ʏᴇʟʟᴏᴡ ∆ ᴄᴀᴇsᴀʀ ᴢᴇᴘᴘᴇʟɪ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ∆

∆ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ∆

“Y/n!”

I turned to look over my shoulder at the sound of my name. Joseph, Caesar, Suzie Q, and a little girl walked towards me. The little girl was on Joseph’s shoulders, pulling and tugging his hair as she giggled when Joseph winced. She had blonde hair and pretty blue-green eyes, wearing a cute red dress.

“Y/n, this is Holly, Holly this is your auntie Y/n,” Joseph said.

“Wait a second, hold on!” I said, raising my hands, eyes widening in surprise. “You had a kid?!”

“I found out I was pregnant shortly after you returned,” Suzie said. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you, but Joseph said your father-”

“Don’t apologize!” I blurted, not wanting them to feel bad. “It was just surprising, that’s all.”

“Auntie!” Holly chirped, holding her arms out.

Oh. Did you hear that little tiny squeeze? Yeah. That was my heart. Joseph laughed and crouched down low enough that I could take her from his shoulders. She immediately giggled and started playing with my hair.

“Y/n, you said you wanted to talk with us?” Suzie asked, bringing everyone back on track.

“Oh. Yeah. Sit down,” I said, pointing to the picnic table that was placed in the park. Holly played around with some toys Suzie gave her and seemed to be content on her own.

“So what’s up?” Joseph asked.

“Well,” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I really don’t know where to start.”

“Just start at the beginning,” Caesar said, grinning at me as I rolled my eyes.

“Har har,” I said. “For the last few months, people have been coming into my hospital with puncture-like wounds on their necks, and at least 4 to 5 pints of blood missing.” The atmosphere suddenly grew thick, both of them tensing up at my words. Joseph turned to his wife.

“Baby, why don’t you take Holly and go play in the swings?” Joseph said. Suzie nodded and grabbed her daughter before walking away.

“So vampires are in New York too,” Caesar said, rubbing a hand over his face.

“And that’s not all,” I said. “I have to go back to Italy.”

“What?” Both Caesar and Joseph said, looking at me.

“Italy is crawling with vampires right now. It’s too dangerous for anyone to go there,” Caesar frowned.

“Why are you going in the first place?” Joseph said.

“The head surgeon in my unit asked me to go with him to speak to a doctor in Naples. He said that he’s willing to talk about what’s going on,” I said.

“Did you tell him that you knew?” Joseph asked.

“And be laughed at and told I’m crazy? People aren’t as naive as you think they are. Nobody believes in that stuff, and they won’t take it seriously,” I said.

“They’ll take it seriously when it’s them laying on their deathbeds,” Caesar scoffed.

“There’s something you aren’t telling us,” Joseph said, leaning across the table. In a split second, he reached forward and grabbed the string from around my neck, yanking it off.

“Joseph, what the hell?!” I yelled, reaching to grab it from him. He leaned back and let the charm dangle in the air.

“A vial of oil,” He hummed, turning to look at Caesar with a cocky grin.

“You still use Hamon,” The blonde said, both of them turning to me.

“And I’ll bet five bucks she runs around town fighting for vamps, too,” Joseph said, raising an eyebrow. “Do you still have the thigh straps for your knives?”

“Shut up,” I snapped, snatching the necklace back from him. “And I would fight them if I could find them. They’re damn good at hiding.”

“Or you don’t look hard enough,” Joseph shrugged. He yelped when both Caesar and I both kicked him from under the table.

“Could you be considerate, even for a second?” Caesar scoffed, before turning to me. “Listen, Y/n, Italy isn’t safe. I’m not saying that because you’re my friend either. I’m saying it because it’s true. You cannot walk outside during the night without potentially losing your life.”

“Then I’m not waiting for New York to get the same way,” I said, frowning. “New York has almost triple the population of Naples, and if they are swarmed, it’s only a matter of time before we are.”

“Caesar’s right, Y/n. Italy has only gotten worse over the years,” Joseph said.

“I know it’s dangerous because I’m out there trying to fight them. Trust me,” The blonde man said, looking at me with pleading eyes.

“You fight for your home country, and I fight for mine. I am going to Italy to see what this doctor has to say, and provide aid for those who need it. I’m not afraid anymore. I will not back down this time,” I said sternly. “I told you because I’m asking if you would like to go as well. I won’t be sad if you say no.”

“Who in their right mind would say no?” Caesar asked, quirking his brow.

“Knowing you, you’ll just get yourself into some trouble down there,” Joseph said, folding his arms on the table.

“Knowing you, you’ll follow me into it,” I grinned, placing my chin in my palm.

“Touche,” Caesar smirked.

“Did you like, grow a pair of balls or something?” Joseph laughed. “What happened to the little timid girl I met?”

“She grew up,” I said, shrugging. “Realized how stupidly pathetic she was and well.”

“You were never pathetic,” Caesar frowned.

“You were stupid,” Joseph said.

“You were stupider,” Caesar quipped in my defense.

“You were the stupidest,” Joseph stuck his tongue out.

“I’m gonna side with Caesar on this one. You were the dumbest out of all of us,” I said, laughing at his betrayed expression.

“We’re supposed to be FAMILY!” He yelled, as I tossed my head back and laughed. Caesar just shook his head and chuckled.

…

“It’s getting pretty late,” I said, glancing at my watch, seeing it was nearing nine in the evening. “I think I’m gonna head home.”

“Do you want me to call a cab for you, Y/n?” Suzie asked, returning from placing Holly in her room. We had ended up going out for dinner and then returning to Joseph’s house to just kind of lounge around for a while.

“No, that’s okay. I only live a few blocks away,” I said.

“Still, you shouldn’t walk alone. Vamps or not, New York is still dangerous,” Joseph said, tossing a pillow from the couch to the chair.

“I can walk you home,” Caesar offered.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t want you to walk back alone…” I mumbled, thinking to myself. “Here, we’ll do this. I don’t have work tomorrow, so why don’t you just stay at my house for the night? I have an extra bedroom and a couch in the living room.”

“Are you sure?” Caesar asked. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“I’m offering, so it’s no big deal,” I shrugged. “Grab some clothes.”