Stubborn. That was a word she often heard from others. It didn't matter in what form she heard it. Stubborn, tenacious, persistent. Even obsessive. She always would push against the odds. It was just in her nature to do so. It was a flame that burned deep inside her. Rebellious, that's what some people would call it. Yet she never thought about it that way. It was her right to live her life as she wanted, it shouldn't be strange that she would fight for her right to have things her way. To live her life the way she wanted.

Sadly, that was never the case. With each and every year, it was clear that she was on a leash. With shackles on her hands and those above her as the puppeteers. With each passing year, the same flame would shrink. She knew that she tried to maintain whatever little of that fire remained inside of her with the rest of her will. Deep down she knew that once that flame is completely out, her father would win.

Weiss let out a deep sigh as she turned to the other side. The bed was comfortable, yet having nothing to do but lay around didn't really help. Her thoughts would circle what was, what is, and about the endless possibilities of what would or could be.

She was stubborn, she knew that. Yet she didn't see it as something negative. Far from it, being stubborn could be good, it all depended on how you went about your life with that type of attitude. The best example was now. She knew that this weird girl wasn't completely out of her mind. Perhaps at first she simply thought that she was successfully fooled by her innocent act, but then came the evidence of what she had to say. Besides, deep down she felt different. It felt scary.

Why be stubborn then? Because that was all she had left. It was the last door before being thrown into... Into what exactly? She wasn't sure. She tried to defy her father all her life, to maintain whatever life she could as her own, and in the end? In the end, it was all taken away from her. Completly. In the least expected way.

She turned to lay on her back, raising a hand and observing it, as if expecting something magical to happen. "Vampire." She said out loud. Even now it seemed so odd to think about it. Her being... This. Her being a monster. Literally a monster. Of course, there could be the possibility of it all being fake. Of all of this just being a very elaborate charade. Sure, there was still that ounce of her that thought like that. Perhaps she was going crazy, maybe they added something to her food? Maybe. It was all possible, but she started to accept it.

Sitting up and moving her legs over the edge of the bed, she looked around the room. The best way to sum it up was a middle-class hotel. With everything you needed for a one-night stay but nothing more than that. Would this be her life from now on? This room? Would she be allowed outside if she accepted whatever it is they expected of her?

Another frustrating part to this was that Weiss discovered after having endless hours to do nothing but think to herself. While she wasn't sure what kind of life was ahead of her, she also wasn't really sure if there was anything to go back to. Not in a way that her entire family was apparently gone, nor her house or anything like that. No, it was much more simple. She wasn't sure what kind of life she had so far. Sure, she tried to help some hospitals raise money, but there wasn't much to it in terms of identity. With each school she met people, some despised her, others praised her. She never had friends, just groups of people who wanted some of the attention she received to trickle down. Sure, there were a few people who looked up to her, but that was rare. The older she got, the less genuine people she knew.

Crowning jewel on top of her father's crown. Title of one of the articles in some tabloid press that made her understood what she was. A tool, nothing more. Everything she did was because it would serve a further purpose of her being the face of the corporation. Even when her mother tried to help her convince him to allow her to practice fencing, it was explained in a way so that he would deem it useful.

Weiss chuckled dryly at the thought of her mother. The last thing she did for her, after which she disappeared from her life. Appearing physically on occasion, only to drown herself after learning what kind of life she would live. What kind of man she married. What kind of man deceived her with his pretend love. Weiss hated them, both of them equally. Each for different reasons, but in the end, she felt nothing but hate towards them.

It was odd, in a way. Sitting here and not caring if you'd see your family ever again. Every cartoon and every movie always taught those basic values, how friendship and family mattered. How everyone always missed those people, how important they were for these fictional characters. Yet she felt nothing as if she was nothing more than a sociopath, baren of any human emotions. Perhaps that was the truth. Seeing her parents, it could be genetic.

Which made her wonder, did she even feel anything at all? Looking around the room again, she couldn't help but assess her own feelings. Was she scared? No, which made her entire stay here seem so empty. Barren. She tried to fill it up with different types of feelings and emotions, yet they would always burn away, leaving nothing but emptiness.

The worst part? Weiss wasn't sure anymore if she was just reminiscing her current situation... Or her entire life.

oooOOOooo

Even as the door was being opened, Weiss knew something was wrong... No, not wrong per se, just different. Raising up, she was surprised to see someone else bring a tray of food. It was still a girl, with black long hair, taller than this Ruby girl from before and most definitely less cheerful than the silver-eyed girl. While usually, she would ignore the girl, her curiosity was easily peaked without much to do around here. "You're the one who'll bring me food from now on?"

"No." The girl explained. "I'm just here because Ruby thinks she has some influence over me, which might be true." The girl said although it felt more as if she was talking to herself. With a sigh, she continued. "There's this cub-like innocence about her." She shook her head. "She was called for... Something important and asked me if I could deliver the food to you. While I know she can be tardy, I think she had enough time to swing by and fill out your feeder. No, she hoped for us to meet today."

Eyeing the dark-haired girl for a bit, Weiss had just one simple question. "Why?" Weiss asked, sitting at the edge of the bed, observing the other girl carefully.

"I'm not sure, maybe she just wanted for us to become friends? It's not really important. I was looking for a reason to approach you, so this served as a good enough solution." The tall girl smirked at that. "I'm Blake."

"I'm Weiss. But you know that already." Weiss introduced herself after a long moment of silence. It was a tad annoying, which clearly showed that dealing with this Blake girl would be different than handling Ruby.

"I'll be upfront with you. I don't like you. I wouldn't like you regardless if you were turned into a vampire, and being turned into one? Just gave me another reason to dislike you." Blake said as she rested her back against one of the furniture pieces inside the small room. "While Ruby insists I give you a chance, I can't." Blake bounced off of the drawer, standing straight and crossing her arms. "I might overlook traits that you had no input in acquiring. Like being a rich brat or a vampire." Before Weiss could retort to the bratty part, Blake managed to appear before her. This startled Weiss and threw her out of balance. "But ever since you arrived here, Ruby looks miserable. While it's not fully your fault, the bigger part still falls upon your shoulders."

Weiss noticed something but decided it wasn't as important to mention or rather ask about, instead she focused on... On what? The accusation? "Why should I care? I'm being held here against my will."

Blake's eyes moved to the side for a moment, before she turned away and moved, giving Weiss some space. "You're held here for your own safety. While it's a very problematic way of naming things, it's the truth. You'd be dead otherwise. Dead or enslaved." Once a few steps away, the black-haired girl turned to face Weiss once more. "Ruby has no say in this, all she's trying to do is help you." Once more, before Weiss could say anything, the strange girl did something to interrupt her. Oddly enough, the taller girl seemed to be able to move... Faster than Weiss thought was possible. Whatever that even meant, Weiss wasn't sure, but it was what she noticed. Slowly she began to accept that things weren't exactly right around here. "Here, she was supposed to show this to you when she showed you all those proofs about your little issue." Holding out towards her was a black tablet. It didn't seem big, but then again Weiss wasn't a tech-buff, she just knew it was way bigger than her phone.

"What's on it?" Weiss asked, taking the tablet. She noticed that Blake had the same bracelets... No, how did Ruby call them? Shackles? Well, whatever it was, Blake had them as well.

"Footage from the night you got detained." Blake explained calmly, no longer even looking in her general direction.

"Footage? How?" Weiss asked, shocked. She knew there were cameras outside of the mansion, was this it?

"It's related to our armed force, or if you prefer our army." Blake's golden eyes once more settled on Weiss. "I and Ruby and others like us are for special occasions. For more mundane tasks, like cleaning messes up, we use much more mundane forces."

Weiss wasn't sure what to think of this. Was this some sort of paramilitary group? Or was the army actually helping these people? Before she wouldn't even consider this, but... She wouldn't consider a lot of things before. Like being a vampire. Hell, just the existence of vampires would be impossible. Yet here she was, believing she was one of those monsters. "What is this supposed to prove?" She asked, glancing between the tablet and Blake.

"Just watch and see for yourself." Blake moved back and once more leaned against one of the furniture pieces in the room.

Weiss glanced at the device in her hands, trying to find the buttons to turn the thing on. She knew how these types of devices worked, of course, it was a matter of locating which side had the three buttons. Once the screen was turned on, there was no password or anything like that. She just had to slide her finger across the screen to unlock it. There were just two icons present. Settings and what she could only assume was the video in question, named with numbers that resembled some sort of date at a vague glance. Yet she wasn't sure at which date exactly did her whole life turn upside down like that, so she wasn't sure if it was just a coincidence. She felt the air being held in her lungs as she didn't breathe through the entire process. Taking a few deep breathes, she tapped the icon.

A Group of 4 men moved through the corridor, with the addition of the one to which the camera was attached, which made it five. They moved through the corridors of the mansion, stopping next to every dead body and sending two bullets to their chests and one to their head before moving on. They were meticulous with this task, making sure that there were no corpses hidden and that each and every one of them ended with at least three holes.

Everything looked just like in her dream. No, not just one dream, in every nightmare she ever had since coming to this place. Exact, picture-perfect visuals of what she saw whenever she ran past the halls of her old home. The same bodies, the same ruins, the same disaster.

Once the group got deeper, they soon met resistance. Some of the bodies weren't exactly dead. Instead, some of them wandered as if in confusion, while others were in the middle of devouring those that didn't move. Once the creatures became aware of the group, they rushed towards them in a blind rage. The ones on the ground stumbled over their own legs, not being able to properly stand up. Their eyes white and their mouths red with the raw flesh of dead humans.

The screen shook. It wasn't because the footage became shaky, no, Weiss' hands started to shake as she watched it. Of course, it wasn't a dream. Not the first one, that is. Every other nightmare was there to haunt her. To remind her of what occurred that night.

The small group wasn't even phased by the sight in front of them. Soon gunfire filled the air, although it wasn't as effective or exciting as one could expect if they grew up on action movies. Few shots, each towards the head of every one of the shambling horrors in front of the group. Once all of the walking bodies laid on the floor, the group began to make sure that none of the creatures would stand up once more, as they filled their chests with two bullets followed by a single to the head.

Soon a familiar sound filled the air. The group approached the source of the sound, a closed door. The group split into pairs, one of the pairs positioned itself to the sides of the door, while the other two in front of it. The counter with their fingers before the second pair kicked the doors in and the entire group rushed in. Soon the camera, as well as the guns, were aimed at...

...Her. Weiss' eyes grew wide as she saw herself. As if someone made a caricature of herself. In torn clothes, with blood around her mouth and crimson eyes. Somehow immobilized with her own clothes and tied to the bed in a familiar, improvised way.

It took less than a second between the image showed Weiss on the screen and Ruby suddenly appearing in front of the group. "Stop! Don't shoot!" She yelled. In one hand she held a weapon, red just like her cloak, which looked like a very awkward-looking gun. Very big gun, which the girl held under one of her arms, although it was clear she could still use it. Why just one hand? Because the other held the blood that would otherwise leak from the wound on her neck. "Huntress Ruby, codename Crescent Rose. I request code white. Vampire." She yelled, her voice soaked in desperation.

The group froze, but one of them glanced back at the one who had the camera attached to his... Helmet? It wasn't really clear. The same man would raise a hand towards his head and speak in a hushed voice. "We have a code white request from a hunter, Crescent Rose." There was a moment where something spoke on the other end, but it was clear to make it out. "Vampire." The man continued, only to nod, which made the whole screen bob with his head. "Roger." Then his attention was turned towards Ruby. "Code white accepted." He stated dryly and nodded to the rest of the group. The man would relax visibly, as the two of them pushed Ruby out of the way, the girl landing on the floor. The last moment of the video showed them surround Weiss, who tried to free herself and jump at any of the men. One of the soldiers took out a small pistol and aimed at her, shooting out a small dart-like object, after which the white-haired girl started to slowly lose vigor which each and every swipe of her hands, only to fall unconscious.

Before Weiss could react, she felt the collar of her shirt being grabbed, as she was violently raised onto her feet. "Do you know what code white is?" Filling her entire vision was a very angry face of Blake, so much different from the cool and composed image she brought with herself when she entered the small room. "Of course not. I'll tell you how things work here because you seem to have the wrong impression. There is no good or bad side. There is only law and chaos, and we're here to try and maintain that chaos and make sure that the law prevails. We're supposed to be efficient, not merciful." Weiss found herself hugging the tablet to her chest, as she couldn't muster even a word. It was rare for her to be afraid, to be scared. Even then, she learned to hide that, but right now? She was terrified. Not only was she still shaken from what she saw and what it implied, but the sudden change in this Blake girl's attitude worked to make her feel fear. "Code white is when a hunter sees a solution in which the civilian that got exposed to unnatural, is worth saving. There's a catch to this. The hunter takes full responsibility for that civilian." Blake said and pushed Weiss back onto the bed. "Taking full responsibility here means to accept equal punishment and we don't have jails here. If you're useless and an issue? You're going to die."

The white-haired girl landed on the bed with a yelp, more shocked at being suddenly thrown than anything. "Why tell me all of this. Why show all of this to me?" Weiss asked, still hugging the device to her chest.

"Because you blame Ruby for all of what happened to you. She was supposed to show this to you, but she decided against it. Want to know why? Because for some reason she cares about your well-being because she knew this would be too much, at least right now. Me? I don't care about you, but the way you act is hurting her, and I won't let you hurt my friend."

Throwing the tablet onto the side, which landed on top of the bed, Weiss sat up. "Then what do you want me to do!?" She screamed, feeling the tears already pour down her cheeks. "This is all I have, this anger and frustration! Without it, I'm just... Empty! If that's what you want, just put a bullet to my head!" Weiss finished, panting as the screaming took all the remaining energy she had to spare, hugging herself as she began to sob.

Blake didn't seem moved by this little show, she merely let out a small sigh. "I see. Fine, if you want to hate someone, hate your father. He's the reason you're like this."

"M-My father?" Weiss glanced up.

Blake moved one of her hands and rested it against her own forehead. "What a mess, Ruby will hate me for this but..." She shook her head and reached towards her pocket. After making a few steps, she placed a tiny object on top of the nightstand next to the bed. "All the evidence we managed to gather is on that memory card. You can put it inside that tablet and look through it. Scans and pictures of documents, e-mails, transcripts of phone calls, and other communication sources we managed to snatch."

"No... No, no no NO!" Weiss curled up and hid her head in her own arms. This wasn't possible, this couldn't be true. Was all of this really because of him? The finishing touch to ruin her life? Her family?

"I brought you your food so my job here is done." Blake said with a shrug. She took another moment to eye the other girl, before deciding to leave the girl be. Locking the door behind her, she let out a tired sigh, she could hear sobs from over the door, for once in her life she cursed her keen ears. She decided to quickly walk away, while she didn't like the girl, she knew that what she brought upon her today was a bit too much. She understood what Ruby meant when she didn't want to give her too much information, and that was just the video. She would definitely not tell her about her family backstabbing her like that. Blake shrugged and spread her arms to no one in particular, what's done is done. The question was, what kind of consequences would reach her faster. Stealing documents or upsetting Ruby.

Author's note:

Relatively short chapter, but it was, in a way, made out of things I shaved off of from different chapters, if that makes sense. It probably doesn't. Maybe it does? Who knows.

The "video" part gave me a headache, as I felt it is quite confusing when related to the other stuff, so I thought I'd separate it with italics. Hope that helped.

Like always, tell me what you thought and I'll see you next chapter.