"When Ameri... died... things were fine for several months. Maybe half a year?" Ingrid starts, brushing her scraggly hair out of her eyes. The previous shine from her red hair is gone, leaving it looking dry and damaged. "We did as always and drank from the bags then hunted when our supply was low. Never kill, find animals as well."

Ingrid steps past us to lean against the stairs towards the main level of the house. She rubs her face next. Each move she makes is noticeably fidgety, like she's paranoid about something.

"Then about month eight or seven, things became weird. We noticed our supply running out at a faster rate when we'd check. I mean... distributing the bags has never been an issue before. We can last on one for several days if we have to. But it was odd, so we began keeping count. Then we noticed this... sour taste, as if the blood had started to spoil which just doesn't happen. The fridge was working just fine, no issues to detect so it couldn't be that the blood was heating.

Anyways, we ended up finding out who was taking extra blood. Following the rules we always have, we expelled him from the coven. We also assumed that he was the reason the blood wasn't being properly refrigerated, like maybe he tried to put some old bags back after we became suspicious. I don't know."

If possible, Ingrid's complexion worsens in the one minute she's been talking. She begins to appear so pale that I'd almost say she's a light gray. It makes the bags under her eyes more prominent as well as making her whale body appear as if she'll waste away as we speak. When she takes a deep breath, I can't help but prepare myself for what she's about to say.

Ingrid groans loudly. "The issues started again. Someone else began to take more bags. We found her and expelled her. But even then, another person would pop up so we locked u and only about five of us had a key. Despite that, the blood still began to taste sour. A good chuck of us decided to lay off the bags for a while, so we began to exclusively hunt animals. That's when we noticed a change in anyone who was still eating from the bags. They grew aggressive... like they were hopped up on drugs or something. And they kept wanting more and more, like they were never satisfied."

"Is there something in the blood? Is it possible you guys have been hunting junkies?" Alexei asks, raising an eyebrow. I can see on her face that she's unimpressed by the idea of her former comrades possibly 'doing drugs.'

"No, we know the difference between clean blood and contaminated blood. We've always stalked our prey days before going in, we continued that even if two of our leaders were gone." Ingrid gives her a pointed look. "This was something else."

"Fine, continue then."

"Thanks," Ingrid says sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She leans forward, pressing her hands to her thighs and leveling out her breathing once again. "Well, we did eventually decide to get the blood looked at. We sent it into a lab and... it was weird, so we decided to get a second opinion of sorts. We tested a different back and the same thing happened. But nobody knew what it was that was in the blood, it was just weird.

That's why we cut off the supply. Whatever was in the blood was causing everyone to go batshit crazy. Only they didn't recover. Instead, they decided to hunt until each one of those people became a vampire. Slowly, slowly more and more newborns started popping up."

Ingrid pauses for a moment. Since she's stopped for the time being, this gives us all a moment to think about what she's just told us. Maybe a mysterious new drug is being passed around? But that doesn't make any sense. What are the chances that every single person they've chosen to get blood from has taken this drug? There's no way. So what could it be? There's a chance that there's a new illness going around. Maybe one that doesn't appear bad, but can affect the vampires as it has. Though I'm not a scientist or a doctor so I don't know.

Before I know it, Indrid starts again. She mentions that the newborns are different. They wake up with issues and some even die as soon as they've gone through the transformation which isn't a normal occurrence. Unlike in the movies, people who transform into vampires don't feel a burning pain as they die and come back. It's not something that picks and chooses who can be a vampire and who can't, but vampires have their own rules to keep the community small and limited.

That seems to be the reason they're struggling. Indrid then goes on to explain how the newborns might be carrying a disease as the vampires have started getting sick. They catch something, then eventually become nothing as they don't get better. It also seems to happen to those who still continued to feed on humans. Anyone who chose to go for animals has been safe so far.

"So, it's just human blood that's contaminated?" Cal speaks up. He's leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed, taking everything in. "The simple answer is to not drink from humans, right?"

Yeah, perhaps. But from what it sounds like, those already infected are having a hard time controlling their animalistic side. It is a wonder why this is happy and what in their heads is turned off that makes them just go completely ballistic.

As the other three begin talking, I mull over everything in my head. All of a sudden, the blood starts turning bad. If we assume that all the bad blood is from contaminated humans, then whatever started going around is infecting people at an exponential rate; fast, too fast. Now, those still sane only drink animal blood, but those too far gone have turned their victims, resulting in death and a soaring number of vampires. Unfortunately, we have to say the original clan members who became contaminated are either dead or dying. Though no vampire deaths came in the report to Alexei.

And there's still one thing we haven't heard yet.

"Ingrid," I interrupt them, causing all eyes to turn to me. That includes the vamps still in hiding. "You haven't yet told us the deal with the refugees."

Ingrid's eyes widen and she nods. "That's right. A couple months ago, we suddenly started getting an influx of vampires coming here out of nowhere. They refuse to tell us what's going on, only that their home is destroyed. It's like they're all in shock. Not only that, but they all seemed to be starving when they came, not that they're faring much better now."

A couple months ago?

"Would you say it happened when we had that earthquake?"

"Actually, yes. Maybe three weeks after, that's when they all started coming."

Alexei looks at me, raising her eyebrow in a silent question. What I'm thinking is definitely a far fetch. Things almost sound related, though I'm struggling to really find that correlation. It's just the fact that everything started happening within months of each other.

"Okay, so, what if something is in the air? An airborne... whatever, but not necessarily a sickness." I look at them all to make sure they're listening. "This is causing the humans to have contaminated blood. We just have to rule out drugs one hundred percent because it's just impossible that every single person you've gone to hunt is doing the same drug, right?"

We can just assume that something is in the air which is causing human blood to be undrinkable for vampires. It's a disease for you guys essentially. Like-like a parasite. It's causing you guys to eat more than normal, like something is now inside your body and using your blood intake for nourishment. But as time passes, it's draining more than you can take in, eventually resulting in death. Now, let's say Georgia isn't the only place to experience the earthquake. Have you had a chance to ask where the other vampires are coming from?"

Ingrid shakes her head reluctantly. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she hates that she's making sense of my words. That's neither here nor there though.

I nod my head and continue. "If those vampires came from all over, not just Georgia, we can conclude that they're experiencing the same thing."

"One issue," Alexei expresses once I'm done. "The blood issue started before that earthquake. And what would that quake have to do with humans not having good blood?"

My feelings of triumph are shot down in a split second. In a childish flurry of emotions, I grow embarrassed from speaking so confidently. It only took Alexei a split second to find fault with my theory and I can't help feeling disgruntled at that.

"We've already concluded that the earthquake was a fluke, a seismic issue because of whatever is happening naturally with the earth," Alexei continues. I can tell she's trying her best not to sound overly critical and I appreciate that, but it doesn't quail my feeling of inferiority.

"Right," I find myself mumbling.

Alexei wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to her. I only feel slightly better though. Even with her presence, I can't help but wonder why I'm even here.

"So," Cal breaks the silence that has started to become deafening. "Where is everyone else?"