Occult Rising: The Deceived Vampire

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the author created characters and concepts.

It had been a whole week since Joe and Saya had fought the deadly Krakatan and encountered Seraphim Twelve, narrowly escaping with their lives. Since then, the new rangers had been given a lot of responsibility in light of this new threat and were left with more questions than answers.

Through the dark alleyways of Numin City, the youthful lead Seraphim agent gave chase of a fast fleeing target. Twelve had a determined look on her face as she pursued the creature. It was not long until the young teenager had given chase through the dark crevasses of the city, with it ending at a high brick wall that no man could scale.

Stopping, Twelve removed her light spear weapon from her belt and activated it. Looking as hard as she could around the area to find her target. "You're not going anywhere, monster. Being a creature of the night, I can't let you leave here, I won't let you infect others. Show yourself and face your fate!" She called out, before hearing a hungering growl from a fire escape bolted into the brick exterior of an apartment building.

Like a flash, the hiding creature pounced on Seraphim, the teen however swivelled around with an air of confidence before the creature could strike her and she quickly and cleanly cut the being down with her deadly and precise light spear, causing the beast to topple to the ground, lifelessly. Kicking the being over with her foot so that she could see the face of her target, Twelve looked on impassively at the almost human creature before her.

From a first look, it appeared as any regular human would, yet the skin was pale and the body seemed to be bloated. It seemed to still wear ragged clothing from when it was human. The fingernails seemed to be claw-like in appearance though and the ears of the creature were pointed, similar to those of a goblin. Its eyes seemed to be bloodshot and have a dark colour to them. The teeth seemed to be the most interesting part of the creature, they were human for the most part, however, the top two canines were extended slightly and appeared to be sharp.

"It's a negative on this one. Still haven't found the cause for all these. You'd think finding the one behind the Vampire's thrall popping up in the past few days would be easy. Still hard to believe this thing was human once." The Seraphim agent said into her communicator.

"Acknowledged Seraphim. There aren't any current known threats in the city, you can return when ready." A new male voice told Twelve.

"Understood Watcher, I want updates on the other's activities when I return." She told the other speaker now known as Watcher.

"Yes ma'am, Watcher Out." He finished as the young teen deactivated her light spear and clipped it back to her belt. 'The sooner this vampire threat is dealt with, the sooner I can return to finding the immortal. And if I can't get him, then I'll have to go back. I won't let that happen.' She thought as she gripped her wrist tightly with her other hand, remembering something unpleasant.

[Occult Circle]

Another day of school was already underway, Ray and Joe were sat in their english class just before lunch time. The latter was drifting in and out on the boring lecture that their english teacher was giving on the current novel they had been studying in class and his mind wandered to the events that had transpired over a week ago now.

As the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson and start of lunch, the red ranger's friend looked over to see Joe in deep thought on what happened. Ray tapped his friend on the shoulder, snapping him back into reality. "Hey you okay?" The teen asked, Joe gave a tired sigh before responding.

"Yeah, it's just been kinda stressful lately. Everything that happened in the first fight kinda took it outta me." He explained to his friend as the two got up out of their seats and started heading down the hallway in the direction of the clubroom. "You haven't told anyone about what you know, right?" Joe asked, referring to the fact that after the incidents in the previous week, they had revealed their true identities to him.

Ray turned his head and gave a smirk. "As much as I'd like to say 'hey, supernatural creatures are real and my friends are some of them' I doubt anyone would believe me. Besides, Saya already threatened to use her demon powers on me if I said anything." He told the red ranger as they entered into the room to see that Saya and Gabriel were reading through a set of large books that seemed to contain all manner of creatures not of earth.

"You two seem busy, is something going on?" Joe asked as he and Ray took a seat at the table with the others.

"People have been disappearing on the streets at night lately. Still no real clue as to what's happening. But some bodies are turning up, and looking a little different than when they went missing." Mr. Cadia told the two teens that had recently arrived.

"I'm not familiar with this kind myself, though it appears Vampiric from what I can tell. Though I've not heard a word about any Vampires in the city." Saya said as she flipped through pages to try and find the being they were speaking of.

As the teacher and two rangers thought on about what these beings could be, Ray snapped his fingers and stood up. "I think I might know what you mean. From what I've read, Vampires usually keep themselves secluded. Well Vampires usually have servants that are half way between a Vampire and a zombie. They call it a Vampire's thrall I think, they look a little like Vampires, but act more like hungry feral dogs."

Saya searched through the book of the obscure supernatural beings until she found these Vampire's Thrall that Ray was speaking of. "Seems you're right, maybe having a human help out isn't such a bad idea after all."

Joe stood up. "Okay, so now we know there's servants of a blood sucker running loose in the city, we need a way to stop this, I'd guess the best way is to find out where their master is and take it from there."

Gabriel looked at the three students for a moment before speaking up. "If that's what you intend, wait until night time, then it should be easier to track this master of theirs down."

"Okay then, Ray, you better keep out of this. We don't want you getting bitten by this Vampire or his servants. We'll take care of it." Joe insisted, not wanting his human friend in harm's way.

"Sure, of course it would be nice to talk with a real Vampire in person." The teen joked.

[Occult Circle]

After a long day of school and planning for finding this master Vampire, the two rangers were now on the dark city streets in the dead of night. The streets were rather empty in the wake of these suspicious disappearances, and it was most certain that anyone out there would be either up to no good or had more sinister reasons for being on the streets at this time on a night.

The red ranger turned to his teammate as they scoped the area for any suspicious activity. "The city's big, maybe we should split up and see if we have any luck finding one of these things."

Saya gave a nod to Joe. "As you wish. I'll take the eastern side of the city." She told him as she sprinted off to try and find these servants before whatever fate was befalling them each night ruined the two ranger's plans.

"Guess that just leaves me with the west then." Joe sighed as he began walking down one of the many dark and ominous alleyways in Numin City.

The red ranger turned the corner, it was there that he found a hunched over pale figure. Torn clothes and acting like a stray dog. exactly matching the description of these Vampire's thrall. It turned around to face Joe as the Vampire's Thrall heard his footsteps. The Vampire's thrall opened its maw, growling at the young immortal as it began making its way toward him.

As the beast got ready to pounce on Joe, Another figure emerged from the shadowed alleyway section between them. She appeared to be a teenager of about seventeen years of age, her skin tone was unusually fair and her hair was a black that seemed to meld with the rest of the dark of night. Other than that, her features were obscured as she faced the servant head on.

The young woman in front of Joe drew a dagger with a strange design it appeared to be split down the middle, as if imitating a pair of fangs in its design. Her clothing appeared to be black for the most part, but when light would reflect onto her clothing, it appeared to also contain some red to it.

In a flash the teenager had gone up to the Vampire's Thrall and now held it by the neck with her dagger pointed close to it's heart. "Tell me where he is!" She demanded, her tone of voice sounding threatening. The Vampiric servant began cackling which infuriated the young woman who stabbed the Vampire's Thrall, leaving it to bleed out. As the fallen creature slid to the ground, she quickly made the cross sign over her body. Turning, she became surprised that Joe was still watching.

"I'm guessing you're the one going around dropping these things, you going after the Vampire too?" Joe asked as the young woman walked forward and opened her mouth to speak, except when she did, light from a nearby street lamp shone on her, revealing her to also have fangs. But unlike the servants, she seemed relatively normal. "Wait you're a-" Joe started before the young woman cut him off.

"A Vampire. I'm sorry you saw all this, but I can't have a human telling people Vampires are going around the city at night. There's hunters already searching, you'd just make their job easier, so I can't let you go." She explained as she advanced on Joe.

Before another word could be spoken by either of them, the familiar voice of Saya Levita came from above. "For a Vampire, you're not very observant, are you?" Both Joe and the Vampire looked above to see Saya slowly descend from the sky with her four demonic wings spread out. Quickly folding them in, Saya stood firm between Joe and the Vampire before continuing. "Even if you tried to silence him, he'd just heal. He is an immortal after all."

The Vampire's words stammered after hearing this. "I-Immortal? Then you and him are after the same guy I am, right?"

Saya nodded her head. "Be a good little Vampling and we might let you tag along."

Joseph scratched his head. "Did you just make a joke?" He asked which made Saya huff and fold her arms.

"Underworld humor. Despite all this, I managed to get one of the Vampire's Thralls talking. They're a lot more afraid of fire than I thought. I know where we can find their master." She informed the two before conjuring a small ball of blue fire in her hand.

"Let's get going then!" The youthful Vampire enthused, a smirk came across the High Demon's face, which seemed unsettling to Joe as she had never really smiled before now.

"Not so fast. First, tell me about who we're facing. Otherwise." She finished, pointing the small demonic fireball at the young Vampire.

Joe could see her eyes widen with terror as Saya threatened her with the fireball and stepped between the two. "Saya don't you think that's over the top?" He suggested, with another huff, the blue Occult ranger extinguished her fireball and turned away.

"I don't like Vampires, so make her talk, and quick. I want to be done with this as soon as possible." She commented as Joe turned around to get the information about what they were facing.

"He calls himself Nicolai Vorigan, an old Vampire too. He's the reason I'm like- this and I've been after him for the better part of a century." She explained to Joe. The young Vampire was about to continue with what she knew when a beam of light short through the air, piercing her shoulder, which sizzled after it had come into contact with the weapon. Striking into the ground, the two rangers saw that this weapon was in fact a light spear used by Seraphim agents.

Saya turned to Joe, they both knew that Seraphim had caught up to them and they'd have to make a quick escape before they got caught. But the young immortal turned his gaze to the wounded Vampire he wanted to help her escape too. Before he could say a word, Saya placed a hand on his shoulder and shook her head.

"Our aura sigils can't transport her, they don't work like that." She said, Joe knocked her hand off in protest.

"We can't just leave her here though, there's gotta be some way."

"This isn't the time, she's wounded and we can only transport ourselves. If we help her, they'll catch us and then they'll have their hands on you. I already said I wouldn't let that happen. Stop being so stubborn and let's go." Saya protested, the logic of her argument getting through to Joe as their individual aura sigils appeared under their feet.

"We'll come back and help you, you have my word." Joe promised the injured young woman who had collapsed onto her side before they disappeared before her eyes.

As her vision faded, the wounded Vampire saw the shadowy figures of two men approach her cautiously before everything fell into darkness.

[Occult Circle]

As her vision returned, the young Vampire found herself in shackles that connected to a chain that was bolted into the floor. Looking around, it appeared as if she was inside some form of catacombs, but she was being watched too. Directly in front of her stood Seraphim Twelve observing her and all of her movements.

"W-Who are you? Why've you chained me down here?" The young Vampire asked as she tried to wipe her groggy eyes.

"Seraphim Twelve. I already know who and what you are. It's currently daytime, so I'd advise against trying to escape. Not that you'd make it far." She informed her prisoner, maintaining a stern expression as she did so.

"You a hunter? If you are, you kinda failed to finish me off." The Vampire replied, taking a cautious stance as the Seraphim agent came closer.

"If I were the one to find you, I would've. Be lucky others did and that certain people think you're gonna be useful. So tell me, where's that other Vampire hiding out."

"I don't know, If I did, he'd be in ashes already." She told Twelve, who began reaching for her light spear. "I know a way to find him though."

"Smart move." The lead agent finished as she released her grip on her weapon.

[Occult Circle]

After the events of last night, things had become tense between Joe and Saya, with Saya not speaking to Joe since they left the alleyway. It appeared as if she was avoiding him for some reason. The school bell rang for students to go to their next class and as Joe exited his maths classroom, noticing Saya rushing past other students, likely to keep away from him.

Despite her efforts, Joe caught up to her quickly and stopped her before she could go any farther. "Saya, you've been avoiding me, why?"

The High Demon gave a sigh before turning to face him. "You want to save that Vampire from Seraphim. I want to go after and finish off the Vampire responsible for all of the blood suckers. I don't care about saving any of them."

"You've been a lot more hostile yesterday than ever, you said you don't like their kind. Why?" Joe asked. After he finished his sentence, Saya turned away from him.

"It's nothing. Alright, we'll try and save her, but only after we deal with the current threat. I wouldn't normally do this, but this binding of ours needs to be respected." She informed him before walking away without turning around and showing her face.

'I wonder what that was all about?' Joe thought as he stood in the now empty hallway before remembering he had a lesson to get to.

[Occult Circle]

Night came quickly to Numin city and the two Occult rangers convened in front of a storage depot that was said to be the hideout of the master Vampire according to one of his servants. Neither of them had any idea that they were being watched from the roof of a small apartment building by Seraphim Twelve and the Vampire that had led her there.

As the two entered, Twelve turned her head to her guide. "They're going in, must be the place. Let's get going." She ordered.

Becoming shrouded by black smoke, the young woman transformed into a bat before the eyes of the Seraphim agent before flying forward. When she deemed it the right distance, Twelve leaped from the roof of the building, grabbing a hold of of the wing of the bat form Vampire, slowly taking them down to the ground as the Vampire bat screeched in pain.

After they reached the ground, the Vampire transformed back into her human form, rubbing her shoulders while giving Seraphim Twelve an annoyed look. "You nearly tore my wing off!"

"If I wanted to I would've cut it off when I had the chance. Quit complaining. We're after the same thing right now, and if you don't co-operate there are other ways we can motivate you." She replied in a threatening tone, while the young Vampire was still angry with the agent, she knew she had no choice and continued on into the depot to face down Nicolai.

[Occult Circle]

The inside of the storage depot was well lit by candles dotted around the area. The two Occult rangers stood in the centre of the building when they heard footsteps coming from behind a large wooden crate.

A man dressed in completely black modern clothes with slicked back black hair revealed himself to the two, his fangs being prominent and his eyes shining a bright red, this was definitely the master vampire they had been searching for.

"So the underworld sends children to fight. How amusing. I assume you've come to put an end to my harvesting of your city. That's only half of what I've been doing. Before I came here, the Abyssal Cult contacted me. They needed soldiers to take earth from the humans, I was happy to oblige." Nicolai informed the rangers, who raised their arms ready to fight him if things were to escalate further.

"So you're with the Abyssal Cult then. It makes taking you out have a better reward knowing that they'll have lost an asset. Ready Joe?" Saya asked, to which Joe nodded.

The two swiped their Sigil rings from top to bottom, the rings shining brightly with light from the gems as the two rangers too a breath in before calling out simultaneously. "Occult Breakout!" From there, the light from their rings shone immensely, covering the two before fading and leaving the rangers morphed and ready to fight.

Joe drew his infinity saber rapier while Saya unsheathed her Leviafang cutlass. The two rangers jolted forward simultaneously, attacking Nicolai with swift attacks. Despite this, the reaction times of the Vampire were too fast for either of the rangers as Nicolai dodged the attack and caused the two to clash their blades against each other.

From there, Nicolai exploited his speed advantage, swiping the infinity saber from Joe before slowing down and standing in front of the two rangers where he gave a malicious chuckle. Jolting toward the rangers, he delivered a series of powerful and lightning fast slashes to both rangers, causing them to collapse to the ground and demorph.

"If you're all the Underworld has to offer, the Abyssal Cult won't need much time to take the earth." Nicolai laughed as he discarded the infinity saber and turned.

"And if you're the strongest Vampire that your little cult has to offer, Seraphim might as well take you all on now." The youthful voice of Seraphim Twelve said as she advanced with an active light spear in her hand.

"Ah, the human. I smelled you on that rooftop you know, you humans always have a lively scent about you. Unlike us supernatural beings. Tell me, where is the little Vamp hiding?" Nicolai asked as he readied himself to take down Seraphim Twelve.

"Like I'm gonna tell you." She laughed, which was a mistake that she'd soon find out she shouldn't have made as Nicolai Jolted toward her and gripped her by the throat. Twelve was unable to do a thing as she dropped the light spear.

"Maybe I'll kill the demon and her friend there first, after all, why would a vampire care for a human?" Nicolai said, deciding on a next course of action before throwing Seraphim Twelve into a stack of boxes and knocking her unconscious. Turning around, Nicolai eyed them both as they struggled to get up after his attack. "I'll start with you first." He decided, heading for Joe.

Before he got the chance to try however, the young Vampire jolted in his way, pointing her dagger at Nicolai. "You won't touch either of them. I'll make sure you can't hurt anyone ever again." She declared.

Nicolai chuckled as he darted to the infinity saber quickly and retrieved it before locking weapons with her. "It's been around ninety five years right? I tend to lose count, but if you want to get straight to business. Let's play."

[Occult Circle]

In Gabriel Cadia's home, the teacher was sitting at his desk inside his private research room, grading English tests from earlier in the week, when he heard rattling from the drawer he kept the other sigil rings in.

All of a sudden, the drawer burst open and the crimson sigil ring flew out from the drawer, out of the nearby open window and out into the night. Gabriel himself seemed to be rather amused by the turn of events.

"In all the time I've had those things, I've never seen one do that before. It'll be interesting to see how all this pans out." The teacher said to himself before he continued on with grading papers.

[Occult Circle]

Nicolai forced the infinity saber forward, knocking the young Vampire off balance and forcing her backwards. "You put up a lot more of a fight than the last time we met. And that dagger, a Bloodlust Dagger right? If so I take it you've not been feeding for a while to maximise the weapon's effectiveness. You've been dealing with other Vampires, though I'm not surprised given how week of a fledgeling you were.

As The young vampire was about to lunge at Nicolai with her dagger, a deep crimson light flooded the room as the sigil ring flew into the depot. As if by it's own will, the ring slipped itself upon the middle finger of the young woman.

"What're you up to now child? Either way it won't help you." Nicolai chuckled as he lunged forward with the stolen blade, but was blinded by a bright crimson light.

When it died down, the young Vampire was clad in a ranger suit, rather similar to that of Saya and Joe's suits. It was composed of a solid crimson red torso with black arms and legs, with a crimson skirt attached to the main body of the suit. She wore a pair of crimson boots with gold bands around the ankles and the same style for her gloves, crimson for the primary while gold for the secondary trimming. A pair of golden bat wings either side of a golden drop of blood that were outlined in black was imprinted into the suit's chest. Her helmet was themed in turn like that of a bat, with sharp fangs at the top and bottom of her thin visor. She wore a golden belt that also had a buckle that was shaped like bat wings. Her Bloodlust Dagger was attached to her suit but now contained the gemstone from her ring in the hilt of the weapon.

Nicolai's eyes widened in surprise at seeing the young Vampire transform into the crimson Occult ranger and that she had quickly reacted after the light died down, cutting along his face and leaving a large gash down his eye.

Joe and Saya slowly rose from the ground to see the sight of the crimson ranger go toe to toe with the master Vampire. Despite his earlier slip up, Nicolai was managing to dodge most of her movements, blocking the rest, while the young woman became angrier that she couldn't hit him. Taking a chance, Nicolai threw the infinity saber at her, startling her long enough for Nicolai to leap on top of a large crate.

Giving a small bow, he put on a mocking voice. "It's been a pleasure seeing you again, but I've got other business to attend to. As the mortals would say, TTFN." He finished before disappearing in a shroud of black smoke.

Before she could express her outrage that Nicolai had slipped away, the young Vampire lost her grip on the Bloodlust Dagger and demorphed, collapsing to the ground before losing consciousness.

Joe noticed this straight away and ran to her. Turning her over, he noticed that she was much paler than before, even for a Vampire it seemed strange. "Something's wrong!" Joseph called out to Saya, who finally took notice.

[Occult Circle]

The next morning, sunlight barely peeked through the closed curtains of Gabriel's home. The young Vampire was covered in a blanket as she seemed to sleep soundly, but it was presumably natural for someone like her.

Slowly she woke from her slumber, opening her mouth, she felt liquid on the tips of her fangs. Wiping it onto her finger, she opened her eyes to see it was in fact blood.

"W-What happened?" She asked as she sat up to look around her new surroundings. "Where am I?"

"You're at my house." Came the voice of Joe, that startled her as she realised he had been sitting opposite her this whole time. "After Nicolai disappeared you collapsed and I brought you here. My dad said you hadn't fed in too long, and wouldn't survive much longer. So I offered some of my blood."

"Y-You did?" She asked as her facial expression changed. "Another Vampire told me about this. Some kind of binding pact. If any other being saves a Vampire from starvation, they're in debt to their saviour. Until the person that helped them dies at least. It's called a blood debt, and it means I'm your servant till death takes you."

"I've really gotta have a word with whoever makes up these crazy rules about the supernatural world. But you do realise I can't die right?" He sighed.

It was then she realised that she now had an eternity of servitude to someone she knew nothing about. "Th-Then, I'm stuck here forever?"

"I can't pretend I know what you're going through, but if this' how you'll be spending eternity, we should start with names. I'm Joseph, or just Joe for short. The Demon I was with is Saya Levita, she also ended up in a difficult situation involving me too. What's your name?" He introduced as she pulled the blanket off of her and sat up properly.

"I'm Eleanor Hall. If you want, call me Ellie. Is there anything else I should know?" She finally introduced herself to him.

'Her last name sounds kinda familiar.' Joe thought to himself for a moment before answering her question. "Aside from a supernatural cult bent on taking the earth over, a group of humans with magic light weapons after us and others like us and some demonic laws that got me into this situation in the first place. Nothing really. So where do you wanna start?"

[Occult Circle]

Seraphim Twelve awoke in the same catacombes as Ella had, except she was in a part housing medical equipment and a bed. She had a pounding headache as she sat up and saw one of her fellow Seraphim agents, yet this time he wasn't wearing a mask. He had short black hair and brown eyes along with claw marks on his face.

"Hey Twelve, looks like you took one hell of a hit last night. Anyway, the boss wants to see you now your up. Doesn't look good either." The agent informed her before walking off.

Seraphim Twelve gulped as she thought it over. This failure combined with her previous failure wouldn't be good for her. Whatever the person behind the whole organisation wanted with her now wouldn't be good…

|Occult Circle|

Supernatural Being - Vampire's Thrall - Once human, these creatures are the lowly servants of a Vampire, while having some intelligence they are like wild animals when they stray too far away from their Master's influence. They are typically used as simple guards and are easily dispatched by anything it fights against, for this reason they are usually found in large groups to overwhelm opponents if used as an attack force.

And that is the first chapter of the very first arc of Occult Circle. It's been just short of three months since the last chapter. So I'm sorry it's been a long wait. The good news is that for the rest of the OCs I haven't chosen yet, so take your time to improve them, or if you're new to this series, then post an OC. All but Vampire are still open.

Since we're so close to Halloween now, I thought why not do a bit more Occult Circle since it does focus on a group of supernatural creatures, what better time to do so than October. That said I will be getting Primal Protectors out soon, I am in the process of writing up the next chapter of it.

Before I give you a look at the next chapter, and which OC will be revealed next, I'd like to thank Mistycharming for the OC Ellie Hall who's now part of the team. That said, there's some great OCs here and it'll be a hard choice for the rest of these characters too, so keep sending them in and I'll see you all next time.

Next Chapter: Occult Rising: The Conflicted Fallen Angel

Synopsis: With Ellie now on the team, the Occult rangers are faced with a new threat. The Abyssal Cult shows up in full force with a Fallen Angel leading them. Will the fight go well, or will conflict arise? Is this new foe all they seem to be, or is there more to them than meets the eye? Find out next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.