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Chapter 4: Corruption

Pathetic.

Pathetic was the only thing Weiss could call her target's attempt at struggle. It was honestly embarrassing that this was the creature who managed to stop her in her house. Her skills were untrained, and her fractured emotional state meant knocking her unconscious was as easy as plucking a rose from the ground which was oddly appropriate given the girl's name.

It was unfortunate that she wasn't allowed to turn her victim, but her mistress demanded her target to be human, and so she had to provide. Simple as that.

But to call her situation safe, would be reckless to say the least. Especially during a blood moon. Whatever the case was she needed to get to Ewiger Gletscher sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, that would mean she needed to find a much more secure location than just the forest.

As she began to draw the symbols on the floor, she felt a soft murmur coming from the ground. Looking over to it she noticed her victim had regained consciousness.

"Hush. Don't make me do something you'll regret." She said as she pointed her rapier at the girl who looked up at her.

"Owww, what are you doing? Why am I tied up?"

The vampire scoffed upon hearing the girl's demands but decided to humor them given how there was plenty of time to talk.

"Don't worry you're headed to a rather special place."

"Will there be cookies?"

"What do you think? Of course, there won't be any cookies you dolt!"

"Awww but still, think you can get me out of these bindings? They are pretty tight, and I think my hands are starting to hurt."

On hearing the naïve little girl's words Weiss couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of her words. Who honestly thought that their kidnapper would want to free them of their bindings?

But much to her surprise when she turned around to look back at her target, she saw that her victim had begun to escape which given her speed would've been a problem for the vampire, had it not been for the rose petals she left.

'Alright then, you decided to make things a little more interesting Red. Shame about your semblance betraying you like this though." Said her mistress speaking into her mind, hijacking Weiss's thoughts and mind again. 'Go after her and bring her to Ewiger Gletscher. No distractions.'

Forcing herself to clear her mind, Weiss's thoughts suddenly felt unscrambled as if someone had just cleared up the constant mist in her mind, but her freedom soon subsided as her mistress's words broke the feeling of control and returned her to her obedient state.

Somewhere deep in her mind, she had managed to regain control, even if for a brief second. All she remembered were vague details of eyes glowing like cinders of a flame, a red dress and a green haired companion who befuddled her mind. But soon her thoughts were again taken over as the same singular objective entered the vampire's mind.

Forming a path of glyphs to follow the rose trails, Weiss jumped onto the first glyph and rushed out into the forest.

'Red like Roses.

Red like Roses.'

Were the only thoughts going through Ruby's mind as she ran away from the vampire from before. Seeing just how quickly the vampire was able to move and use Dust to overpower her, Ruby knew she had no chance in a fight against her, leaving only one option. Escape.

Blindly rushing into the forest was hard work however, and soon after, Ruby found herself forced to stop near a time, breathing heavily with exhaustion as she tried to get a feel for the situation around her. Crescent Rose was luckily taken by Ruby during her escape meaning she could at least defend herself.

However, the unusually reddish tint of the moon and sky wasn't helping her nerves. Neither was the constant howling in the night which seemed to be coming closer?

Of course, it was just Ruby's luck that she chose to go out for a walk during a blood moon. She probably should've checked the lunar calendar like her dad always told her to!

Piledriving the scythe blade of Crescent Rose through her bindings, Ruby broke through them and grabbed her scythe, aiming it at the woods, waiting for the wolves to arrive.

The first one came out through the woods snapping its maw in the air, hoping to catch Ruby, only to find a sniper shot going through its head. The second one tried jumping from the trees and managed to dodge Ruby's second shot. But it's failure to understand the predictability of it's lunge led to it getting decapitated by Ruby's scythe which had its silver edge armed.

Ruby didn't enjoy performing such acts against these beasts but her other alternative was death. So, she was just going to have to live with the act.

The next 2 that came however, were much more dangerous. Two werewolves with their fangs and teeth bared at Ruby, inviting the young forger to fight.

Accepting their proposal, Ruby responded with two shots against both the weres. Dodging both, the werewolves took off in opposite directions, aiming to rush towards the young huntress together. Using her semblance, Ruby repositioned and rushed forward to meet the one on the left.

Coming out of her petal burst, swiped at the beast's legs only for it to lunge and catch Ruby to the ground. Again, using her semblance, this time Ruby escaped its clutches and after grabbing hold of Crescent Rose, she placed its blade to the beast's throat and pulled.

Its head came off clean as some of the blood sprayed Ruby's now worn out attire. But there was no time to ponder on that as the second werewolf had long come charging after her, it's huge hulkish frame threatening Ruby as it pounced.

A swift dodge allowed Ruby to land a cleave as she jumped away. The werewolf turned menacingly and dug its claws into the ground. Seeing the wolf prepare to jump, Ruby attempted to dodge, hoping to punish the wolf for its predictability.

However, she was blindsided as the ground beneath her rumbled and sent her tumbling to the floor. Grabbing onto Crescent Rose, Ruby slashed blindly behind her, hoping for one lucky shot. Sadly, she was a second too late and the werewolf was able to slash her in the back once before grabbing her weapon and tossing it like a toy.

Ruby tried to use her semblance again, but this time the werewolf was ready for it and managed to bite onto her ankle as she petal bursted and threw her into the trunk of a tree.

Dazed, Ruby looked up to find the werewolf pouncing on her, her hands shifted to the grass around her as she looked around for her weapon, only to find it out in the field. Ruby closed her eyes as she waited for the wolf's teeth to clamp down on her neck, unable to use her semblance due to her aura being exhausted completely.

But as she felt the wolf's teeth about to clamp down on her throat, she heard a swish and a squish sound.

Opening her eyes, she found only sapphire and crimson eyes looking down at her with an annoyed expression, with a rapier through the beast's head.

"Satisfied with your work? Now come with me unless you want to end up as food for these beasts." said the vampire in the same icy tone.

Suddenly howls of wolves erupted all around them and upon looking around her surroundings, Ruby and her companion were surrounded by werewolves.

"Uncultured beasts. Grab your weapon, we're going to have to fight these things." The vampires said under her breath before creating a glyph that sent Crescent Rose back by Ruby's side.

Apparently, this icy vampire did have a heart inside!

"You know, I expected there was going to be a lot of fighting just not a lot of running." Jaune said, as he ran through the woods with Pyrrha by his side.

Thankfully his vampiric curse did have an upside to it, he didn't get tired at all, unless it was from lack of blood, which is why he made sure to drink up on the blood bag after he left Vale with Pyrrha. He still had a couple more blood bags to go.

Thankfully, the necklace was keeping him in check and made sure he didn't end up biting anyone. Although he still felt the odd twitch or two to gouge someone's throat.

"Well we all don't have speed semblances like Ruby does, some of us actually have to run all the way to our targets. Although maybe some horses may help." Pyrrha replied, a little out of breath herself.

The two had been running for nearly an hour at this point and as such were probably in the mood to take some rest. Hearing footsteps however, Jaune's ears immediately perked up.

"Pyrrha?"

"Yes Jaune?"

"I don't think we're alone in this forest." Jaune replied, making Pyrrha draw her weapon in anticipation.

"Did you hear something?" Pyrrha asked.

"In the trees, I'm hearing something running along them." Jaune relayed, as he pinpointed the location to the tree branch in front of them.

Aiming her rifle at the tree branches, Pyrrha activated her infrared scope and aimed into the canopy. Her scope found three werewolves looking down at Jaune and Pyrrha. Taking the shot almost immediately, her silver bullets managed to catch one of the weres in the heart, making it drop to the floor, dead.

The other two jumped down immediately and brought its claws down on Pyrrha. Blocking the attack with her shield, she slashed the beast's arm off, making it howl with pain as the gold on Pyrrha's weapon also burned the beast.

The second one came up behind her, but before she could even react, Jaune bashed the wolf with his shield. His efforts immediately backfired though as he was thrown into the trunk of a tree. Instinctively bringing up his sword, he managed to rip through some of the were's hide but was unable to do much damage to it.

The were attempted to bite Jaune in the neck, only for him to duck under its jaws and roll under it. Grabbing his shield on the ground, he raised it against the wolf who managed to remove his jaws from the trunk. Managing to block the initial push, he was pushed back.

In response, Jaune took out the werewolves' feet from under him, using his shield and jumped back. Only to bump into the other werewolf who picked him up like a toy and threw him onto the branch of a tree.

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha cried out as Jaune was suddenly impaled through the chest by a wooden branch.

Enraged, Pyrrha cut off the werewolf's other arm before plunging her blade into the beast's heart, making it fall to the floor as it's burning heart finally extinguished its soul.

However the other werewolf, was still active in the fight and Jaune looked in horror as the werewolf in a blind rage knocked away Pyrrha's weapon and shields with blinding speed and suddenly pinned her to the floor, aiming to crush her throat with its fangs.

Jaune struggled against the branch he was on, desperately trying to break the branch. In his desperate struggle however, the clasp of his necklace broke, and his bloodlust was released. With a roar of pain, Jaune winched the branch off the werewolf and jumped down, landing on the werewolf's back and gave it a taste of its own medicine.

Latching his fangs into the werewolf's neck, Jaune drained the beast of most of its blood, his bloodlust only sated when he felt the werewolf's pulse begin to wane. Jaune jumped off the beast's back retrieving his sword and after stabbing its knee and slashing across it's back, he attempted to behead the werewolf.

But the Bloodlust affected both creatures and as such, Jaune's sword was blocked by the werewolf's hand and was clawed in the cheek and the chest before being kicked away into a tree.

But this time, Pyrrha had recovered enough of her aura to recall her shield which crashed against the beast's head, stunning it long enough for Pyrrha to also retrieve her sword and behead it, ending the fight.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked nervously, as she looked over to Jaune, realizing the full weight of his actions.

"The necklace broke. Luckily, I got enough blood from that wolf to not need anymore for at least an hour." He said, as he sat down by the trunk.

"Jaune, I'm sorry." Pyrrha said as she rubbed Jaune's back.

"Don't be, I made my choice. Honestly, I'm fine with being a vampire for the rest of my life, I just have to be nocturnal, make sure I go to Ren and Nora who are really nice people some days." He replied to Pyrrha, hiding his pain at now fully losing his humanity.

Pyrrha however quickly saw through Jaune's tone. The true pain he was hiding at his disappointment.

"Jaune. What's going through your mind?" Pyrrha asked, making him sigh deeply.

"You wouldn't understand Pyrrha."

"This is the same thing that's gotten Ruby in trouble! I know something's bothering you. Please let me try to help."

Taking a deep breath, he finally broke the silence.

"I guess I'm just scared. I'm losing my humanity for good after all. I'm now just a soulless bloodsucking monster." Jaune said.

"Jaune, the soul arises from the body, but it isn't defined by it. It doesn't matter what you are, as long as you live true to yourself, you can never be soulless. And do you really think a bloodsucking monster would care about saving someone." Pyrrha said, comforting the weary vampire.

"Thank you. But why do you care so much?" Jaune asked, with a faint smile.

"I… I see something different in you. When we first met, I thought you were just a simple vampire trying to suck the blood out of a child. After getting to know you however, I can see you're so much more than that. You care far more for the people around you than you do yourself and despite you not being… the most cut out for being a hunter, you still try your hardest. How can I not see something special in that?" Pyrrha said, as she held Jaune's hands in her own.

"But plenty of people try their hardest, even Ruby does, what's so different about me?"Jaune asked.

"Ruby's determined because that's something she wanted out of the deepest desire of her heart. You do it not because you feel the need to be a Huntsman, but because you care more for the people around you. You do this because you want to protect people. Not because you find some higher calling but just to because you want to be a good man. That's what makes you different, that's why I care so much about you." Pyrrha explained, comforting both of them. "That and you're quite funny and just a joy to be around."

"Well I try." Jaune replied with a genuine smile.

Suddenly both of them heard a distant howling from the woods.

"There's an entire pack of werewolves further out in the woods! And a human and a vampire?"Jaune said, as he recognized the howling as more threats

"Ruby's scroll is leading towards the woods as well." Pyrrha said, as she pinged her scroll off Ruby's finding her location.

"Come on Pyrrha let's go! Ruby's stuck between a pack of werewolves and a vampire!" Jaune said, as he realized just how much danger Ruby was in.

Grabbing Pyrrha's hand and helping her up, Jaune rushed towards the forest with Pyrrha by his side, ready to meet the monsters that dared to threaten Pyrrha's friend with their combined strength.

A/N: I dunno how many of you were expecting Jaune to stay a vampire but now there's no hope of him staying human. Ah well, also Ice Queen's not a baddy just under the influence of one. Whoever guesses it get's a cookie from the cookie gods! Hope you all enjoy this chapter and Keep Moving Forward!