AN: Hello again! I'm back and alive! I hope you like this chapter now that things are starting to roll along. I also got major help from Redlikeroses7 as my new co-author. With his help I've been able to finally flesh out what will happen in this story. Check him out for another story called Before Beacon that I'm also helping him with as co-author! Until next time, BYE!

"Do you promise that when we get older we'll still always be together?"

I promise.

N. E. O.

Ruby froze. It was just as she had feared. The girl in front of her should still be six feet under. It'd been almost ten years since she witnessed the girl being lowered into the dirt. So how was it she was right here? How was she alive? Her face twisted with confusion then pain. It all didn't make sense. Nothing that was happening wasn't connecting. Why was this presumed dead girl kidnapping her, why was she so calm about this, why wasn't she, Ruby, running right now? She wanted nothing more than to escape this Twilight Zone, but knew she had to get answers.

As Neo studied Ruby's facial reaction, Ruby asked, "How? How can you be alive? I saw you in a coffin, getting covered with dirt."

Neo paused before answering. It's complicated.

"My….my sister told me stories about you," Ruby began. "She told me we were best friends. That we were inseparable. So why is it I don't remember that? Why can't I remember such a big thing in my life?!"

That's also complicated.

Ruby began to sense a pattern here. If Neo wasn't going to give her any answers then she'd have to find them out for herself. But until then, she'd continued to find Neo's reasoning.

"Why did you bring me here, Neo?"

Neo smiled guiltily. I may have jumped the gun a bit when I found you. But I still have to fulfill that promise I made to you a long time ago.

"What's that mean? Everything you've told me so far makes little to no sense!"

Neo cowered under Ruby's slightly raised voice. But she immediately regained her posture and signed, I've never explained this before so I'm not sure what to say.

Ruby came closer to Neo, becoming more desperate for an explanation than her own safety. "Then just say it. You don't have to explain. Say the first things that come to mind."

There were a few seconds of silence before Neo stopped twiddling her thumbs and answered.

I'm a vampire. A blush formed on Neo's face.

Ruby's eyebrows furrowed. She was unfamiliar with the sign, being Neo putting a couple fingers to her neck. "What's that? I don't know what that sign means."

Nei sighed and took a phone out. Ruby's phone. She typed the word out and handed it to Ruby.

"Vampire," Ruby repeated. She looked up, more confused than she was before. This had to be a joke of some kind. Of course, that had to be no such thing as vampires. It was impossible, wasn't it? They were just mythical creatures that prowled the night, right?

But even though these thoughts ran through her head, Ruby couldn't help but remember the Neo she met last night. The creepy, hypnotizing Neo that was wandering the night.

Ruby smirked. There was no way it was real. Neo was probably just wasting her time. She pocketed her phone and waved. "Well, Neo, it's been an interesting night and morning, but I think I've heard enough for today." She turned. "I'll be sure to tell Yang you said hi."

As she turned, Neo disappeared and then reappeared in front of the exit. Ruby saw this and took a step back in surprise

Neo shook her head with a desperate look on her face. You can't tell anyone.

Ruby smiled. "Well, it's a good thing, right? Everyone's be happy you're alive!" She looked around the room. "Now that I think about it, how are you doing this?"

Do what?

"The disappearing and reappearing stuff. You did it last night too."

Neo rolled her eyes. Because I'm a vampire.

A thought crossed Ruby's mind. She stepped on the flooring next to her, as if trying to find something. "So, like, a magic trick or something?"

Neo lifted her hands to 'say' something, but thought against it. Instead, she snapped her fingers. The door to the room slammed open. This surprised even Neo, who innocently looked behind the door to make sure the doorknob didn't dent the wall. She huffed in content when no damage was present.

A question was about to make its way out of Ruby's mouth, but Neo stopped her by grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the room. From what Ruby saw as she was dragged along by Neo's tight grip, Neo lived in a lovely house. They walked down a hallway, passing by a kitchen and dining room. Their short walk ended up in the living room, next to the door leading outside. I'm what short time she was in there Ruby noticed that every framed picture that was hung up onto the walls were empty except for the pictures that were there for displays, the barcodes obviously being seen.

"Where are we going?" Ruby asked.

Neo gave Ruby a smirk. She opened the front door and led her outside. It was an unfamiliar neighborhood to Ruby, meaning they could've been anywhere. Despite having been actually kidnapped, one thing that wasn't on her mind was running. So far, Neo had been welcoming and harmless. This didn't make Ruby forget entirely about her situation, but it still did make her cautious.

Neo turned around to face Ruby. She laced her fingers between Ruby's, smiling at the feeling, and winked. Not wasting a second, Neo wrapped Ruby in a tight hug. The world around them suddenly warped. Colors blended together, sucking the light with it until they were in darkness. And just like that, the world returned to normal. Neo released Ruby from her bear hug.

A sudden feeling of weakness hit Ruby, almost making her legs completely give out. Neo was there to catch Ruby in case she did start to fall to the floor.

"I-I'm okay," Ruby assured Neo. She looked up, wondering what had happened. To her surprise and horror, they were outside of Beacon Academy. If this meant what it meant, then Ruby was even more freaked out. Not only did Neo just prove she was a supernatural entity, but that she also knew where she was going to school. "How long have you been stalking me?!"

Neo was taken by surprise from the accusation. She almost broke her own neck from shaking her head. She held her hands up, signaling for Ruby to stay where she was.

"Wha-?" But before Ruby could finish, Neo was already gone. In the blink of an eye, Neo disappeared. And before she could take another, Neo returned with a red satchel in hand, Ruby's school bag.

Neo fished in the bag and produced Ruby's wallet, opening it to show her student ID as the first card up front.

Fuming, Ruby snatched her wallet from Neo's hand. "You even went through my stuff?" She then lowered her voice since she was attracting attention. "That is totally not cool. Not cool, Neo."

Neo shrugged, smiling at Ruby's agitation.

So where we headed?

"We? You're not honestly coming to class with me, are you?"

In response, Neo nodded. She put a finger to her mouth and walked forward, looking around at the many buildings with interest as if trying to figure out what was what.

Ruby jogged to catch up to Neo, seeing that the nite wasn't going to let up. "You don't even know where you're going!"

Smiling, Neo signed Then maybe you can be my guide.

Sighing, Ruby shook her head in disbelief. Her thoughts were full of many things, all of which were about Neo. Very slowly, her memories of their childhood came back to her. As of now, she could only remember Neo being by her side all the time at school, but still had yet to remember just how deep their relationship ran. She wanted to know who Neo was to her as a kid. She wanted to know why she couldn't remember, and everyone else did.

Looking back up, Ruby caught sight of Neo happily taking in the sights. From the beautifully structured buildings to the modern art sculptures donated by people scattered around the grounds, Neo took it all in. At one point, Neo even waved to a passing student that was looking at her hair. Looking again, Ruby could see the innocence in her smile. No act, just pure joy.

Was she the cause? Neo had stated that they'd made a promise before. Was this it? To one day reunite? No matter how much Ruby raked her brain, she couldn't remember. But looking up at Neo, Ruby couldn't help but smile herself. She may not be familiar with Neo, but she had a feeling she wasn't afraid to get to know her a second time.

"And so, without a second thought, I vanquished the beast! Their malicious thoughts were no longer the second I showed my true valor! My bravery alone got me out of that situation alive, and I'll be damned if anyone tells me otherwise! Threw them from my life, I did!"

A boy in the front of the class cleared his throat before asking, "Uh, Professor Port?"

Port excused himself from speaking. "Yes, Jaune Arc?"

Jaune nervously replied, "I'm not sure if during class is an appropriate time to talk about your ex's."

"Huh? Oh, oh, yes. I'm sorry, class. Where were we?"

In the back of the class, Ruby was sat second to last at the end of the aisle. And next to her was Neo. While Ruby had her full attention to the front, Neo was more interested in the pencil she was playing with. As Port continued his lecture, Neo continued to try and balance the pencil on her nose. She lost the perfect spot and accidentally let the pencil fall, landing in Ruby's notebook.

Ruby glared at the spot Neo had just been sitting in but found nothing. She looked at the end of the aisle to find Neo's eyes looking at her from over the side. With a smile and a wave, Neo made it clear she knew Ruby saw her. Neo happily sat back down in her seat, scooting closer to Ruby.

Ruby continued to listen to Port. She wrote down anything she deemed important while having her Scroll record everything since she would'nt be able to get everything down.

Bored, Neo peered over at Ruby's notebook. She took in her small hands, imagining them in her own. She bet they were soft and warm, like any humans skin. But she was sure Ruby's would be different. Aside from Neo's colder and firmer skin, she was sure Ruby's was perfect. She found herself thinking about more than just Ruby's skin. Her eyes traveled up from her hands to her neck. Just from where she was sitting she could feel Ruby's blood rushing through it. The pumping had a rhythm to it, like music. It set Neo at ease, as if it were a simple melody of chimes.

Suddenly, Neo realized that the reason she could feel Ruby because she'd lost control of herself and started to Ruby's neck and cheek. Neo pulled away quickly, her face now completely red. She looked at away, only glancing at Ruby's face who was staring at her notebook but not writing anything.

After a few seconds, Ruby calmed down her heartbeat and looked at Neo. She noticed the blush, somehow becoming embarrassed by it. She went back to her notebook, but could no longer pay complete attention to Port.

Half and hour passed when Ruby was passed a folded piece of paper from Neo. She looked over at the vampire, who wasn't in her seat anymore. Ruby looked all around, but couldn't find her. When she deemed she probably left the class she opened the note. In it was just a few words.

Sorry x3

-Neo

Ruby smirked, finding it cute. She looked back at the spot next to her, weirdly hoping Neo would be back. However, she wasn't. She was just about to get back to taking notes when something landed on her desk. After inspecting it she noticed it was a pebble. Looking around, she wondered who it was that had thrown the small object when another one suddenly struck again. This time she looked up at one of the many windows lining up near the ceiling. And there, peeking into the window, was Neo.

Shocked, Ruby urgently made signals for Neo to get down.

I'll see you later, Neo signed. I'm gonna be a bit.

Ruby signed back, What? Where are you going?

Gonna see a friend of mine. I'll meet up with you later.

Friend? Despite Neo being somewhat normal for a vampire, she found it weird she had friends. But of course, she would have friends. Everyone has friends, right? Even vampires had to have vampire friends she imagined.

After class was dismissed, Ruby went against her better judgment and actually went looking for Neo. Her features were distinct so she'd be easy to spot at a distance, but Ruby was never able to find her. After what seemed like almost an hour, Ruby gave up looking. She ended up going down to the cafeteria where her sister and friends, Blake and Weiss, were hanging out.

"There you are!" Yang shouted with relief, taking her feet off the table, when Ruby made her appearance in the group. "What took you so long?"

"I was…. just busy with something," Ruby answered. She wasn't sure if she should mention Neo or not. Clearly, she'd want to keep her being alive a secret. And with Yang being one of the people who knew all about who she was and what happened then it would vote well for Neo if Yang knew.

Weiss rolled her eyes, knowing Ruby was clearly hiding something. "So," she began, "How were you and your friend last night?"

"Huh?" Ruby was taken aback by the question. How could Weiss have possibly known she was Neo?

Blake looked at Ruby suspiciously. "Your friend. Yang told us that you texted her this morning saying you'd been at a friend's. And that's why you didn't come home."

"Eh? Ah, well," Ruby began to become even more nervous. At this moment she suddenly realized that all their eyes were on her. She in no way planned for this and didn't know how to get out of it. Their burning looks began to evaporate any sort of courage she had left. "Oh, t-that's right, yeah, my friend and I were studying."

Yang rubbed her chin, as if I'm deep thought. "Studying, huh? You get off work pretty late and you start school early in the morning. So during when do you find the time to study and sleep?"

Ruby began to sweat. "We found the t-time. Really short though."

Weiss nodded. "Hm, I bet. Anyway, what's his name?"

"His?"

Yang leaned back in her chair, satisfied with how much they were getting out of her sister. "Ah, so it's a her."

"I didn't say that."

"You might as well have," Blake stated. Yang acknowledged Blake with a snap and a point of a thumb.

Now desperate for a way out, Ruby excused herself to the bathroom. As she left, Weiss turned to Yang.

"Do you think we went on her too strong?" Weiss asked.

Yang looked away from the book Blake was reading and scratch her head. "Maybe just a little, but she's my sister so it's okay."

They talked about it further until Ruby returned. The second she came back, Yang said in a supportive tone, "Now, Ruby, I know you're hitting that part of your life where you want to experiment with people you're in a relationship with. But if you ever want to talk about it, we're here for you."

Ruby was even more horrified now than ever. She went to the bathroom to forget about what had happened and now the second she comes back it's only gotten worse. Without a second thought, she excused herself yet again. "T-Thanks, But I have to go. I forgot to ask Port a question about my essay." And just like that, Ruby made a bee line for the exit.

"That went well," Yang said with a smile.

Weiss opened her mouth to say something, an agitated look on her face, but quickly closed it.

Slowly, Yang's smile fell into a frown as she watched Ruby walk away from the cafeteria. Something was wrong. And being her big sister she was going to find out what it was.

Cardin Winchester, star player and captain of Beacon's football team, was more than just a pretty face. His family's background of fame and fortune in business allowed him to be raised in riches. Believing he was always better than the average person, Cardin would take it upon himself to make sure they knew that.

Hiding behind the fact that his father and his money could bail him out of most situations, Cardin found that antagonizing his fellow classmates was just what he needed to make it clear he was better than anyone. Besides his two friends, every student was a potential subject to his arrogance and overwhelming ego.

He lived his life like he wanted. Every minimal crime was covered up, any instance of bullying was ignored, and almost any item he desired was easily obtained by his father. He was a tyrant among kings. But with every tyrant, there's someone willing to kill them.

After football practice, Cardin showered and packed up his stuff. He walked through the field to leave between the bleachers. His mind previously distracted by his phone, he looked up to see a figure ahead of him. Despite the large floodlights illuminating the entire field, no light seemed to penetrate the figure ahead.

Cardin took no note of this, however.

"What's up?!" He called out to the figure, casually walking towards it. It was obviously shorter than Cardin and didn't seem to be anywhere near as built as him. So, naturally, this gave him the illusion that he had nothing to worry about. He kept walking until he was right in front of it. At this range he could clearly see it was wearing a black cloak with a hood, not allowing Cardin to see any features about the figure.

"You gonna get outta my way, freak?" Cardin was getting impatient when the person refused to move out of his way as he approached.

After being spoken to, the person slowly lifted their head to look at Cardin, the light showing their closed mouth.

Scoffing, Cardin started to mock the person by hitting his knuckles against their head. "Hello? Earth to idiot. Anyone want their face caved in?"

At this point, Cardin was getting annoyed, but what really agitated him was when the person smiled at the threat. The football star took it as a mocking smile, himself getting more and more irritated.

"Last chance, loser." Cardin shoved the person with a hand, making them take a step back. However, they recovered quickly and came back to stand in front of him. "That's it. Come here."

Cardin attempted to grab the person, but was too slow. The hooded person quickly stepped back and watched him grab air. This time, Cardin wasn't playing any games. He was going to squeeze the life out of them. As fast as he could, he dashed forward. He opened his massive arms to wrap the figure in a bear hug, but was too slow again. The figure had ducked under his arms and stepped behind him.

When Cardin turned, he found that the person was shaking a bit with their mouth struggling to keep in their laughter. From where he was, Cardin turned and threw a punch.

However, his fist was caught by the person, Theo hand wrapped around his fist. The part that shocked Cardin was the fact that they had caught his punch as easy as if it were a baseball. Any other person would've had their hand broken, but the person had caught it like it were nothing.

Then, to his horror, Cardin started to feel the person squeeze his fist. It had begun as a weak grab, but now it was starting to hurt. Cardin attempted to tear his fist away from the person, but wasn't able to do anything. No matter how much he pulled and jerked, the person never even budged an inch.

Slowly, it started to hurt more and more. Cardin's hand was being brutally crushed at this point. He took to punching the person as the fingers on his other hand started to pop out of their sockets.

When his punches seemed to have literally no effect on the person, Cardin whimpered as his hand was being destroyed. Finally, he couldn't handle the torture any longer. He shed tears as the first scream of pain escaped his mouth. The second he let the scream loose, the person closed their hand even tighter, almost to its limit, and completely destroyed his hand. In that second, one could hear his bones snap several times.

Then, before Cardin could scream out in pain even louder than before, the person grabbed his throat and lifted him off the ground.

His mind jumbled by so many things happening at once, Cardin was unable to think clearly. His hand was hurting more than anything, he couldn't breathe, he was being lifted up by someone smaller than him, none of it made sense, it all went against what he would've expected from a fight against someone. But it wouldn't worry him much longer.

The figure pulled out a kitchen knife and stabbed it hilt deep into Cardin's neck. As his blood escaped his body like a waterfall, Cardin stopped struggling, but the small sounds coming from his mouth meant he was still struggling on what thin thread of life he still had left. The person finally dropped Cardin to the floor, following with him.

The last thing Cardin saw was the monster of a person cup their hands to the wound and drink what blood they'd caught in their palms. He looked at them drinking, noticing they were looking into his eyes. He saw the green glimmer before his vision faded and he passed on.

After Cardin's death, the figure cranes their neck to drink straight from the wound. However, campus security started to close in, their response to Cardin's scream. The figure escaped before they were noticed. From the top of the scoreboard, the figure licked their bloody fingers clean as they watched security find the awful sight of what used to be Cardin Winchester.

A younger Neo nodded when Ruby finished her question.

I promise.

In response, Ruby smiled and extended her hand out. "Pinky promise?"

A younger Neo smiled as well, wrapping her small pinky around Ruby's.