathroom and lets his mind ponder what to do. He's not about to die. No way. So...he needs to get information on who he is so he knows his strengths. Frank said he relates to a vampire. Maybe he can use that if things go bad.

Caden looks at his shaking hands and then at his face. It's pale, but since that night, he's been pale skinned.

He takes a deep breath and walks out of the bathroom. Frank gives a light smile. "Sure you don't want to stay in here?"

"Seriously, don't."

Frank grins, "Alright-alright. Let's get out of here." He laughs,

Caden takes another deep breath as Frank puts his arm around him and they walk out. They get into the front seats of a grey car. Caden isn't sure what kind it is, but it's a medium sized car.

"I don't know what to expect at all."

"Me neither, I've never been to one of these and nothing like this has happened in my life time. We'll see."

"Alright, sorry I'll stop."

"Caden, your entire world just got transformed and flipped upside down. It's kinda weird that you aren't freaking out more."

"I'm trying really hard not to...I'm not sure I believe all this yet."

"That's fair I guess. Still weird."

"Where is this thing at?"

"A courthouse. It's actually pretty cool to see it. You'll see what I mean."

"Frank? Thank you, for being so kind to me. I think you're the only thing, if you exclude the fact that it hasn't bitten me yet, that's keeping me from having a full blown mental breakdown."

He smiles, "You're welcome. Like I said, I've been where you are."

Caden clenches his fists and begins shaking again harder than before, it's starting to hit him. It takes an hour and a half of listening to the radio in verbal silence until they arrive and he starts shaking more.

The courthouse is actually a decent size. "Hey, breathe."

They stop in front of the doors, Frank turns to Caden and clears his throat, a smirk at the corner of his mouth. "Alright Cade, this will get...a little weird. Deep breathes through the nose."

Frank leads him to a man door entrance beside the revolving doors. Caden watches the people walking back and forth inside, as he walks in, they all disappear. What appears is...things from the unseen world.

People with feathered wings, some with wings that looks like stain glass. Some of them are in the air...flying, others have fangs...like vampires. Pillars and interesting paintings line the gold and black wavy walls. Some of the people have gold iris's, there's also purple and red and yellow. Then it hits him, hard! He shakes hard and is hyperventilating. His eyes roll back, he groans and drops to his knees hard and then is out before he hits the floor.

He groans and opens his eyes drowsily, he stares at the ceiling. "Hey! He's up."

"That's exactly how far I expected you to get."

That was Frank's voice, he can hear him chuckling. Caden sits up and looks around. "How long was I just out?"

"Eh ten minutes."

"Did I just pass out? Really? In front of everyone?!"

He groans and rests his head in his hands. "Heh, man we're just glad you didn't have a seizure." Some other guy says,

"I'll go tell the council."

Caden watches the third speaker turn and hurry away into a courtroom. Most of the others around follow him. "Is everyone sitting in on it?!" He asks,

"How are you feeling dude?" Frank asks,

"Scared out of my freaking mind." Caden says as he shakes more and more,

"Hey, it'll be okay. You got this man. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Alright whatever, can I go in now?"

Frank snorts and nods, "Yeah if you feel good getting up."

"Let-just get this over with."

Frank jumps up and throws out his hand. "Alright man, let's go."

Caden grabs his hand and is hoisted to his feet. Caden and him walk around the corner and through one of the two sets of double doors. The room is so huge! The people that can fly, some of them are in the air above everyone else that sits in the plush seated rows of the courtroom.

"Whoa."

Towards the front where the judge would sit, is where six judges sit with their black robes. They all look so intimidating. He could be sentenced to death today. He follows Frank, unable to take his eyes off the judges that have now noticed him walking closer and are finishing their talking and turning silent.

Caden is lead to his table in the front, he sees the one chair and looks at Frank. "I'll just be back there, don't worry."

Caden shakily takes a breath and grabs one of his hands tight to hopefully hide the shakiness. He watches Frank retreat and swallows hard.

"Mr. Jackson? Please be seated."

He looks back at the judges and sits down at the table. "Glad to see you're okay after that spill you had in the hall. Mr. Jackson you are now a Blood Demon, do you know what that means?"

After a few seconds, he then realizes he needs to speak. He clears his throat and squeezes his hands a little tighter. "U-u-um...no? Not really, I know that I'm some kind of demon now? That I have qualities similar to vampires? Th-that's what I was told."

"Well you'd be correct, can you tell us what happened that night?" one of the two women asks,

"Um, I left my apartment building and heard yelling, it even sounded like someone was being attacked so I went behind my building, uh! Because I-that's where the sound was coming from. One girl was attacking another and I tried to stop it. I...I don't know what they were, species or race wise, whatever you call it. But one of them hurt me, I guess pretty bad and the other girl saved me."

"Can you tell us what the attacking female looked like?"

"Um...I don't really remember it. She had a blindfold I think, I don't remember much else about her. I don't really remember much else, people told me I got hurt."

"You don't remember it yourself?" one of the male judges asks,

"I sort of do, it happened fast, I don't remember too well. I barely remember the other girl's face." He says,

"Mr. Jackson, you are a Blood Demon. Because of a complicated past with your race, only so many of you are allowed alive at a time."

The moment he realized where this was going, he begins to breathe heavier and faster, he can feel his heart pounding so hard that he can feel it in his throat.

"100 are allowed, as of right now you being a blood demon is allowed, there is currently enough room to allow you a place here."

He huffs out in relief. He doesn't need to run or hide. "Mr. Jackson, being a Blood Demon has it's own set of challenges for you. We understand your situation, no family and as we understand it, you just graduated college. If you would like, we can help you with acceptance into Haven University, Though you've graduated from college, you are allowed to attend one from our world, it would help you learn about our world more and if you wish to attend past one semester you will need to find your own way."

"You'll...help me?"

"We never help people like this. It's not something we do Mr. Jackson. You were introduced to our world in a very inconvenient way, with not the best timing."

He frowns at them. "What's the catch?"

"Don't be a prick."

Three of the judges glare at the angel. "It is true, your kind has a history of hurting this world and being criminals. We live in secrecy, we want you to swear that you'll be a good citizen and never reveal our world to humans. It would be very complicated."

He nods, "I promise, I won't. I just, want as normal a life as I can have, a-and...I would love to go to college. Thank you."

"Then Mr. Jackson, don't betray our generosity. Your temporary partner for the last few days will help you start. This case is dismissed."

It all ended so fast, as quickly as it started. Before he knew it, Frank was by his side and they were heading out the door with an official, pre-signed court order from the council that he was taking out a loan that they would pay off.

"I can't believe that all happened."

"Told you, nothing to worry about."

"I expected to get rejected or spit at!"

Frank snorts, as they walk out of the building.

"So, next steps. We'll go set up a bank account for you. we'll trade in your iPhone for a Vex phone. Before you ask, it's basically an iPhone but has our own apps as well, technology mixed with stuff you already have had and know about. We'll set you up at the college and find your room."

"Jeez. It's already been an impossible day."

Frank grins, "This is happening tomorrow. Today and tonight we are flying to Boston."

Caden's eyebrows shoot up. "What?...There isn't a closer school?"

Frank shakes his head, "Sorry man, they actually already made their decision three days ago. They just wanted to make sure you were a good guy."

"Why didn't you tell me?! Come on!"

Frank holds his hands up, "Hey! I wasn't allowed. Sorry man. But don't worry, okay? The decision was made a while ago so all your stuff has been shipped there anyway. The college is already reserving a place and dorm for you. Not sure why but that's what's happened. I know you've probably felt like your a pawn being moved around on a chess board right now, but this life, your life, will be yours once I let you go in Massachusetts."

Caden growls to himself, "Fine! Let's just freaking go already!"

Frank pats him on the back. "That's the spirit!"