A/N: Alright, chapter two, meaning I'll be putting up chapter one this week! Woo! I'm very excited to get into this, it may also give me some excuse to play more Bloodborne… when I'm not digging into Death Stranding… I'm trying to do all the things I planned on today and then I'll reward myself by going to pick it up :)

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these series, nope, not at all.

Ahh...Paleblood…

The Hunter paused to breathe, hand resting on the side of a building as their breath fogged the air outside their mask. The nights seemed colder now, but the Hunter wasn't sure if it was they were actually colder or if their perception was changing… They shook their head, pushing off the wall, staying put was a good way to end up dead, a lesson learned the hard way… They had gone back to Iosefka's clinic, trying to piece together some of the mysteries that had arisen after killing Rom, something that the Hunter was still questioning the morality of. The spider hadn't seemed… overly aggressive on its own, seeming to want little more than to protect itself and its brood. The Hunter smiled beneath their mask, they were starting to sound like Djura, sympathizing with beasts…

Crashing and the sound of fire caught the attention of the Hunter, were the beasts fighting amongst themselves again? They began to work their way forward, toward the noise and heard a mild cursing and raised a brow; most of the angry villagers seemed incapable of any noise lower than a loud shout. They looked down the stairway into the house, trying to get their eyes to adjust only to see a man standing over the body of a scourge beast, breath coming in short pants. As their body blocked the light, the other looked up, the strange wing-like structures rising off the beast's back.

"The line between man and beast is blurred…" the Hunter breathed, remembering the note they'd seen at Byrgenwerth, adjusting their grip on their saw cleaver and preparing to take down this new sort of beast, flicking it out to its full length. The figure raised its hands over its head but whether to unleash something or to surrender, the Hunter was uncertain. It spoke but the Hunter had had their trust betrayed too many times, seen too many things that tried to masquerade as men before showing their beastly nature… They swung at the beast, who blocked with a weapon of their own, the Hunter disengaged and was surprised by the pistol shot that clipped them in the leg. Another blood-drunk hunter? They had time to wonder before the wing-like structure struck them across the face, the taste of crimson splashing across their tongue. They jammed a blood vial into their leg, the taste and smell of the stuff in the air igniting their own bloodlust. They shot up but clearly this beast was clever, it came at them with a ferocity that the Hunter hadn't seen in some time and they were surprised and choked when the bullet tore through their chest…

"Power… I need…" the Hunter managed, thinking of the next time as their mind collapsed into blackness.

-Devil's Hunt-

The Hunter took a deep breath, rising from their position next to the lantern, looking around, getting a sense of their location in the city. It had taken some practice to get over the sense of disorientation that came with waking up in a place that was different from the one in which you had… last closed your eyes. The Hunter found it best not to dwell on the repeated deaths, it was concerning that it was starting to make more and more sense… as though existence need not include death, one simply had to exist on more than one… they shook their head, stop. There was a beast to contend with, it had been some time since a lesser beast had taken them down… the last time had been… unpleasant as well. The memory of the long hair and twitching arms leapt, unbidden to the Hunter's mind as they worked their way back to the house that the beast had been in. They had since moved but the sudden sound of fighting betrayed where they'd gone. The Hunter followed the noise to find the beast in battle with another, flinging it up into the sky with their sword before grabbing it with those strange wing-like things and hurling it back to the ground with a shout.

"And stay down!" the beast flicked the blood from its sword then seemed to notice the Hunter, who was already on the move, trying to take advantage of the beast's weariness. It cursed loudly and sidestepped the attack. The two of them danced and the Hunter couldn't help but think back on Henryk. Despite the man being beyond saving, it had been an exhilarating fight… The beast sidestepped the wrong way and the Hunter caught them in the side with the saw cleaver, it fell to its knees and the Hunter leveled their pistol at their head. Before they could pull the trigger there was a flash of light and a true beast stood before them. It looked different from any beast the Hunter had seen before but they weren't in the mindset to care… The dance continued, but a beast was a beast and the Hunter soon settled a bullet between its eyes. It fell backward and the Hunter sighed, digging in their pouch for a blood vial, hissing as they injected it in their veins, they'd wasted too much on this one fight…

The last thing the Hunter expected however was to be tackled off their feet, they squirmed viciously, snarling and trying to reach their weapons but their hands were solidly pinned by their sides, their head held by a clawed hand. They expected to feel death overcome them but nothing happened, all they could hear was the sound of heavy breathing behind them.

"What the hell is going on here?!" they heard, it was the beast… but it should've been dead… unless…

"Are you seeking the Paleblood as well?" the Hunter asked. There was an extended pause behind them.

"Ahhh… paleblood…? What on earth are you talking about?" the voice said.

"Do you dream?" the Hunter tried, perhaps they hadn't been informed of Paleblood, that it was the key, the escape, but if they still dreamed…

"What?"

A/N: Okay, I'm enjoying this a lot :)

Til next time,

-Winged Element