Chapter Text
The drive home was tense. Dusk slowly crept over the horizon and all the hunters shifted their weapons ever so slightly, watching intently out the windows. None of them were particularly fond of being outdoors at night. Finally, as they drew closer to home, Bdubs broke the silence.
“So, are we just going to sit at home waiting for them to contact us or what?” They hadn’t discussed it yet. When they learned from that vampire - Beef, of all names to take - that the coven was actively searching for them it had thrown them all off guard. There were plenty of groups of hunters out there, many much bigger than their core of seven. So why would they be the ones the vampires were looking for? No one could give a good answer to Bdubs’ question. They needed to have a meeting about what they were actually going to do.
Wels gripped the steering wheel a little tighter as he pulled off the main road, nearly back at their outpost. He remembered the day he first tried to drive up here after hearing about a hunters outpost being renovated and looking for members. It had been completely impassable, overgrown with brambles and rotten tree branches. Cub was the only other hunter there at that point and he hadn’t any need for the road. Now they rarely went anywhere outside the grounds without driving. It made for a much safer getaway option.
The light on top of the outpost tower blinked warmly at them as they passed out of the tree line, heralding their return. Everyone let out a gentle sigh of relief. Nowhere ever felt completely safe from shadowhusk attacks, but at least here they knew that they would be prepared for a fight. Grian rolled his shoulders as he climbed out of the truck and started heading for the front door, trying to shake off the sudden feeling of dread creeping up his spine. The entire time they had been in that town he had felt eyes on him, tracking his every movement. It was unsettling, to say the least. But the worst part was how convinced the people living there were that they were protected. He didn’t understand how regularly being forced to donate blood in order to feed a coven of vampires could make anyone feel safe.
As they all grabbed their gear and made their way inside, Cleo noticed Joe holding their arm across their chest. She frowned in concern but knew better to question it while they were around the others. Even though the group were fairly understanding of Joe’s condition, both of them still preferred to keep it to themselves as much as possible. Still, they walked a little closer to his side, and he acknowledged her presence with a tired smile.
xB was the last to trail indoors. Something was setting off his senses and he didn’t like it one bit. As they all crossed the threshold into the living area after divulging themselves of their boots and jackets, a weight settled heavier on his shoulders. He discreetly observed his fellow hunters to see if they felt anything off either. Joe was resting their weight on Cleo in such a way that others might not even notice. Bdubs and Cub were discussing what to make for dinner while Wels drew the iron grate across the front door and windows as an extra precaution. Only Grian seemed visibly agitated by something, his eyes darting from side-to-side and fingers rapidly twitching.
As they made their way through the common area, xB and Grian both suddenly froze in place. “Guys, is everything alright?” Cub raised an eyebrow at the pair, who were taking a defensive stance in the centre of the room. He dropped his hand to the blade by his side and took a tentative step back into the room, scanning for the danger. Cleo and Joe had headed upstairs to wash up before food, Bdubs was behind him in the kitchen, and Wels was standing with his back to the wall, hands also on the hilts of his swords. The four of them stood there with bated breath, listening out for anything out of the ordinary.
“Whoever or whatever you are, show yourselves.” Grian’s voice was pinched, trying to hide the fear that had rendered him paralyzed. He could feel the warmth of xB’s back against his, reassuring him that he wasn’t alone with this strange feeling. There was something in their home, their safe space which that had been so extremely careful to protect from the creatures of the night. He scanned the room around him, hoping to pick up on a sign of something, but all he could hear was the thundering of his own heart in his chest.
There was a clatter from the direction of the kitchen and xB drew in a sharp breath, catching Cub’s worried gaze and slowly drawing back the string on his crossbow to nock a bolt. He straightened up to his full height and raised the bow up to his chest. “You don’t want any trouble from us, so it would be for the best if you stopped hiding. We can’t negotiate with shadows.” When that young hunter had shown up at their doorstep a few days ago with tales of a town protected by vampires, xB had recoiled in shock just at their mention. None of the other hunters had reacted the same, most of them were just confused that vampires were actually real. But xB had known they were real for many years, long before he joined this group of shadowhusk hunters. Now, he was prepared for them though.
A figure dressed in a patterned silk waistcoat and black slacks stepped out from the sliver of shadow behind the bookcase. His hair was swept back from his face, so as to direct all attention to his glowing red eyes. He walked forward with a catlike grace, his footsteps making no sound on the hardwood floor. Wels got the distinct feeling that there was more than one of them hiding in the room. Glancing towards the kitchen, he hoped that Bdubs would stay in there for the time being. The last thing they needed was his nervous trigger finger in this situation.
“I apologise for our secrecy. It is important that I ensure you don’t pose any threat to my coven before we introduced ourselves.” With a smile, his sharp porcelain fangs peeked out and the tension in the air grew thicker. Standing in front of them was a vampire. His voice was gentle and unassuming and he carried no visible weapons. But the danger of those fangs alone was enough. He took another step forward towards Grian and xB, and Wels drew his swords slightly out of their sheaths before calling out. “I would recommend staying where you are and revealing the rest of your group to us. You’re currently unwelcomed trespassers in our home.”
The vampire turned his eyes towards Wels, cocking his head slightly to the left. Cub took a step back and lowered himself into a ready stance. He continued to scan the darkness of the room for any signs of where other vampires may be hiding. “Ah, of course. It’s understandable you humans would be protective of your living space. The threat of shadowhusk attacks is much more serious for you.” The vampire raised his hands in what seemed to be a placating gesture, and then with a snap of his fingers five more figures materialised from the darkness.
At his right, a man with bright white hair and a mask covering the lower half of his face. At his left, a woman with a long blonde ponytail and sunglasses perched atop her head. Both of their eyes were crimson in colour, and they each carried a sword on their hip. Bodyguards for the leader by the look of things. Another blond vampire with red eyes stood behind the couch directly in front of Grian. He grinned wildly as Grian’s head snapped towards him and even gave a little finger wave. To Cub’s right a woman with pink hair stepped forward, making him jump. But rather than blood-red, her eyes were greyish-blue. And finally, from xB’s own shadow, another man appeared. The sudden rush of cold air made the hunter instinctively turn and raise his crossbow to the creature's neck, only to drop it again in shock when the vampire spoke. “Oh, princess. Don’t you remember me?”
A vampire wearing the face of someone he once cared about stood in front of xB. Ice cold eyes stared into his soul while the gentle nickname was rasped out around a pair of blunted fangs. This was not the Keralis he once knew. Last he had heard, the sweet travelling merchant had been attacked by a group of bandits on his trade route and never returned home. That was over ten years ago. This had to be some kind of cruel prank. “Get away from me.” His voice shook as he tried to raise his crossbow to the imposter's throat again. But his arms wouldn’t obey him. The fake-Keralis looked upset and was about to speak again when the leader interrupted.
“Gather round please, we should introduce ourselves properly.” The six vampires stood in the centre of the living room, and Cub wished he could say he was dreaming. They all wore elegant clothes; patterned waistcoasts and embroidered cloaks, belts and gloves gilded with accents of gold. It was opulent and absolutely ridiculous. His fellow hunters were dressed far more practically. Thick cloth with copper studded leather padding to act as protection against shadowhusk attacks. Dark colours like brown and black and green to help them blend in with the forest as they went hunting, rather than the blinding white and gold that these vampires seemed to favour. The power of those six sets of eyes and fanged mouths watching them made his stomach churn with fear. They wouldn’t stand a chance if the vampires decided to attack.
The vampire with the white hair gently reached out and touched the leader's shoulder. “There are three other heartbeats in the house. Should I go and fetch them?” Even through his mask the words were razor-sharp and Grian barely kept himself standing as his legs threatened to give way underneath him. His friends had nowhere to hide. “I would rather bring all my fellow hunters here myself if you don’t mind. They won’t take kindly to the sudden appearance of an unknown person in our home.” Wels managed to remain in control of himself as the lead vampire once again turned his full attention to him. But he refused to let his friends be dragged down here with no warning of what they would be coming up against. Especially considering what Cleo and Joe would likely do if surprised. So he signalled to Cub to go and find Bdubs, while he went upstairs.
Bdubs was panicking. He had heard enough from the silky voiced monster to know that they were all in serious danger. There was an old dumbwaiter in the back of the kitchen which lead to the old wine cellar underground. Many centuries ago their outpost had been a fancy manor house, which meant there were plenty of secret tunnels between different rooms. Cleo and Grian were the only ones who entertained his idea of using them as escape routes, the others told him that they wouldn’t need to escape from their own home. Bdubs didn’t want to say I told you so, but he was thinking very hard about it. As he climbed a very narrow flight of stone stairs he tried to form a rational plan as to how he was supposed to save his friends. He wasn’t sure how many intruders there were, or what they could do, but if he could get to Cleo and Joe before they did then at least they would have a chance. Reaching the panel he wanted, Bdubs gripped his dagger tightly in hand before knocking sharply on the wood and praying.
A hollow thud made Joe jump where he was sitting. Cleo had just stepped out to grab a hairbrush leaving him with his own thoughts for a bit. The thud repeated again from the back wall of the room, and it was only then Joe remembered the secret passages hidden around the outpost. They walked over to the wooden panel and pressed it inwards, spinning the door open enough to reveal Bdubs crouching behind it. “Well howdy. Is it dinner time already?” The shorter hunter reached out as if to grab Joe by the arm and pull them through the passageway door, but stopped short. Joe looked down and realised that they had forgotten to put a long-sleeve shirt back on and winced. “Oops, sorry about that bud. One second.” Even though he knew that the others accepted him and his condition, it still stung a little seeing the blip of fear in their eyes when they actually looked at his arm. Especially since it had grown a lot worse these last few weeks. Quickly readjusting the copper bands around his bicep and pulling on a loose shirt, Joe turned back around just in time to see Bdubs dart into the room and drag Cleo through the doorway from the hall, slamming it shut behind them.
“Bdubs? What’s going on -” He quickly shushed the both of them and ushered them towards the hidden panel. Cleo looked to Joe and they just shrugged in confusion. Once the three of them were concealed inside the passageway, Cleo questioned him again. “So I was downstairs in the kitchen starting to get things prepared for dinner, when all of a sudden I hear shouting from the other room. And then I heard something start talking, and it had a voice that was smooth as butter. But it started threatening the others! So I ran up here through the secret passages to warn you guys.” Memories of her last encounter with an unknown magical creature crept unbidden into Cleo’s head, but Joe snapped them out of it before she could get lost in her head.
“It’s probably the vampires we went looking for. That Beef fellow did say they had travelled down here looking for us. Anyone in the village would have been able to tell them where we live.” Somehow having to take the role of rational voice in this situation, Joe did their best to prevent Bdubs or Cleo from making any hasty plans. He knew what they were both like, especially when put together. They both took a minute to process Joe’s words, but then from inside the bedroom they heard a knock on the hallway door. Wels’ voice called out to them. “Cleo? Joe? I need to speak with you.” Joe opened the hidden panel and climbed back into the room despite the other two protesting. If the creatures downstairs were actually vampires, then they wouldn’t be able to stay hidden anyway. He opened the door for Wels, greeting him with a casual smile. Knowing that both Cleo and Bdubs would be visible from the door as well, Joe opted to just walk out into the hallway and start heading downstairs.
Wels made a noise of protest as Joe marched past, but then he spotted Cleo and Bdubs in the room as well. Confused, but accepting that if anyone knew about the strange things going on in the house it would have been these three, he sighed and gestured for them to follow him. Hopefully the rest of the hunters downstairs were doing ok. He wanted to get back to them as quickly as possible and hope that the vampires in their home wouldn’t do anything to harm his friends.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Seven humans stood in front of them. All dressed in practical, hardworking clothes. They all carried some kind of weapon on their person, even the two who had been fetched from upstairs. It made sense, constantly needing to be on alert in case of an attack. That’s probably why they weren’t able to take them by surprise, even though they had all hidden so carefully in the shadows. But that was a good thing. It meant that these humans would not be a liability if they were to join forces against the shadowhusk plague. Although, judging by the looks of displeasure and anger on their faces, it might take a little bit of convincing to get them to volunteer their services. Xisuma had convinced an entire town of humans to listen to him before though, so it really shouldn’t be that difficult.
“Well, now that everyone is here I suppose we should properly introduce ourselves. My name is Xisuma, and I am the leader of this coven of vampires.” None of the humans gasped out loud or looked overly shocked at the revelation, which was a good start. It meant that they had heard about vampires before at the very least. There might be a few prejudices he would have to squash, but that was only to be expected. “Not all of our coven are here of course, we didn’t want to make you feel overwhelmed. But this is the majority.” Again, no flinching from any of the hunters. They were a tough audience.
He introduced Etho and False, his right and left hands. Then Tango, the weapons master. The humans regarded all of the pure blood vampires with cool disdain. Xisuma then introduced Lizzie, their human liaison, which did raise an eyebrow from the hunter with red hair. And finally, he waved a hand to their newest coven member. “This is Keralis. He mostly helps at our donation clinic.” Finally he got a strong reaction out of one of the humans. After their brief confrontation earlier, he had been wondering what would surface from it.
“You’re not really Keralis.” It was the man with the crossbow. No longer loaded, but still grasped firmly in his hand. Xisuma just smiled and looked at Keralis. “It is me princess! I am a vampire now, see.” He flashed his fangs with a grin and a giggle, and the human clutched his crossbow tighter. One of the other humans, the one who had gone to round up the rest of the group, put a hand on his shoulder to keep him calm. Xisuma couldn’t quite parse who was the leader of this group, but he supposed he would find out soon enough.
After a moment of tense silence, the human with glasses and long hair cleared their throat. “Well, I suppose it’s our turn for introductions now. We don’t have fancy roles or titles like you all do but we have names. I’m Joe Hills.” He raised his arm to offer a mock salute, and Tango noticed that he was wearing a glove on his left hand but not the right. Interesting. Joe then elbowed the woman standing beside him to continue with her introduction as well.
“Wha- ugh, fine. I’m Cleo. If you even attempt to take a drop of my blood I will carve your insides out with my bluntest knife.” At the horrid determination in her voice, False grinned brightly. She loved having other people like this around. “You can call me Wels, I’m afraid I can’t say it’s nice to meet you.” The man with the two swords who had gone to round up the group, shortly followed by - “Bdubs. That’s all you get from me.” The other man who had been upstairs with Cleo and Joe. He gripped a small dagger by his side and was eyeing them all up sceptically.
The remainder of the humans were “Cub, founder of this outpost” the man who Lizzie had jumpscared, “Grian” the one who had first called out for them to stop hiding, and finally “xB. And I still don’t believe you.” He glared at Keralis, who was doing his best impression of a sad puppy dog with his big eyes and pouty bottom lip. There was definitely going to be some questions asked about whatever their history was.
“Well, now that we’re all introduced, how about we discuss the reason we came here?” Outside the building, night had completely fallen. Xisuma tried to find any signs of tiredness on the human's faces, but all he could see was determination and a bit of annoyance. He would have to try and keep this short. “As I’m sure you’re very aware, the problem of the shadowhusk plague is growing worse every day. We are trying to find a way to stop it.” That certainly got everyone’s full attention. Because now, the humans had a reason to want to listen to them beyond just fear for their safety.