Author's Headnote: So, this chapter we're going to dumping into more moral dilemma for Ruby. Because she either: A, has to help the vampires by blowing up a White Fang warehouse. Or B, has to help the White Fang fight off vampires. So... which one would she have to choose? Well, read the chapter to find out, silly! Also, thank you for the reminder to spruce up the first few chapters. They're like earlier back when I first wrote this, so I thought I'd write this horribly.

And, I have different plans for lieutenant chainsaw.

RWBY: Festival of Blood: Night at the Warehouse

Ruby Rose:

Aura Status: 72%

Thirst: Thirsty

Semblance: Wilted Petal Burst

Grades:

- Grimm Studies: B +

- History: B -

- Dust Studies: B

- Combat Practice: A -

- Mathematics: C -

- Weapon's Smithing: A -

- Tactics: B -

- Training Missions: D +

Team Activity: Done.

Team Relations:

-Weiss Schnee: On a date with Jaune, not sure where it'll go.

-Blake Belladonna: They're dating, and playing matchmaker apparently

-Yang Xiao Long: Although a bit distant sometimes, they still care for each other. Even though Ruby can sense Yang's tiny fear.

End of main character status report.

City of Vale, 8:10 PM, Thursday, Industrial District

Ruby had just arrived. She went and knocked out a white fang mook and take their weapon and uniform. She put her clothes back in the locker. She'll have to put her outfit in the wash after this. But after all of that, she had to infiltrate the inside of the warehouse.

Although a bit of a different layout. She sees the vampires hiding in plain sight. Also wearing White Fang uniforms. Looks like they planned this for quite a bit. Or three days. But White Fang mooks tend to be on the lower end when it comes to identifying spies. Yet again, she didn't identify the Duke as a vampire when she first saw him. So, she really cannot blame them. She still has that night sharply implanted into her brain, constantly replaying.

She was looking for one of the higher-ups. White Fang captains, Torchwick, or Blake's ex-boyfriend. One of those three would suffice. Hopefully a captain since Torchwick would recognize Ruby even in disguise at this point, and she really doesn't want to deal with Blake's ex, it'd be awkward. The captain would be near where all the dust in the warehouse is.

So... she looked around for a White Fang captain. White Fang captains have inverted colors, plus a cape. She'd criticize the choice of cape, but she'd be a hypocrite by doing so. So, the captain wears mostly a very bright red uniform with a White insignia. Along with a white cape. In addition, the captains are more armored. So, the captains wouldn't be hard to miss.

She was wondering around... looking for the dust storage. She confronted one of the members about the whereabouts of the Dust storage.

"Uhh... excuse me, do you know where the dust storage is? I'm new and I was assigned to guard duty." Ruby asked.

"New as in?" The mook asked.

"Transferred."

"Ah. It's over there, but don't worry, we have a bunch of Rogue huntsmen guarding the area, so the dust won't get blown up any time soon."

"Thank you."

Ruby proceeded to walk towards the direction the mook had headed. They're nice so as long as they don't know Ruby's actually a human, and a vampire no less. Well, not like she has to worry.

She walked past the dust storage... which she was tasked by the White Fang contact to blow up for the vampires to deal with. Surprisingly, no White Fang authority figure was to be found. Which would guarantee a death-toll. And than there's headmaster Ozpin's order to help the White Fang fend off the vampires by warning them. She's hesitant, but so far, she's considering to go with Ozpin's idea because it'd result with less death. Preferably, no death. Ruby doesn't want anyone's blood on her hands, because licking her own hands is disgusting. Guess she needs to find another metaphor, because anything relating to blood makes her feel thirsty.

Bloodied hands or no, Ruby's got to prevent deaths from happening tonight. Sure, vampires are not alive, but they aren't dead. It's pretty complicated, but Ruby's still trying to find a proper and simple term to describe her mortality. But that's beside the point. She has to warn the White Fang... but than that'd be bad in the long term since the White Fang would be sprawling up past downtown if they are not stopped. But on the other hand, she'd end up committing acts of terrorism and become a killer. The more she thinks about the consequences, the worse it gets.

Oh... what do I do? What do I do? Neither of these are a good Idea. And doing both is going to end up being worse!

Ruby's suffering from a moral dilemma, something she really has trouble resolving. Moral dilemmas tend to really hurt Ruby's head. She tries to do what's right, but when there's no objectively right solution, she just mentally freezes. Like how she is doing now... frozen from the impact of consequences from either choice. Sure, there was that enthralling a serial killer, but she knew it was objectively the right choice compared to doing the same to someone else. She's frozen in thought... although given if she actually was in the trolley situation, her moral crisis would have led to the five people dying to a freight trolley.

And speaking of not changing the trolley's track. Clearly the vampires just realize Ruby's not going through the plan and just went and attack the White Fang without signal... wait, did the contact mention a signal? This plot of theirs was most likely a trick, and Ruby nearly fell for it. It's too late to go and warn the captain now. Since she's caught in a firefight between the two...

She quickly fled the scene and ditched the gunpowder weapon to get her locker and change somewhere discreet. She really doesn't want to change in front of a bunch of people. Hopefully, the White Fang could fend themselves off for now.

Given that she doesn't have much time to change in the first place... she just grabs her cloak and wraps it around her head and some goggles and gloves. Along with Slice of Life. She also ditched the White Fang parts of her current attire. There, now she looks like a neutral party. Now she just has to keep herself from using her powers, especially her semblance.

Ruby went in charged in, incognito style. She really can't be tracked since nobody really knows about Slice of life yet. She wonders what Blake is doing though.

Character Change: Ruby Rose - Blake Belladonna

Beacon Academy, 8:10 PM, Thursday, RWBY Dormitory

Blake had just finished her book. She just remembered she was reading it. Guess the events within the past week distracted her. Since she's bored, she may as well study up on vampires. Since Ruby is one, it's better that Blake would know more about Ruby's condition and to better help Ruby go through with living in Beacon as a vampire.

Vampirica Encyclopedia: Volume 1, Chapter 10, Vampire types and classifications

Not all vampires are the same. There are four strains of vampirism, one for each of the founding kingdoms. Vale, Mistral, Mantle, and Vacuo. One for each of the Disciples turned by Cain. Each strain is similar, yet different, reflecting the powers and abilities of the Disciple the strain is from. But that's a topic for another chapter.

Sired Vampires are the standard normal type of vampire. Essentially the scale of axis these books base their knowledge on vampires on. The control group of all the variants of vampires. This is the most common kind of vampire out there. Sired vampires tend to be less potent with their abilities than their well... sire. Mostly due to dilution. Although powers do end up being weaker, they are not lost overall via. Dilution.

Stray Vampires are ones turned by accident. These ones usually never survive their first night, and would make it up to a week at best. Mostly due to strays not having the benefits of a sired vampire. No night vision, no unfiltered strength, no grimm-magic. Just need for consume blood and weakness to sunlight. Very few stray vampires tend to actually survive, and are regularly culled.

Pure-Blooded vampires are vampires not turned, but born from two vampire parents. Unlike sired or strays, they do age, but once they turn at the age of six, they age at one sixteenth the rate of mortals. They are about as powerful as their oldest parent. And can unlock their aura like a mortal. And do not need to drink blood. But the weaknesses of vampires are typically double for them. Since they were born with the weakness to sunlight. This is the only variation of vampire that has an aura that can recover on it's own. These are typically rare since vampires almost never reproduce with one another.

Half-Blooded vampires are vampire born from a vampire father and a mortal mother. Akin the Pure-bloods, they do age, as of the age of six, they age at one fourth the rate of mortals. Their vampiric abilities are less powerful, and do not have night vision unless they are a faunas. However, their weakness to sunlight is not fatal and does not need to consume blood as often as other vampires, due to their mortal counterpart. And if they do not drink blood, they would die of thirst instead of going feral. They may also be able to unlock their aura like mortals and purebloods.

Latent-Bloods are born from a mortal father and a vampire mother. They are not vampires, simple as that. This is because vampirism can only be passed on to children via. The Male line. Not that vampires need to reproduce in the first place. They could just turn a mortal and the vampire number would keep up with less effort.

Blake had read enough. Guess if Ruby was a bit older vampirism wise, Blake may have become a stray vampire. Thankfully that didn't happen. Given that the writer of the book is anonymous, this particular must have studied their whole life studying vampires if they manage to record the differences between one turned into a vampire and one born a vampire. Guess it sucks to be a pureblood. Sure, they don't need to drink blood, but they are stuck as a child for a long time and the sun is even more fatal to them.

Although she does notice Weiss walking back from her date with Jaune. And she looks like she's in a good mood, guess the advice she gave Jaune helped him after all. That, or Blake really overexaggerated Weiss' character.

"Hey Blake, whatcha reading?" Weiss asks in a curious tone.

"Oh, this is an encyclopedia on vampires Ruby found in the catacombs." Blake answered honestly.

"Isn't that where Ruby was when she first woke up as a vampire?"

"Guess you were paying attention to Ruby's story than, huh. Yeah, she said the book came from the catacombs."

"And the Vale's vampire clan is based around the catacombs in old town?"

"Yeah..."

"Why would vampires need a book about themselves in their hideout?"

"To keep fledglings in the loop, I guess."

"I don't know it just seems convenient for Ruby to find it there."

"Well... call me crazy, but I think it may have been placed there intentionally for Ruby to pick up." Yang said, walking in on the conversation.

"Well, it makes sense. Why else would it be there?" Weiss asked.

"Well... true. But it's so far been helpful to Ruby." Blake said.

"Given it's a book on vampires, and a vampire that's reading it." Yang stated.

"Who wrote the book anyway?" Weiss asked.

"The book never specified the name of the author." Blake stated.

"So... the author is anonymous. Chances are either they're a vampire themselves or long dead."

"Given that it written back when Atlas was called Mantle."

"Wow, so it was written before the great war."

"Blake, if Ruby doesn't mind, I think I may want to take a look at the book. Ruby's my sister, and I feel like I should know what my own sister is going through." Yang requested.

"I'll ask Ruby when she gets back from Ozpin's private task." Blake said.

"Makeup work. I'm just glad that we all got A's so we don't have to do any of that." Yang said in relief.

"Don't jinx it, Yang. I'm just thankful I could spend time with a new friend." Weiss retored.

"So... speaking of your friend. How was your date with Jaune?' Blake asked.

"He's a nice guy. Not very pushy or demanding, and I'm glad he didn't try to use any romance this time." Weiss answered.

"Guess the mock date really helped Jaune after all." Yang said.

Weiss than started laughing loudly.

"What's so funny?" Yang asked.

"You... really... think I'm... THAT SNOOTY!?" Weiss asked while bursting in laughter.

"Uh... ya?" Blake asked.

"Just yesterday I was lounging on a couch, watching 20-year-old sitcoms." Weiss stated.

The three of them were in silence.

"Alright, fair point." Blake said.

"Did Ruby even say what she was doing?" Yang asked.

"She said that it's confidential." Blake answered.

"Wow... she must have gotten an F." Yang stated.

"An F? Hopefully next monday we get to pick a mission that has her stay indoors for most of the time." Weiss stated.

"Or for any mission at that matters, if she goes outside... she really won't last long." Yang said.

"Yep, be grateful for her aura." Blake stated.

"Said aura unable to recover on it's own." Weiss commented.

"Oh... well... ouch, I'm glad I didn't get my own contacts than. Yet again, if I did, my lil'sis would still be alive." Yang said.

"She still is alive!" Weiss retorted.

"Not Clinically, in all physical aspects, she is dead... sadly." Yang stated

"But she still is alive mentally and emotionally. How about we don't question Ruby's mortality." Blake commented.

"Good Idea." Yang stated.

Blake texted Ruby to get back to the dorm soon.

Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Ruby Rose

City of Vale, 8:21 PM, Thursday, Industrial District

Ruby had gone into the warehouse again, now with Slice of Life and her body fully concealed. She's ready to fight those vampires and Rogue huntsmen.

The Mooks are unconscious, not dead... Ruby can notice them breathing.

Ruby remembers her simple moral code, knock out, not kill. She cannot kill. Under no circumstances is taking a life an acceptable choice. She went in, wielding the Pizza cutter as a one-handed war-axe. And started to use ice dust on the blade to slow the blade, but make it more effective in incapacitating and defeating the huntsmen and mooks. These guys have unlocked auras, not just simple White Fang mooks. They're basically second to a White Fang Captain.

Speaking of... she doesn't seem to find the White Fang Captain... wait, there he is. He's just barking orders to the huntsmen. Ruby snuck behind him and knocked him out. Regardless, she has vampires and White Fang mooks to knock out. Chances are, after this, her cover will be blown fleeing the seen, she can't go back to the catacombs. Yet again, the contact said to not come back there anyway, so...

But that's besides the point. Ruby's got to play vigilante again. And no way is she going to make a profession for this, if she wanted to stop crime as a living, she would have become a police officer instead of a huntress.

Ruby than switched from holding Slice of Life in a Melee stance to a rifle stance. She sped up the speed of the blade with the Ice dust active aaand...

SCHLING!

The blade is launched, and hit one of the rogue huntsmen, in a clash with a vampire. The resulting attack managed to trap the rogue huntsman in ice, and trapping the vampire, which she needs to knock out both and break free from the ice. Otherwise VNN is going to have a story about a 'pack of nostferatu' or worse, 'vampires are real'. Which means negativity spikes through the roofs, causing grimm to destroy the entire kingdom. Doesn't help with the White Fang's hatred, she can sense it, no matter how much they try to hide, they're just easy to find because of all of that negativity they leave behind, surprised grimm hasn't killed them all by now.

She still has to deal with the other rogue huntsmen and the vampires. Thankfully they're all fighting each other so Ruby doesn't have to fight them all at once, not that they know it's Ruby. Because she's fully covered and nothing other than the cloak would be recognizable. Which even than, she's using it to wrap her face. Still, sticking to ranged attacks, she switched to the experimental lightning dust for the next round.

She aimed... aaand...

SCHLING!

An array of electricity is sprouted from the disc as it's launched around, damaging, but not 1-hit-KOing the enemies. But now it seems Ruby has drawn attention to herself, as the vampires and White Fang huntsmen have stopped attacking each other, and now are focusing on taking out Ruby. Which is a bad thing.

The Rogue Huntsmen use their spear-rifles to start shooting at Ruby, whilst the Vampires go after her at close range. Meanwhile Ruby's now put on the defensive, in a term for desperation, she turned on Slice of Life's blade, rotating it. Sure, this is not a good idea to prevent death, but she doesn't want to die herself. Still cocked into the electrical dust, the blade electrocutes the vampires, stunning them. Now Ruby changes to Ice dust and fires the blade at the White Fang huntsmen, trapping them... although that was not a good idea since they can still shoot her, but she quickly runs around where they could shoot her and knocks them all out from behind, using the blunt end of Slice of Life.

Ruby than carefully got everyone out of the Ice... and moved the vampires out of the warehouse into somewhere that there would be shade in the morning... she also took their bloodpacks because Ruby's running short on the things!

After that, Ruby had to flee the scene to report back to the headmaster. He likely won't be too happy about the report. She transformed into a bird and started flying toward Beacon. Guess that's the good thing about these powers, not having to walk all the way to a bullhead.

Beacon Academy, 8:52 PM, Thursday, Ozpin's Office

Ruby had flown into the window in Ozpin's office that was already open... on an unrelated note, she nearly crashed into a crow on the way here. That's weird, that never happened before, but Ruby felt like that the crow was familiar, she just couldn't wrap it around her beak...

Beak? Oh, she's still in bird mode. She quickly fixed that by turning back into human mode, although she did cough up a couple feathers... although she had to unwrap her cloak to get them out her mouth. She also wiped the rest of the grimm-feathers off of her.

"Miss Rose, you better clean up those feathers." Ozpin suggested.

"Right, sorry. This only happened once before, not sure why it did this again." Ruby said, in an awkward tone. She went to pick up the feathers and placed them in the pocket of her current outfit.

"Guessing by your current attire, things had gone south."

"Yep, I was looking for the White Fang Captain, like you ordered, but the vampires attacked prematurely and the entire plan had gotten out of hand, I had to flee and get a weapon."

"I trust you had dealt with the opposition."

"Correct, both the vampires and White Fang were incapacitated."

"Incapacitated?"

"I don't kill, no matter what they've done."

"I understand that, but vampires aren't something you'd spare."

"Well, I don't want to kill people for what they've done, regardless of mortality!"

"And because of this, those vampires will report back to the Duke that you've attacked them. Which means you just ruined anymore makeup work to be had. I hope you do well on your next mission, Miss Rose."

"What other option did I have? I didn't want to run away and let them go amuk."

"Sometimes, confrontation is not the best option. You need to wait."

Ruby paused in objection.

"You're dismissed Miss Rose." Ozpin said in a disappointed tone.

"Yes, headmaster." Ruby said in a monotone voice, leaving the office. Well, on the upside, she can spend her birthday with her girlfriend, which is on Pyrefest. The holiday focuses on celebrating the burning of the Duke of Bloodshire, with a large wooden statue built of him, which is burnt down afterwards. There's also parties and festivals during this time, as suggested. Children also go knocking on doors asking for candy. Which is an odd tradition, but Ruby liked the candy!

Keyword being liked, because of her vampirism, she's honestly not to sure if she would be interested in consuming any substance other than blood. Yet again, she only needs to drink blood, so why bother with anything else?

But no matter, Ruby doesn't have much to do, so may as well head back to the dorm and hopefully catch her team before they fall asleep.

Beacon Academy, 9:04 PM, Thursday, RWBY Dormitory

Ruby had walked in. Although no one appears to be in the living room. Guess they're all asleep. But no matter, she had to put the bloodpacks in the fridge before they go bad. She already drank two of them on the way here.

After that, she went to tuck in her team in bed. Only to find them up and awake. Although not actually doing anything other than talking. Figure Ruby would hop in and join on the conversation.

"Hey guys! What are you talking about?" Ruby asked out of curiosity.

"Gah! Ruby! Where did you come from?" Yang asked.

"I came through the front door; did you not hear me?"

"Oh, ya... I think you should go to the living room for awhile... we're discussing plans for your birthday."

"Oh. Sorry, I guess that's why you're in the bedroom right now. Guess I'll leave you be now!"

Ruby had left the bedroom, she doesn't want to spoil the surprise for her birthday, wonder what they're going to come up with... given that Cake would be inappropriate given that her birthday is not only on Pyrefest, but she's also a vampire and she wouldn't want to eat the cake anyway.

Given that Pyrefest is on Monday, and because it's a national holiday, school is not in session... Ruby would have all night to celebrate her birthday... or... birthnight? Even if it is her birthday, going out during the day would be a bad idea. She also has to get a costume for her birthday... and knowing Yang, she'd give Ruby a vampire costume for the laughs. Although, letting her be honest with her vampirism is not really a good idea since everyone would get the idea that Ruby is an actual vampire. Which means she has the weekend to decide a costume.

What would Blake even wear for a costume? Would she wear a costume? Ruby would know Yang would put on something nerdy, whilst Weiss would wear something very expensive. But Ruby can't predict the future, so anything could happen. No point in going out for candy since Ruby won't eat it anyway... because vampire. But atleast Ruby can attend a costume party... assuming the White Fang or the vampires don't use the time of vulnerability to attack.

And than after that, the Vytal Festival would start in December. Right around the end of fall. Which means Ruby would have to find a way to fake her physicals for the tournament. Because a heart that's not beating is clearly a red flag for any physician. Maybe enthrall the physician to give a clean bill of health and than un-thrall them when they go to sleep. She's going to have to cheat to pass the physical exams anyway, so may as well make it quick and in private. Even if it pains her to temporarily take away their free will.

But first, she needs to focus on studying for her tests for tomorrow.

Author's Footnote: That's the chapter. Yes, the design for the White Fang captain is based off an ADVENT Officer. So... Ruby has blown her cover and now is on the Duke's bad side. The Duke won't let that slide now, would he? I also figured it's been a while since I did a vamp-encyclopedia entry, so there's that. I also had trouble coming up with a name for this chapter. So, what do you guys think of the chapter or the story so far? If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc. Leave them in the reviews and see you next chapter.