Hiya, and welcome to my first Twilight fanfic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it
The Last Siren
Chaptre' One: "Vampire Killer"
The sound of hustling footsteps hastened the air in a stagnant anxiety. The humans clambered through the cobblestone streets of the oceanside town, chanting loudly, panicked. Some carried guns; some carried knives; while others carried ropes or anything else they could possibly deem as a weapon. The assembly stormed down the suburban quarters, leaving many an eye in their direction, but not caring. Their purpose and resolve had been as clear as vodka ever since they had laid eyes on the…"Monster". Yes, "Monster" seemed to be a good name for it. Their hardened cries rapped such a word over and over as their trek lead them up the cape towards the sea-salt blue house near the edge.
It was now that they noticed the crimson trickles of wet blood—warm, fresh blood—leading form the steps up into the broken front door of the house. Some of the men and women jeered; others trembled; and a few even felt the need to hold their stomachs. But nonetheless, they pressed on into the house, determined to confront he—or it—that was responsible. The lights in the house had all been turned off, leaving the eerie dim of the inner sanctum only disrupted by the sunlight forcing through the curtained windows. The trail of fresh blood didn't stop in the foyer; its crimson-black snaked up the corridor steps, wrapping around the corner to the living room. Weapons seized and courage stead-fast, the battalion of humans passed about the corner, finally laying eyes on what they sought.
The boy sat slumped on his knees where the blood pooled the greatest, for two bodies—one male and the other female—lay on either side of him where they obviously breathed their last breath. He just stared at the intruders with his blood-red eyes, the one on the left almost completely obscured by the bangs of his semi dread-braided hair. The leaking sunlight seeped onto his elegantly bronzed skin, showing that the splatters of blood on his body were heaviest around his mouth and cheeks.
"God, have mercy…" A man in the frontlines mouthed breathlessly. He then turned his gaze to the boy, a courageous fear building in their sky blue color. But the boy simply stared back, not moving and not speaking. The man shook his head, "I pity you…you creature with no soul…"
"…." The boy made his first movement, causing the group to cringe and gasp. However, the action failed in hostility, for all he did was hug a stuffed teddy bear with a red ribbon close to his chest. His beautiful face, however, remained transfixed upon the intruders.
"Seize it!" At the man's cry, the others charged in with weapons drawn. The boy huffed as he felt them taking a hold of his arms and waist, binding him by rope and chain. But he didn't care enough to fight; the flame of will power burned weak in his eyes. They bound him in such a way as to let several people carry a rope that imprisoned him at once. They lifted him off his toes and hauled him outside towards the edge of the cape. With a slight rocking for leverage, they hoisted the boy off his feet and down over the edge of the cliff. Faster and faster he hurtled, until he made a rock-hard splash into the naval blue below.
"May God take pity on you…" The man closed his eyes, tracing the points of a crucifix along his body with his finger.
--
The sunlight was once again blocked by a thicket of clouds and trees. Such as it was, living down in Aurora; a subtle bliss of daily twilight hanging eternally in the air, as if nature's tradition was to protect this spit of town from the sun. Oh well—there were always the mountains that seemed to be permanently painted in the background, or the blanket of rolling hills clashing with the suburban and city territory.
Bing-Bong-Bing-Bong!
The metronome of the large brass school bell echoed loudly into the air, slightly shaking the luscious green tree leaves. The students shrilled in praise of the school day's end as they filed out of their high school in the tackiest of fashions, literally climbing over each other to get to their cars, bikes, or walk-home friends.
" 'Throw fallen wishes back into the sky—and back into your heart…'." He sung to himself in a low soprano that, if he had allowed it to be audible, could probably even sooth a blood-thirsty lion to sleep on contact. Dante normally walked home from school by himself, having no clubs or activities after to stay behind in. The faded light of the clouded sky still made it easy for him to stand out in his black shirt and shorts, the suspenders hanging down at the leg's sides merely for show. His goldenrod eyes affixed to the double screen of the Nintendo DS in his hands, making it a wonder how he could play and walk at the same time. Nonetheless, he continued to sing, occasionally having to shake the bangs of his braided black hair from his beautifully mahogany-bronzed face.
"H-heh, heh…"
"Sssshhh…!"
"…." Dante's eyes didn't waver form his video game, but that didn't make him any less aware of the presence behind him. Two..? No, three…definitely three on account that a third voice different from the others hand joined the feminine fray. Dante kept his pace constant, his attention split between his media and the stalking schoolgirls behind him.
"You ask him, May."
"N-no, I can't." One girl giggled sheepishly, "You do it, Cicely."
"What if he says no?"
Dante grunted; he knew how to relinquish himself of giddy school girls. His steps hastened down the sidewalk, as did theirs. He moved briskly, then, upon the edge of the sidewalk approaching, he turned and pointed out into the air.
"Oh my god!!"
"What?!" The girls gave a squeamish spin on their heels to stare into the open air. Dante's feet made next to no sound as his body seemed to vanish slightly, only coming back into full vision around the corner. As the girls gave a disgruntled discharge of statements as to where their target went, Dante walked on, video game in tow. Escaping from a few humans was no big feet for a vampire such as himself. With his advanced physical and mental capabilities, he could easily thwart the mundanely irritating feminine stalkers.
"You are Dead."
"What?!" Dante shrieked as the video game repeated the grim demise of his player character over and over, on account that he wasn't paying attention. Well, so much for superior mental capabilities…
"Bah," He shut his DS away and pocketed it, "Didn't feel like playing anymore anyway." He placed his hands on the back of his head and closed his eyes as he covered his weight down the sidewalk. This is why he liked it in Aurora. The birds chirped endlessly as they fluttered against the luscious tree leaves in the low rustling wind; the occasional zoom of a car only broke the stagnant melody of nature for a brief moment before returning to the relaxing canvas of peace and stillness. A quiet place where he could live…forever…
"Hmm?" And then, someone had to go and wreck it by buzzing the loud siren of an ambulance into the air. The silence was easily shattered, and the sound surely undulated throughout the entire town. It wasn't long before an ambulance whizzed right by Dante, leaving a gust of wind to blow against his hair and clothes. What could have happened? Or rather, could anything happen within the hum-drum of his hometown? Nonetheless, Dante found himself following after the ambulance anyway.
The crowd of people encircled around a spit of road a few blocks down, blocking all but the areas where the police tape, police cars, and paramedic automobiles had seized off. Dante had barely managed to get near the trapping of humans when his body gave a sharp shudder. Blood. He could smell blood not too far off. A slight warmth started to well up in his throat and gut, billowing out towards the calcium extensions of his fangs. Even from back behind the crowd, he could tell it was still very fresh. As his stomach began to churn, he spun around on his heels. Anywhere there was blood and people was not where he should be.
"Hiya, Dante—I guess you came to check it out too?" A voice rang to Dante's acute hearing. He turned around back towards the crowd (with a very slightly disgruntled focus) towards the tower-of-a-human-teenager among them. Baldwin easily scaled over the other bystanders, which made Dante wonder how he even missed him. Sigh, yet another blow to the mental prowess. The boy clutched the strap of his backpack over his gray hoody as he walked over to the incognito vampire. His face always seemed to support the same smug grin, defying the primp and proper flat of his sandy blonde hair.
"'Sup, Baldwin?"
"Dante, what're you doing all the way back here? You can't see the good stuff." Baldwin seized Dante's wrist, shivering, for his warm flesh lost heat quickly to his friend's ice-cold surface, "And put a jacket on! You' gonna get sick!" Dante let out a semi-audible grunt; Baldwin was pulling him closer and closer to where the blood was. He didn't exactly feel kosher pushing amongst the crowd of "bare necks" with his nostrils flaring every other second. Ever since he had heard a rumor, his diet consisted of feeding only on the wildlife around or near Aurora, necessary to detour human suspicion of his true nature. But blood was blood, be it from human or beast, and it was always a struggle to keep his senses in check whenever around it.
Baldwin led Dante as far to the police tape as he could. The officers in blue made sure the bystanders stayed a good distance away as the paramedics laid sheets over a pair of human-shaped lumps on the roadside. And pooled underneath the new cadavers was a thicket of crimson blood.
"Geh…" Dante covered his nose with his hand slightly, though his filter didn't really squelch the scent.
"Ha! You squeamish or something, Dante?"
"A lil, I guess." Dante brushed, for another scent had suddenly ransacked his nose. One he hadn't notice under the façade of blood. The scent of another vampire. He sighed; not only was there another vampiric presence in town, but look at that; he or she must've been some kind of slop artist to leave a mess of that caliber lying about. Did they want the Volturi to cavity search the town? Dante knew what this meant—he had to get rid of them.
"Yo! Dante!"
"Dah??" Dante's eyes blinked. He'd let his mind slip a little too deep in thought.
"I said, dontcha think this would be a good topic for our current events paper?"
Hell no. About a dozen people amongst the crowd who happened to be students probably were thinking the same thing. But Dante just responded with an absentminded "Sure", more focused on scanning the crowd for the vampire in question.
"Then it's settled—let's grab some ice cream and go to your house, then." Baldwin pulled away from the crowd, and Dante followed all too quickly. His goldenrod eyes had since lost some of their golden luster, turning darker indicating it was time for him to go.
--
He couldn't sense them before, possibly because the haze of blood from the accident scene was arousing his primal urges. But now, as he and Baldwin walked down the trail towards his house, Dante could smell and hear them following amongst the tree tops: one vampire following on the right, and the other flanked on the left.
"By the way they've been following…" Dante thought to himself as he pressed the tip of a bar of coconut ice cream to his mouth, "They might be trackers. Newbs, at that…" He kept his eyes straight ahead, though they probably knew he knew they were there. Dante's house was the single suntanned house at the end of the road trail, pressed in the clearing of threes. The curtains to the two-story house's windows were almost always drawn back, letting the whole world view the sparkling clean inner sanctum. The two went inside, going to the table to start writing out their current event report. Or rather, Baldwin wrote while Dante—who was already finished in advanced—just fiddled with his DS. He was still aware of the tracking vampires that were stalking outside his home. But why were they here? It was long-since obvious that they weren't just passing by, grabbing meals as they went.
"Playing Castlevania again?" Baldwin looked up, taking notice on the usual line of vampire-killer games that Dante had in tow.
"One of my favorite series of games." Dante answered.
"More like "only" series. You secretly wanna be a vampire or something?"
"M-Maybe?"
Ba-Thunk
It was faint—too faint for Baldwin to hear, but Dante's acute vampire hearing picked up a thudding on the roof. Were they walking up there?
Baldwin's eyes started to wander around Dante's kitchen and dining room. The chandelier light shown down on the marble countertops, the hanging silver pots casting a glare on the flattop stove as well. The refrigerator was devoid of magnets, the latest model from Electrolux. But what really caught his eye was the slightly tattered brown teddy bear sitting on the countertop. He couldn't help but giggle; Dante always seemed so fond of this bear. Even on his first day of freshman year, he carried it everywhere.
"Thank god you don't carry that around anymore." Baldwin commented, "You used to take it everywhere."
Dante looked to the side at the stuffed animal, "It was a keepsake from my real parents before my foster parents took care of me. I can't remember their faces, so that bear's all I got."
"I know, I know; you tell me the same thing every time." Baldwin went back down to his homework. Dante's gaze stayed on the teddy bear for a moment.
"May god have mercy on you…"
"Hmm…" He sighed and rubbed his cheek. He was careful not to let his thoughts dwell in the past too long.
Ba-Thunk-Thunk!
"…." Dante gave a slightly irritated look. The trackers were still on the roof, for he could still hear their feet moving along the pangs. It was clear that they had no intention of leaving. He folded his DS over and walked off, grabbing his teddy bear by the arm. "I'll be back, Baldwin."
"You going to the John or something?"
"Uh, yeah,"
Dante waited till he was out of Baldwin's line of vision before blurring up the steps to the second floor. He pushed open the foyer window and, within a fragmented moment, his body propelled to the top of the roof without so much as a clatter of footsteps. He looked from side to side; the roof seemed bare, but he could still smell them. His left eye became hidden behind his bangs as he held his teddy bear to his chest.
"Who sent you and what do you want?" He demanded to the air. At first, there was silence, which only caused him to give an irritated grunt. His foot tapped the ground and he demanded their presence once more. This time, the two came slinking out of the shadows of the trees that grew over Dante's house. They dropped down on either side of him, landing just as lithely. The one before Dante had long blonde hair that reached down to his shoulders, his hands in the pockets of his black capris. The other vampire behind Dante had his black hair cropped shorter, the rest leaning to one side over his facial features, and his skin just as pale and attractive as the other's. Their blood-red eyes transfixed hard on Dante, not leaving his format in the slightest.
"It's about time we found where you were." The blonde started, "We've been tracking you for a while now."
"So what was that all about back there?" Dante commanded once more.
"Oh, the humans? We got bored…" The black-haired kid stated.
"So you leave a mess like that?!" Dante exclaimed, "That was reckless—do you want the Volturi to come here?"
"The Volturi?" The blonde spoke with a grin, turning his gaze to his partner, "You hear that, Aaron? He's afraid of the Voturi."
"Heh. He must not know then about Lord Jeremy, Hudson." The other responded.
"I could care less," Dante said flatly, "I don't mind if you stay, but drawing attention isn't something I need.
"You don't call the shots, kid…" Hudson crouched down a little with his hands still in his pockets. His blood-red eyes flickered menacingly as he curled his lips back slightly, revealing his pearly fangs.
"We came with an offer from our lord. He would like to request that you join our coven." Aaron explained. He didn't get into a threatening stance as did his partner, but the edge in his voice suggested the same thing; no cooperation meant no avoiding violence. But still…
"No," Dante said in the same flat tone. Aaron's eyes flickered.
"Please reconsider,"
"No,"
"If we have to, we'll kill you…" Aaron warned darkly, "We have strict orders to take you alive, or leave you dead." He started to crouch down as well.
Dante had felt this coming. But who could possibly be after him—especially if they weren't the Volturi? Nonetheless, his ponders would have to wait. He turned the bear over, revealing a zipper in the back as he undid it. He reached into the stuffing, pulling something out, and dropping the bear afterwards. It would seem that the bear itself had little importance, but rather the dagger inside did. The hilt was dyed a deep shade of crimson, the gold insignia of a quarter note on the broad front. The golden hand guard curved in elegantly and the blade itself was hidden bequeath a brown sheath.
The two vampire trackers laughed.
"A knife? A-Aaron, he's gonna stab us!" Hudson cackled, trying to keep focus.
"K-Kid, you can't be serious…!" Aaron held his sides, "You think you can stab me and not have that break?"
Dante ignored the laughing and slowly pulled the weapon from the scabbard. The murky light through the clouds gleamed down on the ivory-like blade dimly. When they saw that he really was serious, the trackers grinned vivaciously, readying themselves for an easy take.
It happened so fast; in the next half second, the three were moving around the rooftop like blurs. The wind caught Dante all over as he weaved between the two light and fast. When Aaron skidded in front of him, he bound to the left, feigning Hudson in the opposing direction.
"Hurraahh!!" Hudson suddenly threw himself in front of Dante and thrust his fist forwards. He was too close to dodge—the fist would impact him no matter what direction he moved in.
Shhhing!!
There was a swift gleam of light, both Dante and Hudson sliding to a stop past each other. Aaron's figure became visible between the two as he supported an inquisitive look as to why they stopped. Dante slowly stood up straight, spinning his dagger along the tips of his fingers.
"Gahh!" Hudson shrieked as the sound like a rock dropping clattered on the rooftop. His right hand, now completely gone from the limb, lay on the shingles with the severed end smoldering slowly. The blonde vampire cradled his arm, growling and hissing in pain as Aaron stared at the burning marble skin wide-eyed.
"A clean cut…?!"
"What the hell, man!?" Hudson exclaimed.
"This is my 'Vampire Killer'. Her name is Clairice," Dante continued to spin the dagger's hilt along his fingers, "I really didn't want to resort to violence…"
"You bastard! I'll—" But by the time he got his statement out, Dante had already rushed the distance to him. Hudson frantically scampered to the side, but Clairice's blade closed the short gap between them. Her ivory gleam showed again, sending another hunk of marble skin smoldering to the ground. Hudson tried to feign right, but Dante continued to hurdle himself in the tracker's path, their footwork making light snaps of speed each time he was forced to stop. The hunter had now become the hunted.
Whoo! Shiii!!
"Augghh!" Hudson shrilled as Dante clipped his shoulder. He tripped and fell on Aaron, trying to get his partner to support his weight. Aaron looked horrified down at him, seeing Hudson tremble and shake against him. Light wisps of smoke billowed from here he got cut.
Dante's expression had gone merciless as he stepped light and fast on his toes, blurring towards them. He spun Clairice on his fingertips before delivering another swing; Aaron ducked behind Hudson's body leaving the man open wide. Over and over again, Dante whirled and swung his dagger wildly, and chunk after chunk of marbled flesh flew in twain amidst the air, smoldering even before they hit ground. Aaron trembled, feeling the pressure of each blow and forced to hear every shrill of his comrade in spades. "Ha!" CLACK! Dante brought the blade to a cross-slash, sending the last chunk of Hudson out of Aaron's trembling hands to burn in the air.
"Damn!" Aaron snarled and turned to run; Dante's reflexes were quick, able to strike the blade tip across the man's back. Aaron staggered, feeling the sting on his backside from the smoking wound, but didn't stop running. He blurred into the trees, desperate to escape. Dante was about to take off and follow, when…
"Dante?"
"Ah!" Dante staggered and gazed down form over the roof side. Baldwin stood with his arms folded, head slightly tipped to the side. At first, Dante's thoughts faulted from the fight, but he returned his gaze to the direction Aaron had gone in, and scoffed. He was long gone, off to who knew where to tell lord-knows-who what he found…
--
The room was dark, very dark. So dark that not even the dim lights long the walls seemed to be enough to cast out the thick shadows. A round wooden table could be made out amongst the middle of the room. And at that table sat a group of entities. Like the room, their bodies were shrouded by a shadow of cloaks.
CLACK! The oaken door slammed open as Aaron came stepping in. He limped slightly, trying to catch his breath as he felt each pair of eyes leer at him from under the hoods. Nonetheless, he bravely walked past all the way to the cloaked figure at the end of the table. The cloak let out a gruff breath as the vampire tried to present himself in his battered state.
"Heh. You look like hell." The head hood stated and the others went into an immediate cannon of murmurs. "And where's Hudson?"
"He's…dead." Aaron stated.
"Oh really? Well I guess that's just too bad." The cloak gave somewhat of a muse. It didn't seem to matter to him to lose a raw recruit.
Aaron winced. The wound on his back was still causing him a great deal of pain. The hood must've noticed this because his head shifted just slightly in an inquisitive way.
"Were you wounded, Aaron?"
"It's just a scratch…"
"Show me," The hood demanded in such a voice that made it clear he should not have to repeat himself. Aaron slowly turned around. Even in the shadows of the darkness of the room, his paled skin refracted from the burn mark that showed under the cut of his shirt. At this, the murmurs and whispers became louder and rowdier. The cloak rose to his feet and raised his arm. The folds of his cloak sleeve fell back to reveal the smooth pale marble flesh of his hand as he brushed his finger along the wound.
"Is it…magic?"
"Could it be magic?"
"Fools," The head cloak stated, and all the others fell silent at once. "You know very well magic doesn't exist. No…this was done by something else."
"A dagger…" Aaron breathed, wincing every time his wound was touched.
"Named Clarice?"
"Y-yes! How did you know?" Aaron turned his head sharply. The hood merely drew his hand away.
"So I've finally found him…"
--
Well, what can today's turn of events have in the outcome of Dante's future? Just what is Clarice? And who are the figures in black? Your questions will be answered if ya' stay tuned! Read and Review Please!