A/N Comments are always appreciated!
-Power game-
The chapel was deserted and as Emma took a few steps inside she glanced at the debris that had been accumulated there for who knew how long. Dust coated everything she glanced and, illuminated by the moonlight that filtered through the half-broken glass colored windows that had once been beautiful pieces of art, the blonde could see cobwebs moving softly in the midnight wind.
Grabbing the crucifix she always had fastened around her neck slightly more forcefully, the woman narrowed her eyes, trying to filter what her senses were seeing and what they were telling her to look at. The sudden echo of some receding footsteps made her look at her right where the chapel seemed to be even more ruined than what surrounded her and as she walked through probably more than rotten pews she sniffed the air, getting the scent of decay and a quick whiff of lilacs that disappeared almost as quickly as it had come.
Biting her bottom lip, she eased her steps, her boots leaving imprints on the dust covered floor as her jacket swished back and forth. She was close, very close.
A single drop of drying blood was what made her look harder between two conveniently pieces of what appeared to have once been part of the half-crumbled roof. The drop couldn't have been bigger than a nickel but Emma had always been good with finding what others couldn't and for a second she crouched in front of the stain, trying to determine where the trail could have go from that point onwards.
A sudden rustle at her back made her turn her neck towards her left, eyes glinting as her hand extracted a small stake from the pocket she had hidden at her chest level. Once she turned, however, no one was there and the silver beams of the moonlight illuminated only her own footprints; clear against the dark floor.
She really didn't have time to lose. She reflected, her empty hand releasing the crucifix and going to the gun she always had at her hip. Daytime was quickly approaching and she had already wasted enough time tracking the creature from the small town she had been inhabiting for the past month and a half before the first reports had started to arrive. Once the first sunrays illuminated the crumbled chapel and with it its insides Emma would need to wait another day and she couldn't have that.
Licking her lips and feeling with disgust that the specks of that same dust were now covering her mouth, she moved ever so slowly towards the place she shadow seemed to have appeared mere seconds before.
"I know you are here." She whispered in the dark, knowing that she didn't really need to speak louder than that.
A hiss answered her and Emma smiled slightly as she turned her eyes towards the place the sound seemed to have come from; the stairs that probably once had linked the ground with the priest's pulpit. The platform was still more or less standing although she could see from where she stood that a big chunk of the floor didn't exist anymore, the rest was bathed in shadows. Shadows that seemed to tremble for a second as Emma glanced at them.
"I see you." She chanted in a singsong voice, smiling smugly while trying to pry off the charm that seemed to be around the shadows that made her impossible to discern what was shadow and what actual flesh.
"I very much doubt that, human." Came the reply and Emma shivered unintentionally; she had encountered her fair share of vampires, werewolves and creatures that didn't exactly appear in many biology books. The Victorian vampire aesthetic with its alluring charm was very much true but the tone of that voice, deep but indistinctly female made her swallow. The shadows quivered as she took another step towards the stairs and for a second the silhouette of a woman could be seen there before the rustling sound of wings was heard. "Your kind is far too blind to see anything."
"Well." Emma replied while clenching her jaw, changing the weight of her body from one leg to the other. "I'm not exactly what you would call 'normal'."
Another rustle, another movement and this time Emma saw the glint of a set of eyes behind one of the few standing columns at her right.
"That is something I can tell." Came the appraising response and for a moment Emma felt as if not only being watched but also considered as something else than a meal. The pupils of the creature glinted and then the shadow was gone, leaving behind a new set of shivers that climbed up Emma's back, nagging at her senses.
An ancient vampire. She thought as she stood, completely still, trying to see where the creature was going to appear from next. She must be facing with one of the few ancient ones that still roamed that part of the world.
"Show yourself." She commanded while trying to remember the names of the few ones that had been there long enough to some sort of recording for them. Names were important for some of the creatures she caught before, they held power.
A dark chuckle came from her right, far too close than what she would have expected it. Turning but finding herself being stared back by the empty floor and walls of the chapel she put the stake back at her chest pocket and caressed the handle of her gun, easing the leather strip that kept it on place with the fickle of one finger. Holy water, she thought as she felt the sloshing of the bullets inside as she freed the gun, that would hurt the vampire enough for her to come closer.
"As insistent as you are, dear." Came the female voice at her back, much closer than ever, the tone almost a purr that made Emma shiver, "I'm not really interested."
"Countess? Is that you?" Emma asked instead of answering directly at the creature. She could remember a nobility title in one of the few records she had read before coming to this mission. The chuckle she received as an answer was enough to let her know she had failed.
"You know the power of names, how refreshing." Said the voice, this time the ghost of a caress touching Emma's back. "Problem is, dear, that I'm not a countess."
"Then what are you?" Asked the blonde, looking at the floor at her feet, seeing the shimmering shadow of the creature coming closer to her; the silhouette almost seeming to turn from translucent to corporeal as she moved.
Just a few more seconds.
The answer came at the same time Emma put her finger up her trigger and squared her shoulders, one hand escalating up her back, long fingers curling at the nape of her neck as they moved the blonde's long tresses to one side.
"A Queen."
Everything happened too fast; Emma jumped to one side and fired blindly at her back, the sound of a scream when the holy bullet made its impact letting her know she had indeed hit the target. Still spinning the woman grabbed one strong wrist and pulled it, the shadow finally becoming fully visible as Emma pushed into the light.
Her senses hadn't deceived her; the power that the creature's eyes yielded when their gazes met was enough for her to know that she was in front of one ancient vampire. One that its mere presence was enough for Emma's soul to quiver at. Another parts of Emma, however, were trembling as well at the sight of amazing beauty that was staring back at her with hurt glowing on those- almost animalistic- pupils.
"You were saying?" She, however, said, tying her best not to get entranced by the vampire's beauty or the way the creature's body was perfectly visible through the almost see-through tunic she wore, the plunging neckline at her chest enough to let the blonde's eyes to wander.
The Queen snarled but said nothing, her eyes turning to slits as Emma picked up her gun from the floor, quickly checking that nor the mechanism nor the rest of the bullets had broken up with the fall.
"I'm more interested in knowing now who you are." Came finally the response. It was Emma's turn to chuckle but she nodded nonetheless. Her name, as many other things regarding her strangeness, the reason why she did what she did, didn't work like it would have done in the mouth of the creatures she worked so hard to fight against and for that she mouthed it.
"Emma Swan."
The vampire's smile widened, her teeth white and perfect but unnaturally sharp if one took a closer look. "Emma Swan." She said, rolling the vowels inside her mouth, her lips tilting upwards as she dragged the "m" transforming the blonde's name in a two very distinct syllables "Enchantée human."
"You still haven't told me your name." The blonde pointed out, taking one step closer to the crouched vampire. The holy water had weakened her considerably taking into account that she wasn't fighting her but she couldn't see a single gaping wound on the woman's skin and it wasn't normal to have vampires talking after being hit with holy water. The woman was certainly something else.
The vampire's lips parted for a second time, teeth seeming to gleam even stronger now.
"Regina Mills."
And that's when she bit down