Arikado looked to the night sky as his black leather shoes clicked against the sidewalk. The light from the surrounding buildings made it difficult to make out the stars, but the shining presence of the full moon was as bright as ever.
The dhampir returned his gaze to the street on which he walked. It was well into the night, and Arikado was alone among the streets save for the streetlights and skyscrapers of the city of Seijo. His current destination was the park that lay in the center of the business district; it was their he had planned to meet with the current Belmont, Julius, and discuss plans to halt Dracula's resurrection.
Dirt was compacted beneath Arikado's feet as he stepped off the sidewalk and onto a dirt path the led to the center of the park. He did not see Julius waiting at the fountain, but he supposed that was to be expected. Arikado was early, and with Julius's brash youth came a cavalier attitude towards punctuality. The dhampir could be patient, however, and would wait.
Arikado felt a strange chill at his back before the silence was broken, an unfamiliar voice shouting from Arikado's side.
"Hey you stupid creature of evil!" The phrase itself would have made Arikado laugh, had his personality been so disposed. It reminded him of what Richter had claimed to have said to his father many years ago when confronting him, in both spirit and forced drama. 'Die monster. You don't belong in this world.'
Arikado turned, his face expressionless, to see a figure standing atop wall several meters off. It was only appropriate to describe it as a figure; they had positioned themselves strategically so as to be silhouetted against the moon. The voice seemed to be young and male; perhaps a boy in his late teens.
A chuckle came from the unmoving figure, clearly audible despite the distance. "How long I've been waiting for this moment! O wretched demon, we were meant to meet by the moon of fate!" With a shout, the boy leapt from the wall, his arms spread, allowing his cape to billow dramatically behind him. In an impressive show of acrobatics, he then turned the maneuver into a forward flip, landing in a kneeling position near Arikado.
From this position, Arikado could see that the boy had blonde, combed-back hair. He wore a tiara set with a cross, and a large black mantle not too dissimilar to the one Arikado himself had used in times past. Standing slowly and dramatically, eyes closed, the boy spoke softly, as though to himself, but loud enough that Arikado had no problem hearing him.
"Protecting the weak women of this world is my mission. They call me the 'beautiful death.'" His eyes opened, revealing clear blue eyes the reminded Arikado of Maria. The boy smirked and his arm came out from under his cloak, pointing towards the dhampir with a dramatic flair. "I, the vampire hunter Reo, will send you back into the darkness!"
Arikado spoke quickly, "Wait. I am not your enemy." Arikado had not expected to meet another vampire hunter here in Seijo, and had certainly not expected to be attacked by one, considering his half-blood heritage. The hunter looked at him uncertainly for a moment, as if just recognizing him, before shaking his head in dismissal.
"You cannot dissuade me, fiend of the Netherworld! You will end here, by my hand!" Reo's right hand disappeared into his cloak, and Arikado knew he was going to draw a weapon. In a flash, Arikado had his mother's heirloom in his own hand, and skillfully parried the attack, shoving his opponent backwards.
Reo stumbled for a moment, but recovered quickly and moved to Arikado again, striking again. The attacks, however, were simple for Arikado to deflect. The dhampir avoided counterattacking, trying instead to convince Reo that he did not wish to fight.
"Stop! I have no plans of hurting you or anyone in this city!" Arikado's words went unheeded by the cloaked vampire hunter.
"Do you think I'd fall for that?" Reo replied indignantly, though he stayed back from Arikado this time, blue markings appearing beneath his feet. Arikado recognized the beginnings of an ice spell instantly, and a red aura flared to life around him as he prepared a Hellfire to counter.
A cold breeze accompanied the pillars of ice the Reo summoned, but the fireballs Arikado had conjured exploded as they hit them, turning the ice into useless mist. Before the mist could fade, Reo was upon him again, and Arikado brought his sword up to defend against the attack. Two parries, and Arikado locked his blade with Reo's. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted when another voice shouted at them.
"Jinguji?" Arikado did not recognize it as Julius; he turned and was surprised to notice a vampire with long black hair standing before the two of them, clad in a dark orange outfit with matching cape. Apparently he wasn't in the mood see what's going on, as Arikado could sense the build-up of dark energy that accompanied his own spells. Using Reo's surprise to shove him off balance, Arikado jumped backwards in time to avoid the fire spell the vampire cast.
"Reo! It's Reo!" The black-cloaked hunter shouted at the other vampire, who seemed to be around the same age. "And what are you doing here, Murasame?" Showing a talent for multi-tasking, Reo jumped towards Arikado as he said this, sparks flying as Arikado deflected each strike.
"If you want me to call you Reo, call me Phaid, at least!" The vampire protested, summoned his own sword to his hand and moving into combat. Though two opponents would press most fighters, Arikado was not among 'most fighters,' possessing skill and experience well beyond most. To him, both Phaid and Reo were inexperienced youths, and with some effort he was able to hold both off.
Wanting to create some space, Arikado used his off-hand to produce a card from his pocket, summoning forth his sword familiar. It slashed widely in front of the dhampir, knocking the vampire and the hunter away before disappearing in a flash of light. Arikado used the opportunity to jump backwards.
"Hmph! So you think you can win?" Reo shouted, shifting his grip on his weapon. "Watch, as I destroy you with my ultimate attack!" A glow surrounded the hunter's sword as he began preparing said attack.
Phaid, standing nearby, stepped slightly away as he remarked snidely despite the combat situation, "You sure you brought the right sword this time?" This was meet with a quieter "Shut up!" from Reo.
"Cease this foolishness!" Arikado shouted, trying again to get Reo to think about what he was doing. From what he had seen, it seemed the Reo and Phaid had at least an uneasy alliance, not unlike Julius and himself. Even if he could not immediately convince Reo, perhaps this Phaid would listen to him. "I am not your foe, vampire, vampire hunter! I am merely here to–!"
Suddenly, another shout came from the pair's side. "Arikado!" It was the voice of Julius, running up from an angle behind Arikado. Naturally, Julius wasn't going to ask what was going on; instead, he was simply going to jump into the fray on Arikado's side.
"Belmont, stop–!" Arikado started to protest getting into a fight with some people who weren't really an enemy, but neither Julius nor Reo cared enough to listen.
"Show me your power, Aura Sword!" Reo swung his blade in an upward arc. At the same time, Julius jumped between Arikado and the other hunter, the Vampire Killer whip in his hand, swinging forward to strike.
There was a blast of energy as the two weapons collided, and for a moment the light blinded even Arikado. The force of deflected both Julius and Reo, sending each of them skidding backwards along the paved-stone path. Arikado and Phaid, on the other hand, were both just far enough to be out of range.
"Impossible...! Only a holy power could do that...!" Reo said in disbelief as he stared Julius, who clutched his family's whip tightly, ready to attack again.
"Hmph! It seems your vampire hunting skills just aren't up to par!" Julius smirked at the other teen, and Arikado would have sighed in exasperation; a comment like that was not going to make things any easier. "If you'd paid any attention at all, you'd have seen Arikado was a dhampir!" The comment caught Reo off guard for a moment, but he recovered quickly.
"A half-vampire is still a demon, and I cannot let that stand!" Reo said, cutting the air with his weapon in emphasis.
"Stop talking like a bad movie! You're overly dramatic crap is already getting on my nerves and I don't even know you!" The Belmont replied harshly. Interestingly, this was met with an amused chuckle from Phaid.
"Tell me," Reo started, ignoring Julius's comment. "Why would a vampire hunter help an evil being such as him?" Reo gestured towards Arikado. Phaid scratched the back of his head, and responded first.
"You think maybe they might actually be trying to help?" Phaid started, glancing sideways at Reo. "You know, like I was?"
"It is as I had been saying," Arikado said before Reo could respond. "I am not your enemy. I am here to help plan the end of a menace to humanity...Dracula." This comment brought Reo pause, though Phaid did not seem particularly surprised at the name.
"Don't make me laugh! Dracula doesn't exist!" Reo countered, though his weapon was lowered. The came as a mild surprise to Arikado. If Reo knew Phaid, a vampire, how would he not know of Dracula?
"That shows how much you know!" Julius responded. Arikado felt a headache coming on; the constant shouting of the two hunters annoyed him to no end. "Dracula exists, and my clan has beaten him every time he has resurrected himself!" Reo was silent at this, so Julius continued. "Why else do you think I would help Arikado here? Not just to attack you, although that would be a good enough reason."
"What was that?" Reo's face lit up in anger at the insult, though Phaid seemed amused.
"I said attacking you is a good enough reason in and of itself, pretty boy!" Julius repeated, ready to start the conflict again.
"Pretty boy! Ha!" Reo's anger vanished and was replaced with an arrogant smirk. "An insult from one who has never been fawned over by girls, unlike me!"
"That's enough!" Arikado shouted, trying to prevent the conversation, if it could still be called that, from falling into a insult-throwing argument. "It seems we have much to discuss...perhaps we could find somewhere other than here to do so?" Phaid spoke up at this.
"I have a place we could go to," the vampire said, seeming to be content enough with the cessation of hostilities.
"Very well," Arikado said quickly, hoping to pre-empt any more pointless bickering. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as the two vampire hunters felt the need to incessantly insult each other the entire way, with Phaid occasionally interjecting a comment at Reo's expense.
Arikado rubbed his forehead in exasperation, hoping that this would not end up being more trouble then it was worth... It will have to be worth a lot, the dhampir said to himself.
That's that, a fic detailing how Arikado and Julius met Reo. I just felt like writing this to envision how I thought the characters would interact when they first met. I suppose it retcons the end of my previous fic "Tragic Hero" a bit in that Arikado has met Phaid, but it's nothing major. I originally wasn't going to have Phaid appear at all but I decided I should write him in to have a bit of vampire-vampire hunter parallel between the two groups.
It's possible I might write a second chapter that simply details everyone explaining everything to everyone else if there is any interest, but I think it would actually be pretty boring and short, hence why it ends as it does. It is complete enough in my eyes in any case (feel free to try to convince me otherwise in a review, heh).
Please read & review both of them, if you will. It's nice to know what people think of my writing skills/style.