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The Elysian Fields of the Underworld.
Helen Stacy woke from her daze, her expression still clouded with confusion as she surveyed her surroundings.
The ground beneath her feet wasn't earthly soil. It gleamed with a soft, silvery luminescence—like solidified moonlight.
Greenery stretched endlessly in every direction.
Strange flowers and exotic plants grew in abundance.
The sky above wasn't the blue of Earth. It was an indescribable shade of crystal clarity, as if polished by the purest water in existence.
The dome above faded from that clear hue into a gradual crimson gradient.
There were no sun, moon, or stars in this Underworld yet, but soft, even light filled every corner of this realm.
At the heart of the Elysian Fields stood a temple.
Its steps were carved from pristine white gem. Each step bore intricate engravings inlaid with tiny light-diamonds that refracted rainbow colors under the ambient glow.
At the top of the staircase stood a massive, majestic temple.
Grand. Solemn.
It felt as though—
Every inch of soil, every ray of light here proclaimed silently: This is the domain of a god.
Just then, Helen suddenly noticed a young woman walking toward her.
Anya looked at Helen—who had appeared in the Elysian Fields without warning—with open curiosity.
"Who are you?"
"Helen Stacy." Helen answered instinctively, studying the girl before her.
For some reason, she thought she could see traces of her future son-in-law in the girl's features.
Wait.
Son-in-law?
In an instant, the confusion in Helen's eyes vanished. Everything came flooding back.
She remembered being in the hospital room, kissing George's forehead, then lying down on the nearby bed to rest.
And then—she'd heard voices. Mahoney and Hale, standing guard outside her husband's room.
Footsteps. Urgent. Rushing.
She'd been about to step out and ask what was happening when—
Pop-pop.
Suppressed gunshots.
The door to the room was kicked open from outside.
And then—
Nothing.
Helen recalled everything now. The memory of being shot in the chest. The image of Mahoney and two other night-shift officers lying dead on the hallway floor outside.
So—
"I'm dead, aren't I?"
"Uh..."
Anya was about to nod when—whoosh—the phantom image of a fire phoenix suddenly materialized around Helen.
Helen stared in shock as the translucent but warm-feeling phoenix prepared to wrap its wings around her.
"What is this?"
"My brother's power."
"Your brother..."
Helen, now fully emerging from the fog between life and death, looked at Anya—whose features carried faint echoes of her future son-in-law—and was about to ask Anya what her brother's name was when—
The phoenix's wings closed completely around her.
Like bathing in fire.
And then—
Rebirth.
"Ah!"
Beep-beep-beep.
At that moment, accompanied by the shrill wail of medical alarms, Helen—lying on the hospital room floor—suddenly opened her eyes. She sat up abruptly, her pupils dilated, gasping for air.
The next second—
Helen seemed to realize something. She scrambled to her feet and rushed to the bedside, staring at the flatline on the heart monitor. She slammed the emergency call button.
A piercing alarm immediately echoed through the entire floor.
Hale, who had just taken one of the night officers to check out a disturbance in the stairwell, heard the alarm. She froze mid-step, her eyes widening. After shouting a curse, she spun around and ran back toward the rooms.
And then she saw them.
Outside the captain's hospital room—Mahoney and two other officers lying in pools of blood.
Hale couldn't help but scream. She sprinted toward the scene.
The elevator doors opened.
The officers stationed downstairs arrived and gasped at the carnage.
Hale rushed to Detective Mahoney, checked his breathing, and let out a shaky breath of relief.
Just then—
Hawk and Gwen, both in pajamas, emerged from the elevator alongside the on-call emergency doctor who'd been summoned.
Thanks to the Reality Stone's influence, no one found it strange that Hawk and Gwen had appeared so suddenly. In their perception, the two had always been there.
The hospital room door burst open again. Gwen, wearing only pajamas, rushed inside with a panicked expression. The moment she saw Helen, she ran over and threw her arms around her. "Mom!"
The doctor who followed her immediately rushed to the bedside. After a brief examination and a glance at the monitors, he let out a relieved breath.
Helen stared blankly at the daughter hugging her.
"Gwen?"
"Thank God you're okay."
Gwen exhaled deeply, then looked toward the doctor removing his stethoscope.
The doctor nodded.
George was fine.
Only then did Gwen truly relax.
The doctor hurried back outside.
The people inside were okay. But three people were lying unconscious in the hallway.
Hawk, also in pajamas, helped the officers load Detective Mahoney and the two injured officers onto gurneys. Then he turned to Detective Hale.
"What happened?"
"The surveillance camera in the stairwell went offline for some reason. I took someone to check it out. We found the camera destroyed. The whole thing took less than three minutes. Then we heard the alarm."
Hale looked completely lost as she watched Mahoney being wheeled toward the OR for emergency surgery.
Everything had happened too fast. Her head was spinning.
Hawk studied Hale briefly, then turned and pushed open the door to George's room.
Helen sat in a chair nearby, staring down at a bullet in her palm.
She'd found it moments after Gwen arrived—pulled it from her clothing. She'd also found a bullet hole in her shirt.
Helen's mind was reeling.
But Gwen was there, comforting her.
The moment Hawk realized Helen had been reborn, he'd thrown on underwear and pajamas, grabbed Gwen—who'd done the same—and rushed to the hospital.
He'd expected George to undergo rebirth shortly after Helen.
But George hadn't been reborn. It seemed that after killing Helen, the assassin hadn't had time to finish off George before fleeing.
But did that make sense?
The killer had clearly come to eliminate witnesses. Why kill everyone else but leave the primary target alive?
Unless... The killer had killed George. George just hadn't died.
But was that even possible?
Yes.
Hawk stepped back into the room, his gaze landing on George—whose eyelashes were beginning to flutter faintly. His eyebrow arched.
The next second, A low groan.
Gwen, who'd been comforting her mother while staring at the bullet in Helen's hand and rapidly trying to figure out how to explain this, heard the familiar sound. Her eyes lit up. She turned toward the bed to see George slowly opening his eyes. After a moment of shock, joy flooded her face.
"Dad!"
"...George?"
Helen, who'd been lost in thought trying to figure out if what she'd just experienced was real or a dream, heard Gwen's delighted exclamation and snapped back to reality. She stood and looked toward George, whose eyes were now open.
George, lying in the hospital bed, met his wife's gaze first.
Their eyes locked.
Helen instinctively dropped the bullet she'd been holding and stepped forward, gripping George's hand.
"George."
"Dad."
Gwen watched her father—eyes open, looking at her mother, even managing a weak smile—and couldn't help but laugh through her tears.
Hawk, standing near the back of the room, watched George wake up. But unlike Gwen and Helen, he wasn't smiling.
He turned and walked into the bathroom. When he reappeared, he'd already made a quick trip back to the apartment to grab Gwen's phone.
Then he dialed Katherine.
Katherine Pierce.
The Vampire Queen.
Before Hawk and Gwen had returned from Forks, Katherine had already arrived in New York City.
After learning from Hawk that Klaus—the Original vampire—had given up hunting her, Katherine had breathed a massive sigh of relief. But she hadn't left New York. She'd stayed.
Simple reason: she was worried Klaus might change his mind. And more importantly, New York was close to Hawk.
Hawk hadn't cared. It wasn't like New York was his personal property. If Katherine wanted to stay, she could stay.
Later, Gwen and Sharon had run into Katherine while shopping. The three women had even grabbed afternoon tea together.
After a few more chance encounters, Katherine had become one of Gwen's friends.
So Gwen had Katherine's number. Hawk didn't.
The call connected quickly.
"Katherine, it's me."
"Oh!"
Katherine's voice on the other end let out a surprised gasp. The lazy tone she'd been using instantly sharpened with tension.
Hawk didn't waste time. He got straight to the point.
"Get me a daylight ring. I'm at New Amsterdam Hospital. As fast as you can."
"...No problem. On my way."
"Thanks."
Hawk hung up, stepped out of the bathroom, and turned his attention back to George—who was now not only awake but talking, his complexion visibly improving with every passing second.
The doctor who'd examined him earlier had returned, drawn by George's miraculous recovery. He stared at George—who was already trying to sit up—with an expression of complete disbelief.
Gwen was equally stunned.
The initial joy of seeing her father wake up had worn off. Now, watching his condition improve at a visible rate, she frowned. She glanced at Hawk—whose expression had turned serious as he emerged from the bathroom—and hurried over.
"Hawk, is Dad—"
"Conversion."
"..."
Gwen, who'd been about to ask if something was wrong with her father, froze at the single word. Then it clicked. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She glanced back at George—who was ignoring the doctor and sitting up in bed—then lowered her voice to a whisper.
"Vampire conversion?"
Hawk nodded.
"Yes."
"How is that possible?"
"Vampires have to drink vampire blood first, then die before they can turn, right?"
"And what about rebirth?"
Gwen's pupils trembled. "Dad died. He should have been reborn, right? Mom was reborn. Why wasn't Dad?"
Hawk looked down at Gwen, who was gripping his arm, her voice barely above a whisper. "He'd trigger rebirth if he died a second time."
Gwen's eyes went wide.
"What?"
"Rebirth only activates after death. Just like Helen—she visited the Underworld first, then came back."
"But George's soul never made it to the Underworld. The vampire blood brought him back before that could happen. How could rebirth trigger if he didn't die properly?"
Hawk kept his voice low as he explained the mechanics of rebirth to Gwen.
Vampire conversion happened before the soul reached Hell.
After all, if a soul made it to Hell and could still come back as a vampire, that would be stealing from Mephisto's domain.
Even Hawk had struggled to pull souls from Hell. No way could ordinary vampires do it.
His rebirth activated after death.
Even the first time Hawk had been reborn, his soul had made a quick visit to Mephisto's bar.
So—
George had technically died. But his soul hadn't completed the journey to the Underworld before the vampire blood in his system kicked in. That was why he'd revived and entered vampire conversion instead.
"There's only one problem now."
"What?"
"When did George drink vampire blood?"
"And..."
Hawk paused, looking down at Gwen and lowering his voice further. "How are you going to convince George to drink human blood within the next twenty-four hours?"
Gwen's eyes widened again.
Right.
Vampire conversion only lasted twenty-four hours. If George didn't drink blood during that window, he'd die.
Wait—
Gwen shook her head.
"But what about rebirth?"
"Yes, but are you willing to gamble on it?"
Hawk gave the doctor—who was examining George with an expression of awe—a strange look, then spoke quietly. "George is in a superposition state right now. Half-human, half-vampire. What if rebirth brings him back in the same state?"
After all, he only had two Phoenix Feathers of Rebirth.
He'd given both away last Christmas—one to George, one to Helen—after returning from Forks.
And the rebirth he'd granted them wasn't the same as his own.
He had Immortality first, then Rebirth.
That was why every time he was reborn, he came back at full strength—and even stronger than before.
Immortality was the core of his Phoenix Authority.
But he couldn't grant Immortality to others.
He could only grant Rebirth.
And without Immortality as the foundation, Rebirth functioned like it had for Helen.
Simple resurrection. No special effects.
So his Phoenix Feathers could guarantee that a human would come back as a human, and a vampire would come back as a vampire.
But George was currently in a quantum superposition between human and vampire. In that state, Hawk couldn't predict what rebirth would produce.
And again—
He only had two Phoenix Feathers. He could probably find another test subject in a superposition state if he really wanted to. But he didn't want to waste a feather on an experiment.
Gwen listened to Hawk's explanation, her brow furrowing.
"So what do we do now?"
"I don't know."
Hawk answered honestly. "But I called Katherine. She's bringing a daylight ring just in case. For now, let's figure out where George got vampire blood in the first place."
Gwen steadied herself and nodded.
Soon—
The doctor finished his second examination of George. He removed the stethoscope, looking at the captain with amazement.
Helen watched nervously from the side.
"Doctor, is George—"
"Captain Stacy's recovery is remarkable. Better than I've ever seen. Don't worry. We'll schedule a full workup tomorrow when the day shift comes in."
The doctor smiled reassuringly at Helen.
Helen's worry melted away. She walked the doctor to the door.
George, sitting up in bed, started pulling at the monitoring equipment attached to him.
Gwen yelped and rushed over, grabbing his hands. "Dad, what are you doing? You just woke up!"
George tried to swing his legs out of bed.
"Mahoney's still in surgery. I need to see him. I'm fine. I feel better than I ever have."
"No, you're not fine."
After entering vampire conversion, a person was at their peak—but it was the beginning of the end. Over the next twenty-four hours, if they didn't drink human blood, their organs would slowly fail until death.
Think of it like a twenty-four-hour shot of adrenaline after being poisoned. The adrenaline kept you going long enough to find the antidote.
The antidote was blood. Drink blood, and you'd be fine. But if you didn't find the antidote within twenty-four hours? The adrenaline would wear off, and you'd die.
George had just been revived. Right now, he was at peak condition.
Hawk, meanwhile, was curious. George had been in a superposition state moments ago. But now he seemed to be leaning more toward the vampire side.
"George, are you investigating a case involving vampires?"
George, who'd been trying to convince his daughter to let him out of bed, froze at Hawk's question. His eyes narrowed slightly.
Their gazes met.
Hawk's expression remained calm.
Gwen glanced at her mother—still standing by the door—and lowered her voice. "Dad... do you feel like drinking something right now?"
George looked at his daughter, whose tone had turned oddly secretive.
"Drinking what?"
Hawk's gaze drifted upward—toward the blood bag hanging beside the bed, slowly dripping into George's IV line.
His mouth twitched.
Oh.
That explained it.
He'd been wondering why George seemed to be converting into a vampire despite not drinking any blood.
Turns out he already was.
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