Warning: Character death(s) this chapter.

"Wolfson, get a move on!"

The red fox jolted from the unexpected voice in the hall, but he closed the cover of his journal all the same. He didn't know why he bothered to put warnings like those into his journal entries as if someone were going to read and heed to them. But he did night after night, writing at times, things he learned from whatever mission he was on and what target he was sent out to destroy. He liked to believe there may come a time long after he passed on whether it be from a mission or old age that someone, a novice hunter would find and read his journal. What they found inside would surely help whoever came after him. They could learn what the undead were capable of instead of having to learn the hard way as he had more times than he could count.

He had lost many comrades to the vampire, friends who had either been tricked into thinking they had the upper hand against the monsters. Or those who had let their egos override their common sense and thought themselves invincible. There was even one such comrade who had become the victim of a vampire's wiles and had become a demon himself. It had been Nick that had to put the blood thirsty beast down.

Every failure, every loss had deeply rooted itself into his heart and hardened him further and further until he became as he was now: a hardened slayer who kept even his allies no closer than arms length. And the episode of only a month before didn't help matters. A novice, a young girl who thought she was ready for field duty and wouldn't listen to reason had very nearly had her head ripped off by a bull she had thought was a civilian. Nick and the mammal with him, Jaden Wolfson had thankfully been able to get her out of harms way just in time.

The dumb gazelle hadn't completely escaped without injury of course, she had a mark on her throat where a fang had grazed her skin enough to cause a dribble of blood. Her wrist was sprained as well when she was tossed to the side in a hurry and landed on it the wrong way. Minor whiplash where she was yanked free of the monster's hooves accompanied the injuries, but all things considered she was lucky to escape with what little injury she had. Things could have been so much worse for her and would have been if he and Jaden had been even a second later. Whether her fate would have been to be drained of her life by the vampire's fangs or destroyed by their blades when she rose back up he didn't know and thankfully didn't have to find out.

Needless to say, Father Bogo hadn't been merciful to the girl when she returned with them back to the chapel. But again she was lucky to have gotten away with what she did. Personally he thought twelve hours of prayer and a thousand "Hail Ewe's" was still too lenient. The dumb broad could have been killed and very nearly jeopardized their mission. Hopefully the experience had gotten through to her though and she wouldn't be repeating the same mistake. She'd seemed shaken up enough on the way back. Ah, well some just had to learn the hard way he supposed.

Nick stood from his chair at the desk, eyeing the journal quietly for a moment before lifting his arms and stretching. Before he got on board the carriage that would take them to Happytown he had to give his body a warm up. Going after a target without stretching and preparing was as good as writing "eat me" on himself. No vampire would pass up a slow priest. Not one with working brain matter that is. So he stretched until he couldn't reach any higher and moved his arms and legs up and down followed by jogging and then running in place until he was sure he was ready.

"Wilde!"

"Yes, Father I'm coming," he called back as he reached for his weapons.

Several throwing daggers were carefully put into their concealed holsters beneath his sleeves, the material just baggy enough to hide them. Still more smaller knives were tucked into holders on his legs and inside his faux cowskin boots. A katana was slid into it's home at his right side where a holder had been waiting, the sleek black sheath almost disappearing against his even more black pants. And finally a crossbow with a quiver full of arrows was carefully situated against his back and shoulder.

He double and then triple checked to make sure he had everything before he walked to his door and opened it to reveal the as usual irate water buffalo standing with a hoof raised to bang on the door. Nick simply sent a smirk up at him, uttering a falsely warm greeting of "Father" and moved past the bulking figure to join with the rest of his group. There were several targets this evening, five predators, two prey as he recalled.

The prey were thought to have been spirited from their homes and turned against their will. Sadly, willing or not it would not save them from being destroyed. A vampire was still a vampire and their damned souls had to be released of their bodies to face their judgement by the creator. Perhaps if they asked forgiveness of the savior before they perished, their souls would be spared of the eternal torments of Hell. As a priest it was his duty to offer such a service whilst still being weary of what they may do. Even the purest prey or predator in life could lose themselves to the darkness which turned them into the unholy creatures they became.

The predators themselves all had long lists of evil deeds. Some of them killed for sport and not just to satisfy their thirst for blood. Others had been known to mutilate their victims as they fed on them and one loved to scare their victims half to death, toy with them until they got bored of it and killed the victim. It was sickening and unsettling to let his mind wonder at times if his own ancestors had been such a way in primitive times. How many poor animals had his ancestors terrified and toyed with before killing and eating them? It made his stomach clench and turn in rebellion before he shooed away the thoughts and berated himself internally for allowing his mind to wander.

Regardless of the sins of his ancestors, he was not them and he never would be. He liked to think he was doing enough good now and had repented enough that the stain of their wrong doings didn't linger upon his soul. But to be all the safer, he still prayed every chance he got even for the fact that he slayed demons. There was a commandment against killing after all and God's instrument or not, it was still a sin.

"Not tonight, Wilde."

He paused, broken from his thoughts just as he made it to the door that led to the waiting carriage. Not tonight? He was one of the better hunter's by the Father's own admission. Being flexible, able to see in the dark, his sense of smell impeccable, and his sense of hearing second only to Patrick Cotton why was he being stopped?

"I'm afraid I don't understand, Father. Why am I being denied?" he asked as he turned to the taller.

A rare smirk appeared on the water buffalo's face that had Nick's eyes narrowing. What was he up to? He didn't like to entertain evil imaginations of his higher up, but there was no mistaking that look. The last time he'd seen that expression, Erica Preston had been sent after a wolverine. The wolf had made it back to the chapel only to collapse into a pool of blood just inside the door.

"You have a different target tonight. As my most skilled hunter I need you on this mission."

Nick forced his expression to change, smoothing his features into a mask of indifference as he stood to attention. But he was still very much weary. What kind of mammal would he be sent after?

"Who am I partnered with?"

"Its just you."

Again his suspicion trickled higher, but he kept his features perfectly blank as he nodded his understanding and assent. He couldn't refuse a mission, it went against the laws of their church and of their decree. Father Bogo knew this of course being the head of their order. The fox had to wonder, mind still on Erica if this was a suicide mission. She had been killed while he was still a novice and at the time she had been the highest ranked slayer. Or he may be overthinking things and the Father could just think so highly of him that he felt he could handle this alone. Perhaps Bogo had thought the same of Erica. Nick vowed silently to pray extra hard for forgiveness for his doubt when he returned. If he returned.

Perhaps it would be better to do that on his way to his designated area.

"I understand, Father. What species is the target?"

"That is why I need you, Wilde. You have a way of obtaining information as well as slaying fast and silently. There's little known of the target other than it leaves it's victims alive though weakened presumably to toy with them. It seems to stay in the Rainforest area and prey on larger mammals."

"And the victims are they demons themselves?"

"No signs of corruption just yet. Though the fiend could return at any time to kill or change them."

Nick opened his eyes, emerald green turning to stare through the window beside him. His repenting prayers were now done so all he had to do now was wait until he arrived at his destination. And with nothing else to do, he allowed his mind to carrying him away into memory. He knew this area, he had grown up here until the age of nine. It had been a simple life, living with barely enough to scrape by, but he had been a happy kit. He had his parents, he had his home that was warm in the winter and cool in the summer. He needed nothing else. Not even the hurtful slurs that degraded him for being a fox really bothered him after some time because for all the hate tossed at him he knew he had loving parents waiting at home to welcome him with love and warmth.

All of that changed one winter night, his happiness snatched away, stolen by a vampire. The fiend had come in, posing as a wandering mammal who couldn't bear the bite of the winter cold. Of course his parents being the kind and trusting souls they were had let the creature in, none the wiser of what kind of monster she actually was. They had likely thought the warning rise of their fur had just been a natural reaction to an unfamiliar animal or even to the chill in the air that they all thought peculiar, but didn't blame on the strange vixen who in spite of apparently being so cold didn't shiver.

Nick had thought it strange that the fox had politely refused the hot broth his mother offered, surely the vixen had to be hungry. But he had thought that maybe she knew that they had very little themselves. A look around their small, barely decorated, but sturdy place would have told any mammal that much. But he hadn't been able to shake his unease which grew when the vixen's eyes followed his parents out of the room then turned to him. There was a hunger there in that gaze that he again pushed back as her being hungry, but too kind to eat their food. So he offered a smile and pushed broth and bread to her, reassuring her they would be okay and she should eat.

The fox had smiled, her lips closed and picked up the bowl of broth and quietly thanked him behind it. He'd gone to bed thinking without watching her take even the first sip. He'd thought everything was fine..

He didn't know even now how long he'd been asleep he only knew it wasn't long and that something had woken him up. The answer of just what revealed itself not even a second later, his fur standing straight up in warning right before the terrified screams of his mother rang through the small house. He had just jumped out of bed when his mom came running in, throwing the door closed behind her and barring the doorway with a chair against the knob and his toy sword jammed into the crease between the door and the frame. He didn't have time to ask her what was wrong when she ran to him and pushed him toward the window.

"Get outside, Nicholas and don't stop running until you get to the church!" she urged, her voice a terrified whisper.

The crucifix normally worn on a chain, hidden inside her dress was out and tightly held in her paw as she urged him on.

"Where's papa?" he had asked, terrified of the answer.

His mother only shushed him with tears building in her eyes and whimpers starting in her throat as she threw the window open and pushed him through it. He begged her to come with him, which she was reluctant to do, probably to give him a better chance of getting to safety. But his refusal to leave without her finally made her concede and they raced with hammering hearts and panting mouths toward the church, him in front.

He was only three feet from the churchyard when he heard his mother fall to the ground with such force he knew she hadn't tripped or slipped in the snow. Sure enough when he turned he discovered she had been tackled to the snow covered earth screaming "demon" and "fiend" at the vixen from before as she shouted biblical verses at her. The vixen only grinned at her, teeth far too sharp to be a normal foxes stained with blood and pieces of flesh that he realized with his heart plummeting into his stomach was his father's.

Even now the memory was a clear as if he was living it all over again as his mother turned her head as well as she could and shouted at him to get to the church. But he stood frozen in place as the vampire opened her maw and quicker than lightning snapped her jaws down on his mother's throat. Her last words "go now" was cut off and became garbled as blood spurted free of her mouth caused by the vampire driving her claws through her chest. But still he could only stand and stare in horror as his mom's life was sucked out and her once vibrant eyes, emerald like his own fogged over and became dull with death.

Seeing the life deplete from her eyes was what finally put him in motion again. He ran the rest of the way to the churchyard and then into the church itself and he didn't stop until he was at the pulpit. In a display of rage that had him seeing red fueled by high adrenaline he broke off the metal cross and ran back outside into the snow. If the vampire had seen him coming or heard his loud growls and snarls that roared in his own ears, she didn't have a chance to react before he drove the sharp point at the bottom of the cross through her head. Brain matter and blood went flying, but he wasn't done and pulled it back out, disgusted that she was still moving and staggered back.

With a ferocity that would have made his most savage ancestors proud he ran at her and drove crosses sharp bottom through her chest, piercing her heart and didn't stop until the blackened organ was forced through her back.

"BURN IN HELL MURDERING DEMON!"

That had been and still was the only time he had wished for damnation on anyone or anything. He'd watched with a still burning rage as the heart turned to ash and then the body along with it before he carelessly dropped the cross atop the ash pile. That was how Father Bogo who had been a priest at the time found him. Nick hadn't been aware that a group of priests had come on the scene and seen what he'd done until his sobbing and struggling form was pulled away from his mother's body where he'd apparently gone after dropping his temporary weapon.

He vaguely remembered one of them telling another to lead him away, that "he shouldn't see this". He didn't know it at the time, but "this" had been destroying his mother's body that had risen again. He'd thought back then that he'd heard her voice saying "Nicky" but had thought it was his imagination. He hadn't looked back and to this day was glad he hadn't. If he had, his ignorance would have had him running to the fiend that had once been his mother and probably try to kill the priests that were there to help him and hopefully redeem her soul. He could never bring himself to ask if they were successful in her redemption, afraid of the answer.

The jolt of the carriage pulled him free of his thoughts, green eyes blinking twice before the carriage door was opened and he stepped out. He gave a polite nod to the driver as he stepped from the carriage and towards a cottage where a victim of a vampire attack resided. If he was lucky, the mister Manchas would remember something useful in tracking down the demon that attacked him.

"Oh Great Creator. Oh Great Virgin Ewe, bless my path. Light my way. Let me be your instrument to rid the world of evil," he prayed and raised a paw to knock on the door.

TBC...

AC: That's it for chapter two~ I hope you're all enjoying it so far. ^^ I know I'm enjoying writing it. Though I won't lie, I made myself sad by the scene of Nick's parents' deaths. But now you all know how he came to be a priest. ;) Leave reviews if you enjoyed. See you next chapter~! As a side note I apologize if this story seems a bit too religious or if I'm getting the Catholic faith wrong in any way. My only defense (and I hope its a good one) is that this is an AU and while it may have similarities to some human faith's, its a completely made up religion for this fan fiction. I apologize if I offend anyone, that is not my intent.

Disclaimer: I don't own Zootopia or any characters therein. They are the property of their respective creators. I make no profit from this story, its simply a fan made story for myself and others to enjoy~