Disclaimer: I don't own Love Live!
a/n. Sorry for a very late update, I am quite busy as well as my beta, but we tried hard to finish everything quickly. Thanks for the review and always a very big thanks to Lillystream for the beta, you're awesome!
Hopefully you enjoy this chapter (:
episode:04 Werewolf Assembly
Eri finished her drink, glancing over to Nozomi every once in a while, taking note of her worried expression. The purple haired bartender was somewhat restless after seeing the letter that Nico managed to find, her emerald eyes staring into the distance. She looked like she was deep in thought but not entirely, as if she was unreachable.
Eli tapped her glass to get Nozomi's attention.
"I'm still curious… Why do you trust Maki so much with this?" Eri asked. "I mean, you are more suited for this problem than she is."
Nozomi chuckled. "What do you mean? You want me to be caught that badly?"
Eri shook her head vehemently. "No, that's not what I meant. I—"
The bartender took silenced what she was going to say by placing an index finger against her lips, smiling at her.
"I know, I know. To answer your question, I just want to see what they're trying to accomplish by exposing Maki's position," Nozomi admitted. "I've got an idea, but let's just hope for the best."
Eri lowered her head. She took note not to jump to conclusions and to not take reckless measures. This was the moment where everything should play in their favor, for now.
"I'll take my leave, then. Thanks for—"
"Ericchi, don't forget you have to pay."
Nozomi showed Eri a needle. Eri, in turn, smiled and offered her hand. "You sure have a strange taste."
x x x
That was the very first time she had someone she could call a 'friend'. It was when a Pureblood family meeting was being held quite some time ago. Her mother had told her to just play in their backyard until the meeting finished. Heeding her mother's words, she ventured into the backyard and, in turn, came across another vampire kid.
That day, she met a skinny vampire; skinnier than she when she looked in the mirror. She never thought that she would meet someone like that. She played with that kid whenever a meeting was being held.
She never knew when or why exactly they bonded. It was all just a whim of fate. But they had the same original plan to, so they were 'friends' for long.
Friend—what a strange thing to call them. After all, she was a loner; a cold vampire with no mercy. However, upon meeting her, she changed from secluded and closed Nishikino Maki to be more of an open person.
That kid, her name was —
Slowly, her violet orbs opened to the dark room beyond her. She remembered that she was in the underground, sorting some documents of the clinic's patient, but seemed like slumber won over her ability to finish her job quickly. Her mind was fuzzy and she couldn't remember the contents of her dream. Her eyes felt tired somehow?
She took a peek through her drawer to find blood packs, cigarettes and a lighter. A smile formed on the vampire's lips as she picked up the box. It was quite some time since her last smoke. The feeling of bitterness filled her lips, but she tasted nothingness for the most part.
"This full moon is when Werewolf Assembly will be, right...?" she murmured between her smoky breaths.
She rose from her seat and walked out of her room. She walked until she reached a large water-filled tube hooked up to several different machines, monitoring its contents. Maki looked at it with a forlorn expression, as she put out her cigar.
"I must win this time. I must."
x x x
The Werewolf Assembly arrived that night. After one month passed, there were no other incidents where vampires were involved. The Association highly hoped that there would be no incidents like that anymore.
Umi was among the ones who were not amused by this turning point.
The last victim's identity was Miyashita Coco, the lost low-leveled vampire that she sought. She was temporarily jobless, but she still dug up some information about cannibal vampires in her own time. There was not much information that she could get.
There were three Pureblood Vampire families, their names and identities all classified, and nobody knew who or where they were. Also classified were their special traits aside from being able to survive longer than most other vampires. She knew one of those families belonged to Nishikino. And, despite her objective being to kill her, Umi figured she could get some sort of info off of the scarlet haired vampire.
The page she turned to caught her eye.
Vampires tend to be the most dangerous during full moon, like werewolves. Their thirst, as well as their power, will be at its peak.
Sometimes they will enter a 'blood-crazed' state under the influence of the full moon. Humans should be especially careful about this since most vampires will briefly lose their sanity. However, in current times, there have not been any vampires who have succumbed into such state.
Vampires are capable of drinking a werewolf's blood, and vice versa; however, by doing so, they are poisoning themselves. This can be cured by feeding from a non-lethal blood source.
If vampires shared their 'venom' with other creatures when the blood is taken, it is possible to use them as a "puppet."
Werewolves retain their original human's irises as they turn. Watch out if their eyes become red; it means they have lost their sanity.
"You sure study a lot, Sonoda."
The sudden voice behind her surprised her. The Nishikino vampire was standing behind her the whole time without her noticing. Umi never let her guard down, but when she threw herself into research and combat training, she tended to forget about her surroundings.
"What are you doing here? Don't you want to hide somewhere before Werewolf Assembly to avoid being killed?"
"I'm not a coward," she firmly said. "I am here because Ayase Eri called me."
"Then, what are you doing here? Get out of my sight, vampire."
"I have a message from Eri to you; she said that you'll team up with her in tonight's assembly operation." Maki stated. "That's all."
She noticed something different about the vampire in front of her; not only how her amethyst eyes were tired and unfocused, but also how her skin was much paler. Her clothes also reeked of tobacco.
"You look pale."
"Vampires are always pale."
"I mean, you—"
"Are you concerned about a vampire's well-being, Sonoda?"
"No," the hunter retorted. "Now please get out of my sight."
x x x
The moon shone beautifully as night came. The time seemed to drag on for an exceptionally long time, midnight taking forever to approach. Rin had already set up a hidden surveillance camera inside the tavern for every standby hunter to see the progress of the current assembly. The tavern was full of werewolves in human form, with meat and beer already being distributed to the guests.
Over fifty hunters were assigned to watch as everything played out. Eri and Umi situated themselves at the city hall. Eri was to be a sniper while Umi was ready with her blade, prepared to strike the enemy head-on. They communicated as the assembly was getting ready to begin. The two arranged a strategy for roughly an hour before speaking about the current situation. It had been a while since last they teamed up.
"I've been wondering, what have you been talking about with that vampire?"
"You mean Nishikino?" Eri answered on her line. "I showed her the letter that Nico found at the last cannibal vampire's incident."
"Letter?"
"Yeah, let me send it to you."
Umi read through the letter thoughtfully, as yet another question surfaced on her mind.
"Eri, what beings composed Muse?" Umi closed her e-mail. "I mean, when I was settling a score with that vampire, a different vampire interfered with us and she said she was with Muse."
Eri was silent for a minute. "A vampire, you say?"
"Yeah, 'she'—well, at least the Nishikino vampire said she was a woman—was dressed in white shrine robes and wore a fox mask."
"—Umi, the assembly is about to begin. Watch it from the streaming video."
The bluenette switched her screen to where the video was streaming. The tavern's condition didn't change much aside from the cheering and confetti whirring from every direction. One young woman took a step forward. She was wearing an orange gown with a black magician hat that obscured most of her facial features from the camera's view. There were people behind her, dragging some sort of closed curtain. It must be the roulette that the organizer, Kousaka Honoka, had mentioned.
"WELCOME TO THE NINETEENTH WEREWOLF ASSEMBLY!"
The guests responded with loud applause and more cheering.
"Tonight, I, Kousaka Honoka, will be the one to decide your fate. And tonight, for the first time, we'll decide everything by this fair roulette of pure luck."
Collective grunts could be heard through the speaker; it seemed that the guests were unsatisfied.
"Your dare will be: 'Which race needs to be hunted tonight?'!"
Umi took a closer look as the curtain was pried from the round roulette. The circle was divided into three sections, each a different color. Red for vampire, yellow for human, and orange for both. She could feel a chill run down her spine as the woman began to spin the wheel, the crowd inside the tavern rising.
"I never knew that's how they call a roulette!" Eri couldn't hold her surprised yell. "This is bad! There are one hundred wolves in there! What if—"
The arrow stopped – in the orange portion. Her amber eyes widened in shock.
"I have another condition for you wolves to fulfill!" The woman in the video raised some sort of small bottle filled in green liquid. "You must drink this before you go and hunt your prey!"
The tavern was silent as they did as they were instructed. The ceiling that covered the tavern slowly separated, revealing the moon overhead. One, two, three, and everyone there showed their true colors, werewolves howled to the moon.
"Wait a second—their eyes! Umi, look at their eyes!"
Eri was right, their eyes were very different; blood gushed from their red eyes. After the howling subsided, the wolves ran out from the tavern looking hungry and crazed.
"Oh ... no."
x x x
Nico was the one to rush into the tavern, seeing that it was already void of the wolves. The tavern was in disarray; broken tables strewn across the floor as well as glistening pieces of glass shards. And, there stood the woman who organized the whole havoc. She simply stood there, calmly, as she took off her hat. Nico drew two pistols from her person, pointing them right in the woman's direction.
"What a beautiful night, isn't it, hunter?"
"You lied to us, Kousaka."
"I didn't, I said that it was a roulette." The ginger-haired woman chuckled. "Maybe it's just that Lady Luck bestowed the mercy upon us werewolves to finally have a chance to turn the tables?"
"What did you give to those wolves!?"
"Actually, that is our developed mutation liquid." There came another voice behind where Nico stood. The black-haired hunter took a quick glance to see someone in white shrine maiden robes and fox mask walked towards her. "Anybody takes a sip and they'll run wild."
"Correct! You got 100 points!" Honoka merrily said.
Nico's eye twitched in anger; she couldn't be all sober anymore. Nico cursed under her breath as she made to pull the trigger.
"If you try to pull that trigger, the woman behind you will cut off your head, hunter."
"Tch!" Nico slammed the gun to the ground, as she watched the two behind this mischief getting ready to flee the scene.
"Well then, have a good taste of defeat, hunter."
As they disappeared to the black night sky, Nico cursed audibly, mostly cursing her inability to catch the real perpetrator.
.
.
.
"So they already fled. Those Muse."
A lone figure stood by the edge of the separated roof, gazing at the moon. Nico was silent as those bloody red eyes glared back at her.
x x x
Umi first saw a frenzied-looking werewolf coming at her before spotting a pack of ten following them. Their state was similar to a person being drugged; Umi deducted that the green liquid was something that made them wilder than usual. Their eyes were red, blood dripping from them, making it look like they were blinded.
The blue-haired hunter slashed in a circle, avoiding being surrounded, as Eri shot silver bullets from the roof in an attempt to immobilize them. She jumped around, dodging the wolves that tried to cut her down with their fangs or sharp claws.
Eri's bullets helped; the pack was unable to surround her as the bullet wounds took their course.
"Hyah!"
She pierced its heart, taking one of them out. Nine left.
One of the wolves bit her left arm, thankfully Eri nulled them with a shot. Eight left.
Umi pushed back the horde of wolves with her blade, clashing with fangs and claws. Their number was not decreasing much. She had to be careful to avoid being wounded badly, or she would be mincemeat; just one bite was enough.
"Umi, incoming pack of ten!"
She groaned in frustration. Her blade decreased their strength, but more keep coming. She ducked as one of the creatures' claws swung too close to her face, and kicked out at its snout. She used both of her hands now as she stabbed it.
One hundred wolves; the city is practically a mess.
She had no choice but to use her own gun against them in close range. Umi somersaulted backwards and readied her gun in her left hand and her katana in her right. When three wolves jumped to her way, she blew holes in their heads. One of them was smart enough to dodge, and managed to land a hit straight to her stomach, sending her flying.
There was no way out.
Umi coughed as she recovered from the blow.
Corpses littered the ground as she was surrounded by five of the living. Eri was taking care of another group to the east of the hall. Her bite wound stung and her abdomen felt numb.
She wouldn't lose; she had to keep fighting.
The blue-haired hunter charged, using her blade's sharp edge to break their formation. She ran away through the dark hallway, hoping that the wolves would follow her and she'd ambush them from above.
"Eri, contact me later, I'll kill these wolves in my own way."
She just needed to run.
x x x
"Umi! Where do you plan to go!? Umi!?"
Eri lost the sight of the katana-user as she busied herself taking care of five werewolves with the rifle. Their connection was cut, too. She had to find a way to re-establish the connection after she finished her job—
A loud thumping sound could be heard in the distance. The sound of a harsh collision rang through the air. Eri could heard a distant howl of pain before a distinct cracking sound could be heard. She looked through the aiming lens of her rifle to get a good view of the commotion.
Werewolves were being reduced to corpses by another pack. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. How could werewolves with same objective kill each other?
She needed to find where Umi was.
Eri ran downstairs toward the city hall to see the situation clearly for herself. A pack composed of ten werewolves were making their killing, unfazed by Eri's presence. They just kept clawing at their own race, killing them. As they finished murdering their allies, they stopped moving.
The blonde hunter realized that their movement was unnatural, like they were controlled by—
One name flashed through Eri's mind.
x x x
Umi huffed as she stabbed the last of the mutts that followed her into the alley. She walked in a random direction to find a way out as she ripped the cloth of her skirt to bandage her bite wound with. The punctures in her arm were not very deep themselves, but one of the wolf's fangs had managed to puncture her artery, causing the blood to flow.
The blue-haired hunter should have reached a main road by then, but she kept finding herself at dead ends. The city was dark and the regular night life was gone; the association had already informed the humans to stay in their homes and keep hidden. Because of the lack of all lights, Umi could hardly see a thing.
Her PDA rang, signaling that Eri contacted her. She must have already finished her sniping job.
"Umi, where in the world are you!?"
"I think I am closer to the financial district, but all I can see are houses. The alleyway is too dark."
"I asked several hunters; they said this case will be wrapped up soon. There are not many more wild werewolves left, and, well, there is quite a bit of property damage and all but that can wait."
Umi saw a branching road ahead of her and she sighed in relief as the main road came into sight. She was in the middle of housing area of Akihabara, far from where city hall and financial district is.
"Umi, I have something to tell you." Eri coughed. "There was a pack of ten werewolves that helped us kill some of those wolves. I'm pretty sure they were being controlled."
"Controlled ...? How?" Umi suddenly remembered the record's content. "Oh, that Pureblood, you mean?"
"We can't find her anywhere, but she must be as good as dead by now. I mean, she drank blood from ten werewolves; she poisoned herself."
The hunter shut the phone. Her teeth grit, her fist clenched, as her amber eyes gazed to the sky. They glinted with bewilderment.
The vampire is dead?
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