Hetalia School for Vampire Hunters

Chapter Two

1718 Western Russia…

Stage two is blood. Bleeding. A red pus that bubbles out from swollen flesh, from his eyes and his nose and his mouth. The hunger is replaced by coldness, it passes through him like a ghost, his muscles seize and shiver. He crumples into a huddled ball.

His sisters wish to hold him, but he pushes them away. They smell strong, too strong, the scent fills him, clogs him. His throat feels wrinkled and parched, unbearable dryness. He coughs and wheezes and convulses.

And it's my fault.

Present day…

Arthur huffed in irritation. This was utter bollocks. The shopkeeper had assured him that his order would be here by today and yet here he was, listening to apologies, out in broad daylight and worst of all…bookless! Really, it was enough to drive you mad.

Waving the useless idiot away, he decided to see if there was anything else he could read to tide him over, at least that way, the trip wouldn't have been a total waste of time. For a bookstore which specialised in rare and foreign titles, there weren't enough in English – it was the birthplace of Shakespeare for God's sake. Moving to the rear of the shop, he began to unenthusiastically scan what was available.

"Really, they should have a much bigger fantasy section," he muttered critically. Not seeing anything which caught his interest, he drifted over to the classics and pulled one out. Leafing half-heartedly through the pages, he looked up as the jangle of a bell announced the arrival of another customer.

"Good morning Mister Shopkeeper," the young man who had entered began, "I am so hoping you can help me. You see it's my friend's birthday soon, his name is Ludwig and he's very fierce, but he also likes books so I want to get him a book about fighting. It needs to be a good book because he is very special and I want him to be happy with me for once!" The shopkeeper just blinked at him.

"We sell books in German if that's what you're asking?" He replied uncertainly, gesturing to a shelf at the back of the store near Arthur.

"Fantastico," humming happily to himself, Feliciano went to that section and pulled several German books from the bookshelf. He inspected each one intently, before shaking his head, putting several back and selecting others, plainly this was an important purchase.

Arthur was interested in this young Italian, and moved a little closer so he could examine him more closely.

After only a quick inspection, he smirked, the boy was perfect. Arthur hadn't fed in a while so he would have to soon. There was no panic yet, but why miss such an ideal opportunity?

He was slight and clearly healthy, but he didn't appear physically strong. That was always preferable, it would mean less bother. Given the way he seemed to be talking to himself about the pictures, it was also unlikely that even if he told anyone, they would believe his story. Arthur decided to talk to him, a little charm and he should be easily deceived.

"Have you found anything that would do?"

Feliciano jumped at the voice and looked up. A friendly pair of green eyes met his own and he smiled immediately. "I want something perfect for Ludwig, and these all seem so boring," he replied, gesturing to the pictures. "No-one is smiling at all."

"I couldn't help overhearing you, and I wondered if I could help," Arthur offered.

'What a kind man,' Feliciano thought, then something else occurred to him, "are you English?" He asked excitedly.

Arthur looked a bit surprised, "yes I am, why?"

"I thought you were and that means you know all about reading and books and poetry, I would love you to help me." Feliciano said gladly, clapping his hands with enthusiasm, "Ludwig will be so happy with my present."

It was almost too easy. The mention of another shop he knew, not far away and with a better selection, brought Feliciano instantly to his feet and the two left the bookshop together.

"Hang on a second, I'd better tell Ludwig where I'm going. He always asks me to check in with him, he's such a worrier," Feliciano laughed. Arthur wasn't fazed and strolled coolly along at his side. If this Ludwig was anything like Feliciano, Arthur could easily handle him.

Who knows; he might even have pudding.

As they approached the centre of town he spotted a weedy looking man with wire-rimmed glasses reading a newspaper, he smiled, 'this must be Ludwig'.

"Arthur this is Ludwig." Arthur walked toward the man about to hold out his hand, "No, no silly, not him. Ludwig's over there!"

He turned and felt his blood run cold. This was Ludwig? His first sight of the German definitely came as rather a nasty shock.

There before him was a huge blonde man, leaning against a big black van, his arms were folded and he was staring seriously at them. Arthur almost did a double take upon sight of him; this man was the scariest looking bastard he'd ever seen. He didn't even know it was possible to have muscles like that.

"Who the hell is this?!"

"This is Ludwig! Hi Ludwig, this is Arthur, say hello…" Feliciano chattered on obliviously, whilst the scary blonde haired man just scowled and loomed over him protectively. Arthur held out his hand nervously, thinking that this might be a good time to make a break for it. He could definitely feed later.

Unfortunately as he was just about to excuse himself from the situation, Ludwig finally opened his mouth to speak. "How do you know my student?" He asked ominously, looking at Arthur with suspicion.

Feliciano hastily interrupted, "it's a secret Ludwig, he can't tell you. Isn't that right?" He winked and pressed a finger to his lips. To Arthur's horror the German now looked even more forbidding.

"Is that so?" Ludwig stiffened, "I am not in the habit of allowing students to go off with just anyone Feliciano. You should know this," he said sternly and ignoring the wail, ("but he isn't just anyone, he's Arthur!") he turned back to the Englishman. "My apologies," he said (not sounding apologetic in the slightest) "but I am sure you understand, can I ask your full name?"

Reluctantly Arthur answered him, wishing he hadn't been so greedy, no meal was worth this kind of stress, "Arthur Kirkland, may I assure you that I was only trying to…"

He tailed off in confusion. Ludwig had looked thoughtful at hearing his response, then suddenly his eyes had gone very wide and he snatched something from his pocket, flashing it briefly in his direction, 'what was it'?

"Well done Felicano."

"Huh?"

Arthur was suddenly seized in a vice like grip, "what on earth..?" Was all he managed to say before a large fist was heading for his face.

After that everything went black.

He woke up some time later, tied up in what seemed like the luggage compartment of a bus or van. His teeth rattled as they hit a bump and he swore, this was all extremely undignified. Arthur scowled and struggled, trying to pull himself loose. 'How strange,' he should be able to snap any normal rope? These bindings…he couldn't, and with a sinking heart he realised, they were clearly enchanted.

That could mean only one thing.

Vampire hunters.

"Sodding vampire hunters."

Alfred gaped at him. This vampire guy was British? How was that even possible, he didn't sound ominous or scary or anything.

He was struggling and still bound by a rope, which Ludwig was using to slowly pull him through the crowds.

"Oh this is where you train them is it! Well, let me be the first to tell you, you're doing a simply marvellous job. " He mocked, although something a little mad glittered in his eyes… "Isn't that just a splendid idea, 'we'll let the drooling, blood thirsty half-breeds run free whilst we run after the rational ones.. I'm not even part of the main nest for goodness sake. Killing me won't change a bloody thing."

"Say what you want vampire," said Ludwig, his usually authoritarian tone as biting and cold as ice. He turned suddenly, leaning back towards the vampire who stopped talking immediately. "Today you attempted to harm one of my students, you would have drained him on my watch and therefore I am personally responsible for seeing that you never have that opportunity again."

Alfred considered himself pretty brave, but he was glad Ludwig wasn't glaring at him like that. Somewhere within him he felt a brief stab of pity, the vampire looked bleak, he clearly thought he was about to die.

"Well what are you waiting for? A written invitation! Or is this going to be a demonstration, perhaps the students would like to have a go?! " His words were courageous and had a kind of desperate recklessness, but all of his defiance was undermined by the fear in his frantic, darting eyes.

"This is a place of learning; we do not kill for sport. It is a rare occasion when a vampire and a hunter come face to face and are both left alive. We won't waste such an opportunity to gain knowledge, we intend to use it wisely, however much you might deserve to be put down." Alfred almost flinched at the venom in Ludwig's voice, the German man was stern but he had never heard him sound like that before.

Alfred watched the vampire handle this information. He wasn't going to die, well - at least not immediately. He saw the man's muscles slowly begin to relax and his previously desperate expression become indignant.

"This is a disgrace, do you hear me, a bloody disgrace. I wasn't going to kill him and the idiot followed me willingly, how was I supposed to turn down such an opportunity, would you turn down a free steak…?"

"He's got a point dude!" For one moment everything went silent and Alfred felt his insides crumple into a heap of embarrassment. This was a vampire, a bloodsucking vampire who had tried to hurt Feliciano. He would have to practice thinking before he spoke.

"Sorry, I uh, wasn't thinking," He quickly retreated to the back of the crowd, for once trying to draw the attention away from himself.

"Colour me impressed! If this is the sort of hunters you train, it's a wonder I managed to even come close to one…"

"If you continue like this vampire, General Vargas may change his mind about sparing your life." Vash pushed a gun roughly into his back.

"I have a name you know. It's Arthur. "

"Not anymore."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too."

Even by Monday, things still hadn't' calmed down.

Several of the students had already gone to have a look at the vampire, although first years were restricted to the day-time and only allowed to go in pairs, with supervision. The conversation among the potential hunters at breakfast was all about the captive who was below them in the basement, right at this moment.

The vampire was secured safely, behind enchanted bars in a room near to Vladimir's classroom. The small cells were bleak and basic but had been used for this purpose several years before, although admittedly - not for long. The previous occupant had been insane and ultimately had to be executed, but even the lack of self-preservation shown in its wild attempts to break free, hadn't helped against Vlad's handiwork. These bars were special. Impregnated with specially treated silver, a compound he had created for this purpose, the vampire couldn't stay in contact with them for long enough to do any damage. Silver wasn't inherently fatal to vampires, but it was easy to enchant and so was a prominent ingredient in much of their weaponry.

"He doesn't do much really. I tried asking him a few questions."

Bella was a second year and one of the few girls training at the academy. She was Belgian by birth, although she had lived here a couple of years and seemed to be good friends with the Vargas brothers.

"And he didn't try to bite you or anything?"

"There's no way it could get to me through those bars."

"But he tried right? I mean, I thought he'd be all crazy and bloody thirsty and stuff…"

"Oh no, this one's a pure blood," replied Bella. "They're more dangerous than half-breeds 'cause they're smarter, but also much more sane." Alfred gave her a quizzical look, which she returned with a bright smile, "I'm sure Vladimir will fill you in, now they've got a captive he's bound to tell you about the different types in your next class."

He grunted, "It's not the same, that'll be a lesson." Alfred really wanted to know more about this vampire; he needed to put his mind at ease. He found the idea of captivity very disturbing, even if it was clearly necessary. Irrationally he wanted to hear something creepy about the vampire, anything to make him feel better about it.

"You know...it didn't turn into a bat either." Bella continued with a sly smile, interrupting his troubled thoughts.

"They can do that?" His eyes bugged out in amazement and his jaw dropped.

"No." She burst into laughter at her own joke and Alfred looked at her sourly.

"So what did you guys talk about," piped up Mathew, he had to repeat himself a few times to be heard over Alfred's much louder shouts in the background, "of course I knew that wasn't true…he can fly? When did you see that? Stop laughing, you're not funny!"

Finally, Bruce heard Mathew and answered him, "Noticed I was Australian and asked me about the cricket! If he wasn't a blood-sucking demon, I'd almost feel sorry for the poor bloke."

Alfred laughed at that, what kind of monster cared about sports?

"Almost." Mathew said carefully, he himself was very wary of the idea of going to see this vampire, although he was amazed Alfred hadn't tried to drag him down there yet.

"So he doesn't do anything special?" Alfred sounded disappointed.

"You know you guys need to stop thinking about it as a man," Bella said, her face suddenly serious. "You are you know, I can tell by the way you're talking. IT is male, but you must remember the guidelines, we never call them by the names they use. They're not people, if you forget that, you put yourself in danger."

Alfred nodded and tried to take it on board. This was hard though. It had seemed too normal, pretty scared obviously, but kind of brave. He had a thing about underdogs, so maybe it was that.

Bella's comment hung in the air as they all considered. After a moment Bruce nodded and moved on, "I still can't believe Feliciano was the one to catch it."

Lovino, who was on his own a few seats away from them, had up until now, been pointedly ignoring the conversation, but hearing this, he looked over.

"Something wrong Lovino?"

"I just don't see what the big deal is, so Feliciano caught one. We're vampire hunters aren't we? He only did what he's supposed to do, damn it."

Bruce narrowed his eyes; "I'd say you're jealous mate."

"Lovino, he doesn't mean it." Bella said hastily, as she saw his face darken. She tried to change the subject, "You keep glancing over at the teacher's table. Did you want to talk to Antonio? From what I heard he was up all night making healing balms."

"That idiot finally managed to hurt himself did he?" Lovino scoffed, although his body tensed up as he said it.

"What? No silly, he's making it for the animals," Bella answered.

"The-fucking-what?!"

"Animals. They found a whole pile of them, dead or dying in the forest not far from here. I didn't get a good enough look, but I think they're some kind of dog."

"Why is he wasting his time on something so ridiculous?" Lovino looked angry.

"Who knows, I guess the hunters have a reason though. Maybe Herc asked him to make it. We might hear more in animal behaviour class."

"Yea right! I bet that dumb German bastard put him up to this. Dog loving, potato munching…" He mumbled darkly as his face turned an increasingly deep shade of red. Finally seeming to come to a decision, he abandoned his meal and marched out of the cafeteria.

"Dude's got a temper," Alfred remarked as they watched him leave.

"Oh never mind Lovino, he's been like that since we were kids." She laughed, "He's probably gone to check on Antonio believe it or not. He's a sweetheart really." Alfred and Mathew exchanged looks, their similar expressions saying that they were unconvinced.

"I'd better go check he's alright." With a sigh and parting wave to the others, Bella got up to follow him, "Hey Lovino, wait up," she called, moving across the room.

Alfred turned back to the conversation, he had hoped to find out more and the second years probably had the best information, he let out a loud sigh "Aww, I wanted to hear more about vampires."

"If you're so interested, you should go visit him… sorry it, yourself," Bruce said, "find out first hand."

Alfred felt his stomach lurch at that idea, after that first brief encounter he had found himself extremely reluctant to go visit this vampire. His usual enthusiasm was curbed by a nagging suspicion that the creature wasn't going to be quite how he had imagined him.

"Nah! The only time I want to look at a vampire, is when I know I can kill it." He said, trying to force some conviction into his voice.

"Fair enough mate, hey have you done Vladmir's lore homework yet?" Bruce asked, as he and Mathew got to their feet to leave. Seeing Alfred's face turn gloomy, he laughed, "see ya later."

"Shit."

For once the class hadn't come to Vampire Lore only interested in the magic. Over the last few lessons they had attempted some straightforward stuff, with varying levels of success and were usually eager to do more.

Basic rituals required only very little blood, and so the class were starting with those. Several members of the group had struggled to draw any blood whatsoever and Feliciano in particular had flat out refused to stab himself with the pin.

"I thought you did all of this last year?" Mathew asked him.

"But I didn't like it then either."

Alfred had no trouble, after all it was only a pin-prick and he even had a little success with the ritual - actually changing the colour of the flame. Sure he got over enthusiastic drawing the triangle, but it had worked…sort of. He didn't manage to turn it completely blue but by the end it had a greenish hue. For the first time ever Vladimir seemed quite pleased with him. The only person who had a real disaster was Bruce, who had approached the task with equal enthusiasm but managed to somehow set his hair on fire.

Today however, the class had other things on their minds; following the capture of an actual vampire, their interest had escalated and they were listening intently as Vlad gave them more information on the creatures - a fact which clearly pleased him.

"Hunters divide vampires into two categories: purebloods and half-breeds. Which type a human becomes seems to come down to chance, but the pure strain is more likely to occur if the turning comes at the hands of longer-term, pure vampires, this much we have established. Half-breeds have only ever been found to produce more of themselves."

Alfred was confused and groaned, why did Vlad have to make everything sound so mysterious?

The rest of the class was silent for a moment as they digested this, before a hand was raised. Alfred realised it was the Australian's roommate, Chris something…he had a similar accent and was usually cheerful, but his tone now was serious.

"You have a question?" Vladimir asked encouragingly.

"What is the difference? Between purebloods and half-breeds I mean, apart from the reproduction thing, isn't a vampire just a vampire?"

"An excellent question," Vladimir smiled, "and in one sense you are correct, both kill after all. From what we have observed, the half-breed strain often suffers from some form of insanity; it is these vampires that are the more obvious monsters. Their attacks are much more…messy." He made a sympathetic face as the class made universal sounds of disgust, "and they appear not to be planned with the same care which the purebloods – like our prisoner – display. For this reason they are caught far more often and are much easier to trace. Half-breeds make up the vast majority of those we…eliminate."

Next to Alfred, Mathew raised his hand and was pleased when he was quickly noticed, receiving a nod to go ahead. He had been thinking about the turning issues Vlad had mentioned.

"How do we know which of the purebloods are longer-term? You said that those are the ones who produce others who are pure…" Mathew tailed off, not sure his question was clear or if he had missed the point.

"As you all know, this organisation has been operating for well over two hundred years now." Vladimir stated - receiving nods from the class, "over that time, we have gradually built up our knowledge of prominent individuals, profiles of those who have been encountered and part of the lineage which links them. These records are one of our most valuable sources of information; they are held and maintained by Roma Vargas."

Lili Vogel raised her hand, "you mean like a database of vampires?" She asked.

Vladimir inclined his head to her, "Precisely Lili, the records contain everything we have discovered, including quite a few vampire names or aliases. That was how Ludwig was able to identify the prisoner – he recognised the name and then checked with a special mirror I produce for the hunters, designed for that purpose."

A hum of excited conversation broke out among the students.

Particular excitement had arisen about the possibility of having a 'magic mirror' and Vlad produced one for them to examine. It looked fairly ordinary but he explained that the reflective coating applied to the back of the glass (which in modern mirrors was often aluminium since it was cheaper), for these was special - enchanted silver. In a similar fashion to the bars of the prison cells, this reacted to vampires and gave them a peculiarly distorted reflection.

Mathew was fascinated and wished there was a way the effect could be demonstrated without a vampire present, but that didn't make him any more eager to go near the one in the cells. He turned to comment to Bruce and Alfred, but they were both laughing too much to notice. Neither was very interested in the arcane technical stuff, they were all about the physical realities; Mathew wondered what they were finding so funny?

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the scariest vampire of all?"

"Mirror mirror in my pocket, who is this vampire and how do I stop it?"

"Mirror mirror the best of tools …"

"…Vlad has noticed both you fools," the sudden crisp voice behind them made both young men jump. "If you've quite finished?" He added sarcastically. Vlad gave the pair a stern stare but returned to address the group as they nodded hastily, "then we can finish our previous discussion."

The class quietened to listen, "We are almost finished for today anyway," he began. "Before we were diverted by the mirrors, Lili had asked about our records and I explained the kinds of information we have gathered. I merely wanted to add that those profiles will form part of your study later in the course. You will each have the chance to see for yourselves just how much data we have managed to collect about the most notorious purebloods and their descendants. Such knowledge is essential so you can recognise them, should you come across any when you are fully qualified."

"Then those are most dangerous to us, right?" Alfred burst out, "the ones in those records? They have all the intelligence and cunning?"

"Correct…but we have one in the cells."

He was so busy thinking over the information from Vladimir's class that Alfred had almost forgotten Bella's remarks about the dying animals. He certainly hadn't given it any more attention - until he went to the afternoon class on animal management.

Reaching the kennel area he saw that Heracles Karpusi was engrossed in conversation with Antonio, both looking through a hatch into one of the pens.

As the students gathered for their lesson, Antonio flashed them a brief smile but he seemed concerned as he turned back towards the main building. Heracles looked haggard, his usually calm face was drawn and he seemed preoccupied, glancing frequently towards the pens as he directed them to research lupine habitats and behavioural patterns in the library for the duration of this lesson.

"I am afraid that I must do other things today," he told the class. "But before you leave, you should take this chance to observe at close quarters, the focus of your studies." Gesturing to the enclosure he had recently left, Heracles led the class towards it.

As he looked curiously over the hatch, Alfred gasped…

A large wolf was inside, it's almost motionless form stretched out on a bed of straw and its tongue lolling as it panted shallowly. Some of the class stepped back quickly, but after his initial shock Alfred looked again. This creature was obviously no threat, in fact it looked like it was dying, its eyes were staring blindly ahead and the body was limp, it seemed like it had been mauled and showed no awareness of their presence. Alfred's heart twisted, he liked animals and to see a real wolf running free would be awesome. But this…he didn't like to see things in cages and the poor beast was in a state. "Is it going to die?" He asked.

Heracles joined him at the hatch, "I don't know, but it doesn't look good," he admitted, "It's only Antonio's skill, that has given him any chance at all. I'm amazed he's still breathing." Sadly, they turned away.

"What happened to the poor bugger?" Bruce asked, seeming angry. "He sure ain't looking too good."

The entire class felt sickened by their sight of the wolf and looked towards their teacher for answers.

"I wish I knew…for sure," Heracles shrugged, "we've found quite a few others in a similar condition, but none that survived long enough for treatment until now. They've had a lot of their blood drained away somehow. We were prepared for what we would find, by the time we came across this one," he gestured to the pen behind them, "I was able to give him a transfusion. Only time will tell if he sustained too much organ damage to survive it. He's pretty doped up at the moment, but for now he's holding his own."

"Is it vampires?" Alfred asked the question they were all wondering.

"We think so, there have been signs of it at the sites, but this hasn't been done with fangs, and wolf blood wouldn't sustain them."

"So what would they want with them?" Mathew wondered quietly.

"That's what we're trying to find out."

But Heracles looked anxious as he said this, as though the possible answer to that question scared him.

"Lovino, can I help you with something?" Lowering his weapon immediately, Antonio couldn't hide his delight at this welcome interruption to his evening practice session.

"Feliciano said you wanted to see me, if you're not too busy making dumb animal potions of course…" Lovino replied with a scowl, his arms folded. Ignoring the dig and looking him up and down, Antonio laughed; he could see the silver handle of a sword poking out from the front of Lovino's belt.

"So you have finally come to duel me, hmmm?" Antonio replied, his green eyes warm, "Then you have practiced over the summer." He was clearly pleased, "have you mastered the new techniques I showed you?"

"Maybe a little," Lovino mumbled and unable to maintain eye contact, he looked at the floor.

"And here Feliciano had told me you'd been practising all summer! Who would have thought your little brother was capable of such lies…"

"Feliciano wouldn't know how to lie if his life depended on it." Lovino snapped, curling his lip in a sneer.

"So you have been practising." Lovino gave a non-committal shrug, still refusing to meet his gaze and Antonio smiled slowly; Lovino was always like this, difficult and frustrating and as far as Antonio was concerned, off limits. Lovino was still so young, only twenty-three - he hadn't lived long enough yet to be ready for a big commitment, no matter how much Antonio wished for it to be otherwise. But even if that wasn't an issue…

Next week Lovino was going to become a hunter and that terrified him. Only the really good hunters survived more than a couple of years and even if he going to try damn hard to make sure Lovino was among that number…he couldn't risk another loss. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like if things were different, but that wasn't going to happen. 'At least we will still have this together,' he thought.

"I know how much you want to beat me," he said softly.

"With a stick." Briefly, Lovino raised his eyes, they were practically glowing, "then why don't we get on with it," he said, stomping across the room. "I don't want to waste my time talking to you." Antonio smiled, he had always found Lovino's prickliness endearing, it made him…a challenge.

'So defensive,' Antonio thought fondly and he laughed. Lovino flushed, but before he could say anymore, he was told to "vest up."

Once both were wearing padded body shields, Antonio checked the buttons on the ends of their blades, looking over them twice much to Lovino's annoyance. He brushed off Lovino's hard stare with a smile and a wink; "remember Lovino, safety first." And this was true, nothing was more important than Lovino's safety.

He was eager to begin, Lovino always fought so passionately. "Let us see what you can do then," he invited, "are you are ready? En garde."

They gave a formal salute, and the foils came together. For a moment there was no sound except the clash and scrape of steel and the soft thuds of their feet on the floor.

They fought hard at first, and as Antonio had anticipated; Lovino's opening attack was full of fire. He slashed wildly at the Spaniard, his face filled with a look of fierce concentration but Antonio deflected him with ease, chuckling softly. Lovino panted, taking a moment to steady himself and Antonio felt his stomach tighten a little, at the dark, intense look that flickered across Lovino's eyes before he attacked once again, even more aggressively.

Failing to land a hit, Lovino started to become impatient and some of his passes went wide, Antonio frowned slightly, "remember your footwork." Lovino grunted in irritation, but he had clearly taken the comment on board because his movements became steadier and his thrusts more accurate. Antonio nodded in approval, "there you go," he said through hitched breath.

Although it was clear that Lovino was still at his mercy; he was definitely more difficult to take down than he had ever been before. He must have done a lot of practice to be predicting and deflecting Antonio's moves so accurately, and not only that, he must also have been observing Antonio himself, very closely. He felt a pang of guilt at how much this pleased him.

As blade slid on blade, they were still for a moment, pressed closely together. Lovino was radiant and breathless from exertion, his lips parted and Antonio inhaled sharply as he looked down at him. He was filled with a sudden inescapable desire to push his own body forward, to move against the slim body so close to his own and he tensed as he fought his own longing. For one lingering moment Lovino's hot, brown gaze met his own, and Antonio swallowed hard, the noise of Lovino's soft panting, his determined flushed face…

Perhaps fortunately (he later realised), he had only a second to savour this image before Lovino disengaged, drawing his sword back to try a new tactic. Antonio moved back and Lovino thought he saw an opening. He lunged forward and there was a scurry of blades, followed by a lightning thrust from Antonio.

'Damn it,' Lovino thought, his heart hammering wildly, 'I'm sure I almost had him, but…' "You got me," he cursed, staggering back breathlessly.

"For someone who claimed to have done very little practice, you have indeed improved Lovino," the Spaniard praised, as he lowered his blade, he smiled; "I am impressed."

Lovino refused to acknowledge the flash of pleasure that Antonio's approval gave him, instead curling his lip, "not enough to beat you bastard," he responded bitterly.

Chuckling, Antonio gave no response as he turned to put away his weapon.

Lovino continued, "I don't see why you even bother doing this. Since, you're too much of a coward to fight anymore."

"Just because I no longer go out seeking vampires, it does not stop being an extremely useful skill and besides…I enjoy it".

"You just like to show off," Lovino flashed.

"There is that of course," Antonio grinned at him, his eyes dancing beneath his sweat spiked hair. He continued more seriously, "But also, I need to be able to defend myself and the people I care about."

"…Like who?"

"Lovino, you wouldn't be fishing for compliments, would you?" He teased.

"You are such a stupid bastard. Of course not! I don't give a shit who you care about," Lovino swore, angrily tearing off his vest. "I just want to make sure you know that I don't need you to protect me."

"But I would," Antonio said quietly.

There was a brief silence.

"Idiot. How do you know it wouldn't be me protecting you?"

"I would never let you endanger yourself for me."

Lovino let out a grunt of disbelief, but did not seem angry, instead for once he looked vulnerable as he moved closer, studying the other's expression as though testing his sincerity. As he felt a warm, tentative hand on his arm, Antonio again felt a spike of desire and the hairs on his neck prickled at the proximity. He forced himself to step away casually as if oblivious. Lovino's face became unreadable as Antonio moved further away from him and he shook his head.

"You know what! I hope you get bit. Maybe that'll stop you from being such a cocky bastard all the time."

"Lovino, you wound me," Antonio placed a dramatic hand over his heart.

"I wish I had, " was the bitter response, "By the way, it's my inauguration next week…are you coming this time?" He had expected this to be an easy question and could hardly bear to look at Antonio when there was a painful silence. "Antonio?"

"Lovino, you know I never come to those things..." If it was possible, Antonio hated the ceremonies even more than the hunting. To see all those new recruits, the kids he had trained, some of them still only teenagers. To know that many of them would only last a few years.

"This one's different damn it."

Antonio flinched, this was true. This year Lovino would be among their number. That made it much, much worse. But he could see the hurt in Lovino's face and was filled with a sudden reckless desire to go – just for him. Ruthlessly, he smothered it, instead only giving a non-committal; "Well I'll see."

"Well if I have to beg you to come, then don't fucking bother."

"I don't think you appreciate how hard attending one of those ceremonies would be for me."

"Yea, it'll be worse for you, cause it's not like I'm the one who's nervous about getting inaugurated or anything."

"Lovino…"

"No Antonio!" He hesitated as though he wanted to say more, but…"Oh why don't you just fuck off!" Turning, he left instead, slamming the door in his wake.

Antonio sighed and leant against the wall as he closed his eyes. Sometimes, this was almost too challenging.

Banging the door behind him and striding down the corridor, Lovino was furious. What was it going to take for people to accept him as a grown man? He was twenty-three now, why wasn't he taken seriously? His inauguration ritual was next week and he would become a fully trained hunter – he would finally be an equal.

Frowning heavily, he brushed past staff and other students, his brows lowered as he frowned, 'that stupid bastard.' If Lovino was honest with himself (which he almost never was) he had started to wonder whether Antonio was actually glad that he was to become a full hunter. Antonio hadn't killed a vampire in years and yet he had trained Lovino with such care and such attention, with a dedication he had never received from anyone before. Some dark part of Lovino thought that many teachers felt he and Feli had only been accepted onto the course because of their famous grandpa, but Antonio had made him feel that just maybe, he could prove them wrong.

Lovino had come to realise that he wanted to help Antonio in return. He had never talked about what had stopped him hunting and it had happened the year before Lovino had come to the school. All Antonio had ever told him were some vague mentions of pain and loss before a quick change of subject. But it was clear that Antonio had lost something he couldn't replace.

Some small, hopeful part of Lovino, a part he barely acknowledged, which only surfaced in his most secret daydreams, hoped he could be the one to bring him back. Every new hunter was escorted on their first mission by someone more experienced; Lovino had a secret wish - that he alone would be important enough to bring Antonio out of retirement.

Reaching his room, he entered hastily, kicking the door shut behind him.

"Hey Lovino, what's wrong!" Great, as if he wasn't irritated enough, his oblivious, smiling brother was here.

"Nothing."

"Are you sure, 'cause your face looks all frowny and you're chewing your lip and…"

"I'm fine Feliciano! Leave it." Lovino took a deep breath and bit back more hasty words, "I saw that macho-potato on my way here, I don't know what you see in the German bastard but I thought you might want to know?" Feliciano's face brightened immediately and Lovino managed a half-smile for him.

"Really, do you think he'd want to see me at this hour?"

Lovino shut his eyes in frustration; his brother was a clueless fool. "Yes, I'm sure he'd be happy to put up with more of your nonsense."

"Thanks' Lovino! Perhaps we could go for a walk; the moon is so big tonight, it is nearly full." He was going to say more when he noticed that his brother looked kind of sad. "You could come too Lovino," he offered, but he wasn't surprised when Lovino shook his head.

The last thing Lovino wanted, was to see Ludwig and Feliciano together, it was too similar to his own situation. Feliciano sighed; unfortunately he understood this pain all too well.

"You're a really kind brother." He patted Lovino sadly on the arm and pulled him into quick hug, before walking out the door. A few seconds later, Lovino heard him start to sing, that quickly he was merry again. He looked after him in exasperation, "Stupid Feli, stupid German and most of all stupid, stubborn fucking Spaniard," he fumed, before sighing and turning away from the door.

He didn't want to take his anger out on Feliciano; it wasn't his fault that damn Spaniard was so infuriating, he'd only been trying to help… At least Feliciano still cared enough to put up with his tantrums, everyone else ducked for cover and it wasn't as though he had many friends anyway. Well, except Antonio of course, but he was to fucking stupid to ever realise anything was wrong and Antonio wasn't really a friend anyway.

He wasn't really sure what he was. As his temper abruptly left him, he leant his aching head against the cool window pane and looked moodily out into the darkened grounds.

In the room opposite, Alfred couldn't sleep.

'I must be out of my mind' he thought, tossing once more onto his back and slamming the back of his head into the pillow with a sigh.

"Never forget, vampires do not look and sound like monsters. They look human and they will try to use this to trick you.'

Alfred hadn't really considered the significance of this until now. He had been so excited about the idea, to kill one, to be a hero. That's what they had told him he'd be. At recruitment he'd been told that vampires were monsters…evil and that only a few, brave, heroic individuals had the power to stop them.

He had never imagined that evil would have a pair of green, green eyes…

It suddenly dawned on him why the academy had told him so little upon recruitment. Alfred couldn't take this. He had imagined a mind driven by hunger; pictured human bodies bereft of personality, and had almost thought that killing a vampire might be like putting an animal out of its misery.

But that creature had seemed almost human, and yet, he had been going to kill Feliciano. Hadn't he?

Alfred had to do this.

If he was really dedicated to this cause, if he was serious about being a vampire hunter, then he needed know, needed to be sure. He needed to see one up close, with his own eyes.

He would have to go down there.

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EvilMidget6 and LieutenantProbable.