This story is particularly fun to write. This actually has influences from several sources, including InFAMOUS: Festival of Blood, Kingdoms of Amalur, and Infamous: Second Son. It is so fun to write Jerald's character! Just that cute old man who loves to talk about his days as a soldier...I think he's gonna be a recurring character. Anyways, enjoy!
On a single night of the year, when the moon glowed brightest and loomed over the horizon as a single shattered eye watching the cities below, the people of Remnant celebrated the Night of the Grimm: a great, worldwide festival where people donned costumes of monsters and demons to scare away the Grimm spirits and beasts, lit pyres and burned effigies of the tyrants who wielded Grimm magics in the centuries before. It was always festive and most nearly all enjoyed it, for there was nothing better to do than party for entirety of the dusk that always fell upon Remnant on this day and lasted for seven.
Despite being worldwide, however, there was nowhere that This story celebrated it like the city of Vale. The streets were packed with people dressed both casually and in the likenesses of the Grimm bustling about, and at the very heart of the city, a great fire burned and Dust magicians performed tricks and shows all throughout the streets and avenues. Citizens gathered at intersections and seated themselves in portable bleachers to watch actors carry out plays based on epic, grand battles and harrowing, horrifying folk tales that always drew in massive crowds and roaring applause. At street corners, Huntsmen and Huntresses told tales of their encounters with the Grimm, drawing small circles of children every time. At regular intervals, men on the rooftops set off fireworks of orange and violet to mark each hour of the night.
Out of anybody in the city, the people who liked this day the most were the students of Beacon; it was one of the only times they were allowed to leave the academy without a curfew, and it was always fun to participate in the festival. They always carried their weapons with them as badges of status among the masses. They were always awed by those around them; they were the ones to be celebrated on this night, the Huntsmen and Huntresses, slayers of Grimm.
But the students of Beacon weren't the only ones wandering the streets. There were always the creatures of the night. Not quite Grimm and not quite human, these monsters of the dusk took on the forms of humans and blended among them, sometimes coaxing men and women into seclusion for a small midnight snack of blood and flesh. Tonight of all nights was perfect; there was no shortage of victims to feast upon and too many to notice a single disappearance in the night. And there was always the chance to multiply, to turn mortals into beasts.
They had a long while to do so, as well; their hunt had only just begun.
—
"I see you took off the bow for the night!"
Yang had to shout to be heard over the tumult of the crowd around her. She had been speaking to Blake, who had just joined her, Ruby and Weiss.
It was true. For the first time in a very long time, Blake had taken off her bow, revealing her feline ears to everyone around her. Yang wondered why.
"I took it off because nobody's really gonna tell if they're real or not, anyway," Blake said, answering Yang's unspoken question. "Is it just us?"
"I think so!" Ruby strained to get her voice loud enough to even hear herself over the noise, "We could probably get Jaune and Pyrrha or Sun and Neptune to tag along if we see them!"
"I'm wouldn't mind finding Neptune," Weiss interjected, "On the other hand, I could care less for his thieving friend."
Blake would have likely defended Sun, but it was true; he often stole things if he wanted them, including something as mundane as an apple and even stowed away on a ship because he didn't feel like buying a ticket that he could easily afford. All in all, it was pointless trying to defend a known thief by saying he wasn't a thief.
"Please don't say something like that to his face, Weiss," Blake snatched up a kebab from a small table as they passed it, thanking the elderly man who cooked them. He nodded and smiled, his old face wrinkly and weathered but his eyes glowed with happiness and absolutely blazed with life. His personality was reflected in his cooking, as well. Suddenly, Blake's eyes caught sight of something metallic at his side: a revolver with a knife blade combined with its barrel and a medal pinned to his lapel.
He was a Huntsman. Blake looked at the others, especially at Ruby, and said, "Hey, guys! This man's a Huntsman!"
Ruby whirled at lightning speed, saying, "Where?!" She saw him immediately and her expression brightened even more, and she joined Blake at the table. Yang and Weiss followed.
"You're a Huntsman?" Ruby beamed, and the man nodded, his smile still quite alive. He pulled out his gleaming silver revolver and set it on the table.
"Why, yes! Yes, I am, young lady!" He declared cheerfully, "How perceptive of your friend there, hehe!"
He looked over each of them, his gaze fixing on Ruby particularly. He laughed. "And I see you're all Huntresses in training, if I'm correct."
"It's true, sir," Weiss answered respectfully, and the man's gaze flicked to her. He raised a gray eyebrow.
"I believe you're the Schnee child, yes?" He turned and rotated the kebabs on the burner. "Tell me, why would someone with your wealth and sway choose this of all things as a profession?"
"It seemed far more interesting than sitting behind a desk filing paperwork, sir."
"Oh, you don't need to be so formal with me, lass," he turned the kebabs again and removed a few from the burner to put them in a stand, then replaced them with a few uncooked ones he had put together. "I've had enough of those in my lifetime, but I do think greetings are in order. My name is Jerald. It is good to meet you!"
He offered a hand, and each of the four girls promptly shook it, introducing themselves as they did so. Jerald grinned again.
"I don't suppose you girls would be willing to sit through a couple of my old stories as a Huntsman?" He offered, "I would be quite happy to oblige you if you might assist me at my stand here."
"Happily!" Ruby's face lit up like a fireworks display, and Blake shrugged, saying, "Sure, why not?" Weiss accepted the offer with a smile.
"Alright, then," Jerald chuckled, gesturing to them to come around the side of the table, "Come on over and have a seat. Got a few chairs set up out here, if you like."
"Aren't you coming, Yang?" Ruby asked her sister.
"I'll catch up with you guys later," Yang glanced behind her, then back to Ruby, "I'm gonna go explore for a while, see what festivities are going on elsewhere and I'll come back in probably an hour or two, okay?"
"Okay. Stay safe!" Ruby called after her as she walked away.
"You expect too much of me!" Yang chuckled and disappeared into the crowd. Ruby frowned, but shrugged and moved to a seat beside Blake. Jerald grinned again and sluggishly sat down in a seat across from the three remaining girls, holstering his revolver.
"Alright, where to start..." He muttered to himself, stroking his chin with a ragged hand, and a flash of inspiration flickered over his ancient features. He pointed a finger to the sky and his face brightened. "Ah! I know!" He adjusted himself in his seat, making himself comfortable, and spoke.
"Back when I was a young lad..."
—
Yang wove in and out of the river of people, trying to get a good view of her surroundings and of the festivities all about the crowded street. She had decided that someone had needed to see what was going on throughout the city, and she figured she might as well get the exercise.
The crowd thinned out a little bit as they passed by a small makeshift museum filled with relics from past wars and memorabilia of former Huntsmen and Huntresses. She almost entered to see what interesting objects she might find in there when someone brushed past her. She felt an odd sensation wash over her, but it faded quickly, so she ignored it.
…Follow me…
Yang turned her head to see the source of the noise that wasn't actually there. There was a man there, entering the alley nearby. He was well-dressed in a tailored tailcoat and matching pants, a pair of black dress shoes and a red ascot. His dark hair and striking features were only dulled in their intensity by his seemingly gray skin, but it might have just been an effect of the lighting. Still, a confident smile graced his features, and Yang couldn't help but be drawn to him like a moth to a lightbulb. He had pointed ears.
…Follow me…
She obeyed, walking absentmindedly to follow the man out of the crowd and into the alley where he wandered, as if he were luring her. She ignored the growing sense of danger that screamed for her to resist and shoved it to the back of her mind to continue tailing the man.
She rounded the corner and there he was, looming over her, his long limbs straightened into a formal pose. He smiled again, and her heart skipped a beat.
"My, what a beautiful young lady," he said, bowing with a flourish of his hand, and she blushed. It was so strange; she was never the blushy-smiley shy girl, never, so the fact she was being one now would have disturbed her if she hadn't been so focused on the fluidity of his movement. There was something that was just so alien about him, something that made him unnatural, but she didn't try to pick it out. He moved to a position where Yang now stood between him and the wall. "I am Magnus. May I ask your name, young woman?"
"Yang," she blurted rudely, "My name is Yang." She hardly noticed him advancing on her; her gaze was set to his eyes, those hypnotic, strange eyes...
"Yang. What a beautiful name. Much to my taste for a girl with a beautiful face to have a name to match it."
Magnus was now leaning over Yang, who had her back against the wall, looking up into his face. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder while the opposite arm wrapped around the back of her head so that his other hand was on the opposite side of her head.
"And now that I think about it...I wonder how you taste."
He wrenched her head to the side, pushing her shoulder down, and descended. She gasped as his teeth pierced her neck, but she was quickly drained of energy, rendering her completely incapable of fighting back. The fist she had clenched fell slack at her side, her fingers relaxing, and after several moments, the fangs left her neck bloody and wounded. Magnus dropped her, and she collapsed on her side, weary and tired. What remained of her blood dribbled from the wounds on her neck in tiny amounts.
After a moment, Magnus spoke as if nothing happened. "Hmm...you taste of...what is it called...a banana split! It has been a long time since I have eaten one of those. Oh, such nostalgia you have brought me."
Yang felt as if she were hearing him through a wall. His voice sounded distant and obstructed, and her vision began to fail as she grew cold. She couldn't move, but she didn't really want to, anyway. She just wanted to close her eyes and sleep through the pain in her neck...
"Hey!"
Another muffled voice, and what must have been hurried footsteps. Her eyes managed to open a sliver and found that Magnus had disappeared, replaced by a small, young girl of around her age. She was knelt beside Yang, touching her all over the place, checking her vitals, and probing the wounds on her neck.
As the girl did this, Yang felt a strange thirst wash over her, and a strength that wasn't exactly plentiful, but still there. She could hear a heartbeat. Hers? She didn't know. The thirst grew stronger, and a lust took over her body.
She sat up, surprising both herself and the young girl, and, before she could react, Yang grabbed her, violently pulled her head and shoulder apart, and sank her teeth into the girl's neck. She screamed in horror and pain, but quickly fell silent as her blood was leeched from her body. Newfound strength filled Yang, and a strange flavor like peppermint teased her senses, and she continued to drink greedily, as if addicted to the blood. The girl ceased her feeble struggling and sagged in Yang's grip.
Yang pulled her teeth from the girl's neck, primal satisfaction settling her hunger. She opened her eyes and witnessed her handiwork. The satisfaction turned to horror as she realized what she had done.
She killed this poor, innocent girl in a lust for blood.
Her horror didn't last long, either, as a strange, numb pain replaced it. It started in her teeth and jaw. Her mouth opened wider than she thought she could and then some, almost as if her jaw had unhinged altogether. Her canines began to elongate painfully and began to repurpose themselves to suit her new feeding abilities. Closing her mouth the moment she could, Yang looked at her hands as the pain shifted from her mouth to her ears. Her skin was ashen gray, almost white in the darkness of the alley. Her attention returned to her ears. Her hearing intensified as they grew longer and tapered into points until they stuck out almost past the back of her head. Her vision sharpened and the darkness of the alley didn't seem very dark anymore. She stood up as her limbs and torso lengthened some, and her muscles began to reform, making her body more slender and graceful as well as taller but not altering her appearance to the point where she was unrecognizable. The other transformations would have taken care of that one already.
As her breasts and hips filled out to fit proportionally to her new body, she knelt down beside the corpse of the girl whose blood she had taken and whispered, "I'm sorry." She needed to find Ruby and the others. Soon. She stood up again, almost falling off balance in the process. She must be at least half a foot taller now and unusually light as well. She moved to go back down the alleyway when a beating began to fill her ears, and she thought for a moment it was her heart. But then, as she grew closer to the crowd flowing past, the beating grew immensely louder and multiplied by thousands. She gasped and covered her sensitive ears, her brain feeling as if it was being beaten repeatedly by a hammer, but it did nothing against the barrage of noise.
She could hear their hearts beating. The blood thrumming through their veins. The laughing, joyous screaming, gleeful cries and whoops, pain, pain, pain, so much pain caused by the noise. Yang started to panic, hyperventilating, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, a feeling in her gut that she would vomit. She fell to her knees, her hands still covering her ears. Dust, it hurt so much. She would do anything to make the pain go away.