Argh, this is my first english fanfiction and I am not a native speaker, so please be gentle ;w;
The idea is based on a fanart a friend of me adored, so this here goes out to him!
Prince Gumball once again prepared for his usual, nocturnal hunting, like he did every night. At first, it had felt alien to him, when his father, the reigning king of those days, had told him that he, as the future king would have to attend to the greatest of all pests of the Candy Kingdom if not the Land of Ooo itself: vampires.
All the young prince had known about vampires until that day had been a mixture of rumors and old wives tales, things his nannies had told him when it was time for him to go to bed and he pestered them to tell a good-night-story until they did. And then he had to learn so much, actual things about real vampires, not about things children would believe. This was not a game; Gumball knew he could die on every mission. But until this day, nothing too bad had ever happened, but most of the times he met low-rank vampires, things he could kill with a mixture of holy water and angelic blades, carved with delicate, slim runes or sunlight.
His father told him, there were a lot of different ways to kill a vampire; behead it, burn it, making it drink holy water, piercing it's heart with an angelic blade or making it walk in sunlight.
As he equipped himself, already wearing his fighting gear, the prince leaned over a map on a large, wooden table. The map displayed the land of Ooo, completely with all paths, kingdoms and it was pierced here and there with dirks and daggers, where he had found and abolished nests of vampires. But now he felt like new hints and clues, led him to some more powerful source, something he never fought before. Maybe he could get someone to help him, but the Candy People could never know about the hidden danger which threatened the Kingdom in the silence of the night; it was well-known that they exploded in situations of extreme stress.
There seemed to be various different clans popping up in the last time, but Prince Gumball was only concerned by the ones drinking blood of citizens or draining them of their color. Today would be a big night, he told himself as he walked out of the castle with silent steps, to not wake up someone or draw unwanted attention.
He liked to play the weak guy, dependent on the help of the adventurer Fionna, but that was only a cover-up. In fact, he thought he could do all what she did, if not better. But she was nice to hang out with and pretty enough to not feel ashamed being saved by her at all.
As he arrived in the castle gardens, it was already twilight, the sky over his sweet Kingdom a mix of deep, dark and royal blue. It seemed like not a single cloud spoiled the sight up at the billions of stars in the sky. Taking another deep breath, the prince whistled for Lord Monochromicorn which appeared in seconds, most likely he had just waited around the corner for Gumball to summon him. Softly, he stroke his companion's grey mane.
"Well, let's go. We got to try out best tonight!", the sweet prince whispered, like all the nights before and swung himself on the enormous horse's back, taking off with him in the directions he guided him to, with a careful touch of his hand or a little kick to one side.
On their way they passed the Grass Lands and even though the Prince was serious about his vampire-hunting-job, he caught himself thinking of Fionna who lived here, just across the field, where he was riding. Her sweet, blonde hair, that shone like spun gold in the sun, her azure eyes, sometimes sparkling when they were together...
but he had to focus. Focus on the danger, on the vampire he would meet tonight. He didn't know a lot about him but he seemed to be really powerful. A reassuring touch to his heavy belt, where most of his daggers, dirks and throwing knives as well as some bottles of holy water were fixed, made him feel a little better, but still he felt the muscles in his back tense.
By the time they reached the haunting swamp, the vampire hunting prince already felt tense enough to listen to every little noise, watching every moving shadow.
But...nothing else happened. Gumball climbed off the back of for Lord Monochromicorn and told him quickly tht he should stay here while he looked around.
But there seemed to be nothing. No vampire. No cave. A little disappointed, the prince walked up to the spooky forest, trying not to make a sound while he walked over the soft, muddy ground carefully looking around in the darkness. Vampires usually felt the most comfortable in caves, so the prince looked around for some kind of entrance or -
He had no time to think any further. One second, he looked around and when he took another step, the floor seemed to be breaking under his feet and he was falling, falling deeper and deeper into the underground of the spooky forest.
When he finally hit the ground, the impact was strong enough to punch the air out of the prince's lungs, leaving him gasping for breath. In his last really conscious seconds, he realized he must have banged his head somewhere, he felt so damn dizzy, the world was spinning but when he heard a hissing chuckle, he managed to raise his gaze, seeing a slender figure standing in front of him in something like a fancy but aged black coat, his skin pale but with a soft shade of green, like he was dead and his skin had decided to rot without affecting it's owner. But what really caught his eye, were the demonic red eyes and startling white teeth, sharp as a razor with visible fangs.
"You...", he said, weakly, little dots exploding in his vision before everything went black and Prince Gumball passed out.