Well, I wanted this to be a fic of how Benny came to learn about the portal that allows humans to escape Purgatory but it didn't really work out that way ;w; but then I also thought about what if Benny gets back as in canon and sees Vlad walking around New Orleans and thinks he looks familiar or something y'know.

Alyss Penedo: The woman was just a made up person, she wasn't a character of any of the shows.

Linzerj: Basically, yeah =w=


0.

The creature strikes quickly, and suddenly, prey turning apex predator.

It decimates the entire ring of monsters, running through them all in a shower of gore and pointed hands, bared fangs and flashes of a vibrant pink. Wild black hair flies as it moves, sliding between hatchets and axes, digging roves into dead flesh and severing necks with pink fingers. The smell of burnt flesh fills the air as the numbers dwindle, severed limbs and displaced heads strewn around the clearing.

When the last falls, a look of fury etched onto the vampire's face as its head separates from its neck, it barely seems winded. Blue skin glistens with a thin sheen of sweat, and red eyes drift around, lidded and lax as its fingers loosen and fold.

Garnet red spots Benny, finding him past unruly undergrowth and twisted tree limbs.

The vampire freezes, hands tight around his own weapon because, well shit he's dead. The eyes linger on him, thoughtful, then slide down. Thin lips curl up in clear distaste, eyeing its bloodied arms and hands, sharpening angular cheekbones.

"You can come out, I won't kill you," It drawls, tilting its head as it glances about the torn bodies. Pink fire bursts into being up from its fingers to it shoulders on each arm, the blood disappearing into thin wisps of smoke. Raising its arms and twisting them around, it inspects bright blue skin as it slowly darkens before darting its eyes back to Benny. Like hell he's gonna 'come out.'

Its lips twitch in some aborted manner, the thoughtful gleam coming back to its eyes before it begins to turn away. Benny raises his weapon as it moves, a hand going to a pocket and pulling out a thick string as it lazily picks its way through the carnage littering the forest floor. The vampire feels almost led on at the action, so strung on adrenaline.

It disappears into the shadows of the trees and from sight; hands running through its loose hair and drawing it up into a ponytail is the last Benny catches of it before he's alone.

Bastard, he thinks.

.

They meet again along a river.

The monster is sitting on the edge of the bank, knees drawn to its chest and arms pillowed a top to rest its head. It looks smaller like that. Its crimson eyes are dim and far away, and only sharpen in awareness when Benny settles down himself on the opposite bank. The red catches his brown, narrowed to slits of light. Its eyes have no pupils or sclera, and Benny bares his pinprick teeth in a challenge.

It snorts at the display, curling its lip to flash its sharp canines. "We meet again," it says, face lit with vague amusement.

"So it seems," Benny returns, the almost stagnant air bringing the raft of dead across the water. It's a nasty mess of sterile metal, and old stone, but also something wet and warm underneath it. He'd almost say alive, human, if he knew the creature across from he could not be either.

The soft hum travels easily in the quiet. "Suppose you wouldn't care for the Green Bay Packers would you?"

A strange question, sure. But, Benny can only shake his head. "At most I could get behind the New Orleans Zephyrs," he admits. Worshipping a Maker doesn't leave much time for leisure.

"Pity," it murmurs, uncurling and standing, before quietly echoing Benny. "New Orleans Zeyphyrs? Maybe I'll look into it once I'm topside."

Benny doesn't think he is meant to hear the last bit, but he does and doesn't comment. The vampire doesn't so much as move as the other leaves, climbing slowly back up the river's sloping back and vanishing into the thick tree line without a single glance back.

He doesn't see the monster again.