Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Twilight, nor do I own any idea related to Bram Stoker's Dracula or anything associated with it.

The Hunt

It was a stormy night in Chicago as I perched atop the slick roof of an apartment complex. I had been moving from roof to roof for some time now, tracking my prey. He had eluded me for over an hour. With the storm currently brewing, his scent was diminishing quickly. I was searching for where his scent was the strongest, but it would be only a matter of minutes before it vanished completely. I quickly scanned the area below for onlookers and leapt to the concrete, landing with catlike grace. I did not need to worry about many prying eyes due to it being 2:00 AM on a Tuesday morning. That gave me the clear to cautiously walk the sidewalks instead of keeping to the alleys. With that in mind, I continued my hunt.

I tugged my black vest down to adjust it and wrapped my long leather coat around my body. I raised the hood of my coat up to help conceal my face. The sloshing of the water was all that could be heard as I walked along Wabash Avenue. I could smell that my prey was growing near as I rounded the corner of a famous hotel chain. He had taken to hiding in the parking garage. It would seem that the odds were stacked in my favor.

I began strolling into the garage, noting that it was densely packed with various vehicles, and began letting my hunting instincts take charge. It was then that the smell of blood hit my senses. I felt the veins around my eyes enlarge and relocate to engorge my sclera with blood, starting my bloodlust. My canines and lateral incisors lengthened as I continued further within the garage. I had to control myself if I was going to make this a successful hunt.

Stalking up the ramp, I smelt him. He was hiding from me. I smirked as my predatory instincts registered his weakness. Once I entered the second floor of the garage, I noticed the body of a young bellboy lying in a pool of blood near the driver's door of a silver Ford Focus. I stopped breathing as I knelt down to to say a prayer for the boy and preformed the Sign of the Cross. I then examined his corpse. His throat had been completely torn out, which left the head barely attached. My prey had been busy it seems.

I reached into my coat and upholstered my Beretta. I took the safety off as I glanced around my surroundings. It felt as though I was being set up. My prey knew of my enhanced senses, so why did he leave a body in plan view? That is when I tensed up, tightening my grip on the pistol. I stood up and was greeted by a vicious roar as the Lycan charged me. I had barely enough time to dodge the dark beast as I jumped up and over the Ford with ease. I took aim at the Lycan and shot, grazing his shoulder.

He groaned in pain, but did not relent. He spun around to face me, crouching as he prepared to charge me again. I, too, feel into a defensive crouch and growled at the Lycan, exposing my fangs in the process. We both threw ourselves at each other, our common urge to kill apparent. I rolled under his clawed hand as he swung it, spinning around to fire off two rounds into his back as I hit the concrete. He howled in pain and stumbled to take cover next to a nearby pillar. The silver nitrate in the bullets was slowly poisoning him. I perused him with my enhanced speed, catching him off guard as he attempted to dig out the bullets.

I held by pistol to his chest, firing off another two bullets before aiming at the beast's head. His black and electric blue eyes met mine for a brief second, holding a defiant gaze in them. He lunged for me one last time as I squeezed the trigger. The bullet crashed into his skull, only to burst out of the back of his head a millisecond later. His lifeless body collapsed at my feet. I stared down at him for a moment, watching the blood ooze from his body, before holstering my pistol. I took several deep breaths as I felt the veins in my face and teeth return to normal. Showing a sign of respect, I gave the Sign of the Cross and prayed that he'd find some peace. After a few moments of silence, I reached up to the earpiece in my right ear and activated the two-way intercom.

"The Lycan has been neutralized. There was only one casualty." I informed my team.

"Understood. The cleaning team is inbound to your position now, Magistrate." The female voice on the other end informed me.

I nodded and turned around to further distance myself from the human corpse. I walked to an opening in the concrete wall of the parking garage and leaned on it, taking in the empty streets. I sighed as I watched the rain fall from the sky, creating a mellowing atmosphere with its symphony. I could smell the way the rain and concrete melded together. It was both fresh and stale, certainly an odd scent. Because of my high position in Arc, I rarely went on these missions. I was quite valued. However, I knew how to track Lycans. I was also one of the best trackers in Arc.

I stayed like this until I saw the black SUVs turn the corner and enter the garage. The cleaning team had arrived. I pushed myself off of the slab and walked toward the Lycan corpse. The two SUVs swerved around the corner and parked in front of the silver Ford that the human lay next to. All four doors opened on one of the SUVs and four men in black rushed out, beginning the cleaning task. The other SUV parked some ten feet from my current position, mimicking the same action as its comrade. This time, though, a young brunette woman in a black Victorian dress, a matching black coat, and a small top hat with a veil covering her face approached me. She glanced at the Lycan before smirking and turning her gaze onto me.

"That has to be a record time, Gabriel. I must say that I'm impressed. Perhaps you should show me your tricks?" She appraised with a British accent.

I chuckled and greeted her with a smirk, "Please, Mina, he was a young and reckless Lycan, nothing to give praise for. Besides, I thought you felt I had nothing to teach you?"

She grinned at me as the cleaning team began dealing with the Lycan corpse, "Alright, so perhaps I said that, but you could give me some input."

I nodded as I walked over to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder in the process, "What are siblings for, hmm?"

We both laughed as we made our way out of the garage to make room for the cleaning teams. She grabbed a black umbrella as we walked past the SUV, opening it a few seconds afterward. She wrapped her free arm around my waist and leaned into me as we stood outside the garage, waiting for the crews to finish their job. Mina had become close to Beatrice and I soon after she joined Arc in 1899. The three of us felt an instant draw toward each other. It was something that we attributed to the fact that we shared the same Sire. In our world, that meant that we were both connected and siblings. Our bound was just as strong as the one I shared with Beatrice and my biological daughter, Veronica.

Veronica's mother, Matilda, and I had married in 1898, becoming parents soon after. Matilda worked for Arc and was human, but gave birth without any complications. She passed away due to Tuberculosis in 1916, when Veronica was sixteen. We both were devastated. It's something that neither of us has overcome to this day. Veronica flat out refuses to even talk about it. I understand and respect her decision.

Veronica has since joined Arc, rounding out my team. Arc took pride in the fact that its most prominent team consisted of three vampires and a dhampir. It gave a good model to the other supernatural beings to aspire to in our large organization. For the most part, the four of us had a clean record. Neither of us had any slip ups around innocent humans. Yet, it still remains hard for us. Humans are our only source of nourishment, being that we don't gain any nutritional value from human food. For that reason, we don't associate with the mortal world very often. Our bloodlust is hard to control at times.

"Have you fed today?" Mina inquired as we watched the empty streets.

I shook my head in the negative, "I have not, but I will once the cleaning teams finish their job."

She hummed to herself, "Hmm, that would probably be wise. Lord Michael wishes to speak with the four of us at Headquarters. I doubt you'd enjoy the flight back to England while starving."

"No, I suppose not. Where's Veronica and Beatrice, by the way? I'm surprised they aren't here."

"They're waiting on the jet for us." Mina informed me.

One of the men from the SUVs approached us a minute later, "Magistrate Cullen, we've finished securing the area. Lord Michael has requested your presence in London. The jet is waiting for you and Madam Mina at Midway International Airport."

I nodded and took a step away from Mina, "Understood, Private Munich. I will be leaving here shortly."

With that, I kissed Mina on the cheek and leapt atop the parking garage. Hunting was usually easiest from a bird's eye view. I watched as Mina entered one of the SUVs as it left the garage for the airport. Once they were out of hearing range, I began to listen to my surroundings. I jumped onto a nearby school building and began moving further into the city. I stopped my movement as I detected a woman screaming. I quickly followed her cries for help, locating her in an alley. She was in a struggle with a scruffy looking man. I felt rage course through me. If there was one thing I despised most in this world, it was men who forced themselves on women.

"Listen you bitch, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice." He beckoned as he forced the woman up against the brick wall.

Even with the rain fall, I could still see her tears, "Please, let me go. I just want to go home!"

I leapt from my perch, landing behind the man with little sound, "Has anyone ever told you that it is beneath a man to harm a woman," I growled.

Startled, the man let go of the young woman and whipped around to face me, "Who the fuck are you?"

The woman took her chance to flee, running onto the street to head for safety. Again, the veins around my eyes moved to pump blood into my sclera and my fangs enlarged. The man noticed my sudden appearance change and made to flee. I used my vampiric abilities to get in front of him and tossed him into the brick wall of the alley with a sickening thud. He yelped in pain, which only pleased my vampiric instincts. I launched myself at him, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him a full foot off the ground with ease.

"I'll tell you who I am, I'm the last thing you're ever going to see," I growled before thrusting my fangs into his neck.

As my fangs punctured his jugular, he began to struggle. However, my superior strength was no match for a human. He took a breath to scream, but I covered his mouth with my left hand. I felt the warm liquid enter my mouth and slide down my throat, causing me to roll my eyes to the back of my head in pleasure. Feeding was always a pleasurable experience to a vampire. It was this fact that many of us became addicted to the bloodlust that occurred during feeding.

As more blood slid down my throat, my prey became weak. It was only a matter of time before he succumbed to blood loss. As vampires, we will rarely leave unwilling prey alive. It was possible to make them forget the entire experience, but it was also extraordinarily difficult to simply stop the bloodlust. I felt his body become limp and his pulse stop. I knew he was dead. I dropped his body to the cement.

I let out a shaky breath as the bloodlust relented. I could feel blood dripping from my chin as I stood there. As my face returned to normal, I looked up to the dark sky, taking off my hood and allowing the rain to wash off my face as I did. Once I felt that the blood was washed away, I grabbed the lifeless corpse and threw it in a nearby dumpster. I closed the lid and leapt back up to the roof of the office building I was on earlier.

I then dashed from roof to roof toward the direction of Midway International Airport, arriving there in less than fifteen minutes. I spotted the stealth jet on its own private runway and made my way to it. I could see Mina waiting for me at the staircase to the jet, umbrella in hand. She offered me a welcoming smile as I approached her.

"Was your hunt a success?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

I smiled reassuringly as her, "That it was. Shall we?" I motioned toward the jet.

She smiled and looped her arm around mine as we walked up the staircase. We paused for her to close her umbrella, and then entered the jet. A flight assistant from Arc brought up the staircase and shut the door behind us. As we entered the main sitting area, I was greeted by my daughter. She stood up from her chair and walked over to embrace me. I chuckled at her show of affection. She was always by my side, something I would never complain about.

"I was only gone a few hours, Veronica," I chuckled at my raven-haired daughter.

She pulled away and lightly punched my shoulder, "You know that I hate it when you hunt Lycans. I really don't care how good you are at tracking them down, it always makes me nervous."

I nodded and smiled sympathetically, "I know, my dear, but I always come back. I never even have a scratch on me."

She smiled at that, "Always so sure of yourself, aren't you Father?"

I shook my head, "No, but I know what I'm capable of."

A soft chuckle came from behind Veronica. I peered over her to she Beatrice walking toward me, "She just worries, Brother, as do I."

Veronica stepped back to allow my sister and I to embrace. After I left my Sire, I traveled back to England to see what had become of our family. As I traveled to Nottingham, I was ambushed by another vampire. Once I noticed that it was my younger sister, I paused and laughed. Realizing that she had attacked her older brother, she quickly apologized. From then on, we had never left each others side. She even joined Arc to ensure that we remain together.

I smiled as we pulled away from each other, "I understand completely. Now, how about we all sit down? This will be a long flight."

The three women nodded in agreement. We all took seats as the pilot informed us that they were taking off. Minutes later, we were climbing into the sky and headed for the Arc Institute. It would be an eight hour flight, which to a vampire, might as well be nothing. However, with little to do on the jet, coupled with the fact that we do not sleep, meant that it would feel like an eternity.

Veronica put on her ear-buds from her iPod and began listening to music. She was always keeping up with the newest technology and trend. Mina, Beatrice, and I would frequently go to her with questions about how humans act and dress when we were required to interact with them. Being that she was only half vampire meant that her bloodlust was much less of an issue than ours. Although she needed human blood, she didn't need it as often as we did. This gave her an advantage when she was asked to survey an area that had a heavy populace of humans.

Mina and I have a hard time being around humans. Though we work with them all the time, it is often a struggle to not harm them. I would dare say that I have a more difficult time than Mina, given my past. Lord Michael tries to give us as little time with humans as possible during missions, but he does push us to conquer our thirst. And, given time, it does seem to be helping. Beatrice, however, has little trouble with her bloodlust. Even with this, she chose to distance herself from humans. She always preferred the company of her siblings above anyone else.

…

Once the sun began to rise, we shut the curtains. Although the sun does not kill us, it can cause us to blister under direct exposure. We also feel weaker during daylight hours. This would even happen in areas with little sun shine. Even though our skin is remarkably tough, the ultra-violet rays put out by the sun injures us. We have no real answer for why that is.

During these hours, a vampire will typically seek shade or shelter. We conserve our energy during the day to better hunt at night. It is during sunset that we regain our strength. Vampires will come out of hiding to quench their thirst and move on to the next town or city. Few of us have permanent residences; in fact, the four of us are the only known vampires to have one. Though, our job has us moving around quite frequently.

Mina, who sat across from me, tapped my knee, causing me to open my eyes, "What do you think Lord Michael wants to speak with us about?"

I thought for a moment before answering, "A possible new mission, I assume. I mean, he rarely calls on us for simple conversation. I just don't understand why he didn't just use the video feed on the jet."

"Maybe it's extremely important," Veronica offered from my side.

"That makes sense. Why else would he want to see us in person?" Beatrice questioned.

"Well, we'll know soon enough." I nodded as the four of us fell back into our own thoughts.

…

The jet landed on the runway of the Arc Initiative Headquarters several hours later. The whole faculty lay ten miles outside of London in a restricted zone. Only Arc personnel were given access to its lands, which were quite vast. Any trespassers were immediately apprehended and given over to the London Police Force. The main building is where Lord Micheal's office was located. By all accounts, the Elizabethan era castle that housed the Arc Initiative Headquarters was massive. The four story building and it's outer wall with reinforced concrete stood out around the foliage that surrounded the entire compound. It was truly daunting.

Thankfully, it was raining in London, so we didn't have to cover our exposed skin. We walked straight toward the main Headquarters. Several personnel that were ranked under us stopped to salute us on the way, which was customary among the military. Most of Arc's human personnel were former military.

We entered the large double doors and were greeted by the guard at the receptionist's desk. He waved us on as we passed the desk, walking up the large, open staircase staircase that encompassed the entire circumference of the great hall. Numerous personnel were marching back and forth and room to room. It was beaming with activity. We entered the door that held Lord Micheal's personal receptionist. Once we entered the office, she looked up from her computer.

"Lord Michael and the Monarchs are eager to see you, Magistrate Cullen," She waved us into our boss's office.

Ah, the Monarchs. So this was important. The Monarchs were, by all accounts, the leaders of our vampiric world. The four of them were the last of the Ancients; winged vampires whose blood could transform humans into vampires. They started to turn humans into vampires once their species became near extinct after a war with another ancient species, the Fae, eons ago. Now, only the four Monarchs remain. They are my species' governing body. In fact, the Arc Initiative was started by the Monarchs, Lord Michael, and several leaders within the Lycan Tribe.

While Arc housed hundreds of supernatural species and acted as a United Nations of sorts, the Monarchs still had the absolute final word in the vampire world. With my duty as Magistrate, I was just under them when it came to power. They were both the Executive and Legislative branches of government and I was the sole member of the Judicial. I was the judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one package.

I nodded and walked toward the engraved ivory doors. Once we entered the large conference room, I couldn't help but feel anxious. Lord Michael was never a cruel man, yet he also was not a very personable one either. He did take a particular interest in us, which he had never done to any other employee in Arc's long history.

It was quite the contrary relationship in regards to the four Monarchs. We were very close, often spending the occasional day conversing in a group. When I joined Arc, they had personally selected me to become Magistrate of our vampire world. This meant that I was at the forefront of hearings of vampires that broke our laws. It also meant that I was always present in Arc's meetings with other supernatural strongholds who had not joined Arc's ranks. Needless to say, I was quite popular within the supernatural world, be it positive or negative.

Lord Michael was sitting at his desk, clad in a white three-piece suit. His crystal blue eyes locked onto us as the receptionist shut the door behind us. He offered us a welcoming smile as he sat up straight and folded his hands on the desk. on either side of him sat the Monarchs, two to Lord Micheal's left, and two to his right. Their wings tucked behind them as they sat comfortably in the dark leather chairs. The two males, Hesperus and Samael wore dark suits, holes most likely adorning the backs for their wings. While the females, Lilith and Valdis, wore dresses that echoed an era long past, shoulders exposed as to accompany their bat-like wings.

The four of us bowed slightly in a show of respect. After I straightened, I stood at ease and spoke in a tone of pure business, "You asked to see us, my Lord?"

Lord Micheal looked over the four of us for a long moment before allowing his angelic voice to be heard, "Yes, Magistrate Cullen. We have been informed of a slight bit of disturbing information."

I nodded in understanding, waiting for him to continue.

"I must apologize for the short notice, but we must send your team to Washington state," He informed us, "Our contact within the Volturi has informed us that the entire coven will be headed to Washington state in a month."

"The entire coven, my Lord?" I questioned.

"Yes, it would appear that an Immortal Child may have been created by the coven that resides there." He focused his gaze more on Beatrice and me as he spoke, "Your brother's coven."

A/N: I should let you know that this story takes place during Breaking Dawn, so they year would be 2006. Also, sclera is the white area of your eye, just to clear up in possible confusion. Feel free to leave a review, whatever it may be.

As always, until next time…