HEEEEEEEELLLOOOO! Those of you reading this who are caught up on my other story, "Jaune Arc, Gryphon Knight," will know that this story is the one that will be replacing "The Vagabond".
Now some context for how I thought up this story. This was inspired by a one shot where Weiss was a vampire who drains Jaune of all his blood, killing him. Unfortunately I can't for the life of me remember the name of the story, or the name of the person who wrote it, but if anyone knows I would be grateful if they could tell me over a review on this story or a pm so I can give credit where it's due.
Though that story was inspiration for this and Vampires are involved in both stories that is where the similarities end. In this story Weiss is a normal person, not a Vampire. Jaune on the other hand... well, you'll see. This story begins immediately after the girls of team RWBY along with Ren and Nora are evacuated out of Beacon and into Vale, after Pyrrha's death. Jaune is already there, as he was launched into the city via rocket locker. Fair warning for those of you who haven't seen at least the first episode of volume 4. I will be utilizing a character introduced in the first episode of volume 4, and at least mentioning some other characters throughout this story.
With all that out of the away, ON WITH THE STORY!
Jaune shoved his way through the crowd of people surrounding the bullhead landing pads as the last Bullhead from Beacon landed.
She had to be on there! She had to be! That light, whatever that had been, had frozen that big Grimm, which meant that it could have also stopped that woman and saved Pyrrha, right?
He broke through the crowd just as the doors on the airship opened and the passengers exited. First to come out was some old huntsman wearing a short red cape with slicked back black hair, who was holding an unconscious Ruby in his arms. "Ruby!"
"She's alright kid," said the huntsman as Jaune ran up to them, "just exhausted."
"Jaune!" The blonde turned towards the familiar voice of Nora, who was supporting Ren in getting out of the bullhead even as he did the same for her. Jaune ran over to the two of them and wrapped his arms around them, pulling them in tightly.
"I'm so glad you're both okay," he said. He released them and watched as more people stepped out of the airship, but none of them had the vibrant red hair of his partner. He turned to his teammates. "Where's Pyrrha? Did she take an earlier Bullhead?" She had to have. That was the only possible answer for why she wasn't with them.
His two teammates looked away from him, but he could see the tears in their eyes. "No, please. Don't let it be true."
A gentle hand on his shoulder drew his attention, and he turned to see Weiss standing next to him, her hand on his shoulder. If his mind hadn't been a swirling mass of disbelief and denial he would have been confused by the contact from the heiress, who even after he had stopped trying for her attention after the dance hadn't said more than two words to him. As it was all he could think about was where Pyrrha was, and why she wasn't on the Bullhead. Weiss stared at him for a few seconds, then looked away and softly said. "I'm sorry Jaune. Ruby and I, we tried to save her, but..."
No.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no. It couldn't be... She couldn't be... not her, not Pyrrha, not the invincible girl.
But he saw the truth in the eyes of his teammates and Weiss.
She was gone. He had failed.
Without a word or sound he turned away and ran, shoving his way through the crowd as he went. His friends' voices called his name out, but he didn't stop. He just kept running and running.
He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know when he would stop. All he knew was that he needed to put Beacon as far behind him as possible. It wasn't until he tripped and collapsed to the ground that the he stopped. He pushed himself up, his lungs burning as he took in deep gulps of air and looked around himself.
He was in the forests surrounding Vale. He didn't know how he had gotten there in what felt like only seconds to him, but somehow he had. He looked back at the city of Vale and the school of Beacon, which were just discernible through the trees. The dragon was still there, frozen atop the ruins of Beacon tower.
That was where Pyrrha had died.
The realization hit him like a train as it all finally sank in. Pyrrha Nikos, the invincible girl, his partner, who had confessed her love to him and given him his first kiss in one fell swoop, was dead. The tears began to fall then as sobs racked his body. His throat constricted as the he sobbed, making it impossible for anything greater than ragged gasps to pass his lips.
A snarl cut through his grief, and he turned to see a single Beowulf stalking towards him on all fours, its snarling maw dripping with saliva as it slowly stalked towards him.
As he stared at the Beowulf Jaune's grief turned to raw fury, and he drew Crocea Mors and deployed the shield on his arm. He flung himself at the Grimm, howling like a mad man. Surprised by the sudden assault the Grimm had no time to do little more than die as Jaune buried the blade up to the hilt in its neck, severing its spinal column and killing it almost instantly. Jaune wrenched the weapon free and sank it into the Grimm again, then again and again and again as he hacked its body to pieces, howling with fury even as the tears kept falling. He stopped only when the corpse had totally disappeared, and more snarls and howls grabbed his attention. He turned to see that he was facing a whole pack of Beowulves, at least twenty of them.
Jaune charged at them, screaming with raw berserk fury.
Hazel stared in shock as the light atop Beacon tower began to fade. The Dragon was still atop the tower, but it wasn't moving. It was like it had been turned to unyielding stone.
Only one power could have generated that light. Only one power could have frozen the Dragon.
But that shouldn't have been possible. They had been assured by Cinder that the Rose girl was unaware of the power she possessed, and was incapable of tapping into it of her own free will. What had happened?
"What was that?" hissed Puriu. Hazel's fellow Strigoi pushed her long black hair out of her face and turned to her master, her blood red eyes burning in the night. "Hazel, was that... is it what I think it was?"
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes," he growled, "it was. The Rose Girl utilized her power."
"How?!" snarled Gri, his fangs flashing in the moonlight as he bared them. "Cinder assured us she couldn't use her powers! I knew we couldn't trust that useless sow."
"Hazel, what now?" asked Puriu. "Most of the House won't stand a chance against a silver eyed warrior, and the Grimm would be completely annihilated ."
Hazel turned his gaze across the forces assembled behind him. Hundreds of Vampires of House Hazel, the last surviving vampiric House, adorned in armor of black leather and dull steel plates met his gaze with crimson eyes as they awaited his command. Behind them were thousands upon thousands of Grimm, all of whom were held back by the will of his mistress, Salem.
Puriu was right that most of the Vampires wouldn't survive a fight against a silver eyed warrior. While even the weakest among them was a match for a fully fledged huntsman, a silver eyed warrior was something else entirely. The light they generated would burn most Vampires to ashes within seconds, barring only the strongest of the Strigoi, who could survive the light for a limited amount of time. Hazel was confident that he could kill the Rose girl, after all he had killed her mother, but if he led his House into battle against a silver eyed warrior there was a very good chance that most of them would be killed. That could not be allowed to happen. Salem had too many plans for both himself and his House. He would not jeopardize his mistress's desires to kill just one girl, silver eyed warrior or no.
However, if Salem ordered him to attack with his House and the Grimm, he would do so in a heartbeat, silver eyes or no.
"We ask Salem, and let her decide," he rumbled. With a wave of his hand he summoned the Seer allotted to him by the dark mistress. It floated up to him and hovered before him, its core glowing softly. The glow grew until it filled the Seer, then dimmed as an image formed within the creature. This image was that of Salem standing atop her tower. "My lady, there's been an incident. The Rose girl-"
"I know what happened," Salem snapped, her face twisted into a sneer of displeasure. "I felt the girl's power from here. Have you attacked yet?"
"No, my lady," he responded with a bow of his head. "I was about to give the order to attack when I saw the glow. If you wish us to begin the assault on the city, we shall."
For a few moments Salem was silent, and Hazel didn't dare to even breath too hard lest he break her concentration. Finally she shook her head and spoke. "No. You are to pull back, along with my Grimm. I still have many tasks for you and your House, primarily killing off any groups of White Fang that refuse to fall in line with Adam Taurus. I trust you still know the locations of the three White Fang camps that refused our dear Taurus?"
"Of course my lady," he said. "We will pull back and make preparations for dealing with them."
"Good. You have ever been my most faithful servant Hazel. Do not think I do not recognize this."
He didn't smile of course, that would have been unbecoming of a Vampire Lord, but he could feel the pride well up in his chest. "Thank you, my lady. I will not fail you."
She smiled, "I know you won't." With that the image disappeared and the Seer's glow returned to normal.
He turned to his assembled soldiers. "We're pulling out," he said simply. He didn't shout. He never had to. His voice carried across the forest to every single vampire. Many bared their fangs in frustration, and there were a few grumbles of discontent at allowing such a ripe source of blood and meat escape virtually scott free, but none of them dared try to refuse his order. Every one of them knew that disobeying an order given by Salem was a surefire way to die at Hazel's hand. Those sitting or kneeling got to their feet and turned to leave as the Grimm began to disperse, but all stopped when they caught a familiar scent on the wind.
Human blood, and the source of the scent was drawing closer.
Hazel turned just in time to see a young blonde boy trip over a root and collapse to the ground. The boy pushed himself to his feet and turned to look at Beacon in the distance. He began sobbing as he knelt on the forest floor, and the assembled vampires sniggered to themselves at the human's weakness. "What a poor little thing," hissed Gri. He ran a tongue across his sharp fangs. "Shall we bring an end to his misery? I could use a snack."
Before the ivory haired Strigoi could take even a step forward a Beowulf stalked towards the boy, snarling and snapping its jaws. "Stupid mutt," spat Gri, "that's my blood." He took a single step forward before Hazel placed a large hand on his shoulder, stopping him. With a glare the Vampire Lord stopped all of the other undead that sought to drain the boy for themselves. Far better for the Beowulf to rip the boy apart for all of their amusement than have a fight break out among his followers over the boy's blood.
The Beowulf continued towards the boy, who finally heard the beast over his own pathetic sobs and turned towards it as it stalked towards him.
Hazel had expected many emotions from the boy when he saw the Grimm approaching him. Fear, regret, panic, or hopelessness. What he had not expected to see was fury. The boy pushed himself to his feet and drew a previously unnoticed blade from its sheathe on his side, then attached the sheathe to his other arm and it folded out into a shield. With a howl of fury the boy flung himself at the shocked Grimm and began to hack it to pieces. Puriu laughed as the boy hacked the fading corpse apart. "Seems he's got some spunk in him." She turned to watch a pack of twenty Beowulves charge towards the boy. "Let's see how long he lasts."
The boy noticed the pack too and turned to face them. Still screaming in fury he flung himself on these new foes with savage abandon, using his shield as a weapon to smash his foes as he hacked away at the Grimm on all sides of him. The boy obviously had some training, but not much. Still, he was doing a remarkable job of cutting apart the Beowulves, and was finishing off the last of the pack. More Grimm rushed towards the boy, howling, snarling, and hissing as they were drawn to massive amounts of negative emotions radiating off of the boy, who was clearly a huntsman in training. He hacked, stabbed, and slashed on all sides with furious abandon as he howled with fury until his voice grew hoarse, and his howl turned into scratchy snarls and roars. He was reaping an impressive tally, but he was not going unscathed. He took blow after blow from the Grimm surrounding him, each one draining his protective aura. An Ursa's paw knocked him to the ground, but he pushed himself up and slashed off the offending limb, then cut open its chest before slamming the edge of his shield into the skull of a Creep. The Vampires laughed and jeered as he fought, entertained by the sight of this young boy battling pointlessly against the horde set against him. Hazel however rubbed his chin thoughtfully as the boy fought. He still had aura left, though he had to be close to empty, which suggested a near prodigal amount of aura. While he wasn't the most skilled fighter, far from it, he fought with everything he had against the odds, refusing to surrender and simply lie down and die. The sheer amount of hate oozing from the boy was a plus too. Unbridled fury was a good trait for a Strigoi, as their negative emotions made them stronger. As the boy hacked the head off of a Beowulf even as he crushed the throat of another with his shield, the Vampire Lord made up his mind. If the boy could survive for a few minutes longer Hazel would save him. He had potential.
A roar shook the forest, and the Grimm surrounding the huntsman in training backed away from their prey even as a massive Ursa Major advanced towards him. The Grimm formed and impromptu ring around the huntsman and the Ursa Major. The boy roared and charged at the Grimm senselessly, and was knocked through the air by the Ursa's paw before hitting the ground. Hazel heard a bone break, and knew that the boy's aura was gone. The other Strigoi howled with laughter as the boy writhed on the ground but Hazel continued to stare, knowing that this huntsman in training wasn't out of the fight yet.
The Ursa stalked towards the boy and raised its paw for a killing blow. It swung it down with enough force to cut the air, but the boy brought his shield up just in time to receive the blow. It crumpled like tin foil under the force of the blow, and Hazel's vampiric hearing clearly picked up the cracking of more bones, but the shield did its job, and the boy survived. He tossed the ruined shield aside and rolled over just as the Ursa Major's paw came down again on where he had been. Before the boy could push himself up or raise his weapon the Ursa's paw came down on the blade and shattered it, leaving only a few inches of steel attached to the hilt of the weapon. Most would have given up at this point, but the child shoved himself to his feet and charged at the Ursa, then leapt onto it.
The Vampires' laughter ended and was replaced with silence and grudging respect as the boy grabbed a bone plate in one hand and sunk his blade into the Ursa's flesh. The Grimm howled in pain and anger as the boy wrenched the weapon free and hauled himself up its body and sank the blade into its skin again. It swung a paw at him with the intention of crushing his chest between its paw and its body, but the boy hauled himself up its torso again, and the beast instead hit the huntsman's legs. Even without advanced hearing Hazel was sure he would have been able to hear the sound of snapping bones, but the boy didn't cry out in pain. Instead he drove the weapon down one last time, into the Grimm's throat.
The Ursa Major stumbled back as the blade pierced its jugular. Black blood bubbled out of the wound in its throat as the beast fell backwards and hit the ground with enough force to shake the earth. It was dead. The boy was laying motionless on the monster's chest, every inch of his body covered in black blood from all the Grimm he'd killed. Hazel could hear the boy's heartbeat, but it was faint. The boy was alive, but only just. In that moment Hazel was certain. The boy would make a very good Vampire. As the other Grimm began advancing towards the unconscious huntsman Hazel crouched, his powerful legs tensing with energy, then he jumped.
He sailed over the heads of the Grimm and landed next to the boy, who was now laying on the ground as the Ursa had dissolved. He grabbed the boy by his belt and slung him callously over one shoulder. "Mine," he growled at the Grimm. The monsters stopped advancing, recognizing Hazel as a powerful creature of darkness. Slowly they turned around and slunk away, leaving only Hazel, his vampires, and the boy.
The vampires walked towards him, eyeing the boy with either wariness, respect, or hunger. Gri licked his lips as he stared at the unconscious child. "So did you decide to make him into a snack, or do you have other uses for him?"
"None of you are to harm him," Hazel rumbled, drawing one of the twin axes he carried to further drive home his point. "I intend to blood him."
"Y-yourself?!" sputtered Purui in shock. "Are you sure? He did good against the Grimm, but that doesn't mean he'll survive you blooding him. No one has survive you blooding them."
Hazel's gaze turned to her, and she flinched away. "Are you questioning me?"
"Of course not!" Gri said hastily as he came to the defense of his sister, "but it is unusual. Most of the people you considered blooding personally were with us for months before you came to that decision, and they all died from the process."
"Maybe he'll die," Hazel said simply, his words sweeping over his Strigoi, "or maybe not, but none of the other people I considered ever took on a Grimm horde single handedly. The boy's got spirit, large aura reserves, and fury. That's all I need to know." He tossed his axe up into the air and caught it. "Any questions?"
"When are you going to do it?" asked Gri as he nervously eyes Hazel's axe.
"When I think he's ready. The boy's obviously a huntsman, so he'll need to have their ideologies worked out of him before he's blooded . He'll need to be able to kill, and do it gladly so he'll be ready for his first feeding." Hazel pointed his axe in the direction of their hidden camp. "Unless anyone else has anything to ask or add that can't wait until we get back to camp, we're moving out. Gri, Purui, gather up his shield and the shards of his sword. We're taking them with us."
The vampires turned and walked deeper into the forest, their footsteps little more than whispers on the earth as they disappeared into the shadows of the trees.
Well that was a doozy of a first chapter, wasn't it? Jaune gets kidnapped by a bunch of blood suckers (the vampiric kind, not the law practitioner kind), the leader of whom intends to turn him into one of them. What will happen? Who knows? Well I know. That's because I'm writing it.
I know that y'all probably have a number of questions about a number of things, such as the story behind the Vampires, what blooding is, and so on and so forth. To these questions that may be asked I say wait and see. All will be answered in the following chapters, I promise.
Those of you who have seen at least episode one of Volume 4 know who Hazel is (those of you who have not, what are doing here? Go catch up on the three episodes that are out). I'm aware that in the actual show he's probably not actually a Vampire (that would be so cool if he was though) but I just thought it fit him so well. At first I was trying to figure out what character I would create to be the master Vampire, but then I remembered Hazel. While he doesn't fit the "traditional" Vampire Lord stereotype (read: Mannfred Von Carstein) there's just something about his character that fit the role so well. While we've seen very little of him in show one can already tell that he's the strong silent type who prefers actions over words, and never has to shout to be heard. What better character archetype could there be for a leader of hundreds of Strigoi? He also seems to be the only one besides Cinder who is totally loyal to Salem, and nothing else. Doctor Watts strikes me as someone who's allied himself with her simply to ensure his own survival, Tyrion probably only works for her because she gives him a steady supply of people to kill, but there's something about Hazel that screams complete and utter obedience to Salem. He has no dreams of grandeur, no desire to rule more than what he has, he simply wishes to serve his mistress, and often those kinds of people are the most dangerous to their enemies.
Also as far as the color rule for names go, I will be trying to follow it, but there may be a couple of characters who do not have color based names, as they were born before or during the Great War (gotta love that vampire immortality). Those of you who are familiar with the Romanian language have probably recognized the names of the two Vampires Gri and Purui
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