Chapter Text
When Captain Davenforth gave you your patrol orders, you didn’t think it’d be any different from any other patrol. You’d be partnered with Emma, wander the abandoned sector until sunset, report to the lieutenant, and be back in your bed at the barracks before you knew it. There weren’t any reports of feral or vampire activity so there was no reason to believe something was amiss. It seemed like a quiet day.
You’d never understood why the higher-ups professed to pair you with Emma though. In theory, it made sense. She preferred the bow while you used guns and knives. Emma would strike from the shadows while you would attack with a brutal stab through the heart. Unfortunately, She saw your combat style as a reckless overachiever desperate for attention and she never missed an opportunity to berate you for it. Yet, today she didn’t seem to want to critique your flaws. That should have been the first red flag.
The second was finding the body of a female hunter outside of a damaged old house. She had multiple bite wounds scattered over her body, along with indents from nails. Her skin was quite pale too, drained of blood. Her leather armor had been torn with claws, her exposed skin showing deep lacerations. All signs of ferals
Regular vampires were sneaky, cunning creatures harder to kill depending on their age. The older they were, the stronger. They all possessed enhanced speed, strength, and senses. Some even had special unique abilities on top of their persuasion so they needed to be killed immediately. Dealing with them had its drawbacks but it was far better than dealing with a pack of ferals.
Vampires had emotions and thoughts. If that was enough to say that vampires still had humanity, then ferals had abandoned it. They were creatures ravenous with hunger, willing to shred apart human flesh at the irony scent of just a single drop of blood. Years in the dark made them blind and unable to go in the sunlight, causing their other senses to be even stronger. Killing one of them wasn’t too difficult, you could kill them the same way as a vampire, behead them, pierce their heart with a wooden weapon, etc. But when they were in a group, survival was highly unlikely.
“We should check out that house,” Emma said enthusiastically, pointing to the old wooden house the body was in front of. “There’s gotta be ferals here. Let’s get rid of them. It’s too dangerous for a pack to be this close to Grieford.”
You rolled your eyes. She had a point about the ferals but it wasn’t like she said it out of concern for anyone at the Grieford outpost. Craving the notoriety hunters would give her, Emma lived for the thrill of killing vampires . Yet, she had the nerve to criticize you for the exact same thing. It was more than a little funny.
That’s not to say you were morally against her idea. Vampires were egotistical monsters who murdered humans and to stop them, they had to die. You were quite good at killing them too. You were one of the few hunters with the most kills for your navigation exam and had a few dozen kills for someone who’d only passed their hunter exams three months ago. You just didn’t see the need to brag about it or take extreme risks. You had nothing to prove to anyone.
“We should get a couple of the others to join. If the ferals are still here, we might not be able to take them all on with just the two of us. Who knows how many might be in there.” You cautioned, knowing she’d be doing most of the killing amongst the two of you. You didn’t have any ranged weapons on you other than a rifle, few bullets too.
“Why? You scared?” She asked, mockingly, getting in your face. “I think I can handle them just fine.”
“Not if there’s more than five.”
“Some of us don’t already have a bunch of kills under our belt. You’re not the only one who wants to be a Nightstalker, you know.” She snarled with a glare.
“Neither of us get to be a Nightstalker if we’re all dead.” You said, “C’mon, let’s just blow the whistle to get the nearby squad members to come. You can lead them.”
“Fine.” Emma sighed, grabbing the whistle from her neck and blowing into it once. It was silent while you waited for the other hunters to jog over.
Two pairs of partners ran over with fearful looks on their faces. One of them questioned, “What’s going on? You guys alright?”
Before you had a chance to respond, Emma spoke, “Found a body of another hunter with signs of ferals. They’ve gotta be in that house.” She pointed to the house. “Half of us will handle the lower level while the other half will take the second floor. Archer and Madden with me.” They nodded and followed her towards the house, weapons drawn.
That left you with the other two, Haydn and Senna. You didn’t know them too well since you’d only been assigned to their unit for a few weeks. They didn’t talk much but they seemed capable.
“Alright, guess that means you two are with me. Do you want me to lead or would one of you guys rather do it?”
Senna shook her head, “You’ve got more kills than us so you should lead. Maybe we could learn a thing or two.”
“Oh, uh, alright, c’mon then.” You said, bending your head towards the door and walked to it.
Emma and the others had already gone inside to begin searching the first floor. You pulled your dagger from your belt as you walked through the back door and took a brief glance at your surroundings. Nothing looked out of the ordinary so you turned on the flashlight clipped to your armor and went up the wooden old stairs, creaking with each step.
The upstairs was smaller than the downstairs area, only having four small rooms and an open office space. You opted to wander around the office space first to search for anything of value. It might not be your job to find supplies but hunters were always in need.
Tall bookshelves covered in a thick layer of dust lined the wall behind the desk. On the shelf sat binders with a script that was no longer legible and many different kinds of books from what must have been world history to fiction to business. Other items like geometric plant vases and picture frames decorated the shelves.
You turned your attention towards the desk, pushing the office chair away from it to search the drawers while Senna and Haydn stood guard behind you. In the deep bottom drawers were files you didn’t care to make sense of. The smaller drawers held common office supplies like pens and paper clips. However, in the middle of the desk was a thin drawer with a lock. You gave it a tug to see it didn’t budge. Something good must be hidden in there.
In search of the key, you scanned the top of the desk. It was organized for someone who had that many files. A closed laptop took up most of the space with a mug next to it, reading ‘everything is fine’ with a line art drawing of a cat. There was also a potted plant that could fit in your hands with crunchy, yellow leaves. But the item that held your gaze was a picture frame with the photo of a family. In the photo, a husband held a baby with his wife striking a pose next to him. He looked up at her with the same smile your father often gave your mother. With a sigh, you flipped the frame over to see a miniscule bronze key taped to the back. You ripped off the key and inserted it into the hole, turned it, and pulled the drawer open.
Most would have been interested in the small revolver but you saw something far more interesting–candy. You let out a quiet laugh at the colorful packaging, drawing the attention of the other two hunters. Their eyes lit up like the sun at the sight of pre-war candy.
“Holy shit,” Haydn muttered in disbelief.
“Do you think that’s still good?” Senna asked.
“I don’t know. Want to try it?” you raised an eyebrow and they both nodded excitedly.
With a grin, you tore open the small bag of colored circles. You couldn’t read any words on the label but it wasn’t like you’d know what it was even if you could read the name. There wasn’t a smell or strange look to them so you popped a blue one in your mouth. It tasted like chocolate, a bit bitter but it tasted incredible.
You poured the contents into your hand and held it out to the other two hunters. Their free hand dove in and quickly popped one in their mouths. Senna smiled at the taste while Haydn looked puzzled.
“Do you not like it?” You asked, tilting your head with a small smile.
“I thought it’d be sweeter…” He admitted.
“Probably was a few centuries ago before the world went to shit.” You chuckled at him.
You shoved the wrapper back in the drawer and pulled out the revolver and small box of bullets, stuffing the items in your pockets. Standing up, you stepped away from the office and headed towards one of the rooms.
Instead of splitting up to check each room, you had Haydn stand guard outside the room to watch for ferals, while you and Senna inspected the room. It may take longer this way but a single hunter didn’t stand a chance against a room filled with ferals.
There was nothing to see in the first room. However, the second you walked into the next room you were greeted with the sight of a long smeared bloodstain that stretched from the middle of the room to a closed door. There were also footprints, though they were tracks left by dust, not blood. The dried brownish red stains touched the doorknob of the door that connected to this room. Gripping a dagger in your dominant hand, you slowly opened the door with your free gloved one.
The stench of death was the first thing to assault your senses. The second was the sight of blood on the tub surrounds and a handprint on the wall near the tub. Much like the blood stains in the previous room, it was dry and didn’t look too old. Whatever happened here was recent. The stains were also caked onto the handles of the sink and the shower curtain that protected the tub from your view. The curtain just had to be closed didn’t it?
Letting out a shaky breath, you threw back the curtain and prepared to be jumped. Nothing would attack you because what had been lurking behind the curtain was double dead. It was a vampire with a hole in its chest where the heart should’ve been, his heart thrown by his feet.
There wasn’t much blood left in the tub, though that wasn't uncommon. A vampire would only bleed out whatever blood was left in their system when they died. Since they were already dead, there usually wasn’t much blood left behind.
Before examining the body further, you picked up the heart and examined it. There were small indents on the organ which you knew to be from a vampire's nails. That meant this person's killer was a vampire. You put down the heart and move a gloved finger into the mouth to push up their gums to see the shape of their teeth. The body indeed had fangs as you expected. With no other evidence, you tried to piece together what happened here.
The vampire in the bathroom was killed by a second vampire but not ferals. He was killed in the last room but the body was moved into the tub like the killer was trying to conceal it. The dead hunter outside had been killed earlier than this vampire but she was killed by ferals. You hadn’t found ferals but it was possible someone locked them in a room somewhere else in the house. It wasn’t the ferals you were concerned about though; it was the whereabouts of this second vampire.
“What do you think this means?” Senna asked hesitantly, fear clearly painted across her face.
“I think this was some kind of territory issue. Though, the dead hunter outside isn’t connected to this since she was definitely killed by ferals,” You said, “I think some vampire turned this sector into their hunting area but another one decided to hide out in this house. Once the vampire realized another was here, they fought and he lost. The surviving vampire might still be here.”
Senna’s eyes grew big as she gripped her pistol tighter. Haydn’s body kept facing towards the stairs, his voice shook slightly with each word he spoke, “Should we go tell the others? What do we do?”
“Let’s finish up here first.” You whispered, “We should split up and check the rest of the rooms. If you see anything, do not engage and come find me. We’ll fight it together.”
They looked at each other hesitantly before nodding and running off to start examining two of the other rooms down the hallway to the left. You went right and were about to open the door when you heard a shrieking scream from downstairs.
You ran to the stairs and peered out, unable to see anything. The sounds of a fight– shouting, thudding, snarling, shooting. You tiptoed downstairs until you were able to confirm the enemy. Ferals. And lots of them.
You swore under your breath as you slowly stepped back upstairs. Despite being afraid, you had to find Senna and Haydn and hide. You stealthily stepped one foot at a time to the left, glancing in each room for the two hunters. In a child's bedroom, you found the two frozen in terror with their weapons pointed at you. Once they realized you weren’t a feral, they lowered their weapons with a hint of relief.
“Did you get a look at them?” You nodded at Senna’s question. “How many of them are there?”
You shook your head fast, “Too many.”
They both swore and Haydn cried in a whisper, “We have to fight them.”
Senna shot him a look, “Are you crazy? We’ll die.”
“But the elders told us we have to fight, no matter what.”
“Fuck that. There are too many. We need to hide. Somewhere with a window. Maybe we can hold out until the sun comes up and then leave that way.” You said.
“Okay,” Senna nodded in agreement. “But we’ll have to go to the other side of the hall. These rooms don’t have windows.”
“Follow me then. Step quietly.” You ordered and they nodded in agreement.
You lead them to the other side of the hall, trying to step quickly and quietly as you had before. The screaming had stopped but you could still hear the sound of ferals hissing. It was only a matter of time before they ran upstairs like a pack of bloodhounds. You hoped none of you had any scratches or there was no way you’d make it.
Just one step at a time. One step. One step.
The three of you had almost made it to the door when a loud shuffle grew closer as the ferals ran up the stairs, hissing and snarling. Instead of making a run for a door you didn’t know would open, you opted to stand still and not move a muscle and hoped the others would do the same. You closed your eyes for a moment to focus on your breathing. For this to work, you had to slow your heart rate just like that night. If you faced the kings and lived, you could do it again for a pack of ferals.
You turned your gaze to the hunters next to you. Senna had noticed what you were doing and tried to do the same while Haydn held his crossbow ready to fire. Your eyes grew wide and you shook your head vigorously, praying he would get the hint. You couldn’t yell or reach him. Senna had her eyes closed, in concentration, unaware of what her partner was even doing.
Your hand flew to shake her shoulder frantically and you pointed at Haydn. Her eyes grew large with terror as she motioned for him to put it down. However, he couldn’t even register her. His eyes were trained on the stairs.
The ferals hissed as they clawed at each other, climbing and shoving forward up the stairs. Their pasty bodies had cuts where blood almost black began to ooze out. Some were even biting each other in an effort to get forward, ripping off chunks of skin. You heard the sound of the crossbow releasing an arrow as it whizzed forward, piercing one in the head. It let out an ear piercing shriek as it fell to the floor. Haydn quickly reloaded the crossbow and continued to fire at as many as possible until they reached him.
He was only able to kill three before the ferals descended upon him, tearing his flesh open with their black claws. He cried out in pain as one tore a chunk out of his cheek, sucking up the blood. He dropped the crossbow as his blood flew through the air, some of it hitting you and Senna. You couldn’t bear to watch and turned your gaze to the floor, attempting to focus on your heart rate.
You didn’t look up until you heard a shout from the woman next to you. With a pistol in one hand and a dagger in the other, she shot and slashed at as many as possible. Senna didn’t last long before the same thing happened to her. As much as you wanted to help them, you knew it would be pointless. You closed your eyes and focused on the beating of your heart, hoping it’d be enough to save you.
At some point during the chaos, a hand secured itself around your wrist and pulled you to the left. Your eyes flew open. You were flabbergasted at the unknown man pushing you towards the room you’d been trying to get to. It felt like time slowed as you turned to look at the ferals behind you, hissing and clawing the air, scrambling to reach you. The man shoved you into the room and quickly ran in behind you slamming the door shut. He struggled to hold it closed as dozens of ferals threw themselves against the door, growling.
“Find something to push against the door!” He shouted.
A bit disoriented, your gaze darted around the room. You noticed a long dresser and pulled it away from the wall. Sliding it behind the man, you yelled, “Move!” He whipped his head behind you and got out of the way.
The ferals threw themselves at the door able to move the piece of furniture forward a little with each thud. You swore, looking around the room for something else the two of you could move. The man rushed to the bed and slid the bed frame forward. While he moved the bed, you pushed a nightstand and tall dresser in front of the door.
“Do you think that’ll hold?” You huffed.
The man watched the furniture to see it didn’t move. With a small smile, he walked forward and managed to lock the door. He turned to you with a fanged grin and took a seat on the bed, “Yeah, I think that’ll hold for now.”
You withdrew the dagger from its holster and pushed the vampire down on the bed, getting on top of him with the blade against his throat. You looked at him with disgust, “Thanks for the help, vampire.”
He was stunned at the movement. The vampire swallowed before speaking, calmly, “I’m not here to hurt you.”
You laughed sarcastically, “Yeah, I so haven’t heard that one before. You just wanted to get me alone so you can drain me yourself.”
“I don’t even drink human blood. Besides, If I wanted to kill you, then I would’ve just let the ferals eat you but I didn’t.”
“So I’m supposed to believe you’re a kind vampire? If that’s true then you would have stepped in sooner and stopped them from getting killed.”
“I’m not altruistic or anything but I need your help,” He said’
“What do you want?”
“I need to get back to the capital.”
“Why the fuck would I help you cross two hundred miles of feral territory? And then do it again to get home? Do you know what they’d do to me?”
“Because I can get you access to the kings.”
“What? If you’re lying-” Your voice was soft without an edge.
“I’m not lying,” He said, “I promise. I swear it.”
Not all vampires could just waltz into the vampire capital of Dravograd. They needed travel permits from their clan and humans had to travel with the vampire clan they were connected to. It didn’t sound like he needed a travel permit so his clan had to be allied to the Kings. Hunters had tried so many times to break in there, only to be caught and never make it back to base. If you were any other hunter, you wouldn’t care about those bloodthirsty monsters more than any other vampire but they had made it personal. You pledged on the day the ruthless king and the sentinel slaughtered your family, you would find them and kill them with your family dagger.
The Grandmaster promised he would help you kill them countless times. He was supposed to make you a Nightstalker and you’d hunt them down. You’d waited patiently for sixteen years. You were done waiting. The perfect opportunity had just fallen into your lap and you’d be a fool to reject it.
It wouldn’t be easy to get him to Dravograd. You’d have to get him through hunter territory, find a way out of Ashtown, through two hundred miles of feral territory, and then make it across vampire territory without either of you getting killed or caught by hunters. You didn’t even have any supplies on you besides a protein bar and half a canteen of water. The hunters also had rules about aiding vampires, it was treason. Though, if you managed to infiltrate and kill the Kings, you’d be forgiven.
“Okay, I’ll help you.” You said, removing the dagger from his throat. He let out a sigh of relief. “But first, we’ll have to find a way out of here. That barricade will only hold off the ferals for so long.”
“It’ll hold. We can wait until night. They’ll scatter once it gets dark.”
Eventually, the ferals would give up and move on to find better prey. You didn’t want to have to sit in a room you couldn’t escape with a vampire but it’s not like you had a choice. It was only a few more hours until sunset so you might as well get some rest.
“Alright, well you can keep watch then. I’m going to sleep in the closet while we wait. You try to take a bite out of me and I will kill you.” He nodded and you walked over to the small closet, sliding the door open. You threw some of the clothes on the floor to create some cushion. After laying down, you closed the door and drifted off to sleep.
You were awoken by a soft knock on the closet door. As the door slid open, you gripped the hilt of the dagger, withdrawing it from its holster. When the door opened, you saw the vampire standing before you.
“Hey, it’s night. The ferals left the house but they’re lingering outside.”
“How many?” You asked, rubbing the sleep from your eyes.
“All of them.”
You stood on your tiptoes to peek out the small window. It was like the house was surrounded by a moat made purely of ferals. They must have still smelled you. You swore, “How are we going to get past them then? They won’t just ignore me.”
“I’ve got an idea.” The vampire motioned his head for you to follow him. He walked towards the stairs and stopped in front of the body of a feral with a crossbow arrow lodged in its forehead.
You turned to him perplexed, “And what am I supposed to do with him? He’s not just dead. He’s double dead.”
“We’re going to cut him open and rub his insides all over your armor. You’ll smell like a feral and we’ll be able to walk right past them.” He stood tall with a small smile and his hands on his hips. The vampire was clearly quite proud of himself. You weren’t sure if you should be impressed or irritated.
“That’s disgusting. I think I’ll pass.” You said, trying not to gag, and turned to walk out of the room.
“Okay, I mean you can do that but you’ll be feral food in a matter of seconds. Unless you have another idea?”
“Do you even know if this will work?” You asked, looking at the vampire like he had lost it.
“I’m not one hundred percent sure but it should. To ferals, I smell like a vampire. They’ll only attack me if I’m in the way of a human they’re trying to eat. They also only attack each other if they smell fresh human blood. So if you smell like them, they won’t even go near you.”
You simply sighed. You didn’t have any other ideas.
Before heading back upstairs to begin lathering yourself in vampire guts, you had to check and see if anyone was still alive. You doubted they were but you needed to.
Two hunters had died at the end of a hallway downstairs, a few ferals lying near them. It was difficult not to dwell on how mangled their bodies were. You used a gloved finger to close their lifeless eyes. Surprisingly, Emma wasn’t around. If she died outside, you doubted you’d be able to find her. As much as you hated her, you hoped she managed to get away. Death at the hands of ferals wasn’t pleasant.
With a tired sigh, you walked back upstairs and towards the body of the feral. You used your dagger to cut open his torso and wiped the blood from the weapon on his leg. Sheathing the dagger, you looked down at the body ruefully, “Let’s get this over with.”
The undead vampire walked over to the body and dug his hands in. When he pulled them out, his blood-covered palms were holding an organ in each hand, a liver in his left and intestines in his other. He rubbed the organs all over you. You closed your eyes, trying not to think about it but the more you tried not to, the more you wanted to throw up.
“Relax, hunter,” He said, “As soon as we get past the ferals, we can find a lake and you can wash off all the vampire guts.”
“Why’d you kill him?”
“The guy in the bathroom?” You nodded. “He tried to kill me for coming into his territory. He was mad he didn’t get to kill the hunter he found but it’s not like I was in his way. When I tried to explain to him that it was the ferals and I don’t feed from humans, he attacked me.”
“What do you mean you don’t feed from humans?” You asked, confused. You’d never heard that one before.
“I don’t know why but my body rejects human blood. I’ve tried to drink from a donor and blood bags but I just can’t seem to stomach it. My throat closes up and I vomit for days. Instead, I drink from animals. It’s much less painful,” he said, dropping the organs. He then bit into his hand and started spreading his vampire blood over your armor.
It did seem very strange to you that there was a vampire willingly choosing to drink animal blood instead of human. All the vampires you’d met complained about how animal blood tasted awful. They absolutely hated it. On the other hand, they never shut up about how great humans tasted, saying it was the sweetest thing in the universe. You wouldn’t have to worry about him draining you on this journey, at least, as long as you found enough animals for him to eat.
“You know, since I’m rubbing vampire guts all over you and we’re about to walk through a hoard of ferals, perhaps, I should know your name.” He glanced up at you with a boyish fanged grin. If he wasn’t a vampire, you might think he was cute. You told him your name. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, hunter. I’m August.”
“Are you almost done?”
“Yeah, that’s probably enough. You should keep one of the organs on you in case that wasn’t enough, though.”
You groaned, “Fine.”
“Pick your poison. You can hold a liver, wear the intestines like a necklace-”
“Ugh, stop talking. I’ll just hold the liver. Let’s go. Now.” You grabbed the liver off the floor and walked down to the back door. He chuckled, following behind you.
“Stay close to me. We’ll head to the forest.” He said and you nodded, opening the door.
As the ferals walked around, they made this gross panting noise but at least they weren’t snarling like they did when they were killing the other hunters. Just like earlier, you focused your energy on staying calm to slow your heart rate as you walked through the crowd. They didn’t pay any attention to you. Occasionally, they’d sniff the air but they wouldn’t react at all.
August walked in front of you. His posture seemed stiffer than it was in the house. It was like the ferals made him nervous too.
You prayed it wouldn’t spontaneously start raining. The skies in the human territory were often dark and gloomy. It made good weather for growing crops but it wouldn’t be great for it to wash away the scent of vampires off of you right now.
While you had been distracting yourself as you walked through the hoard of ferals, you hadn’t noticed one feral had gotten so close to you. You’d been so close to the forest too. Instantly, your body froze as it stood in front of you, sniffing the air. Your free hand reached for the dagger and began tracing the engravings and gemstones inlaid into the pommel, trying not to stare into the cloudy eyes of the feral. You weren’t sure how long you stood there until it gave up and started walking away. You couldn’t help but hold your breath as you continued your trek until you reached the treeline.
Once a safe distance away from the group of ferals, you let out the breath you’d been holding. “Holy shit, I can’t believe that worked.”
“Me too, that was terrible,” August said, with a nervous laugh, “Let’s go find you a creek and something we can eat.”