The nightmares were getting worse.
She kept waking up between them, clutching herself and sweating. She didn't tell Anna, but she went to sleep down in the living room the night before so that her tossing and turning wouldn't wake her sister up. Not that many things could wake Anna up – she snoozed like the dead.
She had awoken the same time as she always had, though with hair disheveled and bags under her eyes this round. Rubbing her neck and yawning, Elsa dragged her feet back up the stairs, heading to the bedroom she shared with her sister. She tossed her blanket back onto her bed. Anna, as she had predicted, was still fast asleep, with limbs askew and hair tangled like a mop. Her sister was never the most elegant.
As the blonde girl stepped into the bathroom, she rubbed her eyes and headed for the sink. She vaguely noticed the flickering above her and groaned. They would have change out the bulb again.
Barely being able to keep her eyes open, she opted for washing her face first. She reached for the bottle that Anna and her shared, pouring the contents on her palm then slapped on her face. Instructions told her to rub the cleanser gently on her face in circles, but she was honestly too tired do anything but scrubbing her skin as if she was scrubbing the floor. She rinsed off the soap before reaching for the face towel and dabbing the skin dry.
Well, until she noticed the red stains on the towel.
She blinked, holding the stained object at arms length as she did. She examined her hands. They weren't bleeding. She glanced towards the mirror to check for a nosebleed. She didn't see one.
In fact, she didn't see her nose in the mirror. Or her eyes. Or any part of herself in fact.
What she did see, however, were words written in blood –
'MINE'
She staggered back, a scream escaping her lips as she did. Suddenly, she heard cackling laughter – somewhere, somewhere in the bathroom.
And the lights started to flicker. Rapidly. Endlessly. Tauntingly.
And they went out.
She felt in the darkness, trying not to let her thudding heart drown out her thinking. Why was it so dark? Where was the door? The sink? Where was everything?
She felt something trickling down her neck. She reached up her hand to touch a liquid, warm and vicious.
And suddenly she felt that hand being grabbed.
She screamed, pulling against it. She stumbled back against –
- the dusted concrete floor of the classroom.
"Ms. Arendelle!"
She sat herself up cautiously between the two tables flanking her. Her classmates sitting at those tables stared down at her, and she realized that she was no longer in her night clothes, but in plain blouse and an even plainer pleated skirt. As she pulled herself to her feet, she discovered that in fact her entire class was staring at her.
The math tutor at the front board appeared extremely annoyed as she peered her down through the spectacles. "Ms. Arendelle, do you think you could cease making a spectacle so that we can resume class?"
She was in class. There was an empty seat just a step away that had all her books laid out around it. She must have fallen asleep in class. Which she had never done before.
Muttering a quiet apology, Elsa hurried returned to her seat. Her peers were very much amused with all that had occurred and started muttering to one another, so much so that the tutor had to rap her knuckles on the board to silence them. As she gazed down at the pages laid before her, her brows furrowed together. She flipped the pages back at forth, then raised her head to stare at the wash of equations scrawled on the board. She glanced around her, at her classmates, at the classroom.
She didn't remember coming here. Not in the slightest.
She felt her neck just to make sure. It was dry. It must have all been a dream then.
But it felt so real. And how could she have forgotten everything between waking up and sitting down for class? She couldn't have just slept-walked the whole way through. She wasn't that much like Anna!
She sat herself upright. Anna! What did she think of all this?
Her hand dove into her pocket. There were dozens of messages on it. Most were from Anna, asking her if she was feeling alright. So Anna did notice something amiss. She typed back a hasty assurance. The last thing was Anna to tell Kai, because Kai would force her to see her doctor, or worse, a shrink.
Elsa shuddered.
There were a few messages from Kristoff. She opened them up, and groaned when she realized they were all about the blood drive … which was two days from now. With how groggy she was feeling and with an odd sense of doom looming in the back of her head, she was hardly in the mood for it. What with the incident with Anna, the nightmares, that odd meeting with Hans and curious things that she had supposed learned about Jack.
Jack. Was he back in school? In her dazed state, she wouldn't have noticed it earlier. Then again, she didn't know if she wanted to see him again. If she didn't, that meant she would have to confront him, and she mightn't like what he had to say.
"Miss Arendelle," the tutor snapped, "are you going to put away that phone, or must I take it from you?"
She meekly slipped the phone back in her pocket, but didn't catch anything else that happened during that class.
~~~0~~~
"How was going home?"
"Okay. How was the anniversary?"
"Just managed to survive it." Hiccup paused thoughtfully, before adding, "Oh, Astrid sort of hates you now."
"Again?"
"She's usually not this temperamental, but she feels that you kind of ruined this anniversary, so…" the auburn-haired boy shrugged. "Yeah."
"Ah." Jack scratched his head, not sure exactly what to say.
Class had just ended, which meant that students were pouring out of the classroom and the locker-flanked corridor was crowded with students. While that was an incredibly normal experience, Jack found himself feeling oddly warm. For some reason, he found himself glancing towards his various schoolmates during his conversation with his friend. He didn't know why his attention kept flitting to them – it wasn't as if they were wearing anything particularly interesting, or that they were speaking about something that interested him. It was a perfectly normal school day, but he was just acutely aware of every single person around – a sensation that he hadn't felt ever since…well, ever since…
Oh, no. She was here.
Actually, she wasn't anywhere nearby. His eyes hadn't even spotted her in the swarms of people, but somehow, he knew that she was coming his way. He could hear her steps moving towards him, her heart thudding at a rate that wasn't quite normal, and her scent … he hadn't realized when he had learned to recognize it, but he did.
"Hey, what's the matter?"
Jack blinked, head jerking to Hiccup. He hadn't noticed that he had stopped, but apparently, he had, and right in the middle of the walkway too. His gaze left him however to stare straightforward in expectation. Sure enough, two classrooms down, she was also there, stopped in the middle of hall, ignoring the other teens milling around him. Her brilliant blue eyes bore into him.
Hiccup eyed him curiously, then followed his line of sight down to the hall, letting out a low whistle as he did. "Soooo-" he rubbed his hands together "-are you guys going to run towards each other and kiss when reach the middle?"
Jack shoved him back by the shoulder. Perhaps it was a little too hard, because Hiccup ended up crashing into locker doors with a loud 'blam!' The students who noted the scene just widened their eyes in surprise, before deciding to discreetly distance themselves from it. The white-haired lad would have felt a little bad if he didn't know that Hiccup's wiry frame was but a deception.
In the back drop, he could hear the other boy cursing, but Jack kept his eyes on the blonde girl across the hall, trying to read her expression. There was a measure of anger there. Of course, there was. He had run off on Friday night when she needed him, before proceeding to ignore her for two whole days – in her eyes at least. But there was also a hint of trepidation and … fear?
Why was she afraid of him? He hadn't down anything to hurt her.
Yet, a voice whispered in his head.
He could see her turn her head towards Anna and could hear her answer her sister's question, as if she were standing right by his side. "Nothing. Let's go."
He watched her turn away, heading off in the opposite direction. Part of him was incredibly relieved. The confrontation was avoided, and by her too, so he didn't to bear the guilt. But something in him twanged with horror from her cool dismissal. She had to know that he wanted to talk to her, right? So maybe they weren't an item, and perhaps they never will be ('not like Hiccup and Astrid at least', he thought bitterly), but they still were sort of friends? Schoolmates?
Not that he liked those titles any better.
"You know, I think I'm going to stay away from you for a while," Hiccup announced drily. He had recovered from his collision with the lockers. In fact, it was the lockers that looked dented, not himself. "You're acting very odd."
"Well, I learn it from you," was his own disgruntled reply, before decidedly shoving his way through the crowd, advancing determinedly towards the girl.
The scrawny, auburn-boy let out a contemptuous sniff. "I don't know why I'm even friends with him sometimes," he complained to the unfortunate bystander who happened to be in vicinity.
~~~0~~~
"Elsa."
She wouldn't have stopped, but unfortunately, she was with Anna, and when Anna stopped, she had no choice but to do the same.
"Elsa," the white-haired boy sounded like he was panting as he slowed himself down. "Please, I need – we need to talk."
"Yes, we do," was her stiff, reluctant reply.
Anna glanced at the panting boy, then at her sister. The two did not say anything. As Jack caught his breath, Elsa shot her a look.
The younger girl sighed. "Fine. I'll leave you guys to it." Waving her hand carelessly, Anna continued her march down the stairway, leaving the two standing on the steps, to one another.
Elsa watched as Jack fumbled over the words, "Listen, I know that – I meant, I kind of-"
"Why did you run off, Jack?" she demanded, cutting him off. On any other day, she might have found his nervousness endearing, but the lack of sleep and the unanswered questions have made her rather short of temper. "What are you hiding?"
"Hiding?" He let out an uneasy laugh. He wasn't a good liar. "I'm not hiding anything."
"You're not telling me the truth, Jack." Her teeth clenched themselves together. A great heat boiled inside her as a flood of held-back emotions slammed against her full force. "Why did you run off Friday night? Why didn't contact me the last two days?"
"Okay, okay, for the second question, I have a legitimate excuse." He grinned weakly at her – oh, for goodness' sake! Was he trying to joke with her? "I lost my phone."
The memory of her encounter with the redhead who had claimed himself a 'vampire hunter' surfaced in her mind. This little fact fit perfectly with what Hans had told her. She shelved this thought for the meanwhile, deciding to attack him on grounds that she knew.
"There are other ways to communicate, you know, like-" a low growl of frustration rumbled in the back of her throat "-actually coming down to see me, or was that too inconvenient for you?"
He seemed hurt, and she almost repented. But when he pressed his lips together and rubbed his elbow, sympathy was rapidly squashed. Was she always going to let him avoid the questions?
She allowed him a minute. Two minutes. Still silence.
"You know what?" Her tone was bitter. How could she help it? "If we're not going to be honest with each other, then we might as well not talk at all." She spun around, fully intending to stomp away.
"Wait! Elsa, give me a chance to-" she marched determinedly on, giving no sign of weakness "-this isn't easy for me to – I can't – you don't understand!"
"I can't understand anything if you don't give me a chance," she couldn't resist flinging that back at him. She was extraordinarily irate today, and he would not find her so forgiving. "You don't even need to turn up for the blood drive on Wednesday."
"Elsa, wait!" He grasped her hand, forcing her to stop. His grip was actually very strong, but it was abruptly released when he cried out in pain.
She stopped then, spinning aroundsharply. His expression was contorted in pain as he stared down at his own pale bare palm. She didn't get a good look at it, however, before he abruptly clenched his fist. He peered down down to the silver band around her gloved middle finger flickered up to her. "Since when did you wear a ring?"
"Since I felt like it," was her cold answer. Though her face bore no expression, inwardly, she was taken aback. Could it be that Hans was actually right? Did that myth he concoct hold an element of truth? It couldn't be, yet.
The boy dropped his hand, hooking it behind where she couldn't see, too eager to return to the subject at hand. "Look, I – please, just – have dinner with me."
He asked that just a minute after telling her that he was't hiding anything. Just a minute after lying straight to her face. Her thumb rubbed against the silver ring as the memory of three nights before returned. Could it be that Jack was in league with those who had assaulted Anna? Would they come again to finish the job?
She hid her thought in her frosty reply. "We've gone for dozens of meals together, Jack. Nothing's changed. The communication-" she waved at the space between them "-doesn't exist!"
He must not have guessed her thoughts, for he went on rambling, "Look, what about – what if-" she shook her head, turning away when it burst out "-come to my place."
That made her stop short. Elsa eyed him with suspicion. "What?"
"Have dinner at my place. With my folks," he spluttered out. "And I'll tell you – I'll explain to you everything. Everything you want to know."
The blonde girl stared at him for a good moment, trying to gauge his intentions. It was clear that he was perfectly serious. He was too desperate not to, which begged the question – why was he so desperate then?
Finally, she answered, "Alright."
"Really?" His entire face lit up and his shoulders sagged with relief. "Well, great! You won't regret it!"
"Won't your family mind?" What about all that drama about his familial objection? Or was that as fictional as everything else?
"Oh, no, they'll be fine." He waved away her concerns. "They'll love to meet you. So-" he hastily changed the subject "-seven? I can pick y-"
"That won't be necessary." She shut him down sharply, making him clamp his jaw closed, anxious not to offend. "I know where your house is."
"Okay, great!" He gave her a double thumbs-up. "Soooo, I'll see you?"
She nodded, stepping backwards in the direction that Anna had disappeared to. "At seven."
"Yes." He nodded like she did. "Seven."
"Good." She eventually dared to turn her back on him. She didn't know what she expected – they were in broad daylight, for goodness' sake. "Goodbye."
"See you later," he answered. "Or, goodbye. Anything works."
He was hiding something. He was definitely hiding something.
Elsa marched off the school compound as quickly as her legs could carry her. Anna had already gone a long way ahead, and the elder sister couldn't help but feel a deep sense of urgency to find her, to make sure she was alright and wasn't about to be eaten up by cannibalistic monsters.
No, no. This was stupid. This was just paranoia. It was the nightmares -they're starting to get to her brain. That's why she considered Hans' bizarre story. That's why she wore the ring and tested it.
But nightmares or not, she hadn't been dreaming when she saw the guilt in Jack expression, nor the pain and shock when he withdrew his hand from her own.
Panic struck her heart as she hastened her pace to find her sister.
She gasped in relief when she finally found Anna. She had stopped outside the long abandoned phone box, chatting with Kristoff who happened to be there too. The blonde girl then allowed her pace to slow, catching her breath. But doubt raged in her mind and she had a sinking feeling that her sister's wellbeing was only short-lived.
It was only a matter of time, after all, that her sister's memories of the attacker would be resurface, and if the attacker was any wiser, he would strike her down before that happened.
That attacker could be someone that Jack knew. Could even be someone he was protecting.
Someone in his so-called family.
Each member of the Guardians looked so different, acted so different. They were more like a cluster of people forced to live together out of necessary than relation. Or perhaps they were really related by blood.
That was, via the consumption of it.
She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe herself believing it. But there was something strange going on – something frightening and dangerous. She wasn't safe. Anna wasn't safe. With an upcoming blood drive of ALL things, the whole of Burgess wasn't safe.
She needed to do something, but she didn't know what.
Elsa whipped out her phone and dialed the number of Jack's phone – the one that he lost. In the distance, Anna's still chatting away with Kristoff, oblivious to the impending doom that surrounded her, and the whole of this town.
The voice that comes after the dial tone was smug, almost like he knew she was going to call him, "Hello?"
"I think you might've been right."
~~~0~~~
He intended to leave Necropolis, but the crowds somehow swept him up with them and he was trapped in the middle of the market square with no sense of his whereabouts. He tried to ask for directions from those around him, but they paid him no mind, either because they didn't understand what he was saying or that they simply didn't care. Brotherhood amongst vampires didn't seem to be as big a thing as Pitch Black had made it out to be.
He found himself shoved in front of a stall selling an assortment of precious stones, with the shop owner eyeing him suspiciously. Muttering a quick apology, he was about to pull himself away from the stall when he noticed a young man bound in chains, kneeling next to the stall. A quick listen for his heart beat revealed that this fellow was a flesh and blood human. The young man by his garments appeared to be from the Mediterranean, but his fair complexion and his bright blue eyes seemed to hint that his birth origin was elsewhere. Between his cuffed hands, Jack spotted a small wire that that the young slave was using to pick the locks on his chains. He jerked his head up suddenly, swinging sharply towards Jack. He paused his attempt to escape in favour of assessing the white-haired vampire, glittering eyes taunting him to tell him off to his owner.
Jack decided to walk away from the scene, losing himself back into the crowded market. The people around him pushed forward, making him surge forward against his own will. As it happened, a small, empty alley came into view and he hastily made his way towards it, escaping the throng in time.
As he did, he suddenly heard a voice, rasping and harsh, fervent and fierce. He couldn't make out the words from where he was, but he could hear people - vampires – cheering between the breaks. He followed the noises down the alley, before he turned into another square, just as large as the market one. The only difference was that people weren't hustling and bustling about. They were rooted to the ground, heads raised towards the stone platform from which a familiar figure in black robes declared, "Why, oh, why, do we allow ourselves this humiliation? Why, oh, why do we permit ourselves to fade into obscurity?"
Murmurs of assent broke out in the crowd. Jack lifted a brow at those around him, before his directing his gaze back to Pitch.
The vampire king certainly threw himself entirely into his speech. "Are we not higher beings? Are we not the greatest incarnation of mankind ever existed? Why do we hide from the world – the world that by right should have been our inheritance?" He snorted in disgusted. "Think honestly for yourselves, my kinsman. Perhaps for now you are satisfied with your mediocre immortality, but one day -" he wagged a bony finger towards the audience "-one day, the human masses with know of us, and they will overwhelm us. And we will curse ourselves for not preventing this."
The clamour rose to the stone rafters as everyone in the square began voicing their opinions to their neighbours. Pitch took a step back, gazing upon the contention with a pleased smirk.
"He plays on their fears."
Jack jumped when he noticed the scruffy, grey-haired man leaning against the wall near him. He was chewing on something that the boy didn't recognize, but by the smell, it wasn't blood. How a vampire could willingly put something in his mouth that wasn't blood, Jack would never understand.
The fellow who called Bunnymund by his peers and 'Bunny' by the insolent boy in his head spat out part of the leaf that he was chewing on – leaves? Gross – before narrowing his eyes to the stage, where Pitch had resumed his speech.
Bunnymund didn't seem to impressed by it."He was pretty notorious in his day. Some kind of war general – a lot of power, and a lot of enemy." He crunched up a couple of leaves in his hand once more and stuff it in his mouth.
Jack wasn't sure what to answer, and wasn't sure if he wanted to. It had been only a few hours ago that he discovered that vampires had existed in such large numbers, and that they were divided in such opposing factions. He mightn't be extremely inclined to the supramacistic point of view that Pitch Black offered, but the pacifist point of view, as Emily Jane had commented, was very impractical. Not to mention, at least Pitch had been honest with him. So far.
"Which dump did North pick you from, mate?" Bunny was asking him, snapping him out of his own brooding.
"We met at Worcestershire." He had been trying to isolate himself from humankind in the countryside, and North had come across him while during one of his hikes across the country.
"Britain?" the other fellow sounded disgusted. He shook his head. "That place has some of the dullest cuisine I have ever known."
"Excuse me?" Jack was offended. Sure, he never really ate well back when he was human – he was too poor. And he had never experienced the best that English cuisine could offer. But Bunny's straight dismissal of it was still displeasing. It didn't help that Bunny was also quite an unlikeable fellow.
"I've travelled across the world, mate, and trust me when I say that England has some of the most boring food I've ever tasted."
Jack eyed him incredulously. "You're a vampire."
"Yes?"
"Human food is tasteless to us regardless of how it's cooked."
"Rubbish." Bunny's contradiction was direct and it did take Jack aback. "Don't deny it till you've tried it, mate."
They're conversation was interrupted by the blowing of horns, and the crowd suddenly ceased their chatter and parted themselves. There, an array of handmaidens came down the cleared path, with Emily Jane herself marching hastily between them. Her hands clutched her long robe in her anger as she screamed, "HOW DARE YOU?"
"Me? My dear girl-" Pitch descended from the platform, his hands raised with innocent expression "-I have no idea what is it you accuse me of."
"You dare you speak to my subjects behind my back, against my authority!" The princess was didn't budge, stomping all the way in front of him. Chin lifted proudly and fanged teeth gritted, she proclaimed loudly enough for all to hear, "I am elected leader of this city! You have no right to speak-"
"I am a king!"
"An arbitrary title that give you no power unless I grant it, and be sure that I won't," she hissed at him. "You have no right to press your opinions on my people outside the council-"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Pitch's gold eyes flashed in return as his own tone became grating. "Perhaps I should just let you continue leading our proud race into ruin!" This made the silent watching throng break out into whispers.
Emily Jane noticed this, and this only to have incensed her more. Swinging back towards him, she spat, "Are you challenging my authority, father?"
"Do you want me to?"
"Just answer the question."
"I wouldn't have to if you didn't lack vision as much as you do." This was said in oddly gentle tone.
This answer did not assuage the woman's anger in anyway. To one of her handmaiden's, she said, "Get me a weapon."
A collective gasp echoed through the square, which only made Jack scrunch his face up in bewilderment. "I don't understand," he murmured to Bunny. "It's not like that they can actually hurt each other with weapons."
The man regarded him with a strange look. "You don't know much about vampires, do you?"
Jack frowned. "I do know that we're immortal for a reason."
"Well-" he turned from the boy, spitting out the leaves that he had been munching on "-there's a reason why vampires haven't flooded the earth yet, and it's not just because vampires are fussy about who they turn."
The handmaiden had return with a long scimitar that would have made a weaker woman buckle under its weight. But for Emily Jane, princess of vampires, it was like lifting a pencil. At the sight of her blade, the crowd immediately shifted back, giving room for the two of royals.
"Maybe she'll kill him," Bunny murmured quietly, more to himself than to Jack. "The gods know how I wish I could."
"We don't have to do this, daughter," came Pitch's warning. He had no weapon on himself save his walking cane, and he did not call for one either.
"It's only a matter of time before we have to, father," was her answer. Perhaps it was Jack's imagination, but there was a growing grin on her lips. "I've been waiting for this for years."
The first strike was sudden, and came in the form of the princess leaping in the air and throwing her scimitar forward. Pitch immediately raised his cane to parry, not at all surprised by her attack. Emily Jane continued fiercely on offensive, both hands gripping tightly on sword as she lifted her blade once again, hacking it down on her father over and over. The man continued his method of defense, allowing her to push him back and back down the path that the masses had cleared for them. Not a sound was heard save the sound of clashing weapons and the curses that the princess rained down on her father. Pitch's expression was blank and his manner calm. His posture was straight and he merely blocked off the attacks by twisting his wrist, all with his free hand wrapped behind him. He looked almost bored.
When Emily Jane pushed him up the stairs of the speaking platform, his tactics abruptly altered. After blocking off one of her strikes as he did before, he pressed something along his cane and the blunted end suddenly gained two large curved blades, turning the cane into a scythe. He swept his weapon down at her. Caught by surprise, Emily Jane only managed to duck in time as the blade flew over her head. She leapt back as he swung the scythe at her once again, flustered at how she was to go against his much larger and heavier weapon. One of her handmaiden threw her another scimitar, and she caught it just in time to her father brought his scythe down on her. Two of her blade slammed against the shaft of his, and she raised a foot to kick in him back, sending him flying straight across the square, smashing into a building. People fluttered and chattered amongst themselves as Pitch emerged from the stone wreckage, brushing the dust off his robes, eyes narrowed. If there was any doubt about his seriousness in battling his own daughter, it was gone now.
Pushing himself forward at a speed that was impossible for a human, his scythe whipped down upon to the woman, only to be thrown back as Emily Jane went for a strike off her own, blade towards his chest. She missed however, and only slashed the side of his arm. Jack gasped as he saw blood leak down the side of the gaunt vampire's arm. He glanced at Bunny in askance.
Bunny only smiled grimly. "We're immortal, but we're not invincible to everything."
This earned a growl of fury from Pitch as he slammed the blunt top of his scythe against, jolting her down so hard that the stone ground below cracked. Emily Jane scrambled back to her feet, a scimitar lifted for a swing, but Pitch slapped it out of her grip before his scythe, sending the blade flying across the crowd. The vampires quickly covered their heads with their hands, crouching in fear as the sword found itself stabbed in the side of wooden cart. The second scimitar was clamped to the ground by the Vampire King's boot, before being kicked out of reach. The princess was on her knees, panting as her father held his scythe over her head with his uninjured hand.
"I have defeated you," he stated, eyes boring down on her. "Do you confer your authority to me?"
The princess only stared up at him in silent defiance.
"Well, that's a fine pot of mess we're in," Bunny murmured. From what Jack could see, he seemed quite chagrinned by the results of the duel. "Manny would love to hear about this."
"Who's Manny?" Jack asked.
Bunny did not answer, for he was then distracted by the vampire king urged the princess, "Well? Do you?"
Emily Jane parted her lips to speak, but no one would ever know what she said. For out of a sudden, a long wooden projectile lodge itself in her breast.
Cries of shock echoed through the square. The vampire king wasted no time on such expressions however, dropping his scythe to catch the princess before her body hit the ground. But the action was useless, for her body had already gone limp and her eyes had glazed over. Below her, a pool of blood had begun to form
"The princess is dead!" a panicked cry rang out in the square.
As people began to scream and moan, Jack watched the vampire king stare down at his daughter, aghast, before jerking his head up. A soft, whizzing sound was heard and suddenly, the blur of an arrow came down towards Pitch. Before the white-haired boy could scream a warning, Pitch had already caught it mid-air, only to drop it and clutch his hand in agony. Even from his position, Jack could see the burn mark on the pale palm.
And then the city shook, rattling by an explosion going off at one of the buildings. The shrieks intensified, as someone in the crowd declared, "The city is under att-"
That person had to break off, for the next moment his head sprouted feathers. Those around him gasped as he yelped in pain, only for him be silence as the another projectile pierced his chest. He crumbled to the ground, shriveled and lifeless, the way all of the undead beings were meant to be.
And the city square exploded into smokey flames.
While the crowds were distracted the crumbling structures around them, arrows rained down from above. Vampires all around suddenly began to collapse, and the masses began to panic. Most vampires tried to escape down the narrow alleys, but the sheer numbers had started a jam, making it only too easily for their silent assailants to take them down.
These assailants were the archers, positioned on the balconies of the shop building with bows in their hands. These archers were all dressed in hoods, with masks that covered most of their faces and they released projectiles at almost inhuman speeds. This was truly remarkable, for they were in fact, all humans.
Well, they had heartbeats.
Some of these archers had actually leapt down from the balconies and whipped out long blades, stabbing and slashing any of the vampires that came near them, ending each attack by plunging wooden spears into their foes' chest. Jack himself was almost impaled by one of these special spears. If Bunny hadn't slammed his hooded assailant against the wall in time, he would have certainly been.
Grabbing the boy's wrist, the older vampire instructed him, "Move!"
Jack didn't protest.
As Bunny pulled him through the battle, shoving away potential attackers and kicking their way through the stalls and wagons, Jack noticed one of the assailants standing on the balcony who was not hooded. He was speaking rapidly to his colleagues, before his gaze turned abruptly to Jack. It was then that the white-haired lad recognize him as the slave that he had seen picking himself out of his cuffs. He must have been with these attackers all along.
"Who are these people?" he called to Bunny. "Why are they doing this?"
"Vampire hunters," was Bunny's answer. At the boy's incredulous expression, he let out a dry chuckle. "If you knew about vampires back when you were human, why wouldn't you kill them?"
Just before they left the square, Jack cast one last look behind him. None of the hunters were following them – good.
His eyes then darted over to vampire king. Pitch's scythe was now marked with the blood of the hunters that had attempted to challenge him, and around him was littered the bodies as evidence. Though surrounded by so much blood, the ancient vampire didn't waste time on feeding. Instead, he kneeled on the ground, holding his unmoving daughter, forehead pressed against hers.
~~~0~~~
"You invited her for dinner."
"Um, yes?"
Bunny shoved his seat back as he stood to his feet, facing turning into the colour of beetroot. "I'm going to kill you."
"Sit down, Bunny." Tooth placed a firm hand on his shoulder and forced him back into his seat. She turned sharply to Jack, eyes ablaze. "What were you thinking?"
He shifted uneasily in his seat. "Um, I … wasn't?"
"Of course he wasn't thinking!" Bunny fumed, slamming his hands on the table, sending a crack through it. Tooth slapped a palm to her forehead but he didn't notice. "Look at that white-hair! You know why it's white? But the only thing he's has between his ear is fluff! White, squishy fluff!"
"Hey." Jack pouted. "That's not nice."
"He has flippin' cottonballs for brains! Cottonballs! He's like a stuffed toy!"
"Actually, I think North's more like a soft toy," Sandy signed with a wry expression.
"Because I'm more cuddly?" North asked, amused.
"Well." The small, fair-haired vampire shrugged. "I was just going to say it's because you have a large waist span, but sure. Whatever works."
"We're getting off topic," Tooth snapped, wrapping knuckles sharply on the table. Spinning to the teenager and glaring hard enough to make him squirm, she demanded, "You will apologise to the girl, and withdraw the invitation."
"Come now, Tooth. Don't be a spoilsport," North interjected before Jack could protest. "She's a pleasant devushka. There's no harm."
"Are you mad?" Poor Bunnymund looked like he was on the verge of breaking down, with his hair frazzled and his form haggard. "We don't invite mortal into our home! What if she pokes into the fridge? Or asks why we have curtains? Or where the heck all our money comes from?"
"Where does all the money come from, actually?" Jack whispered to Sandy, who was mostly amusing himself with folding handkerchiefs. Before this meeting had begun, the mute man had brought a pile of them, just dried off the washing line. He had predicted too well that this discussion was going to take forever, and felt that he had better bring something productive to do at the same time.
"Investments. Accidental Inheritance," Sandy answered him, cracking his fingers together as he thought deeper. "Also occasional treasure hunting and selling antiques on the black market."
"We can do this in a sensible manner, can we not?" the Russian-born vampire suggested. "We can dine upstairs on the terrace. It would be nice and cool, yes? And far away from the kitchen."
"North." Tooth's tone was icy. "You're not actually encouraging this, are you?"
"Someone kill me," came Bunny's moan behind his hands. "Please. I can't take it."
"It would be at night, so no harms of the sun. And she would see that we, the Guardians-" gesturing the rest of them "-are the very souls of hospitality, and she would tell others, and that would improve our image amongst others, yes?"
"WE ARE NOT TRYING TO BE LIKED!" The woman shrieked, standing to her feet and pointing at Jack, who had a sinking feeling that this was not going to end well. "STOP COVERING FOR HIM!"
"No." North, for all his genial appearances, had a very short-temper. He was starting to get testy. "But we are supposed to keep hold of our humanity, and that includes following human customs!"
"Not at the risk of being discovered!"
"It will be always a risk, regardless of when! We must try!" the large man argued. "If we keep making excuses to avoid humanity, we also risk hardening our hearts to them. That is a road that Manny has often warned us about."
"But why must it be for this particular case?" In her aggression, her fangs had started protruded beyond her lip – not that that stopped her rant. "You know why Jack asked her. It's not out of innocent hospitality. He's playing with fire, and we can't let him-"
"HE'S A GROWN MAN, TOOTH!"
The furious boom resonated through the room, echoing off the wall and bouncing everywhere. All of them fell silently, and all the vampire stilled their breaths – not that they really needed that air to function, really – as the large man stared down the petite girl. Even Sandy had ceased his folding of handkerchiefs just to watch the scene.
Forcing himself to take a deep inhale, North started in a softer tone, "Jack might still look like a boy, Tooth. But he isn't one. He's capable of making his own decisions, even when it's, admittedly-" he cast an almost reproachful glance towards the boy, who looked like he wanted to floor to open up under him "-unwise. But he needs to make his own mistakes."
"But he's made so many others already," Tooth murmured, not scornful but more, well, fearful. Jack realised that he wasn't supposed to have heard that. "You know how those other times had hurt him."
"And like from those times, he will learn. And he will grow." North reached towards the boy and clapped him firmly on the shoulder, making Jack look straight him. The older vampire's expression was kind, but grave at the same time. "And he will become all the better from it."
The woman blew away the green strands from her fringe, contours of her countenance twisted into a dark scowl. Purple eyes flitted briefly to Jack, before she stomped out of the kitchen without another word. Her departure was observed with tensed silence, with the teenaged vampire awkward rubbing his neck to occupy himself.
North sighed, lifting his hand from Jack before rising from his seat, heading out through the door. Whether he intended to go after Tooth or not, that was not clear.
The three remaining in the kitchen did not say anything, and Bunny decided eventually to take his leave, grumbling under his breath as he did. As Jack made a move to do the same, he felt a tug on his sleeve, making his pause. Sandy was looking him meaningfully.
The boy inquired, "What?"
"Your girl's coming tonight, right?"
He felt his cheeks flush crimson. "Um, she's not my-"
Sandy rolled his eyes, indicating how little he cared about Jack's pitiful denial. "I doubt Bunny and Tooth's gonna help, and if North's looking after them, that leaves just me and you."
"To do what?"
The golden man shot him a deadpan. "Cook dinner. You do remember what you invited her for, right?"
~~~0~~~
They had been on foot for nearly a week, only taking cover in daylight. But at night, it was endless travelling. He supposed that he could have left his companion – there was nothing holding them together after all, but he had to admit two things. First, he had no idea where they were, and by extension had no idea where he could run off. Second, the events that he had witnessed at Necropolis at had disturbed more than he realised.
They stopped at regular intervals, not to rest – their unnatural stamina was very helpful – but so that the other vampire could forage berries, or seeds, or leaves for himself to chew on. As one of those pacifists, like North and Tooth, Jack supposed that he should have expected his unexpected companion to have similar diet choices as the two of them. The only difference however was that while North and Tooth insisted on having proper meals, Bunnymund - or just Bunny, Jack had shortened in his mind – persisted on eating on the go. He was always munching on something, chewing on something. Sometimes he didn't even swallow his food, spitting it out onto nearby a tree or whatever unfortunate bush that happened to be in the way. It was very strange habit, and also very crude.
"Why do you keep doing that?" he finally asked the strange vampire while they trudged their way up a slope under the moonlight sky.
"Doing what?" Bunny spat out a mouthful of leaves.
"Eating stuff, then spitting it out."
"Oh. That." The tattooed man was carrying a sprig in his hand, so he tore off the leaves from its stem and crunched them into a ball. "I'm working on a hypothesis."
"A what?"
"A hypothesis." Noting Jack's blank expression, he elaborated, "It's like an idea that I'm testing out."
The boy wasn't sure what to make of it. "What are you testing?"
"Seeing if keeping my jaws working could stave off hunger," he answered, promptly stuffing the crunched leaves into his mouth and repeating his chewing once again.
Jack had never heard of such a thing. Then again, he had never met someone as a strange as Bunny. "Does it work?"
"Nope," he answered even as his jaws worked on mashing the leaves between them. "We'll need to go hunting tomorrow."
Of course, Bunny's idea of hunting was hunting animals, not humans. Jack was disappointed, but he also chided himself for expecting the vampire to do otherwise. He was after all from a group of pacifists.
Pacifistic vampires. The notion was unbelievable to the point of ridiculous.
They spent the next night feeding on the blood of an elephant. It was not easy to hunt their prey, for it was massive in size and strength. But as mighty as the grey beasts were, they were no match for the strength of the undead. That said, it had taken them a good part of an hour to succumb the beast.
Jack would have gone straight for the blood, but Bunny stopped him. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do this proper," he told him.
"Proper?" His expression was quizzical.
"Like a good, wholesome, sit-down, cooked meal."
Jack was bewildered. "Well, that's only after we've fed, right?" The scent of blood was very sweet, even if it was just that of an animal, and his appetite was calling him to throw the other vampire aside and take his fill. "I mean, don't we just drink the blood first then eat other-"
"Don't be ridiculous." Bunny sniffed at him. "That's an incredibly stupid method of feeding. It'd take lots of blood to get you full."
"Well, that's how Tooth and North fed," Jack pointed out curtly. He might not have appreciated how the two had hidden truths from him, but they nonetheless had earned a special place in his life. As poorly as he felt about their feeding habits, he was still obliged to defend them.
"Well, that's because they don't know what I'm going to teach you. Come." He waved his hand to Jack. "We don't have all night."
They concocted some kind of blood broth with chunks of elephant meat in it. Bunny hollowed out the elephant tusks and fashioned them into containers for their soup. Jack's unsure of what to think of all this, for the primitive, outdoor style of eating was plain out paradoxical to the attempt for civility in dining.
"Go on, kid," Bunny nodded towards his crudely made bowl that he handed to him. "Try it out."
He gazed dubiously down at the meal. The usual nausea that arose each time he came in contact with human food threatened to assault him, but it occurred that the smell drifting from the hollowed ivory tusk-bowl was one foreign to him. In his days as a living being, he had never even seen an elephant, even less eaten the meat from one. Somehow, there made him fee better.
He swallowed some of the broth and found the thick taste of blood pleasing to his senses, though the herbs and vegetables did throw him off for a moment. But it wasn't unpleasant, especially when it came to chewing the tough meat. His jaws enjoyed the work out and he found him gulping down the whole thing to fill his empty belly.
When he asked for seconds, the other vampire smirked triumphantly.
On the following night, while they journeyed, he finally got around asking where they were going. He got a name that he couldn't pronounce.
"What?"
The older vampire just gave him a withering look that spelt 'You are stupid, aren't you', before saying, slowly as if to a child, "A rendezvous point. To meet the others."
"What others?"
Other pacifists, apparently.
When they arrived to that place – which was really just a fire-pit in a stony enclave – however, there were only three figures there. Jack immediately identified to the large figure to be North and the slender one to be Tooth. There was a short fellow with golden hair that he had never met before, but if he didn't note his lack of heartbeat, Jack would have thought him some kind of imp. His appearance was far too friendly and kind for a vampire.
Tooth embraced him, of course, while North clapped him on the shoulder. He resisted the urge to smile at them, because he was supposed to still be kind of mad at them for inducting him into their little club without any permission. The golden-haired guy waved at him and shook his hand, but didn't give any kind of introduction.
They had seated themselves around the glowing fire when he asked, "So, where're the other pacifists?"
No answered at first, and he thought they hadn't heard his question. He was prepared to ask again when he noted the weary expression on his companions' faces.
The silence was finally broken with North, whose voice full of grief. "Many didn't make it."
"Not that there were many of us to start with," Bunny added darkly. This news came to him with no surprise, but there's still disappointment in his gaze, as if he had been hoping against it nonetheless. "If Pitch survived, he'll be having a field day. Everyone will be clambering to him, especially with Emily Jane gone."
"Da." North agreed. "She was the middle-ground. Now, there is no such thing. Vampires will be forced to take a side."
The small, sandy-haired vampire made a strange combination of gestures that had Jack puzzling over it.
"The hunters were very organized." Tooth was very somber, sounding almost like she was reminiscing the event. "Very prepared. How on Earth did they find the city?"
It was then that Jack realised that others around him understood the gestures from the sandy-haired man, as he created a new set that led Bunny to grunt out, "Well, I suppose the city had it coming, what with the mistreatment and humiliation."
"Not that it did them any good. I saw the hunters kill the goblins too. They were very intentional about eliminating everyone in the city."
The silent vampire made a series of gestures, to which his companions around him nodded as if in agreement.
"Sorry," the boy interrupted, very much lost. "What?"
"Sandy said that he saw that the hunters had matching tattoos. They carried silver weapons and stakes made of mountain-ash."
Sandy. He blinked at the small vampire, who smiled kindly in turn.
"Mountain-ash trees are not native to his region," Bunny pointed out grimly. "They must have quite a bit of resources to have the wood in such abundance."
"Yes," North conceded, stroking his beard. "It seems that this is not the work of superstitious villagers, but trained assassins."
The notion struck Jack as absurd. "Why would people want to do something like that?"
"Why wouldn't they?" That was the quiet answer from Tooth. There was such loathing on her fire-lit face.
There was a pause as the group pondered, before North finally declared, "We'll have to meet with Manny."
"Who?" That was Jack, of course. He had heard Bunny murmur that name somedays earlier, back in the city of Necropolis before it had erupted into flames.
"A friend of ours," was Tooth's answer. She gave him an assuring smile. "You'll like him."
Jack wasn't so sure about that.
~~~0~~~
As they left the soup to boil and the meat pies to bake, Sandy drew him to the kitchen table, sitting him down before sitting himself across him. The boy felt a little puzzled about what this was all about, but nonetheless complied to the manhandling by the small vampire.
He didn't know very much about Sandy's history, only that he was old – much older North, and much closer to Manny than any of the Guardians have ever been. In all the time that he had known the man, Jack had never seen him succumb to the ravenous behaviour that their undead bodies were programmed with, not even after long stretches of not-feeding.
Bunny had sneered Jack's praise, saying that Sandy just hid it better than the rest of them. Jack had thought the other vampire to be scornful of his fellow Guardian at first, but realised that Bunny was not being spiteful, but merely making an observation. As a vampire, Sandy's gentle control could not be natural and temptations were as real to the strong as to the weak. Age and experience had however given Sandy much time to master himself, which was why he was able to project a seemingly meek and cheery exterior in spite all that the anguish he must have seen.
Jack didn't remember this often, but when he did, his heart swelled with respect for the quietest member of the Guardians. Sandy looked and acted like the odd-uncle, pursing eccentric hobbies, maintaining a wry sense of humour all while being very epitome of joyous strength. He was hardly the most human of them, but he was certainly the nicest.
All these accumulated perceptions of the oldest Guardians was hence why Jack paid very close to attention to Sandy, for when the mute man told him things, it was worth listening to.
"You have cause quite a stir amongst us," Sandy signed to him. It wasn't accusatory, but Jack felt that the man wanted him to acknowledge it.
So, the boy nodded.
"Had we been a weaker bunch, we might have divided ourselves over this. Vampires are-" pulling a face "-pretty emotional creatures."
Jack thought back to all the furniture, walls and ornaments that had been damaged over in this mansion and firmly agreed.
"We don't, of course, because we're the Guardians. For all our differences in opinion, our core beliefs are the same. That's why we stay together."
Privately, Jack figured that there were other reasons, but he reckoned that bringing those up wouldn't add to whatever Sandy was trying to say.
"Basically, while Tooth and North are divided about how presently to handle your situation with the girl – Elsa?" He paused, waiting for confirmation from Jack to check if he had gotten the name right. After the boy nodded, he continued, "However, both of them are in agreement of one thing."
The boy scrunched up his face, not able to guess what Sandy was referring to. It wasn't mentioned at all in the heated discussion earlier.
"Despite whatever you choose to do now, you will not be able to stay with the girl forever."
Jack sighed, hanging his head. "I know."
He felt the small man lift his chin up, making him face him. He realised that Sandy had more to say. "Tooth thinks you should cut ties with her now, to save yourself the pain and to prevent you from doing something you will regret."
The boy made a frustrated whine. "Yes, she never fails to remind me."
"But North thinks that you should be allowed this-" his gestures fumbled slightly as he tried to find the right expression "-dalliance? Fling?"
"Can we just call it 'relationship'?"
"If you insist." Sandy didn't think much of his chosen word. "North thinks you should be allowed this relationship, simply because he thinks you should have your heart broken."
He gawked at the small man in disbelief.
"Now, don't get me wrong," Sandy elucidated. "He doesn't like it, but he figures that it's better than you've loved and lost then never loved at all, based on his own experiences with his wife. Whereas Tooth thinks, based on her own experiences again, it's better that you never even touch it at all."
"Really." Jack harrumphed. "Do any of you ever let me make my own decisions?"
"Well, do you ever stop grumbling and just figured that the Guardians just want the best for you because they care about you?" was the other vampire's pointed rebuke.
Jack pressed his lips together, before finally humming, "Hmm."
"I stand with North on this matter, Jack. I think you can handle it. But-" his hands grew hesitant "-don't go into this …relationship thinking that it's going to last forever. Because it's isn't."
The white-haired lad didn't answer at once, sinking somberly back into his chair. The lid over the pot had started to dance, so Sandy left his seat to tend to it. Jack went to help him – not that he needed any of it.
He bit his lip, then said, "She told that she was only interested in a relationship if it's for keeps. Doesn't do flings, she said."
The older vampire didn't say anything, by speech or by gestures, but a grave look from was enough to convey, "Boy, you're in a pickle."
~~~0~~~
The address that Hans had given her led her to a rundown workshop more on the east side of town. It was quite a distance from school, which meant that she had to take quite a number of buses, before another half-hour walk to the destination in mind. She had told Anna that she had gone to meet one of the clinical staff for the blood drive. The truth couldn't be further.
Elsa stepped into the mechanic shop. It wasn't the best maintained place, with grease and water flowing under her shoes and pain peeling from the walls. The air was warm with exhaust, and smelled like it too. Wrinkling her nose, she tiptoed herself passed the parked vehicles, looking for any signs of life.
"Can I help you?"
The voice came from under her, and she shrieked when she saw the helmeted head sticking out from under one of the cars. It was connected to a body lying on a flat board, in which the board had wheels attached below it. Most of that body was currently hidden under the base of the vehicle. The owner of both body and head withdrew the opaque visor of his helmet, allowing her to the see the young face behind it.
Trying to regain her composure, Elsa pulled on her gloves and asked, "Are you Hiro Hamada?"
"Depends on who's asking," came the sly response, with the side of his lip twisting upwards slightly.
She paused a second to consider her response. "Hans told me to come here. Hans Westergaard."
"Oh, that guy." The mechanic clapped his visor back on. "Gimme a moment, won't you?"
He disappeared under the vehicle, and for few moments Elsa heard a loud sizzling noise, with sparkles reflecting off the water. She ducked down, trying to see what he was doing, only for him to suddenly slide out from his spot, making her jump back. He sat himself up on the rolling board that he had been lying on earlier, removing the helmet to reveal a shock of black hair. He leaped to his feet and Elsa was surprised to note that he was a whole head shorter than her. In fact, he looked at younger than Anna.
"This way," he beckoned at her with one of his fingerless-glove-covered hands.
He led her down the cluttered garage to a narrow corridor where all the office rooms were. Most of the these offices however were clearly not in use, being stacked to the rafters with boxes and other odd looking equipment. As they went down the dimly-lit route, it became increasingly clear to her that they were the only ones in the building.
"You are Hiro Hamada, right?" she questioned her host.
He only shot a quizzical smirk at her, before turning himself forward again.
"Because you're a little young to be working, aren't you?" Elsa pressed, frowning more pointedly now. "You can't be the person Hans is talking about."
The boy – he couldn't be more than fourteen, could he? – barked a sharp laugh as he led them to another cluttered garage, only this one had its doors sealed up and its windows plastered with wooden panels. Illumination of their surroundings come from the uncovered skylight cut into the roof. There were no signs of vehicles here, only curious machines laced with decades of rust, long benches covered with suspended vials, wires and dusty devices that ranged from old to weird. This, she realised, was his private workshop.
"Take a seat." Hiro – if she wasn't mistaken – gestured towards a chair that had a yellowed skeleton draped on it. Seeing her flabbergasted expression, he shoved the skeleton onto the ground, allow it to crumple into an undignified seat. "There. Sit."
Elsa did lower herself onto the chair, because clearly he wasn't going to move until he did, but she couldn't help but stare at the pile bones that lay at her feet.
"You know, I kind of expected you to be a guy," she heard the boy say as he crossed the workshop, going to one of the unremarkable store cupboards located there and pulling it open. "I mean, it's called the Van Helsing Brotherhood, right? If there are girls in it, then isn't that kind of sexist? I mean, I don't pretend I know all this-" he waved his hands vaguely "-mystic whatnot stuff works. So, if you girls are fine with it, then what can-"
"I'm not part of this Brotherhood," she interrupted sharply, clearing her throat, "or whatever … society Hans belongs to." It's clear from his little speech that he was not part of organization either. Then what was he?
He paused his rummaging to glance at her. "Oh. That's kind of odd." He pressed his lips together as his hands remove what appeared to be a kettle from the old cupboard. "Can I offer you instant ramen?"
She didn't know quite how to respond to strange offer.
"I'll take that as a no." He kicked the cupboard the door shut before skipping to a nearby sink, where he began to fill his kettle.
Elsa was starting to feel pretty impatient. If she was gone too long, her sister would start to get suspicious. "Look, Hans told me to find Hiro Hamada because Hiro Hamada would give me something that can help."
"Help?" He fitted the kettle in a wall socket, which Elsa realised was quite dangerously close to the sink. He didn't seem to notice as he flicked the switch on. "What kind of help?"
"You know." She sighed. She didn't actually want to say it out loud. It made her feel stupid. "Against vampires."
"Ah. Vampires. Defiers of nature. Cheaters of death." Unless she was mistaken, there was a note of admiration in his voice. Well, it was better than laughing at her, she supposed. "And according to Westergaard, 'the scourge of the earth'."
"There's a group of them in town." She's not sure whether she should trust this strange boy from this strange shop, but she didn't have a choice. This is was unknown territory and she was going against forces of unknown power, of which their victory over her was highly probable. She needed an edge over them if she was going to stand a chance. "I think they may have hurt my sister. I want to make sure that they don't do that again." She bit her lip. "Or to anyone else."
"You have a sister?" Hiro murmured, his voice suddenly quiet. He wasn't clunking around in the shop, or smirking at her. The first time since she had met him, he was actually looking at her intently.
"Yes."
"Just two of you?"
"Pretty much." She thought for a moment. "Well, there's Kai, but he's … he just looks after us."
"Huh." He seemed thoughtful as he picked up a pair of tweezer from a messy worktable. "I had a brother too. Just one." There was a creepy sort of hollowness in his voice. "He died."
"I'm sorry." She didn't know what else to say, so she said the thing that people told her when her parents died.
"My parents've been dead for a while. I've got an aunt, but,-" his expression was self-mocking "-we don't talk much."
"Oh." Her sensibility told her to end the conversation there, but curiosity pressed her. "Was your brother, well, killed by-"
"Vampires?" Hiro finished for her. He snickered at that, and suddenly he was back to cocky, self-assured mechanic. "No – haha! – no. He wasn't. Actually, he just died in a fire. That's it. Pretty average, run-in-the-mill kind of death." While his tone was very matter of fact, there was a haunting darkness in his expression, one that the skylight above his workshop couldn't chase away. He rolled his shoulders back, flashing a grin that was far too wide. "Nope." He shook his head. "My only issues with vampires is that they get to live for hundreds and hundreds of years from drinking people's blood while caring, compassionate people like my brother die after nineteen years of his life. NINETEEN!" A crazed expression twisted itself on his face, rapid and almost diseased. Elsa slunk back, eyes wide and quite ready to make a run for it.
But the boy calmed himself down, taking deep breaths as he did. Noting her alarmed countenance, he smiled reassuringly. "I'll get you the equipment now. Just wait here a moment."
Without a word more, he turned on his heel and returned to the storage cupboard, pulling open random drawers and such. That left to her own devices and, as it happened, amidst his devices.
She examined the peculiar contraptions around her, from the blinking clocks to the model bridge to the bronze-coloured amalgamation of a turbine, a catapult and a shoe. Not desiring to keep the collapsed company, Elsa rose from her seat and decided to survey the rest of the room. Piled on each table were numerous other contraptions, some with schematics and sketches accompanying them, and others tangled with wires, tape and plastic.
She noticed that there was one lone table that sat right under the skylight, and it held a curiously-shaped bulge that was obscured by the large white sheet draped over it. When she reached for a corner of the fabric, she heard Hiro call out, "Aha! Here it is!"
The contraption hidden under the white sheet forgotten, Elsa swung about to face the boy. In his triumphant grasp, he displayed a small grey box. He jerked chin towards it. "Let me show you."
She drew up next to him as he removed the lid from the box. There sitting between the styrofoam were two elegant daggers, with slender hilts and blades. Elsa blinked. Of everything she expected to see, this was not it. She reached for them, then paused, glancing at Hiro.
He nodded. "Go ahead."
She lifted the two blades up. They were so thin, so flat. She could slip them under her sleeves and no one know. It was clear that they had been made for the purpose of stealth, rather than display. When she examined them closely, however, she realised that the two daggers were not identical.
"They're made of different materials," she told him, bemused.
"Yes. This one's made-" he pointed at the metallic-looking one "-is made from a silver alloy. As per Hans' specification, the surface is made of an alloy of the highest of silver content, and reinforced with a hard-carbon base behind it. Now that-" he pointed to the one that looked brown "-that's made of mountain ash bark-"
"Bark?" she repeated, puzzled. "This dagger is made of wood?"
"Yes. It's core is reinforced with granite, for weight and strength, but the exterior is all wood. It'd probably last-" Hiro rubbed his chin "-two uses. Maybe three at most."
She stared at him.
He only stared back at her, as if he had guessed her questions. "Don't you know how to kill a vampire?"
Elsa shook her head.
"Well, if I'm not wrong, silver will hurt it – and I mean, like a lot - but the wood of a mountain ash tree-" he tapped the wooden blade "-this is the one that kills. It has to be straight strike to the heart of the beast, of course."
"Of course," she repeated uncertainly, gazing down at the two knives. Part of her was tempted put the weapons back, to turn around and dash home. Pretend that she had never met Hans in the museum nor listened to his ridiculous stories.
But she thought of the shadows that had overturned the family car years ago, and the dark shadow that had feasted on her mother's blood. And she thought of Anna – her poor, innocent Anna – lying a pool of blood, dazed and weak.
Her hands tightened around the two blades.
~~~0~~~
Greetings!
As you can tell, there are no recipes in this chapter. To be honest, I'm kind of running out of them. I see the problem that Tasty is running into it. Maybe you guys can mention any of your own favorite dishes, and see there's a way to haemovore-fy it. (Basically, just add blood).
Introducing Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6. This story is still meant to be focused on ROTG and Frozen, but I couldn't resist bringing in another Disney character. Hiro's more in the vein of Rapunzel and Eugene in this story, with his own backstory and tragedy. But of course, his presence with limited to his involvement in the plot. I'll try not to bring in anymore random characters anymore.
Guest Inbox:
Alene Mask: Well, things got really weird in the vampire city after that…heh. As for what Elsa might say to Jack…I think the problem with these two is that they don't talk enough. Oh, a Star Wars AU? As cool as that would be, I think I love Star Wars itself too to be able to write another fandom into an AU of it. Face it – nothing can quite beat Darth Vader as a character.
TQ: Hehe, you might be on to something. Glad that you enjoy it.
Toolazytologin: Sorry about the crazy timeline. I haven't thought a good way to time mark anymore, now that Jack doesn't write letters to Emma anymore. Ickkk.
Okay. Bye. Review if you like it. *Throws sparkles all around.
