Hey everyone!
Quick author's note: In this new chapter, we follow through the footsteps of two very different, yet enticingly similar characters: Vladzotz himself, and a brand new character to this story, Lucy Sang. She's been hinted at a few times before, but now you're finally gonna get to meet her.
Lucy is not of my own creation, as a matter of fact, so I would like to give a big ol' thanks to my good friends Mind Jack and Berserker88 for introducing me to this character of theirs! She makes an appearance in their collaborative story, Born to be Wilde! If you like fulfilling crime stories with lovable characters and an intriguing plot, then do take the time to check out their work! I know that I sure love it!
That being said, do allow me quickly to explain the premise/plot of this new bonus chapter: For starters, ever since the release of the previous chapter, much to my surprise, quite a few of you begun to PM me, asking who this aforementioned 'other bat' exactly is, and just what her relationship is with Vladzotz. This latest bonus chapter of ours is the first installment in a short series of four "bonus chapters" that I have planned out, each of which details the relationship between these two characters through a series of flashbacks. Not only that, but in the future, you will be sure to find that Lucy plays a big role in several important plot points of this story, and grows even more, along with Vlad. You'll see. All these bonus chapters are fairly important, so I recommend you read them. This first one details how Vladzotz and Lucy first met, and will be followed up by others building-up their relationship.
Lastly, do keep in mind that this first one shot of ours takes place roughly a year before the events of Vladzotz and Nick meeting once again back in arc 3.
Enjoy...
"I feel so helpless because love can be so cruel." - Beverley Knight
Nothing better than another day of pilfering from the good citizens of Zootopia.
Lucy Sang has always had the black-beating heart of a thief. She adored the anticipation of the planning, the thrill of the heist itself, and relished in the rewards acquired.
The female bat's track record had exceeded countless valuables over the years, and she had no intention of stopping anytime soon. To her, there was very little that exceeded the excitement that she obtained with pulling off the perfect theft, whether it was derived from a nigh-priceless painting from an art museum, or something as simple as a cookie from a cookie jar.
There were plenty of mammals and shadowy organizations alike that had much use involving freelance for a hired fang such as herself, be it for grand larceny, assassination attempts, or heist planning. Her small size had never been a problem in her own eyes - She had long since mastered the arts of deception, thievery, and even physical combat. The bat took every given opportunity to her advantage, so when the prospect of yet another heist reached her ears, she was more than happy to partake.
Lucy Sang had stolen her way across nearly every inch of Zootopia. There were very few places, secure or public, that hadn't held witness to her likeness before, yet her most recent adventure would take her to the plumbless depths of the Nocturnal-District, where she intended on acquiring all sorts of new hidden treasures from the home of the district's most notorious criminal figurehead, Vladzotz Fangpyre III, who held residence in a large mansion near one of the neighborhoods at the far corner of the region, quite a ways away from the nearest public space. It was the perfect place for a heist.
She had been to the Nocturnal-District many times before, and being a vampire bat herself, was quite prone to spending her free time there, as the darkness of the underground provided a much more lenient sensation upon her eyes than the searing sun-light on the surface world, where her species was at the mercy of an addled visage among other watered-down senses, due to the drastic differences in climate and geography of the two corresponding regions.
The Nocturnal-District itself was one, massive cavern lain beneath a billion tons of rock and metal. The underground cave was huge, and lined with thousands, if not millions of sharpened stalactites clinging to the cavern ceiling, and stalagmites sprouting from the muddy, rocky ground. Light-lit roads swirled around on the cavern floor, some even snaking around the bases of the massive stalactites, some of which had beacons and other sources of light crowned on their pointed tips.
Watery streams and other cenotes pooled in the lower parts of the cavern's floor, where buildings made of rock and stone were erected; Entire neighborhoods built from the very ground beneath their feet, and above their heads. Factories, mining facilities, warehouses, and entire insect farms were situated on the outskirts of the district, farther off from the hustle and bustle of the public areas. In the district's center, Gothic skyscrapers pointed toward the cavern ceiling like stalagmites.
Strange, bioluminescent plants bloomed along the narrow and winding streets and side-walks, and dotting across the ceiling of the cavern, millions, if not billions of glow-worms clung to the rocky roof and stalactites, creating a scene that looked almost like the night sky on the surface, except far brighter and more colorful, with the soothing blue light emitted from the worms raining down upon the district below, where it reflected off of chunks of crystal lain within the very rock of the district itself, creating a swirling miasma of kaleidoscope-esque colors and scenery, and providing ample visage for even the most sunlight-attuned of mammals to see down in the darkness of the district.
Despite common assumptions and beliefs on the surface from those too stubborn to believe otherwise, the Nocturnal-District itself was a surprisingly bright and colorful place.
Aside from the delicate amounts of blue light that the glow worms themselves gave off, they also happened to create glowing lavender vines of slime, which they dangled in webs from the cavern's surface, intent on capturing passing insects to devour, with some of the strands so thick and strong that they could have easily been swung from one to another, assuming that you didn't get stuck, that was. Farther down below, large, pool-like deposits were carved into the bedrock to allow the worm's secretions to be stored.
As sightly as the Nocturnal-District was, it was simply nothing that Lucy herself hadn't seen before, though.
Fluttering down from her previous perch, Lucy surveyed from her hiding spot on the cavern roof: She had been carefully and quietly watching her hunting ground from above, intent on learning all that she could of its landscape and layout, especially in the hopes of if she needed to make a quick escape from the premises.
As she swiftly flapped down from her watch-point, she couldn't help but notice her shimmering reflection mirrored onto the side of a nearby crystal embedded in the cavern ceiling; A large, light purple amethyst almost as big as herself, in fact. Momentarily pausing to examine the mirrored projection of herself, Lucy ceased her flapping as she clung to the side of the crystal, opened her mouth and picked at the base of one of her needle-like fangs before eyeing up and down the rest of her own body.
She was dressed in her usual criminalistic attire, which consisted of nothing more than a skintight, jet-black jumpsuit stretched over her hourglass shaped frame, save for her bony wings, which needed the extra mobility for aerial usage and flight. Sleeves were practically non-existent in vampire bat clothing. Large ears protruded from the top of Lucy's head, and a pair of jade green eyes drew her attention, enamoring the female bat with a sense of individuality and pride.
She shook her head. No time to be distracted by shiny objects! There was work to be done!
Down below, she could clearly see her target, the manor of the bat-lord Vladzotz, and the property that surrounded it. For about a quarter-mile radius around the center point that was the mansion itself, there was nothing to behold but blackened rock and charred boulders, the remnants of old homes that had been destroyed by some fire.
The mansion itself was very large, dark, and brooding - It emitted a strong aura of authority and power. It was built of black brick and dark purple wood, with spiraling towers jutting out from the corners of the building, complete with colorful stained-glass windows of yellow, blue, and red; Each one centered with the harsh shape of a black bat, which seemed to suck away from the surrounding colors of the window like a black hole. Stone gargoyles carved into the forms of bats and claws lined the edges of the roof. Dotted around the property, fences of sharpened metal, and black, scraggly old trees trying to grow in the dim light of the glow-worms from above created a sort of natural wall separating the mansion itself from the surrounding neighborhoods and other properties that were dotted across the Nocturnal-District. It was an edgy loner's paradise.
Though never having met or even seen the owner of the manor and its territory, Lucy was quite familiar with the rumors that surrounded him and his work. She had been told that the bat himself, Vladzotz Fangpyre, was among the most notorious and powerful criminals in the entire city, with much of the Nocturnal-District's criminal underworld grasped tightly in his iron grip of power and influence, much like Mr. Big controlled the same aspects of Tundra-Town's own seedy criminal underbelly. Such prominent and dominant criminal figure-heads had been dubbed as crime-lords by the Zootopia Police Department; With a single one placed at the forefront of each of the city's respective main districts, Vlad being at the top of the food-chain in the Nocturnal-District, where he controlled nearly every inch of organized crime in the entire region.
That fact alone was enough for Lucy to emit some shred of respect towards his likeness. She had to admit that the thought of striking a deal with a mammal as powerful as crime-lord would hold much favorability for her track-record. For most of her life as a professional thief-for-hire, she'd done whatever jobs came her way, be it as simple as eavesdropping, or as complex as pulling off a jewel heist, but the idea of working alongside a full-fledged crime-lord... Now that was compelling!
She snickered to herself. It still wasn't enough to keep her from breaking into his home though, apparently!
Smiling to herself as she flapped down from her surveying point and landed on one of the manor's multiple chimneys, the female bat gripped the edges of the bricks between her clawed fingertips and begun to scale the length of the imposing structure, her talons digging into the little nooks and cracks between the blackened bricks.
Upon reaching the top, she peered over the edge of the chute and looked down into the depths of the chimney. On top of the shadowy visage, the bricks themselves were midnight black in coloration, making it nearly impossible for even her to see down the chimney's length. Preferring not to clamber down the hole and get herself dirty with soot and ash, she instead clicked her jaws together and activated her sense of echolocation, carefully listening for the reverberating sound-waves to return to her sensitive ears.
As the coming waves of sound ricocheted off down the walls of the chimney, she listened closely, soon detecting the outline of some barred, metal structure at bottom of the chimney - Some sort of barrier that allowed the smoke to escape, but prevented anything else from slipping inside.
"Drat." She quietly cursed to herself as she stepped away from the chimney, intent on finding another way into the house. "Guy must've really thought of all the loose ends."
Beating her leathery wings down and carrying her weight from atop the peak of the chimney, Lucy landed softly on the black-colored shingles that lined themselves across the roof of the house. Despite her small size and stature, she was careful not to cause too much of a ruckus - She had no intention on being detected during her intrusion into the house's interior, especially since the manor's master was a bat as well, whom likely shared her own very acute sense of hearing, not to mention echolocation abilities.
Still, she knew the risks of breaking into his house. In the past, she'd heard rumors placing Vladzotz to be a horribly ruthless mammal, having killed countless petty criminals, brigands, whistle-blowers, police officers, and government officials through the power of his mob. Usually by drinking them dry, or burning them alive, for some odd reason. The bat-lord's rather peculiar fascination with fire didn't stop there, apparently - Lucy had also heard tales that the crime-lord had lain the entire neighborhood that once surrounded his home to ashes in retaliation of someone else trying to burn his own home down, some few years past.
Judging by the blackened patches of rubble and ruin surrounding the property, it was apparent to the female bat that those rumors were actually true.
Despite the dangers, Lucy wanted to break into Vladzotz's house for more than just the prospect of acquiring some loot. Being the prideful and exploitative young bat that she was, she also simply hoped for some sort of challenge to accompany the opportunity in the first place. It wasn't infrequent for her to find herself breaking into other mammal's homes just for the pure thrill of it, sometimes not even taking anything of significant value after departing from the scene. It was just a simple habit.
Lucy wasn't sure just what exactly she would find here in the bat's manor, but at the very least, she wanted the personal achievement of breaking into a crime-lord's home.
Creeping silently along the length of the roof, she eventually found herself on the complete opposite edge of the building, where she jumped off of the gutter and flapped down to one of the nearby stained-glass windows, examining the many bright and colorful shards of glass. Biting her tongue deliberately between her teeth, the female bat carefully traced a circle along the edge of the window with her glossy black claws, leaving blank cicatrix marks in their wake. She then pushed lightly against the glass frame with her clawed feet, gripping the edge of the shard with her toes as she slipped inside the building without a single sound.
Lucy expertly fluttered down to the floor, carefully set down the ring of glass that she had carved, and then took in the sight of her new environment.
The walls that surrounded her were lined with old, crinkled-looking purple wall-paper, with mesmerizing swirls lain into the material itself. The female bat's eyes widened at the sight of different paintings hung along the length of the hallway that she had just now broken into; Many of seemingly moot objects, such as fruit, sunsets, and bones.
A bat of the fine arts, I see. Nice... She thought to herself.
Lucy herself was a fan of the fine-arts as well. Having indulged in the creation of her very own paintings, fashioned almost exclusively from the blood of her feeding victims - She had a very indulgent love of blood, to say the least, and wasn't shy from occasionally attacking a rodent in the dead of night, during her spare time. Most vampire bat civilians got their fill from hospital donations ordered by the city-government, but Lucy still preferred the thrill of the hunt, especially with mammals smaller than herself, like mice, as she found it amusing to watch them struggle, and could often suck them dry in a few gulps like a juice-box. Likewise, she had also heard rumors that Vladzotz and his Nocturnal-Mob drained the blood from the bodies of their victims, such as snooping reporters or rival gang members. Lucy could appreciate the shared interest.
Nodding her head in approval, Lucy continued down the length of the darkened hallway, careful to stick to the edges of the walls just in case she needed to make a quick escape into one of the many rooms that were lined throughout the hallway and its equally ridiculous amount of branching corridors. It was a big mansion. Once or twice she had to briefly slip into a room to hide as a passing mobster walked by, or a voice in the distance got a little too close for comfort, but so far, she was met with no resistance.
Soon enough, the female bat found herself detecting a strange, yet soothing slew of reverberating sounds, of which emanated from somewhere deeper in the heart of the manor itself. Organ music, she deduced it to be. The deep, resonating notes that sent strong ripples throughout the framework of the house, and the powerful chords that caused her eyes to rattle in their sockets gave the identity of the instrument away to her quite easily.
As she continued sneaking around through the depths of the mansion, the music only continued on. Despite her efforts to distance herself from it, it only seemed to grow louder and more powerful with each step that she put forward. The interior of the manor was a winding maze of hallways, corridors, and rooms that even her echolocation had trouble navigating through!
The hallway eventually led to a set of double spiral staircases, which she fluttered down from the balcony between, and then entered (Surprise surprise) yet another long, dark hallway, the only difference this time being that the space itself was a tad bit thicker than the previous one that she had navigated her way through just upstairs.
Reasoning that the organ and its performer were down the length of this specific hall, she compelled herself to avoid it in fervid caution of being caught, but for some reason, she found herself inching ever closer towards the source of the organ music: She wasn't sure why, but she reckoned that whatever was at the end of that hallway held secrets that few had ever seen before.
Lucy Sang knew that aside from physical items, knowledge itself could also be valuable. The female bat was no stranger to blackmail, and although it wasn't her favored method of criminal activity, had delved in the art of extortion many times before in the past. If there was something valuable at the end of this hallway, even if it was in the form of something that couldn't be touched, she would gladly add it to her pilfered collection.
One step after another brought her closer and closer to a set of massive double-doors at the end of the hallway. The wood was lined with strange shapes, but in the middle of the doors, split in half by the line between them, was the crooked shape of a vampire bat - The same shape that had adorned the stained-glass windows outside. It must have been some sort of family symbol for the Nocturnal-Mob; the criminal organization that operated out of this manor.
Despite being much much closer to the source of the powerful organ music, which she reasoned was just behind the set of doors in front of her, the tone of the notes had gradually lowered and lowered, with the harsh, erratic chords like the pulse of a beating heart, melting into sad, somber, and drawn-out notes of a lighter intensity.
It was a much sleepier tune - So effective that Lucy began to feel her own eyelids droop as the sweet sounding music filled her ears. Shaking her head from side to side, the vampire bat forced herself to focus on the task ahead of her. Thankfully, the doors had a slight crack in them, granting her easy access into the following room. Upon setting foot inside, Lucy marveled at the sight of it.
The room was very big: Far larger than anything else that she had yet to encounter, at the very least. Thick, black-marble columns flanked on either sides of the room, which led up to the very center of the opposing wall, where one, massive organ stood as the focal point of the entire room. Towering brass pipes rose dozens of feet into the air, where they nearly reached the ceiling. The organ's pipes and tubes connected to a large wooden mantle, which was lined with three rows of ivory white and black keyboards, extending wide in a semi-circle. The wooden trunk of the organ was etched with smooth and undulating designs, extending outward almost like bat wings.
Sitting atop a stool in the center of it all, a middle-aged vampire bat was at the mercy of the massive organ, which dwarfed him in comparison. The bat's outfit consisted of a midnight-black vest and slacks, with a blood red bow-tie wrapped around his throat and a sleeveless white undershirt beneath even that. He seemed to be about a head taller than Lucy, with darker fur and stronger wings. His large wings were folded neatly against his arms, and his long, skeletal fingers tapped delicately against the many keys of the organ, each point of contact enticing a long, slow note to emanate from within the frame, where it exited through the towering brass pipes and filled the room with music.
Lucy recognized him to be Vladzotz Fangpyre himself. Narrowing her eyes, Lucy slowly and carefully crept closer to the bat, making sure to stay on his blind side to prevent detection. The song had slowed down substantially, and as Lucy neared ever closer to the base of the massive organ, she tilted her head to the side as she watched Vladzotz's fuzzy head slump broodingly upon the conclusion of one final, drawn out note, before the finger that had pressed it fell fell limp at his side, and he ceased to move.
Lucy stood still to the count of ten, the only sound in the entire room being her own heartbeat and breathing, her chest delicately rising and falling with each passing second.
Steeling her resolve, the female bat inched forward until she was nearly parallel with the frame of the organ, giving her a full view of the bat that played upon it. His angular face was drooped, and his expression relaxed. Vladzotz's eyelids were closed shut, and his chin rested against his own chest. He was sound asleep.
A maniacal grin played across her lips, and Lucy had to try really hard not to bust-out laughing. This would be too easy!
Smiling wide, she contemplated the prospect of attempting to pick-pocket the dozing bat, but quickly decided against it, since the act had the hazardous potential of awakening him from his slumber. Enveloped by curiosity, she fluttered up to the comparatively gargantuan organ and hovered above it, flapping her wings again and again, yet careful not to accidentally press one of the sensitive keys, or to unintentionally brush against Vladzotz, whom had started to snore softly from deep within his throat.
A shimmering glimmer caught her eye, and when she glanced over to its source, she had to keep herself from gasping aloud.
Lying against the boarded frame of the organ's surface, a metal, oval-shaped amulet rested against the wooden stand, directly where the music sheets would have been held, if there were any. The amulet's surface was very shiny, and glimmered even in the dim light of the room. Tilting her head to the side, she carefully maneuvered herself over to the item, which she swiped from the surface of the organ before flapping away quickly and landing a couple feet away.
Examining the amulet between her talons, the female bat's jade-colored eyes widened in sudden realization: The amulet was made completely out of pure silver!
Ooo, I could probably fetch a good price for this thing! So shiny! She thought to herself, smiling all the while.
Fiddling around with the object for a few more seconds, Lucy unintentionally pressed something on the side of the oval-shaped pendant, enticing a light clicking noise, and causing the amulet's center-piece to swing open delicately like a tiny door. Tugging slightly on the lid of the amulet, she was mere moments away from revealing whatever was inside when a brief blur of movement in her peripheral vision caused the thief to turn around just in time to catch the sight of Vladzotz's upper body falling forward, causing the male bat to face-plant into the keys of the organ and a myriad of messy notes to fill the room.
DRRRONG!
Vladzotz instantly shot up, awakening from his slumber wand beginning
The instant that the adrenaline had left him, the male bat swiveled his head around as if looking for something: It took Lucy a moment too late to realize that he was looking for his amulet. Beating down his powerful wings a single time, the larger bat raised himself into the air and away from the stool before plummeting back to the ground, this time landing on his feet. He swiftly scanned over the entire set of the organ, soon turning around and spotting the smaller-sized vampire bat, who held his amulet between her two wings.
His eyes narrowed in suspicion, but held a surprising lack of shock. "Who-Are-You?" Vladzotz questioned slowly, his eyes narrowing as he glared down at Lucy.
The female bat smiled sheepishly and tried hiding the silver-coated treasure behind her back. Staring up at a now awakened Vladzotz, she was able to admire the angle of his jaw, and the deep red of his irises, like spilt blood. Lucy couldn't deny that he was a handsome bat, but she didn't let that fact interfere with her desire to trick him.
"To know me, is to hate me..." She stated simply, to which Vladzotz jerked his head back in confusion. "I-I am blood painter!"
"Who are you?" The male bat repeated, his head tilted slightly to the side.
Smiling wide to herself, Lucy took the opportunity to berate the larger bat before her departure. She needed a plan, and hoped to stall Vlad while she thought of one.
"I am over the ground, yet under the sky! I am she who flies unseen!" Lucy stated cheerfully, hoping that her riddles of introduction would catch her counterpart off guard.
"Interesting." Vladzotz mumbled, clearly amused by the female bat's attempts at stalling. "And just what else do you claim to be?"
"I am Night-Flier, and Blood-Drinker, and, uh..."
"Lovely titles." The male bat muttered beneath his breath, curiously sniffing the air around Lucy. "Go on."
"Window-Slicer!" Lucy concluded, causing Vladzotz to chuckle.
"Now that is interesting! But might I ask why exactly you have my locket behind your back, Window-Slicer?!" He growled mockingly, taking a single, large step forward.
"I-I came not to steal, oh, Vladzotz the tyrannical, but only to gaze upon thine hallowed halls of your magnificent lair!"
"Do you think flattery will keep you alive?" The male bat interjected, his tone deadly and unwavering, and his muzzle positioned just inches away from Lucy's.
"No, but I bet this will!"
Lucy then spat directly into Vladzotz's blood red eyes, causing the larger bat to reel back in disgust and surprise, his wings flying to his face to wipe away the saliva coating his muzzle. Meanwhile, the female bat had turned tail and fled, all the while cackling in amusement. She quickly slipped the amulet into her skintight bodysuit before zipping it back up and freeing her wings and using them to beat down hard, hurriedly flapping away from the scene of the crime.
There wasn't very much of a doubt in her mind as to whether or not she should have fought or fled: In nearly any other given situation, her night-vision and echolocation abilities would have rendered her a far greater threat, but unfortunately for her, the other bat had the very same abilities as well, evening the playing field. That was where the equilibrium between the two creatures stopped, however - Being a male bat, Vladzotz was larger and undoubtedly far stronger than herself, which coupled with his very own darkness-oriented abilities, would have rendered any fight between the two of them quite one sided, to say the least.
Just as she exited the hallway leading up to the room where she had found Vladzotz and his locket, Lucy heard a horrific, blood-curdling screech of rage emanate from somewhere behind her. It sounded a lot closer than she would have personally preferred. Sparing a brief glance over her shoulder as she flew up towards the balcony on the second floor, she spotted an enraged Vladzotz tailing shortly some thirty feet behind her, his teeth bared and red eyes burning with anger.
Just before passing out of sight to the second floor, Lucy stuck her tongue out at the male bat from between her lips, and cackled at the brief sight of his expression growing even more menacing in response to her persistent taunting and teasing. Vladzotz growled as he beat down his wings and tried to close the distance even further.
"Catch me if ya can!" The female bat hollered back at him.
Passing over the wooden railing, the female bat glided as quickly as she could down the length of the hallway, purposefully knocking over pictures and other decorations along the way both in an attempt to slow down Vladzotz and to purposefully provoke him. From behind, she heard his enraged shrieks, which only further motivated the female bat to escape as quickly as she could manage. The last thing she wanted was to be captured by her adversary - Such a scenario likely wouldn't end well for her.
Spotting the window that she had broken in through earlier at the very end of the hallway, Lucy tucked in her wings tightly against her body and slipped straight through the opening in the stained-glass window, her lithe body free of any contact with the sharp glass. Smiling to herself, the female bat momentarily thought herself to be home-free, thinking that there was no way that Vladzotz could or would follow her. She was a fair bit smaller than him, and there was no way he'd be able to sail through the window.
Milliseconds later, she was proved horribly wrong.
Crashing straight through the stained glass window, which erupted in a shower of colorful shards, Vladzotz laughed maniacally, his fur dotted with pieces of broken glass.
"Guano!" Lucy stifled, quickly turning around flapping away, her heart beating rapidly against the walls of her rib-cage. "Gotta go!"
In all her years of thievery and deception, there had been relatively few times where she had actually had to flee from her opponents, and none in a way as frantic as this.
It was definitely a first.
However, there was one single thing that was working in her favor: Being the smaller of the two bats, Lucy was much faster and more agile than Vladzotz. Even as she hastily flapped away, with Vladzotz following shortly behind, she could tell that each passing second only put even more distance between the two of them. She knew that she couldn't hold out forever, though.
Down below, she could see the landscape of the Nocturnal-District as it passed by, the many hundreds of rocky buildings that dotted the region whirling through her field of vision. Inside her oil-colored jump-suit, she could feel the smooth, cool surface of the locket as it pressed itself against her breast, snug and secure despite all of her swift maneuvering and aerial stunts. Stealing another brief glance behind her, Lucy took note of how Vladzotz had increased his speed substantially... No, it was her that was slowing down! If she had to keep up flying with her current speed for any longer, then she would surely fall victim to the male bat's wrath.
She needed a way to lose him for good... But how?
Realizing that she had no time to waste, Lucy Sang folded her wings against her body and dipped down, plummeting towards the rocky ground below. Chirping in echolocation a single time as she fell downward, the reverberating sound waves soon returned to her waiting ears. From them, she reasoned that the ground was rapidly approaching, nearing just a few dozen more feet, and that Vladzotz was some twenty yards behind her, performing the very same move in an attempt to catch up to her.
Some dozen feet from impact with the ground, Lucy harshly shot her leathery wings out to the side and pushed against the air, causing her to curve away and begin to glide parallel to the ground below her. Briefly looking back behind her, she growled in frustration as she watched Vladzotz repeat the very same maneuver that she had, his larger form now drastically sped up due to the momentum that he had achieved from the sloping plunge just a few seconds earlier. Lucy gulped, recognizing her mistake.
Turning hastily to her right, Lucy arced her flight path as she glided lower and lower to the ground until she was hovering just a few short feet over the narrow and winding streets of the Nocturnal-District, weaving around rows of cars and other vehicles in an attempt to lose her pursuer.
Just barely dodging the heaping back end of an eighteen-wheeler, Lucy corkscrewed in mid-air so as to momentarily capture a glimpse of her pursuer. Sure enough, Vladzotz was still flying strong, his movements and reactions just as quick as her own. His fur was still covered in a few pieces of colored glass, but otherwise, he looked fine.
"This guy really doesn't know when to quit, does he?" She growled.
Lucy was only growing more tired by the second. She needed a new plan, and she needed it immediately.
Growling to herself, she performed another mid-air cork-screw to steal a look at Vladzotz, who was showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, even as she bobbed and weaved her way around stalagmites, bill-boards, cars, and entire buildings. Just before leveling herself out, Lucy's jade-colored eyes noticed what she at first thought was the starry night sky, but in reality, was nothing more than the sea of glow-worms - Millions upon millions of fluorescent blue bugs clinging to the ceiling of the Nocturnal-District.
Glow-worms... Glow-worms. Wait, that's it! Glow-worms! Haha! She mused.
Smiling to herself, Lucy Sang beat her wings down harder, this time shooting upwards towards the cavern ceiling, flapping her wings again and again as she closed the distance between herself and the thick tendrils of glow-worm slime that dangled down loosely from the roof of the Nocturnal-District. Upon nearing the base of the disgusting vines, Lucy whirled around and took heed of Vladzotz, who was charging straight for her, his fangs bared menacingly and his talons outstretched, ready to sink into his waiting prey.
The female bat smirked, and right when Vladzotz was about to collide with her smaller form, she quickly darted out of the way, making sure to fold in her wings and duck her head in to make herself as small of target as physically possible. Her ears twitched at the sound of the male bat as he flew directly past her, his shouts of anger suddenly morphing into a rattling yell of surprise, of which was soon followed by a sickening splat sort of sound, like dropping a sack of bricks into a pool of maple syrup.
Turning around and eyeing the fruits of her labors, Lucy giggled audibly at the sight of Vladzotz hopelessly entangled right-side up in the thick-blue strands of glow-worm slime, struggling about as he tried to free himself from his gooey prison, yet to no avail. Flapping around harshly while growling in anger, the bat managed to tear one of his wings away from the sticky vines, only to immediately immobilize it once again after coming into contact with even more strands of slimy goop.
Vladzotz thrashed around for a short period of time before tiring out and relaxing his entire body, going limp as he hung from the vines, his dark gray fur caked with bits of slime and dirt, causing clumps of his fur to stick together in messy chunks. He seemed to have finally exhausted himself from all the strong movements.
"Haha! That was easy! So easy!" Lucy cackled, fluttering a bit closer to Vlad, who lunged out in an attempt to grab her, causing the female to back away a bit. "Woah there!"
"Window-Slicer! Blood-Painter! Night-Flier! You despicable little wretch!" The male bat hissed in anger. "Come closer so that I can rend you into tiny pieces!"
"Oh, I don't think so, Vladdy!" She retorted, causing her male counterpart to visibly seize up in surprise. "Yeah, that's right! I know who you are!"
"What?! You do?!"
"Yup! I also know how useful glow-worms can be now! Never would've guessed their slime was strong enough to hold you - I was just shootin' in the dark!"
The female bat reached over to Vladzotz's forearm, where one of the slimy glow-worm larvae was crawling up the length of his outstretched and immobilized wing. She plucked up the glowing creature before popping it into her mouth and swallowing it whole and alive, the soothing blue light visible as it traveled down her throat, bound for her stomach.
"They also taste pretty good, too!" She claimed, licking her lips hungrily.
"Who are you?" Vladzotz questioned angrily for the third time. "And why do you humiliate me so?"
Lucy smiled devilishly and flapped around to the male bat's opposing side, out of his field of view. "No reason! It's just fun to make other mammals squirm." She claimed darkly.
Grunting aloud, the female bat landed on Vladzotz's back, where she clung to his vest before clambering around to his shoulders, positioning herself right next to his neck.
"Get off of me, you devious trickster!" He demanded.
"Hmm... To answer your other question, allow me to introduce myself: My name is Lucy! Lucy Sang! It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Fangpyre!"
She stuck out her wing towards Vladzotz's in an attempt to shake it, but the male bat instead swatted her arm away from him with his own.
"Release me, you deceitful wench!" He demanded. "Release me so that I can rip you to shreds!"
"Well that's not very nice!" The female bat retorted. "Don't think that I'm gonna bother helping you outta there with a tone like that, Mister!"
Vladzotz growled and cursed her out some more, each insult flowing off of the female bat's ears without any real sort of traction - She was used to being reviled by others.
"Heh... I still can't believe that you actually fell for my lil' trap!" Lucy stated, knocking Vlad on the back of the head with her knuckles.
"Who are you to dare challenge me?" Vladzotz snarled.
"Oh, just drop the tough-guy attitude, Vladdy. You're just embarrassing yourself now." She giggled audibly. "You went through so much just to fail miserably! And for what?"
She unzipped the front of her body-suit and dipped two of her clawed finger-tips inside, pulling out the silver-coated amulet by its beaded chain before zipping up her suit again.
"For this thing? Ha! What is it, anyways?" Lucy asked breathily, twisting the amulet around in her talons before bringing it to her face and gnawing on its metallic surface.
Vladzotz growled audibly, yet failed to intimidate the smaller bat perched on his back.
"What ish et sheposed teh be?" The female bat inquired once again with a mouthful of metal.
"Stop-Biting-It!" The male bat demanded, hissing each word in singular emphasis, causing Lucy to remove the item from between her jaws, smiling slyly.
"So you do care about it, don't you?" She snickered. "Well, if it wasn't obvious enough already. You practically chased me across the whole district just for this thing!"
"It is not just some...thing!" Vladzotz corrected angrily. "It is a token of memory! An object of immeasurable value to me!"
"Immeasurable, huh? I like that!" Lucy claimed, fiddling around some more with the amulet. "What's inside it? Tell me your secrets, shiny treasure!"
After a few seconds of thumbing over the item, the female bat unintentionally clicked over the minuscule button on the side, causing the pendant to pop open like a tiny lid.
"There we go! Now, to see what treasure lies within!" She mused, carefully opening the pendant and staring inside.
She frowned. "What is this? It's just some piece of old paper!" Lucy grumbled disappointingly.
"No! It's more than that." Vladzotz snarled broodingly. "Look closer, you inconsiderate heathen!"
"Alright, alright! Gees!"
Sparing another glance into the locket, this time, Lucy was able to make out the fact that the piece of paper was actually an old photograph of a family of four rather regally-dressed vampire bats, including the likes of two small children. It was quite apparent to her that the larger bat that stood in the background was Vladzotz Fangpyre himself.
"Huh... Reminds me of my old family." Lucy mumbled, trailing off before shaking her head. "So why do you care so much about some grimy old photo, anyways?"
"That locket... Is the last remaining picture that I have of my family."
"What?" Lucy interjected. "What's so special about that, then?"
"It isn't special just because it is the last of its kind, it is special because my family is no longer with me! It... It is the only thing that keeps me from forgetting their faces."
The female bat lowered her leathery wings slightly, genuine curiosity piquing her interests. It made Lucy momentarily think back to her own family once more - The mother that had died an early death, the overbearing father that had taken his anger out on her, and worst of all, the dear brother that had been victim of murder by a family friend. And then there was Lucy, who had been framed by the true culprit, and whose father had been more than happy to throw her under the bus, and send her off to prison. It was there where she had learned to fight and steal - It was all anyone could do to survive in a world that harsh, that was, before she had made her escape. Lucy pushed all those memories from her mind. She hated thinking about them. Looking back down at the photograph in her claws, Lucy's expression softened.
"What happened to them?" She asked quietly. Vladzotz was silent to the count of five.
"They..." He hesitated, swallowing hard. "They perished in a house fire, six years ago. It was murder. Burned alive by the flames wrought from another's contempt."
The male bat craned his head around, and managed to look Lucy directly in the eye.
"That locket was one of the few things that survived the fire. Their memories have driven me to do drastic things."
"Drastic things?"
"I've pursued the arsonist behind my family's death for years, at this point, but to no avail."
Lucy made a hmm sort of sound beneath her breath. She was all too familiar with loss and destruction. After all, it was what led her to her current life of crime in the first place. Though in the end, she refused to think back on it, since she didn't really like emotions and other side-tracking feelings to get in the way of her and her precious work.
But despite it all, she still felt pity for Vladzotz.
"That's unfortunate, it really is." She spoke earnestly. "But I'm still keeping this!" Lucy showed him the locket frame. "I stole it from you fair and square!"
"Do what you wish. I'm in no position to interfere." Vladzotz replied glumly.
Admittedly, Lucy, aside from being slightly taken aback by his story, was surprised by his sudden loss of resolve. He just willingly gave up and into her demands.
"Whatever I wish, ah?" She mused seductively. "Now that sounds like something I could sink my teeth into... Quite literally."
Slipping the empty locket frame back into her skin-tight jump-suit, Lucy edged a bit closer to Vladzotz's exposed neck.
"Mmm... You look like you're in pretty good shape." She stated, licking her lips in anticipation. "I wonder what your blood tastes like."
Vladzotz growled audibly, but displayed no sign of resistance toward her advances, and made no attempt to shield his exposed neck from her hungering fangs.
"Don't mind me, Vladdy, but I'm just gonna suck on you for a little bit. I'm pretty thirsty from that workout you gave me. Just relax..." She soothed. "I'll be gentle."
Lucy then sunk her razor sharp incisors into the side of Vladzotz's furry neck, where she easily pierced a vein, causing the blood to flow directly into her waiting mouth, where she sucked it up greedily with each gulp. The male bat held no response of pain, nor irritation. Yet, Lucy could still feel the tension clouding the air around them. All the while, she continued to suckle at the small wound that she had administered to Vlad's neck, lapping up teeny streams of blood before swallowing audibly.
After a few short minutes, she pulled herself away from the male bat's neck, but not before planting a delicate kiss atop the very same wound that she had fed from.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it Vladdy?" She teased, giggling fervidly to herself. "If it makes you feel any better, your blood was delicious! Among the finest I've ever had!"
"Now that you're through with your feeding, just leave me be, woman." Vlad growled. "You have humiliated me enough as it is."
"You're right." She stated flatly.
Vladzotz raised one of his eyebrows. "I am?" He asked.
"Yep. One hundred percent. I mean, you're right about the humiliation part, sure, I mean, you're hanging from poop for crying out loud, but you're also right about the other stuff. It was fun, but I think that I've seen quite enough of you for now, Vladdy. Although, I wouldn't mind seeing you more in the future, if you can catch me!"
She smiled coyly at Vladzotz's bewildered expression, and giggled tauntingly. "If you want your locket back, just come and find me, Vladdy. I'll be waiting for you."
At that, Lucy slyly winked at him before leaping from his shoulders, taking to the air of the Nocturnal-District and flapping off with Vladzotz's precious locket in tow, leaving the male bat alone. He sighed longingly, and then tried again at the glow-worm strands, this time managing to free his whole left leg, and luckily preventing it from being caught and stuck in even more luminescent vines.
Raising his head and staring off into the distance, glaring off towards where he had last seen Lucy, Vladzotz growled before thrashing about in anger, causing the photograph inside his breast pocket to dislodge itself and flutter delicately down a few inches before sticking to the side of a glow-worm slime strand, directly where Vladzotz could see it.
Gasping aloud, the bat reached outwards and hastily pulled the photograph from the goo before wiping it delicately on his own clothes, cleaning it of the slimy filth. Raising it to his face, Vladzotz sighed as he stared into the faces of his deceased family. In that moment, he suddenly realized that Lucy must have given it back to him when he wasn't paying attention, taking only the empty locket for herself.
He closed his eyes and sighed longingly, his wiry dark gray fur standing on end as a chilling shiver settled down the length of his backbone. Thinking back over the odd string of events that had taken place within the last few minutes, the male bat felt a peculiar sort of feeling swell up in his chest - One that he hadn't experienced in many years.
It was admiration, it was satisfaction, and above all else, it was appreciation.
Hey everyone!
Oh, now this was a very fun write! Never before have I made such a lengthy chapter in such a short amount of time! I had an absolute blast with this one!
I certainly hope that you all enjoyed it too! Do feel free to leave a nice review detailing your thoughts on this new chapter of ours, and of course, what you think of Vladzotz and Lucy Sang, too! I'd loveto know whatcha think of Vladzotz, Lucy, her personality, etc. I actually referenced her first conversation with Vladzotz off of a similar scene from 'The Hobbit' books/movies, where Bilbo first meets the dragon Smaug.
But yeah, I'd love to see a review detailing your thoughts on this chapter. You can expect to see more with these two soon, in chapter 64, to be precise. I think you'll like where I plan to take them, especially in chapter 67. ;)
Lastly, if you'd like to see some really good art of how Lucy Sang and Vladzotz look, then head over to my tumblr or DeviantArt account, where you can easily find all the fan-art I've ever gotten for this story! It's pretty cool stuff, so feel free to check it out.
Anyhow, that's just about all that I got planned out for you lot right now. Do please continue reading, as it only gets better from here on out! :)
'Till next time...
Peace!
PS: Just to provide some further clarification for those curious, I like to headcanon that vampire bats in Zootopia are a fair bit larger than their real-life counterparts, for convenience sake - About a foot or two shorter than Judy. Besides; in a world of walking, talking animals that stand upright with opposable thumbs, I figured that having vampire bats be bigger than normal wouldn't hurt. It's one of the only creative liberties that I've taken in this story, though, so it isn't much of a detractor, I'd hope.