Lucy and Juvia were quite unsure of their new position. Lucy wasn't even sure if any of it was real. Despite coming from a long line of vampire hunters, she like most people in this era had grown up believing the vampires, devils, and other creatures associated with them were nothing more then mythical monsters that only existed in scary stories. It just all seemed so unreal to her. What was especially shocking about all this fact that her family hunted these creatures and she was never told. Why would her family keep this a secret from her?
For Juvia it wasn't that hard for her to believe. Having been raised in a church that had it's own militia against the occult, it was only natural that she had been schooled on the subject of not only devils but vampires, werewolves, evil spirits, and anything else relating to the paranormal. In fact her earliest memory was of Mother Mcgarden drawing a sacred circle around her cradle to keep away imps because according to legend they would sometimes steal infants. So all of this wasn't really a big shock for her.
When night came the next day, the two young women went to meet with Erza and her man servants as that was what she referred to them as. She wanted them to look into the latest scene of a vampire attack while she would be in a very important meeting. The attack was at an old clock tower located somewhere near downtown. All the mechanics who worked on the gears of the clock and the people who kept the clocks clean were all dead. Their blood drained out of them while their bodies were left to rot. Natsu's job was to investigate the bottom half of the clock while staking any of the victims who could possibly awaken as vampires themselves while Gray would check the rooftops for any remaining vampires and evidence that could lead them to the source of where they were coming from.
"Lucy I want you to stay with Natsu. Juvia you will go with Gray." Erza said. "And boys you will make sure that nothing terrible befalls either one of them. Understand?"
"We understand." Natsu and Gray said reluctantly.
"Good. Lucy you will need this." Erza handed a very unusual bracelet to her. For one thing it wasn't a chain braclet but instead a metal cuff and it branded the symbol of the sun on the front of it.
"What is this?" Lucy asked.
"Call it a family heirloom. Your grandfather had this made for your grandmother to wear all the time in case she was attacked by a vampire when he wasn't around. It has the ability to project artificial solar energy."
"Artificial solar energy? You mean like fake sunlight?"
"Correct. If you encounter a vampire aim your wrist at it and run your hand over the symbol. That will cause the bracelet to work."
"But won't it burn Natsu or something?"
"No. I give him daily injections that make his skin immune to sunlight. He should be unaffected by the bracelet."
"Okay."
She then turned to Juvia.
"Keep that watch around your wrist always. Don't lose it or let anyone else get their hands on it. But above all do not press that trigger unless it is an absolute emergency."
"Alright but how will I know if it's an emergency or not?"
"Gray will tell you. Now I have to go but I will be back as soon as I can. Good luck to you all."
Erza stepped into her vehicle and drove away. The four of them looked up at the huge clock tower then went inside. The entire bottom floor was scattered with dead bodies, their neck bleeding out and their eyes open to show no sign of life. Juvia quickly made the Catholic sign and said a silent prayer that the souls of these unfortunate men would find eternal peace and happiness in heaven.
"Okay sister let's get going." Gray told her. "We don't have all night."
He and Juvia started to go up the stairs of the clock tower while Natsu started to sniff nearly every body in the room. Lucy on the other hand could only just stand there and feel sick to her stomach. It was revolting and horrifying, she almost threw up.
"Why are you sniffing them?" Lucy said looking so terribly pale.
"I'm trying to smell if there's a change in their blood." Natsu said. "If their blood still smells human than there's no need for me to do anything to them. However if their blood smells similar to mine then that means by tomorrow night they will rise again as vampires so I must stake them in their heart or cut off their head and burn their body to prevent such a thing."
"How can you do this? I mean doesn't this frighten you or make you ill?"
"From what I've seen over the years nothing disturbs me anymore."
"I'm surprised you're doing this. You're a vampire but you kill other vampires. Does that make you feel morally conflicted?"
"No. There was a time when I was proud to be a vampire and I liked the idea of making other people vampires because as a vampire you have immortality. You don't have to fear death and you can just go on living for as long as you wish but eventually I realized that all of that came at a terrible price."
"What price is that?"
"Isn't it obvious? The price is that to keep on living you have to prey on people. Carve them up like a butcher does to meat and in the beginning I didn't mind that but someone changed my mind and made me see the evil in it."
"Who?"
"None of your business." He pulled a wooden stake from his belt and plunged it into the chest of one corpse.
"So do you not drink blood?" She asked.
"That's a dumb question. Of course I drink blood. I'm a vampire and as long as I live I'll need to drink blood to keep myself going but I don't kill to get my blood."
"What do you mean?"
"Erza pays to have pints of blood given to me from a blood bank. If it weren't for those I'd probably either die or go on an insane blood sucking frenzy."
"That's sad."
"It's not sad it's nature. It's how all vampires are."
"Still it's sad because it's not like they had a say in becoming a vampire. They were just normal human beings until they were killed by them and infected with that disease."
"You're only half right. Most of the vampires didn't have a choice in their transformation but there are those who did. I know I had a choice."
"You chose to be a vampire?" Lucy said in shock.
"Yes I did."
"Why? Why on earth would choose to become such a monster? Did you have any idea what kind of life you would have when you made that choice?"
"Funny." Natsu chuckled. "You sound so much like your grandfather. He never understood why I made the choice either. In fact when I told him that I became this way through choice he said that I must've been completely mad when I was human. That no sane human being would ever want to become a vampire. I guess he was right. When the time came for me to make that choice I had pretty much lost all reason."
"What do you mean?"
"It's ancient history now. I'd rather not talk about what happened before I grew fangs. In fact you could say that the man I was before all that no longer exists and I'm trying so very hard to forget that man."
"Why?"
"Again none of your business."
Natsu did indeed regret choosing to turn himself into a vampire. While he still harbored hatred toward God, he hated all the pain and suffering he had caused so many people due to that one choice he had made. He had foolishly convinced himself that becoming a vampire had been a great blessing but in truth it was a curse. A curse that he had not only inflicted on to himself to many innocent people. To make matters worse it had taken him so many years to finally realize the mistake he had made. He had realized it on the day that Archibald had finally bested him.
Natsu had fallen that day. His castle had been plundered, his dominion in ruin, his servants destroyed, and the woman he pursed had fled into the arms of her husband. He had no choice but to accept his fate on that day. But nevertheless he respected Archibald for being the first person in history to defeat him. Looking into the vampire hunter's eyes he could tell that the man felt both sympathy and contempt for him. Contempt for all the lives he had taken and cursed and sympathy for the fact that Natsu was doomed to have such a miserable existence. As long as he lived he would never forget those brown eyes of sympathy and contempt. He saw those exact eyes in Lucy.
However while her eyes did indeed hold that same sympathy for him they did not hold the same contempt. But that only because she didn't know about all the evil he had committed. No doubt if she did she would have that exact same contempt.
"You have his eyes you know." He said.
"What?"
"You have your grandfather's eyes."
"Really? Because most people say that take after my mother's side of the family."
"I didn't say you looked like him. When it comes to your hair and your facial structure you don't look anything like the old man. But if you've inherited one thing from him it's his eyes. They're exactly like his."
"Oh...Are you sure?"
"Trust me I could never forget those eyes. They've haunted my nightmares for years."
"You really hated my grandfather didn't you?"
"Well the man did stab me in the heart with a wooden stake that caused me to become comatose for centuries so I can't say that I had any love for him. But I did respect him. I respect that he was able to actually defeat me when no other creature could. Not even Gray who was a full blooded devil. Back then I never thought a human would be my undoing so I was very impressed with him. But most of all I respected that with every vampire life he took he showed no pleasure in it. He always looked at killing them as a final resort. No other way. Because he knew that those blood sucking monsters were once human beings like him."
Hearing this made Lucy wish that she had gotten to know her grandfather because judging by Natsu's words he sounded like a very brave and compassionate man. Something that was very hard to find. At least in her case.