Soon, the night had passed, and gave way to the morning. Lionel woke up with a burning determination in his heart. Cherry had woken up and was sitting by her mirror as she began to brush her hair.
Lionel knocked. "You awake? I've got an idea! A really good one, too!"
"One moment, please." Cherry replied. That was a good sign, she was still alive this morning.
"Of course!" Lionel replied, giving a sigh of relief beforehand.
Cherry soon finished brushing her hair and soon came to the door opened it to see Lionel. "What is it?" she then asked him.
"You seemed to really enjoy that Dracula book..." Lionel explained. "So why mot write your OWN vampire story? It could be a sort of fiction... Written by a fan!"
"My own vampire story...?" Cherry asked. "Is that legal?"
"Well... Sure! It doesn't need to be in the same universe!" Lionel replied. "In fact, I'll be happy to help!"
"Well... I'm not sure... But... Okay." Cherry shrugged.
"Alright!" Lionel beamed.
Cherry soon took him into the study to take out some paper to see if she could write anything for Dracula with her own original story.
"Alright, here's my idea: a reluctant monster hunter teams up with a vampire to uncover a conspiracy that goes back to ancient monster times. I call it 'The Monsters of the Universe'," Lionel explained. "I drew up some sketches."
"Hm... Mind if I see them?" Cherry asked out of interest.
"Sure!" Lionel replied, taking them out.
There were concept sketches of the monster hunter, who looked like a somewhat-older Lionel, and the vampire, resembling a somewhat-older Cherry. The other sketches were of them dueling, then shaking hands, then gazing out over the horizon.
"See, the vampire, Emilia, is part of a new vampire species called daywalkers. They can survive in the sunlight!" Lionel explained. "Ergo, they're tougher than your average vampire."
"Hmm... Very impressive, Lionel." Cherry commented as she took a look.
"Th-Thank you..." Lionel blushed.
"Hm... I like this Emilia girl..." Cherry commented.
"Thanks..." Lionel replied.
"I guess we're both rather talented." Cherry said as she handed him some papers back before their hands seemed to touch and she seemed to give a long thoughtful glance to that.
Lionel also glanced, as his face went red. "W-Well, the monster h-hunter, Duke Wassman-he encounters Emilia and instead of fighting her, chooses to b-befriend her in her time of need..."
"I see..." Cherry replied as she withdrew her hand, putting her fan in front of her face as she also seemed to blush. "It's like a forbidden friendship."
"Yup..." Lionel coughed. "Especially since his family has been monster hunters for six generations..."
"So I see..." Cherry replied. "This would be an interesting series."
"Indeed," Lionel agreed. "Duke... And Emilia... They're based on us..."
"Oh... Really?" Cherry asked, a bit soft, she didn't seem that surprised, though she sounded a bit flattered.
"Yeah, they're supposed to be us, but at least five years older." Lionel explained.
"So I see..." Cherry replied. She then took out the quill and began to write a little more as that seemed inspirational somewhat.
"Glad I could help," Lionel stated. "I also wrote up a few outlines for the story arc to flow to."
"Oh, yeah?" Cherry replied. "Tell me more."
"See, it begins with Duke's parents returning from a successful hunt-but Duke stays at home with his four older brothers, all of whom are successful hunters themselves," Lionel continued. "Duke's father says that Duke must embark on his own hunt to make his mark on the family legacy, so the mext day he sends him out with equipment to capture one of those, as he calls them, filthy blood-suckers, and Duke says, 'I get the feeling he doesn't mean leeches,' and he reluctantly sets off into The Realm of Monsters to find one'."
Cherry began to sit and listening to the interesting made-up story that Lionel had created as she found herself drawn to the words and seemed to like his imagination. As Lionel continued, the story began to take on an imaginary form...
Duke trudged through the empty castle, grumbling angrily to himself. "Lousy parents... Rotten siblings...I never ASKED to be a monster hunter... Maybe I wanna do something different with my life, ever considered THAT?" he complained. "Besides, there aren't any vampires here, as far as I can see," But he didn't realize that he was being watched from the shadows. "Can things possibly get any worse?" Duke muttered to himself.
Someone soon ran behind the shadows to go and see him.
"Eh? Who's there?" asked Duke, fumbling to grab his weapon. "I don't wanna hurt you, but if I have to protect myself, then I'll do what's necessary!"
A girl soon stepped out, staring at him with a steely-eyed gaze.
"Wh-Who are you...?" Duke managed to say, having regained his grip on his weapon.
"My name is Emilia..." The girl said. "You're new around here, aren't you?"
"You could say that..." Duke replied. "Name's Duke Wassman."
"Interesting..." Emilia replied. "You know, it can be pretty dangerous around here if you don't know your way."
"Thanks..." Duke sighed, slumping to the ground. "I dunno if I'm cut out for this monster-hunting stuff... It's just not who I am..."
"Monster-hunting, huh?" Emilia replied. "Would you ever hurt a monster?"
"Course not!" Duke replied. "Unless it was to defend myself!"
"Hm... You're not like other monster hunters I was warned about." Emilia muttered slightly.
"That's because I don't even WANT to be a monster hunter," Duke explained. "My parents and my older brothers all are, but I'm just not into that sort of thing!"
"I see..." Emilia replied. "I gotta appreciate nonconformity. Being an outsider among a crowd of same people... It's lonely on the inside, but it's worth it because you're not stuck being just like everybody else."
Duke nodded. "What, does your family have some tradition that you don't want to follow in the footsteps of, too?" he asked.
"Promise not to freak out and run away?" Emilia tested.
"Sure. You have my word." Duke replied.
Emilia looked around and soon opened up her mouth and showed her teeth which were sharper than a mortal's set of chompers would be and they appeared to be carnivorous and bloodthirsty fangs.
"Whoa..." Duke commented. "Those are... Quite sharp."
"Yes..." Emilia replied. "I'm technically not supposed to be talking to someone like you... Especially... What had happened to my uncle because of people like you."
"Your uncle...?" Duke asked, before realizing what happened. "Oh. I'm so sorry for your loss..."
"It's all right..." Emilia replied. "I don't blame you. I'm angry, but not at you. I just met you prowling while I did my own."
"I understand. I mean, what is humans hunting monsters gonna accomplish? Nothing but trouble!" Duke replied. "Guess we could both use a friend in these trying times."
"Looks like we're both alone... Alone together," Emilia said. "I've never really had any company other than my own family, and frankly, it's kind of boring."
"Same here." Duke agreed.
A white mouse seemed to scurry along.
"Excuse me... I'm a bit thirsty." Emilia said as she soon stalked after the mouse, sounding frighteningly dark and sudden in her tone.
Duke nodded casually. "Take your time, if you like." he replied.
Emilia sighed, she was very thirsty, but she felt like if she did this in front of him, he would be repulsed and want nothing to do with her, so he decided to just grab the mouse and get it over with as she took its blood after putting it to sleep. Once she tasted the sweet taste that was blood, she felt very relieved and refreshed like she had dined sufficiently from a banquet that prevented her from nearly starving to death, but also repressing any negativity she may hear from her possible first and only friend.
"It's alright, I understand," Duke replied. "You need to do what's necessary to survive. And besides, my brothers all had a habit of explaining in excruciating detail on how vampires drain their victims."
"You're not scared or disgusted of me?" Emilia asked.
"No, of course not," Duke replied. "From what I've seen so far, you're just doing what's necessary to survive. Plus you seem alright."
"Well, that's the most positive thing I've heard in a long time." Emilia replied as she leaned against the wall she stood in front of.
"Thanks," Duke replied. "So... Whaddo you want to do now?"
Emilia shrugged. "Well, I don't feel like going home... You wanna walk by the moonlight?" she then suggested to him, sounding uncaring in her tone, but on the inside, she felt glad to be talking with someone who wasn't apart of her family as she never really got to properly interact with new people before, doing her best to be social.
"Sure. Sounds nice." Duke replied, a visible blush on his face.
Emilia then took Duke with her as they walked along the moonlight together as it seemed to be a quiet evening with crisp cool air to accompany them, only to be warmed by each other's company and their clothing.
"This is nice..." Duke stated, enjoying the scenery.
"As long as no one bothers me... I usually don't like company much because of discrimination of monsters in this godforsaken town." Emilia muttered a bit bitterly and sourly.
"Yeah, it's awful," Duke agreed. "But I'm gonna find a way to put a stop to it."
"I hope your pleas don't fall on deaf ears like my uncle who wasn't so lucky." Emilia told him.
"Perhaps... Though I'll need your help." Duke stated.
"What can I do?" Emilia replied to him.
"Well..." Duke blushed. "You got your vampire powers, and I have my weapons for defensive purposes only."
"What're you suggesting?" Emilia asked as she seemed lost, metaphorically speaking of course.
"A... Partnership. A team-up." Duke explained.
"Hm..." Emilia replied as she pressed her lips together in thought. "I suppose you'd want money out of this?" she then guessed.
"No, that won't be necessary," Duke replied. "Your company is enough."
"Well... We can try it out... I'm not sure it will work, but we can experiment a little." Emilia decided.
"It's fine," Duke replied. "I'm open to that."
"Fair enough..." Emilia said. "Let's see where tonight takes us."
Duke nodded. "Fine by me." he replied, as unknown to the both of them, three sirens began to crawl out of their seaside caves nearby.
Emilia and Duke walked off together into the night. Emilia looked around as though she could sense a presence that was far different from their own.
Duke glanced at her. "What is it?" he asked.
"There's... Someone coming... I'm not sure what they are, but they... They aren't human..." Emilia told him like she had a sixth sense for these sort of things.
"More monsters? Somehow I get the feeling that not all of them are as friendly as you..." Duke replied.
"Definitely not..." Emilia said to them. "They're about as friendly as a nun witnessing a child using their left hand in penmanship in Catholic Church."
Duke sighed. "I thought so... Any ideas or precautions?" he asked.
"Well... I'm not sure what they are, so we'll have to sneak around... Come with me... I can sense where they're coming from." Emilia told him.
Duke nodded and followed behind.
Once they were in view, they saw that the three creatures were yellow, purple, and blue, and looked like horses with fish tails for bottom halves from the waist down.
"What are those...?" Duke asked.
"They appear to be Hippocamps... Also known as sea-horses." Emilia replied once she took a look.
Duke squinted. "They're glowing now..." he stated, as the three hippocamps began glowing, and assuming more humanoid forms. The yellow one now had poofy orange hair, the purple one had two pigtails, and the blue one had a dark-blue ponytail.
"Hmm..." Emilia hummed in thought.
"So... Sea-horses?" Cherry's voice asked, interrupting the story briefly because she had a question.
"Yeah. Figured I'd give the monster roster a bit more variety," Lionel's voice replied. "But they're not just hippocampuses... They're also sirens."
"I see..." Cherry's voice then said. "Can't say I've heard of that before."
"Well, sirens are these mystical creatures that look like humans with fish tails, and their singing can hypnotize people," Lionel's voice explained. "Anyways, back to the story."
"Ah... Okay..." Cherry's voice replied before she went back to reading the story, she seemed to like it so far, obviously she would not keep going if she hadn't.
"I'm not sure where they came from, but they should be stopped..." Emilia said to Duke, looking into his eyes dramatically serious.
"Right...my dad told me about those things... They're called sirens, and their singing hypnotizes people," Duke replied, putting a pair of earmuffs on Emilia. "Consider that a precaution."
"Let's hope these are strong enough." Emilia replied.
"Indeed." Duke replied, taking out a crossbow and firing an arrow at the sirens.
Emilia watched him and the sirens. The sirens soon looked over as though they sensed the arrow, they luckily missed it at first.
"We're under attack!" The redhead alerted.
"Gee, what was your first clue?" snapped the purple-haired one.
Emilia stood close to Duke while trying to keep quiet so the sirens wouldn't see either of them. Duke took a soft breath, then launched another arrow at the sirens. Emilia watched him while the sirens wandered about and they soon heard a yelp out of excruciating pain.
"What's that?" asked Duke, eyes darting about wildly.
"I think you got one." Emilia pointed out to him, her tone never changing.
"Alright. Direct hit!" Duke beamed.
"Who said that?" The purple-haired one glared. "Sisters, I hear voices..."
"Alright...whaddyou scummy sirens want?" Duke ordered, putting up a gruff front. "You're not dealing with any old monster hunter, you're dealing with Dead-Eye Duke Wassman, son of Daniel Wassman of the Monster-Hunting Wassman clan!"
The sirens soon glared to Duke and Emilia.
"Who are you, the police?" The blue-haired siren glowered.
"Nope. The police couldn't handle you," Duke retorted. "Lucky for me, I'm no police."
"Then who and what are you?" The blue-haired siren glared.
"I could ask you the same question." Emilia muttered bitterly.
"Didn't you hear? They call me Dead-Eye Duke, and this lovely lady here is my partner, The Electrifying Emilia." Duke explained.
"Electrifying Emilia?" The girl blinked to herself.
"Oh, brother." The sirens seemed to grumble like this was some kind of sick joke.
"And we're gonna figure out just WHO incited the war between monsterkind and humanity!" Duke concluded. "And you're not gonna stop us!"
"And you think we had to do with it?" The purple-haired one smirked. "Oh, contrare~... What do a couple of mortals know?"
Emilia's eyes seemed to flash. "Did you just call ME a MORTAL?!"
Duke sighed. "Oh, you shouldn't have done THAT..." he shook his head with a smug smile. "Say... You wouldn't happen to be thirsty, would you, Emilia?" he asked.
"Hm... I suppose I could have another drink..." Emilia replied.
The sirens seemed to roll their eyes. Emilia came to the purple-haired siren and sunk her teeth into the siren's neck which shocked them all since they didn't know that she was a vampire. Duke stood back and watched as Emilia quenched her thirst. The other sirens came towards Emilia to pull her off. Emilia hissed and glared at them, looking quite grotesque and vicious with crimson liquid dripping from her face as her fangs were more sharp when she bit into the purple-haired siren's neck.
Duke blushed. "She's... Magnificent..." he remarked as her fangs shone in the moonlight.
"YOU KILLED HER!" The blue-haired siren screeched, almost like a Banshee. "YOU KILLED MY SISTER!"
"And YOU... Are about to join her!" Duke snapped, readying his crossbow once more.
"You wouldn't dare!" The blue-haired siren glared. "DO YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE?! YOUR LITTLE BITCH OF A GIRLFRIEND IS GONNA PAY FOR WHAT SHE'S DONE!"
Duke scowled. "No, I don't know who you are... But here's the thing: I really don't care." he replied calmly, as he took aim and fired two arrows.
"YOU BASTARD!" The sirens yelled out.
Emilia wiped her mouth from the siren she killed. "I'm sorry you had to see that..." She said, though she didn't look at him. "Also these guys curse like sailors with their mouths as salty as the sea that they travel on."
Duke took a glance through his father's field journal, then put it down. "Fun fact about vampires-apparently draining the blood from a victim with unusual abilities grants them use of those abilities. In short, you drank her blood, now you have her powers." he read.
Emilia looked over, even though she had been a vampire all her life, that seemed to be breaking news to her.
Duke glanced back at her. "Well? Go ahead... Give it a try!" he urged.
"Should I sing...?" Emilia asked, a bit insecurely about the singing ability.
Duke nodded, removing his earmuffs.
"...I don't like to sing... I have a terrible voice..." Emilia told him.
"Ah, but your skill has been enhanced with the siren blood!" Duke explained. "So your singing should be incredibly melodious!"
"Do you really think so?" Emilia asked weakly.
"I know you can do it," Duke nodded sincerely. "I believe in you."
Emilia looked to him, she soon closed her eyes as she took a deep breath, and she began to sing a little tune that she just made up, and it sounded very enchanting and beautiful since she had devoured three sirens just recently. Duke listened in... And his eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks, since he was now entranced by the singing. Emilia did her best to sing the tune, seeming unaware of her new talents. Duke, still entranced. began to aim his crossbow at the other two sirens, and proceeded to fire at them. Emilia soon looked over.
"The Sirens will rise above and get rid of all humans." The redhead glared at Duke.
"Not likely..." Duke replied in a monotone as he took aim once again.
Emilia stared straight as the Sirens were stabbed instantly just after leaving their homes which would now be a watery grave since they had left to take over the world with their mythological existence.
Duke then awoke from his trance. "Eh? What happened? Did it work?" he asked, confused.
"You killed them..." Emilia said, her tone never changing. "The blood is on your hands now... That stain will never come out. Psychologically speaking."
Duke sighed. "It had to be done, I suppose. It was either them or us," he replied. "Besides, nobody insults you on MY watch."
"You don't need to defend me..." Emilia said. "People's words hurt worse than a slap in the face or kick in the stomach though... Emotional abuse is just as painful as physical."
"Well... I didn't need to... But I wanted to anyway." Duke retorted.
Emilia looked over to him. "No one's ever stuck up for me before..." she then said. "I've never really had a friend before."
"Well, one friend is better than none," Duke replied. "One friend is plenty."
Emilia looked back to him. Duke looked back and he could've sworn he saw a brief smile on the girl's face as if it was her first time in life ever smiling.
Cherry soon put the papers down as that was the end for right now, but she seemed to have emotional tears in her eyes as the story had deeply moved her.
"And that's the first bit of the book," Lionel replied. "For the next of it, Duke brings Emilia home, making an excuse for her paleness to his family-doesn't get very much sunlight-but when Emilia is found out during the climax, in which a monster fight ensues, Duke stands up for her, declaring that he... Loves her, tells his family off for forcing their tradition on him when he wanted no part of it, and publicly renounces them before setting off with Emilia on their journey. Elsewhere, the Monster King observes from afar, plotting to use them to his advantage."
"You really thought this out, huh?" Cherry replied.
"I've had plenty of time to." Lionel replied.
"I see..." Cherry said to him. "You seem to have a hidden talent I wasn't aware of..."
"And you, as well," Lionel replied. "We could make a great team!"
"Yeah... A team..." Cherry replied as she soon cracked a sincere, though still small and soft, still sincere smile.
"I'm just happy that you're happy." Lionel added.
"I should tell Aunt Selina." Cherry said as she stood up and looked excited to share this news with her guardian.
Lionel smiled. "Alright then. Go for it." he replied.
Cherry soon left the room and picked up her skirt as she went to go and tell her aunt, and knocked on her bedroom door.
Selina emerged, glancing down at her. "Kitten? What is it?"
"Aunt Selina, I've had the most wonderful time with Lionel," Cherry smiled to her. "We're gonna write stories together!"
Selina smiled at her. "That's wonderful, Kitten. I'm glad you've found something that brings you happiness in these difficult times." she replied warmly.
"Say... Why aren't you dressed yet...?" Cherry then asked.
"Um... That's not important right now," Selina blushed. "I'm very happy for you though, Kitten."
"Thank you, Aunt Selina." Cherry replied even though she felt suspicious about her aunt right now.
"You're welcome." Selina replied, hugging her niece.
Cherry hugged back, though she took a small glance inside of her aunt's bedroom, and there appeared to be a man sleeping in the bed. Selina quickly moved in front of her view, hoping to cover her tracks.
"Aunt Selina...?" Cherry asked.
"Why don't you make some breakfast for Lionel and yourself?" Selina suggested, putting an apron around her niece's waist with a small, maternal smile. "You know how to cook eggs, I taught you last week, remember?"
"Ooookay..." Cherry replied suspiciously.
"Run along now, Kitten... I'll be down shortly." Selina smiled.
Cherry soon walked off as she decided to cook some breakfast since her aunt seemed too busy to do so.
